《The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]》 Prologue – A Century of War When night falls upon Arda, Do not lose hope, Darkness is strongest before dawn, And yet no matter how strong our fear, The light always casts it away. - A common saying by priests of Allasaria The Imperial war-room was full. It was always full. The world of Arda was awash in war; the eternal night had come and it was up to the two-dozen souls in this chamber to ensure that there would be no daybreak. A map of entire Arda dominated the hexagonal table, and that table dominated the entire room. There were no chairs, windows or decorations. No flags or heraldry of the Empire littered the walls, no carpet obscuring the dark flagstones. The only thing that could be ascribed to be d¨¦cor was a few magical lights hovering in mid-air and the plainest cabinets filled with relevant papers. The war-room was true to its name, it was for war and nothing else. ¡°Irinika has disappeared.¡± Siranius came to the war-room in his dark cloak, outlined in pulsating crimson runes of his own invention. A staff topped with the purest red heartstone, a pair of pitch-black eyes with a gaze so intense they seemed to be able to gaze through one¡¯s body straight into their soul. Could a man like that ever bring good news? ¡°How?¡± Arascus stood there at the head of the table. Head and shoulders taller than everyone else in the room, a black mane of hair that would put a lion to shame, one of the few men in the room who was unarmed, the Emperor would not lower himself to bear arms. ¡°We don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Irinika disappeared.¡± The table lost all authority to Arascus¡¯ utterance. ¡°And you don¡¯t how?¡± Had anyone heard their God actually shout out of anger? Certainly no one¡¯s alive to tell the tale, the man never shouted, but his voice was as close to open rage as it could get. Everyone knew Irinika was the favourite. ¡°She was supposed to arrive two days ago from the Kanaya Gap.¡± Siranius said. ¡°Anassa, Baalka and Kassandora searched the place, they¡¯ve reported no signs of her.¡± ¡°Irinika would not just disappear.¡± ¡°If I may your majesty.¡± Ilfus spoke up, another human although of no such great raw power as Siranius. The man was old, with an intricate pale cane he couldn¡¯t do without and greying hair. Arguably, he was the second most important man in the room after the Emperor himself, it was up to Ilfus to make sure his lord¡¯s Empire ran day-to-day. ¡°It is Anassa we are talking about. She will be able to find the First Daughter.¡± ¡°Aye, a Goddess cannot just disappear.¡± Grundalf added. A dwarf, the rotund fellow led several armies who tried to hold against the realms under the surface. ¡°I think everyone can agree on that.¡± Emari spoke up, an elven general and patriarch of the Tlerin house. The black-haired man deserved a hundred medals, received a fair dozen and wore none over his simple coat. ¡°If she was captured, we would know from our spies already, and although it¡¯s not like Irinika to pull a stunt like this.¡± ¡°She was returning through a shortcut! She shouldn¡¯t be lost!¡± Illian now, a human general. A man of talent in warfare and not much else, he was even cursed with a horribly forgettable face. ¡°And do we know why she left her army to take the shortcut?¡± Emari replied. The room responded in silence. ¡°We should send men to investigate!¡± Ilfus shouted. ¡°The sooner the better.¡± The elf¡¯s only response was a cool look. ¡°I forward the motion to your majesty on-¡° ¡°Denied.¡± Arascus¡¯ single word was far more intimidating than any shout. Normally, the Emperor wouldn¡¯t explain himself but leaving questions unanswered would leave men wondering on hypotheticals instead of the eight-decade long war. ¡°If three of my daughters could not find her, what hope do men have?¡± The only response was silence. Emari finally cracked it. ¡°I agree, and it doesn¡¯t change the fact we have a counteroffensive breaking our lines in the Sassara desert.¡± The self-proclaimed God that is Arascus cannot be compared to a crusade or some invading army. Even during our wars, we held a code of honour, he can better be compared to a natural disaster or a disease; fitting the supposed ¡°Goddess¡± of illness is his creation. Our differences are many, but there come times when petty grudges over religion and ideas are insufficient to keep us divided. The destruction of your world will result in the destruction of mine. I, Emperor Leonifer, accept your proposition to the formation of the Second Coalition. The Thirteen Layers of Tartarus stand with Arda. ¡°How bad is it?¡± Irithron said. A rotund dwarf who was only here to replace the late Lord Yril Harkan. The man had been mobbed and torn to pieces by a hungry crowd. ¡°The Southern Front has collapsed.¡± Siranius almost seemed to revel in the crackling tension his words caused. ¡°The Army there has been wiped out.¡± ¡°Sixth army? Seventh? Which one?¡± Irithron apparently didn¡¯t understand what collapsed meant. ¡°All of them.¡± ¡°All?¡± The dwarf was dense indeed. ¡°Sixth, Seventh, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth.¡± Emari added in a clinical fashion, he could have been talking about particularly mild weather. ¡°One of Fer¡¯s herds is in the area but I don¡¯t give them long.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Finally the dwarf gave up. ¡°How?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Fortia led a force directly.¡± The elf explained, long ago it was a joke that the Goddess of Peace was exceptionally talented at warfare. Not anymore. ¡°She tore right through the Sixth, we have minimal survivors from that. She pulled further into the desert after that, cut off the supply routes going along the Karrokai river. They intercepted our shipments.¡± The audience was split in the middle, half looking unfazed, the others might as well have heard their mothers just died. Emari only shrugged, his face rivalling Arascus¡¯ in its calmness. ¡°Troops don¡¯t last long without food, and the Sassara isn¡¯t a place you can scavenge in.¡± ¡°What about the herd?¡± Arascus said. Emari nodded to Jur, the beastmen at the end of the table. A tremendous fellow with a thick hide and a goat¡¯s head, his teeth all overgrown and twisting out of his maw. ¡°It¡¯s a small one.¡± There was nothing else to say. ¡°The northern front is reporting a counterattack too.¡± Siranius absolutely loved voicing doom and gloom. Of course he had to continue. ¡°There¡¯s sightings of Goddesses there too. Kavaa healing is confirmed to be there, but there¡¯s two more unidentified.¡± ¡°Can they hold?¡± Someone asked. ¡°A month if we are lucky.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not.¡± ¡°Then they¡¯ve already fallen.¡± Mikanglo has accepted Leonifer¡¯s joining into the Coalition. Paraideisius, Tartarus and Arda stand united for the first time in history. With the Underworld¡¯s limitless troops, we will kill this threat to our three realms. The man is a God. He cannot be killed. No Excuse me? His existence is suspected to be an Abstract, he will reform soon and then we¡¯ll have this trouble all over again. What do you suggest then? Capture and trap him. Lock him away for eternity. ¡°Come in.¡± Arascus said as he stood on the balcony from his room. This was Rhomaion, the capital of the White Pantheon a long time ago, now it was the beating heart of his new Empire. It sprawled to the horizon and further beyond. ¡°We¡¯re losing.¡± Siranius said as he stepped into the room of the late Emperor. ¡°That we are.¡± ¡°I have a proposition.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°About the future.¡± ¡°Get to it.¡± Arascus hurried Siranius along, the man usually wouldn¡¯t take this long. ¡°I want your permission to dismantle my Order.¡± ¡°And do what with it?¡± ¡°We have uncountable texts, research that would prove deadly if it falls into the White Pantheon¡¯s hands.¡± ¡°Much good it¡¯s done us.¡± Arascus said.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°In this war, it has not.¡± Siranius responded quickly. ¡°But the next¡­¡± ¡°I like the optimism.¡± ¡°Allasaria nor Zerus are not strong enough to kill you, even together.¡± ¡°Leonifer and Mikanglo together could.¡± ¡°Likewise, you could kill them.¡± ¡°Not if they are together.¡± Arascus sighed and dropped the issue. ¡°So what are you suggesting Siranius? For me to flee?¡± ¡°No, without you, our Empire is finished.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°We need time. Send the Daughters into exile, I will scatter my works around the world. Fer¡¯s warherds need to send their darkfurs into the wilds to repopulate. The nobles should retreat, the elves should hide to prepare for you again. The war has to be changed from one of conquest to one of stalling.¡± ¡°And then what? We¡¯ve been defeated once, they¡¯ll be able to do it again.¡± ¡°We were unprepared.¡± The two men stared across the city in total silence. ¡°Where will you hide them?¡± Arascus finally asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Brutally honest as always. White Pantheon Pegasus cavalry is coming in from the North sir. How many? About five hundred. When will they get here? About three minutes at their current rate. Thanks for the notice. What should we do? Is there anything we can do? ¡°We¡¯ve lost Tourai.¡± Arascus broke the silence in the War Room. Siranius was away scattering the mages to the furthest corners of Arda. No one but Emari knew about the change in plans. ¡°How could we lose Tourai?¡± It was a miracle Irithron somehow survived the week. Two assassins he felled. Two! Sometimes Arascus wished the White Pantheon was better at their job. ¡°The ground opened behind them. One of Leonifer¡¯s armies cut off reinforcements. They were surrounded, an arch-demon brought down the gates.¡± A general said. General only in name, the fellow was just here to replace another replacement. ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Irithron asked. ¡°The White Pantheon is two months from Rhomaion.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We will prepare for a siege.¡± Leonifer backs us on the capture plan. The demon knows sense when he sees it. Aye, and we all know about the demon¡¯s assimilation abilities. He cannot be allowed to set foot near Arascus. Joining the two of them would create a monster far worse than what we are facing now¡­ and I¡¯m not certain Leonifer¡¯s mind would not be devoured by the madman. I¡¯d prefer for you not to join us either Grand Angel. Don¡¯t get overconfident Zerus. All of my Pantheon but Leona will be there. We can overpower him together. Are you sure? I almost equal him. And if he has his daughters? Irinika is gone. Baalka, Anassa and Kassondora will not be a problem. He will not fight alongside Olephia, that girl is a danger to everyone around her. Neneria will do what? We are immune to her soulmancy. Malam? Please. Fer is the only danger and two against fourteen is still advantageous to us. You¡¯re overconfident. We¡¯ve won already. It¡¯s better for us to do it alone anyway. Why? Arda needs to show she can fend for herself. She needs some of her own pride untainted by Arascus. ¡°Fer.¡± Arascus watched his daughter as they ate. A soup for him, raw meat for her, some deer she caught. ¡°Yes Father.¡± Fer said, blood running down her beautiful face. Dark brown fur as rugged as a lion¡¯s mane framed golden cat-eyes. She was the tallest of the daughters, strongest physically although those eyes pretended to hold intelligence that exceeded her. She wasn¡¯t slow by any means, but her mind was held back by an animalistic sort of honour. If there wasn¡¯t a direct correlation to pack-politics, she didn¡¯t think of it. ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± The meat actually fell out of her mouth and the two ears on top of her head peaked up. ¡°Over?¡± ¡°The war. We¡¯ve lost.¡± ¡°We still have men. I have thirty darkfurs left.¡± Darkfurs where the shaman priests, beastmen who were blessed with the gift of magic. ¡°The Coalition will reach us in a week.¡± ¡°And we¡¯ll stand and fight.¡± ¡°And what?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll kill them.¡± ¡°The only thing you¡¯ll do is die trying.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you bring the others back?¡± ¡°Kassondora and Baalka are in the North, we¡¯ve not heard from them in over a month. Olephia is¡­¡± Fer nodded, Olephia was a walking disaster, she had been evacuated from Rhomaion to protect the Imperial capital from herself. Arascus shrugged, there was no point to list all the eight daughters. ¡°So what are we going to do?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Take your herds and hide them.¡± ¡°Hide them?¡± ¡°Even hunters bide their time.¡± Fer bared her sharp teeth in obvious disdain. ¡°Scatter them across the wilds of Arda. Don¡¯t look back, don¡¯t let our greatest creations go extinct.¡± ¡°I can create them again.¡± ¡°It took us fifty for the first darkfur shaman. Are you going to throw all that away?¡± ¡°I want to stay.¡± ¡°And die?¡± ¡°I¡¯m loyal.¡± ¡°You¡¯re to go and hide too.¡± ¡°And then what? Be hunted till I finally get caught?¡± ¡°You won¡¯t get caught.¡± ¡°And you wouldn¡¯t lose the war.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll return.¡± ¡°After how long? Five hundred years?¡± ¡°Can you not do that?¡± Now the Goddess¡¯ eyes flashed anger. Unlike all the other daughters, she was easy to read, whereas in terms of suggestibility, even a child was harder to manipulate. ¡°Of course I can!¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± Arascus made his tone slightly smug, if he had to lie to Fer to get her not to throw her life away, he would do it a thousand times. ¡°I¡¯ll show you!¡± ¡°Will you?¡± ¡°Five hundred years? Don¡¯t insult, a millennia they¡¯d need. Even if the whole host of fourteen came, they wouldn¡¯t be able to catch me.¡± ¡°Then prove it.¡± Fer stood up almost reaching her father¡¯s height and slammed the table. ¡°You better return.¡± Brothers and Sisters. Today we end the war. Without Leonifer and Mikanglo? Do we need them Iniri? We don¡¯t need anyone Allasaria, but Iniri has a point. Why fight alone? Fer won¡¯t be there, the beastmen are moving North. They¡¯re abandoning him? They¡¯re scattering into the forest. It¡¯s just like him to give us a tough time of it. Can we stop them? No. So we¡¯ve got a century long mess ahead of us. They¡¯ll be cleansed eventually, Arascus is our priority now. Fourteen against one, not the best odds. Arascus watched a beam of light tear through the hordes of skeletal soldiers fighting to protect Rhomaion. A Hundred? Two? Five? Maybe a thousand soldiers were reduced to ash in a mere instant. Against Allasaria, it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference if they were mages, humans, beastmen or risen dead. The dead at least didn¡¯t try to flee and the living had become a scarce resource three months ago. Arascus turned and went back to his palace. How long before Rhomaion falls? The siege is going well, the outer walls have been breached already. Mikanglo and Leonifer are not here as expected, although we have an Underworld Legion and a Choir from them as compensation. They¡¯ve also sent their own Gods for this battle. I¡¯m still not fond of their assistance. And I¡¯m rather fond of staying uncrippled and alive. We have voted already Zerus, they¡¯re coming with us. Has Arascus made a move? Every now and then, he comes out to stall us but he¡¯s not charging out as expected. Helenna says he¡¯s conserving his strength and plans to take at least one of us down. With the Paraideisius¡¯ and Tartarus Gods, and our Pantheon that makes forty Gods. He won¡¯t manage it. Leona should stay behind though. There wasn¡¯t a question, we¡¯re not going to risk her life. Arascus sighed. The Imperial Guard around him swarmed the hall before him. They filled the court with lines upon lines of shieldwalls. The mighty legion of ten thousand had lost most of its members in the defence of Rhomaion. Only two thousand remained, but that two thousand was enough to make any army turn around and retreat. Each man was an expert magician and a pinnacle of the martial arts. The spears lowered, each tip pointed to the grand doors of divine stone. How long? Thirty minutes? Maybe not even that. Arascus thought as he reminisced about the war. The daughter Goddesses were dead, imprisoned or had fled, his advisors and generals had their heads on pikes. It was an impressive push, a single empire against three grand realms. The Demons of Tartarus, the Angels of Paraideisius and the cornucopia of races on Arda had to rally to defeat a single Empire: It took them fifty years of bloodshed to stall his armies, another fifty to push them back to Rhomaion. Reduced to a single city, there wasn¡¯t a hope of retreat. Against the limitless force of the three realms though, there was no way he could escape. The doors bent, a crack appeared in the centre. Arascus could hide in the dungeons, there was a labyrinth underneath the fortress. What was the point? They¡¯d find him eventually. He would rather be defeated standing than be chased like a rat. Another boom and another crack. He sighed again. Divine stone wasn¡¯t that difficult to break through. He saw some of the spears start to glow. ¡°Hold!¡± His voice boomed across the hall. The decorations had been removed, all that was left were the Imperial Guard and pillars reaching to the ceiling. At the rate the intruders were going at, it would take them another ten minutes at least. Boom! Boom! Boom! Crack after crack appeared on the door and Arascus shook his head. Ten minutes was an understatement. He finally stood up after fifteen. ¡°Ready!¡± Two thousand spears started to glow before him, each one emitting a bright light. Maybe two thousand Imperial Guard could go up against an Ardan God, Arascus himself could duel several at a time, but the chance of them being in the single digits was null. Arascus stood eight feet tall, towering over the humans before him. He stood in his black armour, it was a testament to mankind: the strongest suit of plate ever made, it had only been completed thirty years into the war. A countless number of light discs appeared behind him, they stretched from one wall to the other, from head height to the ceiling. A divine blade slid out of each one. The door cracked. It swayed, a chunk fell away revealing the blinding holy light of Paraideisius¡¯ Angels. Another chunk fell away, and another, and another. His eyes scanned them quickly and he smiled. Forty Gods. If anything, they were doing him a service, it was a silent admission of the fact any single realm could not go up against him. ¡°So you have come.¡± Arascus¡¯ voice boomed through the hall. His eyes searched for Allasaria, but he couldn¡¯t find her before a reply came. ¡°So we have come.¡± Another voice replied, it was Zerus, the God-King, God of Lightning. ¡°Today is your death.¡± ¡°You cannot kill me.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you did not bring Leona with you.¡± She was their greatest weapon. The Goddess of Luck. It was a terrible force to fight, invisible but ever present. A battle had to be certain or it would be lost, it was a testament to the strategic and tactical genius of his forces that the Great War had taken a century. Eventually though, genius ran dry and their luck was limitless. ¡°Are you that confident you can win?¡± There was no reply, Zerus merely stepped forward. Instantly, the room was engulfed in light. Arascus¡¯ blades shot forward, two thousands bolts of sorcery of every element rushed from spears. ---- It was against forty Gods. The battle was over as soon as it had started. Arascus felt his side pierced. His arm dislocated. A hand torn apart. His vision blinded. His skin seared. His soul burned. His shoulder exploded. A hole appeared in his chest. An arrow pierced his throat. ---- It was over. Forty Gods surrounded a standing corpse. Gods are concepts incarnated. The grandest of them, we suspect exist in some higher realm: somewhere out there, of Time exists, I am sure. The issue mortal scholars face with Arascus¡¯ existence is that he is too far of a stretch. Pride exists everywhere, one man takes pride in his stubborn beliefs, another in his ability to forgive. Arascus himself is contradictory when one tries to tackle him with the information commonly available. His true title, one unknown even to himself, is ¡®Of Mankind¡¯s Pride¡¯. It is a masculine pride: Domineering, vengeful, zealous, unbending, unflinching. Man looks to the stars and wishes he could tread upon them like he treads upon sand. Feminine pride is entirely different: those stars do not deserve to be tread upon, they are to be presented to her as an offering. For a woman to do it herself, it is the greatest insult. Not because she can¡¯t, but because she should not need to. Only with this knowledge does Arascus make sense. He is a twin God, his sister is just as terrible as him. It is only thanks to Leona¡¯s limitless luck that we stumbled upon her before he was even aware of her existence. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light: ¡®The Problem of Pride.¡¯ Chapter 1 – A Millennia of Peace ¡­among the various natives, the most problematic is humanity. They are as troublesome as dragons: the latter are deluded by their grandeur, the former are grandeurized by their delusions. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Hellenna, Of Love, and Goddess Fortia, of Peace: ¡®How to Manage the Post-War World.¡¯ Anastasija awoke in a lightless room. She felt energized for some reason. That was annoying, sleeping passed the time. The walls were of some dark stone, she knew that but the last time she had seen them was twelve hundred years ago. That was when she was locked in here. She chuckled, the darkness was quite comforting. The last time she had seen light, it was the blinding beams of that woman in the air. Was she dead now? Anastasija did not know. It annoyed her that she didn¡¯t know, but then there was some satisfaction in that too. That woman was so irrelevant her name should not be known. It was beneath Anastasija to know. There was no door, no crack, no sign of any joining. It was as if she was locked in the middle of a perfect solid cube. She sighed, stood up and started walking. Twenty steps, turn left, twenty steps, turn left and so it went. Eventually, she started laughing. Twelve hundred years? What did they expect? For her to knock on the walls? To cry in the corner? To lose her mind and sanity? The stars would burn out first. These rocks would crumble eventually, time destroyed all. She could simply bathe in her self-satisfaction until then; her knowledge that the best they could do against her was simply lock her away somewhere. Gods appear when they¡¯re needed and Gods disappear as they¡¯re forgotten. The appearance of Ciria, of Civilization, in 721PGW (Post Great War) was the incarnation of philosophical achievements into what Civilization truly was and what it meant: Modern courts, various legalities, urban cities. It coincided with the White Pantheon¡¯s decision to start acting as caretakers of the world, rather than its rulers. Ciria resides in Olympiada with the White Pantheon, although she is not officially admitted into the ancient¡¯s courts. Halkus, of Industry, appeared in 840PGW. Ciria and Halkus married a mere two years after his descent onto Arda. They were naturally drawn to each other like Zerus, of Lightning, and Sceo, of Sky. Ciria¡¯s children will be covered in the later chapters. Our world, Arda, entered a golden age as the population quickly expanded. The last honourable conflict was fought in 821PGW, we can now say that the concept of ¡®War¡¯ has been relegated to history after today marks two hundred of unbroken peace, even if honourable conflicts were not wars in themselves. The world has moved on. Although an author should never directly state their own opinions in their works, it is my belief that after more than a millennia, Arda has recovered from the Great War. Extract from ¡®Two Hundred Years of Peace.¡¯ Written by Modern Historian Kimiko Arami. Arascus roared in a rage as the skin over his knuckles regrew. He did not know how long he slept after his final moments in Rhomaion, but he had not closed his eyes for even a blink since then. He was locked in a cube of Godstone. A thousand years he gave himself: Today was the day. In a few hours, he would celebrate the thousandth anniversary of his awakening in this solid cage. It was pitch black in here, he knew what Godstone was. He had built out of it before, it was unbreakable, it contained energy to surpass the Heavens. Even Leonifer and Mikanglo, rulers of Tartarus and Paraideisius would not break through it. But him? How could he not? He fist landed on the same spot again, his skin shattered, blood spilled over the room, his wrist exploded, his arm snapped at the shoulder. And again with the other arm. The same happened. With a roar, he smashed his head again that spot. His skull broke, his eyes went dull, his heart stopped, he fell backwards like a tree hit by a tidal wave. Over the next minute, the blood in the room slowly return to him as if dragged by magnets to his body. The shards of ivory bone rebuilt themselves, even the cracks disappearing. His muscle grew, his eyes regained their sharpness. The blood started to flow within his body again. He stood up and flexed his fingers. And then he did it again. And again. He tried it with magic at first, but his magic had started growing weaker after the first ten years. Now, he couldn¡¯t even open a door to the Endless Treasury to pull out a blade. Had he grown weaker? He would never accept that.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. A few hours passed. There wasn¡¯t a single crack on the stone. The thousand year anniversary came, and he did not stop. If a thousand years wasn¡¯t enough, then he would give it ten thousand. Allasaria and Zerus dared to lock him in a cage? He would show them how much their cages meant. Who were they to go up against Pride? The advancement of philosophy has brought its own challenges. We now know that Gods are concepts birthed by the power of will, but what does mean? Etala, of Democracy, is much loved by us all. Although we don¡¯t agree with them: The Epans love Gracia, of Monarchy, but who will say a kind word about Anarchia who wishes an end to our societies? The Gods are too powerful to simply be created at will by the minds of academics. The White Pantheon stepped down to let us rule ourselves, they realised their guidance brought stagnation and gave us freedom for us to strive to further heights. We should not let their kindness be our undoing. We have seen the effects with the Godkiller, who ravaged half the nation in six months before he was brought down. That too was a mere construct of will. I dare not to give any ideas so I will not say them out loud, but what happens when academics think up of a threat unstoppable by us? There is that, and there is the fact that we see what happens when we think ourselves into a hole. The phrase ¡°All I know is that I know nothing¡± crippled the God of Knowledge. Now he truly knows nothing. I call upon our academia to cease these advancements into the study of thought. Continue down the sciences by all means but run experiments of materials and not of thoughts. There is some knowledge which simply should not be known. The ¡®Knowledge that should not be known¡¯ speech given by Union President Harold Edisford. Circa 915PGW. Eventually, Arascus did stop. Not out of fatigue nor unwillingness, he was too prideful to admit those sensations into his body, but out of curiosity. The Godstone started to shake. What could make Godstone quiver and shake? He took a step back, crossed his arms and waited. What it the apocalypse? Did some great beast come from the edges of the Universe to eat Arda? There was no force in his time that could do this. Maybe the White Pantheon had realised their mistake and come to beg for forgiveness, he chuckled at that thought. The shaking lasted for an hour. A day. Two days. Arascus shrugged. An earthquake, that was probably it, or maybe there was some war raging above his prison. He returned to beating the Godstone wall. His arm exploded and the shaking stopped. He burst out in laughter. Maybe they were checking if he was still alive. Fools. As long as a single being existed in this universe, there existed pride. The rumbling started again. Arascus punched the wall, it did not stop this time.
  1. The Creation of a New World Religion, emphasizing pride as a sin and humbleness as its primary virtue.
  2. A push to counter Arascus¡¯ sick pride and replace it with a healthier version. The prime tenet of this is a pride with does not rely on humiliation as an evil.
  3. The spreading of this new pride and religion to every nation on Arda.
  4. Once a sufficient number of people have been converted. Open Arascus¡¯ and his nameless sister¡¯s prisons.
  5. Kill them.
  6. Reincarnate the Gods of Pride as a single being, with the title: of Serving Pride.
The Arascus Extermination Plan, dated 1PGW. Two months. It took two months of Arascus¡¯ Godstone prison shaking from that outside force and his own force from the inside before he felt it as he fell backwards. His body regenerated once again, he stood up and ran his nail along the wall. Once, twice, thrice. A smile grew on his face. He had done the impossible. Godstone was a material of magic, it should be able to regenerate itself endlessly as well as being harder than titanium. But there it was. The Godstone had a tiny crack running along it. He punched again with a strength redoubled. His arm exploded and he took a step back. The shaking had only grown in power. He took a step back again, now, the shaking was only growing stronger and stronger. The Birth of Waeh, of Serving Pride, in 45PGW, was unexpected. We Gods had little rules to us, but the first was that only one God can exist for any one concept at any one time. It was impossible for Waeh to exist as long as Arascus and his nameless sister remained alive. So what happened? Did they die? Ultimately, even we fear the release of that monster once again but Godstone was unbreakable. The White Pantheon as a whole would struggle to crack the seals on the surface of that primordial magic. Once it formed, it was as unbreakable as the rules binding us. There is no technology that can break it, nor any magic. Ultimately, we decided to abandon the Arascus Extermination Plan and leave the two cubes untouched. There was no need to unearth forgotten corpses. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, Of Light: Untitled. Arascus strained his eyes and ears, he could see nothing in this pitch black darkness, but he did not want to miss a single moment of what was happening. Crack. There it was! He knew his mind was stable, that wasn¡¯t a hallucination. There was another crack. And another. Another and another. He blinked for the first time in a millennia as he stood there. The God of Pride was stunned. A tiny beam of pale bright white light was beaming into the prison. Chapter 2 – A God Unearthed Esperanism had no inquisitors. No priests nor monks. It was a universal religion that would have been ridiculed where it not for the fact every member of the White Pantheon pledged their allegiance to it. When Waeh appeared on the steps of Olympiada, he turned and left. The most popular God in the world has never visited the great mountain¡¯s heights. I have personally met with Waeh several times. My reactions is always the same: ¡®I am unworthy¡¯. I have never met a being so humble, so forgiving, so absent of wrath and with so much patience. What Waeh exudes is not love, it is simple respect. He is both delicate and gentle in every action. My fondness moment is when I came across the God as he was watching a sunset. He only pointed and said ¡®beautiful.¡¯ I have never looked at the sunset in the same way after that. ¡®Esperanism: The Awe of Modesty.¡¯ A common book read in Ardan schools. Arascus stared at that beam of light when he heard talking. ¡°We have cracked it!¡± It was a muffled male voice. ¡°The Godstone is cracked!¡± There was a wave of muffled cheers for a moment as Arascus remained silent. It wasn¡¯t a voice he recognised nor were the traces of magic coming in from the outside anything he was familiar with. That huge whirring noise died down and the crack suddenly became as large as a fist. The beam of light grew with the hole. Arascus merely crossed his arms and stared at it. Slowly, a pole extended from the hole. It had a black glass half-sphere on the end and slid smoothly. It stopped after a moment and the voices outside went deathly quiet as Arascus stared at that odd object, it had a tiny blinking red light at the end. After half a minute of silence, finally someone spoke up. This voice was much louder and perfectly clear too as if it was amplified by magic, but it obviously wasn¡¯t magical. ¡°We kneel before Emperor Arascus.¡± If ambrosia could be made in words, it would be those. Arascus smiled, that smile became a grin, and then a laugh. ¡°Do not kneel before an imprisoned man. Which God are you?¡± ¡°No God.¡± The voice replied with full confidence. ¡°We come of our own strength.¡± This time, Arascus laughed even louder. His heart shone with the joy of a parent who¡¯s child just became king. ¡°Excellent.¡± ¡°We ask the Emperor to stand back.¡± The voice said. ¡°Our method of breaking the Godstone is unstable.¡± Arascus raised an eyebrow in humour. It was rare for humans for to have this much gall to ask something of him. He didn¡¯t mind though, the best of humanity were those who spoke their mind. Mere servants served as carpets, those who would dare to ask a God to move were no doubt interesting fellows. He took fifteen steps backwards until his back touched the wall of the other side. That pole with the blinking light retreated and a round object extended into the gap. It was shaped like a circular pyramid, but then it was ridge with diamond blades and exuded thick magic. Arascus had never seen something like it before. The object started to spin and the Godstone once again started to move. It started to spin so quickly it became a blur as water started to stream in from the outside, the moment it touched that¡­ thing, it evaporated. He heard cracking after a moments and the machine pushed an inch further in.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. So his followers had made something to break Godstone? That was surprising, but then he thought about it. Naturally they would. They were his followers, how could they not? Now that whatever that thing had broken in, the progress was fast. In an hour, the hole had grown head sized, in six, it was wide enough for his shoulders. ¡°Stop!¡± He shouted. Immediately, that thing started to slow down. It stopped being a blur and then it was pulled away. Light flooded the Godstone cube along with a familiar miasma. His daughter¡¯s searing miasma. It was aged and weak, but there was something in it that simply pulled at his heart. He smiled once again, so Baalka had tried to rescue him but she couldn¡¯t break through the Godstone. That was only natural, if he couldn¡¯t, what hope did she have? He eyes scanned the room through that gap, it was a ruin. A castle where the rock had been eaten away disease: that was Baalka¡¯s fine work. Then he saw the people. Each one was covered in their entirety in some cumbersome armour. It was grey with the gauntlets dark. The shoes they were pitch black and they had large visors made of what had to magical glass, he could make a series of awed faces in them. All in all, there were about fifty people here. The armour was odd though, it moved and bended like a thick cloth. When he saw the machine next to them, he didn¡¯t even try to contain his surprise. It was huge, with tracks and that round Godstone cracker extended the front. Two more people, both in those armoured suits sat on the top, their hands around various levers and wheels. ¡°I can fit through this.¡± The edges of that hole were sharp, they cut into his skin but it fixed itself as quickly as it was pierced. There was no reason to mind it. He stood up, the next tallest man in the area reached up to his chest. Good to know he hadn¡¯t shrunk when he was in that prison. One of the armoured suits came up to him. It took Arascus a moment to realise the figure behind was a woman, her cheeks were red and she tried to look everywhere but at him, in her hands was a bundle of cloth. ¡°Some clothes, Emperor.¡± Oh. Arascus had forgotten he was locked in there without even a shred of cloth over his body. Now that they had seen him though, there was no point to try and hide. He leisurely dressed himself as everyone averted their eyes. ¡°What is this?¡± Arascus pointed at the machine. ¡°That¡¯s a drill.¡± The woman who handed him the clothes said. ¡°We acquired it some time back, but the actual drillbit is magical, it¡¯s our own craftsmanship.¡± A man stood up straight as if to make themselves known, through the glass visor Arascus could see a prideful smile grow on his face. ¡°Mikhail there is the engineer, we could not do it without him.¡± Arascus recognised him with a tilt of his head. ¡°And you?¡± He asked. ¡°I am Sara Daganhoff.¡± She said. ¡°Leader of this expedition.¡± She bowed. ¡°Stand up.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Your armour is interesting too.¡± ¡°A-Armour?¡± Sara asked as she looked down on herself. ¡°This is not armour my Emperor.¡± Arascus merely raised an eyebrow. ¡°This area was infected by your daughter¡¯s poison a millennia ago. The air is still toxic. These suits.¡± She grabbed the puffy coat on her chest. ¡°They¡¯re hazmat suits, to make sure we don¡¯t die.¡± She turned around, there was two metal tanks on her back. ¡°We have fresh air in here.¡± Arascus did not recognise this thing they called a drill. He knew nothing of the name Daganhoff, there wasn¡¯t a single noble house or general in the Empire called that. He knew nothing of these hazmat suits. The questions only piled up. ¡°What is the date?¡± Sara blushed again. ¡°It¡¯s been 1024 years after the Great War.¡± ¡°And Arda has changed since then.¡± Arascus phrased it like a question but he already knew the answer. Breaking Godstone without the assistance of a dozen Gods was impossible. If mortals themselves did it, the world had changed a great deal. ¡°Yes Sir.¡± She said with a bow. ¡°Although I would suggest we leave this place before I fill you in.¡± Chapter 3 – Lady Luck After the Great War and the victory at Rhomaion, Arascus¡¯ followers fled. They quickly established a sizable amount of cults across the world. Although the threat of daughter Goddesses was eventually overcome, it is a near impossibility for society to please everyone. With a long history of resistance, these cults are a natural gathering of various dissidents and troublemakers. Introduction to the ¡®Arascus Cults¡¯ section from a pamphlet of the United Ardan Security Agency Olympiada was the birthplace of the White Pantheon, a mountain claimed for the Gods. Its top was a sprawling temple-complex the size of a small town. The defensive walls around it were long torn down, the white marble refashioned into grand abodes and homes for the immortals living at the peak. Mortals would make a pilgrimage up the steps frequently to beg for assistance so the front always had a large crowd of people. Behind the central temple though were the closed quarters. There only servants were seen, if one was lucky, they could get a peek at the Gods in their day-to-day lives. Leona sat in her library. It was a small thing, although she never liked the grandiosities of her siblings. She sat reading a book, a simple fairy tale about knights and princesses. Those were her favourite. Her pale hair cascaded messily down her face and she wore a simple blue dress. It was something most Goddesses would frown upon, but no one had the gall to say anything negative about Lady Luck to her face. ¡°I¡¯ve tried that recipe you gave me.¡± Leona¡¯s personal maid, Alice, said as she came in. The girl was an orphan, simply left at the foot of Olympiada one day. Zerus would have probably thrown her away but it was just Alice¡¯s luck that Leona was the one who found her. Leona sniffed the air as she smelled Alice¡¯s cooking, Allasaria had a legion of maids a thousand strong, but to her, Alice was enough. ¡°It smells brilliant.¡± Leona said. ¡°Did you add lemon?¡± ¡°Oranges for some tang.¡± Alice said proudly as she sat down opposite Leona and poured two cups of tea. Another breach of protocol, no servant would so much as dream of sharing tea with their God. ¡°I tested it the first time and I thought it was too sweet.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a guilty pleasure.¡± Leona said as she put the book down and picked up a fork. ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°Do you like it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s brilliant. The oranges really do make it better.¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± Alice¡¯s cheeks went rosy. She was a simple girl, not beautiful by any means, but pretty. With large brown eyes and rosy lips. She cut her own slice. ¡°I have an idea already on how to make it better.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a surprise.¡± Alice said. ¡°Although I¡¯ll give you a hint, it¡¯s mint.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Mint?¡± Leona took another bite. ¡°It¡¯s just my own creation so¡­¡± Alice¡¯s voice went quiet as she stared at her Goddess. Leona¡¯s golden eyes became unfocused. ¡°Mistress?¡± The fork slid out of her hand and she started tilting to the side. Alice quickly jumped up and caught Leona before the latter cracked her head on the floor. ¡°Mistress? Mistress? MISTRESS?!!!¡± Although six of the eight Goddesses received their conclusions, two were never found. Irinika, of Darkness, and Fer, of Beasthood. It pains me to call Irinika my elder sibling but even I have some regrets about not being able to put an end to her. After her disappearance in the Great War, she was never seen again. Fer is still alive, sightings occur once a decade throughout the wild Eastern tundra but she does not cause an issue. The herd she escaped with is much the same. We leave her alone, she leaves us alone. The area is still sparsely populated and there is little reason for us to go and deal with her, especially since the might of Beasthood has much decreased since the advent of Ciria. Her existence also provides a good distractions for the various sects of Great Guguo, some humility is good for those men. I expect her to fade away naturally. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, Of Light: ¡®An Inconclusive War¡¯. ¡°HELP! HELP! HELP!¡± Whiright, of Planes, refocused his vision at the mad screaming of some woman. It was a girl with brown hair, he was sure he had seen her about here before. She wore a simple dress wholly inadequate to trekking the steps of Olympiada. So a native, or maybe some girl one of his siblings had taken a liking to. He adopted a sour face, she was thoroughly unimpressive. ¡°HELP! HELP!¡± The girl pushed past the line as Whiright stood up. ¡°Quiet girl, don¡¯t you see there¡¯s a line?¡± A line of fools who came asking to fix a hole in the roof or begging for spare change to feed their dogs. ¡°NO IT¡¯S-¡° The girl grew silent as Whiright stared at her. Her voice cut out and she lifted into the air. Who did she think she was to say no to him? He was a God. ¡°Girl, do not test my patience and return to where you came from if you think your problems are somehow more important than those who climbed up here.¡± The crowd was much on his side, it took a week for a mortal to reach the heights of Olympiada. The most support she got were a few looks of pity. Whiright waved his finger and the girl slowly moved through the air, past the grand golden doors of the temple. He lifted her another metre into the air and dropped her down. If there wasn¡¯t a crowd here, he would have thrown her off the mountain. ¡°Next.¡± He said. ¡°NO!¡± The girl ran in again. ¡°IT¡¯S LE-¡° She lifted into the air. ¡°-O-¡° Her voice was weak as Whiright constricted the winds around her neck. ¡°-NA.¡± Whiright blinked. Leona? Oh no. That was all he could think as he felt two awe-inspiring auras suddenly appear behind him. ¡°I didn¡¯t-¡° He turned to see a white cloak, the corner of his eye caught a chiselled jawline, greyish stubble on it. Then his vision went dark as lightning struck him from the side. He was launched against the marble wall, blood spilling out of his mouth. ¡°Remember your place, invention.¡± Zerus said without even giving him a second look. The Lightning God walked past him, each time his sandal touched the floor, lightning cracked for an instant. The crowd knelt in awed silence. Besides him walked Allasaria, Goddess of Light. Zerus was only known as the leader of the White Pantheon because it was a position too low-brow for Allasaria. She was blinding, with cascading golden hair and dressed in the golden armour she wore in the Great War. Whiright looked away in an attempt to hide his glare. ¡°Alice.¡± Her voice was like a caress in itself. It was quiet and yet everyone in the room heard it. ¡°What is wrong?¡± She tried to pull the girl up but Alice had burst out into tears. ¡°It¡¯s Le-Leona!¡± She cried. ¡°She¡­ She¡­ She¡¯s collapsed!¡± Chapter 4 – Unimpressive Welcome Most Abstracts make for weak divines. There is little foundation one can build with something like ¡®Gluttony¡¯. Galrond is merely an excellent chef who wishes to eat. Neither our White Pantheon nor Arascus¡¯ Empire can make much use of a being like that. For every million failures Abstracts produce though, they make one genius. Whereas I am of Light, I am not an Abstract unlike my sister. Light is measurable and quantifiable. Darkness is merely the absence of light, yet it invokes fear. It¡¯s a terrible power which is ever-present in our world. Pride, I¡¯ve written about extensively already. Leona though is of Luck. Darkness and Pride can, at the very least, be described. Luck is indescribable, Leona herself does not know how her powers work, or maybe she does and simply can¡¯t explain. She¡¯ll simply get a sign that a decision should be thought about, or maybe a passing thought which refuses to leave her mind. She can sense when something terrible is about to strike. It¡¯s a cursed power, bringing her no gain and only pain. I feel sorry for her. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, Of Light: ¡®The Nature of Divinity¡¯. Arascus stopped again as he turned to look at the party behind him, half were elves, the rest were humans. The fact there was no dwarves didn¡¯t surprise him, a dwarf had endurance for hiking but the short legs were a detriment to speed. He could not fly anymore, that was disappointing, although it was natural that his powers would fade as his influence dimmed. They had taken two days to trek out of Baalka¡¯s poisoned land. The drill had been left behind next to the Godstone cube, there was no way to bring it over rugged terrain and it would only risk the chance of discovery. Apparently this was called the ¡®Quarantine Zone¡¯. Every single night, Arascus himself would watch over his followers to make sure no one accidently walked past them. He had felled two dozen wild animals already. The White Pantheon¡¯s Luck was limitless, if he could imagine a scenario where he failed, then he was sure it would happen. With Leona¡¯s Luck, a rat would stumble across them, see him, then meet a travelling beast-speaker the next day and reveal he was free. ¡°We are here.¡± Sara had been a great help over the past few days. She had filled him in on how the world had changed. Ships were now built of steel, cities of more than a million were rather common, great machinations called planes flew in the sky. The nations were all new, apparently a whole host of new Gods have appeared, although Arascus did not really pay them any mind, it was obvious that was going to be the case by the time she even mentioned it. Inventions were always prideful and grand and haughty until they weren¡¯t needed. Then they merely faded away. Back in his time, there existed a God of Windmills and a Goddess of the Loom. Now, he was sure there was some God of Planes. He had asked about his various daughter Goddesses, none of them were inventions. Irinika would never fade away as she was the incarnation of Darkness, Neneria was of Death so she was just as eternal. Kassandora was the one he was worried most about. The White Pantheon had ceased the art of warfare, renaming anything that could even be considered a skirmish to an ¡®honourable conflict.¡¯ Apparently when nations had disputes, they would compete in arenas to a crowd to decide who won. What a farce. War was eternal. If two people had a disagreement, they were at war, whether they knew it or not. The only thing which was similar was the technology of warfare. They still used sword and shield, spear and bow. That had actually regressed, muskets had existed back in the day. The White Pantheon personally went around and put a stop to anything which could serve as a tool of warfare. That had made him smile, the spear was for hunting before it was for killing, the club was a hammer used against men. The sword was merely a sharpened club. They had explosives for mining, but apparently didn¡¯t realise that if it worked against stone, it would work against men. Even with these planes. How difficult would it be to remodel them into something that could defeat air-cavalry? The worst though was this Waeh. Even the name was pathetic. A God of Serving-Pride? It practically made his blood boil, the fact natural human instinct had been subverted to such an extent was downright shameful. Esperanism, his religion, was merely chains slaves would willingly put on themselves. Luckily though, everyone in the party agreed on that. Sara most of all. ¡°We¡¯re almost there.¡± Sara said. She was a beautiful woman, with cold dark eyes and dark hair. Tall too, Arascus had stolen more than a few glances at her once she finally got out of the hazmat suit. ¡°There¡¯s nothing here.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t afford to be open about our activities.¡± Sara replied, took a pause and then explained further. ¡°This is our headquarters, everyone here is someone who was raised in the cult.¡± ¡°Do you not accept members?¡± ¡°Not to our headquarters. We work under the assumption that most of the cells are compromised.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how I led the war back in the day. It¡¯s impressive you survived for so long.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not worthy of the complement My Lord.¡± This side of Sara, Arascus had grown used to over the past two weeks. The woman was all-business, and then she¡¯d come out with a statement like this. ¡°Do you know why you do that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s always been this way.¡± Arascus smiled. So the foundations he had laid were sturdy enough to last a thousand years. That was rather good, other people would call it luck, but he didn¡¯t believe in luck. Fer lay down after dinner, her dark brown hair, better described as a mane, was thick enough to serve as a pillow. Wild game was the best in the world, sleep after food was the second best thing in the world. A darkfur came and knelt before her. A beastman with a goat¡¯s head and ravenous teeth that spilled out of his jaw. His fur was the colour of slate, his eyes redder than blood. ¡°Did you feel it pack master?¡± ¡°The change in the air?¡± Fer smelled the air again. Everyone in the pack felt it. It was odd, as if the winds had changed but there was no way she could really describe the difference. The closest sensation was that of when a storm or an earthquake was about to happen, animals simply¡­ knew.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Yes. What does it mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Fer replied. ¡°But it¡¯s not a bad sign.¡± - Somewhere in the Eastern Tundra, 1024PGW. Arascus watched people flood around a table. He had largely skipped the procedure of a grand welcome, there wasn¡¯t any hall to do it in anyway. The cultists instantly knew he was a God, and if he was here, he would have to be the God they worshipped. They knelt through the underground corridors as he passed them by. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want a party?¡± Sara asked for the tenth time today. ¡°Do you celebrate the sunrise?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then why celebrate me? We¡¯ll sooner have an eternal night than my death.¡± That seemed to finally shut her up. ¡°Is this an ancient dwarf hold?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± ¡®No¡¯ was the answer to most of Arascus¡¯ questions. It was odd to be out of the loop but he had gone through this exact procedure when he first formed. How much could people really change after a millennia? They would wear different clothes, style their hair in new fashions, drive cars instead of horses, but beyond that people were still the same. The fact he still existed meant that even though all the races of Arda had donned new attire, their hearts were the same. Sara had lead him down through a brightly-lit corridor. That was another change, the lights were bright, lifeless and cold. They shone strong but they were nothing like the magical lamps of the past, nor even like candles. There was no carpets nor decorations. It was something akin to a military camp rather than a headquarters. The woman was still dressed in her travelling clothes, Arascus did not want to waste any time whatsoever now that he was back. If there was anything his pride was, it was impatient. ¡°This is the war room.¡± Sara had said as she pulled out a card from the inside of her coat and swiped it along a pad next to the door. The next moment, it split down the middle and retreated into the walls. Arascus felt no magic from the mechanism, odd, but he was used to it at this point. All the doors in the headquarters were like this. The room had a large circular table in the middle. Banners of the ancient legions hung on the walls. Beyond that, there was a sword on the wall. That was the first magical item he had found, although it was merely a paladin¡¯s blade from the Great War. Apart from that, the room was empty and lifeless. ¡°I see your leadership is rather punctual.¡± Arascus said slowly. ¡°We maintain radio silence when we¡¯re outside, there was no way for me to contact them in advance.¡± Sara explained. She had talked of this radio too, a device which could send voice and video immediately over large distances. Arascus didn¡¯t know how to feel on that, on one hand, it was useful, on the other, if the White Pantheon had radios back in the day, he would have been defeated in a third of the time. ¡°Call everyone important here.¡± Arascus said as he looked at the seats around the round table. They were all high backed, with wheels on the bottom and fashioned of black leather. One of them was too large for a man, too large even for an elf. It was on the opposite end of the room, facing the entrance. It was obviously the one made for him. He went and sat down. ¡°I am in charge of recruitment, Sara Daganhoff.¡± Sara said. ¡°This is the head engineer, Mikhail Alash. He was the one in charge of the Godcracker Drill.¡± ¡°Mikhail, sit, Sara, go fetch everyone.¡± It was time to see what state his little cult was in. Five minutes later, the man arrived. An elf who introduced himself as Ilwin, surnamed Tremali although Mikhail had told him the only two elven families here were Tremali and Olpho. Those names Arascus actually recognised, both had their ancestors serve as generals of different armies a thousand years. ¡°At your service my lord.¡± Ilwin said as he knelt. He was dressed in a black suit, with golden hair and green eyes, Arascus could see the resemblance between him and Iliyal Tremali, the general who had led the eighth army in the months prior to the defeat. To think the man had children¡­ ¡°Stand and take your seat, what is your position?¡± ¡°Head of special operations.¡± Ilwin said as he sat off not too far from Arascus. ¡°Two hundred, thirty eight years of age, it is a blessing to finally meet you.¡± Arascus merely gave him a nod, pointless flattery was pointless. ¡°How many members do we have?¡± ¡°The headquarters has two thousand, the outer branches have about two hundred thousand.¡± ¡°Impressive.¡± ¡°We are split amongst many nations of the Epan Continent, and then we have twelve branches in Union territories.¡± ¡°Union?¡± ¡°The UNN, Union of New Nations, the continent was discovered five hundred years ago, it lies west of Alanktyda.¡± Alanktyda was the ocean west of Epa. Arascus nodded, back then, they had thought they were the only grand landmass on Arda. How things have changed¡­ Next came a human, Rickard Narma. The man in charge of finance in the cult. He had brown hair, wore a suit of the same style as Ilwin and had blue eyes. His face was shaved smoothed as if he had just prepared for this meeting. Shorter than Ilwin by a foot, shorter than Arascus by three. He knelt on both knees before Arascus. ¡°Rise and sit.¡± Arascus said once the man finished with his flattery. So it went, a human or an elf would come in, introduce themselves. State their names and then finish with some comment along the lines of ¡°I am not worthy of this honour¡± or ¡°Praise the risen God.¡± Arascus wasn¡¯t impressed. Sara came back eventually, she had changed too. The camouflaged clothes had been swapped out for a black and white suit. The top two buttons of her white were undone to reveal a pretty cleavage, she had reddened her lips and darkened her eyelashes with makeup. ¡°This one greets the-¡°. ¡°Did I ask you to change?¡± The room was silent before, no one would dare make a comment before their God when they weren¡¯t aware of his character. Sara looked up, her eyes wide. For the first time in two weeks, Arascus saw some sort of genuine emotion in them: Fear. He had been pleasant enough before, he could forgive some slips here and there due to her excitement and exhaustion from the hike, but not when they were in a meeting. ¡°I apologiz-¡° ¡°Words are wind, don¡¯t bother.¡± Arascus said coldly, the temperature in the room seemed to drop and the silence flooded in: people even held their breathes as the God¡¯s aura resonated through them. ¡°Rise, fix your shirt and sit. Have some pride.¡± No one had impressed him so far, Mikhail was the only sort of character who could even be compared to a member of his previous court and the man was only an engineer. Arascus had no damn clue how they managed to survive for a millennia if this was the sort of talent they were working with. Sara¡¯s cheeks flushed a crimson in embarrassment as she quickly did up the two buttons. To think the woman would have the gall to try and seduce a God! Who did she think she was? She sat close to Arascus and awkwardly avoided eye contact. ¡°Who is the last seat?¡± Arascus asked. No one had the decency to respond. ¡°The Sect Captain, sir.¡± Ilwin spoke up after a long silence. Great. So even the leader was useless! Fantastic! Amazing! Arascus leaned back as he answered back. ¡°When I ask a question, I expect a response immediately. I will not kill you for being wrong, I will kill you for being useless.¡± Suddenly, laughter filled the room from the outside. If the atmosphere among these people was cold before, now it had plunged below freezing. Arascus saw them exchange terrified and nervous glances, only his face was different. The laugh was recognised instantly and the corners of his lips turned up. An elf appeared through the door. Unlike everyone else, he did not walk, he strode. He wore a suit like the rest of them but that was where the similarities ended. Around his shoulders hung a red cloak outlined in gold. He was the only man armed, a blade resonating with ancient sorceries hung off his belt. That sword was both the only weapon and the only magic in the entire room. He had pale hair and green eyes, wrinkles on his forehead and a beaming smile on his face. His dark boots tapped the floor with every step, proudly exclaiming the advance of their wearer. He stood at the end of the table, met Arascus¡¯ gaze and pulled a salute the God thought he would never see again. ¡°Captain Tremali reporting, Sir.¡± Arascus smiled as the questions in his mind were all answered. Iliyal Tremali, General of the Eighth Army of the Empire. Trained by Arascus personally, of course he could lead a rebellious sect against the White Pantheon. Chapter 5 – Panic In The Pantheon As beings of will, we are bound by the ideas of mortals. I am most aware of this myself: I am strict, disciplined, unflinching, unbending. Even though the word is cursed, I am proud too. The issue of the White Pantheon is that we are inherently contradictory. The conception of Elassa was brought about not from mages but from the millions of mundane folk¡¯s stereotypes about them. Mages are inherently lonely, closed off, stubborn, pretentious, know-it-all¡¯s. Thus, Elassa embodies those traits to the utter extreme. Likewise, mages sustain themselves through magic rather than food, so why would the Goddess of Food & Bounty ever get along with the Goddess of those who don¡¯t need to eat? As much as it pains everyone to accept it, this ruling has no exceptions. Why do Of Love and Of Food & Bounty get along flawlessly? Well what better way to a person¡¯s heart than through a meal? Why did Allasaria pursue Irinika for a century even after the rest of the Pantheon had closed her case? Because Light and Darkness are inherently connected with each other. I am honest to the extreme. Even when dealing with Arascus, I will praise him where he deserves praise. His pride fundamentally is a contradiction. It was through that contradictory Pride that he died laughing at us, feeling superior even as we locked him away. It is through that contradictory Pride that somehow the Goddess of Order ended up alongside the Goddess of Luck. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, Of Order: ¡®The Rules Binding Us¡¯. Zerus sat in his throne. He utterly, absolutely, eternally hated everyone in the White Pantheon. He liked them all individually, but then when they had to come together, he wanted to call down a lightning strike onto Olympiada and eradicate the whole mountain. ¡°Are you getting nostalgic Zerus? You¡¯re calling us for what?¡± Iniri, of Food & Bounty, asked as she strolled into the ancient sanctum of the White Pantheon. Her hair was brown like ground, her eyes green like leaves and her dress was flowing with the bright colours of spring: all yellows and whites and pinks and oranges. At seven foot, she was taller than every human but when amongst the Gods, she was caught a good foot lacking. ¡°You¡¯re late.¡± Zerus¡¯ voice rumbled through the room. The magical lamps floating in the air quivered. He sat in the middle of the half-circle of grand marble thrones. Iniri merely shrugged and chuckled as she leisurely took her spot at the end. She was always like that, Zerus didn¡¯t exactly know why the woman didn¡¯t get along with him. ¡°Since Sceo isn¡¯t here, I¡¯m suspecting this isn¡¯t an assembly to celebrate another attempt at a child.¡± Iniri smirked. ¡°And Leo isn¡¯t here anyway so I guess that makes me lucky.¡± Kavaa, of Health, and beautiful Helenna, of Love, didn¡¯t bother to hide their smiles. They had about as much adoration for Zerus as Iniri had, which was none. That only annoyed him more, as he didn¡¯t understand why exactly. ¡°If I knew you were coming, I¡¯d have called a milkmaid Iniri.¡± Elassa, of Magic, spoke up. A wispy woman, wrapped in a light blue shawl with white hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful, exotic and terrifying. Her eyes were sharp and her features were all angular. Her hair would move by itself every now and then as if a wind came upon it. Unfortunately for Elassa, Iniri was just as childish as her. Zerus sat back in his seat and let out a soundless sigh as he saw Iniri smirk and her mouth begin to move. There was no point getting involved with these children. He was the eldest among them, he should be respectable. ¡°I see the witch is still as good as ever.¡± Iniri made her green eyes large as she leaned forwards and used her arms to squeeze her impressive chest, the complete opposite of Elassa¡¯s. She even made her voice sound innocent. ¡°I actually have some wine you can have. It¡¯s a good substitute for a partner you know.¡± Elassa barked back instantly. ¡°It¡¯s not hard to find love when you¡¯ll even suckle with cows. But I¡¯ll be sure to visit when I want to finally give up on all my dignity and roll around in the mud.¡± There were few Gods who would dare to talk about love with Helenna, every God was jealous of their own domain, but Helenna was most jealous of them all. The Goddess of Love¡¯s red eyes grew dark, her hair went from a pale gold to a righteous red and she let out a sigh that would make any man¡¯s heart melt before she spoke. ¡°Don¡¯t be petty sweet Elassa. I¡¯m still working on the fact everyone who loves you is a bit¡­¡± She lifted a delicate finger to the side of her head and spun it around. ¡°You know, coo-coo.¡± Iniri let out a chuckle. Elassa replied just as quickly to Helenna as she did to Iniri. ¡°I appreciate the gesture sweet Helenna, but I really don¡¯t need to rely on others to make me a meal when I can do it myself.¡± Zerus thought about stopping this. This was how the scenario always went, some quip from one of the smaller members, someone would accidently set off Helenna, and then Helenna would set off everyone else. ¡°SILENCE!¡± Maisara, of Order, shouted as she stood up from her throne. Her voice didn¡¯t have any anger in it, it was simply a pure command, but her grey eyes carried a terrible judgement in them. ¡°ALL OF YOU! You are better than this. Wait patiently for once in your miserable lives!¡± Unlike most of the other divines, she wore no shawl or dress, instead she had come in her silver armour: A solid, unadorned breastplate, a battle skirt and boots that reached covered her calves. Her long hair of a dull silver colour stayed still as her executioner¡¯s axe materialized before her. It stood perfectly straight, her hands clasped over the end. ¡°I concur with Maisara.¡± Fortia, of Peace, added when Maisara had finished. Her words were smooth, not a command but a suggestion. She was much like the former Goddess but whereas one was silver, the other was gold. Her hair brilliantly blinding, her armour with tassels of red cloth with decoration. Where one stood behind an axe taller than two men, the other clasped a spear by her side. Elassa and Iniri both shut up, giving dirty looks to each other but not continuing the petty squabble. Not Helenna though. Never Helenna, Goddess of Love. Maisara and Fortia both stared daggers at Helenna as the woman graciously stood up. Her hair becoming a gold more vivid than Fortia¡¯s. She ran her hands along her the side of her dress, making sure to wordlessly tell both of the cold statues on the other side of the room that even together, they could never compare to her womanhood. ¡°My my my.¡± Helenna¡¯s voice was a cat¡¯s purr, all smug and condescending. ¡°Looks like you two have some passion in you after all.¡± What was love without war? What was love without chaos? It was only natural that the Goddess of Love would never get along those of Peace and Order. Zerus let out a sigh. This time they could hear him. No one took any notice of course. It was always like this. He closed his eyes and counted the clouds in his head, Sceo had taught him this, to think of her and count clouds in his head when he wanted to calm down. One¡­ Two¡­ Three¡­Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± Fortia¡¯s whisper reached only Zerus and Maisara. Of course, the proud Goddess of Order ignored that whisper. Six¡­ Seven¡­ ¡°I have nothing against you sister.¡± Maisara¡¯s voice boomed through the sanctum. ¡°But act a like a damn Divine and don¡¯t humiliate all of us with this pointless bickering.¡± Eleven¡­ Twelve¡­ ¡°I¡¯m honoured you call me sister. I didn¡¯t think a heart like yours was capable of knowing what family means.¡± ¡°Mai, she¡¯s only teasing you because you give her a reaction.¡± Zerus blessed Fortia, bless that little heart of hers for thinking she can calm these two down. Maisara, predictably, ignored Fortia¡¯s wise words. ¡°Helenna, you¡¯re not worth my time.¡± Seventeen¡­ Eighteen¡­. ¡°Is that why you¡¯re still standing before me?¡± Zerus didn¡¯t need to open his eyes to know exactly what sort of smug expression Helenna was making. He could tell from the voice, he had it be directed at him a thousand times before. Twenty-One¡­ ¡°You¡¯re a Goddess, you should behave like one.¡± ¡°Since you know the rules so well, shouldn¡¯t you show me how they¡¯re done?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to back away from you Helenna.¡± Twenty-Six¡­ ¡°Back away? You only have to kneel before me and I¡¯ll be happy.¡± ¡°That¡¯s going too far Helenna!¡± Fortia shouted out. ¡°Oh what a surprise! Peace and Order once again! My favourite pairing!¡± Helenna spoke as she chuckled. Zerus forced his eyes shut with all of his might and tightened his fists. ¡°Don¡¯t speak out of turn.¡± Fortia¡¯s voice was boiling in a cool anger. ¡°Are you trying to scare me junior?¡± And there it was. The Gods didn¡¯t have many taboos, certainly less than the mortals, but one of the few things that was to never be called out was who appeared before who. Twenty-Nine¡­ ¡°The only reason an old hag like you can talk is because we came about to make sure you didn¡¯t cause extinction!¡± Maisara shouted across the room. The only response was Helenna¡¯s clapping. How did that woman even make her claps seem smug? ¡°Oh I know I know, you two are our great saviours who work together to protect everyone from the rest of us. I, Helenna, merely the measly Goddess of such a ridiculous concept as Love, thank gracious Maisara and even-more-gracious Fortia and wish the two of you a long and fruitful relationship. I hope one day the bed you share won¡¯t be as dry as the Sassara.¡± Thirty¡­ Zerus opened his eyes, they were now shining a blinding white. For an instant, he saw a scowling Maisara, her axe had buried itself into the marble floor. He saw Fortia, her beautiful face had twisted in rage, her spear was aimed at Helenna and he saw Helenna. She simply stood there, hands on her hips, she was bent slightly forwards as if she was a lecturing teacher and she had a smile so annoying he could never dream to replicate even a fraction of it. In the next instant, lightning struck the three of them. ¡°STOP! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!¡± Baku Nada turned to face the police officers. They sent out a good response. Three cars, eight troopers. He moved his shoulders, cracked his neck and felt Anarchia¡¯s blessed strength travel through his body. He spoke calmly, there wasn¡¯t any reason to cause harm needlessly. ¡°Put down your clubs.¡± He wasn¡¯t a man of violence. It was simply that violence tended to come to him. The officers surrounded him. Their batons crackled with stunning electricity. Unfortunately for them, they didn¡¯t put down their clubs. Allasaria walked into the White Pantheon¡¯s inner sanctum. She sighed immediately. Children, the lot of them. Kavaa, of Health, was kneeling over Helenna, of Love, who was pushing herself up from the floor. On the other side of the room, Maisara was kneeling in her silver armour. Her hair was messed with loose strands pointed in odd directions. Her hands were gripping her oversized axe as they quivered. Fortia was on her back, taking heavy breathes as smoke rose from her body. She was gripping her spear and muttering something too quiet for anyone to hear. The atmosphere in the room instantly changed. These Gods were either Abstracts, like Maisara being of Order or Fortia of Peace, or they were Forces, like Zerus of Lightning or Elassa of Magic, but no one compared to Allasaria, of Light. Light was an omnipresent force, there wasn¡¯t a God who could compare to the power Allasaria held. Allasaria clicked her tongue to let Helenna know she was there. Maisara and Fortia flicked their gaze to her but made no movement of acknowledgement as they returned to their marble thrones, they were always like that: Abstracts struck in the past. Helenna though¡­ Allasaria knew Helenna had heard her, how could she not? But she didn¡¯t care. ¡°Oh Zerus, I see why Sceo has fallen for you if you can pull off tricks like this.¡± Zerus merely met Helenna¡¯s gaze, he was too old to be caught quibbling with a girl like this. Or maybe it was just because Allasaria had appeared. Allasaria merely waved her hand. Light shot from one of the walls and blasted into Helenna. It wasn¡¯t enough to hurt her in any major way, but it still launched her off her feet and threw her like a doll into her own throne. The woman¡¯s dressed was charred black and her cheeks were flushed red with anger. Her hands shot to her stomach as she tried to pretend it didn¡¯t hurt. ¡°Sit Kavaa.¡± Allasaria said as she walked to her own throne, between Fortia¡¯s and Zerus¡¯. She met Helenna¡¯s gaze for a moment as the woman readjusted her dress. ¡°You make my heart melt with a greeting like that.¡± Helenna said. Allasaria merely replied with a raised eyebrow, taunting the woman to say more. She did not. Silence fell over the sanctum as the Gods and Goddesses all looked at each other. They must have finally realised the situation was serious if Allasaria herself had come. Thirteen of the fourteen thrones were taken, only the one between Zerus and Allasaria was left open: Leona¡¯s throne. ¡°So everyone is here.¡± It was tradition for Zerus to always start the conversation. He was the oldest of them, so he should begin. His voice boomed across the sanctum like thunder and the magical lamps swayed in the air but the moment he said that, every gaze turned to the empty throne to his right. ¡°As you know already, a full assembly is only called when we face utmost crisis.¡± He took a sigh, as if unwilling to say the words himself. ¡°Leona has collapsed.¡± Allasaria scanned the reactions of everyone in the Pantheon, she trusted all of them, but certainty was the highest form of trust and certainty was something she could only achieve through investigation. No one would be stupid enough to harm Leona but¡­ It was that tiny but in her head that wanted to call this meeting. There were a few divines out there who knew how to lie, Arascus had been a master of deceit but the members of the White Pantheon? Her eyes shifted to Zerus and Helenna. They were the only ones who could pull it off. Zerus, even though his title was God-King, had little interest in petty politics like this. He also fawned over Leona, lightning had long been considered a source of good luck. Helenna? Helenna was purposefully annoying and argumentative, but she loved Leona the most of them all. How could she not? Luck to love was like sparks to flames. The rest were much the same, only Maisara and Fortia had little love for Leona, but the world would end before of Order broke a rule and of Peace harmed a member of the White Pantheon. No one gave any suspicious reaction. Allasaria clicked her tongue again. She would have preferred a reaction. That meant the issue could have been solved today. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Helenna broke the silence, her voice was hollow as if was unable to comprehend the words she just heard. ¡°Leona has collapsed?¡± ¡°She has.¡± Zerus answered. The White Pantheon sat in silence for a minute. Two. Five. Ten. Finally Maisara took a deep breath, brushed off some dust from her skirt and spoke up in that strong tone she always had. ¡°We know that Leona feels pain when something terrible is apart about to strike.¡± She took a deep breath. ¡°But on this level¡­¡± When even cold Maisara had trouble talking, it was bad. Allasaria spoke up. ¡°Before the Godkiller incident, she had a month long migraine. The last time she collapsed¡­¡± Allasaria felt her voice go weak. She couldn¡¯t say another word. Maisara gave her a dirty look, stood up and finished for her. Everyone here had been there before, everyone knew what happened last time Leona collapsed, but the words simply had to be said. ¡°I thank mighty Allasaria for the interruption so let me finish, but there is only one time that Leona has collapsed previously. It was the day before Arascus, God of Pride, declared war on the known world.¡± Chapter 6 – Divinity Watch The Union of New Nations is a country that is merely a child compared to anything in the old continent, unquenchable grievances have not had time to fester. Likewise, the East has long been dominated by Great Guguo, although their own sect politics are troublesome, they rarely spill over into actual harm to the general population. It is Epa that is most troublesome. The continent is carved onto a fabric of endless wounds that are merely plastered over. Where it not for the fact Olympiada is in Epa, the best solution after the Great War would be total annihilation of this land. It takes only a single spark to set fire to a bandage, and the foundation of post-war Epa is nothing but bandages. Excerpt from ¡®An Anarchian Perspective on Epa¡¯, a piece by a follower of Anarchia, of Anarchy. ¡°Everyone but Iliyal leave.¡± Arascus had given them half an hour of his patience, then another thirty minutes of his sanity. He got a series of stunned glances but no one dared question a God in the flesh, Mikhail stood up immediately as if he was bored of the meeting. He gave a bow and turned to leave as the rest of the people around the table watched him. Arascus spoke up again when the man had crossed half the room. ¡°So one of you has ears.¡± Mikhail puffed out his chest in pride as the rest of the people hurried out. Although they weren¡¯t terrible, they weren¡¯t anything impressive either. Arascus could see the lot of them being governors of towns, not those who would become future leaders. ¡°Sara, you¡¯re in charge of recruitment?¡± ¡°I am Sir.¡± Her tone was careful now, she had said little after being ridiculed at the start. ¡°Then you have a good eye for people?¡± ¡°I do.¡± It was a statement, but her tone was if she was asking a question. ¡°Do you?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°I do.¡± She replied in a more definite voice this time. ¡°Good, then you¡¯re in charge of preparing servants for my room.¡± She blinked, her eyebrows climbing almost up to her hair. ¡°W-What kind of servants are you looking for?¡± ¡°We spent two weeks on a hike and an hour in a meeting, didn¡¯t you just say you have a good eye for people?¡± Arascus smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s see how good it is, impress me.¡± He already knew she would send spies to his room, so he might as well give her the perfect opening. It was easier to hide away plans when you knew who you were dealing with. ¡°You¡¯re dismissed.¡± ¡°Yes Sir. Thank you Sir.¡± She bowed and left. The doors slid closed behind her. ¡°Still as paranoid as ever, you¡¯ve not changed a bit.¡± Iliyal said as he leaned back. He poured himself another glass of water. His green eyes finally relaxed as he was left alone with a God. ¡°Neither have you.¡± Arascus replied as he spun on the chair, they didn¡¯t have these back in the day. ¡°Sara¡¯s going to spy on me.¡± ¡°She¡¯s not a traitor, she¡¯s just a ladder-climber.¡± ¡°Do you have any traitors?¡± Iliyal shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, but you never know for sure, do you?¡± Arascus burst out in laughter as the chair finally stopped spinning. ¡°So what do you want to ask?¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°We¡¯re in a sorry state.¡± ¡°That we are.¡± Iliyal agreed as he downed the glass of water. ¡°We don¡¯t even have fine wines anymore.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have anyone on Divinity Watch.¡± That was the organisation is charge of monitoring the Gods and Goddesses and tracking their movements. Iliyal merely shrugged again. ¡°I¡¯m Divinity Watch and I¡¯m the only one who knows what the Daughters actually look like. For the Pantheon, they don¡¯t hide their locations anymore and it¡¯s bad for morale.¡± ¡°Bad for morale?¡± ¡°Maybe if we met one of the Inventions, we could take it down but any of the big names?¡± He let out a pfffttt. ¡°We can¡¯t even go up against Kavaa or Iniri so we don¡¯t need a reminder of how powerless we are.¡± ¡°What about the weapon incarnations?¡± ¡°Locked away, we don¡¯t know where.¡± ¡°And the Daughters?¡± Iliyal gave a sigh. ¡°Officially, everyone of them is dead.¡± The elf gave a laugh which sounded more like a growl. ¡°But three, I have confirmed as alive so I don¡¯t believe the other five are dead either. Irinika certainly isn¡¯t, they chased her for three centuries, Allasaria did it for five. Eventually they just stopped talking about her, the others are the same. They¡¯re simply said to be dead but there¡¯s never been a corpse to show off.¡± ¡°Which are the ones alive?¡± ¡°Olephia is locked away is Artica.¡± The uninhabited landmass at the very southern reaches of Arda. It was a wasteland of ice. Arascus merely nodded, in their position he would have done the same. Olephia was of Chaos, it was such an unpredictable abstract it was simply better to lock Olephia away forever than risk her reincarnation and whatever monster it would create. ¡°Anassa is on Olympiada, with Elassa.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve joined forces?¡± Arascus asked as his eyes narrowed. Anassa was of Sorcery, Elassa was of Magic. The two had always had a friendly rivalry. It didn¡¯t surprise him¡­ it was merely disappointing. Anassa was always stronger than Elassa, he didn¡¯t think expect her to break. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Anassa has never appeared in public since the war, but I know for certain she¡¯s on Olympiada.¡± ¡°And the last one?¡± ¡°Fer.¡± Arascus gave a nod. Of course she would still be alive. ¡°She¡¯s actually alive and free, she lives in the Eastern Tundra, the one above Guguo.¡± Ilwin looked at Arascus, his face as cold and hard as stone, his tone just as emotionless. ¡°We¡¯ve never made an attempt at contact.¡± When he saw Arascus reply with a nod, he let out a breath. ¡°That¡¯s good, it would have only given you away.¡± ¡°My thinking exactly.¡± The elf had a good amount of pride in his voice. Arascus leaned back and thought about his daughters for a minute. Ilwin merely poured himself another glass of water. ¡°There¡¯s something you need to know.¡± Arascus said and Ilwin answered immediately. ¡°Your strength has faded.¡± He gave a nod. ¡°I felt it the moment I stepped into the room.¡± ¡°Have they increased in strength?¡± There was no question who they meant between these men. ¡°Allasaria, Elassa, Maisara, Fortia all have. The others have faded though.¡± ¡°How powerful is Zerus?¡± Arascus asked and Ilwin merely shook his head. ¡°Weaker I assume but the Pantheon isn¡¯t that much of an issue anymore. There¡¯s this Ciria about, of Civilization, and a Halkus, of Industry. They¡¯re the big dogs now. Halkus I think is stronger but I¡¯ve only caught sight of them a few times. Neither get along with the old lot.¡± Arascus leaned back. ¡°They don¡¯t?¡± ¡°New kids on the block. They¡¯re like our Sara.¡± Ilwin saw Arascus¡¯ smile and shook his head. ¡°We¡¯ve tried already, they¡¯re true believers in this new world. They¡¯re not part of it, but they won¡¯t turn on the Pantheon.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve not met me yet.¡± Arascus shook his head. Of Industry may be difficult to sway but of Civilization? What a joke! What civilization wasn¡¯t proud of itself? ¡°But we¡¯re not dealing with them yet.¡± ¡°I assumed as much.¡± Ilwin replied. Arascus took a breath and asked the question to test the loyalty of his ancient general. ¡°Why did the war go on pause?¡± Arascus and Ilwin burst out in laughter, spitting out the water over the table. The God merely raised a questioning eyebrow as the elf waved his hand apologetically. ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± ¡°I say the same the thing. There¡¯s some fools out there who say we lost but as long as we¡¯re alive, the war rages on.¡± Arascus chuckled. Of course the man would say that, he had only chosen the best to be his generals. ¡°So?¡± ¡°They got lucky!¡± Ilwin burst out and Arascus affirmed with a nod. ¡°There¡¯s no way we could be defeated! It¡¯s like playing dice against someone who only rolls sixes!¡± ¡°So we agree.¡± Arascus said. ¡°All that has happened is we took a millennia long break to reassess the situation. We¡¯re not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. Before we stoke the fires of war again, we make sure to remove the greatest threat.¡± ¡°Leona.¡± ¡°Leona.¡± Chapter 7 – Hunger Unending Arascus walked into Mikhail¡¯s workshop. He had stepped with Anassa into her various worlds of sorcery before, this was much like that. There was a desk near the door, and then the realm of men ended and industrial insanity began. ¡°Mikhail.¡± He summoned the engineer from behind a cluster of pipes and blinking lights. ¡°What is it my lord?¡± ¡°You fashioned the drill, did you not?¡± ¡°I did.¡± He said rather proudly. ¡°Do you fashion weapons?¡± ¡°It¡¯s why I took this job.¡± The engineer pulled out a small device from his pocket and pressed a button. One of the walls lowered to reveal an armoury to make any knight blush. Arascus walked into it: swords, hammers, glaives, axes, there was enough here to outfit a small horde of beastmen. ¡°Fine works.¡± Arascus said as he spun one of the swords in his hand, it was finely balanced and it didn¡¯t have any needless decorations. The craftsmanship spoke for itself. ¡°But they¡¯re primitive.¡± That seemed to catch Mikhail¡¯s attention. ¡°Primitive?¡± ¡°Back in the Great War, about thirty years before it ended, the dwarves fashioned muskets, started to at least.¡± The God turned to Mikhail, his eyes weren¡¯t confused or angry at the insult. Instead, they burned with a hunger enough to devour a mountain. ¡°A day of training with that weapon is enough to surpass a decade of knighthood.¡± Mikhail grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. ¡°Show me.¡± The Arcadian School of Magic served as the grandest institution of magic in the entire world. In the era of the Great War, it had stood as a fine collection of towers surrounding a sacred leyline crossover point, now the institution had devoured the neighbouring the towns and grown large enough to be considered to be a tiny nation. It had even been given a new name: Arcadia. It was the beating heart of magic for an entire continent, even the governments of Epa would not try and set up their own national colleges. Afterall, what hope did they have to try and compete with the Goddess of Magic? She had served as the school¡¯s headmistress since its founding. It was generally a quiet place, the various training facilities had their own noise suppression fields. One of the dorm-rooms was exceptionally quiet today, with nothing but whispers between the four students inside. ¡°Lyca, you CANNOT do that!¡± Eliza shouted at her friend, she was a short girl in her prime, short but well blessed by nature. She knew it herself, the skirt had been rolled up to reveal a fair amount of thigh. They were all final year students of Arcadia. She turned to Edmonton, her brown eyes pleading for the oldest of them to stop Lyca. ¡°Tell him something Ed! We¡¯ll get expelled.¡± Edmonton ran his hands through his hair and let out a heavy breath, he stood an inch taller than Lyca and was a month older but that¡¯s where the seniority ended. Lyca was the most talented of them all. ¡°Is it that bad though?¡± He asked Eliza. The girl tugged at the edges of her blazer, then finally crossed her arms with a hmph.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°I¡¯ve never met anyone as cretinous as the two of you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t moralize in front of us.¡± Lyca said again as he pointed to the piece of paper. It was a map of Elassa¡¯s Gardens. The gardens were the size of a small town, students would visit them to go on dates or to practice magic but there was one location which was to never be visited. The Divine Library, it was one of the first things any student would be told, the library held divine magical arts which would cause your mind to explode. It had always made Lyca curious. ¡°And can you answer my questions? If it¡¯s so dangerous, why is there no guards? Why do teachers not even go there? If the knowledge in there is so strong, why do we not use it?¡± He rattled them off one by one before getting to the one that had made them all interested. ¡°And why is it THE Divine Library, not Elassa¡¯s Divine Library?¡± In the gardens, everything carried the Goddesses¡¯ name, even the benches were called Elassa¡¯s Blessed Bench of whatever-year because her ass had once touched it. Edmonton tapped the piece of paper. ¡°But we can¡¯t have been the first to ever work it out.¡± He leaned back against the bunkbed, he twisted and pulled the green pillow to rest his back. ¡°Come on Lyca.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point, how many people have actually disappeared?¡± Lyca said, the buttons on his shirt were undone and his chest trembled with excitement. His blue eyes couldn¡¯t contain what he just worked out. ¡°Actually, I concur with Lyca.¡± Fleur said, like the rest of them, she was in the elite classes of the final year. Those elite classes trained only the strongest of the next generation and that strength bred a certain type of character. Her hair was black and straight, she wore her tie high, her skirt modest, her face was sharp and angular, her eyes were dark but they shone with the brightness of quick wit. Whereas Lyca¡¯s uniform was creased in various places, Fleur¡¯s was so perfect she may as well have been born in it: she was a true Rancais. ¡°That¡¯s three against one Eliza.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°I never said I¡¯d wouldn¡¯t do it.¡± Eliza quickly bit back. ¡°I¡¯m just saying you¡¯re stupid for it.¡± Lyca burst out in laughter, his light hair almost danced in the light of the sun outside. ¡°And you¡¯re plan isn¡¯t even stupid, it¡¯s the sort of thing I¡¯d expect a child to think up. Although even a child would have enough brains to realise how idiotic it was.¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± He joked. ¡°Yes really.¡± Eliza crossed her arms and pushed her breasts up, Fleur silently averted her eyes. There wasn¡¯t much she was envious of, she was smarter and stronger than Eliza but Lady Luck had blessed the girl in one certain aspect. ¡°You want to sneak in in the middle of the night like some supervillain. That¡¯s not how you do it.¡± ¡°Enlighten us then.¡± Lyca said. ¡°A week from now, we have the semester assembly. Everyone will be there.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t miss it.¡± Fleur quickly said. Eliza merely smiled at the girl and pushed her chest out even more. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask if you can or not, I¡¯m saying you will miss it. There¡¯ll be a parade, all the teachers, everyone will be there. We¡¯ll have an entire day to walk in and browse at our leisure.¡± Eliza turned to the two boys in front of her. ¡°There¡¯ll be no running or magical artefacts or whatever, we¡¯ll simply go on a walk. We act like we belong there, then no one will think twice about us.¡± ¡°Like I said, I can¡¯t miss it!¡± Fleur said again. Lyca was about to argue back when Edmonton pushed elbowed his side. Lyca was a brat, he was smart yes, but he lacked social skills, Ed did not. He thought so at least. ¡°Why not?¡± He asked. ¡°I¡¯m giving a presentation.¡± If it was Eliza who didn¡¯t want to go, maybe it would be challenging, but Fleur was an easy blade to handle. ¡°I forgot, they really deserve to see you, don¡¯t they?¡± Fleur¡¯s eyebrow twitched as she closed her eyes. ¡°Of course they don¡¯t.¡± She said quietly. ¡°No no, you should stay Fleur. We need someone to take the hit and entertain the masses to take attention off us.¡± Fleur didn¡¯t respond, Edmonton only pressed the attack. ¡°Make sure to give them a nice smile as Miss Yana said, the boys need something to give them sweet dreams.¡± Fleur shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t even mention that hag.¡± ¡°She¡¯s a teacher you know, you should always listen to your betters.¡± Fleur opened her eyes, they were rolling in anger. ¡°As if she had the gall to say that to me!¡± She shouted. ¡°And she isn¡¯t my better!¡± ¡°Is she not?¡± ¡°NO!¡± ¡°She knows more than you do.¡± ¡°Only because she¡¯s a hundred years old!¡± ¡°Then you can live in her shadow for the next century.¡± Edmonton made his voice and emotionless and then tapped the map. ¡°Or she can live in yours from next week.¡± Fleur sighed and shook her head. ¡°I know exactly what you did.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not stupid enough to think I can trick you.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t, and we¡¯re doing it next week.¡± Chapter 8 – Shot In The Dark Sara broke another pen under her teeth. She spat the plastic out and sighed. More coffee was needed. The maids she set up in Arascus¡¯ room were worthless, telling her nothing. The man didn¡¯t even sleep with them! What was that? She had specifically chosen the best whores she could find! Her hand slammed the table and looked at the latest piece of paper. ¡°Stop Union recruitment, concentrate all assets onto Epa. You have six months to double our numbers. Do not worry about spies.¡± Elassa and Allasaria walked through a marble corridor in Olympiada. They had met bowing servants a mile away, but this area was sparsely populated. Humans had no reason to come here, Gods even less so. ¡°Did you meet the Sorceress?¡± Allasaria asked. She was tall, even for a Goddess, almost as tall as Arascus. A head taller than Elassa herself, her hair flowed down past her hips and the dress she wore was a simple white thing going to her ankles, even dressed as plainly as a peasant, her beauty effortlessly outshone Elassa. The Goddess of Magic wasn¡¯t stupid enough to pick a fight with Allasaria over it though. ¡°First thing I did after the assembly.¡± Elassa said. ¡°And?¡± ¡°Nothing. She does not know.¡± Allasaria took a few moments to respond as they rounded another corner. A maid was sweeping the floor, she saw the two divines and instantly bowed. They walked past her without even an acknowledgement. ¡°Did you mention him?¡± Elassa grit her teeth. What was she? A little girl to be micromanaged? ¡°Of course I mentioned him.¡± ¡°Or she could be lying.¡± Elassa had enough. Curse Allasaria, the two of them had this conversation five times already. She made her voice cold. ¡°Do you want to visit her yourself?¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Not particularly, I don¡¯t like her.¡± ¡°Then shut up about her.¡± Allasaria¡¯s chuckle rumbled like thunder through the corridor. The heat from Elassa¡¯s side became almost searing and the aura of the woman next to her threatened to crush her. ¡°Dear sister, behave yourself.¡± ¡°I apologize for my lack of decorum.¡± Elassa instantly replied and Allasaria said nothing, she merely made another turn as the pressure instantly dissipated. ¡°What about the Beast?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°Still in the tundra, we have drones tracking her location, she¡¯s doing nothing of note.¡± ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Allasaria¡¯s steps slowed. She actually turned her head to make sure the white marble corridor was empty. In the next instant, a sphere of light appeared around the two Goddesses. Elassa met Allasaria¡¯s gaze and wished she didn¡¯t. Those bright eyes seemed to claw their way into her very soul, she couldn¡¯t pull her own away. ¡°I have considerations Elassa.¡± Allasaria began, her voice was cold. ¡°I want your opinion on them.¡± Elassa tried to say something but her throat was dry, she merely responded with a nod. ¡°I contacted the Artica camp, Olephia has shown no reaction either, I¡¯ve checked on Kassandora myself and she¡¯s as depressed as usual. If you¡¯re correct on Anassa and Fer, then those two don¡¯t know anything either.¡± The Goddess of Light took a breath. ¡°One, maybe we could still be uncertain but how can four of them not feel anything? I do not think it is Arascus.¡± ¡°Send Kavaa to check.¡± ¡°Even if we send Kavaa, it would take her a year to make a path through the poisoned Earth. It poisons even stone.¡± ¡°Better than sitting around, isn¡¯t it?¡± Elassa said and Allasaria nodded. ¡°I want her here for when crisis does come.¡± ¡°There is no one who can harm us.¡± ¡°You would have died at the Godkiller¡¯s hands were Kavaa not there. You want to send her away to the middle of nowhere with no communication?¡± Elassa didn¡¯t like the reasoning. Sending Kavaa was the obvious thing to do. ¡°Are you afraid for her?¡± Allasaria¡¯s face became soft, her eyes lot momentarily lost that strength. ¡°I am. What if he is free and she runs into him?¡± ¡°Send Maisara and Fortia with her then.¡± Elassa quickly said. ¡°And what if she doesn¡¯t?¡± Allasaria said. ¡°We¡¯d be simply throwing away our two best fighters for nothing.¡± ¡°So what do you think it is then?¡± ¡°We check on Leona first, then I want you, Maisara, Fortia and Zerus to reinforce the gates. You¡¯ll be with Zerus, he¡¯ll probably take Sceo too. Your team will watch the Paraideisius gate, Maisara and Fortia will watch the Tartarus gate.¡± Elassa blinked, her mouth falling open. ¡°You¡¯re not saying¡­ You don¡¯t think¡­¡± ¡°The last time she collapsed, three worlds came together, we had a hundred years of warfare. This isn¡¯t a Godkiller incident, this is something else entirely.¡± Chapter 9 – Light, Order & Peace The Pantheon¡¯s Peace Decree, signed on the first anniversary of the end of the Great War effectively banned all production of anything which was made for the sole purpose of wounding or maiming. The countries that resisted the PPD were dealt with swiftly by a rejuvenated White Pantheon. Although only the Divines Elassa, Zerus, Fortia, Allasaria and Maisara participated in the enforcement of the PPD but within ten years, it was established in every country of Arda. - ¡°On Pantheon Peace¡± ¨C Required reading in most Epan schools. Maisara angrily marched towards Allasaria¡¯s temple. The so-called Grand Temple of Light! What a joke! Who did that woman think she was? It was one thing to take the initiative, it was another entirely to send her away like some God-damned courier! Who did Allasaria think she was? What was this bitch doing? ¡°Sister, calm down.¡± Fortia said from behind Maisara. Allasaria had an army of maids and they all bowed and averted their eyes when they heard the two coming. Their heavy boots sent echoes along corridors filled with statue-like humans. Maisara said nothing, Fortia was only trying to find a resolution without conflict, as always. ¡°Come now, we can treat it like a vacation.¡± She said ten or twenty more things along the lines of those before Maisara finally found Allasaria. The Goddess of Light was sitting in her office, scouring some papers as if trying to figure out something important. Maisara hated the place, even Arascus had better taste than this gaudy display of dancing crystals. ¡°What do you want?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°I want a damn explanation.¡± Maisara growled as Fortia closed the door behind her. From the corner of Maisara¡¯s eye, she could see her sister¡¯s mood seemingly flip. From the begging and gentle face she wore, it was now a cold look. Her eyes carried only the Peace only death held.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°For what?¡± Allasaria did not stop looking over the papers. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare act like this to me.¡± Maisara growled. ¡°What is this being sent off to watch over Tartarus?¡± ¡°It is where I need you.¡± Allasaria responded nonchalantly. ¡°Send an invention!¡± ¡°Take a plane and you¡¯ll be there in a few hours.¡± In the blink of an eye, Maisara¡¯s great-axe materialized in her hands. Allasaria had no response, she simply sat there unmoving, her eyes still scanning that damn piece of paper. Who did she think she was? Maisara was a damn Goddess. She demanded some respect! In another blink, the axe swung overhead, as if Allasaria¡¯s desk was a neck on the chopping block. There was no impact, no sound, a thin string of white light caught Maisara¡¯s great axe. Allasaria finally looked up. ¡°What is there to explain? I send you there because I want you there.¡± ¡°We won the war.¡± Maisara said through grit teeth. ¡°Don¡¯t think you suddenly came make decisions like this.¡± Allasaria¡¯s cheeks flared for a heartbeat, her eyebrows rose the tiniest sliver and her eyes grew gold. ¡°You won the war?¡± Maisara opened her mouth but Fortia, of Peace, spoke before her. ¡°We did.¡± ¡°How quaint.¡± Allasaria smirked, she leaned back, the string of light move and sent Maisara¡¯s axe cascading backwards. ¡°Well tell me then, great Goddesses of Order and Peace, what should we do in this situation?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t patronize us Allasaria.¡± Fortia said in a cold tone. ¡°I¡¯m still waiting on a suggestion.¡± ¡°Send mortals to watch, we need to stay here to monitor the situation.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to happen.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°If the Gates are breached, then only Divines can hold them off long enough for reinforcements to arrive.¡± ¡°And what if it¡¯s something at Olympiada?¡± Maisara shouted. ¡°What could it be at Olympiada? At least my idea has some sort of basis in reality.¡± ¡°Kassandora¡¯s Prison.¡± Maisara said, her voice was still cold, but it lacked strength. Allasaria merely rolled her eyes at the Goddess of Order. There wasn¡¯t even a need to say anything, Kassandora¡¯s power had faded as the world slowly forgot war. Another hundred years and she¡¯ll be gone, permanently. ¡°If you have any ideas. Give them to me, if not, I expect you to be at the Gate by dusk.¡± Allasaria raised her hand, her door swung open and a blast of light hit Maisara like a tidal wave. She was washed away and sent crashing into the wall in the corridor. Allasaria raised her eyebrow at Fortia, the woman merely shook her head and left. Chapter 10 – The Gates Mikhail lifted the musket and put it down. It was brilliant, but clumsy. Ingenious but simple. The highest form of technology he had ever seen, but so backwards. It had taken him only a few days to construct one with Arascus¡¯ help, but he wasn¡¯t happy with it. More could be done. Maisara, Of Order, and Fortia, Of Peace, sat on the grass. The Gatekeepers knew they were here, but that was about it. Maisara didn¡¯t consider herself to incapable of dealing with people, she was certainly better than Elassa, but she wasn¡¯t a Helenna or even a Fortia. Sometimes, she wondered what the various mortals said about her behind her back. Realistically, it¡¯d be nothing good. Maisara smiled to herself as she looked up at the blue sky. One can hope though, she didn¡¯t exactly appreciate being a Goddess who was only accepted because the alternative was far worse. ¡°Six days, eighteen hours left.¡± Fortia said out loud. ¡°Time passes slower if you keep track of it.¡± Maisara replied. ¡°You¡¯re saying that?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard others say it.¡± Maisara said and shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s like I¡¯m in prison.¡± ¡°Allasaria¡¯s a little tyrant.¡± Maisara said and Fortia chuckled. She adjusted her posture and leaned on tree, her hand resting on Maisara¡¯s forehead. The huge gate to Tartarus stood before them, two massive pillars of Godstone, topped off with a bridge connecting them. Several small castles and keeps made dotted the landscape around it, with more walls connecting it. A thousand years ago, those castles had served as barracks for the Demons assisting Arda¡¯s armies, now only a few were populated by a skeleton crew janitors to stop all of them from falling entirely into disrepair. The only signs of life was a few soldiers idly wandering near the foot of the Gate, like ants scurrying around the ankles of an elephant.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Fortia, the sight worried; Peace was such a precious treasure yet they were leaving the treasury unlocked. Maisara, the sight infuriated; Why even bother with maintaining these forts if they weren¡¯t going to be used? ¡°How long?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°Not even a minute has passed yet.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s Irinika when you need her?¡± Fortia burst out in laughter. ¡°I¡¯m serious, every single time Alla thinks up of something, look were we end up.¡± ¡°What do you think happened to her? Irinika I mean¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Maisara said and shrugged. ¡°It is what it is.¡± ¡°That it is.¡± Maisara agreed and rubbed her head against Fortia¡¯s palm. ¡°She¡¯s out there though.¡± ¡°Helenna disagrees.¡± At Fortia¡¯s words, it was Maisara¡¯s turn to laugh. After a few minutes, she managed to finally speak again. ¡°Kill me when I agree with her.¡± ¡°Arascus will come back before that.¡± Both of them shared a giggle as Maisara closed her eyes. ¡°At least we don¡¯t get a tagalong.¡± ¡°Frankly, I wouldn¡¯t mind the job if Leona didn¡¯t¡­¡± Maisara¡¯s voice trailed off. ¡°Same.¡± Fortia said. ¡°We¡¯re useless here.¡± ¡°It is what it is, honestly she¡¯s not wrong.¡± ¡°Aye, the reasoning wasn¡¯t bad.¡± ¡°It would be over though, we¡¯d need to call on Paraideisus.¡± Maisara said and Fortia nodded. The Pantheon needed realism, the rest of them were pure idealists when it came to the fact war had gone extinct. ¡°Pantheon Peace was a mistake.¡± ¡°Too late now, and Alla won¡¯t go against her own idea.¡± ¡°It is what it is.¡± Maisara said. ¡°We just have to deal with it.¡± ¡°Do you have any ideas on Leona?¡± Fortia asked. ¡°The worst thing to happen is that Gate opens.¡± Maisara lazily waved her arm to the massive structure without even looking at it. ¡°What then? New Godkiller but I don¡¯t think so. Olephia waking up? Maybe Fer or Anassa are up to something? Could be Baalka but we have Kavaa. New God?¡± ¡°What of?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Have I ever told you when I talked to Arascus?¡± ¡°Before the war?¡± ¡°We talked during it too.¡± Maisara said. ¡°You¡¯ve told me.¡± Fortia replied. ¡°Mmmh.¡± Maisara said as she put her hands underneath her head.. ¡°But the older we get, the more I think on it.¡± ¡°Think on what?¡± ¡°What would have happened if Olephia had never been used.¡± Fortia chuckled for a few moments. ¡°You have to give it to the man, it was good to have him around.¡± ¡°Mmmh. Worthy opponent. Better than Anarchia.¡± ¡°Godkiller was fun.¡± ¡°Not as fun as the war.¡± Fortia stroked Maisara¡¯s head as they looked off into the blue sky. ¡°Have you talked with Kassandora?¡± ¡°I have.¡± Fortia nodded. Kassandora was surprisingly easy for her to get along with. ¡°Did she say anything about this?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Well then all we can do is lie down and rot.¡± Maisara said, her breathing became long and deep as she drifted off to sleep underneath the shade. Chapter 11 – False Alarm Anassa, Of Sorcery, got out of bed and dressed herself. This past week had been good, there was something sweet in the air. Even Elassa had come to talk to her about it! She laughed to herself as she brewed a pot of tea. Who did that girl think she was? They were supposed to be friends now because they¡¯ve been chatting for a millennia? Friends you die and kill for. Anassa¡¯s only friends were long gone. She told her nothing of course. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Alice trembled under Allasaria¡¯s gaze like she did for no Divine. ¡°Speak child, I did not mean to scare you.¡± ¡°Lady Leona has woken up.¡± The pen in Allasaria¡¯s hand snapped and she took a deep breath. ¡°That is good. Take me to her.¡± ¡°At once Goddess.¡± Alice bowed and fled the Divine¡¯s office immediately. It was a beautiful room, all marble and gold, but they all carried a sense of Allasaria¡¯s omnipotence. Alice did not look back to check if the footsteps behind her were Allasaria¡¯s. Anassa, Of Sorcery, put her book down and closed her eyes. Auras? Four of them? And not Divines? She sipped her tea and smiled. Guests really did make everything sweeter. Allasaria lowered her head as she followed Leona¡¯s handmaid into the woman¡¯s room. Leona was only as tall as a man, that was very short for a Divine. Her quarters were built with that in mind, entirely ungodly, but rarely did anyone need to visit Leona for assistance anyway. The wide-eyed maid gave Allasaria once glance and then jumped back. Silly girl. ¡°Mistress, I¡¯ve brought Goddess Allasaria.¡± Leona was lying on her bed, hidden under the covers entirely. It was a bed fit for a king, unfit for Divinity. Leona was always modest like that, that wood was nicely furnished, the sheets simple and unpatterned.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Good Alice, now make some tea. Something calming. Wait for Alla to leave before you¡­ return.¡± Leona¡¯s answer was weak, her voice shaky as if she was forcing the words now. A glass of water sat on the bedside table and a bowl lay by its foot. There was vomit in it. ¡°At once Mistress.¡± The maid scurried off without even daring to give Allasaria the slightest of looks. ¡°How are we feeling Leona?¡± Allasaria finally spoke up when the door shut. ¡°Not good.¡± Leona croaked as the covers moved about like a snake. A small, pale hand shot and waved from side to side. ¡°Water.¡± Allasaria walked over and passed the glass to that hand. The glass disappeared under the covers. ¡°You know I have to ask.¡± The glass reappeared, half drunk, and Allasaria sighed. She returned it to the cabinet. ¡°So?¡± ¡°Artica. Me.¡± Leona croaked from underneath the bed. Allasaria crossed her arms. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Cuts off. Nothing¡­ after Artica.¡± ¡°Olephia then?¡± Allasaria had seen the Goddess of Chaos in her prison the day after Leona fainted, the woman still asleep as she had been for the past millennium. ¡°No. Me.¡± Leona croaked once again. Allasaria sighed. Leona in Artica? That was the trouble? Why!? ¡°Is it the sleeping procedure?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Leona said. ¡°We¡¯ve never¡­¡± Allasaria thought for a few moments. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you to Artica on the next recharge.¡± ¡°Soon¡­¡± Leona began and cut herself off. Her head erupted from the covers, a dirty bundle of messy golden hair vomited the water back into the bowl. She had just enough strength to finish weakly reach for the glass, shakily drink the water and then retreat back into her lair. ¡°Soon. I want to get it over with.¡± ¡°Rest for now, we¡¯ll get to it when we get to it.¡± Leona shook her head. ¡°A-after that, I¡¯m not returning here.¡± Allasaria shrugged. ¡°Rolling dice?¡± ¡°Like back then, I¡¯ll take Alice with me.¡± ¡°Ring if you¡¯re in trouble.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Chapter 12 - Within The Divine Library Arascus stared at Mikhail¡¯s request form for materials. It was a list of twenty or so different steel alloys¡­. He signed off on it and wished the dwarves still controlled their great refineries of old. Be normal. Act normal. Don¡¯t run. It was difficult for Eliza to maintain her composure. Fleur and Edmonton weren¡¯t doing any better and Lyca was only barely to edge out a nervous joke here and there. ¡°So we can stay the night, right?¡± Lyca asked another farcical question as he strolled with his hands on the back of his head. ¡°Shut up.¡± Fleur replied coldly. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re actually doing this.¡± ¡°Well you better believe it.¡± Lyca laughed, it was mirthless and cold. ¡°Just keep walking.¡± Edmonton shut him up. He was almost half a head taller than Lyca, and he somehow to walk without checking their surroundings. Eliza wasn¡¯t quite sure of how he did that, every few seconds, she would look around at Elassa¡¯s Gardens. There was no one there of course, everyone was at the assembly celebrating with drink and song and fine foods. On one hand, Eliza wished she didn¡¯t have to miss it, on the other, she had been through enough assemblies to know she was simply saving herself from a hangover tomorrow. They had all taken tablets yesterday to induce a fever in the morning cooked up by Fleur, it passed quickly with an antidote and everyone had a visit by a physician and simply been told to sleep it off. They passed by a bench with a small inscription. Blessed by Goddess Elassa, of Magic, in the year 827 PGW. Refurbished in 931 and in 998. They passed by a fountain with a plaque. Blessed by Goddess Elassa, of Magic, in the year 212. They walked over a small bridge, this one was similarly blessed. By a blessed great oak, by a blessed flowerbed, by a blessed field, some more blessed benches. And then they finally started to see the Divine Library after a turn. Not blessed. It was a huge, magnanimous structure, pockmarked with high towers and slanted roofs; gargoyles and statues and hundreds, if not thousands, of windows. It was unique, the only building in all of Arcadia that was built of black slate. The only building where the windows did not glow at night. ¡°The front door should be open, right?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°Are you an idiot?¡± Fleur bit back. ¡°I bet you it is.¡± ¡°Why would it be unlocked?¡± ¡°Why would it be locked?¡± Fleur looked at the man and threw up her hands in the air as she made some exasperated sigh. ¡°Then go check, we¡¯ll slow down, we don¡¯t want to be seen loitering around.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Why me?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°Because it was your idea.¡± They stopped at the door. ¡°It was just a joke.¡± ¡°We¡¯re wasting time arguing.¡± That Eliza had to admit Edmonton was right about. ¡°I thought you were the big man.¡± And here they were arguing. ¡°I¡¯m brave but not stupid enough to jump off a cliff.¡± Stubborn fools. ¡°We¡¯re right behind you.¡± Edmonton said and Eliza tightened her fists. Damn idiots. ¡°Likewise, the honour of testing the door is all yours.¡± Lyca postured towards the door with both his arms. ¡°I would never steal that honour from you.¡± They were simply cretins. ¡°I¡¯m giving it away.¡± Cretinous little bugs. ¡°I could never accept that.¡± Eliza had heard enough. She simply walked over to the huge oak doors, turned the handle and pushed. The door swung open without even an inkling of pushback. The various Arascus Cults have started to move. We¡¯ve managed to get spies into two branches in Aris although their counter-intelligence is excellent to say the least. We suspect only the leader knows of other branches in the city and where orders are acquired from is still entirely unknown¡­ ¡­The issue of Anarchia still holds. Her supporters have started to appear more frequently, and seemingly have acquired some sort of magical power which allows them to overwhelm mundane men¡­. I am not talking about an increase in budget for personal reasons, I need manpower, I need magicians and I need cooperation from the Directorate-General De La Security Internal. The Aris Police force is overwhelmed. The lack of open criminality from both Cults is an indication they are preparing. - Report written from the Commander of the Aris Police Force to the Rancais Government. Fleur shook her head at the two fools. They were absolute cretins but then again, she did feel some annoyance that it was Ellie who had taken the initiative and not her. She walked into the Divine Library. Ed and Ly didn¡¯t need a reminder to stop arguing and follow them in. Ellie stepped in and closed the door behind them. Inside, darkness lay across the room like a bedsheet, only held back by a few magical lamps hovering in the air. There was no entrance hall, nor any guards, the bookshelves simply began and they didn¡¯t end. They were tall enough to need a ladder to access the tomes at the top, seemingly looming the four intruders as if preparing to devour them. ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Eliza broke the minute-long silence and pulled them out of the trance. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ed said. ¡°Explore?¡± ¡°A grand plan.¡± Ly added. ¡°I assume the better tomes will be at the back.¡± Fleur made her voice cold and uncaring, although it was hard to get the worry out of her voice. It was one thing to misbehave, it was another entirely to be here. ¡°Aye, I concur with that.¡± Ed added. The party of four began to walk throughout the cold room. They stopped at the foot of a grand staircase fit for a royal palace. Bookshelves surrounding them, crawling under the staircase and into the various hallways. ¡°Up or to the side?¡± Fleur said right, Lyca said up, Eliza said up and Edmonton shook his head. ¡°We split up then. I want to go the right too.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure the two of you will do a lot of searching.¡± Ly said. ¡°One more word and I¡¯ll kill you.¡± Fleur replied. ¡°Whatever, split up, everyone go read what they want, this is a scouting run, we can come back another day, just find what is important.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to go alone.¡± Ellie said. ¡°Why not?¡± Ed asked. ¡°Don¡¯t you feel it?¡± ¡°Feel what?¡± ¡°Like you¡¯re being watched?¡± ¡°You¡¯re paranoid.¡± Ed said but Ly came in to back up his sweetheart. ¡°No, I feel it too. The hairs on my neck are stood up.¡± ¡°Are they?¡± Fleur asked doubtfully. ¡°We can scout out the ground floor today, then come back another day for scouting round.¡± Ed said. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Fleur had her say. ¡°Are you just going to grab a random book and start reading through it?¡± Ed crossed his arms and shook his head. ¡°Now that we know it¡¯s this easy, we can come back whenever.¡± ¡°I concur.¡± Ellie said. Fleur threw up her arms and sighed. ¡°Alright, whatever.¡± Maisara and Fortia stared at the piece of paper. They had been at the gate for a few days and now Allasaria was calling them back. Neither of them said anything, nothing had to be said. Allasaria was just an annoying pretentious tyrannous damned fickle little chit who was better suited to be a school bully than a Queen. ¡°I¡¯ll do the left, you do the right.¡± Lyca said to Eliza after they came to a bend in the path they took. ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°Meet up here in¡­ ten? Fifteen minutes? Then we go on the next section.¡± ¡°Understood boss.¡± Eliza said and they both laughed. Without Ed and Fleur, it was far easier to talk, those two were always too serious. Lyca made it through the first bookshelf, simply scanning every tenth or so book. The History of Arda. Siege of Tourai. The Masterminds of the Black Legion: Arascus¡¯ Generals. Elves In The Great War. Dissolution of the Dwarven Kingdoms. From Mountains to the Overworld: Integration of Dwarven Smiths Post War. So on and so on it went. History was interesting, but it would take him an entire lifetime to read just this one section. The next section was more history. Heaven & Hell: Paraideisius and Tartarus. Angelic Assistance in the Great War. A Study of the Tartarian Legions. Then more history. And more. And more. Lyca simply kept walking at this point, it was a library alright. He had expected titles more like How to Gain Power. Five-Steps to Increasing Your Magical Potential. Frankly, he would have even been fine with An Idiot¡¯s Guide to the Foundations of Magic. Maybe this is why the library wasn¡¯t protected? Because it didn¡¯t actually have anything and it was just an archive for Elassa? She was a Goddess, she could have probably read all of these in her spare time. He stopped at a book. The History of Arda. Again? Siege of Tourai. The Masterminds of the-A sound made Lyca¡¯s heart drop. An ear-piercing screech which quelled the flames of thought and made his blood run on instinct. He turned and ran: Eliza¡¯s scream. Lyca ran and ran. He hadn¡¯t travelled far. He couldn¡¯t have travelled far. He was only walking at a brisk pace when inspecting the books. Was the bookshelf always this long? His run turned into a sprint. The shelves on either side were unending, looming over him like a thick forest. Had he missed his turn? He turned left. The left again, his eyes going to the books. Dissolution of the Dwarven Kingdoms¡­ A Study of the Tartarian Legions. Siege of Tourai¡­ This wasn¡¯t the order he remembered. The magical lamps in the air started to grow dull. A darkness as thick as tar fell over the library. He pulled out his wand from his coat, it started to glow bright with a white light. ¡°ELIZA!¡± He shouted. ¡°ELIZA! WHERE ARE YOU!¡± The light in his wand went out and he stopped. The stones started to move. Something pushed him over. He fell backwards with a grunt. A darkfur walked over to Fer. ¡°Pack Master, they have called upon another Great Hunt.¡± ¡°How many this time?¡± ¡°Four Sects have already joined, we smell that another four will join. Maybe ten in total.¡± ¡°Then we move once again.¡± Lyca opened his eyes to his three looking at him. His mind was turned off, his body moved by itself. He stood up, pulled out his wand, it started the tip started to shine bright with flame and he did two quick spins, his eyes scanning every crevice, every shadow, every bookshelf around them. ¡°No one¡¯s here.¡± Edmonton said in his usual annoying neutral tone. ¡°Why did you scream?¡± Lyca ignored him. ¡°I tripped and appeared here.¡± Eliza said coyly as she rubbed her rear. ¡°Everything just went dark and then something pushed me backwards.¡± ¡°Same story here.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Likewise.¡± Fleur said. ¡°Same thing to me.¡± Lyca confirmed. ¡°So how long was I out?¡± ¡°You just appeared behind us.¡± Edmonton answered. ¡°Eliza appeared first, then Fleur behind her, then I appeared when they weren¡¯t looking and we were just looking up there.¡± Edmonton pointed at the grand staircase. ¡°We heard you shout for Eliza.¡± His face was exceptionally grim. ¡°What¡¯s with the tone? I can¡¯t be worried for friends?¡± Lyca bit back. ¡°We heard you.¡± Fleur pointed in the direction she and Edmonton had set off in, the opposite route that Lyca had walked down. ¡°From over there.¡± Lyca looked to Ed and Eliza, he got nods of affirmation confirming. ¡°I think¡­¡± Fleur bit her lip. ¡°We may have tripped something we weren¡¯t meant to.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Lyca said. ¡°Before anyone catches us.¡± ¡°About that.¡± Edmonton pointed behind Lyca. ¡°The door¡­¡± Lyca turned and felt the blood drain from his face. They had walked straight to the staircase and split up, the door was visible from here¡­ it should be visible: the library was big but it wasn¡¯t THAT big. ¡°Where is it?¡± Lyca said, the tip of his wand started to burn even brighter. ¡°Control yourself Lyca.¡± Edmonton waved towards the wand. ¡°And I have no damn clue where it went.¡± ¡°I¡¯d suggest trying to break through the wall.¡± Lyca felt a chill go down his spine. He couldn¡¯t¡­ wouldn¡¯t¡­ shouldn¡¯t¡­ move¡­ His eyes darted to the sides, to Eliza on his right, her fingers intertwining through his and Fleur with Edmonton to his left: both of them stood straight backed, alert and alone. ¡°Who said that?¡± Lyca finally broke the silence. ¡°Who indeed?¡± From behind¡­ Lyca¡¯s eyes met Edmonton¡¯s. He saw the man¡¯s face give the tiniest nod, he knew the signal already. They were done for already, if a teacher was here, the only way they would get out of this is to kill them and leave before reinforcements arrive. Eliza and Fleur would shout at them later, but it was better than the consequences of being in found in the Divine Library. Lyca extended three fingers. Three. Two. One. The two men turned, wands held straight, one roaring with fire, the other blue as it condensed the air around it to water. Lyca¡¯s eyes travelled up the staircase and he felt his heart drown in doom again. At the top of the staircase stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was tall, taller than Edmonton, even taller than an elf. She wore a red dress and a black cloak on her back, it covered her well but her face¡­ Lyca could stare into those crimson eyes and feel soul begging to leave his body. It wasn¡¯t a face, it was a masterpiece crafted by the finest artists on Arda. Her raven-black hair cascaded down in waves, only bringing contrast to the pale skin. She smiled like a succubus, like a hungry wolf ready to devour her prey. ¡°Straight into it? That is certainly one way to greet me.¡± ¡°WHO ARE YOU?!¡± If Eliza wasn¡¯t there, Lyca wouldn¡¯t have been able to shout. But she was, and he had sworn he would protect her. ¡°Who am I?¡± The woman lifted a pale hand and touched her chest. ¡°I don¡¯t know, who may I be? Who do you think I am?¡± ¡°We apologize profusely for entering the Library.¡± Fleur quickly shouted. ¡°We promise, we swear on our lives, may the Divines curse us if we ever set foot in here again. We promise to leave and never return.¡± The woman only laughed. ¡°Oh my dear girl.¡± She took a step forwards, as if about to walk in the air. Lyca blinked and the woman wasn¡¯t there. There was the click of a heel on stone tile behind him. Before Lyca could turn, he saw the woman appear in the edges of his vision: on his left and right. Two of them? He gingerly moved his head towards Fleur. No, there she was again, two times next to Ed, two times next to Fleur. ¡°Here, you shouldn¡¯t be worrying about the Divines cursing you.¡± An ocean of darkness swallowed all of them. Chapter 13 – A Pantheon Cracking Eight sects have signed up. We have received support from the Imperial Capital. More are coming. The beast will be brought to an end and Great Guguo will finally reclaim the North! Proclamation of the Sixty Third Great Hunt. ¡°WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! BOTH OF YOU?!¡± Allasaria¡¯s voice boomed in the gardens of Olympiada. Maisara and Fortia stood before her. ¡°LEONA PREDICTED HER DEATH!¡± Elassa, of Magic, took a step back. Her jaw dropped and her face grew pale. Kavaa, of Health, stumbled as if she was going to fall over. ¡°Allasaria, calm.¡± Zerus said. He stood in white cloak, his chiselled jawline only blemished by a grey beard. Sceo stood next to him, in a pale blue dress matching perfectly with the bright blue sky above them. ¡°And you two, you bring shame upon our Pantheon.¡± ¡°Shame Zerus?¡± Maisara snorted. She stood in her gleaming silver armour, her axe buried into the ground besides her. ¡°Shame? What do you know about shame? Run off to your clouds.¡± ¡°If Leona is to die, then it should be for us to protect her.¡± Fortia¡¯s voice echoed in the open air. ¡°You are strong Allasaria, no one will deny that, but three is better than one.¡± ¡°And if Leona doesn¡¯t wish for your protection?¡± ¡°Frankly.¡± Maisara took a step forward, her axe carving a line into the marble pathways of the garden. ¡°I do not care what Leona wishes for. The order of the day is that she is not to die, so I WILL make sure she does not die, even if she wants to kill herself!¡± Allasaria¡¯s face became grim as her feet lifted off the ground and she started to float in the air. The Goddess of Light was brilliant beaming statue, in her white silks that swayed in the wind. ¡°Do not try me Maisara. I set the rules.¡± ¡°This is the greatest crisis on this millennium and you¡¯re still an arrogant whore.¡± Maisara barked back. ¡°Fighting now will do no one any good!¡± Iniri shouted from the side. ¡°It is¡­¡± Fortia¡¯s golden eyes glaring at Iniri silenced the Goddess of Bounty. Her face paled like a dying plant and she took a step back as Fortia came to stand besides Maisara. Her spear carved a second line into the marble. ¡°Our world relies too much on luck for its survival Allasaria. This is not the Age of Arascus anymore, you don¡¯t get to make the rules like this.¡± Sceo grabbed Zerus¡¯ hand as clouds began to gather overhead. Elassa walked out of Allasaria¡¯s shadow and stood behind the Goddess. ¡°This is madness from the two of you.¡± She shouted. ¡°You cry about the Age of Arascus? It is you who still live in it! Thinking Order is a whip and Peace is a hammer.¡± ¡°Elassa, get back to your school and stop trying to think your part of this conversation.¡± Fortia did not shout, but her voice carried across all of the gardens. ¡°You too Zerus, what do you even have to offer to us?¡± Zerus¡¯ grip on Sceo¡¯s hand tightened as thunder began to rumble above Olympiada. The snake of people trekking up the great steps came to a stop as they watched the skies. ¡°It is you who have nothing to offer.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°If you weren¡¯t White Pantheon, you would have been branded heretic Divines after the war.¡± Silence settled over the entire garden, even the wind not blow. Maisara and Fortia stood like statues as they faced down Allasaria, Elassa, Sceo and Zerus. The rest of the White Pantheon watched from the side, even Helenna knew not to say anything. ¡°A poor joke Allasaria.¡± Maisara finally managed to crush the stone that was lodged in her throat. ¡°It is us who bind your world together.¡± ¡°It is Ciria and Halkus.¡± Elassa shouted back. Fortia and Maisara smiled back mockingly. Ciria of Civilization and Halkus of Industry? What a joke. ¡°Ciria and Halkus are the leaves, we are the tree. It is you who is going to be forgotten.¡± ¡°It is because of you that they did not join the Pantheon!¡± Allasaria shouted. ¡°WHY SHOULD THEY JOIN YOUR CULT?!¡± Fortia finally snapped. The Goddess of Peace roared loud enough to drown out an entire army in battle. ¡°YOU HAVE RAN THE PANTHEON INTO THE GROUND!¡± ¡°I have guided it for a thousand golden years!¡± ¡°AND MADE US WHAT? We have become mascots to parade through the streets!¡± ¡°Times change. It is you who can¡¯t adapt.¡± ¡°No Allasaria, Order is eternal. Peace is always a target to aim for. It is your entire Pantheon who has been left behind.¡± She turned to the onlookers. ¡°Iniri, of Bounty. You can¡¯t adapt. What bounties you brought were made obsolete by mere fertilizer ¨C by actual shit.¡± Iniri did not respond, she merely took another step back, her eyes downcast. Fortia¡¯s spear aimed at Kavaa. ¡°Kavaa, of Health. Once you were the world¡¯s best doctor, now we have hospitals to do your job for us.¡± Kavaa looked away too. Her origins were in mysterious healings, the advancement of medicine had greatly weakened her. Maybe she would have had a better fate if her title was Of Medicine but unfortunately, she had been around since before the invention of medicine. The spear moved to Theosius. A muscled man, clean shaven. He merely shook his head, already knowing what was coming. ¡°Theosius, of the Forge. What do you forge now when we have automated refineries?¡± To Alkom, a thin tall fellow. ¡°Alkom, of the Sun, the power of the sun now limited by such trite as theory?¡± To Atis, he took a step back. ¡°Don¡¯t even mention me.¡± Fortia ignored the God¡¯s request.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Atis, of the Hunt. Such a failure you could not even find Fer. You¡¯ve resigned yourself to letting the sects of Guguo finish her off!¡± Then the spear moved to Helenna. ¡°Do you know who you are talking to?¡± Helenna shouted. ¡°The Goddess of Love of course! What a job you¡¯ve done that men now hide in their rooms and play games all day! We live in the most depressed time in history! Truly a wonderful performance!¡± Helenna had no retort as the spear passed to Zerus. ¡°You aren¡¯t even one of us, you were only brought in because we needed your strength.¡± The spear pointed to Zerus¡¯ wife. ¡°And you Sceo are only here because we needed a replacement for Saranael, of Knowledge. A better man than all of you put together.¡± ¡°Are you finished humiliating yourself?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°Elassa!¡± Fortia was not finished. ¡°Goddess of Magic! You bitch! You are the greatest embarrassment of a Divine to exist! A dog to regulation and a dog to Allasaria! Every day you walk on this Earth, your twin laughs at your existence.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bring up any of Arascus¡¯ minions here!¡± Elassa shouted. ¡°Why not?¡± Fortia shouted. ¡°I will say it, nay, I will proclaim it here and now, for all to hear. I have more respect for Anassa, of Sorcery, than Elassa, of Magic. At least your sister stayed true to herself.¡± The spear moved to Allasaria. ¡°And you Allasaria! Where are your achievements? Do not forget it was Leona, Saranael, Maisara and Me who led the war, you were a mere champion. What have you achieved yourself? You could not get Fer. You could not kill Olephia. You swore you would kill Arascus and it was US who locked him away! You failed to safeguard against the Godkiller. Maisara predicted the dangers of this era a thousand years ago, Saranael¡¯s crippling is YOUR fault! You searched five hundred years for the Goddess of Darkness and where is she now?¡± ¡°She is DEAD!¡± Allasaria lost her composure, her voice cracked, her hands started to rise as a blinding light emanated from them. ¡°If she is dead, then so am I! You DID NOT find her! You COULD NOT find her! YOU FAILED!¡± ¡°Not one more word.¡± ¡°You have clouded yourself in delusion. Your idea of Order is Standstill and of Peace is Stagnation! You were a mascot in the Great War, you are a mascot now!¡± Burning, blinding light burst from Allasaria¡¯s palms at Fortia. The Goddess of Peace moved like the wind, sidestepping the beams as they carved a hole into the pavement. ¡°And now, as always, you have no words so you cast your light at us!¡± ¡°I have no words for fools.¡± Allasaria whisper reached everyone in the gardens. Zerus and Sceo exchanged glances as the thunderstorm above painted itself in thin strings of lightning. A blast came down from the clouds, one swing of Maisara¡¯s axe launching into a nearby building. It exploded into a pale fog of marble shards. Fortia dodged another blast from Allasaria, another hole appeared in the ground where she stood. Allasaria merely floated in the air as Elassa backed off from her, too terrified to conjure up even the slightest drop of magical power. The Goddess of Light floated even higher into the air Fortia swiftly closed the distance. ¡°Run! Fly! You know you cannot defeat us!¡± Zerus¡¯ grey hair and eyes started to turn a sheer white as lightning rained upon Fortia and Maisara like furious hail. Every bolt aimed directly at them, every bolt deflected by Maisara or dodged by Fortia. Another beam of light came from above, this time carving a channel into the gardens, setting fire to the precious flowers and plants growing there. Iniri collapsed and burst out in tears as Kavaa knelt next to her. Helenna ran off from the scene, her red dress disappearing into a doorway. Maisara slowly made her way to Zerus as if she was in a dance, her partner the great executioner¡¯s axe in her hands. A bow here, a swing there, a pirouette. She turned, twisted, deflected another bolt. The marble cracked underneath feet as she launched herself into the air, her axe aimed directly for Zerus. In that moment, she realised her mistake. Sceo let go of Zerus¡¯ hand, she took a step forwards, as quick as a hurricane and as delicate as a breeze. Her arm spun a circle, a blast of wind cleared the dusty fog and carried Maisara into the air. Once, twice, thrice. The Goddess of Order was struck by Zerus¡¯ lightning. The ground cracked underneath, her plate charred and blackened as Zerus launched another blast. ¡°Stay down child.¡± Zerus said gently. Maisara grit her teeth and rolled to the side to avoid the blast as Sceo grabbed Zerus¡¯ hand again. ¡°I will not hurt you if you stay down.¡± Fortia turned on her feet as she dodged another of Allasaria¡¯s beams. The golden spear spun in her hands, she arched her back, took aim and launched the rod at Zerus. ¡°I said before, you should not even be here.¡± She said as the spear pierced the air. It was too fast for anyone to react, maybe a God of Speed would be able to dodge it. The spear pierced itself deep in Zerus¡¯ shoulder. The God of Lightning merely grit his teeth and moved to grab it and his white cloak was dyed in red. His hand closed around naked air, the spear was back in Fortia¡¯s hand. She took a step, looked up, and her eyes widened. An avalanche of burning light was crashing down upon her. It was too late to dodge. Fortia lifted her spear, closed her eyes, and prepared to be burned. Something slammed against her side. Fortia would recognise that touch everywhere: Maisara. The two Goddesses grit their teeth as they landed on the ground. They carved out line in one of the flowerbeds in their attempt to dodge. They had survived Allasaria¡¯s light, but not unscathed. Maisara pounded the ground, tears in her eyes as Fortia inspected the damage. Her knees where blackened, the skin burned as if it had been rotting. Below that, her legs had been wiped away of flesh. There was nothing but bones. Maisara had taken the brunt of it. The woman¡¯s armour and battle-skirt had protected her life, but both had melted and seared her flesh. Below, her bare legs had been blown away, they were nothing but raw flesh, blood and bones. Allasaria floated down from the sky to come before them. ¡°Is that enough?¡± She asked coldly. ¡°You whore!¡± Maisara shouted out from the dirt, she did not even have the strength to pick herself up and roll over. ¡°Classy as always Maisara.¡± Allasaria lifted both her arms. ¡°I will give you a chance to repent every word that has been uttered today. Apologize.¡± ¡°BITCH!¡± Maisara shouted. Fortia grabbed her sister, hugged her, shot a cold look at Allasaria and spat on the ground. ¡°How respectable.¡± Allasaria said, her palms started to grow bright as she started to build up energy. ¡°Without us, your world will crumble and fall.¡± Fortia tried to shout, but her words came out merely exhausted. ¡°We¡¯ll manage. We¡¯ve always managed.¡± ¡°STOP!¡± A voice shouted. Leona. Everyone knew the Lady Luck¡¯s voice. She was supported by Helenna on one side, by her handmaid, Alice on the other. ¡°STOP! DON¡¯T!¡± Leona shouted, then she collapsed to her knees and emptied her stomach. Allasaria dropped her arms as Kavaa finished healing Zerus. She started to rush over to the two Goddesses on the ground. ¡°Stem the bleeding, do not heal them.¡± Allasaria said as she grabbed Kavaa¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We will go forwards with the original plan we discussed at the start of our garden meeting. I will take Leona to recharge Olephia¡¯s prison once she recovers from the illness, then she will start rolling dice to hide. We will see her again in a year, when Olephia¡¯s prison needs to be recharged again or if she contacts us.¡± ¡°If Leona dies.¡± Maisara rubbed her tears away as she unclipped her armour. The front fell off to reveal her shirt, the backplate stayed fixed to her. ¡°I will leave.¡± ¡°I will too!¡± Fortia added, Allasaria merely smiled at the two injured Goddesses on the ground. ¡°I wish the two of you left already, unfortunately for you, Leona will not die under my protection.¡± Chapter 14 – The Librarian Olephia walked along her path. She came to a split once again. A large castle on the right, fluffy sheep on the left. She had been in the castle before, she had seen the sheep before. She took another step and sighed. The castle was uphill, the sheep weren¡¯t. It was an easy decision to make. She turned left. The path behind her disappeared, she knew it did, and it stretched towards the sheep. She walked past them before coming to another split. A cottage on the left, a forest on the right. The forest this time, it provided shade from the sun. She turned right, walked through the forest and came to another split. Seaside and desert. Desert this time. Another split. Mountains and a refinery. Another split. A zoo and a school. Another split. And another. How long had she been walking for? She didn¡¯t know. Her feet hurt. She wanted to sit down. Why didn¡¯t she sit down? She didn¡¯t really know. Why did she stay on the path? She didn¡¯t know that either. She just didn¡¯t. - Olephia¡¯s Divine Dream, Present Day, Present Time. Lyca looked around at the nothingness around them. He saw no floor, no walls, no lights, nothing, but it wasn¡¯t pitch black, the Divine Library had simply disappeared around them. Next to him stood Edmonton, Fleur, Eliza was on his left. Everyone was here, and they weren¡¯t dead¡­ yet. He wished he could get that little yet out of his head. The woman in the red dress and black cloak reappeared before them. She was holding a steaming teacup. ¡°Who do I have the pleasure of entertaining today?¡± She asked, her eyes focused on them. Fleur broke down immediately. Lyca wished she hadn¡¯t, but maybe trying to appeal to her sympathy was the way to go. ¡°Please, we really didn¡¯t mean to¡­¡± Fleur took a step forwards and collapsed to her knees in tears. ¡°I really can¡¯t¡­ Please, I¡¯ll forget everything, do anything, just don¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t die here.¡± The woman tutted. Fleur lifted into the air, was stood up straight and forced back into line. ¡°I asked for names, not explanations.¡± The woman said. ¡°My name is Eliza Grinhoff.¡± Eliza took the initiative before Fleur could get sniffle out. ¡°I am a student of Arcadia.¡± Eliza looked over to Lyca, her eyes begging him to follow along. Lyca put his fist on chest and introduced himself. ¡°Lyca Myklos, student.¡± Edmonton merely sighed. ¡°Edmonton Weaver, student.¡± The three looked to Fleur. The woman took a sip of tea as the girl kept crying, and then her head jolted to the side with a loud clap. Fleur blinked, her hand going to her cheek as it started to redden. ¡°I can do that again if you don¡¯t calm down.¡± The woman said the words as if they were directed to no one in particular. ¡°Fleur Ambelee, s-student of Arcadia.¡± The woman gave a nod. ¡°It¡¯s rare that children come to visit me, what happened?¡± The four blinked at each other. What happened? Lyca looked to Edmonton, he looked to Fleur, the girl shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know?¡± Lyca tried to avoid the invisible minefield with tentative words. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± The woman raised an eyebrow. ¡°So why are you here?¡± ¡°We¡­¡± Eliza tried to take the lead before her voice faltered. ¡°We know there¡¯s secret texts in here and wanted to learn.¡± Lyca said. The woman nodded, the teacup disappeared, she clasped her hands behind her back and faced them. ¡°Very well. Are you good?¡± ¡°Good?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°Talented? Experienced? Gifted? I¡¯m not in the mood for a lesson on language, are you good or are you not?¡± ¡°We¡¯re good.¡± Lyca said and he felt Ed¡¯s elbow from one side, Eliza¡¯s from the other. Fleur whispered some curse he barely caught. ¡°One of you is confident.¡± The woman smiled. ¡°Confidence is key.¡± Lyca gave her a thankful bow and bit himself for doing it immediately. ¡°What is your name?¡± He asked. The woman raised an eyebrow. ¡°Do you deserve to know?¡± He didn¡¯t need to reply to know the answer to that question. She stretched and sighed. ¡°How good are you?¡± The four looked to each other. What did she want? Was she actually interested in them? Of all the things Lyca expected from her, it wasn¡¯t this. ¡°Top of the top.¡± Lyca finally replied. ¡°Of the students I mean.¡± He calmed himself down and added that so that she hopefully would give them some leniency. ¡°And you want to learn?¡± The woman asked. Lyca nodded. ¡°Very well, touch me with whatever you can conjure and we¡¯ll see if you¡¯re eligible.¡± Lyca blinked. He turned to his friends. ¡°And I¡¯ll give you some help, you don¡¯t even have to touch me, simply the hem of my dress.¡± Lyca bit his cheek to stop himself from smiling. Just the hem? Even teachers weren¡¯t that confident against him. ¡°Can we¡­ have a few minutes to plan?¡± The woman looked at him dully, as if terribly unimpressed, and then instantly vanished from the black existence they were in. ¡°WHAT WAS THAT!¡± Eliza shouted immediately. Fleur finally recovered from the slap across the cheek. ¡°WHAT DID YOU GET US INTO?¡± She added her shout. Lyca merely shrugged. ¡°Do you think I have any idea?¡± He said.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Well we¡¯re this far in.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°And she doesn¡¯t seem to be too¡­ I mean, if she wanted to kill us, we¡¯d be dead already.¡± He indicated to the dark space around them. ¡°I mean, look at this.¡± His blue eyes were sparkling with awe. ¡°AND YOU WANT US TO GO UP AGAINST THAT!¡± Fleur shouted. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have a choice at this point.¡± Lyca pulled out his wand. ¡°More impressive is I can¡¯t feel a thing from it.¡± ¡°Wow crazy, a mage is more talented than you!¡± Fleur said. ¡°Imagine that! Insane, isn¡¯t it!¡± ¡°Come on Fleur.¡± Lyca said. ¡°She¡¯ll obviously give us some leeway. I mean, this isn¡¯t a real test, is it?¡± ¡°All it takes is some pretty legs and a nice face? And now you think she won¡¯t harm you?¡± Lyca chuckled. ¡°Well those legs do help.¡± Edmonton slapped the man across the back. ¡°Be serious. What are we going to do?¡± ¡°I mean, there¡¯s only thing to do, isn¡¯t there?¡± ¡°What about the illusions?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°Deal with them as they come?¡± Lyca said. ¡°I mean, four against one? And we just have to singe the hem of her dress?¡± ¡°What if I make it rain? We could argue one drop is enough¡± Edmonton asked. The other three nodded. ¡°Then I¡¯ll heat it up, the steam will count.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to try to trick her like that?¡± Eliza asked incredulously. ¡°There¡¯s a reason the best avenue for mages is lawyers after Arcadia.¡± Lyca flicked her nose and she took a step back. ¡°Besides, what other idea do you have?¡± Lyca asked, Eliza thought for a moment, hesitated, then shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± She finally answered. ¡°There¡¯s another problem.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°And that is?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°Who is she even?¡± ¡°She¡¯s obviously some Goddess.¡± Fleur said, arms crossed. ¡°You saw the size of her.¡± ¡°Goddess of Education maybe?¡± Edmonton said. ¡°You think a teacher would be that pretentious?¡± Lyca asked and then immediately answered his own question. ¡°Actually, we know a few.¡± That got a few mirthless laughs out of the group. ¡°But I mean with what she said.¡± Fleur repeated the woman¡¯s words. ¡°It¡¯s not the Divines you should be worried about? What about that?¡± ¡°Maybe she¡¯s a monster or something.¡± Lyca said. ¡°HOW CAN YOU NOT BE SCARED?¡± Fleur shouted, Lyca laughed nervously before he replied. ¡°I mean, she does have nice legs.¡± He managed to make his voice not shake as Fleur threw up her hands up with a big sigh. ¡°So do we wait now or what?¡± Eliza asked. Lyca took a step forward and shouted into the darkness around them. ¡°WE¡¯RE READY!¡± The woman appeared immediately, exactly where she had stood before. Same red dress, same black cloak and hair, same terrible red eyes staring them down. Same massive size, towering over them. The four pulled out their wands, four sticks of ancient woods, each one¡¯s tip growing a bright colour. The woman merely smiled. How long did that scene last? Lyca didn¡¯t want to be the first to cast a spell, but if not him, then who? He leaned close to Edmonton and whispered. ¡°Just focus on the¡­ you know.¡± Ed replied with the tiniest inclination of his head. ¡°One of you do something or I will kill the lot of you.¡± The woman leaned on one leg and crossed her arms. Lyca had tested his luck enough today, he wasn¡¯t willing to try and call those words as a bluff. One, two, four, six, ten orange orbs appeared around his wand. The woman raised a curious eyebrow. They circled stick, condensed around the stick and disappeared. In the next instant, a cone of concentrated flame burst from his wand. It wasn¡¯t a sword of flame, it was an eraser which would incinerate whatever it touched to dust. He wasn¡¯t allowed to use during the school tournaments. It crossed the distance between him and the woman in the blink of an eye. Lyca felt his lip twitch up in pride, and then he had to bite himself from the shock. The beam of fire was there one moment, in the next, it was simply gone. ¡°Impressive.¡± The woman said. ¡°Magic has indeed advanced while I was away.¡± She stood there, unmoving. ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s still not good enough.¡± Ten beams appeared from nowhere above her. Brighter, thicker, stronger than Lyca¡¯s beams. They hissed through the air lightning, Lyca¡¯s shield start to form and was instantly dismantled by the sheer release of power. He would have fried himself if he went up against that. He stumbled backwards, beating the fire off his clothes. All ten had perfectly hit his heart, all ten merely left his skin reddened. ¡°Naturally, this is unfair, I will give you three extra chances where I will not harm you.¡± The woman¡¯s voice resonated from around them. ¡°That was your first chance.¡± ¡°All of us at one, you do it Ed.¡± Edmonton pointed his wand to the sky, his eyes glowing a dark blue as his feet lifted off the air. Light blasted from the stick in his hand, it condensed into a cloud, then coalesced into a ball of water. Fleur ran off to the side, sparks of lightning flying from her wand into the woman, Eliza¡¯s notebook flew from her pocket, it tore into shreds, each shred becoming a tiny needle. Fleur¡¯s lightning¡­ Lyca watched it, he had faced her before. It was impossible to dodge, you either had a shield up before it began or you were stunned on the spot. Two dozens of those bolts were enough to overwhelm anyone he knew, she fired twice that. The woman did not even turn. She did not lift a hand. Her eyes did not even follow Fleur. A flash of bloody crimson surrounded her for a blink, it was gone the next, as was the lightning. Fleur let out a shout, fell over and pushed herself up to her knees immediately. ¡°That¡¯s two.¡± The woman said. ¡°READY!¡± Edmonton shouted. The ball of water above his head had grown twice the size of man, bigger even than the woman. Lyca aimed his wand as he saw the orb explode towards the women. Dragon¡¯s breath erupted from his word to superheat the water, Eliza¡¯s tiny little paper needles flew above them, surrounded the woman and cascaded down like a volley of arrows. Lyca watched the steam cloud engulf the woman. Eliza¡¯s tiny needles burst through the cloud as the steam started to sizzle and crack. Fleur¡¯s lightning hit the cloud and danced like a silk web being dragged by a dozen spiders. When the crackling was done. The steam cloud started to clear. Not a single of the four students said a word. Lyca expected¡­. He did not know, it wouldn¡¯t surprise if the woman was lying dead on the ground and it wouldn¡¯t surprise him if they had failed utterly and she had protected herself. Those spells would have killed most of their teachers combined like that. The cloud became opaque and Lyca blinked. It rose into the air and Lyca had to hold his knees still. Nothing. There was no one there. ¡°Got you.¡± The woman said from him. She touched Edmonton on the back with a single finger and gave him a light shove. ¡°That¡¯s three.¡± She took a step. ¡°Impressive work, really, but it¡¯s your poor luck that you came across me.¡± Edmonton aimed his wand at the woman. Water poured from it in a stream. It hit an invisible wall, rebounded and launched him backwards. The woman smiled. ¡°Quite smart to escape like that.¡± She turned to Eliza and finally moved her arms. Her fingers left a red trail in the air. Lyca felt the hairs on his neck rise from those red blades. There was no protection against that magic. ¡°ELA!¡± He jumped in front of her and felt the light slash his back open. ¡°LYCA!¡± Ella collapsed backwards as the blast launched Lyca into her. ¡°NO!¡± He silenced the pain on his back, pushed it away and pushed himself off her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Eli-AAHHH!!¡± The words transitioned into a scream. He felt a heel crush his ankle as Eliza¡¯s big brown eyes looked up into his. Tears swelled in them, threatening to overthrow, and something sharp poked Lyca¡¯s chest. A glance confirmed it was Eliza¡¯s wand, stabbed into his side. ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry.¡± Eliza said, her eyes locked on Lyca¡¯s. ¡°Forgive me.¡± He understood what she was about to do immediately and held his gaze firm. On his nod, the wand seared, froze, devoured, poisoned and exploded in his side. Lyca rolled over and saw the woman standing there, her face clothed in surprise. Those pretty eyebrows looked as if they were about to jump off her face, those crimson eyes had dulled in colour as she looked down at her dress and cloak. They were stained in blood; Lyca¡¯s blood. The woman put her hands down, the red spears of light snapped and disappeared into the thin air as the library returned around them. She finally spoke. ¡°Very well, you¡¯ve won.¡± Chapter 15 – Fading Light Contingency After six hours, the number on the screen finally read ¡®100%¡¯. A notification popped up, ¡®Luck Cage fully charged: Remaining time: three hundred days¡¯. ¡°It is done.¡± Leona said, her eyes growing dull. ¡°Go back home Alla¡­¡± She stumbled and fell over onto the prepared mattress. Allasaria watched eight servants pick it up and start to carry her off to Leona¡¯s resting room. ¡°Is it always like this?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°Yes Goddess.¡± One of the scientists replied, a bald man in glasses. ¡°Goddess Leona will sleep for a week before waking up.¡± ¡°I will stay here until then.¡± ¡°Yes Goddess.¡± - Artica Chaos Containment Facility, Present Day, Present Time. Since their battle with Allasaria, Maisara¡¯s section on Olympiada had turned into a fortress. The doors had been barricaded, the walls were being reinforced by mages, even windows were being turned into arrowslits. Paladins had been mobilized to protect their Goddess and they roamed the section in their great hulking silver armour like walking statues; greatsword and shield on their back, the only part of living being peering through the armour were two eyes scanning through the opening of their plain helmets. Maisara¡¯s Paladins moved out of the way as Fortia stumbled towards them. Allasaria¡¯s Seekers would have lowered their gazes for her, maybe even knelt. They weren¡¯t Paladins though, the most acknowledgement Fortia received was a small inclination of their helmets, that was more than most Divines received. Fortia walked unsteadily on her injured leg, her golden spear acting as support to lean with every other step. A long dress covered the muscle spiralling around her leg and slowly re-growing although even a short walk like this added another day to the recovery time. No Paladin came to assist her, no Paladin gave her more than a passing glance. The servants were much the same, saluting when necessary but going about their jobs as needed. The entire section was a cold factory, quietly working away and producing the commands of its Goddess. Fortia stumbled through another undecorated corridor, her breathes heavy as if she just ran a marathon. Finally the door to Maisara¡¯s door came into view. Two Paladins stood on either side, silent and unmoving, they may as well have been statues, their armour simple plain silver, unadorned. When Fortia got close, one finally started to move. A captain, the little red tassel on his shoulder served as the only piece of decoration and it was only to display his rank. His gauntlet knocked on the door with a heavy thud-thud-thud. Three, no more, no less. ¡°Guests have arrived.¡± Fortia barely heard Maisara murmur something from inside. ¡°It is Divine Fortia, of Peace.¡± The Paladin said, Fortia could almost feel a smile under that plate helmet. ¡°If I may, it is always a pleasure to host Divine Fortia, of Peace.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Fortia said as the captain opened the door and Fortia stumbled in. Fortia had expected Maisara to be working her bed, not¡­ not this. The woman¡¯s room had been re-arranged entirely. It had transformed into a memory from a thousand years past, a rectangular table dominated the middle. Maisara sat at the head, her seat a plain throne. She wore a simple dress, her silver hair straight, her hands clasped together as she stared at a map of Olympiada. Next to it lay a map of Epa. A dozen Chaplain-Captains sat around the table, each man with his own file of reports, each one in a suit of armour. The only leeway to comfort given was that they had taken off their helms. ¡°What are you doing Fortia?¡± Maisara asked from the table. ¡°I came in to check on you.¡± ¡°Doing worse than you.¡± She shrugged. ¡°It is what is it.¡± ¡°You should be resting.¡± The captains watched her circle the table and put her hand on Maisara¡¯s shoulder.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°I¡¯ll rest when we¡¯ve prepared.¡± Maisara said, Fortia¡¯s eyes finally went to the table, and the documents before it. It was a collection of plain papers, each titled and bundled. Not a single folder overflowed but it was the brown parchment that caught Fortia¡¯s gaze. Reed-paper, not produced in over two hundred years, pretty handwriting on the front cover. Pretty handwriting Fortia had cast away from memory a long time ago. She squeezed Maisara¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me Fortia, really.¡± ¡°Fading Light?¡± Fortia barely forced the words out. ¡°It is what it is.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Allasaria has gone too far this time. Everyone sees what she¡¯s growing into.¡± Maisara shifted under Fortia¡¯s grip. ¡°I expect that I don¡¯t have to remind you not to warn her.¡± ¡°It would be war.¡± Fortia said. ¡°Is it not war already?¡± Maisara asked and leaned back, she turned to the crowd dozen Captains and got a series of uncomfortable nods. ¡°This will rip apart the Pantheon Maisara.¡± ¡°What Pantheon Fortia? What Pantheon? The Pantheon stopped functioning five hundred years ago. Why does it even exist anymore? It¡¯s a keepsake for tradition and nothing else.¡± Maisara groaned in pain as she leaned forwards and tapped on the map of Epa. ¡°Rancais is falling into chaos right now. Anarchia¡¯s followers have started riots in Aris. It¡¯s not a question of whether those riots can be contained, it¡¯s a question of how far they will spread. What has Allasaria done against them?¡± ¡°Ciria requested for us to stay out of politics.¡± Fortia said, distaste flashed in her mouth at mentioning the Goddess of Civilization¡¯s name, disgust spread over the Captain¡¯s faces. ¡°And Allasaria agreed.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Where is Waeh? Isn¡¯t he supposed to be the Protector of Humanity?¡± Fortia didn¡¯t answer. Waeh¡¯s Esperanism was another of Allasaria¡¯s failed plans. ¡°Arascus cults are preparing for something too.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°Heinrich, the report.¡± Maisara said to one of the Captains; a stern looking fellow with a thick grey moustache. He shuffled his folder, pulled out a piece of paper and passed it to Maisara. She held it for Fortia to read. It was long, but the conclusion sent a chill down Maisara¡¯s spine: Aris Police force is overwhelmed. The lack of open criminality from both Cults is an indication they are preparing. ¡°I see.¡± Fortia said and Maisara passed it back to Heinrich, he immediately reshuffled it into his folder. ¡°And there¡¯s one more thing, I¡¯ve said it to my men already but I¡¯ll repeat it for you Fortia.¡± Maisara leaned back, readjusted her posture and rubbed her stomach with a sigh. Fortia got a sight of her burned legs for a moment before pulling her eyes away. ¡°What binds the White Pantheon?¡± Fortia blinked. ¡°Now?¡± Fortia asked. ¡°Yes, now.¡± Fortia stood there for a few moments and shook her head. ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°No.¡± Maisara said and nodded to one of the Captains. ¡°Konrad, what binds the Pantheon together?¡± The man had a wrinkled face, old, with his hair greying. ¡°In the Great War, it was Arascus, of Pride. It was merely a coalition of Divines united against Arascus¡¯ Empire, now though I would say it is only luck that the Pantheon has not been torn apart.¡± Maisara nodded. ¡°Very good. I believe the same. It is only luck that we have still somehow held together. The pattern is obvious when you look at it, arguments always flare up while Leona leaves to keep Olephia asleep. When she fainted during the Godkiller incident, we had this situation with Allasaria too.¡± ¡°We did.¡± Fortia said. ¡°Has Leona ever been wrong?¡± Maisara asked, Fortia scanned her memories. Even back during the Great War, Leona¡¯s random calls on troop movements always proved to be the correct move. To call her the best spy would be an understatement, she had an almost omniscient luck which predicted the most minor of defeats. ¡°No.¡± Maisara took a second to reply. ¡°Likewise, I agree. She has never been wrong, so how can she be wrong now?¡± Fortia felt the blood drain from her face. ¡°Are you¡­¡± Fortia¡¯s words grew weak and faded away. ¡°Leona did not say she is in danger, she did not say something was after her. She did not speak of illness nor bereavement nor assassination. Leona said she was going to die.¡± Maisara took a pause. ¡°She was never wrong before, why should I not believe her now?¡± ¡°And when she dies?¡± ¡°And when she dies, the last of the luck that holds us together will die with her.¡± ¡°So this?¡± Fortia tapped the brown parchment. ¡°Yes.¡± Maisara said, she groaned as she leaned forward and took the document. ¡°This is the original from back then.¡± She opened the first page and held it for everyone at the table to see. It was a mere few lines of pretty scrawl, a few lines would have changed the world had things turned out differently: Minutes of Meeting - Fading Light Contingency Participants: Fortia, of Peace. Maisara, of Order. Saranael, of Knowledge. Arascus, of Pride. Minutes tracked by Irinika, of Darkness. Objective: Death of Allasaria, of Light. Chapter 16 – Under Budget, Ahead of Schedule The tundra above Guguo was a ferocious beast. Men entered and returned either as beast or bone. Today, it had swallowed a team of twelve cultivator students and spat out bones. Ambushed from all sides, impaled by spear and horn, torn by axe and tooth, crushed by hammer and hoof. Golthus tore his axe out of the cultivator¡¯s chest, the blood staining the brown fur on his legs. He felt his hairs stand up and sniffed the air. From the south, ten dots appearing in the sky. Cultivators riding swords. Ten¡­ twenty¡­ fourty¡­ sixty four. Grandmasters, not one of a lesser rank. He picked out the colours in their clothes, at least a dozen sects had come together. He turned to one of the lesser goatmen who was wiping his spear down. ¡°Go warn pack master. This hunt may be our last.¡± ¡°Recruitment report.¡± All eyes in the war-room turned Sara upon Arascus¡¯ words. The woman took a deep breath, didn¡¯t even open her report and started to recall from memory. She had changed, from the girl who wore dresses and had her hair down to now donning a suit like the rest of them with her black hair tied back. Those eyes had grown sharper too. ¡°The Rancais branches are at capacity. Other Epan countries are nearing our goal. The Union branches in the West still exist, although we¡¯ve halved our support for them.¡± She readjusted herself and crossed her arms. ¡°Additionally, we¡¯ve had a development in the East. A branch has opened in Guguo. There is no set location yet and I did not order for the creation of one, I think our ideas have simply spread.¡± ¡°And numbers?¡± Arascus said. ¡°Rancais stands at around a hundred and fifty thousand, Epa as a whole has almost a million. The Guguo branch has five members currently. Union members dropped severely although I think the lowest point is past us. Numbers have risen back up to eight hundred among the sixteen branches that exist.¡± The woman finally leaned back and smiled at everyone in the war-room. Two months ago she was a mere sapling among the men and women here, now she had grown into an oak that stood equal among them. ¡°I would like to add however that in Rancais, twelve of the fifty nation-wide branches have been compromised. In Epa, we estimate about fourty percent now have some police or intelligence operative working within them.¡± ¡°That is not an issue.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Do you know which branches are non-compromised?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not able to be certain on that, but to degree, yes.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Arascus turned to Rickard Narma. ¡°And the expenditure of our expansion?¡± Rickard flipped through his notebook. ¡°Far cheaper than expected. We¡¯ve not expanded into new locations, branches are simply meeting more often. In Aris, some of the branches have decided to share the same buildings and simply rotate. So one branch has Monday, another Tuesday and so on. The Guguo branches requests start-up capital. They¡¯ve forward a report with a cheap room to rent as part of their set-up. It will only cost around five-hundred thousand Guguoan Yon. In real terms, that¡¯s about eight hundred Epan Marks, or six hundred Union ones. Monthly-payments.¡± ¡°Pocket change.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Indeed. I¡¯ll confirm the transaction.¡± Rickard commented. ¡°Donations have risen from the spike of new members too. We¡¯re floating a good treasury. About twenty million Marks right now, I¡¯ve factored in a drop-off of income after the recruitment surge but by three months, even the worst estimate is we¡¯ll have fifty million.¡± Several of the members around the table looked at each other in shock.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°And the best?¡± ¡°Two hundred.¡± The table burst into clapping for a few moments. Arascus let them have their moment of joy, these would be rare enough in the near future. ¡°That¡¯s all for my report Sir. It¡¯s good news all-around.¡± ¡°Ilwin.¡± Arascus asked. ¡°And the factories?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve found three locations which are deemed suitable. All three in Karaina.¡± Three documents emerged from his folder and he slid them along the table to Arascus. ¡°East of us, I don¡¯t even know if it can be said to be Epa anymore.¡± ¡°Long distance.¡± Arascus said dryly. ¡°With little oversight from the government, there¡¯s a good amount of autonomy in the provinces, and it puts us closer to support Fer¡¯s hordes too. The Karaina-Guguo railway also lowers transport times considerably.¡± ¡°How expensive?¡± ¡°The Tarin plant costs thirty, Aklasia is thirty two, Kira car factory is fourty, but it¡¯s the largest one and we could use it for vehicles too.¡± ¡°Why are they being sold?¡± ¡°Depopulation largely, people have moved to cities from the local towns and there¡¯s not enough workers. I¡¯ve sent men to pose as buyers, the plants are old but there¡¯s no issue with them fundamentally.¡± Arascus nodded. ¡°Even better for us then. Kira, then the other two. Narma, secure the funds, the earlier the better. When they are secured, start moving excess members from branches to the nearby towns and restock the population. Give them decent wages, but don¡¯t tell them what is going on.¡± Arascus stood up and walked to one of the wooden cabinets behind him. ¡°Daganhoff, stand up.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± Sara replied and stood up, her face painted with nothing but excitement. Childish true, but Arascus preferred that to fear. He returned to his with a small box, he extended an arm to the woman. ¡°For your impressive performance.¡± He passed the box to her. ¡°Open it later and sit down. Good job.¡± Sara smiled in disbelief, took the box and sat back down. ¡°Thank you Sir. I will do my best.¡± ¡°Do better than your best.¡± ¡°You¡¯re correct Sir.¡± She pulled a salute. ¡°The best is not good enough.¡± Arascus looked around the table. ¡°You may inquire about her gift privately. Everyone who manages to achieve in their field what Miss Daganhoff did over the past two months will receive a similar reward.¡± Arascus smiled. Gifts always made everyone work better, the goal was to give them sparingly enough to be worth the effort, but not so sparingly that people forget they exist. The table clapped for Sara again before being cut off. Arascus turned to Iliyal Tremali. ¡°Report on Fer?¡± ¡°The Guguoan Great Hunt is underway, it was larger than predicted. Fer is currently retreating her position and moving West, towards the Karainan border.¡± ¡°How long before she gets to it?¡± ¡°She¡¯s moving slowly to avoid detection. Three months at the current rate. So far, we¡¯ve confirmed the deaths of twenty members of the Hunt and about thirty beastmen. One darkfur has died.¡± Arascus nodded. ¡°In regards to Fer, keep monitoring but do not engage.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± Iliyal Tremali replied. Arascus extended an arm to the man at the end of the table. ¡°Now for the main course of the meeting. Alash, you have something to show us.¡± Mikhail stood up and awkwardly waved for one of his helpers. The man from the back came forwards with an object wrapped in black cloth and placed it on the table. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen.¡± Mikhail began, his voice in pure bliss. ¡°Sir.¡± He bowed to Arascus. ¡°I would like to present the Alash-1.¡± He unfurled the cloth. Iliyal and Arascus stared at the object with a smile, the rest of the table simply did not know what they were looking at. Mikhail began, Arascus let the man boast, frankly, this thing surpassed his expectations in every regard. The engineer deserved his pride. ¡°Just as sporting arrows have spiralled feathers to add spin, the inside of the barrel is rifled to add spin to the bullet. The issue of muzzle-loading has been solved with this breech.¡± He pointed at some mechanism in the side. ¡°The A-1 is able to shoot with a deviation of two centimetres to a range of a hundred-metres. Six centimetres at two hundred. It has a maximum fire-rate of twenty-four shots a minute, and that¡¯s with reloading the clip.¡± He picked up a small thing, a metal stick with six brass casings on it. ¡°The metal will not melt under stress. It has passed all my laboratory tests, the only thing I need now is live fire experiences to know how to improve it further.¡± ¡°Mikhail, if I may.¡± Rickard interrupted the man. ¡°That¡¯s nice and all, but what is that?¡± ¡°This, my friend, is the weapon of the future.¡± Chapter 17 – Deeper Sara paced around her room unable to sit down. It was small, without windows and with a sliding door, underground, the light was too harsh, the bed wasn¡¯t the best she ever slept on and the carpet only covered half the floor. But it was her cosy room. She looked at the box Arascus had given her again. He did say to open it! She did do a good job! Who in all of fucking Arda expected her to double numbers in just two months! She had travelled all of Epa to privately monitor the Branches! Finally she stopped pacing, poured herself a glass of wine and took a sip. Let¡¯s see. Sara opened the box and blinked. There was a bottle inside. Fine wine, Rancais red, far better than the shit she was drinking now. She blinked and noticed the letter underneath, handwritten, with Arascus¡¯ stamp right next to it: ¡°Declaration of Nobility. Bestowal of rank of Duchess of House Daganhoff.¡± Underneath was another letter. Her smile grew with every word. ¡°You have impressed me greatly. Underneath this letter is a red shawl of nobility, you may design a crest for yourself. This letter is a promise of a deed in any Epan palace, castle, or home of your choosing after the Victory day. Well done. Tomorrow, you have a day of rest, enjoy yourself. To save you the humiliation publicly, I know that the servants you assigned to me are spies. I expect new servants by the end of the week. ¨C Arascus, God of Pride.¡± Lyca stared up at the ceiling of the library as his vision slowly faded away. ¡°PLEASE!¡± Eliza shouted. ¡°PLEASE HEAL HIM! PLEASE!¡± Lyca pressed felt his head on Eliza¡¯s lap. Not a bad way to die. Not a bad way to die whatsoever. The woman in front tutted, snapped her fingers and the blood from her face disappeared. ¡°It would be a waste.¡± She said absently as Fleur and Edmonton rushed over to Lyca. ¡°I¡¯m no Kavaa boy. Are you ready?¡± Lyca merely smiled, it was too late for him anyway. ¡°It will hurt, and if you take anything, if you accept anything, if you get touched or bit or kissed or confused, you will die.¡± ¡°WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?!¡± Eliza screamed, that pretty face of hers smattered with tears like an unfinished painting. ¡°JUST DO IT.¡± ¡°Like I said boy, ride it out.¡± The woman repeated, a red flash slashed her hand. The woman did not seem to notice, she leaned down and pressed her meagre cut against his gaping wound. ¡°Remember not to¡­¡± Lyca¡¯s consciousness faded away. ¡°WHAT DID YOU DO?¡± Eliza screamed. ¡°Oh look at that! We have another one!¡± Lyca opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a room, a wooden one. There was no door nor any windows, but it wasn¡¯t an unpleasant room: all stout wood finely polished, thick fur carpets, a fireplace. Now two fireplaces. Now only one. Lyca blinked and stopped looking into the flame. ¡°Well boy, who sent you?¡± ¡°Who sent me? I don¡¯t know.¡± Lyca turned to the voices. It was four old men feasting around a small table. Now three. Now two men, two women. Five men. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Joshua.¡± A man¡¯s replied followed by another one. ¡°John.¡± ¡°Solomon.¡± ¡°Adam.¡± ¡°Mary.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not fit for us.¡± ¡°No he isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bother boy, you can¡¯t see, so don¡¯t bother looking.¡± A chair slid backwards for Lyca. ¡°Sit and rest.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Lyca stood up and felt the wound in his chest. His arm went to his side, the wound was still there but he couldn¡¯t feel it. He looked down, saw the blood flowing out of his body and shuddered. It didn¡¯t hurt whatsoever but he should obviously be dead by now. His ribs were in sight, his organs exposed. He touched himself and felt nothing. ¡°He¡¯s not fit for us.¡± One of the voices replied. ¡°Not at all, send him off.¡± The house disappeared and Lyca fell through the sky. ¡°I¡¯m no healer.¡± The woman replied coldly. Lyca landed in the middle of a beach. Far away, there was a woman sitting on some rock. Eyes closed, she hummed and strummed a harp to herself. Lyca looked around, nothing about him changed, the wound was still there, it was still bleeding but apart from the change in scenery, it was as if he was frozen in time. ¡°Hello?¡± Lyca shouted. ¡°Hello.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was a melodic choir. ¡°Come closer.¡± Lyca took a step in the sand. Suddenly, he was stood on the rock next to her. ¡°Very good, that¡¯s talent right there.¡± The woman said, Lyca felt stupid for blushing at the complement. ¡°So where am I?¡± ¡°Somewhere.¡± The woman replied. ¡°So what do you want?¡± ¡°What do I¡­?¡± Lyca thought for a few moments, the woman seemed patient and pleasant. She put her harp down on the rock and kept smiling. ¡°I want to be healed I think.¡± Lyca said and pointed to his chest. She smiled at him as if she was his own mother. ¡°Liar.¡± A flick of a delicate finger and Lyca was sent flying towards the ocean. ¡°But you tried, didn¡¯t you?¡± Edmonton said. Lyca tumbled through the air, hit the water¡¯s surface and emerged on the other side. He was in a cave, cold and crystalline. Something was moving the distance, a giant eye covered in scales. ¡°A human? Here?¡± The voice echoed around the cave. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know where I am.¡± Lyca backed away and tried to explain. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that before.¡± The voice boomed. ¡°I MEAN IT!¡± Lyca shouted as the crystals around him turned to teeth. The floor became a tongue and he was swallowed.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°My arts work alone, from within. I merely set him down the right path.¡± ¡°AHH!!!¡± Lyca screamed as he came to a stop. He was on a net, soft and silky and sticky. It spiralled around him, grabbed at his arms, coiled around his throat as if trying to choke him. ¡°Another feast! Who sent you?¡± A voice asked. Lyca turned and had to contain his disgust. A giant spider, all black and sleek was approaching him. A dozen red eyes focused on him, avarice practically leaking out of them. Its mouth was large enough to fit his entire arm, one of those huge fangs was the size of his entire body. ¡°I don¡¯t fucking know! Who the fuck are you people?!¡± Lyca screamed at the insect. It stopped. ¡°You¡¯re not afraid?¡± ¡°I¡¯M PISSED OFF!¡± Lyca tugged at the silk binding him. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± The spider seemed stumped for a moment before taking a few more steps towards him. ¡°Well, I suppose anger is an expression of fear after all.¡± ¡°WHY IS IT TAKING THIS LONG?¡± Eliza screamed again. The webs around Lyca set alight. The spider shrieked and fled as Lyca stood up and threw the ashes off himself. The hole in his chest didn¡¯t worry him whatsoever. ¡°STOP! STOP! STOP! I¡¯LL SHOW YOU!¡± The spider screamed. ¡°Show me what?¡± ¡°Here! Look!¡± One of the spider¡¯s eight legs extended towards a giant hole in the ground. Lyca didn¡¯t even know how he didn¡¯t notice it before. It emitted a green light, like a gate to the afterlife. ¡°What about it?¡± Lyca stepped towards the edge and felt something sharp on his back. The spider¡¯s leg. It pushed him forwards, he tumbled in to the sound of cackling laughter. Lyca fell and he swore to kill that spider as the green light swallowed him. ¡°You should leave.¡± The woman said. Lyca fell towards a grassy field. There was a girl there, a beautiful girl: the girl of his dreams. All smiles, with flowers in her hair and a yellow dress. She burst out in laughter as landed on her and knocked them both to the ground. Lyca pushed himself off her and took a step back. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Who am I silly?¡± The girl talked as if speaking to a child, those endless eyes of hers as blue as the sky above them. ¡°You don¡¯t know me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t! So explain!¡± Lyca shouted. ¡°Oh no, did you bump your head?¡± She came over and patted him. ¡°There there. It¡¯s alright now, you¡¯re safe with me.¡± Lyca took a step back from her. Her grin didn¡¯t drop. ¡°What? You don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to hurt you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been that way before.¡± Lyca said. That toothy grin became a sinister smile. That endless sky in her eyes became a fierce ocean. She dropped the tone. ¡°Now we¡¯re getting somewhere.¡± The world shifted, Lyca grew small, or maybe she grew large, and he plunged into that ocean in her eyes. ¡°I WOULD RATHER DIE!¡± Eliza shouted at the woman. ¡°YOU DID THIS!¡± Lyca didn¡¯t touch the water. He didn¡¯t want to get wet again. His feet merely touched the surface and he took a step. ¡°You¡¯re not going to acknowledge me?¡± Someone said behind him. Lyca turned, a sailor in a small row-boat. A fat man, in a hat and smoking. ¡°Do you have anything to tell me or are you just going to send me somewhere else?¡± ¡°It is how it is. Don¡¯t ask questions.¡± The fisherman said, his voice grim. ¡°And I apologize for this.¡± He took out his rod and cast it into the water. ¡°If you make it back, make it quick.¡± Lyca stopped moving and merely crossed his arms. A monster burst out of the water and swallowed him whole. ¡°The further he goes, the harder it is. You didn¡¯t do him any favours with that wound.¡± The woman stared Eliza down. Lyca travelled through the fishes¡¯ guts before the monster¡¯s liver asked him more nonsense. He didn¡¯t even pay it any mind at this point. It merely spat him out into a river of fire. A woman sat on the bank: skin crimson, hair black and clothes none. Lyca did not care. She threw him into the river and he landed on a mountain. The snow talked to him, an avalanche swallowed him and he opened his eyes in a bar. The first drink set him spiralling into a ravine. ¡°IF HE DOES NOT WAKE UP, I WILL KILL YOU!¡± Eliza screamed. The woman didn¡¯t even react as Fleur came over and hugged Ela. The ravine sent Lyca through a cave. The cave sent him through a house. Location after location as Lyca spiralled further. Lyca¡¯s lifeless lips mumbled an unintelligible sound. The woman¡¯s eyes flared as Eliza hugged him further. ¡°This is it.¡± Lyca stared at the forest around him. A wolf approached him. A horrendous grey shaggy beast, all matted fur and overflowing fangs. It stared at him with red eyes. ¡°So you¡¯re here.¡± The wolf barked at him, but he understood it perfectly. Lyca ignored the wolf, he sat down next to a tree and thought about what to do. ¡°Follow me.¡± The wolf said, Lyca didn¡¯t even make a single movement. ¡°Die.¡± He told the wolf. The animal turned to him, its maw stretched to smile at him. ¡°Finally.¡± It said. ¡°Now return.¡± The wolf jumped at Lyca. He did not react. Those mangled teeth tore at the wound in his side. He did not react. The grass around turned into his blood, the tree became liquid, the sun faded away into darkness. The sky followed sun after that and Lyca floated in his own blood. He did not react. ¡°So will he make it?¡± Eliza¡¯s voice was hoarse from crying. The woman¡¯s eyes shone as if they were looking at a treasure when they travelled over Lyca¡¯s body. ¡°That all depends on his own will.¡± A figure appeared before him. A thin man in a cloak darker than the blackness around them. A ghastly fellow: cheeks hollow and eyes dull. He held a scales in one hand, in the other, a scythe carved a trail through the blood on the ground as if was rock. ¡°So we meet at last.¡± The man said. Lyca did not react. He merely stared at the fellow, he knew it moment his eyes touched his: Death stood before him. ¡°I have things to do.¡± Lyca said. ¡°Everyone does.¡± Death replied. ¡°I¡¯m not everyone.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what everyone says.¡± Death lifted the scythe as Lyca searched for his wand. It wasn¡¯t on him. The harvest took less than a second, to Lyca, it felt like eternity. He watched the scythe reap towards him as if he was grain. ¡°LYCA!!!!!!!¡± Eliza screamed. Lyca stared at Death. How did he move? How did he escape the harvest? He pushed those thoughts out of his head. Those weren¡¯t questions that needed to be answered. He stared at Death from across the pond of blood. ¡°Another one.¡± Death said. Lyca did react. He waved his hand. Death set aflame. Neither party reacted. They watched each other like statues. Death turned to ash. ¡°He¡¯s done it.¡± The woman said. ¡°What?¡± Eliza asked. The pond of blood turned to ash around Lyca. The air around him turned still, cracked and shattered to reveal the forest. The wolf wasn¡¯t here. Lyca felt his chest. It was in him, where it had buried itself into his wound. Lyca waved his hands. The leaves set alight. Then the branches, the trees, the grass turned brown and started to burn. After an hour, there was nothing there. Only ash lay around Lyca, but he knew the route to take. He took a step along the invisible path, it was clear to him as day. He retraced his steps. The house burned down. The cave melted around him. The ravine tried to swallow him, the rocks shattered before he did. The snowy mountain cracked and fell into the ocean. The river of fire burned out, that crimson woman on the rocks was left was left a corpse. He was a bacteria to the fish, an illness and a cancer. Each step tore through the fat and muscle until he entered the ocean. The fisherman was still there, still smoking, still fishing. ¡°Make it quick.¡± Lyca did. He saw that beautiful girl again in that picturesque field. ¡°You¡¯ve come back!¡± She took a step towards him and collapsed. Blood spilled out of her mouth as the grass around them died. The sky cracked, Lyca looked up and left the corpse of that dreamlike figure there. The spider cackled and screamed. It was the coward and liar in his heart. He took pleasure with killing it. The webs burned first, then its carapace cracked. The insect rushed him, a blur to the naked eye. It moved like lightning. Lyca¡¯s fire was faster than lightning. Lyca took a step out of the cave and behind the woman singing on the rock. She strummed her harp. ¡°What do you want now?¡± She asked. ¡°Everything.¡± ¡°Truth at last.¡± The harp snapped in half. She spread her arms out, looked up at the sky and set alight. Lyca saw the crystals around him, and he saw the crystals start to melt under his will. Lyca was back in the house. He saw the people sitting around the table perfectly. Four men, one woman. All middle-aged, all tired. ¡°Another returnee.¡± Lyca did not say a word. A door appeared in the wall. After this long? Lyca ignored the door. He waved his hand. The table around set alight, the hearth burst with flame, the five people drowned in fire. The door was a trap, an easy way out. If it was easy, it was not worth it. The wood started to crack under the heat. The house cracked like pottery and tore like paper. Lyca swam in the darkness before he realised what he was looking at: The back of his own eyelids. He opened his eyes. Chapter 18 – Hunting Queen-Beast Every of Maisara¡¯s Chaplain-Captain¡¯s left the room once the meeting was concluded. Each one was grim faced, each one swore loyalty to Maisara, not to the White Pantheon. Fortia tapped the table. ¡°Preparations are always necessary Fortia¡±. Maisara said. ¡°We can do better.¡± Fortia replied. ¡°Better?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t¡­ Her?¡± ¡°Her.¡± East. East, away from pack master. Too many. Too many swords. Too many sects. Too many hunters. Golthus panted, his fur matted with sweat as he leaped over another fallen tree. The frozen dirt cracked from the impact of his hooves. Golthus ran. Today. Tomorrow. Maybe in two days, he would die. They would catch him. It was impossible to outrun the bladeriders: hunt or be hunted, kill or be killed. He could kill one. Two. Not sixty. They started slowing down behind him. Not good. East. East, away from pack master. Golthus picked up a small stone from the ground, his arm tensed, his chest rippled, his goat-legs cracked the ground again as his arm cut the air like a whip. A sword split the stone in two. Golthus ran. Spears pierced where he had just stunned. He turned his head to keep track of the small figures in the sky. They were still following. Good. East. Further east, further from pack master. There was a river ahead, he descended to all fours, strained himself and pounced like a leopard looking for prey. The air was scary. The air was not his domain. Beasts were of the ground. A sword sliced his arm. He landed on the other side of the river.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Golthus ran. Blood was not good. Blood attracted predators. Golthus did not care. He turned again. Sixty still. Good. They were all following him. He roared a taunt into the air and smashed through bush and bramble. A sword cut the air ahead of him. He grabbed the handle, jumped, spun and threw it back. Miss. Not good. Golthus ran. Further and further Golthus ran. Further east. Further away from pack-master. She had to stay alive. Pack master was pack master. Golthus could be replaced. Pack master could not. The bladeriders started to narrow the distance. Golthus roared at the cut. Blood could be replaced, but slowly. Too slowly. Golthus ran. Spears cascaded through the air. His hairs stood up, his ears whisked and he rolled to the side. A metal pole lodged itself into the ground where he had stood. Spear was better than sword, easier to handle. Sword grips were too small: weapons for the young. He tore it out the ground. Golthus ran. A mountain. A cave. A ravine. Good. He knew this area. It was far east. Far away from pack master. Cave was bad though. Cave meant underground, that was a tomb. Mountain was slow to scale. Ravine? Ravine then. Golthus ran. Twenty swords arced above him. Twenty more. Then a hundred. A thousand. Wall. Prison. He knew this. Bladeriders wanted information. He roared again: taunt. His breathing became heavier, he dropped like a cat, the spear still held in one hand. Men descended from the sky. Face to face? Pride. Mistake. Golthus ran. Not east. At them. ¡°Where is the Queen Beast?¡± One man shouted. Golthus roared a laugh. Tell them? Break pack-loyalty? Joke. His mind went dull as the smell of blood filled his nose. Blood. His blood. He cut through the pain, twisted and launched himself at the man on the ground. Blue robes. His spear did not hit the blue robes. It twisted and danced out of his hand. A sword impaled his hand to the ground. Then his leg. He roared again. Blue robes advanced. ¡°Where is she? I promise to make your end quick.¡± Golthus roared. ¡°He will not speak. We are wasting time reasoning with him.¡± Red robes spoke. ¡°She¡¯ll appear eventually. Her horde is too large to hide.¡± Yellow robes. Golthus roared at them again. ¡°Someone shut him up!¡± From behind him. Chest. Hurt. Cold. Steel. Golthus roared until his breathe gave out. They did not understand. Laughter. Too far east now. Too far from pack master. They would not catch pack master now. Golthus died. Chapter 19 – And In We Go Kassandora looked up at the ceiling of her cell as she flexed her fingers. For the first time in a thousand years, she was smiling. That energy! That power! It was as if she had just stepped into a kitchen and smelled the stew being brewed. It wasn¡¯t ready yet, but the sensations spiralling through her body were delicious. Her mouth watered as she took a deep breath and calmed herself. A thousand years had passed since she felt these tingling emotions. She burst out in a taunting laughter. Kassandora, Of War, felt joy. ¡°LYCA!!!!¡± Eliza screamed out in joy. Lyca stared up at her, trying to raise one of his hands to wipe away the tears on smattering her face, it didn¡¯t move. Fleur fell to her knees and Edmonton looked as if he was in disbelief. ¡°I¡­¡± Lyca tried to calm them down, but he struggled to do more than produce a single guttural sound. ¡°Welcome back.¡± The woman said. ¡°I¡¯m impressed.¡± ¡°Impressed by what?!¡± Eliza shouted. ¡°You almost killed him!¡± ¡°I had no issue with killing all of you before. I still don¡¯t.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Lyca tried forcing more words out. ¡°You¡¯ve made it, well done.¡± ¡°Where was I?¡± Lyca finally asked. The woman shrugged, her voice nonchalant. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Yourself maybe? Some other land? Everyone goes there once. It¡¯s different for everyone too.¡± Her eyes travelled to the wound in Lyca¡¯s chest, what was left of it anyway. ¡°But it did heal you.¡± ¡°A¡­¡± Lyca pretended his throat gave out and coughed. The wolf had entered him. ¡°You know these people better than I, can they make it?¡± The woman asked. ¡°What?¡± Everyone turned to her. ¡°It was a simple question, can they make it?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°Because this lesson serves as the foundation for all future ones. You are now eligible, but they aren¡¯t.¡± She looked over at the other three around Lyca. ¡°One student is already above my expectations, but there¡¯s a tendency that if one passes, the group does too. And four students are better than one.¡± ¡°What happens if you don¡¯t¡­ make it?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°You die.¡± The woman¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t cold or domineering, she was simply stating a fact. ¡°What¡¯s the upside?¡± The woman raised her hand, a red ball of light blinked into existence in her open palm. ¡°Magic?¡± ¡°Not magic. I¡¯ll explain everything once you¡¯re out.¡± The woman said and Edmonton crossed his arms. ¡°You¡¯ve not been too forthcoming so far.¡± ¡°I have my reasons.¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Great.¡± Edmonton¡¯s answer was rife with sarcasm. ¡°You won¡¯t try to kill us?¡± ¡°Did I kill little Lyca here?¡± Lyca only rolled his eyes. ¡°How hard was it?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°It will be easier for you, he was wounded.¡± The woman replied. ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Lyca shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°What happened anyway?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Any help?¡± ¡°Trust your gut.¡± Lyca said and Edmonton smiled. ¡°That¡¯s exactly the useless sort of answer I¡¯d expect from you.¡± Both of the men laughed, Fleur merely stared at them as if she was looking at some amazing display of idiocy. ¡°You¡¯re laughing now? After you just died?¡± She said incredulously. ¡°But I survived!¡± Lyca beamed. ¡°Whatever.¡± She turned to the woman. ¡°I won¡¯t have to use a wand if I pass whatever it is?¡± ¡°Your body will become the catalyst for magic, no wand, no gems, nothing.¡± ¡°Good enough for me.¡± Fleur said. ¡°Let me try.¡± ¡°Lie down.¡± Fleur did. The woman repeated what she did to Lyca, a flash of red magic slash her hand but she merely dropped the blood on Fleur¡¯s lips. The girl lost consciousness immediately. ¡°And you two?¡± ¡°Well if Fleur¡¯s doing it.¡± Edmonton lay down on the ground. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be left behind.¡± Eliza said. Soon the three of them were knocked out. Eliza was whispering was incomprehensible tongues, Edmonton looked stern and sweat had burst out of Fleur¡¯s face. ¡°I have a question.¡± Lyca tore his away from his friends and looked at the woman. Before she was a menace, in the fight with them, she was terrible, now she looked like a scientist watching the project of her dreams. Those red eyes held no animosity, that beautiful face was twisted with impatience. Even her red dress seemed to belong to someone else. ¡°If it¡¯s generic, wait for them, I don¡¯t repeat myself.¡± The woman said, her eyes not leaving the three on the ground. ¡°It¡¯s specific to me.¡± That got the woman¡¯s attention. ¡°You said something at the start, not to take anything, not to¡­¡± ¡°And you took something.¡± It wasn¡¯t an accusation, it was simply stating another fact. ¡°A wolf.¡± Lyca patted the healed wound. ¡°It entered me.¡± ¡°So it has.¡± ¡°I was¡­¡± Lyca shrugged. ¡°I mean, I was hoping you would explain it.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll grow fur, you should shave it off, the other changes, you¡¯ll feel them.¡± ¡°Feel them?¡± ¡°It¡¯s different for everyone.¡± The woman said. ¡°You¡¯ve been cursed.¡± Lyca raised an eyebrow. ¡°I don¡¯t feel cursed.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll feel it eventually, it can spread too.¡± ¡°Spread?¡± ¡°If you bite someone, you¡¯ll curse them.¡± She said idly. ¡°Or give them a gift, it¡¯s a matter of perspective. They won¡¯t be as strong as you are.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cryptic.¡± Lyca said. ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s different for everyone. I know a few who came out as wolves, actual wolves, they became the animal. Some became beastmen. Your situation isn¡¯t unprecedented but it¡¯s not common either.¡± She shrugged, turned to him and adopted the fakest smile Lyca ever had seen. Was THAT supposed to be supportive? ¡°And on one hand, it¡¯s the best-case scenario.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Lyca was stunned. ¡°What¡¯s it?¡± ¡°Your advice?¡± The woman actually scoffed at him! ¡°I¡¯m not your mother. If you made it through the test, I assume you¡¯re smart to know how to handle yourself. The one piece of advice I¡¯ll give is don¡¯t infect others all willy-nilly.¡± Those childish words were comical coming out her of her. ¡°Your teachers won¡¯t know what¡¯s happening to you. Your friends won¡¯t either, but you don¡¯t want to attract the attention of Divines.¡± Lyca blinked. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Did you suddenly lose the ability to comprehend language? I don¡¯t repeat myself.¡± ¡°Divines will be out to get me?¡± The woman sighed. ¡°Some will, some won¡¯t. The ones who won¡¯t are long gone, the ones who will are in charge.¡± Lyca blinked. ¡°Who are you?¡± The woman merely shrugged. ¡°Come here next time there¡¯s a full moon. I¡¯ll do that much for you.¡± ¡°So what has happened to me?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll work it out eventually.¡± The woman replied. ¡°But you will teach us?¡± ¡°This cannot be taught, but I guide you.¡± ¡°Is there a difference?¡± ¡°Some say there is, some say there isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°So when do we start?¡± ¡°You just went through your first lesson.¡± Lyca felt his stomach drop. THAT was his first lesson? The woman actually giggled. ¡°You all passed your interviews when you entered here. I knew you would be students from the moment you stepped in.¡± ¡°How did you know?¡± ¡°Experience.¡± The woman replied. ¡°Eventually, you just know off by sight and aura.¡± ¡°Great.¡± Lyca said. ¡°So what now?¡± ¡°Now we wait for them to wake up and then I¡¯ll send you home.¡± ¡°What?¡± Lyca shouted. ¡°None of you are ready for the next lesson.¡± ¡°So you¡¯ll call us? Or what?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be dragged here eventually when the time is right, come as a group or alone, I don¡¯t particularly care. And you Lyca, you¡¯re not ready for dealing with the wolf yourself.¡± Chapter 20 – Fading Light, Fading Luck Tensions arose in the White Pantheon is regards to the case of Anassa, of Sorcery. Reformation or punishment? In 25 PGW, the debate finally ended. Elassa vouched for her sister Goddess and swore that the Divine in question could change. The sentencing was changed: Execution became imprisonment. -Excerpt from ¡®The Lost Divines¡¯, written in 732 PGW, by scholars in Arcadia. Fortia limped through Olympiada¡¯s great gardens, her spear serving as a crutch. A team of builders led by some Divine, only a mere invention, trekked off to the garden where she had the fight with Allasaria. She turned towards another garden and came to a stop, her long dress still swishing with the wind. ¡°Are you going anywhere?¡± She asked. Atis, of the Hunt, stood there in a fashion she had not seen for the past half-millennia. His soft silks had been replaced with leather-scale armour. A dark green cloak was around his shoulders, a full quiver on his hip. Wooden great-bow slung around him. Boar-spear on his back. The oddest change wasn¡¯t the clothes though, it was his face: the man was smiling. ¡°You were correct.¡± He carried himself like he did five hundred years past. ¡°About what?¡± Fortia didn¡¯t bother to add any warmth to her tone. ¡°About the Pantheon.¡± He shook his head. ¡°I gave up on Fer out of laziness, nothing else.¡± Fortia merely raised a doubtful eyebrow at him. ¡°And?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to finish the Hunt.¡± Fortia stood there, stunned. One day! In one day, Atis had done complete turnaround! Incredible on one hand, terrifying on the other. ¡°The Guguoans will finish her off.¡± Fortia said coldly. ¡°I¡¯ve checked on this Hunt, they¡¯ve mobilized a third of all the sects to capture her.¡± ¡°I know, fifteen are already there, another thirteen are sending reinforcement. Three more are still preparing.¡± Atis confirmed. Fortia hid her surprise. Honestly, she had merely heard it passing by some lower-ranking Divines. She did her best to avoid any mention of Fer, that woman only served as a reminder for how much all of them had fallen.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Then you should get to it before they steal her from you.¡± ¡°Aye. My flight is already ready, I just wanted to find you.¡± ¡°Me?¡± Fortia took a step back. Atis bowed. ¡°Thank you.¡± Fortia simply stared at the man, becoming aware of the maids who had stopped and were pretending to do anything but look at them. ¡°Okay.¡± Fortia eventually broke the silence. ¡°Stop humiliating yourself, we have an audience.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a humiliation to bow to the Goddess of Peace.¡± Atis pulled himself up. ¡°Like I said, thank you, you¡¯ve reignited a spark within me.¡± ¡°Then go and use that spark to hunt Fer down. Come back a fire and not the bum you were.¡± Fortia finally turned and limped away, she felt Atis¡¯ gaze follow her until she turned a corner. What was that? Atis going outside? Fortia leaned against the wall as two maids passed her by. She didn¡¯t care how they viewed at this point, those eyes could be pity or scorn for all she cared. She had said similar things to Atis before, maybe less harshly, but certainly her words could not have been that strong. Then what? Her mind travelled back to the conversation with Maisara. The Pantheon was bound by Leona¡¯s omnipresent luck. If she were to disappear, then they would start fragmenting. If she were to die¡­ War. The cogs turned in Fortia¡¯s head: Swords clashed, arrows hit their targets, walls collapsed and castles fell. Atis had just confirmed it: Maisara¡¯s prediction was correct. He was simply the first one to break away. Of course it would be him, his shots were never lucky, they were always skill. Fading Light. Fortia wished she had never participated in that meeting, but she knew there was no world or reality where out there where she hadn¡¯t. Allasaria was too unpredictable, too prideful, too stubborn. Her light would burn anyone going against her away. The moment Leona¡¯s luck finally burned out, Maisara was the first target. Mai¡­ then me. It would not be done. Peace was eternal. Peace was the goal of humanity. An objective forever out of reach, a mountain that only grew taller as you scaled it. Fortia was the pinnacle of that mountain, and Allasaria wanted to fly right over her. No. Fortia gripped her harder and pushed herself off the wall. Peace was the ultimate desire. Everyone loved Peace. No man or woman, no human, elf or dwarf would not want their hearts to be at Peace. Peace demanded and Peace took. No price was too high, no taboo could be too great to break. If Peace called for War, then War it shall have. Chapter 21 – Peace Unto War, War Unto Peace. ¡°You think that¡¯s all?¡± Fleur shouted at her three friends. ¡°It¡¯s just fine for you to play along with her!?¡± ¡°Good enough for me.¡± Lyca said and rubbed where Eliza had devastated his chest. ¡°I don¡¯t bother asking questions. I¡¯m just here to be taught.¡± ¡°We already have this.¡± Edmonton lifted his hand, the water in his cup flew up and danced and pranced along his fingers. ¡°Who else has that?¡± ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m just scared of her.¡± Eliza said quietly. Fleur silently boiled in her own anger. ¡°Well it might be good enough for you, it¡¯s not good enough for me!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already tried finding out who she is.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°But you¡¯re not me.¡± ¡°Goddess Allasaria has forbidden all entry into the Lower Prison.¡± Allasaria¡¯s Seekers refused to step out of the way for Fortia. They stood before a black door, all steel, like terrified statues. ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking.¡± Fortia leaned on her spear. The Seekers took shared a nervous glance between themselves. They were all golden armour, with white capes, longswords on their hips, bows on their backs. Talentless hacks, children who played dress-up. Capes were useless in war, sword and bow but no shield? Who did they think they were? One of her own Guardians or Maisara¡¯s Paladins was equal to ten of them. ¡°I¡­¡± The taller Seeker¡¯s tone faded. ¡°I told you to move.¡± Fortia growled. She towered over them. Humans trying to stop her? Who dared stand in the way of Peace? ¡°But Goddess Allasaria specifically named you and Goddess Maisara.¡± The Seeker was forcing whispers out. ¡°Then go run to Goddess Allasaria and get her to stop me.¡± Fortia lifted the spear and tapped the end on the marble floor. ¡°But right now, the only decision you have to make is whether I will be washing blood off myself.¡± The Seekers moved and Fortia walked through that black steel door. Pathetic. Humans trying to stop her? She was a damn Divine! She shook her head and turned down one of the corridors. The marble had faded away to only be black slate down here, every inch reinforced with enough steel to make a breastplate. How times have changed, in the past, men would avert their eyes because they weren¡¯t worthy of looking at her. Now? Now they dared block her passage? What a joke. The corridor grew narrow. Fortia had to lower her spear and use the walls for support. It was specifically designed to hold the sole occupant of the cell at the end. You couldn¡¯t swing a greatsword in such tight a place. By the time Fortia made it through the passage, she was breathing heavily. When she arrived at the door, she had to take a rest to recover. This effort added another day of recuperation for her leg. She stood at the door and knocked. A woman¡¯s voice answered, deep yet warm. ¡°Come in.¡± Fortia entered the cell. It was plain, only with a bed, a table and two chairs. A single magical lamp in the corner. In the middle of the room stood one of Saranael¡¯s inventions, a dark crystal ball. The key to the prison, the binding stone that made leaving this room impossible. Everyone but the subject could touch it. Something deep in Fortia¡¯s heart admired the woman in simple grey garments lying on the bed. After being locked away for a thousand years, those dark eyes have not lost an inch of their fire. She had grown shorter, all of them did, but she was still as tall as Allasaria, her movements were slower, but they were still deliberate. Still sharp. Even that hair hadn¡¯t faded, still crimson and bright enough to put Helenna¡¯s to shame. ¡°So we meet again Fortia.¡± ¡°So we meet again Kassandora.¡± The Goddess of War sat up from her bed and looked over Fortia.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Seems like things haven¡¯t gone your way since our last talk.¡± Kassandora sighed and stood up. ¡°I¡¯m not going to insult and baby you but sit down.¡± Fortia wished she had those few extra inches so every conversation wouldn¡¯t be with her being looked down on. She merely clicked her tongue and sat down. ¡°So what do you want? Advice again?¡± ¡°I have a proposition and a problem.¡± Fortia said. Kassandora sat opposite her, put one leg over the other and crossed her arms. Fortia leaned back and let her spear drop to the floor with a heavy sigh. That was how a Goddess should act: Kassandora spent the last millennia in this room and she still carried herself better than most of the White Pantheon. ¡°I assume it¡¯s more serious than just being your injury?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s related.¡± ¡°Get Kavaa to heal it then.¡± Classy Kass, always direct. ¡°Allasaria forbid it.¡± Fire flashed within Kassandora¡¯s eyes and she bared her teeth in a smile. ¡°Oh my my my.¡± She cooed. ¡°Allasaria forbid it? That¡¯s never stopped you before.¡± ¡°Before was different.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°Was it now?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a threat.¡± ¡°You know my domain is rather narrow, I might not be of much use.¡± Kassandora said. Fortia merely gave the Goddess a flat look. ¡°Your domain is as eternal as mine, don¡¯t insult us like that.¡± ¡°If I¡¯m getting fattened up with praise then you do want something.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Alright, this measly relic will try and assist, what do you want?¡± Fortia leaned back and sighed. How should it be said? Would Kassandora even want to try? She shook her head, cleared her mind and simply said what needed to be said. ¡°Leona has predicted her own death.¡± Kassandora¡¯s smile dropped. She leaned forward, that red hair falling around her face. Her eyes burning like controlled fires. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Leona has predicted her own death.¡± ¡°Not an assassination? Death?¡± ¡°Yes. Leona has said she will die.¡± Kassandora sat back up and stretched her arms. ¡°I see.¡± She said. ¡°So I¡¯m going to be executed finally?¡± ¡°What?¡± Fortia asked. ¡°It¡¯s over. I¡¯m only part of the status quo because the status quo can afford it. She¡¯s gone and.¡± Kassandora made a slicing motion along her neck. ¡°You won¡¯t let me join Allasaria, Allasaria won¡¯t me join you, better to remove an unpredictable element than leave it hanging.¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°Eventually, the mess has to be cleaned up.¡± ¡°You still talk like you did back then.¡± Fortia said and Kassandora burst out in laughter. ¡°There comes a point when the only thing you can against death is laugh at it.¡± She said, her tone slowly became cold. ¡°Am I supposed to break down and cry Fortia? Beg for my life? Spare me.¡± ¡°No.¡± Fortia said. She still was mulling over how to say the words. Every scenario in her mind told her that Kassandora would simply laugh at her. The Goddess of War finally spoke up. ¡°Maisara¡¯s in on it, isn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You came here to ask me for help with killing Allasaria.¡± Kassandora said, her tone definite. ¡°How did you know that?¡± ¡°I guessed, it was the only thing that made sense.¡± She snorted in humour. ¡°If it was my last day, you¡¯d come in here, give me a hug and tell me you¡¯ll be waiting for my reincarnation.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think so highly of yourself.¡± Fortia said and Kassandora only smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll help you.¡± Kassandora said and raised one finger. ¡°Obviously there¡¯s the condition I¡¯ll be freed.¡± ¡°Naturally.¡± Fortia said. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have been in here in the first place.¡± ¡°What I should be is dead Fortia. I lost, you won.¡± Kassandora interrupted. ¡°But there¡¯s one other condition.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t invite me.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Maisara does. Send her here.¡± Fortia blinked. Leaned back. Crossed her arms. Sighed. Worst case scenario. ¡°Why?¡± Fortia asked. ¡°Because I have things to discuss.¡± Kassandora said and Fortia¡¯s cheeks started to burn. ¡°Excuse me? Things to discuss? Who am I exactly then?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the dear Goddess of Peace.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°A Goddess who cannot be touched, who will burn the rulebook to get her way. Why else would you be talking to the Goddess of War?¡± ¡°You¡¯re making me out to be a scoundrel.¡± ¡°Oh no. I think it¡¯s very admirable. You have unstoppable will. You set your mind to something and it¡¯s done.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s buttering who up now?¡± Fortia asked coldly. Kassandora continued her assault. ¡°But you¡¯re a liar. I am too, so I won¡¯t hold it against you. It just means we¡¯re simply too good for each other. Maisara¡¯s much friendlier to work with.¡± ¡°Am I supposed to be overjoyed by that?¡± Fortia half shouted, Kassandora only spread her arms out to either side as if she was testing weights. ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that if I was in trouble, I¡¯d call you. But if you and Maisara were banks, only fools would invest in you.¡± ¡°A great amount of people would disagree.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a great many fools out there.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Maisara, here, I¡¯ll negotiate with her.¡± ¡°Maisara hates you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m not letting you pair us up.¡± Fortia shook her head. ¡°You¡¯ve not changed a bit.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve changed a lot. Unlike the rest of you, I have change built into me.¡± Fortia finally stood up. Kassandora leaned down and picked up her spear for her. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Maisara.¡± The two separated with nothing but a nod. The door slammed by itself the moment Fortia left the room. Kassandora and Maisara? Fortia clicked her tongue, that was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Those two were antithetical to each other. She slowly started to walk back as her mind told her she was making the biggest mistake of her life. Chapter 22 – The Pack Stands Fleur spent another night pouring over notes. The Divine Library was opened in 101 PGW, converted from another building. How could it end like that? How could the best scholars simply leave it at ¡°One of the pre-existing buildings was used to serve as Olympiada¡¯s unofficial library?¡± What was that! She stood up and set off to the historical department. Someone had to know! If not, she¡¯d find the fucking maps herself! ¡°Here!¡± Fer stopped. ¡°Hold here. You! Traius!¡± She picked out one of the minotaurs, a huge hulking fellow, his two horns a mighty crown on his head. ¡°Take half the darkfurs, half the warherd, the women and children, push further west. Do not stop at anything! Understood?!¡± ¡°And when we make it to Karaina?¡± Traius asked. ¡°Then push further.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Pantheon territory.¡± ¡°Their hunters are easier to deal with than this!¡± She pushed him away. ¡°Go! NOW!¡± He took a step back, inclined his head and turned. ¡°Yes Pack master.¡± Each of his steps cracked the frozen dirt and sent small dust clouds into the air. The pinewoods around creaked as the rest of the herd started to catch up. ¡°What about us?¡± Logar growled, a wolfman, not a werewolf. His grey fur gave way to a bare chest clad in rough pieces of leather. A short-sword was always in his hands, a small buckler always bounced off his hip. ¡°A mile south.¡± Fer turned and pointed. ¡°There¡¯s a dwarf-hold, abandoned, we will make a stand there.¡± ¡°In ruins?¡± One of the lesser satyr asked. ¡°In ruins.¡± Fer¡¯s growl cowed whatever sort of attempt at argument they were going to make. ¡°We need to bring them close.¡± ¡°Aye!¡± Yorik added, another minotaur, a bowman. His quiver had run empty a few days ago. No grandmaster from the sects had been felled yet. They moved as a group, they protected themselves like a horde of shrieking sparrows. ¡°We¡¯ll be trapped. Swampland is better.¡± Another satyr barked up. ¡°That hold is connected to the highway.¡± A road that spanned the entire underground empire of the dwarves, a road long ruined, haunted and unusable. ¡°TRUST ME! I¡¯VE HUNTED THERE BEFORE!¡± Fer roared at them, she did not try to hide any of her bloodlust, the next beastman who spoke up would be torn in two, no matter if he was half-rabbit or half-dragon! The herd remained silent. ¡°MOVE!¡± Fleur stared at a series of maps of Old Arcadia. What the fuck was this? She was mad at their stupidity at first but then that anger started to fade. Impossible. Not possible. One map, mistake. Two, idiocy. Twenty? It was a deliberate effort. Everything was labelled perfectively, everything had a history. Everything apart from the Divine Library. Opened in 101 PGW from a building. On every map, that building was simply labelled ¡°structure¡±. Fer watched as her darkfurs¡¯ vines started to wrap around the floor. Thick green veins that would lash and whip and poison and choke and grab at enemies. Her herd started to filter deeper into the structure, their fur melted into the darkness, the only sign they was floating red eyes. ¡°Yorik, the storerooms are on the right, third corridor. See if there¡¯s any weapons left behind.¡± ¡°Yes Pack Master.¡± He ran off immediately, collecting a few lesser satyrs with him as he went. ¡°Logar! Sixth floor up. Ammunition room. Check it out!¡± Fer ordered, the wolfman saluted and ran off. ¡°Pack master.¡± One of the dark furs walked to Fer, his goat¡¯s head bowed. A monstrous figure, his chest covered in scars, his jaw exploding with crooked teeth. One of his horns was snapped and a scar ran across his chest. ¡°I do not question, but how?¡± ¡°How WHAT?!¡± Fer roared, she towered over the fellow, two of him would barely reach her. ¡°How do you know this?¡± He took a step back. ¡°I¡¯m older than you. That¡¯s how!¡± Fer pointed to the moat. ¡°Fill that up with spores. I do not care what you use, poison the earth forever if you want!¡± He nodded, turned and got to work. Red mists started to seep from his hands and mouth and enter the ground.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Kalkos!¡± Fer shouted. One of the oldest darkfurs in the pack ran up to her. A grizzled veteran of a dozen hunts. One of the few who were allowed to use a staff in assistance to their magic. It was topped off with red heartstone. ¡°Yes Pack Master!¡± He saluted like they did back when Arascus was around. Fer always smiled at that, she quickly wiped that smile away, turned and pointed. ¡°That corridor, left, staircase. Basement level, six floors down is the magician¡¯s quarters. There¡¯ll be a heartstone ball-should be. Bring it here. It feels like this!¡± She placed her palm on beastman¡¯s furry chest before he could react and poured some of her own magic into him. His eyes bulged, stumbled backwards and looked as if he was about to be sick. ¡°Un-understood!¡± He took a crooked steps before finally recovering and turning that walk into a sprint. ¡°PACK MASTER!¡± A minotaur shouted from a hole in the ceiling. ¡°LOOK!¡± He waved a dwarf-bronze blade. Stronger than steel, heavier too. Although that was only a problem for men, not beasts. ¡°It¡¯s yours! Take what you can carry! Arm yourselves! PREPARE FOR BATTLE! THE PACK STANDS!¡± Mikhail proudly stared at the Kira car factory. His Kira car factory. Engine pipes became rifle barrel. Wood furnishings became stocks. Mirrors and glassworks became scopes. The first day, two rifles had been built. Today, ten. Tomorrow, a hundred. An army could be outfitted in a month. ¡°PACK MASTER!¡± Logar shouted from behind one of the balustrades on the upper levels. It creaked and parts of stone fell down as he put more weight on it. ¡°There¡¯s javelins! Arrows too!¡± ¡°Bronze or wood?¡± ¡°ALL BRONZE!¡± Good. Dwarf-bronze had an easier time penetrating magic. ¡°BRING THE JAVELINS TO THE ROOF! SEPARATE THE ARROWS AMONG THE BOWMEN!¡± Fer shouted up. ¡°YES PACK MASTER!¡± He howled with excitement, that brought on more howls from the wolfmen in the pack. Then the others started roaring. Fer didn¡¯t shut them up. She wanted noise and she wanted to keep morale up. Her heart started to sprint like a leopard as that smile returned, it had carved itself onto her mouth. Bloodlust hung in the air like an overpowering incense. Fer was still directing her war-herd when Kalkos returned. In two mere hours, they had transformed the outer walls. Vines climbed over the stone like a cancer, they plunged into every crack, split it to lay their poisonous seeds. The corridors had been widened, the balustrades were removed. The floor was made uneven and covered in rubble. The beastmen were running exercises, jumping down through the holes in the ceilings and landing without breaking their legs. Those who could do it were assigned to be ceiling ambushers, those who couldn¡¯t were put on corridor duty. Dwarven weaponry was repurposed. The short-swords could be little more than daggers but the great-pikes made for excellent spears. One minotaur even found a Centurion¡¯s ceremonial axe, heavy enough even for him to struggle with the wait. Fer turned to Kalkos when he finally got within earshot of her. His black fur was covered in vomit and he was hauling the red heartstone in his bare hands. ¡°Good.¡± Fer took it from him. ¡°Take a rest and recover.¡± He nodded, turned around and collapsed onto the floor. ¡°TAKE HIM AWAY! HE NEEDS REST!¡± Fer shouted and turned away. Her fingers felt the fury of the red crystal. Anassa¡¯s work, the sorceress had made them herself. She took a deep breath. Mages could do this sort of thing effortlessly, modern technology made it even easier but back then, this was the pinnacle of logistical prowess: A message crystal. Accessible only to Divines and as easy to intercept as it was to snatch a sweet from a child, but both of those were small prices to pay for instant communication. Fer held the crystal close to her lips, powered it with magic and whispered into it: ¡°Anassa, dear sister. I need help. I am at the site where Siranius pledged allegiance to you.¡± Anassa blinked as she felt a warm sensation. Fer? She always liked the beastgirl. It was hard not to. She was silly and stupid, but loyal. Loyalty could be buried for a thousand years but it was a treasure that never lost its value. Fer felt the warm whisper in her head. Destroy that crystal, it can be tracked easily. I cannot come myself but I will send you four students. One of them you¡¯ll like. She crushed the crystal without a moment¡¯s care. If Anassa said to do it, then Anassa said to do it. Her sisters did not lie. Fleur poured over a history book: The Lost Divines. In 25PGW, Anassa was imprisoned. She stared at the map of Arcadia dated to 23PGW, it was faded, the ink was slowly fighting a war to disappear from the paper, but it was enough. That ¡®structure¡¯ was not there. She turned to the map dated 28PGW. The building simply labelled as ¡®structure¡¯ now existed. Fleur leaned back and blinked. The maths did add up. And this¡­ wind circled around her fingers¡­ this was sorcery in its purest form. But that was impossible¡­ wasn¡¯t it? That woman¡­ she couldn¡¯t be¡­ but the maths did add up¡­ Fer watched from atop the nameless dwarven hold. Beastmen constantly faded and reappeared from the shadows. The moat had grown fat with an overflowing poisonous mist. They had even lit a fire. Vines crawled halfway up the mountain behind, carving a goat¡¯s head into the exterior. The original crest of the first herd; as it was back then, so it will do now. Fighting under a banner was refreshing. The stars had come out. How long would they need to wait? The wait was always the worst part before a hunt. Fer sat down, cross-legged and leaned against the toppled pillar. Her thick black mane served as a blanket and a cushion as the cool wind started to sweep in. A week and she would meet her siblings in the next life. Until then, she would make sure that the sects of Guguo would never forget her name. Elassa appeared before her sister. ¡°I sensed one of those communication crystals you made back then.¡± ¡°It was Fer.¡± Anassa replied coldly. ¡°Was it?¡± ¡°She asked for help from the Hunt.¡± ¡°What did you say?¡± ¡°I gave my goodbyes.¡± Chapter 23 – Librarian No More Traius looked at the sign on the road. He could not read the words although the flags told him all he needed to know. Pack Master taught him what all the colours meant. Pack Master¡¯s herd followed him as they passed the same sign with the same white and yellow flag. WELCOME TO KARAINA! ¡°Well that was surprisingly easy.¡± Eliza said when they entered the Divine Library, or whatever it was. Fleur no longer believed it was a library in the first place, it was merely something bearing the skin of a library. A chameleon building. ¡°Not many guards either.¡± Lyca said, hands on his head and strolling about. So relaxed, so idiotic. ¡°So get to the point, why did you want to bring us here?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when we meet her.¡± Fleur said coldly. ¡°Why then?¡± ¡°Because if I tell you now, you¡¯ll be scared and go home.¡± ¡°Me? Scared? Never!¡± Lyca laughed as he strolled through the library. ¡°So what do we do? Just call for her?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll like that.¡± Edmonton said sarcastically as he caught up to Lyca. ¡°Do you have a better idea?¡± Lyca strolled towards the stairs. ¡°MISS SORCERER! MISS SORCERER! WHERE ARE YOU?! WHERE ARE YOU?!¡± ¡°Sorcerer?¡± Eliza whispered. ¡°You¡¯ve not realised?¡± Fleur said quietly to her. ¡°What is this if not sorcery?¡± She showed her hand to Eliza and blew some wind across the girl¡¯s face. Her hair gently swayed in the breeze. ¡°I just didn¡¯t want to think on it.¡± Eliza said, her brown eyes large in surprise. ¡°Ahh..¡± Fleur replied. ¡°COME OUT COME OUT, WHERE EVER YOU ARE!¡± Lyca shouted into the empty air. ¡°Shut up idiot.¡± Edmonton sighed as he walked followed Lyca across the wooden floors. The bookshelves didn¡¯t loom over them this time, instead they seemed¡­ rather small. Fleur didn¡¯t know what it was, but she was before they were a crushing labyrinth. Now the library was almost bright. Lyca, rather predictably, ignored the better man. ¡°MISS SORCERER! COME OUT! WE HAVE SOMETHING TO ASK!¡± He took a step onto the carpeted staircase. That was the only step he took. Immediately he got blown backwards into the bookcases. The woman strolled out from behind them. Fleur hated when she did that. ¡°That was rather quick, and four of you.¡± She chuckled. ¡°But it¡¯s for the better I suppose.¡± ¡°I have something to ask.¡± Fleur spoke up. ¡°And I didn¡¯t make any promise to answer silly questions.¡± The woman said. Fleur silently seethed at the woman¡¯s grace. The way she carried that cloak and dress, the way she filled it out, those red eyes and the black hair. Everything about her was beautiful, the height only made her into a mountain to scale. She could imagine Lyca drooling over her day and night. Edmonton too for that manner. Eliza as well. ¡°That hurt!¡± Lyca dug himself out of the pile of books. ¡°You recover quickly.¡± The woman said. ¡°I have your second lesson prepared.¡± ¡°Already?¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Be happy I don¡¯t set you homework.¡± Fleur bit her cheek. She had wit too. ¡°What is it?¡± Edmonton said. The woman waved a hand and a table dropped from the ceiling. How it was there, Fleur did not know. A map of the Old Continent drifted onto it. Where that came from, Fleur also did not know. She hated these tricks, she hated them because she could not do them. ¡°Here, this location. I have a friend. A woman, taller than me, black hair, usually doesn¡¯t wear clothes, you¡¯ll know her when you see her, go and save her. Very simple.¡± The woman chimed as she pointed to some random spot on the map. It was so far east, it was out of even Karaina! What was she thinking?!This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Is that it?¡± Edmonton. ¡°I¡¯d advise to prepare for battle.¡± The woman said happily. ¡°Well¡­¡± Lyca finally walked up to the map. ¡°I¡¯d love to do that.¡± The woman interrupted him. ¡°When men start a sentence like that, there¡¯s a but.¡± Lyca unleashed a shameless smile that made Fleur want to skin him. ¡°But alas!¡± He made a whimsical tone. ¡°We are but poor students an-¡° The woman waved her finger and a bag dropped on the table from out of view. It spilled out a shiny red gem. ¡°I was expecting money.¡± Lyca said flatly. ¡°Alas, I¡¯m simply a poor librarian.¡± The woman said coldly. ¡°Does that cover the costs?¡± ¡°It does.¡± Edmonton finally spoke up and didn¡¯t let Lyca dig them into a deeper hole. Lyca merely gave the rest of them a flat look and shrugged. ¡°I just want to know, what exactly are we¡­ what are we saving your friend from?¡± Eliza chimed in. ¡°Do you know about Guguoan cultivators?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Fleur couldn¡¯t help herself. ¡°Cultivators?¡± ¡°So you do.¡± The woman¡¯s said smugly. ¡°Here is some assistance.¡± She waved her hands and Fleur felt something stab her butt. ¡°Check your pockets.¡± Each of them pulled out a red stone. Fleur¡¯s eyes widened, it was all she could not to make her mouth gape open like some idiot. ¡°Heartstone?¡± Eliza mumbled. ¡°Heartstone.¡± The woman said. ¡°Use it on armour, wands, staves, I do not mind what.¡± ¡°And this?¡± Lyca pulled out a bag. Fleur bit her tongue, why did he get something for himself? ¡°Sleep medicine, it kicks in instantly, take it when you feel like losing control.¡± Fleur¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. Not at the woman¡¯s words, but at Lyca¡¯s reaction. He simply nodded, acquiescing as if for once in his life he realised he was talking to a better than him, and then pocketing the small bag. What exactly was he hiding? ¡°That¡¯s all. If you fail, don¡¯t bother returning.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°This woman¡¯s life is more important than yours.¡± ¡°And can we know her name?¡± Edmonton followed up. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when you return.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Edmonton said coldly and the woman merely looked down on him. ¡°Don¡¯t believe me then. What do you want me to do about it?¡± Edmonton shook his head. It was impossible to win a battle against someone who seemed to know everything. ¡°I have something to say.¡± Fleur said. The woman clicked her tongue. She actually clicked her tongue! ¡°I want you to answer something!¡± ¡°Do you now?¡± The woman cooed. ¡°It¡¯s why we came here as a four in the first place.¡± The woman¡¯s demeanour changed. That light-hearted tone was gone. The cute cat had disappeared and was replaced with a hunting jaguar. ¡°Girl.¡± She said coldly. ¡°Think about what you¡¯re going to say right now.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it.¡± ¡°Some things are better left unsaid.¡± The woman said before following up. ¡°And once some words are uttered, they can never be taken back.¡± Fleur blinked as she opened her mouth, the question simply would not come out. She looked at Eliza, at Lyca and Edmonton. How could face them again if she didn¡¯t ask? She had brought them into this! She could have just stayed shut! ¡°I need to know.¡± Fleur said. ¡°Then ask, but I warned you.¡± ¡°When was this library opened?¡± Fleur said. The looked at her as if she was a fool. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°It was one hundred, one years into the Post-Great-War era, yes?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°It was.¡± The woman said. ¡°But it wasn¡¯t built then?¡± Fleur asked again. The woman smiled. ¡°I see where you are going with this.¡± ¡°Can you answer the question?¡± Fleur said. ¡°If you¡¯re asking, you already know.¡± The woman replied. ¡°It was not.¡± Fleur said. ¡°This building was erected somewhere between the year twenty four and twenty seven.¡± ¡°A thousand years ago?¡± Lyca asked. The woman smiled and nodded. ¡°And you have been in here since that time.¡± Fleur said coldly. ¡°That is the question, isn¡¯t it?¡± The woman replied. ¡°You¡¯re a Goddess.¡± Fleur said. The woman laughed and stood back, her arms running down her sides. ¡°I can¡¯t exactly hide it, can I? What else would I be? An elf with gigantism?¡± ¡°The question is which one?¡± Edmonton said. ¡°You want us to save a woman taller than yourself from Guguoan cultivators.¡± Fleur¡¯s eyes grew large as she realised, they all watched the news. Everyone knew the Sixty-Third Great Hunt had begun. She looked to Edmonton and mouthed the single syllable. The blood drained from his face. Eliza and Lyca both worked it out too. Silence flooded into the library, it drowned out every sound, even the breathing. Lyca finally broke it. ¡°You want us to save Fer, Goddess of Beasthood.¡± The woman gave them a resigned nod. ¡°I do.¡± For once, she did not sound confident of herself. ¡°And that means you were locked in here in twenty-five.¡± Fleur followed up. ¡°I was.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± Fleur felt her tone go cold. ¡°Say it. If you¡¯re smart enough to work this out, you¡¯re smart enough to know that each of you knew the answer already and were only running away from it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re Anassa, Goddess of Sorcery.¡± Fleur said the accusation without emotion, it took her entire will to simply say the words. The woman merely looked at her. There was no accusation in those eyes, no anger or annoyance. It was simply resignation. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°But didn¡¯t you die?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°I was never executed, the White Pantheon imprisoned me here.¡± Anassa explained. ¡°But this.¡± Lyca patted the side of his chest. ¡°Fer will help with it.¡± ¡°She won¡¯t stop it, she¡¯ll let you control it.¡± Anassa replied. ¡°What is wrong with him anyway?¡± Eliza half-whispered, half-shouted. ¡°He has become a werewolf. Two bodies in one, beast and man.¡± ¡°A beastman?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°No, beastmen are half and half, they are stable. He is not.¡± ¡°NO!¡± Eliza slammed the table. ¡°THAT¡¯S IMPOSSIBLE! LYCA IS LYCA! HE WON¡¯T DIE!¡± ¡°Who said anything about dying?¡± Lyca forced out a laugh, it was his worst attempt at a joke yet, the words were practically void of mirth. ¡°It¡¯s not my domain, you want to stabilize him, you get him to Fer.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re Anassa.¡± Edmonton said slowly. ¡°Then we¡¯re not¡­ are we magicians?¡± ¡°No.¡± Anassa replied. ¡°You are the first four sorcerers of the modern age.¡± Chapter 24 – Something On The Range Maisara stared Fortia down. Begging, shouting and tears had just filled the room. ¡°Fine.¡± Maisara finally agreed. ¡°I will do it, but you owe me for this.¡± The tundra of eastern Karaina was sparsely populated, covered in age-old pine trees and never inspected. Who wanted to here? Certainly not any governmental officials. Thus, a location had been chosen, a half hour¡¯s drive from the nearby town. The trees were felled in a block, targets were put up and a small shooting range was erected. Men trained on it, and an elf oversaw the whole process. Tall, in leather boots and a long fur-coat, he strode to try and defeat the utter boredom. Iliyal paused his stroll around the shooting range with his A1, a wonderful weapon. He had been put in charge of Kira Car Factory and Aklasia manufacturing plant. The Tarin deal was being delayed by the other side. That luckily was for Narma to sort out, not him. Iliyal aimed, loaded a shot, pulled the trigger and fired. An explosion rang out and he squinted to check. Another bullseye. He chuckled to himself and slung the rifle back over his shoulder. He had used muskets in the Great War before and the whole thing was like riding a horse: once you worked it out, you never lost it. He picked up the brass casing, juggled it in one hand to cool it off and pocketed it. The humans sometimes buried them, but he had fought against Leona, paranoia of her luck was much like riding a horse: Once you got it, you never lost it. A cool breeze came across and a snowflake landed on Iliyal¡¯s nose. Karaina was a country split into two by the Laika mountain range. The west was Karaina A, the east was Karaina B. A was a modern country, B was a land tamed only in name. A piece of geography only claimed by Karaina for formality. In Karaina A, autumn was in full stride, here, winter only gave an inch for two months. Iliyal passed a squad of men training to shoot. They weren¡¯t excellent shots, but they hit more often than not. Guns weren¡¯t hard to use and Arascus was correct: a day of this was worth a year training with the blade. Their forms were good, they simply needed to practice more. One of them saluted to him and he saluted back. ¡°How¡¯s the training going?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Very good Sir! Today I hit two bullseyes.¡±Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Good job private.¡± Iliyal gave the man a pat on his shoulder and walked off. It was a lie to say he did not care about these people, but he made it a case not to associate too much with humans: their lifespans would eventually catch up with them whereas his did not. All elves made this mistake when they were young. Iliyal turned to the range and saw someone hit the target five times in a row. Good. He wanted that from all of them. He glanced at the humans, they were using binoculars to check their hits. Before Iliyal arrived, they were checking by walking up to the target. Binoculars saved time and saved time meant more training. He pulled the coat tighter around himself as the snow start to fall. Another hour of this before conditions would make them unable to shoot. Iliyal would push them as far as they could go. More shots, more targets hit. Good. Getting better. One of the humans shouted. ¡°Animal on the ea-¡° ¡°HOLD FIRE!¡± Iliyal¡¯s voice drowned him out. That wasn¡¯t an animal. ¡°STOP SHOOTING! HOLD FIRE! ALL OF YOU!¡± That was impossible! Here?! ¡°STAND UP! IN RANKS!¡± The men moved immediately. No one said anything, they merely looked curiously at him. ¡°DO NOT SHOOT! I REPEAT DO NOT SHOOT! NO MATTER WHAT YOU SEE!¡± He chuckled to himself. If there ever was a test of bravery, this was about to be it. Iliyal strolled onto the range at a brisk pace. Rifle shouldered, one arm resting on the sword on his hip. ¡°WHO ARE YOU!¡± He heard the soldiers start to whisper among themselves. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Part of his exam?¡± ¡°It¡¯s cold, this is better than the ground.¡± Humans would be far out of earshot, but he wasn¡¯t a human. He ignored their whispers, humans always talked to each other; it was one thing to instil discipline, it was another to try and wage a futile campaign against their nature. ¡°Is that an animal?¡± ¡°It was furry.¡± ¡°A badger?¡± ¡°You ever talk to a badger?¡± ¡°A talking badger then?¡± ¡°I¡¯M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!¡± Iliyal shouted again and the figure reappeared from behind the tree. A girl, a tattered coat over her small frame, obviously hungry. Her hair was too long, too shaggy and thick. Her hands were covered in the same fur. Two small ears peaked out from the top of her head, sharp and pointed, like a hunting dog¡¯s. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ hungry¡­¡± She said it loud enough for him to hear even if he was a human. She took two steps into the open and then collapsed. Iliyal stood there, a smile growing on his face. Maybe it would have worked on someone else, but he wasn¡¯t born yesterday. His eyes scanned the treeline and he saw them. Behind the thick pine trees, creeping under bushes, some in the trees themselves. Armed with spear and axe and hammer and club, all covered in fur. All with blood-red eyes. He ignored the smaller specimens when a javelin suddenly burst from the woods. Straight at him. Iliyal sidestepped long before the shot hit him. He took a breath and spoke. There was no need to shout, they had better hearing than him. ¡°Children of Fer, I am not your enemy.¡± Chapter 25 – The Pack Fights Lyca stepped off the plane. The tarmac was cracked. The airport itself was small. The nearby town was maybe two dozen tall apartment blocks. Cars were cheap and old, clothes were dull and grey. The air was cold and the wind was starting to pick up. Karaina B. In all its glory. Ten days had passed. Ten slow days of preparation and watching the skies. Seven days of nature slowly crawling over the dwarf hold. It was not reclaimed into the ground, it had grown and evolved into a new beast. Passages would open and close for the beastmen, the moat had become a monstrosity and the trees were slowly retreating from the hold. Every half hour, another great pine would crack and collapse as the poisonous aura around the castle seeped deeper into the ground. Fer wondered if she had made a mistake in bringing half her pack here. They could have ran further. Where though? Eventually the hunt would catch up, they flew where the pack marched. A river would take an hour to ford. The hawks chasing them wouldn¡¯t even glance twice at the water. The sun started to descend from its zenith. It peaked over a picturesque view of the Karainan tundra. All pine trees, topped off with snow. Mountains in the distance, birds circled around the farther mountains to keep watch. Wolves stalked the undergrowth as wardens, the rest of the large animals from nearby had been called to the hold. They had answered. A menagerie of fauna resided in those ruins devoured by twisting roots and vines. The rest of the animals were conscripted into the force. From fox and boar to squirrel and sparrow, even the tiniest rodent was called upon. Fer squinted as the snow clouds started to clear. There it was. The hunt was upon them. A small dark dot on the horizon. As the hunters got closer, that dot started to fragment. Fer counted at least twenty different flags and then gave up, it was easily over a hundred cultivators. After a certain point, they may as well be fighting the entirety of Great Guguo. Fer re-adjusted the bronze breastplate around her body. A centurion automaton had given its carcass to serve as her armour, too heavy even for minotaurs but light for Divines. She stood up and howled the war cry. The fort beneath answered as every beast dwelling added their own roar to her howl. She hefted one of the bronze javelins. Logar had thought they were spears at first, they were bolts from a dwarven ballista. It was time to give them one last flight. She aimed, her stomach twisting, leaned back and then threw it forwards. Half a forest was nothing. The bolt launched like a metallic shard of lightning, the boom came a second after. Swords flew to meet it, swords were blown away. One man fell towards the tree. Hawks and sparrows flew out to meet him and make sure he wouldn¡¯t return to the air.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Fer bared her fangs. The wind picked up towards her and she smelled the fresh blood. Another throw, this one was dodged. The men in sky shot a red flare towards the sky as the clouds retreated further. More howls came from the forest. Ground troops. Another dot appeared in the North. Another in the South. Two more throws, two more dead men fell out of the sky. The group stopped. She hit someone important. Vengeance. Fer felt her ears quiver and rolled to the side. A blade descended from the sky to the spot she was stood on. She grabbed it and smashed the steel sword in two over her knee. Blades didn¡¯t bleed, but they could still be killed. The shard was a throwing dagger. She launched it back at the group. They were close enough now for her to make out faces. Men standing on floating blades and spears. They¡¯re own artefact weapons in their hands, more blades floating around them in circles. One sword came to meet the shard she threw and swatted it like a fly. Howls came from the pines. Howls and screams and shouts and whimpers. ¡°Pack Master.¡± Fer¡¯s ears jumped in acknowledgement to the darkfur behind her, but she continued throwing. Half the dwarf-bronze bolts, six kills: Could be better, could be worse. ¡°The animals from the forest are reporting about two thousand ground troops. Lesser practitioners and so on.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Fer threw two more. One bolt cracked through a sword and sent the man behind spiralling to the ground, the other flew past them and disappeared into the perfect blue sky. Fer¡¯s ears quivered again. ¡°Dodge!¡± She shouted. The dark fur moved on pure instinct, rolling backwards and into a ball behind a ruined column. A hailstorm of blades descended towards the roof they were stood on. The darkfur was hidden the by the column, Fer was too large to hide. The blades thudded against the dwarf-bronze on her chest and slit across arms and arms. The pain faded quickly, the wounds closed quicker, but in that moment, Fer smelled her own blood. Time around her started to slow down, her vision went red. Her ears quivered as her nails grew into claws. A single swipe and she snapped half of the swords lodged into the ground. The darkfur barged into her and roared his death howl. Fer recovered control as a beam of fire descended from the men into the air on the forest. Ice grew out of the ground around a tree and exploded into a thousand shards. The ground started to crack and shake as the cultivators reaped the woods like wheat. None of that was important, what was so important was the arrow sticking out of the darkfurs¡¯ chest. It pierced his head, it would have hit her heart had he not knocked her over. Golden shaft, white feathers. Arrows made to hunt her. Arrows only Gods used. Atis¡¯ arrows. Fer rolled again as another golden flew were she was just standing. She crouched as if to jump and then pounced forwards. Two arrows followed her. Where? A blink was too much time. No. Don¡¯t look. Escape. Fer rolled like a snake, launched herself against the mountain edge, swung on a vine and jumped downwards, towards her roof as if she was about force a door open. The roof gave way under her and she disappeared into the fortress in a cloud of dust. Two beastmen stared at her in the corridor, armed with bronze axes looted from the treasury. Fer let the cloud of dust clear as she recovered her breath. Two dozen arrows snaked across the mountain, buried deep into the stone and vines and roots as if it were all butter. They tracked her movements perfectly, a moment slower and she would have been dead. ¡°What is it Pack Master?¡± The took a step back as Fer finally stood up, her eyes led, her fangs exposed in a snarl. ¡°The Huntsmaster is here.¡± Chapter 26 – Within the Fortress Walls, The Huntsmaster Prowls ¡°How long?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°Not long. I can hear it.¡± Fleur replied. Fer dashed through the fortress as another wall collapsed. Five openings now. She turned a corner to see one of her minotaurs holding a squealing man in the air. One crack and the man¡¯s limbs fell lose, the life drained from his eyes. She ran further. In this room, four cultivators were duelling with a dozen of her beastmen. Claw bounced against sword. Horn parried blade. Three beastmen fell to the ground to a cheer. Fer jumped to the wall, knelt and pushed herself off it. Four men against a God. She tore through them like a bear. A sword desperately flew into the air to protect its owner, her teeth wrapped around it, pushed it back and crushed steel and bone alike. Another room. Too-late. A dead minotaur surrounded by three human corpses, his body pockmarked with a hundred cuts. Fer¡¯s ears moved, she stopped, sniffed the air and rushed into the wall. A grandmaster. Fifty swords spinning around him like a carapace of steel. They danced and cut flesh and flesh. He turned to the Goddess, his eyes wide in surprise, his mouth a confident sneer. Fer rolled to the side as the swords gave chase. Fire burst from the man¡¯s arms. It rushed after her like a snake. Fer was faster, she picked up a table leg, threw it at the man. He raised his hands to protect against the shards of wood as his blades sliced them up. When he lowered them, the only thing he saw were Fer¡¯s red eyes screaming for her bloodlust to be sated. Fer shrugged the cuts off her body. She was beginning to regenerate slower now. She bit into the man¡¯s flesh and felt some of his strength enter her, a meagre amount, not useful for healing, but useful to keep away fatigue. Iliyal is gone? Yes. He disappeared with two hundred men. Training he says. Lyca smelled blood. He didn¡¯t know how it was blood, it smelled nothing like blood. It smelled sickly sweet, he could feel it on his tongue. A burning so terrible it was like the first time he had ever tasted vodka. He couldn¡¯t help smiling. He wanted more. The four held hands, took a step and travelled a mile in the span of a breath to the top of a nearby hill. ¡°Oh.¡± Fleur said. ¡°Oh indeed.¡± Edmonton added. He dropped his backpack on the ground and fiddled with the heartstone ring on his finger. Lyca fashioned a necklace, Eliza a staff, Fleur a wand from Anassa¡¯s gift. Before them lay a forest. The remains of it. The ground was blackened with fire. Several huge spires of ice grew in odd points, animals and beastmen frozen in them. A crack ran across the valley floor, traces of magic still left in it. The river flowing was painted black, bodies floated along it, humans and animals all. Then they saw the fortress. A huge burning boar¡¯s head was carved into the mountain above it. The fortress was a rampaging monster in itself. Men flew around it, shooting beams, cutting vines with sword and spear and glaive. Some disappeared into the building, others flew out, panting and injured and were taken to a spot on the ground covered by guards. ¡°We¡¯re going into that?¡± Eliza asked. The fort rumbled, roared and a vine screamed through the air. Three men were grabbed and disappeared to become part of the wall. It roared again, this time the vine was frozen. A single spear cracked it into a thousand shard. ¡°THAT?¡± Eliza shouted this time. ¡°We¡¯ve made it this far haven¡¯t we?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± Fleur asked. Edmonton pointed to the mountain to either side. ¡°We know we can do a mile jump easily.¡± He spoke. ¡°My estimate is three miles, three jumps? Make it four.¡± ¡°Add recovery time.¡± Fleur said coldly. ¡°Ten minutes if we push.¡± ¡°The last two should be quick succession.¡± Lyca spoke up. ¡°Onto the roof and then inside, we don¡¯t¡­¡± His voice was cut off when a man in beautiful flowing yellow robes flew towards them. ¡°Oh shit.¡± He stood on a thick blade as if it was a blade, two more swords hovered by his side. His narrow eyes squinted at them, he crossed his arms and he tilted his head and said something utterly incomprehensible. ¡°I suppose no one here know Guguoan?¡± Lyca said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t on my priority list, if I¡¯m honest.¡± Edmonton replied. The man shouted at them and pointed behind. They turned around, there was nothing there. ¡°I think he¡¯s telling us to go away.¡± Eliza said quietly. ¡°I think he is too.¡± Edmonton said. Fleur lifted her wand towards the man and he barked something else at them. In the next moment, his chest exploded and he collapsed to the ground. The blades fell next to him. Lyca looked at Fleur utterly impressed. ¡°WHY DID YOU DO THAT?¡± Eliza screamed.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°I wanted to see if I could.¡± Fleur replied. ¡°And?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°How was it?¡± ¡°Easy.¡± Fleur said softly. We¡¯ve taken casualties but the outer walls are completely breached. The plant monsters have been burned away. The moat has also been cleansed. Good. The Pantheon God wants to go in. Should we allow him? It¡¯s our hunt. Better him than us. Send him. Fer grabbed a man, lifted him above her head and tore him apart. His blue robes came apart as easily his bones cracked and muscles tore. She licked her lips and tasted the blood flowing down her. A man screamed as his will snapped, he broke and fled. A dark fur stepped forwards, hands pointed forwards and the man collapsed to the ground as his life left his body. ¡°ALL DARKFURS!¡± Fer roared. ¡°INTO THE CAVERNS! ALL WOUNDED, TAKE THEM AWAY DEEPER! HOLD THE THRONE ROOM!¡± The throne-room was in the centre of the fortress. Dwarves always built them like that, it was a beating heart, every passageway an artery. Losing control of that meant the herd would be separated into packs. Lone packs were easy to hunt. Fer¡¯s ears quivered again as she spun on the spot and grabbed a sword blade and crushed it in her palm. The bleeding stopped quickly, but the cut didn¡¯t bother to heal anymore. Fer licked her own blood. That tasted good. A man stood in the doorway. Grey robes, two belts: grandmaster. He chuckled, raised his hands and the blades around him turned to ice. A minotaur rushed him. Five steps he made it. Two swords pierced his skull, ten more his chest. He collapsed, his blood frozen and shattered into large fragments. Fer took a step and reached for her chest. The armour was starting to grow heavy. She looked up and saw a hundred blade tips aimed at her. They rushed forwards and her gaze was obscured by black fur. It immediately pierced by steel, one blade even made to touch her cheek. It was so cold she took a step back and almost fell over. The darkfur in front of her collapsed to knees, his body shattering as the flying blades retreated to their master. The man chuckled to himself as Fer tried to catch another breath. She hated that her eyes grew large in terror. She hated that she fell backwards and tried to scamper away. She hated that final instinct every animal knew: fear. She turned to the man, he swung his sword through the air, took a step forward, clapped his hands. Fer embraced death. Death never came. For her at least, the man¡¯s eyes bulged, he looked at his chest. Patted the growing bloodstain on his robes and fell onto his chest. The blades fell with him. A man was stood behind him. A young man, tall for a human, black haired. With sharp blue eyes and a cold face, he had a ring with beating heartstone on his finger and heavy clothes for trekking. He looked to Fer, calculated something and then turned behind him. ¡°Guys! I found her!¡± ¡°Who?¡± Fer said quietly as picked herself up. She unstrapped the dwarf-bronze breastplate, it was chipped and bent in odd places, but it had saved her life at least a hundred times today. It was too heavy for her now. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Edmonton Weaver.¡± He said. ¡°Are you Fer?¡± Fer took another heavy breath and nodded. Respectability be damned, she did not care if saw her naked at this point. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°Anassa sent us.¡± Edmonton said and bowed. Fer¡¯s ears plucked up and she felt a tear in her eye. Sister sent them? Sister sent them! Anassa had heard! They made it! ¡°She said four?¡± Fer asked. ¡°We¡¯re all she¡¯s got.¡± A girl appeared. Tall and thin, with pale hair and modest in every respect, but her eyes were worse than a snake¡¯s, so sharp. Her words rung true. Fer felt her heart beat even faster. Sister sent everything she had! She held a wand, tipped off with heartstone. ¡°Thank you.¡± Fer said as she pointed to the floor. ¡°Down here, hole.¡± ¡°Let m-¡° Her words were interrupted by another girl. ¡°LYCA DISSAPEARED!¡± She screamed. Short, brown hair, brown eyes, like a bear. She raced into the room. ¡°He¡¯ll be fine.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°You saw him, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°But he¡¯ll!¡± ¡°HE¡¯LL BE FINE ELIZA!¡± Edmonton roared. ¡°WE¡¯LL FIND HIM ONCE WE¡¯RE OUT OF DANGER!¡± The girl, Eliza, took a step back and nodded. Fer smiled, the young love flowing out of that little bear was cute. ¡°Look, we¡¯ve found her!¡± Edmonton pointed to Fer. The girl looked to Fer, did she really not notice her before? Her eyes grew wide in surprise and she bowed. ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± ¡°Introductions later.¡± Fer growled. ¡°Hole, here. Down.¡± The taller girl took a step forward, whisked her wand through the air and part of the floor tumbled into the throne room. It made a perfect circle for them. Fer stood up and jumped down into the throne room. There was blood all over the place, but the attackers had been pushed back. Corpses, both friend and foe lay over the rubble, although darkfur and minotaur and satyr and wolfman still prowled around the columns. The three children floated down the hole. Some of the darkfurs looked on curiously at them, the larger beasts merely turned their heads. Only one of the young satyrs played a fool. He launched himself at them with the intention to kill. Fer jumped, caught him in one arm and flung him into the wall. ¡°NO! OURS!¡± She sat down on the steps leading to the throne to take a breath. A wolfman came up to her with a towel. ¡°Logar, how is it going?¡± ¡°The Huntsmaster is inside.¡± Atis felled another beastman with a single spear thrust. This was like the old days. Lyca walked into a room where two men in robes, one blue, one yellow, were duelling with a wolfman. The beastman was barely holding his own. He snarled and tore at the air with his jaw but had to take another step back. This was the third time in the passed ten minutes Lyca had come across humans. Lyca leapt forwards, his hands blazing with flames. One man set alight instantly. He dropped in a scream as the acidic odour of burning flesh filled the room. He turned and writhed on the ground until Lyca crushed his neck with his heel. The other man, he punched. His hand burst through the man¡¯s chest, his face in disbelief and life quickly left those brown eyes. Lyca smelled the blood on his hand again. So sweet¡­ He licked his finger. It tasted like ambrosia. It tasted like nothing he had ever tasted before. It rejuvenated him. It powered him. It made him want more. Lyca glanced at the wolf man, the fellow had fallen backwards and was scampering away, his eyes in sheer terror as they looked at Lyca. He quickly rolled over and ran away on all fours, like a dog. Lyca didn¡¯t know what to say. He wasn¡¯t about to hurt a member of the pack. He felt the Pack Master two floors below him. Injured. He should go to her. Fire trailed behind Lyca and he bumped his head on the way out of the room. Atis stood in front of the doors behind which Fer lay. He could feel her. She was his prey today. A hunt that had been spanning since before the Great War was going to end today. The Guguoans thought they had a Great Hunt? He had the Greatest Hunt. Fer looked up as the doors opened. Robed men and flying blades spilled into the room as her beastmen took up rank. Tiny dull explosions were coming from outside, they were probably planning to collapse the fort on them. The intruders filtered in and formed their own battle line on the other side of the great hall. In the middle of them strode a giant. Not a giant. A God. Chapter 27 – The Greatest Hunt Ends at Last No mortal can kill a God. Never happened. Never will. - A Saying Among Divines Fer watched as Atis strode to the centre of the room. Even the greatest minotaur and darkfur backed away from him. God of the Hunt, a natural antithesis to beastmen, a predator who made predators prey. He wore the divine leather from the Great War, the boar spear in his hand was used to hunt dragons. His eyes scoured over the beastmen and he took a sigh. ¡°Today Fer, we can finally end our chase!¡± The spear pointed to her. Fer wanted to run away. She wanted to flee and scamper, to crawl into a den and bury her head. She could not. She had a pack to protect. This was her family, she would sooner die than let them watch her flee. ¡°Goddess of Beasthood! Like the olden days! A duel!¡± Fer stood up and took a step forwards. The dozen or so minutes of rest weren¡¯t a total recovery, but they were enough. They had to be at this point anyway. The three children Anassa sent stepped behind the ranks of beastmen, their heartstones glittering. Fer took another step forwards, dropped to her fours, and howled. Her pack howled too and Atis burst out in laughter. ¡°LIKE THE OLDEN DAYS!¡± Every muscle in her body twisted, every vein popped, her claws grew long, her teeth into fangs and she became a wolf pouncing for the kill. Tooth and claw tore through cloth and flesh. Blade and magic tore through fur and muscle. The beastmen were a cornered rat, all grace and sense of self preservation was washed away under a flood of savagery and pure bloodlust mentality. Fer felt the strings of sorcery that Anassa¡¯s little students played with make their move. Explosions and fire and scythes of wind tore through the ranks of cultivators, but for every member they lost, another of her pack fell to the sound of a death howl. More explosions rang out from last time. Closer this time, rapid too. Even if they survived now, the castle would collapse on them. Fer took a deep breath as Atis knocked her away and adopted a fighting stance. Behind him, twenty men burned up in an explosion, the work of Anassa¡¯s students. A beastman was split in two by a dancing glaive, another frozen after being pierced by a magic sword. Fer grabbed Atis¡¯ spear thrust, they both twisted, he was stronger. It slipped out of her hands and cut her palms. She pounced at him again. He dodged, spun, it was masterful footwork, the spear flicked up and aimed at her chest. Fer twisted in mid-air and narrowly avoided the blow, a single cut lay on the back of Atis¡¯ hand. He took a step back, shook the blood off and smiled at her. ¡°Excellent, you are worthy of your title, Goddess of Beasthood.¡± Fer merely snarled at the words. Her vision became red, her muscles tensed to almost rupturing, and she launched herself at Atis. The spear came up, she feinted towards it, sidestepped and swiped at Atis¡¯ chest. The God of the Hunt took a step back and the butt of the spear smacked Fer¡¯s head as her claws swiped at his armour.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. A scratch for a concussion. Fer saw the battle. Anassa¡¯s three were still there, the short girl was flicking her finger at incoming blades. They simply got crushed into balls and dropped to the floor. The other two were slinging spell after spell into the cultivators. Beast still tore into man, but numbers on both sides were dropping down. Not from the outside, those sharp explosions were ever closer to the throne room. Fer smiled, she hoped the Guguoans would bury Atis in here along with her. She launched herself at the God again. Divine against Divine, claw met spear, tooth met armour. She left a scratch on his cheek. His spear finally got her. The long blade slice her calves. She jumped backwards and felt Atis¡¯ boot in his chest. It sent her flying across the throne room, sliding across the floor leaving a trail off blood until her back finally slammed against the steps leading up to the King¡¯s seat. She howled in pain as Atis flicked the blood of his spear. ¡°That was a good showing, Goddess.¡± He took a step as Fer felt fear make her red eyes grow large and begging. ¡°Bu-¡° Atis voice was cut off by a roar. A beast of Fer, but not one belonging to her back had dived from the ceiling onto him. She knew the man immediately, it was one of hers, a pureblood. Beast born of Sorcery, Anassa¡¯s student, the last one. A werewolf. Fer smiled to herself as she tried to lift a hand. Fire spewed from the werewolf¡¯s mouth as it bit into Atis¡¯ shoulder. Its fur began to ignite. The God merely swatted it away in an instant. The werewolf was launched against the wall and slowly began to transform back into a human. ¡°LYCA!¡± Eliza screamed. The fire on Atis¡¯ armour would not go out. ¡°Anassa¡¯s sorcery.¡± Atis said to himself as he calmly took off his leather, patted the meagre flames on his white shirt away and kicked the chest-piece away. He turned to the child who had burned him. ¡°Boy, do not play games. There are ways to heal your curse, it is not your fault if you¡¯ve been tricked.¡± He looked to Anassa¡¯s other students. ¡°You too. Lower your weapons, the Guguoans will not kill you and you can be forgiven, falling to Anassa¡¯s temptations is not a crime.¡± They looked to themselves, then to Fer. The Goddess merely smiled at them. They weren¡¯t important, it was the fact her sister was stilling looking out for her. ¡°Go.¡± Fer said, her voice weak. ¡°Do not come back. We are Gods.¡± ¡°No mortal can kill a God.¡± Atis said. ¡°Never happened.¡± Fer added to the saying. ¡°Never will.¡± Atis finished it. He took a step towards Fer, she was ready to embrace Death. She had cheated it too many times already. Those explosions finally stopped. The Guguoans were ready to bring the whole fort down anyway. ¡°It was a pleasure, Goddess of the Hunt. I will wait for your next-¡° ¡°FIRE!¡± Explosions rang out. ¡°FIRE!¡± More explosions. Atis¡¯ face lost its confidence as he touched his chest. ¡°FIRE AGAIN!¡± Blood stained his shirt. ¡°FIRE AND KEEP FIRING! RELOAD AND FIRE! FIRE UNTIL YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT!¡± Atis took another step and his leg gave out. More explosions, so rapidly it was if the caster had turned insane. Atis¡¯ eyes went blank as he turned his head. One more step and he fell onto his knees. ¡°ONE MORE VOLLEY!¡± Another set of blasts and explosions. Fer recognised the voice, she simply could not believe it. ¡°AND ANOTHER! FOR GOOD MEASURE!¡± Another set of explosions echoed throughout the room. ¡°HOLD!¡± Fer used all her strength to push herself up and look passed Atis¡¯ body. There he was. An elf in leather boots, one hand on the sword on his hip. In a long fur coat, with bright green eyes and noble golden hair. A face so proud the man looked as if he did not regret a single moment in his life, a smile that beamed simple joy. To each side of him, a line of fifteen men lay on the ground. Then another kneeling. A next set slightly lowered and another fifteen standing tall. All of them were holding something Fer had never seen before. The elf in the centre stepped forwards and Fer wanted to cry; Iliyal Tremali, General of Eighth Army a thousand years ago. ¡°GENTLEMEN! BE HAPPY AND BE PROUD!¡± He stopped after a step, his smile ecstatic and turned around to face the men. ¡°WE HAVE JUST KILLED A GOD!¡± Chapter 28 – Order & War The Hunters have not replied¡­ again. Do you think it was them that downed out drones? Who else? Great. Anarchia in the West and now Guguo wants to start acting up. Send more drones, atmospheric ones this time. If they want to hide themselves, we¡¯ll just go so high they can¡¯t reach us. - Interception of transmission between Karainan authorities. Maisara sat in front of Kassandora as the two Goddesses stared at each other in silence. Kassandora leaned back, crossed her arms and flicked her crimson hair back. Maisara pretended not to be bothered, the two inches the Goddess of War had over her shouldn¡¯t be this bothersome, but those eyes stared down at her in the same way Allasaria¡¯s did. ¡°I would have not come were it not for Fortia.¡± ¡°You¡¯re smart enough to know why I wanted to talk to you.¡± Kassandora said coldly. Maisara didn¡¯t reply, she just readjusted her posture. From her stomach down, she was covered in bandages. Fortia was almost healed by now, but Fortia didn¡¯t take the brunt of Allasaria¡¯s blow. Maisara avoided the other Goddess¡¯ eyes and looked around the prison. Nothing, just a bed, this table, two chairs, all simple wood. Grey stone walls, all reinforced with steel. A single lamp and the containment crystal in the middle. Freeing Kassandora would be as easy as simply knocking that stone over. ¡°I do.¡± Maisara said. ¡°But you know exactly why I don¡¯t want you to be freed.¡± ¡°War is a tool, I think you¡¯ll find I¡¯m not so hard to work with.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Spare me the cooing Kass.¡± ¡°Everyone likes being buttered up.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not particularly in the mood.¡± Maisara replied and sighed. ¡°Why? Why do you want to join us?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know Mai, why would I want to be free?¡± Kassandora replied flatly. Maisara merely shook her head. ¡°Tell me what you know and I¡¯ll think about it.¡± She said and Kassandora crossed her arms. Maisara tried to hide her discontent, it was one thing to be less lovely than the Goddess of Love, it was another entirely for the Goddess of War to have a larger armoury than the Goddess of Order. ¡°No.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Promise me no word of this discussion will leave this room.¡± ¡°You know what promises do to me.¡± Maisara replied. ¡°I know you¡¯re the Goddess of Order, yes.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Why would I ether discuss business with fickle Peace over stable and honest Order?¡± Maisara¡¯s sigh voiced her displeasure again. ¡°You¡¯re no less fickle than Peace is.¡± Kassandora leaned forwards and spread her arms out. ¡°But it¡¯s better for me to be on your side than Allasaria¡¯s.¡± ¡°Allasaria won¡¯t take you.¡± Maisara said and Kassandora laughed. ¡°You¡¯ll be surprised how popular I am.¡± Maisara shook her head. That wasn¡¯t a lie either, of the White Pantheon, only Kavaa and Iniri were directly opposed to Kassandora. The forces weren¡¯t ideological in their relationships, but all the abstracts were far fonder of War than they¡¯d want to admit. Maisara herself wasn¡¯t even opposed to Kassandora, the women was merely a fact of life. Like a disease. There was no reason to hate disease, simply deal with it. She closed her eyes: what was a vaccination? Merely a disease made to fight another disease. ¡°If you don¡¯t free me, then when we finally see your precious Pantheon, Helenna will free me to protect herself.¡± ¡°Helenna can¡¯t do anything.¡± Maisara replied and Kassandora laughed. ¡°Love is easy to blind.¡± Maisara shook her head. ¡°You do have a way with words.¡± Kassandora bowed her head.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I try.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll need a backup plan.¡± ¡°Battles are won before they¡¯re started. Of course you do.¡± Kassandora flicked that crimson hair again. ¡°For you I mean, I need a way to make sure you don¡¯t betray us.¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°You free me, I¡¯ll be tied to you, we¡¯ll be on the same team, is that not insurance enough?¡± ¡°Civil wars do happen.¡± ¡°I¡¯m too old for them.¡± Maisara shook her head. The woman had a damn reply for everything and anything. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m older than you by at least an Age. The term simply did not exist back then.¡± Kassandora said and Maisara felt her eyebrow twitch. The Goddess of War kept up her assault. ¡°Part of your foundation is a lack of war.¡± ¡°Thanks for the reminder.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t consider you a na?ve girl Maisara. We both know that once we form, we¡¯re eternal. If the world ends tomorrow, as long as there¡¯s people around, they¡¯ll be clambering for Order and they¡¯ll use War to achieve that.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You should have been a scholar.¡± Maisara said flatly, it wasn¡¯t a compliment. Kassandora merely waited. ¡°I need proper insurance, something you¡¯ll give me to show respect.¡± ¡°Do you want a salute or a rank?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I give nothing because there¡¯s nothing to give.¡± Maisara leaned back and sighed. That much was true. Kassandora had too much will to be collared, even heretical slave-brands would reject her. ¡°I will not promise to free you.¡± Maisara said slowly, choosing her words carefully. Another cursed promise, she hated promises. Promises to mortals at least eventually expired, old age would eventually claim them if nothing else did. ¡°But¡­ I can promise, regarding this issue, I will not say anything to anyone in the White Pantheon, for ten years.¡± Kassandora crossed her arms and smiled again. Of course she¡¯d be popular with a chest like that! ¡°No.¡± ¡°No?¡± Maisara said. ¡°Not good enough. Regarding this issue is the problem, that stipulation is too easy to sidestep.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not binding myself to you for eternity!¡± Maisara slammed the table. ¡°You will not repeat the words we say here to anyone, nor communicate them in any way to anyone who isn¡¯t me or yourself.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a binding!¡± Maisara shouted. The Goddess of War followed up without even a pause for breath. ¡°It ends when the words become common knowledge among the majority of the mortal population, or when Allasaria dies.¡± Kassandora added. ¡°When the ideas we spout become common knowledge, not the words.¡± Maisara said. Kassandora thought for a moment and shrugged. ¡°If that¡¯s the way you want to phrase it, then phrase it that way.¡± ¡°Words could be literal and¡­¡± Kassandora waved her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t explain yourself to me. I trust you.¡± Maisara did not know if that was a lie or not. She certainly did not trust Kassandora. She took a breath and made the promise. Word for word, exactly as they had agreed upon. ¡°Just so you know, I also promise not to say a single lie throughout this conversation.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°So what did you want to tell me?¡± ¡°One, you cannot kill Allasaria with just you and Fortia.¡± Maisara rolled her eyes. ¡°I made a binding just for that?¡± ¡°My help tips the balance slightly in our favour, but any assistance to Allasaria tips it back.¡± Maisara stared flatly at the woman. She was really just tricked for only this? This is what trust brought. ¡°Those words, I do not consider part of the promise, they are already common knowledge.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Maisara said, slightly taken aback. ¡°I assume you want to use something based off the Fading Light plan, yes?¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°I was on the same team as two of the participants a thousand years ago. Knowing you, you wouldn¡¯t have thrown it away.¡± Kassandora clicked her tongue. ¡°And it seems like I was right.¡± ¡°We do.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t work, Irinika is crucial component to that. Don¡¯t throw your lives away for nothing.¡± ¡°Get to the fucking point Kass. I¡¯ve already given you what I can.¡± ¡°Contact Arascus, he will help you.¡± Maisara blinked as her hands twitched. ¡°Arascus is dead.¡± Maisara felt the blood start to drain from her face. Impossible. She saw Kassandora¡¯s red eyes glow as if they were burning. For a timeless moment, the Goddess before her looked like the terrible General she was a thousand years ago. Kassandora stood up and did a cursed salute. One that no one should even know about, one that had been written out of the history books. ¡°Arascus adopted me as a daughter.¡± She laughed like a maniac. ¡°Do you think that the Goddess of War would have not disappeared in the most peaceful age of existence? There comes a point when words become delusion. I am not delusional Maisara? Is a conversation war? Is an argument war? Let¡¯s not play pretend philosophy as if we know what we¡¯re talking about. War has not been fuelling me these past thousand years, it was Pride.¡± ¡°Arascus is locked in Godstone Kassandora. He¡¯s grown weaker with Waeh about! He cannot break out! He must be dead!¡± ¡°Not from the inside and not him.¡± Kassandora looked at her with all the delusional prideful confidence Arascus held back in the day when they finally captured him. ¡°Arascus, God of Pride, is free. Or I am not Kassandora, Goddess of War.¡± ¡°Are you certain?¡± ¡°The bonds of family are stronger than you¡¯ll ever know. There¡¯s a reason it became a taboo after he started us on.¡± Kassandora¡¯s smile was so lovely it would have put Helenna¡¯s to shame. ¡°But I¡¯m not against taking on a new sister.¡± Maisara shook her head as she collapsed into her arms on the table. The pain from the wounds seemed to fade away as she did her best to dig herself out of the pit of shock. ¡°How do you know?¡± Kassandora was just delusional. That was the answer. That made sense. ¡°Family knows family.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Each of us knows the general state of the rest. Every single one of us knows that he is free.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask Anassa!¡± Maisara shouted. Kassandora merely looked down upon her like a child. ¡°Go ahead. Do you think the Goddess whose sorcery is all tied to bloodlines would break a familial vow?¡± Chapter 29 – Godbiter Kassandora sat on her bed as she smiled. Maisara¡¯s final shout replayed in her head. ¡°I¡¯ll ask Anassa!¡± Oh silly Mai¡­ sweet little Goddess of Order. ¡°I¡¯ll ask Anassa!¡± So Anassa was captured too? Then the rest of the Pantheon would know too. And they were far more lenient with their words than Maisara was. Freeing herself was one thing. She merely had her mind. Anassa though? Anassa had plenty of tricks up her sleeve. Kassandora needed a plan to break the containment crystal next to her, a plan to leave Olympiada, a plan to hide, a whole lot of plans. Anassa only needed an opening. ¡°Don¡¯t worry sister.¡± Kassandora murmured to herself. ¡°Big sister hasn¡¯t forgotten about you.¡± The night in the ancient ruins of the fortress passed in a blur for Lyca and his party. It was obvious they weren¡¯t part of Fer¡¯s pack, and the elf largely ignored them as he took charge and organised the men and beasts under his command. Bodies had to be buried, collapsing parts of the fort had to be sectioned off. The darkfurs prowled around with their assistants; they pulled up vines to support falling walls or sew wounds shut. One wolfman, Logar, took Lyca and his friends under his patronage. Well¡­ he took Lyca, his friends tagged along. ¡°Do you not want help?¡± Eliza asked as the four watched Logar dig out another grave with a shovel. More beastmen, all half-wolves, came to help him as they buried their kind. ¡°No.¡± Logar said as he tested the hole. He stabbed something, then slammed down with the shovel. A moment later, he threw a long dying vine out of the dirt. ¡°The pack carries its own.¡± He dug a minute longer as two beastmen, heavily scarred and covered in cuts brought forth a corpse. ¡°Bulls bury bulls, bears bury bears, wolves bury wolves.¡± He pulled himself out of the pit. ¡°You.¡± He pointed to Lyca. ¡°Impressive, very much, you brought us great pride.¡± Lyca had forgotten how many times it was that he had heard this already. ¡°I¡­¡± It was one thing to argue or respond with snark. Lyca needed sleep to recharge his snark but who could sleep tonight? They just saw a God die. Fuck. They just saw a God die. ¡°Great pride, the first beast in a thousand years to hurt a God.¡± Logar patted him on the back and indicated to throw the body in. The two wolves got to burying it. ¡°And one of us? Great pride indeed.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not for sale.¡± Eliza said quietly and Logar¡¯s tall ears caught the whisper. He burst out in laughter. ¡°And found a mate already!¡± Eliza¡¯s cheeks grew red as her friends turned to look at her. ¡°I was just saying, he¡¯s not for sale.¡± ¡°We would not dare steal Godbiter from you.¡± He laughed again as the two wolf men finished burying the corpses. The three shared a howl which was picked up by other walking wolves in the fortress. Lyca didn¡¯t know why, but he wanted to join. He just barely had the will to stop himself from. The two burying gave nods of acknowledgement to Lyca as they returned to the fortress to pick up another corpse. ¡°Do you not feel bad?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°Feel bad?¡± Logar asked. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯ve lost...¡± Fleur thought for words. ¡°Members of your pack?¡± Logar merely shrugged. ¡°We are born in litters. I was born as a part of eight. Two brothers and a sister did not survive the first day. Each hunt, you do not know whether the prey will kill you. They died-¡± Logar nodded towards the graves in the ground. ¡°So that we could walk another day. Is there sadness? Yes. I wish they could see the pride of having Godbiter among them. But I would not want them to cry for me, and they would not wish the same upon me.¡± ¡°Different mentality.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°What about you?¡± Logar said. ¡°This is the first time you¡¯ve killed, how does it feel?¡± Lyca shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Lyca said. ¡°It feels¡­ I don¡¯t feel anything?¡± He wasn¡¯t sure of himself. ¡°It¡¯s like that.¡± Logar turned to his friends. ¡°And you?¡± Edmonton merely shrugged. ¡°Disappointing.¡± He said. ¡°Too easy.¡± ¡°I thought it would be more¡­¡± Fleur searched for words again. ¡°There¡¯ll be more to it.¡± Logar looked to Eliza. ¡°I was raised on a farm.¡± She said. ¡°It¡¯s the same as when I saw my father put animals down.¡± Logar nodded at that and turned back to Lyca. ¡°She will be good for you. You have the pack¡¯s blessing.¡± Lyca blinked and sighed again. These jokes were funny at the beginning, now they were just starting to drain on him. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for a blessing.¡± He replied. ¡°They mean nothing if you have to ask for them.¡± Logar looked up at the door as the two wolfmen returned. They were carrying another corpse. He got to work digging. ¡°Great pride. Great pride indeed.¡± And another fucking time. Lyca turned away from the beastmen as a darkfur approached. A beast larger than Logar, with a monstrous head with a maw over spilling with crooked teeth. One arm was wrapped in a bandage, and he took uneven wobbly steps towards them. ¡°Pack leader calls for you.¡± He said to Lyca and then turned to the other three. ¡°You too.¡± Fleur tutted at that as Lyca set off behind the man. Inside the fortress, there wasn¡¯t a wall without a crack and a splash of blood. The cultivators weaponry was being stocked up in one room but the main corridor leading to Fer¡¯s room was cleared out. It was only a short walk, not deep in the fortress whatsoever. That was good, the air inside smelled as if it could kill a man. The darkfur walked straight into Fer¡¯s room without knocking, there were no guards about. Everyone was simply helping in the clean up operation. Lyca followed him in full stride. Fer was a different beast entirely compared to Anassa in her library. She was sitting under a series of animal hides and even then, her head was at the height of Lyca¡¯s. Those red eyes were a pale flame now, still warm, but dulled from the defeat at Atis¡¯ hands. The elf was sitting on a chair flicking through a pile of notes. He put them away the moment Lyca stepped in. Eliza was last in. ¡°Leave us.¡± Fer said to the darkfur. He left immediately, his hoof-trots adding silence to the rush outside.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The wall in the room had been blasted open to reveal the starry sky and a cool wind came in to blow away the smell of death from within the fort. ¡°We¡¯ve¡­¡± Lyca didn¡¯t really know what to say. Talking to Anassa was one thing, but then he hadn¡¯t watched Anassa tear people apart with her bare hands. ¡°We¡¯ve come.¡± ¡°Yes. I did call for you.¡± She looked over to the elf sitting on the chair. Still in that fur coat and those black leather boots. One of the elf¡¯s soldiers had explain to them the concept of a rifle. The elf¡¯s own gun lay behind him, his sword over it. ¡°This man here wanted to talk to you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The elf stood up and walked over to Lyca. He extended his arm to shake. Lyca shook it, it was a terribly strong grip. ¡°Out of necessity, we will not exchange names.¡± He said as he shook hands with the rest of them. ¡°I did not ask Fer about you, apart from your actions here and why you¡¯re here in the first place.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Eliza.¡± Eliza said when she shook hands with the elf. ¡°Like I said, I will not exchange names, for both our sakes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to trust a man who won¡¯t give his name.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Fer trusts me. She trusts you too, that¡¯s more than enough for me.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Why does she trust me?¡± The elf asked gently. ¡°Why won¡¯t you give us your name?¡± The elf sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to be spies, but likewise I don¡¯t believe you have indominable will. I don¡¯t hold myself to that standard, so I¡¯m not going to ask.¡± He went and sat down on his seat. His hand went to the rugs on the floor. ¡°Sit down please, I¡¯m not going to make you stand there.¡± Lyca went and sat crossed legged. Eliza came close and intertwined her arms around his. Fleur sat in the corner, against the wall. Only Edmonton was left standing. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. ¡°So what did you want to talk about?¡± Edmonton asked. Lyca didn¡¯t care about letting him take the lead. He had been on his feet for at least a full day now. Sitting down seemed to dissipate the remnants of adrenaline in his body. ¡°I wanted information.¡± Edmonton smiled, opened his mouth as if to speak but the elf cut him off. ¡°I can very well see your game here. I will not pay you, nor offer you anything for it. We are on the same side.¡± ¡°Who decided that?¡± Edmonton asked. Lyca sighed and squeezed Eliza¡¯s hand. Sometimes, Ed could just be an ass for no reason whatsoever. ¡°You did, the moment you decided to allow Anassa to gift you with sorcery.¡± Edmonton thought for a second, he looked over to Lyca, then back to the elf. ¡°It¡¯s not worth having an argument over.¡± ¡°No.¡± The elf said. ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± ¡°So what did you want to know?¡± Ed asked. ¡°Where is Anassa?¡± ¡°The Divine Library.¡± Fleur spoke up. ¡°Ed, shut the fuck up for once.¡± ¡°I apologize but I¡¯ve never heard of it.¡± The elf said. ¡°In Arcadia, there¡¯s a building called the Divine Library.¡± Fleur explained. ¡°Anassa was locked in there twenty-five years after the great war. I suspect it was a prison. It only became known as the Divine Library in one-oh-one.¡± The elf raised an eyebrow, his eyes entirely on Anassa. ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°I did some research.¡± Fleur shrugged. ¡°Silly answer but I¡¯m not lying, I confirmed the details with Anassa herself. We only discovered who she was when?¡± She looked to Edmonton, then Eliza and Lyca. ¡°Ten days ago? A week maybe?¡± Lyca answered. ¡°Just before we set off.¡± Edmonton added. The elf only nodded. ¡°And this Divine Librar-¡° His words were cut off by Fleur. ¡°It¡¯s publicly accessible information. Arcadia takes visitors sometimes. I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t know the exact geographical coordinates. Excuse my rudeness, but you should be able to work it out yourself.¡± The elf chuckled at that. ¡°Have you ever met Elassa?¡± He asked. ¡°We¡¯ve seen her, never spoken to.¡± Fleur answered. ¡°How often does she visit Arcadia?¡± The four looked at each other. Eliza answered this time. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°She¡¯s generally always there when something important is happening.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°But she doesn¡¯t hold classes. She¡¯s a member of the White Pantheon so I assume she¡¯ll be at Olympiada every now and then, but when she¡¯s in her office or when she¡¯s there.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I would like to ask a favour.¡± The elf asked. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°To deliver a letter.¡± ¡°To Anassa I assume?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°I want Eliza to handle it.¡± The elf pulled it open. ¡°The letter itself is unimportant, but Anassa will like it.¡± He looked over to the Goddess sitting under her rugs. ¡°Fer put a spell over it, it will burn up if anyone but Anassa opens it.¡± ¡°I did.¡± Fer said. Lyca felt the hairs on his back stand up. Fer was lying. He didn¡¯t know how he could tell, but he simply could. He remained silent. The elf watched him with careful eyes and inclined his head an amount so small, only Lyca could notice the unsaid thank you. ¡°That is all I have to ask.¡± The elf stood up. ¡°I thank you for the information. If you stay with Anassa, we¡¯ll meet again. I owe you all a favour.¡± He left the room without giving them a chance to ask him a question. Heel clicked on corridor, the few moments the door was open, Lyca heard some beastman roar orders. ¡°That man is a friend.¡± Fer said as she pulled the blankets around her. ¡°You may stay in the pack as long as you wish, your help was invaluable, all of you, not just Lyca.¡± Lyca laughed and awkwardly scratched his back to relieve the tension. ¡°I mean¡­ I got knocked away immediately from what everyone told me. They actually saved you.¡± Eliza gripped his hand and Fer shook her head. Her golden hair swaying like a lion¡¯s mane. ¡°You set Atis¡¯ armour on fire. The rifles would have not penetrated that leather. They only got a clean because he took it off.¡± Fer said. ¡°The wolfmen wish for you to stay, but you should not.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not of the pack yet. Give it a decade, we¡¯ll talk again, I will accept you if you ask, but I would advise against it, you can¡¯t keep up.¡± ¡°Yet?¡± Eliza blurted out and Fer chuckled. Lyca wished she stopped being so obvious about her feelings. ¡°And you have a lovely girl by your side. She would not be accepted.¡± Fer said. Lyca nodded and finally asked the question he needed from Fer for in the first place. ¡°Anassa said I became a werewolf.¡± Lyca spoke slowly. ¡°Honestly, I have no clue what it means.¡± ¡°Two bodies shared in one.¡± Fer replied. ¡°A body of a beast, and of a man. Interchangeable. You lost control tonight and the wolf overtook you. I assume you tasted blood.¡± Licking his own red hands were the last things Lyca remembered. ¡°I did.¡± ¡°It sets off the bloodlust. It¡¯s dangerous and uncontrollable. The cycles of the moon affect it too.¡± ¡°So will he turn again?¡± Eliza gripped Lyca¡¯s arms so hard it felt like she was cutting off the blood flow. ¡°When Anassa sent you here, she said I¡¯d like one of you.¡± Fer said and laughed, her smile exposed those large fangs of hers. ¡°She was wrong, I like all of you.¡± Her giggle was entirely unbecoming of a Goddess, it was more of a little girl. ¡°I can give you help, but it¡¯s not something like Anassa¡¯s sorcery. She can awaken it in people like this.¡± Her hand emerged from the rug and she snapped her fingers. ¡°For me¡­¡± Fer tilted her head and thought for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s like raising a child. I can put the child in you, but you have to raise it yourself. It won¡¯t ever be easy, but you¡¯ll get better at it over time.¡± ¡°And what is the child?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°The child is the combined being, wolf and man in one. Two bodies merged as a whole.¡± ¡°Lyca won¡¯t become a beastman?¡± Eliza exclaimed and Fer laughed again. ¡°No.¡± She thought again for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s like armour. Something to take off and put on as the need arises.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Lyca said. ¡°There is no way to explain it, I can merely lay the seeds for your own growth.¡± ¡°But it won¡¯t destroy me?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°It can, you failed Anassa¡¯s test so you ended up like this in the first place. This happened a fair amount in the past, but then I had no reason to help out her pet projects.¡± She shrugged. ¡°So you¡¯ve never done it before?¡± Eliza spoke, her tone almost shaking. ¡°Once, when me and her created the first werewolf. It was to see if we could.¡± ¡°And what happened?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°The man died in the Great War.¡± ¡°Will it work?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°It will.¡± For those words, her tone was so dead set Lyca would have believed if she told him the sun wouldn¡¯t rise tomorrow. ¡°What will it require?¡± ¡°Drinking my blood.¡± Fer replied. ¡°When can we do it?¡± ¡°Now.¡± Fer said, then raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are you ready?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Lyca tried to answer with the same level of confidence that Fer had. ¡°Good. Everyone else should leave. You will hear screams. Do not open the door under any circumstance.¡± Fer¡¯s eyes grew soft as they moved to Eliza. ¡°And you should give him a kiss.¡± Eliza¡¯s cheeks grew red, but she didn¡¯t move an inch away from Lyca. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°To give him something to hold onto.¡± Chapter 30 – Missing in Action Lyca¡¯s body started to burn up as Fer held him close; A mother bear holding her cub tight in an embrace. Maisara and Fortia walked in their armours. Kavaa had come to speed up the healing. The weeks of suffering ended in a few moments with nothing but a touch from the Goddess of Health. Maybe some other time, she would care about what this meant. Was it some show of mercy from Allasaria? Kavaa going against the Goddess? She didn¡¯t care that much, her mind was simply overtaken by Kassandora¡¯s words about Arascus. Maisara hated plots back then, and she hated plots now. Maisara took the lead as they entered the White Pantheon¡¯s observance room. A place with a door tall enough to clear even Allasaria¡¯s terrible height with two feet to spare. It was classic Old-Olympiada. Marble with gold inlays, the table too tall for a human to use. No chairs, you stood or you didn¡¯t attend. Magical lamps floated in the air, they cast a warm light today. Long ago, this was the war-room; Allasaria¡¯s failed attempt at eradicating war reached even names. The Goddess of Light stood at the table already, clad in a pristine white dress. She looked up, those golden eyes acknowledged Maisara and she went back to tapping the folder. ¡°I wish everyone was as punctual as you.¡± Allasaria said and Maisara almost missed a step. A compliment? From Allasaria? ¡°It is what it is.¡± Maisara replied, she took her spot close to Allasaria, Fortia got in between them. ¡°You deserve an apology.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°You won¡¯t mean it anyway.¡± Maisara said coldly and Allasaria shook her head. ¡°I lost control last time.¡± Allasaria began in a quiet voice and Maisara interrupted her. ¡°What happened, happened. The only reason you didn¡¯t end up as I did is because you¡¯re stronger than us.¡± Maisara stopped the Goddess of Light with those words, and Allasaria shut up. She sighed and shook her head again. They waited for the rest of the Pantheon. Late as always. Fortia broke the silence. ¡°Thank you for allowing Kavaa to heal us.¡± She said and Maisara bit her cheek. Why did that deserve a thank you? That was Kavaa¡¯s damn job! What role did the Goddess of Health serve if not healing? ¡°It should have been sooner.¡± Allasaria said and sighed again. ¡°Before anyone comes, I would like to propose something.¡± ¡°What?¡± Maisara¡¯s tone may as well as have been a strike of thunder. ¡°An end to these games we are playing.¡± Allasaria turned to the other two. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we will suddenly become friends, but I want a stop to the arguments.¡± Maisara crossed her arms and snorted as she turned to face the Goddess of Light. Allasaria was slightly taller than Kassandora, that meant there was a good several inches of height she had over the Goddess of Order. Maisara hated those several inches. ¡°In other words, you want us to do what you say and that¡¯s it?¡± ¡°I am in charge of the Pantheon Maisara. That isn¡¯t going to change.¡± ¡°Likewise, I¡¯m not going to suddenly start pretending I think you¡¯re deserving of that position.¡± Allasaria shook her head. ¡°If not me, then who? Maisara, it CANNOT be you!¡± Maisara¡¯s eyebrows rose and she burst in laughter. ¡°Did I ever say I want it to be me?¡± ¡°Then WHO?¡± Allasaria roared. ¡°WHO? Or do you want voting again?¡± No one wanted that, voting was simply handing the reins to Helenna. ¡°Anyone but you.¡± Maisara said. ¡°You¡¯re not good for us.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t try to be good, I do what is necessary.¡± Allasaria said and Maisara bared her teeth. The words were stolen right out of her textbook. ¡°STOP!¡± Fortia shouted from in between them. ¡°STOP FOR ONCE! Both of you!¡± Maisara sighed and turned back to the table, ignoring Allasaria completely. Allasaria returned the gesture. ¡°Do you know what I would do if I was you right now Allasaria?¡± Maisara said, her eyes focused on the middle of that circular marble. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I would fly out and drag them here by the neck.¡± Allasaria merely shook her head but she held her words. Zerus arrived next, Sceo by his side. Lightning and Sky, one in silver robes, the other blue. The two eldest among them. He inclined his head when he saw Allasaria and Maisara¡¯s expressions.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°I apologise for the delay.¡± He said. Maisara wanted to remind him how fast lightning should be, but she did held her tone as her mind strayed back to Kassandora. HOW? She had to be lying. She had to be. But then research on Divine families was never done; Allasaria had banned it during the Great War. Who knew what sort of connection they had to each other? Mortals could feel their blood-kin, why should it not apply to Gods? Then she had to tell everyone! Arascus was free! Arascus was out there! Maisara said nothing. A promise was a promise. Alkom strayed in. God of the Sun, dressed in reds and oranges and nodding to acknowledge Alla. Then Helenna¡¯s brigade arrived. The Goddesses of Love, of Bounty and of Health; Helenna, Iniri and Kavaa. One in crimson so daring it should be banned, one in a disgusting cornucopia of colours hurtful to the eyes, and Kavaa, in a simple green dress. Fitting for a coward. ¡°I see we¡¯ll have to wait.¡± Helenna said out loud as she strolled in confidently. ¡°Good thing we have you here Zerus, there¡¯s a lightning storm brewing between them two.¡± If looks could kill, Maisara¡¯s gaze would have executed Helenna a thousand times over. ¡°Now¡¯s not the time Helenna.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°Save your comments for another time.¡± ¡°Have you got something to announce to us?¡± Helenna said. ¡°A suitor finally come to-¡° Allasaria lifted her hand, a tiny beam of light shot past Helenna¡¯s cheek and cut off a few strands of red hair. ¡°Shut up Helenna. I will not ask again.¡± Helenna recovered from the shock quickly and she flicked her hair back. Her mouth smug as she no doubt thought of some grand retort which was a yet another masterpiece of wit. ¡°I didn¡¯t know yo-¡° A blast of light knocked Helenna down to the floor. Maisara smiled in satisfaction. True, it was Allasaria doing it, but frankly, anything that shut Helenna up was satisfying. ¡°Heal her Kavaa.¡± Allasaria said coldly. The Goddess of Health ran off to Helenna. A simple touch and Of Love as back on her feet. ¡°And be quiet, I will not let you be healed next time.¡± Helenna finally shut up as she patted her stomach through the hole in her dress. Theosius came next. God of the Forge, dressed in fine silks that would be the complete opposite of what a blacksmith wore, he merely took his place at the table without an introduction as they waited for Elassa. Someone had to be late, always had to be late. It wasn¡¯t the White Pantheon if they were all on time. The Goddess of Magic finally flew in after a half hour. ¡°Apologies for the delay.¡± She said and took her place next to Allasaria, opposite of Fortia. ¡°Let us begin.¡± Allasaria spoke and Maisara re-counted the members again. ¡°There are twelve of us here. Leona is still in hiding, I¡¯ve talked with her maid, she is rolling dice to hide.¡± That didn¡¯t bother Maisara, Leona being gone was the whole reason for this crisis. ¡°However, we also lack Atis.¡± ¡°Oh no.¡± Fortia mumbled. ¡°About two weeks ago.¡± Allasaria pulled out a large photo from her folder and passed it Fortia. She looked it at then passed it on as Allasaria kept on speaking. When Maisara saw it, it was just a picture of just of eastern Karaina¡¯s geography, a red dot was marked on it. ¡°We lost a drone. A Sky-Eye autonomous reconnaissance drone. The serial number is at the bottom of the picture. The red dot is the location.¡± Allasaria took a breath and continued. ¡°Now drones do go down every now and then. It wouldn¡¯t be a worry in any normal situation. There¡¯s six circling Fer at all times.¡± She brought out a larger map and unfurled onto the table. Six red dots, dates and times next to them. ¡°All six drones went down.¡± ¡°Even if there was a storm, that shouldn¡¯t happen.¡± Theosius said, his brow furrowed. ¡°There was none.¡± Sceo spoke up. ¡°The Guguoans break clouds with magic to ensure optimal hunting conditions.¡± Allasaria continued before the discussion devolved into theories. ¡°The local security forces thought the same.¡± She pulled out twelve pieces of paper and passed them to Fortia. ¡°Take one, pass it on, that¡¯s a copy of the commander¡¯s report. They decided that the Guguoans were downing the drones to hide some sort of magic or artefact of theirs.¡± ¡°Preposterous!¡± Elassa shouted, Allasaria didn¡¯t even pause for the interruption. ¡°They sent out an atmospheric surveillance drone. The images are of lower quality but¡­¡± She handed out more pictures as the folder grew thinner. ¡°Well¡­¡± Maisara¡¯s eyes immediately went to the black spot of charred land in a valley. It was from so high that there was little detail to be seen, but it was the obvious aftermath of a battle. Fortia¡¯s hands started shaking as she looked at the piece of paper. ¡°Now Fortia.¡± Allasaria continued. ¡°I have a question for you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± ¡°Atis was last seen in Olympiada having a conversation with you. He left immediately. I hope you knew where to¡­¡± Allasaria¡¯s tone said she knew the answer already, but she simply didn¡¯t want to believe it. ¡°He¡­¡± Fortia put the piece of paper down and steeled herself. She leaned on the table, grabbed the edge and shook her head. ¡°He said he was going to join the Great Hunt.¡± Allasaria¡¯s golden hair grew a tiny bit duller, her eyes lost some of their sharpness and she sighed. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Fortia said. ¡°I didn¡¯t push him into it¡­¡± ¡°No one is blaming you Goddess of Peace. It is one thing when we have an argument and Kavaa has to heal us.¡± The Goddess of Health gave Allasaria a dirty look for that comment. ¡°This is another entirely.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Maisara asked. Allasaria pulled out a photo, another low-quality one from the atmospheric drone. A red pen outlined a patch of brown. Then another, the patch of brown was moving north east. And another. And another. Too fast to be humans, too slow to be flying Guguoan cultivators. ¡°These images were taken yesterday. This whole situation reached my desk only a few hours ago.¡± Allasaria clicked her tongue. ¡°I can only come to one conclusion from this.¡± She said. Maisara already figured it out. From everyone¡¯s expression, the rest of the table did too. ¡°The Sixty Third Great Hunt has ended and Fer won.¡± Allasaria pulled out a portrait of Atis¡¯ face. Rugged and stern. ¡°From today, I will assign Atis, God of the Hunt, as missing in action. If he does not make an appearance within two months. He will be reassigned to dead.¡± Maisara almost fainted as she heard Kassandora¡¯s voice in her head again. ¡°Arascus is free.¡± She opened her mouth to tell them and the words caught in her throat. She made a promise. Her Divinity was built on that promise. The table descended into shouting, then accusations and argument. Maisara remained silent throughout it all. Chapter 31 – A Return To Arascus Starting around the year 150 PGW, dragons started to bury their eggs in wastelands and uninhabitable locations to protect them. Although the egg does not have to be watched to hatch, and some can take even a millennium to hatch, it was declared that by year 500 PGW, dragons were effectively extinct. The last known sighting happened in 392PGW. - Excerpt from ¡°The Greatest of Monsters.¡± Written sometime in the 6th century Iliyal Tremali stood before Arascus in the war-room back in the headquarters of the cult. Daganhoff, Lady Daganhoff now, Narma, Alash, all the high-ranking members. And Arascus in his throne, the God being twice the size of most humans. He was half-again Tremali¡¯s height and Iliyal was proud of his height. ¡°An explanation General.¡± Arascus¡¯ voice boomed as everyone in the room stared at the elf, even his own assistants behind him. Their eyes were resigned with pity. It was comical, none of them knew Arascus as well as Iliyal did. The elf took a step forward, saluted, and stood like a soldier in his uniform. Black leather boots, the fur coat he taken brought from the east, the only change he had made to the outfit was swapped out the shirts. His sword hung on his belt, his rifle was slung over his shoulder. ¡°I will start from the beginning.¡± Iliyal said as he cracked the tension in the room. The explanation was short and simple. Fer¡¯s beastmen had ran into him on the training, they had been attracted by the noise of gunfire and explored out of mere curiosity. Then they had told him what was happening, how many cults there were and so on. ¡°I decided that the soldiers needed a taste of live combat to make sure they knew what it was like to actually shoot at people, rather than just targets.¡± Iliyal explained. ¡°So I took two hundred of the best soldiers and went towards the location the beastmen had indicated.¡± He looked around the war room. Bright fluorescent lights only made the steel walls seem colder than they were, and the expressions on everyone but Arascus himself were as if death had walked into the room. ¡°That is the reasoning.¡± Iliyal said confidently. Arascus wasn¡¯t the Goddess of Order, there was hierarchy under him yes, but that hierarchy was only for the plebs. Those who excelled, the God himself would be proud to have stand at his side. Arascus leaned back on his huge chair and nodded. The man¡¯s blue eyes focused on Iliyal, his dark hair flowing down his back, simply a black suit his dress of choice. It was simple, but they didn¡¯t run a kingdom or a country yet. It was shameful to pretend to be an Emperor of dirt. ¡°So¡­¡± The God¡¯s voice boomed across the table, he extended his arms to indicate to the rest of the people in the room. ¡°Explain yourself so everyone can understand, briefly. What was the damage?¡± Iliyal wanted to laugh. The message was simple, he had done something completely unprecedented that needed to be explained away so that the rest of the members would not suddenly start getting ideas about sidestepping the hierarchy in place. ¡°We lost thirty-three soldiers. Another twenty died from wounds after the battle, sixteen have major injuries but are in stable condition. Sixty or so are wounded lightly, cuts and bruises, they¡¯ll be back in training after two weeks.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°So you lost a quarter of the soldiers you took?¡± One of the humans asked, Klichov. Iliyal didn¡¯t bother to learn his first name, it was an obviously just a fellow who needed to fill the position of Master Logistician until someone talented was found to replace him. ¡°Considering the forces we were up against, I would say that was more than a good trade.¡± Iliyal didn¡¯t even turn to the man, he spoke directly to Arascus. ¡°The combat examination to discover the deficiencies of the Alash-One would have been worth it even if all two hundred men died.¡± ¡°I concur with Iliyal.¡± Mikhail Alash spoke up and raised his hand. ¡°If the gun did not work in combat situations, it would be better to discover that now than after we manufacture a million of them.¡± ¡°After counting the bodies, the Guguoans sent a total of three thousand member to the dot. Fifty sects, sixty members each. We did have support from Fer and her beastmen, but I am more than confident to say that the two hundred men I brought made the pivotal difference.¡± ¡°What about the drones circling Fer?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°I shot them down.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°They were flying close to the ground to monitor the battle. A creation of a dedicated anti-air gun is one of my suggestions.¡± ¡°Certain things can be built upon.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°But range and the ability to shoot up, that¡¯s largely the propellant at this point. I¡¯m no chemist.¡± Iliyal already had a suggestion planned and written down, but if the man was asking now, then he might as well answer. ¡°Then we need a larger model. It could be mounted on a vehicle. I have suggestions written down on how to improve the gun, it will be in your office by the time this meeting ends.¡± Iliyal turned back to Arascus as the engineer nodded gratefully. ¡°More importantly, two strategic objectives were completed.¡± ¡°And those are?¡± ¡°One, Fer was saved from the Great Hunt. The Guguoans will think twice before sending another expedition, the only fear is that Maisara, Fortia, Elassa, Zerus or Allasaria come to try and kill her.¡± ¡°What about Atis? Isn¡¯t he the Lord of the Hunt?¡± Klichov asked. His voice was innocuous, but he was obviously trying to put a damper on Iliyal¡¯s success. The elf didn¡¯t know what exactly he did to annoy the fellow so much, but he didn¡¯t particularly care, if Klichov wanted to hate, then so be it. ¡°That is strategic objective two.¡± Iliyal indicated for one of his assistants to step forward. The human put the bag on the table and Iliyal sent hi m away again. ¡°There¡¯s a saying among the Pantheon nowadays; Can a mortal kill a God?¡± ¡°No, never happened, never will.¡± Arascus finished for him. Iliyal smiled started to undo the bag and the God raised an eyebrow. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, that statement is wrong.¡± He pulled the head out of the brown bag. ¡°This is the proof of its falsity.¡± The Gold-brown locks of Atis had grown dry and started to grey, his skin was stretched, his cheeks hollow, but the size alone could only mean one thing. He was holding the head of a God. ¡°Atis, God of the Hunt, has been slain!¡± There was something deep within Iliyal that wanted to scream the words out in pride. Iliyal had saved the news until now and it brought the effect he wanted. The room froze as if winter had just seeped in, people even held their breathes. Only the faint hum of the light above saved them from total silence. It took a few seconds, but finally, life returned. Arascus¡¯ slow clap. One. Twice. Thrice. Then someone joined in. And another. And another. From stunned silence to excited cacophony, Iliyal basked in the wordless praise. Chapter 32 – A Sword for the Humanitarians Ilwin Tremali stared at Arascus in disbelief. There was a time when ¡®Head of Special Operations¡¯ meant an assassination here and there. Looting a warehouse, maybe stopping a train. Now his timetable was filled with scouting, information gathering and kidnappings. And now¡­ now this¡­ ¡°Sir, I¡­¡± Ilwin said. ¡°Can it be done? I assume it can. It¡¯s just never been done before.¡± ¡°Your grandfather killed a God.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Acquiring planes should be nothing.¡± Kavaa sat in the Spring Garden. The Goddess of Love had called her and Iniri for a discussion. The Goddess of Health was dressed as she always was, in a simple green dress. There wasn¡¯t any need to carry the battle armour of Peace and Order, nor the blinding silks of Light or Magic, she could wear rags and the respect she commanded would not drop an inch. Iniri was much the same, other Divines found her colourful dresses an ugly clash of colours, Kavaa was actually quite fond of them. Today, the short Goddess was dressed like a wheat field, all golden browns and yellows. They shared Helenna¡¯s little table. It was just large enough to fit the three divines around it, although by mortal stands, it could have fit a whole family. The Spring Garden itself was an island of vibrant life in the cold ocean of marble in Olympiada, with streams and flowers and trees and bushes and insects flying around. Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri all maintained it, it always made Kavaa feel good inside. The Gods should operate like this, together, striving for unity. It was a shame that the Spring Garden was one of the few Divine group projects. ¡°I have¡­¡± Helenna wasn¡¯t herself today. Her smile had withered, her eyes grown heavy. Even her dress wasn¡¯t that usual striking crimson but a pale black. Her hair had grown white and she swirled the tea in her cup. ¡°I have come to a conclusion.¡± ¡°I already assume it¡¯s something dreadful.¡± Iniri said and forced out a laugh. ¡°Judging from how you look today.¡± ¡°We know Atis is dead.¡± Helenna said slowly. ¡°And we know Leona¡­¡± Kavaa nodded along, the berry tea lost its flavour when she thought about that. ¡°Well¡­¡± ¡°Leona will die most likely.¡± Kavaa said. Of the three, she was the always most direct. Treating terminal patients made you that way. ¡°Maybe if Allasaria and Maisara got along.¡± Iniri said quietly. ¡°If they did, the situation would be different entirely.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I have suspect Leona¡¯s death is something to do with the two of them.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°It¡¯s just a gut feeling.¡± Helenna said and shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think either would harm Leona directly but¡­ well we saw how they went at each other last time.¡± ¡°If we could convince Fortia maybe she could convince Maisara.¡± Kavaa said the thought because it needed to be said, not because it had any hope of coming to fruition. ¡°That¡¯s like saying we can convince Elassa in the hopes of convincing Allasaria.¡± Iniri replied. Just as ridiculous an idea. Fortia was polite to them because they didn¡¯t get in the way, but there was no reason to pretend she thought highly of Love, Bounty and Health. Helenna nodded, leaned back and sighed, she flicked her hair as it started to change to a dark shade.¡± ¡°So I think we have to consider something.¡± Each word Helenna voiced added another touch of blackness to her flowing locks. ¡°And that is what happens in the future. Not the far future, but the near future. I¡¯m not going to panic that the Pantheon will collapse tomorrow but ten years? Five?¡± Those locks were grey now. ¡°And what happens to us? Maisara and Fortia, Allasaria and Elassa, Zerus, even Theosius all have talents which are useful in crisis like that.¡± ¡°Kavaa can heal.¡± Iniri said quietly. ¡°It¡¯s not the same.¡± Kavaa said. Helenna came in to back her up. ¡°Oh please Iniri. Kavaa¡¯s healing is used like your harvests. We¡¯re here to be used as morale tools, we¡¯ll be lucky if they let us pick the colour of a flag.¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t last time.¡± Kavaa said and the other two nodded. ¡°So what did you want to tell us?¡± ¡°Of the White Pantheon, we are the three weakest.¡± Helenna said. ¡°We can¡¯t stand against Allasaria¡¯s or Maisara¡¯s factions and Zerus only took us under his wing for so long because he sees everyone as his child.¡± The woman¡¯s hair had become pitch black as her eyes started to flare red.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I concur, we can¡¯t expect him to protect us if it actually means he¡¯ll have to take a risk.¡± Iniri said. ¡°He won¡¯t venture against any of the big abstracts.¡± Kavaa added. ¡°But what then? Are you saying we throw in with either of them?¡± ¡°Do you want to be a pocket healer for another thousand years?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°Or you Iniri? Reduced to tending the gardens? I have nothing to say about myself, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a single of the big names that actually like me.¡± Kavaa thought for a moment and nodded. ¡°If you got killed, there¡¯d be so many suspects I don¡¯t even know who to point the finger at.¡± ¡°If I got killed, they¡¯d probably declare it a day of rest.¡± Helenna said and the two other Goddesses laughed. ¡°How long do you think we have?¡± Kavaa asked. Helenna drank the rest of the tea and checked the big porcelain pot in the centre of the table, it was empty. ¡°I have no plan to die anytime soon, and I¡¯m not so weak that it would be easy to kill me.¡± That much was true too. The blast she was hit with in the meeting where they discovered Atis had died would have split cut a hole straight through Kavaa. Iniri, it would split in two. Helenna, it only broke the skin and burned some muscle. ¡°Elassa maybe, but Alla? Mai? Fortia? You can¡¯t take any of them on.¡± Iniri said. ¡°That is true, I cannot.¡± Helenna said. ¡°But we three have a distinct advantage compared to anyone else.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°We don¡¯t need to fight in competitions of Divine strength, unlike the rest of them.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°In the Great War, what did we do? You Kavaa served as the healer. How many millions did your arts save? Your clerical orders still exist and from what I remember, they¡¯re quite excellent in combat too.¡± ¡°They¡¯re better than most men.¡± Kavaa said. They weren¡¯t Maisara¡¯s Paladins, Fortia¡¯s Guardians or Allasaria¡¯s Seekers, but then no one was. Being fourth wasn¡¯t too bad either, Kavaa was more than happy with her Divine Order. ¡°And you Iniri. You organised almost all of our logistics. A fortress with you can never run out of food, with Kavaa, it can never fall ill, with the two of you put together, it simply cannot fall to siege.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not the worst either Helenna.¡± Iniri said. ¡°My spies are the best in the world. I don¡¯t think that has to be said.¡± Helenna said, her hair growing orange, then red as Iniri and Kavaa agreed. The only person who could potentially be a better spy would be Leona, but then Leona was better at everything than everyone. ¡°So we expand the fight.¡± ¡°You mean, you want to turn it into a war?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°No. While Maisara and Allasaria play around with each other, I want us to build an army. We didn¡¯t prepare for this a thousand years ago and look how we have been treated for a millennia.¡± Iniri and Kavaa sat in silence for a few minutes as they considered Helenna¡¯s proposition. That much was true, they were just strong enough to be useful, and but not strong enough to be worth worrying about. It was the worst of both worlds, someone like Atis could at least disappear whenever he wanted and no one would worry. If Kavaa left for even a few days, she would immediately be called back because one of the big names had injured someone. ¡®Pocket healer¡¯ really was the perfect term for her. ¡°Are you sure?¡± The Goddess of Health finally asked. ¡°The three of us cannot train men like them, nor can we fight them in duels, but we can inspire and support. If Allasaria or Maisara take a year to raise an army of a million, then we can do twice as much in half the time.¡± Kavaa crossed her arms, her green dress flowing like grass as she furrowed her brow. ¡°Your idea is grand but there is an issue.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°Supporting we can do, but leading?¡± Kavaa raised an eyebrow. ¡°Let¡¯s not delude ourselves, there is a reason that Allasaria and Maisara have taken the forefront. That even Zerus carries more respect among the Pantheon than the three of us combined.¡± Kavaa shook her head, her brown hair swaying side to side. ¡°We¡¯re not leaders Helenna.¡± ¡°That is backwards mentality Kavaa.¡± Helenna said. ¡°We¡¯re not in the age of aristocrats telling peasants what to do, we¡¯re in the age of governments bowing to the people, and the people are on our side.¡± ¡°Only because we have eternal peace, when that ends, we¡¯re the prize people aim for, not the tools they use to get the prize. We¡¯re not Gods of action, we¡¯re Gods of supporting people.¡± ¡°But there is a God of action who will work for us.¡± Helenna said, she didn¡¯t smile or laugh, she simply leaned in and lowered her voice. ¡°Is there?¡± Kavaa said doubtfully. ¡°Who? Who will swing their sword at our behest instead of just chaining us to them?¡± ¡°The one who is undefeatable when given an army. Who would appreciate us as treasures, rather than tools. We wouldn¡¯t be children to rule over, we would be partners in a relationship.¡± Kavaa rolled her eyes, what apt language from the Goddess of Love. ¡°There is no one like that in the White Pantheon.¡± ¡°Not in the White Pantheon, but she¡¯s here in Olympiada.¡± Iniri¡¯s face paled as she realised something. Kavaa simply strengthened her tone. She generally liked Helenna, but the woman loved being overdramatic. ¡°You don¡¯t mean¡­¡± Iniri said. It only made Kavaa more annoyed that Iniri always understood things before she did. ¡°Who is it Helenna?¡± Kavaa wished she could demand in the same terrifying way Maisara could. ¡°The Goddess who wishes for nothing more but an army to command, and who does not care about issues of Peace. Who would give us free reign in times of calm as long as we stand by her side during storms.¡± Kavaa raised an eyebrow as Helenna¡¯s hair turned red and her eyes started to sparkle with sheer excitement. Her cheeks flushed and even her dress started to become fiery. She looked almost mad for a moment, a woman caught up in all the ecstasy of blind love and unable to think clearly, but her words were free of all delusion. They were a freezing avalanche that sent a shiver down Kavaa¡¯s spine: ¡°Kassandora, Goddess of War.¡± Chapter 33 – Return To Normalcy Ilwin stared at the dozen or so handpicked locations. Arascus wanted twenty planes for an air fleet. To be built, to be stolen or to be bought. He didn¡¯t care how. Ilwin sparked his cigarette and went to Narma¡¯s office. How expensive could planes even be? Lyca stood in Yelinda¡¯s office along with his three friends. She was their year-head, the final authority when it came to what he was allowed to do in Arcadia. There was little to explain, ending up in Yelinda¡¯s office was usually the end for most students. It was an ugly room, half stuck in the past, half looking towards the future. Somehow, it managed to combine the worst of both worlds. Giant furniture, but plain. Large lamps, but cold and electric. Ergonomic chairs, but too small. ¡°The four of you disappeared for two weeks.¡± Lyca rolled his eyes as Miss Yelinda scolded them. Who even cared about small trivial issues like that? Two weeks of missing lessons? Wow. Maybe the gap between them and the rest of the class would close slightly. Him and Edmonton were number one and two in duels, Eliza was a paragon of healing and there hadn¡¯t been an exam Fleur had not come first in. ¡°And you suddenly re-appear as if nothing has happened.¡± Yelinda spoke slowly and quietly. There were students she would shout at, but shouting didn¡¯t really have much an effect on Lyca or his friends. Yelinda pushed up her glasses and sighed. Her desk was a modern monstrosity, thoroughly not witch-like. An ugly piece of wood and glass. Her clothes were another odd cultural clash, as if modernity had come to impose itself on tradition. She wore the ancient shawl of an archmage, and a white blouse underneath it. Tall witch-like boots, and then standard pants. Lyca didn¡¯t care much for fashion but if it annoyed him, he knew that Fleur and Edmonton must be seething at that. ¡°I won¡¯t let you until I get a reason.¡± Eliza¡¯s arm brushed Lyca¡¯s. Lyca sighed and leaned back. It was time to set a tone for the conversation, and then have Ed and Fleur simply play off him. ¡°It was my fault.¡± He said. ¡°I thought I found something but I didn¡¯t.¡± Yelinda raised an eyebrow. ¡°You thought you found something?¡± Lyca remembered last night, when they were returning on the plane back to Arcadia and Edmonton was throwing stories around. Lyca had just said to improvise the whole thing. ¡°It was nothing.¡± Lyca said. ¡°Was it?¡± ¡°Well, it was an old artefact but we got there and it was an empty field with a forest.¡± Lyca put his arm around Eliza, the short girl was simply brilliant. She played along effortlessly, leaning into Lyca and making those big brown puppy eyes at Yelinda. ¡°Ela is scared of forests and wolves so¡­¡± He shrugged. ¡°You gave up?¡± ¡°Well we went camping for a week.¡± Lyca said. Yelinda sighed again and tapped her fingers along the table. ¡°Why did you not say anything? Why did you not even give any notice?¡± ¡°Well I thought I¡¯d find something.¡± Lyca said simply. ¡°And then I¡¯d have to share.¡± Yelinda narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°You know it¡¯s illegal to hoard artefacts?¡± Lyca let of Eliza and took a step towards the woman, she was maybe ten times his age but he simply could not see her as an equal. Could she do sorcery? Did she know a God? Did she ever attack one? Could she even dream of one? ¡°Miss Yelinda, I¡¯m sorry for this, but if I said something, I¡¯d get a medal or maybe a fancy piece of paper as a reward about what a good student I am. If I brought it to the Olympiada Archaeologist¡¯s Agency, I¡¯d have ten years of your wage, so no. I apologize for a lack of success, but I don¡¯t really feel bad about doing it.¡± Yelinda blinked, her pale green eyes rising, her cheeks flushing for a moment before she regained control of herself.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I don¡¯t expect students to speak like this to me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t-¡° Lyca raised his voice when Edmonton slapped his back. The man was taller than Lyca by a good half-head, with black hair and blue eyes. His uniform didn¡¯t do him justice, the amount of strength in that slap would have knocked Lyca over where it not for what Fer had awakened within him. ¡°What Lyca means is that we don¡¯t feel respected in class.¡± Edmonton said. Yelinda shook her head. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Just as I said, Arcadia is challenging yes, but not for us. I apologize for the bluntness but there is really no way to put it. I think all four could pass this year¡¯s finals without attending a single lesson from now.¡± Edmonton took a breath and pulled Lyca back a step. Lyca only moved because he let Edmonton move him. ¡°I know exactly how arrogant this sounds, but I think our results speak for themselves.¡± ¡°I concur with Edmonton¡¯s words Yelinda.¡± Fleur said. ¡°I would be willing to take an exam right now to prove it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Miss Yelinda.¡± The teacher said and sighed again. She remained silent for a few minutes, her fingers tapping away. ¡°Your behaviour is terrible, you express absolutely no remorse nor guilt for your flagrant breaking of the rules. You don¡¯t even have the decency to cover it up.¡± ¡°Personally, I think it¡¯s better if we¡¯re just honest rather than playing word games.¡± Lyca said, he could barely contain his smile. If she believed them about this, then that meant there wasn¡¯t any suspicion about the Divine Library and Anassa. He wanted to return there as soon as possible. ¡°I wasn¡¯t finished.¡± Yelinda said. ¡°Like I was saying, you four, character wise, have done more than enough to warrant a suspension from Arcadia.¡± Lyca wanted to laugh. A suspension? Oh no. How terrible. A holiday. ¡°But talent wise, I understand your frustration. The four of you far outmatch anyone else in your year. Even if I let you skip one, you would still be in the top ten of the next year.¡± Lyca wanted to smash the table. In the top ten? Just that? He could duel anyone in the whole school! There was only one person in all of Arcadia who could defeat him and she was locked in the Divine Library! ¡°Likewise, an expulsion would simply be a waste. I have no doubt the four of you would find great ways to use your powers.¡± Lyca nodded. That was the first time the woman had been correct today. The woman didn¡¯t catch his nod, or maybe she simply ignored it. ¡°I will send you all letters to your rooms detailing what sort of punishments you will have after I talk with you teachers, along with ways to grow your potential.¡± ¡°I would like to request one thing!¡± Fleur said. Lyca rolled his eyes, if he was in the woman¡¯s position, the four of them would be on their way back home. Somehow the situation had turned around to such an extent that now Fleur was making demands? What a joke. ¡°What?¡± ¡°To be allowed entry into the Scholar¡¯s Guilds.¡± Yelinda didn¡¯t even think about it. ¡°The four of you are allowed entry into the Scholar¡¯s Guilds. They¡¯ll be contacted by tomorrow and you¡¯ll be on the whitelist.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Fleur nodded and smiled. Lyca would never be seen in there. If it wasn¡¯t used directly to gain power, he did not care a single bit about it. ¡°You will receive your punishments later, they won¡¯t be easy and I¡¯ll be putting you on special curriculums too.¡± ¡°You know we have the internet for this?¡± Narma said. ¡°I assumed you would have contacts.¡± Ilwin replied. ¡°Ilwin, two planes would bankrupt us. The sort Arascus was talking about, we could afford three quarters of one.¡± Ilwin took a sigh. Looks like this was going to be harder than he thought. ¡°That was it?¡± Lyca asked once they had stepped out of the administration building and were walking along the cobbled paths of Arcadia. The air here was warm, the buildings tall and beautiful, the people all finely dressed. It was the exact opposite that the wasteland of Karaina B had been. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot.¡± Edmonton slapped the man on the back. Lyca felt it, but it didn¡¯t hurt a bit. It was as if a large bee had just flown into him. ¡°Am I?¡± ¡°You are.¡± Fleur said. ¡°I made up a story, it worked, didn¡¯t it?¡± Lyca said. ¡°And if we got expelled?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°Then I¡¯d go live with Anassa.¡± ¡°What about the letter the elf gave me?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°We should deliver it as soon as possible.¡± Lyca said. ¡°No, we should give it a week or two.¡± Fleur said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I assume they¡¯ll be watching us.¡± Lyca felt the hairs on his back stand up when Fleur said that. Chapter 34 – Order Prepares For War The dwarves were allowed one of two choices. They could leave their holds and integrate themselves into the new, Post-Arascus, world, or they could bury themselves underground. Most dwarves chose the former but we still suspect that certain holdouts exist behind the collapsed underground highways. - Excerpt from the secret texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Helenna, Of Love, and Goddess Fortia, of Peace: ¡®How to Manage the Post-War World.¡¯ Maisara sat in her meeting room. Now that she was healed, she could return to strolling around her section with ease. The meeting room was as bare as the hallways, as decoration-less as the doors. There was no grandiosity in it, it was simply cold stone, a table, and cabinets. Maisara herself sat at the head of the table, her Chaplains, each a leader of his own order, then flanked the sides. They sat in their heavy plates, with swords on their backs. Maisara caught herself playing idly with her silver hair once again. She shook her head and straightened the strands out again and flicked them behind herself. Why did she go to Kassandora? Why did she even think about the Fading Light Contingency? Who was she to compete in battle with the Goddess of War? It was only her pride that made her forget how terrible Kassandora was. ¡°Goddess? Is something wrong?¡± One of the Chaplains, Heinrich, asked. Captain of the Order of Daylight¡¯s Pillar. An old fellow, although all the Chaplains were, with wrinkles and grey hairs and a moustache. ¡°Nothing.¡± Maisara said sternly. She had made a promise. It was what it was. She couldn¡¯t go back on her word now. ¡°How are plans going in accordance to the Contingency Plan?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve started active recruitment of squires. In the past week, my order has grown by twelve men.¡± Heinrich didn¡¯t even have to check his notes. Maisara wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Twelve men? They wore foolish smiles as if that was a good result. In the past, a Paladin strolling through any random village would have twice that offering themselves as squires without even searching them out. Now it took a week to find twelve new recruits? ¡°And all the orders combined?¡± Maisara asked. She felt like a piece of glass facing down a hammer strike. ¡°Across every order, in the past week, we¡¯ve recruited one hundred and sixty-three.¡± Heinrich said, a tinge of pride in his voice. The rest of the Chaplains in Maisara¡¯s meeting room nodded approvingly. The Goddess herself felt as if that hammer had come and smashed that sheet of glass into a million pieces. ¡°Do we have reports on Fortia¡¯s Guardians?¡± ¡°Two hundred and five.¡± Fortia was always more popular than her, Maisara had long grown to accept that fact. That popularity usually meant that where Maisara would have a hundred, Fortia would have three. Two hundred new recruits in the Guardian ranks was a number so measly it would have been better if she did not even ask. ¡°And Allasaria¡¯s Seekers?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°Combined, now the Guardians and Paladins outnumber her.¡± Heinrich said. ¡°But that situation won¡¯t hold. If we cannot secure a quick victory, then the war will drag on. Then Allasaria will have the advantage in recruitment simply from prestige of being the official leader of the White Pantheon.¡± Maisara nodded. ¡°Very well. Good job, you are dismissed. Next meeting is here, next week, same time.¡± The Chaplains stood up, pulled clean salutes, and marched out of the meeting room. Each step a heavy sending a heavy thud as steel plate crashed into cold stone. ¡°Which of us should go talk to her then?¡± Kavaa asked the other two Goddesses. ¡°It can¡¯t be me.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Why not? You¡¯re the best at talking between us.¡± Iniri said. ¡°And it was your idea.¡± Kavaa reminded her. ¡°Because I¡¯m scared of her.¡± Helenna replied. Maisara sat down in Kassandora¡¯s cell. Bed in one corner, table with the two tables in the other, containment crystal in the centre. The Goddess of War stood over her, her smile wide. There was a little bit of Helenna in that woman, she had the same arrogant pride, the same smiles and mannerisms. It was easier to deal with though, Helenna was like that simply because she found enjoyment out of being annoying. Kassandora at least had done something to deserve it. Kassandora laughed, sat down and threw her crimson hair back with one magnificent movement. Silver hair was brilliant, Maisara loved it, but she wished there would be some colour. Kassandora simply¡­ she simply stood out when compared to others. ¡°So, you want help again?¡± ¡°Please, don¡¯t beg for anything. I¡¯ll free you when it¡¯s time but¡­¡± ¡°Shh Maisara.¡± Kassandora shut her up. ¡°I¡¯m not an impatient little girl. Freeing me now would be bad for both of us.¡± Maisara didn¡¯t know what to say to that, the woman was simply correct. She couldn¡¯t imagine any other Goddess but herself saying something like that. ¡°I can assume we¡¯re officially in the preparations for war now.¡± Kassandora cracked her fingers and smiled. ¡°I said I¡¯ll assist so ask away. What do you wish to know from War¡¯s Mistress?¡± ¡°Our recruitment efforts aren¡¯t doing too well.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Not too well?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as too-well.¡± ¡°They¡¯re doing terribly.¡± Maisara gave the figures to Kassandora and the woman nodded. The Goddess of War didn¡¯t even think, she gave an answer immediately. ¡°You¡¯re thinking with the wrong mindset. The goal is not to be a popular figurehead, it¡¯s simply to be more popular than Allasaria.¡± Maisara blinked as Kassandora went on. ¡°This can be done in two ways: firstly, and this is much harder simply because you and Fortia are¡­¡± Kassandora shrugged, made a weighing motion with her hands and finished the gesture off with a terribly condescending smile. ¡°I¡¯ll leave it this, you two are not the best with common folk, but it would be to make yourself loved and so on.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°And the other?¡± ¡°Much easier, especially considering who you¡¯re dealing with. It would be to destroy Allasaria¡¯s reputation. Remember, the goal isn¡¯t to take over the world, the goal is simply to defeat Allasaria. You don¡¯t need an army of millions, you just need twice what she has. If she has ten thousand, then you need to recruit twenty. If you manage to half her numbers, you only need to recruit half.¡± Maisara blinked as Kassandora crossed her arms, pushed her chest up and smiled condescendingly. It did not annoy the Goddess of Order in the slightest. It was so obvious¡­ how did both her and Fortia miss it? Kassandora raised one of those delicate eyebrows, her red eyes almost flaring. ¡°Did I help?¡± She asked. Maisara stood up and slammed the table. ¡°Immensely.¡± Ilwin stared at the several locations he had found. Airports in Karaina B, locations that would have little protection, little public traffic, but still large enough not to have simple one engine farm planes. Arascus wanted airliners and jets. The biggest and the best. Maisara finished explaining to Fortia, her Guardians and Maisara¡¯s own Paladins the change in plans. Recruitment was obviously a failing strategy, but destroying Allasaria¡¯s image? ¡°I concur.¡± Fortia said. ¡°We have to plan for a long haul, we can¡¯t let the common people even have any inkling of wanting to join Allasaria.¡± The Guardians started to clap and the Paladins slammed the table with closed fists. That was clapping for them. ¡°It is Kassandora¡¯s idea.¡± Maisara after the clapping finally calmed down. The mood did not change an inch. Kassandora had already given them ideas before, the Goddess of War did live up to her name. One of her Paladins, Konrad, raised a hand. A thin man, old and greying, but with obvious signs of strength, his neck was thin, but it was all muscle. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°In regard to mages, we still don¡¯t have a proper way of dealing with them.¡± He spoke slowly. ¡°Every single war plan we¡¯ve conceived works on the fact Elassa stays out of the fight.¡± Maisara nodded, she herself did not know what to do with that either. Time for another humiliation session with Kassandora, another debt she would be paying back for a hundred years. Ilwin assembled the final team and took a sigh. He lit up another cigarette, finished his coffee and closed the notebook: Operation Sky Stealer Maisara avoided Kassandora¡¯s crimson eyes once again as she entered the prison cell: nothing had changed in here, the bed in the corner, the table, the two chairs, the containment crystal. It was impressive that Kassandora had not lost her mind out of boredom already... Maisara bit her cheek, the woman already lived rent free in her mind, she didn¡¯t need any extra compliments. The Goddess of Order sat down by the table and shook her head. ¡°You had a meeting today, right?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°How did you work that out?¡± Maisara asked. Kassandora smiled and sat down opposite Maisara, there was a good few inches of difference between them, not a lot, but enough that Maisara had to look up at those crimson eyes looking down on her. ¡°You come at the same time every week.¡± Kassandora answered. ¡°So? What¡¯s the issue this time?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a big one.¡± Kassandora¡¯s smile grew wider and she motioned for Maisara to continue. ¡°Mages, we can¡¯t deal with Elassa¡¯s schools, you yourself know how many soldiers one mage is worth.¡± Kassandora nodded, smiled and answered immediately. That always impressed Maisara, the woman really had an answer for everything. ¡°You do realise any attempt on Allasaria will turn Elassa on you?¡± ¡°Yes. Me and Fortia already know we¡¯ll have to deal with Elassa.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re ready to have the blood of two Divines on your hands?¡± Kassandora asked. Maisara nodded slowly. ¡°It¡¯s just precautions, if Allasaria does come for us, when Leona finally dies, we¡¯re the weaker pair, we have to make the first move.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°Then it¡¯s rather simple.¡± She said, smiling wide, her arms spread wide. ¡°Is it?¡± ¡°Elassa, then Allasaria. Mages are terrible to command, without their Goddess, how many will risk their life for Allasaria? Will they even care?¡± Maisara blinked. ¡°Do you think so?¡± She asked. The Goddess of War shrugged. ¡°I do, but there is another case which assures victory.¡± Kassandora said, leaning forwards and smiling. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°You free Anassa. She can gift sorcery like this.¡± Kassandora snapped her fingers. ¡°Mages to sorcerers are what men are to mages.¡± Maisara felt the blood drain from her face. Kassandora was controllable, Kassandora had some sense of honour, Kassandora¡­ Maisara felt her own thoughts laugh at her. Kassandora was likable and easy to get along with. The few times she had met Anassa, she had thoroughly hated the woman. It wasn¡¯t just the fact the domains of Order and Sorcery did not match, there wasn¡¯t a single person out there who actually liked Anassa. Even the woman¡¯s own domain-twin, Elassa, only had a cold relationship with her. ¡°I¡­¡± Maisara shook her head. Freeing Anassa? That was a step too far¡­ but then¡­ The magical arms race would swing into their favour immediately. No¡­ she had to ask Fortia about this¡­ Maisara blinked, but then how could she explain her reasoning? She had promised not to say that Arascus was free, allying with Anassa and Kassandora would guarantee them a place in Arascus¡¯ Empire¡­ The blood drained from Maisara¡¯s face as she realised the line of thought she was walking down. This wasn¡¯t self-preservation anymore, this was actual heretical thought. Allying with Arascus. Kassandora yawned in front of her and started swinging on her seat. ¡°Before¡­¡± Maisara said. ¡°You said¡­ about¡­¡± ¡°About Arascus?¡± Kassandora said, smiling like a like little girl. The woman was so talented in expressions, even that cute smile rested perfectly on her face. ¡°He is free, but we did make a promise.¡± Maisara nodded immediately. ¡°I know, I know.¡± She said and wanted to slap herself. She was acting like a damn dog for this woman, for this prisoner. ¡°But you said, you wouldn¡¯t mind taking on a new sister.¡± Kassandora¡¯s eyebrows rose up in surprise so genuine, Maisara did not see how it could be faked. ¡°You¡¯re thinking if you both me and Anassa vouch for you, you¡¯ll be accepted?¡± Kassandora asked. Maisara made a single nod. ¡°Honestly Mai, I would like to say yes. Do I think I could convince him? Of course, but then every battle you enter not hoping to win, you lose. Anassa and Me? I think it would be enough.¡± ¡°You think?¡± Maisara asked and Kassandora shrugged. ¡°With three or four, I would say yes definitely. Not any single one of us could vouch individually for a new person. I can say this, the fact you fought against us would be wiped away, the fact you helped us would make sure we would not go after you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s if you win.¡± Maisara said sharply and Kassandora laughed. ¡°Like I said, every battle you enter not hoping to win, you lose. The fact your asking about this means you¡¯ve not found any sort of lead on him.¡± ¡°Allasaria doesn¡¯t even consider the fact he¡¯s out.¡± Kassandora laughed again. ¡°I have immense respect for the fact you somehow managed to put up with her for a thousand years.¡± Maisara laughed at that. When was the last time she laughed? A few months ago at least, before the meeting where her and Fortia decided on how to move forwards. She stayed and talked with Kassandora for a few more minutes, simply small talk. When the cell door shut behind Maisara, Kassandora in her chair and watched the door. She had never been fishing before, but she knew a few men who did. This is what they must feel when the line tugs. Maisara was caught: hook, line and sinker. Maisara finished her speech to the audience in the war room. She took a deep breath and sat back down. ¡°That concludes the choices we have: Either we kill Elassa first and eliminate the main method of mages organisation, or we turn to Anassa to grow our own section of sorcerers.¡± She looked at the faces before her. Her Paladins were deathly statues, they would march into Hell if she told them to. Fortia had her brows burrowed in thought, her Guardians were looking at their Goddess for affirmation on what to do. ¡°Anassa you say?¡± Fortia said and took a deep breath. ¡°It will be considered. Personally, I prefer the Elassa assassination plan first.¡± Maisara didn¡¯t know how to argue for the Anassa plan without revealing what Kassandora had told her. She merely nodded. ¡°I have my own proposition though.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°There is another Divine with holy orders. Kavaa, of Healing.¡± Chapter 35 – Negotiating with a Hammer Ilwin lit up a cigarette when he left Arascus¡¯ office, smoked it in just three long drags, and then lit up another. The whole plan relied on using the rifles. Now they weren¡¯t allowed to? Back to the drawing board. Kavaa sat with Iniri and Helenna. One in common green, one dressed like summer and one in luscious red. The three where sat in the Spring Garden, trying to build up each other¡¯s confidence in order to try and summon enough bravery to actually go and visit Kassandora. This has been going for a good few weeks now and each time they had a discussion about how to avoid working with the Goddess of War, but the road back from that conclusion would always circle around and end up at the woman they were trying to miss. ¡°We have guests.¡± Kavaa said as she looked past Helenna and Iniri. ¡°Who?¡± The Goddesses turned around to look behind them. Maisara and Fortia: stunning and beautiful, imposing and cold, domineering and arrogant, came walking towards them. Kavaa looked them up and down, Of Order in her silver amour, Of Peace in her gold. They may as well have been twins, the only difference being the difference in colour. A chest-piece became a battleskirt, which then became tall knee-high boots. They tapped rhythmically as they approached, Order and Peace did not walk; they marched. ¡°Let me.¡± Helenna whispered. Kavaa leaned back and gave the Goddess of Love her turn. There wasn¡¯t any sort of idea in her mind that she could somehow be a better than negotiator than Helenna. The Goddess of Love flicked her hair as it became a bloody crimson, she turned her seat, and waited for the two to approach. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to see the two of you here.¡± Helenna said, she crossed her arms and leaned back as Iniri moved her chair closed to Kavaa and behind Helenna. ¡°If we knew you were coming, we¡¯d have brought more teacups.¡± Maisara took a heavy breath and took a step back. Helenna smiled smugly and even Kavaa wanted to laugh. If Fortia was leading, then it means they wanted an outcome which wasn¡¯t just an argument. ¡°We come to negotiate.¡± Fortia sounded as if the words were making her choke. ¡°You¡¯ve come to negotiate?¡± Helenna asked idly. ¡°Excuse me? You? To us?¡± Fortia gave a single to the woman and sighed. ¡°The Pantheon will soon enter a post-Leona era.¡± Fortia said. ¡°Our stability will need stronger foundations than pure luck.¡± Helenna looked back at Kavaa and Iniri for a moment. It wasn¡¯t enough to communicate any expression, it was just another one of her theatrics. ¡°We are honoured you suddenly consider us relevant enough to let us take part in laying the foundations.¡± ¡°The Pantheon works best united.¡± That reasoning was pure Maisara and Fortia. ¡°So?¡± Helenna crossed her arms and asked easily. ¡°I assume you already have some idea on how the foundations should look.¡± ¡°We would be more than willing to hear any issues you have with our idea, as well as listen to any alternatives.¡± Fortia said and Helenna shrugged. ¡°You didn¡¯t answer the question lovely Fortia. We,¡± Helenna swept her arm back to Kavaa and Iniri, ¡°wanted to know what sort of house the mighty architects before us have thought of.¡± ¡°Shared responsibility with no hierarchy apart from during times of crisis. Then the Divine whose domain is most applicable would be tasked to lead.¡± Fortia extended an arm to Kavaa. ¡°During a great pandemic, for example, Kavaa would lead until the population is cured. Other than that, every Divine would simply deal with their own field and leave the others alone.¡± Kavaa wanted to laugh. To stand up and chase the two out. She had never heard of such stupidity. She felt Iniri grab her hand tight, and Helenna turned around. The woman¡¯s red hair momentarily turned pink before morphing to a gold. Kavaa knew what pink meant, it was embarrassment or humour. Either could fit. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Helenna asked.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Each God would be tasked to handling their own domain and nothing else. We would stay out of each other¡¯s way.¡± Helenna gave them a heavy sigh. ¡°And this great system¡­¡± Helenna said. ¡°I don¡¯t have to point out that Olympiada will collapse before Allasaria agrees to it.¡± ¡°That is the issue we want help with.¡± Fortia said coldly. ¡°To defeat Allasaria, she has already shown signs of growing domineering towards the other Divines. Without Leona¡¯s luck, both of us expect executions.¡± Kavaa wanted to laugh. Who would have thought being completely stubborn sows who refused to compromise on even the smallest issues would have made them unpopular? Where these two actually serious? ¡°So in other words, you want us to help you either kill or imprison Allasaria. Elassa too I assume.¡± Helenna could have been saying the sky above them was cloudy. ¡°We do.¡± Fortia said. ¡°And we are prepared to negotiate.¡± ¡°What exactly do you want? I always thought you two were fans of being blunt.¡± Helenna repeated again. ¡°Kavaa¡¯s Clerics and your spies.¡± Fortia said. Kavaa blinked in disbelief. They¡­ Her Clerics? She hand to blink again and replay the words in her head¡­ Yes¡­ Fortia did just say that. Was she stupid? Helenna turned back to Kavaa and Iniri. It was one of the few times Kavaa had ever seen the woman carry such a quizzical face. The Goddess of Love chuckled and shook her head, she wasn¡¯t even trying to hide the pity in her tone. ¡°Do you have any questions for noble Peace and precious Order?¡± Kavaa could see Maisara¡¯s fists tighten behind Helenna. ¡°What happens when domains overlap?¡± Kavaa said. Helenna nodded slowly and turned back to the two standing. ¡°Kavaa read my mind, what does happen when domains overlap?¡± ¡°The Divine most applicable to the situation handles it.¡± Kavaa wanted to laugh. What a terribly bureaucratic answer. Helenna sighed and shook her head. ¡°Let me phrase it like this: a woman poisons her husband because he cheated on her.¡± She pointed to Kavaa. ¡°Does the Goddess of Health handle the situation because she could heal the poison?¡± She pointed to Fortia. ¡°Does the Goddess of Peace, because the Peace was broken?¡± Then to Maisara. ¡°Does the Goddess of Order? Because the law was broken?¡± She finished with a clap on her own chest. ¡°Or does the Goddess of Love, because it¡¯s the tragic whims of a scorned wife?¡± Fortia and Maisara shared a look. Did they seriously not think this far through? Maisara sighed and took a step forward finally. ¡°Allasaria will kill us and then she will most likely kill you. If not that, then you will no doubt be used servant Gods for the rest of your existence. You two especially, Kavaa and Iniri. Helenna, you will die. Her opinion of you is about as high as mine is.¡± ¡°This is an intriguing method of negotiation.¡± Helenna cooed. ¡°It¡¯s not negotiation, it¡¯s a declaration of alliance. You go with us, or you go with her.¡± Helenna shook her head. ¡°And what sort of assurance do I have from you that you won¡¯t kill me? That you won¡¯t make Kavaa into your private doctor? That Iniri won¡¯t be sent off to tend the fields.¡± Helenna asked. ¡°I will give you my promise, none of that will happen as long as you don¡¯t actively work against me.¡± Kavaa rolled her eyes. Iniri hugged her closer and Helenna finally stood up. ¡°Maisara. I am honoured you would even suggest promising something to me, unfortunately a promise with a condition like that is worth less than the paper it would be written on.¡± ¡°You know I would not go against the spirit of the word.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re blunt and can¡¯t read between the lines, yes Maisara.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°But a promise like that, then a disagreement could break it. It¡¯s not good enough.¡± Fortia came in to back up Maisara. ¡°Helenna please. We came to you with open arms.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t offend my intelligence Fortia. You came to us with a list of demands. You want my spy network and you want Kavaa¡¯s Clerics to serve as cannon fodder in some foolish rebellion against Allasaria.¡± ¡°Do you think it¡¯s foolish?¡± Kavaa had never seen a worse attempt at begging than the words spewing out of Fortia¡¯s mouth. ¡°I think that if push comes to shove, then you two are the first on the chopping block. Do you really think that we would tie ourselves to a sinking ship? Even worse, a sinking ship which doesn¡¯t even consider us as crew members?¡± The Goddess of Love started to raise her tone, her hair starting to grow red. ¡°If Allasaria views us as servants to order around, then to you, Kavaa and Iniri are slaves whereas I¡¯m just a nuisance to be removed! WHY WOULD WE EVER WANT TO ALLY WITH YOU?¡± Maisara took a step forward and Fortia grabbed her shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Peace whispered to Order as Love railed on. ¡°That alone proves what an alliance with you would look like. How much bowing do we need to do to uphold Order¡¯s temper?¡± Fortia pushed Maisara backwards and stared down Helenna. ¡°Thank you for your time.¡± She said, turned, grabbed Maisara¡¯s hand and dragged the Goddess of Order away. When those two finally disappeared from the Spring Garden, Helenna sat. Her face cold, her hair growing black. Kavaa knew exactly what the Goddess of Love was going to say, it was the thing all three of them where too cowardly to suggest and were putting off. Helenna sighed and finally spoke. ¡°Kassandora. Today. All three of us.¡± Chapter 36 – To Steal The Sky Alice handed Leona the piece of paper. She was to write down six random cities, and then Leona would throw a die to pick one out. The woman was the Goddess of Luck, there was no better to hide than through a method which resided on almost pure chance. After a week, this would be repeated and they would change locations. Leona rolled a six and then looked at the corresponding number: Pepayel, in southern Karaina. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of forests there, we can go visit a lake.¡± Ilwin sighed as he looked at the one hundred men he had chosen. It was ninety-nine actually, but he included himself in the count, his fingers tapped the file in his hand as he took slow steps in front of the crowd. They were in one of the large warehouses that had been acquired. Only a few crates sat in the corner, the rest of the area was concrete and white lights hanging from the tall roof. Ilwin marched in front of the men he had chosen. Arascus and Ilwin¡¯s grandfather had basically created the plan for him. Most of his own ideas were thrown out for something that was considerably harder, had far more points of failure and was simply, just generally, more difficult for next to no gain. ¡°Micheal is in charge of Blue team. Erwin has green team. Olivier, you have Yellow team. I have red team.¡± The three were the best leaders he had found from his pick, all of them had worked under him before, all of them had lead operations alone. The three saluted, they wore plain clothes, like the rest of the men along with Ilwin himself. The elf had thought of having some common uniform or suit before but then decided against it, let people wear what they wanted to wear. A theme would only make them more suspicious on entry. ¡°I have organised the teams already, everyone knows who they belong to.¡± Ilwin said, the teams weren¡¯t even, his was the largest at forty people. Olivier had only fifteen. It was supposed to be that way, Ilwin¡¯s team was to acquire several heavy cargo planes from the largest airport in the region, Olivier was to steal a few private jets. ¡°Here are blueprints and plans for the airports.¡± Ilwin handed them out to the three captains. ¡°You¡¯re allowed to take initiative to make any changes to the routes as needed, as well as bringing any items you deem fit.¡± Ilwin took a step back and raised his voice as he spoke to the crowd. ¡°There are only a few exceptions which are not to be broken.¡± ¡°Firstly. We¡¯re bringing no Alashs. Swords and traditional weapons are allowed. Bows likewise, the only exception is the Alash or anything related to it. If you have even a bullet casing in your pocket, you will be reporting to Arascus himself.¡± The utmost secrecy was requested by the God. Requested may be the wrong word, demanded fit much better. Ilwin would inspect the ninety-nine men himself before he set off, Arascus had said it would be his head on the chopping block if he didn¡¯t. His grandfather had agreed.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Secondly. Everyone will be issued one of Anarchia¡¯s black bands.¡± Ilwin kept the disgust out of his voice. ¡°Wear it as you see fit, don¡¯t make it too organized, you¡¯re pretending to be one of her followers.¡± Someone in the crowd raised an arm. ¡°Can we wear a face covering instead?¡± The man asked. ¡°Wear whatever you wish, as long as its obvious that your one of hers.¡± Another man raised an arm. ¡°If we¡¯re too organised, would it not be obvious we¡¯re one of hers?¡± Ilwin crossed his arms and shook his head. He didn¡¯t mind answering questions, but organisation like this could easily devolve into a debate. ¡°The goal is not to frame Anarchia, the goal is simply to throw the trail away from us. The followers of the God of Pride would never dress up in the dregs of Anarchy, would they?¡± He got a series of laughs for that. ¡°I have already informed the designated pilots where they are heading to.¡± Another aspect of the plan he disagreed with. The disagreement did not matter though, Arascus and Iliyal had both sorted this out. Warehouses had been secured, shelters built, even a cave had been widened to house a plane. ¡°You are forbidden from even requesting the destination from the pilots, do not ask. You do NOT need to know where they are being held in advance.¡± The faces of the men were grim, but no one asked anything. ¡°Bloodshed is to be avoided but Anarchians are not known for their pacifism. If someone does try to stop you, then kill. The less people who remember us, the better.¡± Realistically, there was no chance they would be able to hijack planes directly without being spotted. That didn¡¯t mean they would simply give up all hope of subterfuge though. Predictably, this point received no questions. ¡°If you are captured, everyone has been issued with a poison pill.¡± Ilwin held up his own, a small capsule filled with white powder. ¡°Keep it on you at all times, it¡¯s laced with drugs. You¡¯ll get a high, and then you¡¯ll die.¡± The elf saw the faces in front of him pale. The men needed a reason to end themselves. ¡°Remember, we are followers of Arascus. There will be no trials for us, no courts or hearings. If you get captured, you will be shipped off to Olympiada.¡± Nothing else needed to be said. Olympiada was an unassailable fortress, there was no hope of escape and even less of being saved. ¡°These are the general guidelines to be followed. The Captains are allowed to make their own infiltration plans. The airfields are as follows: Michael¡¯s blue team will take Astangrad Central, Erwin¡¯s green team will go to the Tress Ceremonial, Olivier¡¯s yellow team has the Tushev-Malkov Airport. My team will go to Pepayel Regional. Gentlemen, in three days, we will launch Operation SkyStealer.¡± Leona¡¯s head started to hurt. Chapter 37 – Seductive, Magnanimous, Vigorous War Leona watched Alice as the girl cleaned their hotel room. In two days, they would set off. Her headache had stopped but she knew the signs already. There was something at Pepayel. It wasn¡¯t too big, a small earthquake maybe? An avalanche? Iniri trailed behind Kavaa who herself trailed after Helenna. The corridor through the Lower Prison of Olympiada gradually got narrower and narrower. Maisara had been the designer, Iniri was sure that there was some horribly dull reason for it but it didn¡¯t affect her too much. Kavaa and Helenna on the other hand had to bow their heads to not brush against the ceiling. ¡°Stop!¡± Helenna suddenly shouted. Of Love¡¯s hair grew a pale yellow, then a white. The dress she had chosen was a deep black. ¡°Are we here?¡± Kavaa asked, her voice dull and emotionless. Her blonde hair had been tied up into a tail and she wore a heavy blue coat. ¡°We are.¡± Helenna replied. Iniri tried to say something encouraging but her voice caught. She had been on edge since she had woken up today. What were they even doing? This was such a mistake! They! Kassandora! Now that she had come to the edge of the cliff, she wanted to do nothing more than run back into the forest behind her, even if that forest was on fire. ¡°Are you ready?¡± Helenna asked slowly. ¡°Go ahead.¡± Kavaa replied as Iniri grabbed her dress. She had chosen the white and blue colours of winter today. It fit her mood. Helenna slowly pulled open the door and Iniri leaned past Kavaa to see inside. Kassandora¡¯s prison cell could be described only as a prison cell. There was a wooden table with two chairs, all plain. The Goddess¡¯ bed on the other side of the room with simple white sheets and the containment crystal which sat in the middle of the room on a tall golden pole. Kassandora herself was lying on her bed, one leg over the other and humming some tune to herself. The Goddess of War saw them and instantly readjusted herself. She stood up, the woman was a good half-head taller than Kavaa or Helenna, she practically towered over Iniri. ¡°Come in, come in.¡± She said, waving them forwards. Kassandora carried herself in such a way that the grey prison dress did not detract from her even an inch, Iniri did not know how she did it. War could rival Love in how gracious it looked, today, it certainly did. Kassandora¡¯s crimson hair was the brightest colour in the room, followed by the Goddess¡¯ red eyes. ¡°I did not expect guests.¡± Kassandora said, her tone light as if she was about to laugh. ¡°So I apologize for the lack of decorum.¡± She patted her hair, Iniri had not even noticed it was unbrushed. Helenna turned around to look at Kavaa and Iniri and nodded for them to come closer. Now that they were in with Kassandora, Iniri did not know what to say. The Goddess of War apparently had no such reservations, she took the initiative immediately. ¡°Please sit down.¡± She said, indicating at the bed and chairs. ¡°I can stand, please make yourself comfortable.¡± Iniri felt her heart beat. She half-suspected Kassandora was being disingenuous but there wasn¡¯t a hint of mockery in her voice, no pity nor disdain. Helenna took one of the chairs, Kavaa took the bed, Iniri followed the latter. Of Bounty glanced at Kassandora and almost let go of Kavaa¡¯s hand in shock. Kassandora, Goddess of War, was actually curtsying for them. Ilwin boarded his flight to Pepayel. Hopefully this was the last time he would ever fly public. Kavaa watched Kassandora, her own hand tightening around Iniri¡¯s. The Goddess of War finished her curtsy as Helenna waved to the free chair. ¡°Sit Kass.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± This sort of demeanour¡­ Kavaa knew it would be like this, it was precisely the reason Kavaa was against meeting with Kassandora in the first place. The woman was brilliant and charismatic and funny, she knew exactly which moves made her likable, what to say and when to say it. ¡°So, we all know each other here, I¡¯m sure we can skip the pleasantries and introductions.¡± Kassandora said and Kavaa smiled. Laying it on anymore would have made her seem disingenuous, what a perfect time to cut it off. ¡°We¡­¡± Helenna began, her voice grew weak and Kassandora laughed. ¡°It¡¯s not like the Goddess of Love to suddenly grow nervous.¡± She turned Kavaa and Iniri. ¡°So? Helenna¡¯s all red now so can you tell me what you want?¡± Kavaa blinked. Perfect. Absolute perfection. Allasaria would have said something along the lines of ¡®what can I help you with¡¯ as if they were children. Kassandora spoke to them in the way the higher Divines spoke to each other. ¡°We have a problem.¡± Kavaa said and Kassandora laughed as leaned back in her seat. ¡°It can¡¯t be any larger than mine.¡± She waved towards the containment crystal in the middle of the room. It there, a golden obelisk topped off with a gemstone darker than obsidian. ¡°It may indeed be.¡± Kavaa replied. Now that the surgery had begun, it was considerably easier to speak. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much you¡¯re aware of what¡¯s been happening in the outside world.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll find I¡¯m much more knowledgeable than people want me to be.¡± Kassandora said and shrugged. ¡°Naturally, I don¡¯t want to be executed so I¡¯d pre¡­¡± ¡°We won¡¯t say anything about what happens in here.¡± Iniri blurted out. ¡°Well that¡¯s good to know.¡± Kassandora said, she spread her arms out. ¡°Trust is a rare commodity on this mountain, and I¡¯m sure you have nothing to offer me but beggars can¡¯t be choosers, can they?¡± She cracked a laugh and Kavaa found herself smiling along to the humour. The Goddess of War looked to the three of them, her eyebrow high as if waiting, her smile wide. ¡°Well if you¡¯re all shy. I¡¯ll tell you what I know first, how about that?¡± Kavaa felt Iniri let go of her as they listened to Kassandora. ¡°I know that Leona is going to die. I know there¡¯s a fracture between Allasaria and Maisara. Maisara has Fortia on her side. Allasaria has Elassa, I assume Zerus will go with her too.¡± She shrugged as if this treacherous talk was simply a comment on the grey walls around them. ¡°There¡¯s a war brewing in the White Pantheon, that much I¡¯m sure of.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Kavaa wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. All three of them knew what approaching Kassandora would be like, and now they were here and the woman was actually wooing them. They had preparations for this, to not fall for her easy nature, to not believe a word she said. How could they not believe the truth? ¡°I assume the silence means I¡¯m correct.¡± Kassandora said with a clap of her hands. ¡°And because of that, since it¡¯s you three, I assume you want assistance from me.¡± She pointed to the crystal in the centre of the room. ¡°Now my services don¡¯t come free, but I promise I¡¯m not a cheap mercenary who will turn their back on my allies.¡± Kassandora was a damn drug. A horrible, terrible drug that intoxicated and addicted after a conversation. They had all willingly taken it. ¡°I want to stay at the airport when we get there.¡± Leona said. ¡°Really? The airport?¡± Alice replied. ¡°Yes, something is going to happen there.¡± Helenna cooled the blush in her cheeks. Kassandora was a beast and a monster. And yet¡­ And yet she found herself wanting to tame this wolf in front of them. ¡°So?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I have all day to kill, your welcome to stay but I¡¯d prefer not to sit in silence.¡± Kavaa spoke first, always like the doctor she was. ¡°Your correct on almost every front.¡± Kavaa replied and Kassandora nodded. ¡°First though, I would like to ask how you know all this. Especially Leona, no one was supposed to leak that.¡± ¡°Is it a leak if it¡¯s to me?¡± Kassandora replied and laughed. She shook her head, that crimson hair was something Helenna could never reproduce, it flew in the air like a stream of blood behind her. ¡°Never mind Kavaa. Maisara told me.¡± ¡°MAISARA TOLD YOU?!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°My services are in hot demand.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But I¡¯d prefer you not let this secret out.¡± The woman shrugged as if the secret meant nothing for her. ¡°Why did she tell you?¡± Kavaa asked. The Goddess of War¡¯s smile showed her teeth. ¡°For the same reason you¡¯ve come here of course. Leona is going to die and the luck binding you will burn out. There¡¯ll be a power a struggle and she wants to secure a spot at the top.¡± ¡°Will you help her?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°I said before, beggars can¡¯t be choosers can they?¡± Kassandora said lightly. ¡°And besides, she¡¯s already promised my freedom.¡± ¡°SHE PROMISED THAT?!¡± Kavaa shouted again. It did not surprise Helenna in the slightest. If there was ever a person to tame mighty Maisara, it would be Kassandora. ¡°Like I said, I¡¯d prefer if you don¡¯t say anything to her but who am I to decide for you?¡± Kassandora said. There it was, Helenna knew this move. There was no better way to make a person do something than to let them decide for themselves. Helenna knew, and Helenna knew she fell for it. ¡°So I assume you¡¯ve come to me for advice on what to do.¡± Kassandora continued. ¡°Flee, that¡¯s what you should do. You three, I apologize for being blunt. But you three are rather inept when it comes to combat. Whoever wins, you will fall in line with them whether you want it or not. Allasaria will be better for you but you¡¯ll have to deal with her moodiness. Maisara will write out a hundred or so rules and then she¡¯ll expect you to follow along. To the spirit of the law, not to its letter.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re afraid of.¡± Helenna finally spoke again. ¡°Looks like you can speak!¡± Kassandora turned and leaned in to Helenna. ¡°What I just said will ensure your survival, although your happiness I can¡¯t vouch for.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the issue Kass.¡± Helenna said. ¡°You want more than that, don¡¯t you?¡± The three Goddesses nodded to Kassandora and the Goddess of War leaned back and smiled. ¡°To be honest with you, Fortia predicted someone else coming to me already.¡± ¡°Did she?¡± ¡°Well I assume it was Fortia.¡± Kassandora said quickly. ¡°Maisara isn¡¯t a schemer, is she? But they offered me a good price for my services.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I promised not to share, but one of the conditions was freedom.¡± ¡°We came in knowing that.¡± Helenna said. ¡°But¡­¡± She looked to Kavaa and Iniri. What could they offer? There was a reason they were always at the bottom. There was no power or strength to lend¡­ ¡°Total control during the war.¡± Kavaa said cooly and Kassandora raised an eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t insult me like that.¡± She said coldly. ¡°The fact I¡¯m entertaining you implies that¡¯s a given.¡± ¡°You just said beggars can¡¯t be choosers.¡± Iniri weakly tried to back up Kavaa. ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about myself.¡± Kassandora said. Helenna felt her hair go white and she saw Iniri grab hold of Kavaa¡¯s hand again. ¡°This is what I offer: I don¡¯t want any part in your post-war order, you will simply let me go and disappear into a hut somewhere. During the war, I will want your assistance. The three of you are looked down upon as mere support, it¡¯s an insult to you ultimately, but there¡¯s a certain truth in it.¡± Helenna tried to stop her hair from going red, it still ended up orange. Kavaa and Iniri shared a look of pure disbelief with her. This was exactly what they wanted. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll think of something but I¡¯ll be frank with you girls. You¡¯re a damn lot better to work with than Maisara and Fortia, or Allasaria and Elassa for that matter.¡± Helenna knew exactly why Kass had said that, it was to tell them that everyone had come to her for assistance already. ¡°Because we can¡¯t hurt you?¡± ¡°Beggars can¡¯t be choosers, can they?¡± Kassandora asked. No one answered. ¡°I will request your clerical orders, and your spies.¡± She turned to Helenna directly as she said that. Helenna felt her cheeks go red again, comments to her from the others were always offhanded. ¡°Likewise you Iniri, I will want you to feed our army.¡± ¡°Me?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°Full bellies are more important for war than they are for peace. You¡¯re essential.¡± The Goddess of Food and Bounty blushed and then smiled as she started to fuss over her white and blue dress. Helenna knew it was petty, but where were her compliments? ¡°I don¡¯t want you command my Orders to suicide.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Unless the situation requires immediate action, like this.¡± Kassandora snapped her fingers. ¡°I¡¯ll run all commands past you.¡± Kassandora turned to Helenna. ¡°Likewise with your spies.¡± The woman laughed and stretched her arms. ¡°Besides, I don¡¯t think you have to worry, I¡¯ve grown weaker physically but what¡¯s in here.¡± The Goddess of War pointed to her head. ¡°It¡¯s still as sharp as it was during the Great War.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve grown weaker physically?¡± Kavaa asked, her voice suddenly nurturing. ¡°I¡¯m sure the three of you could defeat me.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But likewise, the three of you could defeat Maisara if you tried.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± ¡°She¡¯s not the Maisara of a thousand years past, is she?¡± Helenna blinked. She hadn¡¯t even noticed. ¡°So¡­¡± Helenna turned to the two sitting on the bed. ¡°Are we in?¡± She got two nods. They had come in expecting to argue with Kassandora about everything and yet the woman had given them more than they could have hoped for. ¡°I am.¡± Iniri spoke first. ¡°As I am.¡± Kavaa said. Kassandora stood up to speak. ¡°A gladiator fights alone, but not without support. Someone arms him, someone feeds him, someone tends his wounds. Support me and I will be your gladiator.¡± Her voice echoed down the corridor and then she did something that stunned Helenna. She offered her hand. It was a silly gesture, something mortals did with each other. Something that no Divine would ever do for the measly Goddesses of Love, of Health and of Food and Bounty. But Kassandora, glorious Goddess of War, did. Chapter 38 – Operation SkyStealer Spells, a mage can block. Sorcery too. A sword can be parried, an arrow dodged, a blow can be withstood. The Gods mighty weaponry can be fled from. Allasaria beams of light are predictable, even Neneria¡¯s tremendous powers of Death can be powered through with will. Not Luck. Excerpt from a Great War letter, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War. Never delivered, intercepted by Leona, Goddess of Luck. Pepayel Regional, Southern Karaina. A grand monstrosity of carved steel and flowing glass serving the cities of Yaku, Eravan and Tlizi as well as their adjoining towns. The largest airport in the province, and the surrounding ones, flinging several million people into the sky annually and receiving just as many. It carved the ground around it as if instead of being built by men, a colossus had simply dropped a toy onto the earth. That, and the fact it may as well have been a fortress: Southern Karaina had an Anarchia problem, and the airport showed it. The military did not exist thanks to Pantheon Peace; Ilwin only knew stories of what grand camps looked like from the stories his grandfather told him, but if there ever was a military installation, it would be Pepayel Regional. Tall walls of steel beams surrounded the airport, there was no easy entrance. It the reason he had taken direct command of this operation. The other teams had it easy, they could simply ram through the barriers and drive straight onto the runway to hijack a plane. Here, even the maintenance gate was a concrete castle. There was no driving through it. ¡°Everyone, disembark, weapons at the ready.¡± Ilwin left the passenger seat and looked back at his convoy. Five black cars, all large enough to carry seven men and their equipment comfortably. His soldiers started to leave. Some wore shirts, others suits, a few in simple vests. There were shorts and trousers, boots of leather, sneakers and trainers. Some wore glasses, others hats, other kept their heads bare. The only thing uniting them were black ribbons around the arm. The marks of Anarchia. Ilwin himself had donned a suit, sleek and black, with a white shirt. He was an elf, he had to dress formally, it was practically in his genes. He felt the sword hanging from his belt and the dozen throwing daggers in his suit. A few months ago, he would have considered himself decently armed, now that he had seen Mikhail¡¯s inventions, it may as well have been travelling naked. The rest of the men must have felt it too, they bore sword and club and axe and bow, but no one smiled. Ilwin lit up his cigarette and put his dark glasses on as guards from the airport came out to watch them. They had stunning clubs in their hands. From their side, no one smiled either. Why would they? They had come exclaiming that they were Anarchia¡¯s men. One of the guards, a tall fellow in a blue jacket, his club hanging from his belt came up to Ilwin. ¡°Civilians are prohibited from parking here.¡± There was an obvious threat and a begging in his tone. A simple warning to turn around and not have the situation escalate. Ilwin looked down on the man and sighed. This was it, the dam holding back violence started to crack. The point of no return. He lifted his hand, two fingers raised, and flicked the air twice. An arrow suddenly pierced the man¡¯s chest. The guards behind him fell just as quickly. The dam shattered. A flood of violence descended onto the maintenance gate as his men raced forwards. Leona closed her eyes as a sudden thought came into her head. ¡®Terminal Two, Maintenance Gate¡¯. She came to a stop. She let go of Alice¡¯s hand and pointed towards the crowd. A path cleared for them as people simply started to move out of their way. There was no force guiding them, nor winds pushing them, they simply realised they should not stand where they were just stood. Leona took her first step, her face full of sorrow. It was just her luck to be dragged here. Ilwin lit up another cigarette as the final cry died down in the maintenance tower. He stepped over a corpse and clicked his earpiece. ¡°Spear thrust complete. Drivers and pilots return to the cars.¡± He looked down at the corpse and blew some smoke out. How was a man not supposed to smoke in this line of work? A stream of blood from another corpse finally reached it. It cracked with sparks and then short-circuited. His earpiece clicked. ¡°We¡¯re locked out of the system.¡± It was one of the technicians. ¡°How long for a reset?¡± Ilwin asked, the response came immediately. ¡°Ten, twenty minutes.¡± Too long. Change of plans. ¡°Don¡¯t bother. Saboteur team, crack the gate.¡± ¡°Aye aye Captain.¡± One of the sabos replied. Ilwin finished half the smoke in one drag and asked himself the question again. How was a man not supposed to smoke in this line of work? He made his way back through the corridors, the white tiles now reddened with cracks and blood, his finger on his ear. ¡°Casualty report.¡± ¡°None in the pilot team.¡± Good, they were the most important. ¡°One man stunned, Saboteur team.¡± ¡°Can you get him up?¡± Ilwin asked. ¡°We gave him adrenaline, he¡¯s coming to.¡± ¡°Good. Drivers?¡± ¡°None.¡± ¡°Medics?¡± ¡°One man dead, heart attack. Two more stunned.¡± Ilwin finished his cigarette and flicked it away. It is what it is. Deaths weren¡¯t to be hoped for, but they were expected. Down to thirty-four. He checked up on the saboteurs as they started to pull out their equipment. The maintenance gate was a heavy piece of steel. It was thick, but there was only one, it could be cracked open. Four men in loose shorts and summer shirts fiddling around with wires as they connected bricks of explosives to the steel. ¡°How long?¡± Ilwin asked. ¡°Ninety seconds.¡± The elf nodded, that was more like it. ¡°Get back to the car and then blow it.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± Leona stopped at the thick glass overlooking the maintenance gate building of Terminal Two. There. She was sure of it. Logically, there was no reason for her to be sure, the concrete walls around the airport were too high to see anything. But she was sure. ¡°Alice.¡± She said.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Close your eyes.¡± Thoughts from nowhere appeared in her head. Three. Two. One. The building before Leona buckled and cracked as an explosion silenced the crowd. A cloud of dark smoke burst from the entrance. One¡­ two¡­ five cars dashed out of that smoke. Leona took a sigh and shook her head. This was her responsibility. This was her duty. She fell against the glass and started to cry, then wail. She wasn¡¯t a Maisara or an Allasaria. Why did things like this always appear before her? She didn¡¯t want to kill people. She was Lady Luck. She was supposed to bring fortune and happiness, not¡­ ¡°Faster!¡± Ilwin shouted to the driver, a man in a pink shirt and a cap with green shorts. And sandals. Fucking sandals. Who wears sandals to a plane heist? ¡°FASTER FASTER FASTER!¡± He shouted again. Pepayel Regional started to blare with sirens. They had minutes now. Already a response force was assembling. The planes being boarded by people stopped and more security came in to corral the civilians away. Ilwin clicked his earpiece. ¡°All cars to their respective hangars. Runway is first come, first serve. Don¡¯t block it.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Ilwin¡¯s own team was to take the planes codenamed Vulture One and Two. A pair of enormous transport planes used to parachute relief materials when roads were washed away. What Arascus wanted them for, Ilwin wasn¡¯t told. The racing convoy split up half way down the runway, each car heading to its own hangar. Ilwin checked his watch. Four minutes since they arrived at Pepayel, thirty seconds since the explosion. They had maybe ten more before the airport was swarmed by security forces. Leona waved her hand as another tear left her golden eyes. Ilwin¡¯s driver suddenly started let go of the pedal and slammed his foot back down. ¡°It¡¯s stuck!¡± He shouted. ¡°WHAT?¡± Ilwin respond as the vehicle started to accelerate. ¡°IT¡¯S STUCK!¡± The driver screamed again as he pressed the brake, the car screeched as it fell into an oversteer; the back tyres lost traction and started drawing two slick black lines along the tarmac. ¡°BRACE!¡± Was all the driver could say before the side of the vehicle slammed into one of the hangars. Glass shattered, airbags gave out and Ilwin slammed into the man next to him. He had braced, but even with that brace it felt as if it would be a good while before his arm returned to standard functioning. ¡°Everyone alive?¡± He shouted. A series of lethargic affirmations answered from behind. The driver was not so lucky. A section of the vehicle had crumbled against the hangar and the man¡¯s head had painted wall just outside the window red. Thirty-three men left. He clicked his earpiece. ¡°Everyone made it?¡± Two of the teams made it, two more reported issues: on one, the tyres had been torn to shreds and another had stalled. ¡°Run then!¡± Ilwin shouted, more at himself for not inspecting the vehicles than at any of them. His fingers finally regained control of themselves and grabbed the door handle. Leona took a breath as she watched one of the cars crash. She closed her eyes and felt around for a weak point on the glass. Of all people, she should be able to find it. Ilwin shakily stepped out of the car and fondled his pockets for a cigarette. Two humans were watching him from inside the hangar. Simply maintenance workers, in black pants and neon-yellow jackets. They where there, dumbstruck, as the rest of Ilwin¡¯s team got out of the car. Ilwin¡¯s lighter took six attempts to get a flame going. He took a deep drag and his earpiece clicked on. ¡°Second team, first jet secured, runway clear?¡± ¡°Clear.¡± Ilwin responded. ¡°You¡¯re good to do.¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± A cracking sound made his head spin. A crack appeared in one of the great glass panels in the main building. Another one. A third, and the glass cracked into a thousand pieces. His eyes instantly picked out the culprit. A blonde woman, beautiful like no other, with golden eyes. Calm golden eyes, laced with tears but looking straight at Ilwin. She was tall, maybe even taller than Ilwin himself, although not by much. She stood there in simply clothes, a dress fit for young girl. A car horn sounded and the crowd behind that woman finally awoke into all flees and screams. The woman took a step and fell off the edge. Leona closed her eyes as she fell through the air. A sudden wind spun her mid air and she landed on the roof of a moving vehicle ¨C a blue car for the security here. She bounced, slid across the tarmac and stood up. Her head was starting to hurt again. The car came to a stop and two guards burst from the doors. ¡°Are you alright?!¡± She waved to them, collapsed and her stomach emptied today¡¯s breakfast onto the ground. The two maintenance workers turned and fled when Ilwin started to march towards them. ¡°Leave them.¡± The elf said when he saw his men start to rush forwards. Everything had started to go wrong today. ¡°Board the plane and take off.¡± He pressed the earpiece. ¡°Status?¡± ¡°Two planes in the air; team three-first jet is waking for team two to finish up.¡± Two planes in three minutes, what terrible timing. The elf turned back to his own men. ¡°How¡¯s the status on the Vultures?¡± ¡°First plane is ready to set off, plane two has a leak!¡± Ilwin had never believed in luck, but today, his luck was exceptionally unfortunate. Leona finished throwing up as another plane set off. That was the fourth one. She pushed the guards trying to help her away and straightened. Being the shortest Divine, it was always odd to see people looking up at her. Ilwin scrambled to the pilot¡¯s cockpit as the two pilots on his team started to fiddle with the cornucopia of flashing lights, blinking buttons and levers in the plane. For all Ilwin understood, it was a console of black magic. ¡°Fuelled up.¡± One of the pilots said, this man had chosen a simple jacket. The other embarrassed himself entirely with some ridiculous shirt that had a picture of some cartoon girl. ¡°Wing checks complete.¡± ¡°All good to go Captain.¡± ¡°Go.¡± Ilwin commanded as he lit up another cigarette. Leona watched the 77-T transport aircraft slowly emerge from its hangar. The security here was useless, they swarmed the plane like ants and then darted out of the way when it wouldn¡¯t open its doors. Her head started to spin as she stopped midway through the runway. Pepayel had eight tracks, but only three were accessible from these hangars. Trucks blocked the other two, this was the only route for whoever these people were. They wore bands of Anarchia, but she knew already they weren¡¯t hers; No reason in particular, her mind simply told her they weren¡¯t. The huge plane rolled out of its hangar. It may as well have been a creeping building; two huge wings, two engines taller than Leona under each wing. It was painted white and blue, as if those colours were supposed to make the behemoth less imposing. It started to pick up speed as Leona stood there. Her mind searched for a fault. Not an engine failure, she didn¡¯t want to cause an explosion here. Something smaller¡­ something weaker¡­ ¡°Captain, there¡¯s a woman on the tracks.¡± One of Ilwin¡¯s pilots replied. ¡°Will she damage the plane?¡± ¡°She¡­ ahhh¡­¡± The pilots shared a quick look. ¡°She¡¯ll dirty the wheels.¡± ¡°Then accelerate, straight through her.¡± Ilwin said as he stared through the glass. It was the same woman who had watched them from the glass. Who was she? ¡°Picking up speed. Twenty, thirty¡­¡± A creaking sound silenced the captain. ¡°What was-¡° Ilwin¡¯s words were cut off by the cabin suddenly lurching downwards. He was thrown into the air and then barely managed to hold himself on his feet: human reflexes would have not managed it. A red light started flashing above the window. Then another, a third. The whole console turned red. ¡°WHAT WAS THAT?¡± ¡°The¡­¡± Another crash as the cockpit hit ground. Steel tearing at tarmac screamed throughout the airport. ¡°We¡¯ve lost the front wheel.¡± ¡°WHAT?¡± ¡°It fell off Sir.¡± Ilwin looked through the window, they were slowing down now as the plane tore its underbody on the runway. The woman bent over, vomited and stood back up, wiping spit from her mouth and tears from her eyes. She watched them through the glass. Leona did not a move an inch. She knew the plane would come to a stop before it hit her. It did. Chapter 39 – Accelerate Lyca looked out his window at the dusky sky as he stroked Eliza¡¯s delicate hair. Full moon had come again. Eliza had come specifically to watch over him again. She fiddled with the box of sleeping pills Anassa had given him. ¡°There¡¯s just three left.¡± She whispered quietly, her voice like a soft breeze as to not disturb the two of them. ¡°Take two today, you¡¯re building up a tolerance to them.¡± Arascus tapped the report detailing the conclusion of Operation SkyStealer. Iliyal stood before him, his uniform formal as always, a black suit with a sword on his belt, dressed much like Arascus apart from the God¡¯s lack of needless weaponry. ¡°Good thing you stayed before going off for training.¡± Arascus said slowly. A thousand deaths were a statistic, a single death was a tragedy. Today, he had to explain a tragedy to Iliyal. ¡°It¡¯s bad, isn¡¯t it?¡± The elf replied, he knew Arascus too well. The God nodded slowly as he leaned back in his massive seat. His office was once a storeroom, remodelled and redesigned to hold a massive desk oversized for humans and a chair which would have made an emperor brush. Arascus slowly nodded to Iliyal¡¯s question. ¡°Ilwin?¡± ¡°It is. The other teams succeeded and brought their planes back. The Pepayel heist got three planes off the ground. One crashed shortly after take-off. Another developed a fuel leak mid-air, the first one to set was the only one which made it.¡± Iliyal stood there, unfazed and shook his head. ¡°Do we have confirmation of what happened?¡± ¡°It¡¯s most likely going to be on the news. Videos have appeared on the internet already.¡± The internet was the single greatest change Arascus had to deal with. Before, it was only the most advanced magics which Anassa had to weave herself to allow for instant communication, now every fool could send whatever blabber they were thinking to everyone else. ¡°What happened?¡± Arascus flipped open the report and pulled out a picture. It was zoomed in and low-quality, but it said everything that needed to be said. A massive blue and white 77T transport plane, it¡¯s bottom torn open, its wheel missing resting on a runway like a ginormous beached whale. In front of it, a woman in a simple dress. There was a puddle of vomit at her feet. ¡°Leona.¡± Iliyal¡¯s mouth twisted as if it was trying to force an anvil.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Leona indeed.¡± Arascus confirmed. He could be asleep for ten million years and he would never forget Lady Luck. ¡°Then there was nothing to be done.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I was worried my grandson had made a mistake but against her?¡± He shook his head. ¡°We do have a problem however.¡± Arascus continued. ¡°And that is the security of this base.¡± Iliyal¡¯s face grew darker. ¡°We gave them suicide pills.¡± Iliyal said it because it needed to be said, they both knew the answer already. ¡°Even with the pills, we can, at best, assume maybe half took them. We¡¯re dealing with Leona so the worst case scenario happened, no one took it.¡± ¡°Then we have a problem.¡± ¡°How long would you give us before they find us?¡± Arascus asked and Iliyal chuckled. His blue eyes carried no mirth though. ¡°We could have an expeditionary force going down on us right now.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s time to accelerate plans. You¡¯re no longer tasked with training troops, delegate it to someone else. Go assist Mikhail on the war-planes.¡± ¡°I should help him with what exactly?¡± Any other man would crumble in fear before a God, asking him to clarify a question would be simply unheard of. That was the exact reason Iliyal had been a general in the past and now was Arascus¡¯ right hand. ¡°Make sure everything goes smoothly for the man. If he needs test subjects, you will get him them. If he needs materials, you¡¯ll get them. If he needs more planes, you¡¯ll get them.¡± Arascus tapped the report again. ¡°It¡¯s not glorious work, but it has to be done.¡± ¡°It has to be done, so it shall be done.¡± Iliyal replied. There was no hint of dejection or annoyance in his voice. ¡° ¡°I¡¯ll have plans written up for dealing with Leona. She has to go.¡± Iliyal thumbed the hilt of his sword. ¡°We made this mistake last time.¡± He said. ¡°We¡¯re not making it again. If we cannot defeat Leona, then we cannot win. There is no point wasting time playing at war when one side has Lady Luck. If we lose.¡± Arascus shrugged. ¡°Then we¡¯ll have saved ourselves a century-long hassle.¡± Iliyal saluted, made a move to leave and then stopped himself mid-turn. ¡°There is one more thing.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°My grandson chose the men well, none of them know about this location. The only one who could leak the secret is Ilwin himself.¡± Arascus gave the elf a slow nod. Ilwin was the man¡¯s family, of course Iliyal would trust his own grandson. He had known the boy for just over half a year, he had no faults, but there was nothing exceptional about him either. ¡°Then let¡¯s hope he does not.¡± Chapter 40 – Out of the Frying Pan Iliyal went into Ilwin¡¯s room and sighed. How many descendants had he outlived now? There was too many to count, although he could remember all their names. Ilwin woke up to a cell. A prison cell, he had been in a few before, this one did not stand out in any way. Tall grey walls, a single lamp on the ceiling. A toilet sequestered off by a low wall. A sink. The elf quickly patted his clothes, they had left him in his black suit, but his pockets had been emptied. The daggers were gone, the sword removed, all that remained was a small leather ring on his belt which should have held a sheathe. He stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. Cold blue eyes under blonde hair stared back at him. How did it go badly? Everything had been planned. They knew when the planes would be fuelled up. They¡­ his mind went to that woman. She had to have been a Goddess. The cell door suddenly opened to reveal a human. A guard, in his blue shirt and armour. There was a stunning club on his belt, Ilwin put any ideas of trying to overpower the man out of his head when he saw four other men peek at him from the doorway. ¡°You¡¯re wanted.¡± The man said. ¡°Turn around, I¡¯ll cuff you.¡± Ilwin rolled his eyes and let himself be cuffed. There was little to be done in a situation like this. He walked through a corridor lit only bright LED lights and into a nearby room. A glass wall on side, dark from this side, a tall table in the middle with two metal chairs: an interrogation room if he had ever seen one. The guards cuffed him to the table and left without a word. Ilwin sat there for a minute, ten, twenty. Did they hope to break him by making him wait? On humans maybe but elves were far more patient than that. Give him a year and then he might think about talking. His boredom ended when the door opened again. Ilwin had expected a human or an elf. A dwarf would surprise him, but it wouldn¡¯t make him gawk. In the doorway stood that woman from the runway. Her cheeks pale, her golden eyes morose, her golden hair falling loosely over her shoulders. She wore a simple shirt and she was tall. Very tall. Taller than him, by a noticeable amount at least. She smiled and sat down opposite Ilwin, her eyes looking at his as if she could see the intricacies of his soul. Finally, she spoke. ¡°I am Leona, Goddess of Luck.¡± Ilwin blinked. He would have fallen over where he not sat down. A Divine? A Divine for him? He wasn¡¯t this important, was he? He remained silent, that was always the correct play to do when dealing with the cops. Leona watched him for a few seconds before speaking again. ¡°I know you¡¯re not Anarchia¡¯s men.¡± She began slowly, Ilwin gave no reaction. This was standard practice, for the interrogator to lie and then get you to confirm the lie. Leona¡¯s golden eyes hovered over Ilwin again and then she sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve not read you your rights yet, this conversation is off the record.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I apologize, but that¡¯s rather difficult to believe.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a Goddess, if I point my finger at you then no amount of laws can save you.¡± Ilwin merely chuckled. Was he supposed to be scared of that? ¡°Then go ahead.¡± ¡°Will more attacks come?¡± Leona asked and Ilwin shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to snitch on the people you¡¯re with, I¡¯m asking to save innocent lives.¡± Ilwin shrugged again. This woman wasn¡¯t an interrogator, he was in the hole now, he might as well die with dignity. Leona shook her head, her loose strands of golden hair arranged themselves as if they had just been brushed. ¡°What do you want then?¡± Ilwin shrugged. ¡°To walk out of here.¡± It wasn¡¯t a demand, it was simply a statement to show there was nothing she could offer. ¡°You know I can¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Then there¡¯s nothing to discuss.¡± Leona shook her head again. ¡°There are two ways this can end.¡± She began, Ilwin merely leaned back and crossed his arms. This was a Goddess? A Divine? Out there, she had been incomprehensible. He was sure that the plane failed to set off because of her, it could never be him. The plan was perfect, the execution was perfect too. Failure only happened because of the variables he had failed to account for. And now? Now she was worse than a novice interrogator. Did she actually expect him to become a rat simply because of her authority? He had pledged allegiance to the God of Pride. What was this? ¡°What ways?¡± Ilwin asked, his tone twice as hard as Leona¡¯s. ¡°One.¡± Lady Luck smiled like a little girl. ¡°You tell me what you know and I hand you off to the Karainan authorities. Escape should be far easier from there.¡± Ilwin could not contain his mocking laughter. ¡°You mean, set a trap in some prison with us a bait. Understood, and the next option?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a trap whatsoever. I mean it.¡± Ilwin rolled his eyes. Maybe some Gods were honest out there, but even Arascus kept secrets from his own men. He could not conceive of a single world where he would actually take Leona up on that offer. ¡°And the second?¡± ¡°If I can¡¯t interrogate you, because of the nature of the grievous crime and the fact a Divine was directly involved, it is under my authority to serve as Divine Justiciar here and sentence you to imprisonment in Olympiada.¡± Despair hit Ilwin like a cold shower. A rain that had come on suddenly to wipe away any sort of optimism he may have been feeling. Olympiada was a death sentence. A mountain with a one-way staircase. He had tried to take the poison pill back on the plane but it had slipped out of his pocket. The same scenario happened to a great many of his men. He stared at Leona, Goddess of Luck, from across the table. Of all Gods, it was the one Arascus and Iliyal had brought up most in their discussions. Allasaria could be stood against, Maisara could be outwitted. Elassa¡¯s magic had rules. Luck though¡­ Luck was a miasma in the atmosphere that touched and coated everything with it greasy grip. Leona of Luck had defeated them without so much as lifting a finger. Everything simply went wrong. And now she wanted him to beg? To cry for freedom? He had already made up his mind to die back on the plane. Did it matter if it was by an executioner¡¯s axe or by a poison pill? He leaned back and shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll take Olympiada.¡± Chapter 41 – Into the Fire Mikhail Alash re-read his note. Thirteen more aeronautics engineers are coming to you: These ones are ex-Rancais Nationale Aeroflotte. In four days, Iliyal had brought him twenty men. Now more? Mikhail wanted his empty workshop back. He got back to redrawing another design for the rifle. Something was missing. Ilwin sat in his cell. Olympiada, Lower Prison. It was a small room, with a bed and a desk, two chairs, and grey walls. The place was made to hold Divines, the walls were reinforced with thin webs of silver and steel, the ceiling and door were stupidly high. Even the bed was oversized. He had seen Olympiada from the plane, an awe-inspiring mountain trying to reach the stars. All gold and marble at its huge peak, which spanned like a small coastal town overlooking the sea of clouds below it. The air was colder here, the sun harsher, and it was silent. If there was one word for Olympiada, that¡¯s the word he would choose. When the plane he was finally on landed, he was greeted to a silent assembly of heavily armed men in unadorned armour. When he was marched through the corridors, maids would turn their heads and pretend not to look. When his guards gave him off to the dashing golden caped soldiers standing watch over the prison, it was done in silence. When they had stripped him of his clothes and given him the grey overalls of prisoners, it was done in silence. For four days, he had barely spoken a word to anyone out there. Ilwin crossed his arms and smiled and as he returned to meditating. Boredom was a tactic to interrogate humans with, not elves. An hour passed. Another. And so on. Ilwin was pulled back into the world of the living from a knock on his door. He thought about remaining silent for a moment, and then decided against it. The boredom was in fact getting to him. ¡°Come in.¡± The door opened and for the second time this week, Ilwin stood before the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her height: that was it. She was taller. Taller than him. Taller than Ilwin. If there was anyone to compare her to, it would be Arascus. She stood there for a few silent moments as her pale-golden eyes watched Ilwin. Golden hair cascaded down past her hips and she wore a dress that could have been of woven snow, all clinging but yet still somehow modest. Ilwin inclined his head almost on instinct, a person so perfect had no right to exist, but now that they did, Ilwin had no right to stand before them.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. And then she spoke, even her voice was a warm wind on a wintry morning. ¡°I am Allasaria, Goddess of Light.¡± She said promptly and then extended one of those long arms to the chair. ¡°Sit, your name?¡± ¡°Ilwin.¡± Ilwin said and the woman nodded. ¡°Now, I am sure you know who I am already.¡± Ilwin nodded, how could he not? The names of the White Pantheon were taught to children as they were learning to remember the months. ¡°And you have happened to land yourself in some rather serious trouble.¡± Ilwin nodded again, he tried to hide the sheepish smile growing on his face. It was like he was being talked down to by a teacher. Then again, a Divine against an elf? Wasn¡¯t that even worse than a teacher and a student? ¡°I will leave you with this.¡± Allasaria pulled out a notebook and pen from within her dress. ¡°Frankly, I don¡¯t have the time, nor the peace of mind to run an interrogation. We will go like this: Maisara wishes to interrogate you, then Helenna. Elassa is ambivalent on it but she¡¯ll be after Helenna. Once they decide you have nothing to offer, I will come and execute you.¡± Ilwin sat there and stared at Allasaria. Was this it? Just a threat? Was he supposed to be scared? He croaked and forced an answer out. ¡°I don¡¯t even know why I¡¯m here.¡± Allasaria stayed motionless but gave a reply immediately. ¡°You¡¯re here because Leona believes that you¡¯re not a follower of Anarchia. I¡¯ve talked to your men, they¡¯re obviously not Anarchians either, and you¡¯ve picked them out well.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t know anything.¡± ¡°No, we¡¯ve already confirmed that.¡± Allasaria said. She took a sigh, crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. ¡°You obviously know what you¡¯re doing. You¡¯re not panicking before a Divine, either you¡¯re stupidly confident, confidently stupid or you have experience with one of us before.¡± Those golden eyes weighed Ilwin again. ¡°The amount of planning and organisation in what happened also begs a question: why?¡± Allasaria idly picked at her fingers. ¡°And there¡¯s also: Astangrad Central, Tress Ceremonial and the Tushev-Malkov Airport. Are they related?¡± Ilwin shrugged. ¡°You tell me.¡± Allasaria sniffed the air with some humour and continued. ¡°Obviously they are. So the question is, for what?¡± Allasaria said the words nonchalantly, as if the answer did not bother her whatsoever. It almost made Ilwin want to spill all his secrets to see the woman¡¯s shocked response. Allasaria eventually shrugged and merely wagged her finger at Ilwin. ¡°I can see your memory isn¡¯t working all that well today. I¡¯ll leave you be. If you remember anything, write it in that notebook and give it to me next time I come round.¡± ¡°When will that happen?¡± ¡°When I have time.¡± Allasaria cooed. ¡°Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, you have Maisara visiting.¡± ¡°And, should I be scared of her?¡± Ilwin asked. ¡°Oh no.¡± Allasaria said, her voice rife with sarcasm. ¡°She is only the Goddess of Order, nothing else.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll see.¡± Ilwin pulled every last drop of resolution he had in himself to answer back to the Goddess. ¡°We will see.¡± Allasaria said and sighed. ¡°There are four ways this will end, just so you know.¡± ¡°And those are?¡± ¡°One, Leona will figure out everything we need to know, in which case you¡¯re simply wasting your time here.¡± Allasaria lifted a two delicate fingers. ¡°Two, Maisara beats the truth out of you.¡± Another finger went up. ¡°Three, Helenna tricks it out of you.¡± And the fourth. ¡°Or four, you and me help each other.¡± ¡°There is nothing you can help me with.¡± ¡°Maybe the Goddess of Order will change your mind.¡± Chapter 42 – A Lack of Finesse Mikhail¡¯s engineers sweated as they started to cut into the stolen planes. Mounting guns on a plane. How hard could it be? Interrogations where never fun. Maisara did not know what the others found enjoyable about them. Maybe she could see the humour of it if she were a fellow mortal, using word games to assemble chains that bind harder than steel, but she had to face the reality of it: She was a Divine. When humans saw her, they either broke immediately or they took their knowledge to the grave. Elves where even worse, an elf had some sort of vain pride in his lifespan that made him think he had a higher patience than she did. One glance at this elf before Maisara confirmed all her suspicions that this would be a waste of time. He was meditating on the bed in an obnoxious fashion when she came in as if the reality of being locked in the Lower Prison of Olympiada did not concern in the least. Ilwin Tremali. She had fought against a Tremali once. An Iliyal Tremali, that fellow had served as one of Arascus¡¯ titanic generals in the war. It would not surprise Maisara to find out Iliyal had Divine blood within him, the man was simply something else. She had killed two Tremalis too, after the Great War, in a vain attempt to lure Iliyal out of his hiding. ¡°Are you not worried?¡± Maisara said as she sat down. There was something belittling about dressing up for a mortal. Why should he deserve to see her silver armour? Should he be allowed to talk to her? Why did he even gaze at her? ¡°Not in the least.¡± Ilwin replied. ¡°I can see that.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Who else has interrogated you?¡± ¡°Only Allasaria.¡± Ilwin replied and stared at her. Maisara clicked her tongue and ended this charade of him staring at her from the bed. ¡°Sit here.¡± She indicated to the chair on the other side of the table. The elf moved, slow and uncaring as if he did not care what other plans and plots she had running. ¡°What did Allasaria tell you?¡± Ilwin was no Iliyal, and Maisara knew she had made a mistake the moment she saw his eyebrows raise in surprise. ¡°What did Allasaria tell me Goddess?¡± Did he just coo at her? Who did he think he was! ¡°She said she was only interested because Leona took interest in me, and then that I have a meeting with you, someone else, and then I would be executed if all of you took no interest in me.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not an interesting person, so save yourself the hassle and just skip to the execution.¡± And with Maisara¡¯s mistake, came Ilwin¡¯s mistake. Leona? Leona? Fucking Leona? Of course! Why else would a mortal be locked in a place reserved for Divines? The clockworks in Maisara¡¯s head began to turn as reasoned her way into why exactly would Leona herself would consider just a man like this to be of importance. All roads lead to Arascus. And it lined up too well with Kassandora¡¯s revelations. Maisara, trapped in the curse of that terrible promise she had made to the Goddess of War, finally saw a sliver of light make its way into the chains binding her. ¡°Leona took interest in you?¡± Maisara asked. The elf shrugged.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I do not know why.¡± Now that she knew, the elf¡¯s relaxed movements had a reason. He wasn¡¯t mad in the slightest, he was exactly like his grandfather: Cold, stubborn and utterly unyielding. Those eyes of his practically laughed with mockery as he stared at her. ¡°Is Iliyal Tremali still alive?¡± Maisara asked. That was a good route, if she could confirm that then- ¡°I have never heard of that name.¡± The elf replied, bored and despondent. ¡°Your name is Tremali too.¡± Maisara would not let him off that easily. ¡°I don¡¯t keep contact with family.¡± And that faint glimmer of light shattered as if Allasaria had come to put it out. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Maisara said after a moment¡¯s pause. The elf looked at her as if she was a little girl. ¡°I can¡¯t help with that.¡± To think he would have cheek with her! Who did he think he was? ¡°Like I said, I don¡¯t believe you. Elves live a long time.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of an elf to live past a thousand.¡± Ilwin replied. ¡°So is there anything else you wish to know?¡± ¡°I know that¡­¡± Maisara¡¯s voice cut off. She stammered as the steel chains of promise tightened around her throat. The elf raised an eyebrow, it was beyond obvious he had seen her moment of weakness, how could he not? Even a baby would have been able to see the fresh paint of disconcert slathered over Maisara. ¡°I can give you something.¡± ¡°What can you give me?¡± The elf finally dropped his ridiculous tone. He leaned forwards, his voice became sharp and sly, each syllable stressed. Classical elven intonation. ¡°A way out.¡± Maisara said with a heavy heart. And here was another deal she would have to stick to. ¡°You tell me everything you know, and I will personally take you where you want to go, I will leave you there and not return to that location for a week. That should be enough time for you to disappear.¡± Ilwin laughed. The elf actually laughed! He laughed at her! ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe you, Goddess of Order.¡± He began. ¡°But my life is not that important compared to the men I fight alongside.¡± ¡°Your men can go with you too.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about the ones you¡¯ve captured.¡± Maisara blinked. This was it? This was everything? She wanted to scream. To behead the man this instant. But then, if he told everyone Arascus was around, then the promise would be kept. She thought of one desperate final assault. ¡°The next fool who has taken interest in you is Helenna, Goddess of Love. She will break you.¡± Maisara said. If reasoning had to be used, then reasoning was to be used. Order was composed of rules, and those rules had to be followed. All men desired Order, nothing thrived in Chaos. ¡°She will whisper sweet nothings into your ear until you every single skeleton you have locked away is brought into the open. And then you will become her dog.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take the risk.¡± ¡°A great many men have attempted to tame Helenna before, they were better men than you.¡± ¡°So?¡± Ilwin asked. So? So? FUCKING SO? How could he not see reason when reason was sprawled naked before him! ¡°So if you allow me to vouch for you, you at least have something to gain.¡± Maisara said. ¡°I¡¯m not a monster and I cannot lie. If I say I¡¯ll deal with you, then I will.¡± Ilwin merely shook his head, smiling like a fool who was just made king of the world. ¡°Proud Goddess, you are a rather poor salesman.¡± ¡°SALESMAN? I¡¯M NOT SELLING ANYTHING HERE!¡± Maisara barked. ¡°There¡¯s obviously things you know. Iliyal Tremali for one, Allasaria nor Leona asked about him.¡± Ilwin said. ¡°Now I can believe you have merely failed to capture my grandfather for a thousand years, but I will confirm this for you, he is still out there, and he¡¯s still causing a headache for you.¡± Maisara¡¯s heart dropped. ¡°And is¡­¡± Her throat tightened again. She would not mention Arascus, she could not break the promise. ¡°So I have nothing to say. I am no fool. If Goddess Helenna wishes to parley with me before my execution, she is the Goddess of Love and my sins are not great enough to delude me into thinking I can outwit her, but at least my eyes will have a pleasant final feast.¡± ¡°You are very much like your grandfather.¡± Ilwin smiled honestly at that. It was a beaming smile of pride, like a child who had been just ¡®good job¡¯ by their father. ¡°I try to be.¡± Maisara tried to stammer another word out, and then she held her breath. This was simply a brutal defeat for her. She stood up and just about stopped herself from slamming her hands on the table. ¡°I¡­¡± Ilwin raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue. ¡°I will return.¡± Chapter 43 – All is Fair with Love and War Elijah Arad walked through the halls of some ancient dwarven ruin in his Golden armour; a spear in his hand, a sword on his belt, a short red cape gently catching in the draft. Four more of Allasaria¡¯s Seekers prowled behind him. Holes in walls, blood smeared splattered over the walls. It even reached the ceiling in some places. His heavy boot stepped over the shattered Guguoan blades, it crushed the loose strands of beast fur now stuck together with dried blood and it avoided the treacherous rubble that would have made it next to impossible for a human to fight on. ¡°Nothing in the western section either.¡± Beniamin Hausmann reported. ¡°Then we search deeper, a God¡¯s corpse cannot just into thin air.¡± From afar, a tall woman in black watched the party of fifty Seekers make their way into the ancient fort. A section of the mountain above it was charred into a goat¡¯s head. The woman¡¯s cold lips curled into a snakish smile; nostalgia was a pleasant emotion. Storm clouds rolled in from the East. Helenna entered Kassandora¡¯s cell without even knocking. She had to be fast today, Allasaria was on high alert after Atis¡¯ death whereas Maisara and Fortia were seen venturing into the Lower Prison far more than was required for just a simple interrogation. Kassandora was sitting on her chair, feet on the table, eyes closed, looking as if she could be anywhere but the Lower Prison of Olympiada. There was something in that posture that made annoyed Helenna, and then something else that marvelled at the Goddess of War. It wasn¡¯t the easiness, Helenna saw through that immediately: Kassandora¡¯s smile was forced, her humming wasn¡¯t the triumphant march of a band, even that gentle lull of her head looked fake. But the ability to even try and make the best of a situation¡­ Helenna supposed it was simply a difference of domains. If Love gave up, a new lover would eventually appear; If War gave up, it resulted in a brutal defeat. Kassandora spoke without even opening her eyes. ¡°Nice perfume Helenna.¡± ¡°I¡¯m that obvious?¡± Helenna asked. Kassandora quit that relaxed state and pulled herself up. She smoothed down the grey prison garbs, took her feet off the table and threw her hair around as if that mass of blood-red needed anymore attention being brought to it. ¡°Nice dress too.¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°What¡¯s the occasion?¡± Helenna didn¡¯t need to look down at herself to know the dress was brilliant. A low-cut and tight black concoction of frills and lace which revealed just enough for imagination to fill in the gaps. ¡°There¡¯s a situation, we¡¯re going to be fast today.¡± Helenna closed the cell door behind herself and sat down. Kassandora merely waited, Helenna supposed it was going to be like that. ¡°Has Maisara informed you yet?¡± ¡°All I know is that Atis has died.¡± Kassandora said easily. ¡°Or that he was missing in action but we all know what happened.¡± She rolled those red eyes as if nothing else needed to be said. ¡°That¡¯s old news by this point, I was talking about the prisoner from Pepayel Airport.¡± ¡°That I don¡¯t know about.¡± There were some Goddesses, like Maisara and Fortia, Elassa was another one, Allasaria could do it too, where they hated Helenna¡¯s lavish displays of emotions. Helenna hated dealing with them, Kassandora had no such issue. Of Love¡¯s hair changed into a vibrant orange and she smiled proudly, this made the whole situation easier. ¡°Allasaria told me to get information out of him. She couldn¡¯t and Maisara came storming out of the prison after she tried.¡± ¡°No surprise there, those two were never good with people.¡± Helenna¡¯s hair turned red, it was almost as bright as Kassandora¡¯s. Kavaa and Iniri did not gossip like little girls, they thought it was beneath them. Helenna was very much in touch with her inner child though. ¡°It¡¯s all just demands and bartering. That¡¯s as far as their skills in talking go.¡± Helenna said and Kassandora nodded along. ¡°That¡¯s the issue where you¡¯re domain isn¡¯t in touch with humanity.¡± Kassandora added. ¡°Of Order especially, if we gave a chess set a will it would make Maisara.¡± Helenna burst out in laughter and clapped her hands. This was exactly what she was missing for the past centuries. ¡°But you said you wanted to be fast today, it¡¯s to do with this prisoner I assume.¡± Helenna was pulled back into reality by Kassandora and took a heavy breath before she began. ¡°It is, Leona sent him here along with two dozen men. The men are useless, I¡¯ve had a talk with them already.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°The man is a genius, he¡¯s an elf and everyone knows nothing. They were kept totally in the dark. The most that could be gleamed is two locations of partisan cells and that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Is anyone investigating this?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Allasaria told Maisara and Fortia to see what they could find.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll skip the wait for you. Maisara and Fortia will find cities of gold, reduce them to ruins and then claim they¡¯ve found nothing.¡± Kassandora said and Helenna burst out in laughter again. ¡°Why did she not send you?¡± ¡°Because she¡¯s Allasaria, why would she send me?¡± Helenna said, she didn¡¯t know if that expression of support from the Goddess of War was real or not. ¡°She¡¯s a mastermind too great for us to comprehend Helenna. If you want information, she¡¯s not going to send the greatest spymaster of history, she¡¯ll send two common brutes.¡± Helenna burst out in laughter again. Something in her mind told her to be wary of Kassandora still, but the amount of compliments she received in the past millennia, she could count on her hands. The fact most of them were about her looks didn¡¯t help either. ¡°So this man, why are you coming to with him?¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°I¡¯ve gleamed what Maisara learned.¡± ¡°I¡¯d compliment you, but it was Maisara.¡± Kassandora said to another bout of laughter. ¡°The man is an elf, his operation was about stealing planes. Three other airports were hit in neighbouring regions too. One of the ports, Tress Ceremonial, it took them an hour to realise planes were missing. Another, Astangrad Central Airport became a bloodbath, the cameras were cut out and when the police arrived, a quarter of the civilians had bled out already. Security was overwhelmed and slaughtered to the last man.¡± ¡°And yet the man was captured?¡± ¡°He led the largest assault, thirty five men, on Pepayel Regional. We suspect he was trying to steal the 77T transports planes.¡± Kassandora chuckled. ¡°I apologize for my lack of knowledge, but a 77T means nothing to me.¡± ¡°77T because it carries 77 tons. It¡¯s was built to assist the towns in southern Karaina during their heavy winters when roads get washed away.¡± ¡°Big plane then.¡± ¡°Big indeed.¡± ¡°And he led the largest assault?¡± ¡°He did.¡± ¡°Judging from the fact Leona caught him, I suppose she was there.¡± ¡°She was.¡± Helenna¡¯s hair grew white. Kassandora was incredible, Maisara would have needed to be told directly. ¡°And this elf, you¡¯re going to ask why he did it now?¡± ¡°This is the crux of the issue.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I¡­¡± Her cheeks started to go red and her hair became a simple brown. ¡°We¡¯ve¡­ there¡¯s a pact between us, isn¡¯t there?¡± ¡°Like I said already, I will lead you girls to freedom if you call upon me.¡± ¡°I was thinking from your perspective, it¡¯s not¡­ if I were you, I wouldn¡¯t trust me.¡± Kassandora shrugged and gave her that innocent smile again. ¡°Beggars can¡¯t be choosers, can they?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And from your position, you don¡¯t exactly have any proof I don¡¯t have ulterior motives.¡± ¡°I suppose that makes two of us.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Leona returned to Olympiada for a few days, it¡¯s obvious the fight there took a lot out of her.¡± ¡°An elf went up against a Goddess?¡± Kassandora asked and Helenna shook her head. ¡°She overexerted herself. There¡¯s¡­¡± Helenna¡¯s hair grew black again and she hardened her tone. ¡°I rather, I have a theory about it.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± ¡°It¡¯s to do with Leona, her state. I don¡¯t believe Leona will be killed.¡± ¡°Do you not?¡± ¡°I believe she will die of natural causes. Because she¡¯s been fuelling Olephia¡¯s prison all this time ¨C singlehandedly.¡± Kassandora gave a slow nod to that. ¡°It does make sense.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I just never thought it would have such an effect on her.¡± ¡°She has been growing weaker overtime, and if we use Maisara¡¯s theory about her luck holding us together, then she¡¯s using her powers everyday to simply keep the Pantheon functioning. The Pantheon or Olephia, she could handle alone, both, I don¡¯t think so.¡± Kassandora inclined her head and nodded along. ¡°You know what Helenna?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I never thought you would be so calculating. Apologies of course, but I¡¯ve underestimated you.¡± Helenna smiled and beamed with pride, the vibrant orange returning to her hair. ¡°But it means that Leona¡¯s death is set now. There¡¯s no avoiding it.¡± ¡°And that means that the alliance between us has to be set too.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I want to make it formal Kassandora, there isn¡¯t¡­ any backing down now. I know you keep entertaining Maisara, that is fine, but I want assurance that you won¡¯t turn your back on me.¡± ¡°Helenna.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Maisara is a good tool to use. Her and Fortia came to me first in this crisis. So I¡¯ll keep playing with them but don¡¯t insult me like that. War, Order and Peace is a combination that cannot work.¡± ¡°Fortia¡¯s Peace and Maisara¡¯s Order have a different meaning to them.¡± ¡°What can I give you then?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± Helenna said. ¡°But I want to show my loyalty, General.¡± Kassandora laughed and waved her hand at that. ¡°Don¡¯t insult yourself like that, a General is made by his army, where is mine?¡± ¡°Standing before you is a greatest spymaster in the world, with Kavaa, we have troops skilled in combat and healing. With Iniri, we can feed them, you said it yourself, the army can be mustered and they¡¯ll appear in two days. That¡¯s Kavaa¡¯s own words. But enough, I want to ask about this elf.¡± ¡°Ask?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Do you think the Goddess of Love would make a wrong choice of words? Yes, I want to ask. He¡¯s young, just over two hundred. His name, I know you¡¯re familiar with.¡± Kassandora remained silent. ¡°Ilwin.¡± Kassandora gave no reaction. ¡°Tremali.¡± The Goddess of War blinked, leaned back, laughed, smiled, laughed again, wiped a tear from her eye. She was reduced to a giggling mess, a stunned girl who had just been asked for her hand by the man of her dreams. Helenna sat and watched, her hair brightened again and the road she was going down turned from cobblestone to brilliantly smooth asphalt. This response could not be a simple pantomime. Helenna wished someone would react for her like that one day. ¡°That¡¯s my Iliyal!¡± Kassandora finally. ¡°General of the Eighth Army, Iliyal Tremali, it¡¯s good to see his offspring are as talented as him!¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to see him now, do you want me to inform him of you?¡± Immediately the mood change. A new Kassandora stepped into the smiling girl that was sat just before her. Cool faced, those red eyes stopped burning like warm winter hearths and became targeted blazes. ¡°Is Leona here?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°When will she be back?¡± ¡°No one knows.¡± ¡°Then the risk is too great, tell him I¡¯m here but leave it at that. If he asks, then answer. Draft an escape plan, bring it to me and I¡¯ll make the corrections. If he¡¯s a Tremali, then I don¡¯t think even you¡¯ll be able to get much out of the man.¡± ¡°That sounds like a challenge.¡± ¡°Go ahead, but the bloodline was blessed by Arascus in the Great War. They have tremendous willpower. If he¡¯s ten generations detached then it will have grown weaker but it¡¯s an elf, fat chance of him anything more than maybe five steps from Iliyal.¡± ¡°Even better.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re up for it.¡± Kassandora said and Helenna¡¯s hair flourished into a bright red. It was those small things that made her like the Goddess of War so much, she simply knew when to say something¡­ something¡­ nice and pleasant, as stupid as that sounded. ¡°If I was in his position though, I would reveal nothing and not believe you about me.¡± ¡°You think he won¡¯t?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the smartest thing to do in his situation. Do you want a bet?¡± ¡°On what?¡± Helenna grew excited. ¡°A bottle of wine.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since I had something to drink.¡± ¡°And if you lose?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t make bets I know I¡¯ll lose.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see about that!¡± Helenna clapped the table and stood up. ¡°If he tells me anything useful, then you owe me.¡± ¡°I¡¯d start raiding the cupboards already if I were you.¡± Kassandora waved Helenna away. ¡°Now go, you said you¡¯d be fast.¡± When Helenna finally left the cell, the corridors descended with a sombre euphoria. A sense¡­ nay, a need she had long buried since the Great War ended and she had resigned herself to being a steward in Olympiada. She wanted someone to think of her as Kassandora did of this Iliyal Tremali, to laugh about her successes with nothing but pure joy. She wanted an end to this plotting and politicking of the Divine Mountain where every move had to be limited as to not upset the other Gods. She wanted that bond that Kassandora seemed to build so easily. Kassandora sighed as Helenna left her cell. Some Divines were an unsolvable puzzle, others¡­ others, well, you just needed to knock on the door and they¡¯d lay themselves bare for you. Chapter 44 – Human Artillery ¡°It¡¯s getting dark.¡± Samuel said to Elijah. ¡°And the storm is beginning to move in.¡± ¡°We should stay the night here and set off with daybreak.¡± Lightning struck overhead. The woman in black finally started to move. ¡°Two of the five evacuated locations were raided recently.¡± Duchess Sara Daganhoff began with her report. ¡°Although the false-flag with masking ourselves as Anarchians worked amongst the majority of the population, anti-Anarchia rallies have started to appear in Southern Karaina. They claim to want justice for the Astangrad Central massacre. The local authorities have declared it a day of national mourning already.¡± Sara turned the page in her report as Arascus watched her. The woman had changed greatly from the excited girl who had rescued him. The whole organisation changed in fact, even down to the furniture. The war-room had been adorned with wooden furniture, sometimes, tradition was best, and the table the in middle had been replaced with a larger one. A marvellous display had been installed into it, which could holographically project images into the air. The people around the table had changed too, grown. The cold bureaucratic suits were the only thing that remained the same, Arascus had grown rather fond of the look, but the people within them were sharper, their eyes keener, their mouths spoke in more direct ways: quick and fast, efficient. It was the backbone of an army. Duchess Daganhoff continued to read. Her hair tied into a prim ponytail, her white shirt clean and ironed, her black suit sleek in its contrast. ¡°One note I would like to make is that the two locations we¡¯ve lost were done by Divines. Here are the images from the men tasked with surveillance of the sites.¡± Sara brought out two images to show to everyone around them. One was a barn, a simple wooden structure. Circular as was the fashion in the mountains of southern Karaina. Green grass, clear skies, it was practically picturesque where it not for the giant woman in silver armour in the middle of the image. She held an executioner¡¯s axe even taller than herself. The other image was of a building in some city centre; grand tall buildings, their roofs high-peaked and curling around the edges of the homes. This shot had a tall woman in golden armour, followed by two dozen police officers. This one held a golden spear. ¡°Maisara and Fortia.¡± Sara continued. ¡°It was expected for some locations to be exposed because of Operation SkyStealer, so apart from the managerial time in acquiring new locations, losses are minimal. Every important document was salvaged, I have confirmed it myself and brought most back to headquarters.¡± ¡°Good job.¡± Arascus commented. ¡°And on recruitment?¡± ¡°There are no changes to report. Last week¡¯s predictions have been beaten. We¡¯ve had an influx of people from Southern Karaina joining up after losing confidence that the government could allow the Astangrad Massacre.¡± Good, concise, quick, to the point. Arascus smiled as the woman inclined her head and sat back down. The war-room fell into silence only to be disturbed by the typing of a secretary nearby as she recorded the minutes of the meeting. ¡°So onto the engineering department. Alash.¡± Arascus turned to the engineer. Proper dress was mandatory in the headquarters, but Mikhail pushed that about as far as he could. The suit had been exchanged for a heavy greatcoat and the man¡¯s hair was beginning to thin out and turn grey. He stood up sheepishly, took a deep breath and paused for a moment. Experienced people would simply blurt out the bad news and get the ordeal over with, the lack of experience with failure was a crucial weakness in his team. Arascus needed to set them harder tasks. ¡°In regards to engineering, the warplane project has stalled.¡± Mikhail looked around as if he was preparing to rest his head on the table to be executed with that axe in the picture of Maisara. Arascus remained silent, the man was already taking it hard enough, there was no need to comment. ¡°Very simply, it is an impossibility.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. This though, was pushing it. ¡°Impossibility?¡± Arascus leaned forwards from his throne and the two dozen people around the table held their breath. Alash nodded nervously and then spoke, his voice was on the edge of cracking. ¡°Frankly, yes. The first time a weapon is fired, a plane tested in live combat, there is always luck required. We cannot¡­¡± He sighed and straightened his back. ¡°I cannot theorize a way to have a fool-proof design in the fashion you wish. A live-fire exercise is needed, but then that would reveal our advantage of surprise, without it, we can simply hope all our theorizing is correct.¡± ¡°So it cannot be done?¡± Arascus¡¯ voice growled like a waking bear. ¡°No.¡± Alash replied and straightened his greatcoat. Arascus nodded and leaned back. This is why he had these meetings. ¡°Very well, what about the planes themselves, have you cut them all up?¡± ¡°We kept the jets as requested, they¡¯re still in usable condition.¡± ¡°What about guns for shooting down aircraft?¡± ¡°One of the new engineers had an idea to put timed fuses in the shell-casings. We¡¯ve our first experiment with it yesterday, it works.¡± Arascus turned to Iliyal Tremali. The elf sat there unmoving. ¡°Looks like we should put you on recruiting more often then Iliyal.¡± The elf smiled and inclined his head. ¡°If it is to be so, then so be it.¡± He said, the elf would agree to anything, but that answer made it obvious he did not want the position of being a kidnapping-recruiter again. Arascus turned back to Mikhail Alash. ¡°Is there anything else to report?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Sit.¡± Alash sat as Arascus stood up. ¡°There is no shame in failure in these meetings. If something is impossible, and the impossibility can be explained, then there is nothing to be done. We¡¯re not building ladders to the Sun here, we¡¯re running a war. Setbacks do happen. Alash, can those planes be made faster?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then squeeze them until they¡¯re almost at breaking point. Weaponry can be substituted, the planes themselves cannot.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± Alash replied, Arascus did not react as he spoke to the people around the wooden table. ¡°The Warplane Project is cancelled. We will be heading forwards with the Sorcery-Contingency. Tremali, present the plan.¡± The elf already had his notes prepared. He stood up, that little red cape fluttering slightly behind his black suit and he took a deep breath. ¡°In short, the Sorcery-Contingency is finalized in the same fashion. We use the planes to ambush Leona as she is in-flight. The end result is the same, but preparations will be harder.¡± He took a breath and pulled out a list of tasks to complete. ¡°Firstly, I have come in contact with Sorcerers during the Fer Incident. They have confirmed to be apostles of Goddess Anassa, and that she is locked away in Arcadia. The steps are rather simple, we either rescue Anassa, or we temporarily recruit a number of her students.¡± Tremali put the paper down and started to walk around the table, his hand on his sword hilt. ¡°There is an obvious danger which is that Leona is still active. As in Operation SkyStealer, a higher-value target has to be presented as bait to lure out Leona.¡± He let took another breath. ¡°In the case of SkyStealer, it was easy, a third of the men were sent off to Pepayel Regional Airport and the rest were tasked with lower priority targets. In the case of Goddess Anassa, there is one possible target which could be considered of higher priority.¡± Iliyal Tremali looked to Arascus. ¡°However our God cannot show himself until Leona is confirmed dead. A rescue of Anassa would also bring attention to us.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying we hire the four young sorcerers you met?¡± Duchess Daganhoff spoke up. Iliyal nodded. ¡°I saw them fight, only one girl has any hesitation with ending lives. The other three would make for excellent human artillery.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying we mount them to a plane?¡± Edwis Arheim asked. The brown-haired and green-eyed man was tasked with communications between the various branches. Arguably one of the most important roles, and one only a person so utterly boring as Edwis could hope to achieve in. The lack of creative thinking in him was exactly the sort of thing needed to keep up to date on communication channels. ¡°Alash.¡± Arascus silenced the room as it began to chatter. ¡°I don¡¯t want a design from you right now, I merely want to know if it is possible: Can we have a plane from which sorcerers cast magic?¡± All eyes fell on Mikhail Alash as the man sat there for a moment. He considered something, then something else, then crossed his arms. ¡°Do you mean a door?¡± ¡°It can be a door or a hole.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°Easily. Yes. With full certainty. The plane could be ready¡­¡± He thought for a moment. ¡°Four weeks time? Three if we¡¯re fast.¡± Arascus shook his head. ¡°Give it five, luck is not to be factor. If you have to run tests, then run them in North-Eastern Karaina, away from civilization.¡± The God turned to Iliyal Tremali. ¡°Stay after the meeting, we will discuss how to acquire our human artillery.¡± Chapter 45 – Relics of the Past I am a man, And we are but men, I am but one pebble in an avalanche, I am but one spark in an inferno, I am but one drop in a flood, A drop in a flood, A spark in an inferno, A pebble in an avalanche, I am meaningless, but we are not. - Second stanza of ¡®Order¡¯s Advance¡¯, a common poem among Paladins of Maisara. Written during the Great War. Elijah Arad made a final round around the fort. He had been appointed rank of High-Seeker for this expedition, it was a sorry task. Only a few of the higher ups took notice of it, the Seekers were marshalling in preparation for the movements Maisara¡¯s wretched Paladins and Fortia¡¯s miserable guardians were making on Olympiada. Brilliant Goddess Allasaria, the light of his life, was meeting with them everyday and making plans upon plans of what to do when those two cursed relics of the past finally snapped. And then Atis had gone missing. Obviously it had to be investigated, there was no choice. Allasaria lead the Pantheon, it was her righteous responsibility as leader of the White Pantheon to investigate what happened. The Seekers themselves could not care less, Atis was another relic. The only difference between Maisara, Fortia and him was the former two still tried to claim relevance in the modern world. When a piece of history disappears from a museum, the curators obviously have to go look for it. And so Elijah Arad had ended up here. In Eastern Karaina, far past the edge of civilization. Away from the continent of Epa, closer to the ancient land of Guguo than anywhere else. The last place Atis had been confirmed, although the image was only a blurry photo taken by a surveillance drone from high above. Elijah crushed another piece of loose rock under his plate armour. A heavy suit of golden-steel, handmade by Divine Theosius, of the Forge. The death of blacksmithing as a profession had led to the God growing weaker, but there was no one who could create arms as he did. Elijah came upon two sentries he had ordered to keep watch. He wasn¡¯t worried, but it felt like the trees had eyes here, as if every shadow held a monster about to pounce. It was a cursed place, any place where a God had died would be a cursed place. He simply couldn¡¯t sleep today. The rest of the men couldn¡¯t either. The heavy rain and thunderstorm outside only made the mood even gloomier. Elijah walked back to the throne-room of the ancient dwarven hold. This place had been obviously cleaned up after the battle. Blood still smattered the walls, the broken Guguoan blades had been piled off to the side, the bodies had been removed, taken to only the Gods knew where.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. His men had tried to bring some warmth to the atmosphere. A dozen campfires littered the grand palace in between the tall square columns, although half of them were shattered. The ceiling had enough holes to were smoke was not a problem, it wafted gently to the upper floors and then made its escape through more of the fort¡¯s wounds. On the throne, they had placed their most precious relic. A simple golden vase, small and reinforced with modern alloys. It held the relic that had left the museum: Atis¡¯ soul. The God had not dispersed yet, but a soul in itself was useless to mortals. It would have to be brought back to Olympiada before the Divines could communicate with it. Elijah sat down on the steps leading up the throne room and wondered if he would get any sleep today. The men must have felt the same, each campfire had a few Seekers by it. Some were cooking, some were quietly exchanging whispers. Only a few were confident enough to sleep, and even then, Elijah questioned if any of them would actually feel the sweet embraces of dreams today. Could anyone sleep at the site of a God¡¯s death? Elijah stopped pondering the question as another blast of thunder shook the fort. He supposed this boredom was exactly why none of the higher-ups wanted this job. It was a simple fetch and return. The soul-jar had done all the work itself, they were merely guards for the object. Elijah leaned back and closed his eyes. Even a few hours of sleep would do well to keep the chills of fatigue away. A minute passed. Or maybe an hour. Too short a time for sleep, but too long for active thought; the worst of both worlds. Elijah was roused out of his solace by a Samuel¡¯s shouting: ¡°EVERYONE WAKE UP! HIGH-SEEKER! YOUR PRESENCE IS NEEDED!¡± He took a look at that grand doorway, it¡¯s stone doors now laying shattered on the ground, it had been pushed in. Samuel stood there, fully armed, red in the face as if he had just been sprinting. At first, Elijah had been annoyed. Not after seeing the man¡¯s face. Even the flush of exertion had been dimmed by a pale visage of fear. The man¡¯s brown pupils were small and his tone cracking with urgency. The fourty or so Seekers not on watch immediately got to their feet. Golden spears held tight in their hands, swords hanging from their belts. Fourty capes moved with the wind¡¯s cold draft devouring the fortress. ¡°What is it?¡± Elijah called out, his voice a booming command. They didn¡¯t make just anyone a High-Seeker. ¡°COME QUICK! IT¡¯S URGENT! BRING ARMS!¡± The band of Seekers in the throne room moved their gazes from Samuel to Elijah. The High Seeker took a step forwards. ¡°RUN, PLEASE RUN!¡± Samuel ran off. ¡°IT¡¯S NOT¡­ WE DON¡¯T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING!¡± And so Elijah ran. Through the corridors strewn with rubble. Past the walls dashed with blood. Out the hole they had entered, blasted open by magic. Four Seekers stood there, taking shelter under something which may have been a balcony a long time ago from the pouring rain. Sentries Elijah had posted. ¡°What is happening?¡± Elijah waved the salutes away even though the men gave none as his band of fourty came running behind him. A Seeker could walk through any crime-ridden slum on Arda with his wallet trailing behind him and be sure no one would dare steal it. There were fifty Seekers in total here. What had gotten into them? ¡°Look.¡± One of the sentries pointed at something rustling in the grass. Elijah squinted as he looked closer, there was something¡­ digging¡­ in the ground. ¡°HIGH SEEKER!¡± Another Seeker called out, a man named Nathanael. Back on Olympiada, he lived in the same corridor as Elijah. ¡°HIGH SEEKER!¡± He sprinted out of another of the gaping wounds in the fortress and almost tripped over a nearby branch. ¡°WHAT?!¡± Elijah shouted. ¡°It¡¯s Seeker Beniamin! We just found him now!¡± The man almost collapsed. ¡°Found him? What? Did som-¡° Elijah¡¯s words were cut off mid-sentence as his head circled back to where the other Seeker was still pointing with his spear. A hand was suddenly sticking out of the ground. It was covered in bloody chunks of fur. Its muscle was half devoured by insects. Its fingers ended in long claws rather than nails. Pale ivory bone was showing, flashing brightly as it was lit up by the lightning strikes from above. It was too large to be a human hand. The hand moved. It threw dirt away from itself. Elijah heard men behind him throw up. The sound of the rain grew faint to him, his breathing slowed and he felt the blood drain from his cheeks. It was digging itself out. Chapter 46 – Within the Fortress Walls, The Spectre Prowls Arascus snapped his fingers and tried to incinerate the piece of paper before him. Not even a spark of magic, not even an inkling of heat. He shook his head and threw it to the waste-bin. Iliyal had chosen good candidates, of course he would, but the man was obviously being cautious. Whoever was going to be sent to Arcadia to bring back the sorcerers would have to know about them, so whoever was sent would be an exposure risk. It was better to choose someone reliable than someone untested. Arascus thought of a name for the task: Sara Daganhoff. ¡°That¡¯s not¡­¡± A Seeker next to Elijah tried forcing some words out to break the shock they were in. A blast of thunder from overhead shook the team of Seekers awake. Golden armour started to move, capes began to flow in the wind and they finally started to run as was hours of training kicked in instinctually. As instinctually as could be done for a group of men untested in battle. Elijah lifted his spear, pointed it at the moving hand and felt Allasaria¡¯s power flow through the spear. The bright tip started to glow, from a weak candle barely being able to hold back the darkness to a lamppost, cutting a giant swathe of the night away. Raindrops began to bubbling, then crackle and evaporate as the spear worked its enchanted magic until the tip of the weapon was dry; water simply evaporated before it even managed to think of touching the spear. For a brief instant, night fled from around Elijah. A beam of light burst forth from the spear and incinerated that large hand trying to dig its way out of the ground. Silence descended on the men once again, Elijah had to rally his men. He turned, made his voice hard, tried to push away any hint of cowardice away. ¡°FORM RANKS! ORDER! THE LIGHT GUIDES US!¡± He lifted his spear and fired off another beam into the sky. That finally got their attention. ¡°ORDER! FORM RANKS!¡± He pushed the panic away from himself and thought quickly. His untested and untried tactical theory started to return: men had to be kept busy, idle hands made for idle minds, idle minds gave birth to fear and fear lead to panic. He barked out one order after another. Ten men were to stay here and watch the ground, added to the four who were already waiting out here, ten more to patrol the corridor, fifteen to return to the throne and guard Atis, five would take him to Beniamin. ¡°We are Seekers! The dark fears US!¡± He finished off with a shout and got a shout in return. ¡°I don¡¯t know what is trying to climb out of the ground, you just saw me kill it! They can be stopped!¡± Another series of shouts gave him a reply. ¡°YES HIGH SEEKER!¡± Elijah¡¯s heart almost skipped a beat upon the sight, and then the men started to run off to their assigned jobs. Good. He himself set off down the battered corridors with the five men, the one who had mentioned Beniamin, Nathanael, initially lead them up a flight of ruined stairs, every second step was blown out and half of those remaining were overran with cracks. The walls here were in much a similar state, the sides devastated and smattered with cuts from blades. ¡°It¡¯s this corridor.¡± Nathanael said and pointed down the hallway. ¡°That was amazing High Seeker, but that hand, what do you think it was?¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I have no clue.¡± Elijah said, a moment later he realised it was a bad answer. ¡°But I have a feeling we¡¯ll be returning here with more men. Maybe the Goddess herself will get involved.¡± ¡°Do you think so?¡± One of the other Seekers asked. ¡°With the situation in the Pantheon?¡± ¡°We saw a¡­¡± Elijah¡¯s mind reached the conclusion of the thought before his mouth did. What did they see? A body trying to dig itself out of the ground? That was called an undead, a foul being of a captured soul chained to its body through cursed necromancy. The last time they were seen on Arda was during the Great War, when Arascus used them to bolster his armies. Those would be exactly the sort of words that inspired panic. Elijah changed the conversation. ¡°Nevermind, we¡¯ll discuss it tomorrow. What happened to Beniamin?¡± ¡°We found him, he was just¡­¡± Nathanael began, his voice suddenly wary. ¡°He was cold, but he was moving, breathing, but he felt¡­¡± The man took a heavy breath. ¡°His body had the temperature of a corpse and he wasn¡¯t responsive. Other Nat and Ertrand stayed to watch over it and then I ran to get to you.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s here?¡± ¡°Just the next do-¡° Nathanael turned into a doorway and stopped, his face going pale and his brown pupils expanding to almost fill the entire eye. ¡°What ha¡­¡± Elijah¡¯s voice trailed off as he leaned into the doorway. There was no point asking the question in the first place. The room was small, with the single entrance, some furniture, a waterskin that had been spilled over the floor. It was damaged of course. Beniamin was sitting in the corner as if his body had been dropped from the sky. His brown eyes were open and unfocused, they started straight ahead, totally ignorant of the team of six suddenly entering the room. Next to the doorway, lay the two other men. The exact same state were inflicted upon them. They sat in their golden armour, without so much as a blemish upon their faces. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Nathanael finally answered. Elijah sidestepped Nathanael and leaned down to walk to Beniamin. He took off the man¡¯s helm and touched his cheek. It was as cold as a stone. He touched the man¡¯s neck. There was no pulse. Why was he breathing? ¡°Sir, what do we¡­?¡± The rest of the team had slowly filtered into the room. There wasn¡¯t so much as a drop of cheer among them. ¡°Bring them back to the throne room.¡± Elijah said immediately. He did it without thinking. What would the throne room help them with? They didn¡¯t bring healers with them. He just wanted to have a task to take them off it. ¡°Wait!¡± But then bringing them back would cause panic. There wasn¡¯t anyone who could deal with them. Maybe it was better to just leave them here. Elijah stood there and thought as the men started inspecting the three bodies themselves. Were they even corpses? Elijah stood there and thought as one of them men leaned down. They breathed like men. Elijah stood there and thought as the men the two others had their helmets removed. But why were they cold then? Elijah stood there and stopped thinking when a corpse moved. One of the cold men by the side of the door suddenly lurched forwards. His hand shot forwards like an arrow. The surprise and speed, Elijah would have not dodged it himself. Its fingers wrapped underneath the Seeker¡¯s helmet, around his neck. There was a crack. The Seeker dropped to the ground, his body having one final convulsion before his spear left his hand. Elijah¡¯s training kicked in instantly. He hefted his spear and swiped it across the room. Bright light burst from it and cut the corpse in half. The other two, Beniamin included, were dealt with in the same way. There was no reason to take chances. The part of six had shrunk to five, and they all stared at the cauterized wounds of corpses split in two and the one Seeker who had his neck broken. Did they stand for a minute? An hour? It felt like an eternity, as if that small room of the ruined fort had transformed into a prison cage; it couldn¡¯t have been longer than a few seconds. Nathanael broke them out of their stunned silence. ¡°What do we do now?¡± Elijah opened his mouth to answer and was interrupted. Screams. From below. The sentries. Chapter 47 – The First Line of Defence If you think that the worst of his Goddesses is the beastgirl, then you are sorely mistaking. Frankly, Of War, Of Beasthood and Of Darkness are the ones I hope to see on the battlefield. - Excerpt from a letter between White Pantheon Generals, dated back to the Great War. Elijah ran. He ignored the bodies in the room and he ran. Beniamin left his mind and he kept running. He vaulted down the shattered staircase, and he kept running. He heard the team of men behind him keep scrambling, and he kept running. He turned a corner and he¡­ He came to stop. The sentries he had left outside, the fourteen men¡­ There were only eight left, scrambling, spears lifted and running backward. ¡°STOP!¡± Elijah shouted. ¡°WHAT HAPPENED?!¡± The first sentry simply ran past him, back towards the throne room. Elijah would reprimand him later. The second slid to a stop in his heavy armour. There was red blood over the golden plate. It was fresh, still undried. ¡°Is that yours?¡± Elijah asked. ¡°Not mine.¡± The Seeker responded quickly as he shook his head. ¡°I¡­ The-There-There-There¡­¡± His words turned into incomprehensible gibberish as he tried to utter something out. ¡°I-I-I-I-I¡­.¡± Elijah sidestepped the panicked man and went to the next Seeker. ¡°What is going on?¡± Someone grabbed Elijah¡¯s shoulder and pulled him to the side of the corridor. ¡°LOOK MAN!¡± Elijah¡¯s eyes followed the arm in golden armour, the plate cracked and streaked with blood. His eyes travelled along the ruined walls, to the end of the hallway. A flood washed over him, a flood of fear and panic. Standing there was a beastman. But then Beastmen didn¡¯t have their faces half-eaten by worms, with insects crawling out of hollow sockets that once carried eyes. Beastmen¡¯s fur was thick enough to serve as a winter rug and they kept it clean and groomed, not matted with blood into old clumps, interspersed with patches of baldness. Beastmen didn¡¯t have their ribcages exposed and their chests were filled with muscle and organs, not see-through. Most importantly, beastmen bled from open wounds. Elijah blinked as his eyes glazed over. The¡­ the¡­. The thing took a step. Its cracked hoof slamming down on the ground as the band of sentries ran further into the fortress. Behind the monster, another appeared, shuffling behind it. The first was a wolfman, this one had a goat¡¯s skull for a head. Then another. And another. Someone grabbed Elijah¡¯s hand. ¡°Come boss! COME!¡± It was Samuel. Elijah saw the man¡¯s eyes through the visor in his golden helmet. It was shameful that this man carried himself so much better than Elijah, especially when Elijah was supposed to be in charge of this whole expedition. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Give an order, retreat back to the throne room.¡± Samuel said. Those words finally kickstarted Elijah¡¯s mind. Orders, command, men to lead. Atis¡¯ soul. There were things to do, people that relied on him, people he had to return to. He couldn¡¯t panic here. ¡°TO THE THRONE ROOM!¡± Elijah roared with a renew vigour. He lifted his spear, aimed it at the monster as it took another step, this one faster than the last, and channelled Allasaria¡¯s holy light once again. It carved through the monster¡¯s chest and the beam faded away. Elijah¡¯s confidence faded when he looked through the beastman¡¯s chest. The light had tunnelled a hole straight through the first and the second beastmen. Both kept moving. Elijah blinked, turned, and saw his Seekers already running away. Elijah followed them. Through the ruined hallways of this ancient dwarven hold, he jumped across the ruined stones, the cracked statues and shattered swords. Through corridors painted in dried blood and finally through a massive doorway; the doors had been collapsed inwards. The rest of the Seekers, forty-four now, stood there, assembled. The campfires stilled roared, but no one tended to them anymore. Some were red-faced after a sprint, others nervous and looking around, several were jumping at shadows. Elijah looked around the throne room, he knew it had breaches, but he didn¡¯t pay attention to them apart from idle curiosity before. The ceiling was pockmarked with holes, both of the sides had corridors leading away from the throne room too. There was the entrance behind them, two more tunnels leading deeper opposite that. Even a corner of the floor was missing. He should run¡­ To where? Splitting up would only lower the amount of firepower they could put out. Allasaria¡¯s magic worked best when it was concentrated. Two Seekers had the combined strength of three individuals, but forty could beat four-hundred. ¡°HOLD!¡± Elijah shouted as he marched to the throne, the soul jar containing what was left of Atis was still sat there, good. ¡°SPLIT INTO GROUPS! TEN MEN TAKE THE FRONT, THEN ONE ON EACH SIDE. THE REST SUPPORT! YOU ON THE SIDE, KEEP WATCH, CALL OUT IF YOU SEE ANYTHING!¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°YES HIGH SEEKER!¡± The forty-four men responded in unison. Instincts forged through years of training started to awaken slowly. They may have never seen monsters like this, but they were still Seekers; men chosen by Allasaria herself to be the first line of defence against the forgotten monsters of this world. The Sects of Guguo, Maisara¡¯s Paladins, Fortia¡¯s Guardians, even Elassa¡¯s precious mages could only bow their heads to the prestige of the Golden Order. Elijah marched up the steps leading to the stone throne, turned and looked over the heads of his men. His legs were working by themselves now, he was hanging off a cliff and his body was simply working by itself. He knew the moment he let any thought enter his mind, it would crack whatever sort of shield was safeguarding his sanity. A monster appeared behind the men. Then another. And another. Elijah saw the ones he had blasted a hole into. He shut his mind up and directed his men, it was better for them not to think either. ¡°PHALANX¡± The men in the centre ran to support. Thirty spears aimed straight ahead. ¡°CHARGE BEAMS!¡± Elijah ordered and the mass of spearheads started to glow with light. More of those undead beastmen rose from the ground, there was some humans interspersed in too. In clothes that once would have been colourful shawls, they were now dirtied through being buried, ripped and bloody. ¡°HOLD!¡± Elijah commanded. It was better to let the monsters build up. ¡°HOLD!¡± Elijah shouted again. Let them have a few steps more. ¡°HOLD!¡± Let them build up a second more. The horde crossed and shuffled forwards. A huge one was in the back, it was probably a risen minotaur. Two huge horns on either side of a skull, its head half covered in muscle, the rest exposed bone. Elijah almost panicked, he gave the command more to steady himself than for the men. ¡°FIRE!¡± For a moment, it was as if someone had turned on a spotlight aimed directly at the undead. In the next moment, chests slid from their legs, heads disconnected from their legs, and limbs crashed into the ground. Elijah¡¯s eyes readjusted to the darkness of the hold after the light almost blinded him. Three quarters of the corridor had been wiped clean. Destroyed, annihilated, certain sections of the creatures had been incinerated from the existence. What remained lay lifeless on the ground. Hopefully it was permanently this time. The team of thirty Seekers cheered. Elijah threw in his own. They would be going home after all! The rousing cheer was dampened by one of the Seekers on the side. ¡°THERE¡¯S MORE HERE!¡± Then the Seeker from the other side added his own alarm. ¡°AND HERE TOO!¡± Elijah looked straight ahead, there were more approaching from the front too. ¡°REARRANGE FORCES! TEN MEN ON EITHER SIDE! TEN TOWARDS THE FRONT! THE REST WATCH THE OTHER ENTRANCES AND SUPPORT WHERE NEEDED!¡± Elijah watched his men rearrange themselves, he couldn¡¯t keep the smile off his face. They were Seekers, they would survive. How could they not? They were the chosen of Allasaria. ¡°THEY CAN BE STOPPED! SEND THEM BACK SIX FEET UNDER!¡± Another series of cheers. ¡°PHALANX AND FIRE AT WILL! CUT THEM DOWN AS THEY COME!¡± The three teams became lightshows. Beams of lights shot forwards from them as they were each a giant flashlight being rapidly flicked on and off. On and off. Elijah¡¯s eyes quickly became unadjusted to the darkness of the fortress, but it was obvious what was happening. Each flicker of light was slightly longer, the beam slightly thicker as it pushed further and further into the corridor. Elijah took a deep breath, his fingers gripping his own spear tightly. For the first time since he had seen that hand, he felt as if the way forwards was opened. He looked straight ahead, with each flash of light from his men, there was a flicker of gold. He squinted, beastmen rarely wore gold, and certainly not full plate armour, what was¡­ His question was answered before he even finished it. A flashed through the air, it hit one of his men. It was a golden spear, almost a pike. Simple, with a broad head for channelling magic. A spear belong to one of his own Seekers. It dug itself deep into a man¡¯s chest. The man screamed and fell backwards. Elijah¡¯s mind raced along with a figure running towards him. A Seeker in golden armour, his head at an odd angle as if his neck had been snapped. The men fired faster and faster, all aiming for that newest ghoul. It rushed towards them, collapsed onto the ground and slid towards the ground into their formation. One man was caught, the armour on his calves split in half by the ghoul¡¯s blade. Elijah picked up his spear, aimed it at that new ghoul and blasted it with magic. His beam split it in half. He swung his spear again. And now into quarters, the golden armour was strong, built to withstand any magic apart from Allasaria¡¯s light. Why would Seekers need protection from their own weapons? He had questioned that choice once, not now. A figure fell from the ceiling. Another undead beastmen. Its legs were bared bone, they crumpled as they hit the ground and the undead collapsed, chunks of meat exploding over the floor but there was no blood with them. Then another. This one fell onto the next. It similarly hit. A third. A fourth. The seventh landed on a pile of bodies. The eighth landed on the seventh. The ninth stood up, saw a Seeker and started shambling towards him. Elijah drew his sword, the blade encased itself in white light. He hefted his spear, the tip already glowing. ¡°SEEKERS!¡± He shouted. ¡°THE LIGHT GUIDES US!¡± ¡°THE LIGHT GUIDES US!¡± He got as a response. ¡°CLEANSE THEM!¡± Elijah shouted. ¡°CLEANSE THEM!¡± The rest repeated the war cry. He swung the spear and three of the walking corpses which had fallen from the ceiling split in two. There was a reason the Golden Order was the most elite fighting force in existence. They were feared in the Great War. They were feared now. Creatures of the dark; flee. Chapter 48 – Of Death When news came that one of Arascus¡¯ Divines was approaching. Soldiers would pray and hope it was Kassandora leading an army or Fer leading a warherd. Or Irinika too for that matter, the Goddess of Darkness was used largely as we used as our Allasaria, a champion to employ when the situation called for it. Any of those three, or Anassa and even Arascus himself, soldiers would sigh with relief. Malam, Olephia and Baalka would generally cause full retreats if they appeared out of nowhere, but their locations were easy to track. No one wanted to end up as a toy for Of Hatred, an experiment for Of Chaos or a pet project for Of Disease. And then there was Of Death¡­ - Excerpt from the autobiography: ¡°Eternal Struggle¡±, by Goddess Fortia, of Peace. To be a formal member of Allasaria¡¯s Golden Order, one had to be a master of the Spear, a master of the Sword, a trained commander, disciplined and loyal. Only one in fifty men managed to withstand the brutal five-year training regimen, and then it would be a further three years before being bestowed a cape to signify status of a real Seeker. Elijah and his men all wore the red capes. The moment he gave the shout to cleanse the undead, the Seekers broke formation, each man adopting his own fighting style. They weren¡¯t Maisara¡¯s Paladins, who would retain their precious formations at all costs. If before, the organised blasts of light were a lightshow at a party, then now they were the opening to an annual celebration. Beams of light travelled in every direction as golden armour started to dance among the undead beastmen. Brutish bodies of rotted skin were split apart as Seekers cut them down, blades encased in light split bone as if they were red-hot blades sliding effortlessly through butter. Spears pierced into chests, then the tips cascaded holy light outwards into all directions to devastate the walking corpses. Elijah saw a Seeker being pushed back as he duelled his own pair of beastmen, the man was fighting a half-rotten corpse of a wolfman. He stabbed the creature¡¯s shoulder with his spear, then slashed the other arm with his blinding sword. The blade, encased in light, slid through the arm and it fell to the floor. The detached arm grabbed at the calf of the Seeker. The man, in his confusion, stabbed his spear downwards, the wolfmen then lurched forwards, its jaw wrapping around the man¡¯s arm. Golden plate crumbled and blood burst from the arm. The Seeker screamed, took a step back and was impaled through the chest by a huge rotten minotaur, its hand was missing and the stub ended only in sharp, shattered bones. Elijah roared, he spun around and decapitated the two monsters that were trying to slow him down. Heads rolled to the ground but bodies kept moving. Another slash, and he made one legless. The chest rolled on the ground as the legs collapsed. Elijah took a step back, swung the spear like a long axe and dug it into the other monster¡¯s side. He took a heavy breath and channelled more of Allasaria¡¯s power. The tip of the spear started to shine in one instant and in the next it burst forth with magical power. The monster¡¯s chest simply disappeared in a small ball of bright light. Bone, muscle, fur and the hordes of insects that had buried themselves into the undead simply vanished. It collapsed down and lay still, what automotive function the body had drifted away in a few final spasms. Elijah turned to face the minotaur, his body operating entirely on instinct, all thoughts left him as his brown eyes refocused on the target. It was a huge hulking beast, half again his height and more than twice as wide. It¡¯s skin entirely devoured and its body almost entirely skeletal, one arm ended in a bony fist, each finger almost as thick as his forearm and the other had been snapped off. Now it was a stabbing dagger made of sharp bone, covered in blood from the man it had just killed. The creature lunged forwards, thrusting with that broken arm and trying to impale Elijah. He sidestepped the attack, turned and swung down with his blade. The golden hilt had warmed up with the constant magic flowing from it. The blade, glowing as if it was a beam of solid light, merely touched the bone and instantly incinerated it. The minotaur gave no reaction, it swung forwards with that fist into the side of Elijah¡¯s chest. He barely stepped away from the blow, a moment later and his spine would have been cracked. Then he followed up. A slash at that arm with the blade and a stab into the creature¡¯s exposed spine with his spear. Both weapons gave no feedback to the damage they were inflicting. Elijah may as well have been practicing his swings through the open air. The minotaur collapsed into two pieces with the separation of its spine. Elijah split its skull into three pieces with a quick swipe of his sword for good measure and turned to assess the damage.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. To say the fight had ended was wrong, but it was over. Some Seekers lay on the cracked stone tiles, blood spilling out, but for every that had fallen, five more still stood. They finished their individual duels with their opponents. The last of the beastmen fell when a Seeker slashed with his blade of light at the monster¡¯s chest. It took another step and then the torso slid off the legs. Elijah counted the men still standing. Thirty-three. A further six were picking themselves up off the ground and tending to their wounds. Good thing he had taken bandages. Then he tried to do the count of the corpses of their attackers. Tried to, even with nothing but a glance, he could tell there were at least a hundred, maybe two hundred, just in the throne room. Then the corridors¡­ they could be counted later. Elijah took a step back and checked Atis¡¯ soul jar. It was still on the throne, a little golden vase reinforced with steel. ¡°What now High Seeker?¡± Samuel walked up to Elijah and asked, his breathing was heavy, clouds of condensation escaping from his helmet with each tired breath the man was taking. ¡°This has to be reported, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It does, we will¡­¡± His voice trailed off as he looked past the man at the main hallway leading to the throne room. One soul still stood there. A woman in a heavy black cloak. Elijah raised his hand as the Seekers combat instincts activated again. They got into a tight phalanx formation around Elijah as the woman took a step. She was pale, her skin so ghastly she may have never even seen the sun, her hair was the total opposite of that ashen visage, it was a black so black it made the darkness around it seem dull, as if an artist had created a painting and left a part untouched. She took a step forwards and Elijah¡¯s hand instinctively tightened around his spear. She was tall. Far too tall to be a human, even an elf. He had spent long enough on Olympiada to know when a Divine was about and she, even shrouded in that darkness, was as Divine as they came. ¡°WHO ARE YOU?!¡± Elijah shouted. The woman took another step and entered the throne room. Her eyes were a pale grey. She looked the room, at the corpses of the Seekers and tutted. ¡°I ASKED A QUESTION! WHO ARE YOU?!¡± Elijah repeated himself, the woman still ignored him. ¡°SEEKERS! PHALANX FORMATION! READY SPEARS!¡± If she wasn¡¯t going to introduce herself, then she obviously wasn¡¯t coming for a friendly chat. The woman¡¯s grey eyes swept over the Golden Order and Elijah felt a chill go down his spine. ¡°Allasaria¡¯s men.¡± The woman said, her voice was like a cold silk cloth. Smooth and pleasant to the ears, but chilly and detached. Elijah blinked. That was it? Of course they were Seekers! Who else would wear the golden armour of the Order? ¡°We are Seekers of Goddess Allasaria.¡± Elijah said loudly over the multitude of helmet before him. None of the men eased their spears. ¡°Why is Atis dead?¡± The woman asked. ¡°That¡¯s what we came here to find out!¡± Elijah shouted back. ¡°Now which Divine are you?¡± The woman ignored him again. ¡°Did you kill Atis?¡± ¡°Kill him? NO! That¡¯s what we came here to find out!¡± Elijah shouted back. ¡°Then Leona is dead?¡± The woman asked again. ¡°Goddess Leona? NO!¡± Elijah shouted again. What was she? A Divine here? Allasaria had told him nothing about it. So was she a rogue Divine then? But here? ¡°So Leona lives and yet the Pantheon lost a member?¡± The woman replied. She shook her head, smelled the air and then looked straight at Elijah¡¯s chest. No. Not at him, through him, directly at the soul jar behind him. ¡°How very interesting, it has been a long time since I¡¯ve chatted to a God.¡± She said idly. ¡°We¡­¡± Elijah swallowed the lump in his throat that was creeping up. ¡°We are to bring Atis¡¯ soul back to Goddess Allasaria immediately, you may come with us. There are monst¡­¡± Elijah didn¡¯t finish the sentence, it was a gambit he knew he failed the moment he began, his voice merely trailed off. The woman¡¯s bored expression told him everything he needed to know. ¡°I was not asking for your permission.¡± The woman said. ¡°Besides, are you not all Pantheon bootlickers? Should you not bow at my Divine feet? Or are you too good for me?¡± Elijah didn¡¯t need to hear anymore. ¡°SEEKERS! CHARGE SPEARS!¡± He shouted, the spears pointed at the woman began to glow. She finally showed a hint of emotion on that ghastly mask of a face. A smile. A crazed smile, her grey eyes almost glowing with glee. The woman was faster. She raised her hand as if giving an order to an army and pointed with fingers extended at the Seekers. ¡°Kill them.¡± Where those figures came from, Elijah did not know. One moment, he was looking at the woman, the next, he was facing an ancient breastplate. A sword pierced his chest. Then the figure disappeared. He collapsed to his knees as a ghastly apparition, a knight on a horse charged out of thin air and impaled a Seeker on his lance. The Seeker fell and the knight disappeared. An elven blademaster, grey as if all colour had been leeched out of him fell from the ceiling and disappeared into the floor. Two Seekers fell alongside him. An arrow out of nowhere. A dwarven axe crushed a Seeker¡¯s leg. Another knight. A mob of peasants rushed them. A Royal guard, one of Maisara¡¯s Paladins, then a bandit in leather armour. An endless tide of apparitions appearing and disappearing one after the other. They fell from the ceiling, they climbed out of the floor, they shot from the hallways, stabbed from behind, or simply materialized before Elijah. And then they disappeared just as fast, each one bringing a Seeker with him. They didn¡¯t even have time to blast a single beam of light out. Elijah rolled onto his back as the woman stepped over him. She took Atis¡¯ soul jar into her delicate hands and smiled hungrily at it. ¡°Who¡­¡± Elijah forced the final words out of his mouth. ¡°Who¡­ are¡­ you¡­?¡± The woman looked down at him, those grey eyes were dull once again. ¡°Gatekeeper to the World Beyond, Daughter Goddess of Arascus, Queen of the Spectral Legions. Mistress to¡­¡± The Goddess kept listing off her titles as Elijah¡¯s consciousness slowly faded away and the last breath left his body. Just before he died, he heard the woman say her own name: ¡°Neneria, Goddess of Death.¡± Chapter 49 – An Unexpected Guest Alice watched the sunset with Leona. They had travelled to the New Continent and were hiking through one of the UNN¡¯s great national parks, a forest with trees twice as wide as Leona was tall. The Goddess suddenly fell to her knees and threw up. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Alice grabbed at the woman¡¯s shoulders. This was the fifth time this hour. ¡°Yes.¡± Alice said, her dress dirtied with pine needles. There was a difference in her voice this time, the four times before, Leona was simply suffering. Now, her voice was steady as if she had set her mind. ¡°Contact Allasaria, I¡¯ve worked it out.¡± Sara Daganhoff, Duchess Daganhoff as she was known back in the headquarters, got off the train at Arcadia. On one hand, there was some pride in the fact she was entrusted with this task, on the other, how exactly was she supposed to find four sorcerers here? If there ever was a magician worth a grain of salt, there would be some way to tie him back to Arcadia, the place had a population of almost four million. It wasn¡¯t so much a capital city for the magical world, as it was the entire nation, a school that had grown into a compound, then into a microstate and now a recognised authority over its own piece of clay. Sara checked her notes once last time as the final passengers disembarked from the blue and yellow Epan Community train. She had everything publicly accessible on Arcadia and everything privately accessible on Anassa; Arascus had even told her what sort of wine the woman liked to drink with her meals. Sara shook her head and marched from the grand train station. It was an odd building, the original was obviously old. It had the tall walls of cleanly carved stone, the pillars and the statues that were in fashion a century ago, and then the other half of the building was a sheet of glass, held up by dark steel beams. Sara took a few minutes to look it, she was here a touring journalist, she might as well look the part. Eventually, the fusion of tradition and modernity started to grate on her. One, she could take, this ungodly mix was simply awful to the eyes. Ancient pillars held up modern walkways of glass, statues of heroes from the Great War wore capes of flags that didn¡¯t even exist back then. A circular portion that once would have held a circular clock was replaced with a modern rectangular timetable. She scanned her ticket and went past the gates. Why did she even buy tickets? There wasn¡¯t a guard in sight. She chuckled at that stupid thought. Of course there wouldn¡¯t be guards about, what sort of criminal would be stupid enough to try and pull anything in the nation of mages? Sara saw her own reflection in one of the glass panels and cleaned the creases from her clothes. White shirt, brown jacket over it, a skirt, tall boots, dark hair tied back into a tail. She even wore the hat of an airheaded journalist, the notebook in her hands, trio of pens in her chest pocket and backpack only added to the image. Sara took a breath and set off towards the various guilds that resided in Arcadia. How difficult would the four students be to find? All Sara had was sketches drawn by Iliyal, of course an elf like him would turn to out to be artist, and a name: Eliza. The idiot did not even ask them for full names, he was so damn honourable he didn¡¯t even ask Fer for them. What a cretin. Sara took a breath and thought for a moment how easy it would be if Leona was on her side. She would most likely stumble across the four in her first five minutes here. Now¡­ Now though, where was she supposed to go? Eliza wasn¡¯t a rare name in the slightest, every country in Epa had some form of Eliza about¡­ She took a few long looks around and decided to start scouting. Journalist¡­ journalist¡­ maybe investigator was better? No¡­ That would attract attention, investigators followed trouble, journalists followed their whims. Sara came across a group of students almost immediately, they were everywhere here. In plain uniforms with capes bearing their various school insignia. The colours were supposedly what kind of magic they specialized in, red for fire, blue for water, the usual. ¡°Hello!¡± Sara said cheerfully. If there was one thing working under Iliyal had done for her, it was killed whatever sort of natural cheer she had. Arascus had only reinforced that idea. ¡°Hello.¡± The students said oddly. It was a trio of young boys. Boys were good, these ones could not be any older than sixteen. Even better, that meant they were inexperienced when it came to women and Sara had always considered herself a charmer. ¡°I¡­¡± The lead student, a tall boy with long hair. Sara batted her eyelashes. ¡°I¡¯m here on a story.¡± Sara said. ¡°I¡¯m from the Norjesk Rikkast.¡± Norje was one of the lesser known countries in Epa, not like the giants of Rancais and Doschia, it only had five million people across the whole country.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Oh.¡± The boy said awkwardly, a blush rising into his cheeks as Sara brushed her arm past him. A touch here, a giggle there and men would melt. ¡°We¡¯re doing a report on Arcadia, it¡¯s all very hush-hush, you know.¡± Sara said with another giggle. ¡°So I¡¯d rather my story not get leaked out.¡± ¡°No worries whatsoever!¡± One of the boys said. ¡°Could I take for you an interview? I¡¯ve not¡­¡± Sara gave them a stupid smile. Iliyal and Arascus would have seen through it immediately but they weren¡¯t men, one was an ancient elf, the other a God. If she ever managed to bend Iliyal, she would consider herself equal to the Goddess of Love. ¡°Well, to be honest with you, they just sort of sent me off here to see the sites and write about, we want to get into the history of Arcadia.¡± ¡°I know a caf¨¦ nearby!¡± The shortest of the three boys said with far too much enthusiasm. Sara had caught them hook, line and sinker. ¡°That would be great!¡± Leona fell over again. ¡°Are you hurt?¡± Alice burst out. They were camping in the solace of nature. ¡°Here.¡± The Goddess brought out her own phone as she rolled onto her side through heavy breathes. ¡°Ring Elassa, tell her to go to Anassa right now. And to stay there.¡± Sara finished her coffee and blew the three boys a kiss. They turned crimson and almost ran out of the caf¨¦. Some things that only she could do: They had told her all about Arcadia, the locations of the various schools and even knew some of the best in the school. There was some Fleur Ambelee who was apparently the school beauty, although she was untouchable by the likes of them. Another youth called Lyca Myklos who she was to avoid. The boy was unbeatable in the arena and he frequently liked to bring fights out of it too. More importantly, one of the boys had given her his map. His phone number was written down on the back, then scratched out, then written again. How bold of him. She sipped the rest of her coffee. Coffee was always good, especially when someone else paid for it, and stared at the map. What a find! It had everything! The various administrative buildings, the schools, the arenas, the live-magic exercise areas. She might visit them later if she had the time. And it had the hidden gem of them all, Elassa¡¯s Gardens and the building that lay within it: The Divine Library. Iliyal had mentioned it before, and if Iliyal had mentioned it, that meant it could be a lead. Sara stood up, pulled out her notepad, scrawled some miscellaneous information as a cover, and set off. ¡°What do you want?¡± Anassa said to Elassa. ¡°I can¡¯t visit my sister?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the sibling who sold the family name.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure as always Ana.¡± Sara sat in Elassa¡¯s Divine Gardens and swung her feet off a bench. Apparently it had been blessed by Goddess Elassa, of Magic, four hundred years ago. How very interesting. Sara scratched it down on her notepad as she watched the Divine Library. It was an old building, completely of a different style than everything else she had seen. High peaked towers and countless windows, all dark stone and without anyone entering it. Sara wondered why no one entered or left the building, if it was a Divine Library, shouldn¡¯t it be getting used all the time? What sort of knowledge did it hold? Sara sighed as the sun started to go down. The park cleared, there were no guards, not a soul as Arcadia quietened down for the night. For all the talk of mages, Sara was not impressed with them whatsoever. She had seen the situation at other places of education with students partying day and night, with music blaring from every window, with every substance on Erda being taken out in the open. She had frequently recruited members there too, there was no one more susceptible to the cause than a student with a life aimless, a mind intelligent and a heart passionate. And then Sara had visited Arcadia. Here, the girls quietly talked about the lectures, the boys blushed and turned away when Sara so much as glanced at them. All talk was of theory and philosophy and morality and the thing they all most enjoyed doing was sitting in their sad little dorms and reading their sad little books. She had visited one of the live-magic grounds and watched from a distance, even that, once the awe of seeing magic in real life had passed, was a sad display. It had merely been a lesson were a bunch of hydromancy students were learning on how to make water rise from the ground and then lowering it again. Sara sighed and decided that for all the talk of power, of swallowing cities into the earth, reforging mountains and turning deserts into jungles, mages were very boring. And so she sat and waited. She looked around as the sky turned purple in the brilliant sunset. She sat and waited as a gardener came, waved his finger and a bush sprouted flowers. He didn¡¯t so much as cast a look at her. She sat and waited as the gardener left. She sat, she waited, and she decided she was done sitting and waiting. Sara sat up and marched to the door of the Divine Library. If it was locked, that would answer her question but she simply would not believe that these bookworms would not venture here. She looked around, there was no one around, and tested the door. It swung open. Sara stepped in, she knew she had a foolish grin but why hide it? It was this easy? Were these mages stupid? Did all the books make their minds slow? Why would they¡­ Sara¡¯s grin fell of her face immediately. Standing past the countless bookshelves, on the top of a wide, red-carpeted staircase that could have been lifted from a palace, where two women. They were obviously unhappy with each other and they were tall. The only other person Sara had seen of a similar height was Arascus. The thought entered her mind immediately as the two women turned and cast freezing glares at Sara. Divines. Chapter 50 – One Last Try Some people clamour for glory. They crave prestige. Power is their drug of choice. It was foisted upon me. I was made figurehead symbolically, Irinika was the deadliest of Arascus¡¯ adopted Goddesses so naturally Light should be chosen to counter Darkness. Light is malleable, it could be interpreted in whatever fashion one wished unlike Maisara¡¯s Order or Fortia¡¯s Peace. Now the Pantheon rests on my shoulders alone. Excerpt from Allasaria¡¯s Diary. Allasaria sat in her office, two maids in prim white gowns almost matching their Goddesses white silken robes were waiting for her to finish scrawling letters. One to the Rancais government, the other to Doschia. Even a century ago, Allasaria would have considered the letters needless bureaucracy at best, a humiliation at worst. The leader of the White Pantheon begging for governments to allow Divines to support their police forces against Anarchia¡¯s¡­ anarchy. Mascot Divines were a mistake, the amount of pride they felt in their station was far too great. Doschia¡¯s Saksma and Rancais¡¯s Paida were strong individually but their presence made any sort of further Epan Community integration go from difficult to impossible. Allasaria finished the letter to Doschia¡¯s government. If this failed, she would try a tribute, a parade or something. Hell, she would even send them Helenna, Kavaa and Iniri if they wished for it, those three were always good for the economy. Allasaria folded the letters and concluded them with the official stamp of the White Pantheon; a mountain rising out of clouds. She had put so much into this project and yet it still felt like every step anyone took here cracked another one of the precious few foundations remaining. Allasaria sighed and handed the letters to the maids. They already knew where to send them. Sometimes the other Divines complained about the amount of servants Allasaria had underneath her, Allasaria did not care for those words in the slightest: they were playing politics as she was managing the world. The maids left and Allasaria was left alone in her office. It was a grand place, long ago, it had been one of her favourite locations. She remembered the discussions and organisation that went on here, especially during the first century after the Great War, those grand reconstruction efforts were even the neutral Divines would come and ask on how they could rebuild the world into something that would never have a Great War again. Magical lamps floated in the air, papers littered her desks, she had two monitors installed on the wall to constantly be broadcasting the news. Doschia¡¯s stock market beginning to slow down whereas Rancais had all but fallen into open rebellion. That foolish government was still trying to negotiate with Anarchia¡¯s men in an attempt to stop the violence that was tearing the country apart. Who a thousand years ago would have predicted a Goddess of Anarchy? There were always those who believed in a lack of hierarchy, but when did that love for equality transform into a need for chaos? If she didn¡¯t know Olephia personally, Allasaria would have believed it was her behind this unrest. She opened another report. The two hundred Seekers she sent personally after Leona informed her to go check on what happened to the men sent after Atis. They should have communicated by now, but the weather in Eastern Karaina was terrible, storms had swept in and forced the surveillance drones away, whereas the atmospheric models took pictures only of dark clouds. The moment she heard Leona¡¯s voice, she had written off Elijah¡¯s expedition as missing in action, the lot of them were more than likely dead, but then if they were simply dead in a storm, Leona would have not called. The door to her office opened and Allasaria¡¯s day got from bad to worse. Fortia stepped into her office in that golden armour of hers. Battleskirt, chest-plate, tall boots and all, the only thing she lacked was her helmet. Allasaria didn¡¯t even bother to stand up, if Fortia came with Maisara then it was for another ridiculous demand, if she came without¡­ scheming was the most likely option. ¡°What is it?¡± Allasaria asked, she was in no mood for scheming today. Fortia closed the door behind herself, pulled up one of the huge chairs specifically crafted for Divines and sat in front of Allasaria¡¯s desk. The Goddess of Peace did it with such flair she may as well have been in a theatre. ¡°This is the last time I ask, what is it?¡± Fortia merely pulled out a stack of papers and put it on the table: White Pantheon Two: New Foundations in a New Age. By Goddess Fortia, of Peace. With advice & excerpts taken from others. ¡°What is this?¡± Allasaria picked up the papers, it may as well have been a tome in thickness. ¡°Fortia, I don¡¯t have the time for this.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°The White Pantheon has failed.¡± Fortia said, Allasaria wondered if she was like this with her beloved Maisara too or if the dramatization was only for her. ¡°This is how to stop our coming war.¡± ¡°You know I¡¯ve heard this talk before.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not here to drag us into war.¡± ¡°But you will.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°Because if we follow your ideals, then it won¡¯t be war within the White Pantheon, it will be war with the world.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be that.¡± Fortia said, shaking her head. Her golden hair swung from side to side. ¡°Did Maisara help you write this?¡± Allasaria flicked the first page. She knew the answer when she saw the neatly organised contents page, it had Maisara¡¯s touch practically spilling out of it. ¡°She did.¡± ¡°I thought so.¡± Allasaria said idly as she scanned the page. Point One: On the formation of the Pantheon. Point Two: On Hierarchy. Point Three: On Divines. Points four¡­ five¡­ Point Seventeen: On Foreign Policy. The fact such an issue lay so far down the page said everything Allasaria needed to know. She flicked to the page, the very first sentence was a problem: On the urgency to reestablish Divine participation within national politics. ¡°This is exactly what we are not doing Fortia.¡± ¡°This is the one thing we can do to stop war. I and Maisara would take the Anarchian threat, you would be left to manage the Pantheon.¡± ¡°Do you think I want to manage the Pantheon?¡± Allasaria asked incredulously. Fortia was good, but she wasn¡¯t a schemer like Helenna, and Allasaria had long since learned how to handle Helenna. Of Peace¡¯s little tremble of her lips, the little flicker in those golden eyes revealed the intention. ¡°We could always swap.¡± Fortia asked innocently. ¡°You are incapable of leading the Pantheon Fortia, you or Maisara would destroy it.¡± ¡°I see the Pantheon falling apart right now, Atis is dead and Leona will die sooner rather than later. Who is incapable between the two of us?¡± Allasaria thought about launching Fortia out of her office there and then. She held off on the thought, this woman held grudges like no other. ¡°Between the two of us, who has held the Pantheon together for a thousand years and counting?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°Leona¡¯s luck has.¡± And there it was. Allasaria hated this theory. Leona was important, yes, but her luck binding the Pantheon? If anything, it was fear of her luck that stopped the rest of the Divines from engaging in childish drama. The moment they sensed weakness in Lady Luck, they started circling the woman in some veneer of trying to honour and protect her. ¡°I have Fortia. It was my doing. Leona¡¯s powers do not predict the tedium of the day-to-day.¡± ¡°Do you know that?¡± Fortia asked quickly, too quickly for Allasaria¡¯s liking. ¡°If they do, then she does not share, the point still stands.¡± Allasaria said and caught herself from saying anymore. Why did she even try? What was the point? Did she actually think she could try and convince Fortia? She had been trying for a thousand years. ¡°When Leona dies, it will be over for the Pantheon. You know that.¡± ¡°The Pantheon is mine. I was chosen in a unanimous vote, I will lead it.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°You are leading us into war.¡± Fortia said and Allasaria felt something snap in her heart. Leading us into war? Into war? Her? It was one thing for the Goddess of Peace to talk about her own domain, it was another entirely to try and gaslight her into this. Allasaria leaned back. If words won¡¯t work, then she supposed it was once again a time for threats. ¡°Fortia. You are welcome to do whatever you wish to do. Do you think I don¡¯t know about the fact you¡¯ve been visiting Kassandora, that Maisara has too? Do you two seriously think you are so smart you can play like this on my mountain? Do you think that Maisara¡¯s sector turning into a fortress went unnoticed? Do you know why I don¡¯t stop you?¡± That finally quelled Fortia¡¯s eagerness. Allasaria only continued as she stood up to look down on the Goddess of Peace. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m scared of you? Do you think you making your little troop movements worry me more than what is happening in Rancais? Do you think I even care what you do Fortia? You cannot lead the Pantheon because you¡¯re incapable of leading.¡± ¡°And are you better?¡± Fortia said, but the strength had gone from her tone. Allasaria knew that without an audience, the Goddess of Peace would give up. ¡°You placed me on this throne. You gave me a world filled with war, ashes, death and rubble and I¡¯ve singlehandedly built a peace that has lasted a thousand years, a prosperity unseen in history, advancements we couldn¡¯t even imagine a millennia ago!¡± Allasaria shouted. ¡°And now what? Do you want it? Do you think I want to sit here? Do you think I would not hand it off the first chance I got? How many times do you think I¡¯ve begged Leona to take the throne?¡± Fortia took a step back as Allasaria unconsciously started to float into the air, still shouting, her hair starting to rise around her. ¡°I didn¡¯t allow Ciria to join the Pantheon because I didn¡¯t want her to see the squabbling embarrassment you are! I created the Epan Community to replace us! Why do I not give you throne? Because you are a child Fortia! You and Maisara and Helenna! Anyone in the Pantheon who dreams of the seat I hold is instantly disqualified from it! Your peace would be a peace so terrible it would hurl us into a war the likes of which we¡¯ve not seen since Arascus!¡± ¡°I am the Goddess of Peace!¡± Fortia shouted back but as she did, she took a step back from Allasaria. ¡°Then keep the peace! But if you want war, then know I am far better at it than you are. Every trick you can think of, I¡¯ve done already. You were a mere general back in the Great War, I was the Champion.¡± Allasaria blinked, she realised the power growing in her hands and she set herself back on her seat. She pointed at Fortia¡¯s ridiculous plan that she had written. ¡°Take that and never show it to me again. If you want to hold out until Leona¡¯s death, then go ahead.¡± ¡°I do not want war with you.¡± ¡°You yourself said I was leading this Pantheon into war. Then go, prepare for it. You have my full permission. If you make one move against me. If one Seeker falls to a Guardian¡¯s blade, I will personally cleanse your Order from existence.¡± Chapter 51 – Stupidity At Its Finest Allasaria sat and thought. Fortia¡¯s recent meeting was all but a formal declaration of hostilities between them. The words she had said were largely a bluff, Fortia was a much better commander than Allasaria could dream of being. Allasaria needed her own general. Good thing she had one in Olympiada. Elassa upon the great staircase leading up to the higher floors of Anassa¡¯s Prison. She looked to the intruder, then to Anassa, then to the intruder, then back to Anassa, then to the intruder. ¡°Who are you?¡± This¡­ this¡­ girl that had suddenly wandered in stood before their gazes like a deer in the headlights. She stood there, black hair tied back, with some stupid hat and a brown coat. A notepad in her hands and a smile growing in her face that obviously told of the fact she was just caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Elassa turned back to Anassa, even though Of Magic and Of Sorcery were close concepts, Anassa was the almost opposite of the woman. Tall, her face sharp like a hawk, her red eyes almost glowing, her hair so dark Elassa had been jealous of it since she had met the woman thousands of years ago. The red dress only added to the vain nobility Anassa loved so much. Elassa on the other hand was shorter, her hair flowing in waves, her face more pleasant. And she didn¡¯t bother with dresses unless an occasion called for it. Clothes were enough, the blue cloak was only there because she didn¡¯t want to be a total embarrassment in front of her sister. ¡°I thought she was yours.¡± Anassa said quietly, her eyes shining and the edges of her lips trying to constrain laughter. ¡°Who are you?¡± Elassa shouted again. ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask again.¡± The put some life into the statue of a girl who had intruded on them. ¡°I¡¯m a journalist!¡± The girl cried out, Elassa only barely managed to stop herself from sighing. ¡°From Norjesk Rikkast! Aina Larsen!¡± At least she had the decency to bow. ¡°And what are you doing here?¡± Elassa took a heavy breath. A journalist? A fucking journalist? She understood why Leona had sent her here immediately but this? She had expected¡­ Something more¡­ not fucking cleanup duty. ¡°I¡¯m writing a story on Arcadia, we want to encourage tourism here!¡± Aina shouted. ¡°I just thought¡­ Well¡­¡± She turned to the door and tested the handle again. ¡°The door was open so I just thought that¡­ I mean¡­¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Elassa turned to Anassa. ¡°Why is the door open?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t lock it.¡± Of Sorcery replied coldly. ¡°What are you going to do with her?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even give me ideas.¡± Elassa shut Anassa down immediately, there was no reason to discuss how best to quickly and quietly kill a poor woman who obviously wasn¡¯t the brightest in the bunch. ¡°This is a restricted area.¡± Elassa shouted back, she channelled her magic effortlessly. Apparently mages would get a sense of euphoria when they casted magic. Elassa had been around for too long to feel it. ¡°So I must tell you to stay away.¡± Aina bowed immediately. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I just thought¡­¡± She flicked her hands and pen appeared from her sleeve into her nimble fingers. ¡°But could I have an interview?¡± Elassa heard Anassa chuckling behind her as she floated the stairs. That was annoying, but this girl¡­ There was no reason to get angry at her, if the door was unlocked then it was her own fault for not checking. Back when the Divine Library was founded, all she had to do was wag a finger and her mages would know to stay away. ¡°I¡¯d love an interview!¡± Anassa shouted. ¡°No interviews.¡± Elassa crushed the girl¡¯s smile. ¡°You¡¯re from Norje, what city?¡± ¡°Osheim.¡± The girl said quickly, Elassa had expected as much, it was the capital. ¡°Why?¡± She looked down at her feet as Elassa¡¯s magic gently lifted her up into the air. ¡°I don¡¯t want more tourism in Arcadia, this is a place of education, not some resort.¡± Elassa began and the girl hurriedly nodded along. ¡°Do not write your story, I do not allow it.¡± Aina still had some confidence left. ¡°I¡­ but you¡¯re not¡­ but please? It doesn¡¯t have to be about Arcadia but if you¡¯re a Goddess then anything!¡± Elassa lifted the girl higher. Was she not scared of magic? Or of her Divinity? She supposed a journalist would have some experience with both. The Goddess swung her finger and the doors to the Divine Library opened. ¡°Are you throwing me out?¡± ¡°I¡¯m taking you back to Osheim. You can interview me on the way.¡± ¡°Really?¡± The girl squealed with so much joy Elassa might as well have just promised her eternal life. ¡°Really.¡± Elassa said flatly. This is what she had been reduced to. The Goddess of Magic giving interviews to some foolish girl who happened to stumble upon Anassa. Sara scowled as Elassa dropped her into the Osheim marketplace and flew off. She just had to play a stupid airheaded journalistic, all ¡®oohs¡¯ and ¡®aahs¡¯ for the entire five flight as Elassa had told her of things in the past. She would look over her notes later, maybe the Goddess had made a mistake, but she doubted it. Arascus had set her standards for Divines; he never made mistakes. But at least she found Anassa! Every time she tried to steer the conversation back to who that woman was, Elassa would steer it away. Sara pulled out her phone and checked the flight timetables Osheim International Airport. Modern technology was a joy indeed: the next flight to Arcadia was in six hours. Elassa started flying back to Olympiada. Now that Leona¡¯s suspicions had been confirmed and dealt with, there was no reason to bicker with her domain-sister. No doubt Anassa would start talking down to her about how she should have killed this Aina. What a waste of a day. Chapter 52 – The World’s Greatest Strategist Although as covered before, Divines have great influence on the shape of our world, there are many who choose to self-segregate and stay within their domains. The various nations in the oceans are one such example of Divines who have decided to leave the Overworld and retreat from the international stage. Excerpt from ¡°A Guide To Divines.¡± Written by modern historian Joseph Samminth Allasaria stood before a cell door. A cell door she had not entered in a long time, not because she particularly disliked the person within, or because they could harm her, but because she knew what the prisoner could do; words of honey sweeter than Helenna¡¯s Love, a need greater than Fortia¡¯s Peace, a shine fiercer than even Allasaria¡¯s own Light. A genius so unmatched Allasaria had never wanted to kill them in case a world-ending threat appeared, a genius so unmatched they could not be let out. Allasaria took a breath and entered Kassandora¡¯s cell. Kassandora was laying on the bed, eyes closed and thinking. Somehow even the grey prison garbs of the Lower Prison did little to take away from the woman¡¯s overwhelming presence. Her red hair was a shade deeper than dark blood, her height equalled Allasaria¡¯s. Maybe the Goddess of Light had a finger¡¯s width over the Goddess of War, but neither of them cared about such trite concepts as height. Kassandora opened her red eyes, they widened for a moment in surprise and the woman sat up. The shock lasted for as long as a flash of Allasaria¡¯s beams of light, Of War lazily sat up and didn¡¯t even bother to smooth the creases in that grey dress. ¡°It¡¯s been a while.¡± She said. Allasaria shut the door behind her and sat down at the little wooden table on the other side of the room. It was huge in reality, but for Divines of their size, an elf would sit on it like a young teen, a human would be a child. The last piece of furniture was the containment crystal in the room. Allasaria wondered what it felt like to be constrained to an object that you could not touch. ¡°It has.¡± Allasaria said and indicated to the other chair. ¡°Come, sit.¡± ¡°So there¡¯s a discussion about.¡± Kassandora said idly as she took lazy steps. ¡°I wonder what about?¡± The question was obviously rhetorical, her tone said as much. ¡°What do you think?¡± Allasaria barked instantly and then took a deep breath. ¡°Forget it, you already know.¡± ¡°Do I?¡± ¡°Maisara, Fortia¡­¡± Allasaria said as Kassandora sat down. ¡°I assume Helenna, Kavaa and Iniri too.¡± The Goddess of War finished. ¡°Those three too.¡± ¡°So?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I know my worth, what do you want?¡± ¡°I want advice.¡± Kassandora laughed, leaned back and stretched her arms out to either side. ¡°That¡¯s all I can give!¡± Allasaria killed the smile growing on her lips. She knew Kassandora from before the War, the two of them had once served as Twin Goddesses of Victory, Light & War, it was an unstoppable combination. Allasaria knew that Kassandora knew that too, if there was any hidden buttons she had not found within herself, Kassandora had. ¡°So? What can you offer me? Freedom? Total victory?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not going to give up anything for free?¡± ¡°Should I? Would you?¡± Allasaria sighed. No. Of course she wouldn¡¯t. ¡°I want advice on what to do with Maisara and Fortia.¡± Kassandora leaned forwards again, that terribly hungry smile on her lips, that fierce glow of seeing something Allasaria had missed already in her eyes. ¡°And not Helenna, Kavaa or Iniri?¡± ¡°Those three are too weak to stand against me.¡± ¡°That is true.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But you should clean your closet out regularly else insects infest it.¡± ¡°You do hold your co-conspirators in high regard, don¡¯t you?¡± Allasaria said and Kassandora burst out in laughter again. ¡°I¡¯m easy to get along with, they came to me. And I¡¯d say it to their faces just as much as I¡¯d say it to you.¡± Allasaria was sure she would, but before that, she¡¯d make sure to go on a speech about the noble termite and how it can turn down the greatest of homes and how those three should want to be this fabled idea of a termite. ¡°Nothing for free?¡± Allasaria said. ¡°I didn¡¯t even give you anything for free when I told you how to defeat the Godkiller. Do you think I care about the sorry state of the Pantheon right now?¡± That was the last time they had talked, more than a century ago. Kassandora was a sweet poison, too much of her killed rational thought. ¡°I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t.¡± Allasaria said and sighed. ¡°What do you want?¡± Kassandora replied instantly. Obviously this was planned out already. Of War had plans upon plans in that head of hers. ¡°Three things.¡± Other Divines, Allasaria was sure Kassandora would have provided a whole show for. Now she simply crossed her arms and adopted Allasaria¡¯s cold posture. ¡°One, a meeting with Ilwin, the new prisoner you have.¡± ¡°I know who he is.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you do.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°Two, his freedom.¡± A concession like that? It was¡­ it was almost pointless. Allasaria racked her brain as she tried to figure out some sort of reasoning of why or who the man could be. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Leona brought him here, I¡¯m sure he¡¯s important in some way.¡± Now Allasaria laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t belittle me Kass. If it was Arascus, I¡¯d understand.¡± ¡°If it was Arascus, I wouldn¡¯t even bother asking.¡± ¡°Because you know I would not give you that.¡± ¡°But you will give me this.¡± Kassandora said sternly. ¡°So why?¡± Kassandora sat for a moment as she thought. Allasaria wondered how much of that thinking was for show and how much was simply to drag the moment out. ¡°Do you know who he is?¡± ¡°I have bigger things to investigate than some elf. Even if Leona sent him here.¡± ¡°I will tell you, but don¡¯t kill him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an assurance I will kill him.¡± Allasaria said flatly and Kassandora smiled like a little devil. ¡°Are you not curious?¡± And in one simple question, the Goddess of Light felt those terrible hooks of Kassandora worm their way into her brain. Why should she be curious? Well she was curious now! It was a stupid thing, she knew by all good reasoning she should simply leave the room and return with Ilwin¡¯s head. But she knew that then, Kassandora would never tell her simply as a punishment. The curiosity would never be sated. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°So you promise?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not Maisara, I do break promises.¡± Allasaria said coldly. ¡°Oh please, you know what I meant. Free him and let him go.¡± ¡°Who is he?¡± Allasaria almost shouted, the smile on Kassandora almost crushed her. There it was, the Goddess of War had won yet another battle. ¡°Ilwin Tremali.¡± ¡°Iliyal¡¯s son?¡± Allasaria asked instantly. She had not even bothered thinking about that elf since she wasted ten minutes on an interrogation. Maisara had found nothing and Helenna said the man was just an elf. And yet somehow Kassandora knew¡­ What honesty there was in the White Pantheon. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°That¡¯s why I want to talk to him.¡± ¡°So you want his freedom just because of that?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Iliyal was a great man, I see no reason for his descendants to suffer here.¡± Allasaria thought for a while, a Tremali out there would no doubt be an annoying issue, a filthy plate she¡¯d have to clean eventually¡­ But the house was on fire, who cared about whether the cutlery was dirty? ¡°What¡¯s the third condition?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°Communication with Anassa. She¡¯s in the Divine Library.¡± Allasaria sighed. The demand did not surprise her, it was merely disappointing that somehow, someone had told Kassandora about Anassa. The Seekers she had set to guard the Lower Prison weren¡¯t there because she hated the other Divines, it was to bar them access to Kassandora for their own damn good. ¡°Who told you?¡± Allasaria asked reflexively. She knew she wouldn¡¯t get an answer. It was most likely Helenna or Elassa anyway, maybe Fortia although she didn¡¯t value that woman¡¯s intelligence so highly as to think she could find Anassa. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to know?¡± Kassandora cooed. No. Allasaria would not like to know. Not at all. ¡°Whatever Kass. Those three conditions.¡± Ilwin, she would give up immediately. She did not care about that man in the slightest. Anassa though? Anassa was a monster, sorcery was a menace, there was a reason sorcerers had been killed off in the years after the Great War. Anassa was a monster, but she was whimsical and egotistical, prideful and with vain tastes, she was a monster that could be captured. Anassa with Kassandora¡¯s mind? That was a different beast entirely. ¡°That¡¯s a no.¡± Allasaria said flatly. ¡°A no on what?¡± ¡°A no on all three.¡± Allasaria lied, Kassandora liked to bargain, although knowing her, she had already sensed which point Allasaria had taken issue with. ¡°Letters then.¡± Kassandora said. Of course she had worked it out immediately. ¡°And letters back. You can check them, read through them, I do not mind.¡± Kassandora raised an eyebrow. ¡°Who knows, maybe Anassa will spill something interesting?¡± And there it was. Of course Anassa would spill something interesting. That Goddess in particular loved to show off her achievements. And to Kassandora? Who wouldn¡¯t love to show off to the fabled Mistress of War? Allasaria could already see the schemes forming in her mind. She even caught herself smiling. That smile alerted her she was walking blindly into a trap. ¡°Still no. I will bring Ilwin here right now and let you talk to him, but I¡¯m not giving you Anassa.¡± ¡°You take something, I set another condition.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°The meeting with Ilwin will be private, have someone I¡¯ve been talking to take him away from Olympiada, to wherever he wishes to go.¡± Just like that, Allasaria felt a prison appear around her. Kassandora talking Ilwin in private? Who knows¡­ She made her mind stop chasing ghosts of the past. Arascus was imprisoned, Iliyal was most likely dead. No doubt Kassandora would give this condition up for access to Anassa. Even then, was the elf even a Tremali? Or was she just bluffing? Allasaria called the bluff. ¡°I will give you Ilwin, I¡¯ll bring him here right after this meeting, I¡¯ll let you to talk to him as long as you want, and then I¡¯ll send him off. I¡¯ll take him myself away from Olympiada and drop him off wherever he wants.¡± ¡°How gracious of you.¡± Kassandora¡¯s smile revealed her teeth. If there was one thing Allasaria hated about the woman, it was that she never made a show of if she got what she wanted or if she had just lost. The woman could win the lottery and go on to pretend it was merely a Monday. ¡°So now that payment is settled, I want your honest advice on Maisara and Fortia.¡± ¡°They are scheming against you.¡± Kassandora said immediately. Allasaria did not give her a reaction, that much was obvious, why else did she come here? ¡°Do you know of the Fading Light Contingency?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°It was written before the Great War, with Fortia, Maisara, Irinika, Saranael and Arascus as the participants, they were discussing how to kill you.¡± If Allasaria¡¯s surprise could be measured, it would not even be worth one grain of sand on a beach. Her position had always been envied. ¡°This was when I was still working with you.¡± Kassandora continued. ¡°I would honestly not worry about it, but Maisara has the original, I¡¯m sure stealing it won¡¯t be difficult.¡± ¡°Why should I not worry about it?¡± Allasaria asked, Kassandora smiled again. ¡°Because I didn¡¯t write it.¡± That answer was so terribly expected, but it made perfect sense. Arascus and Irinika she had already defeated. Fortia was talented at war, but conspiracy? And the rest? Theorists when it came to these matters at best. ¡°Where does she have it?¡± Allasaria asked then remembered who she was talking to. ¡°Can you get it?¡± ¡°I¡¯d have to ask Helenna, or maybe Mai would be so kind she¡¯d give me a copy.¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re asking a lot of a woman who can¡¯t leave this room.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be asking if I knew it was impossible for you.¡± ¡°It will be faster if you did it yourself but I could probably get it, later rather than sooner.¡± Kassandora replied. Allasaria left that line of questioning, there was no reason to start entering another session of bargaining with Kassandora, and besides, the woman liked a challenge. ¡°What would you do with Maisara and Fortia in this situation?¡± Allasaria and Kassandora leaned back. ¡°What situation?¡± ¡°The situation I¡¯m in now.¡± ¡°And that situation is?¡± ¡°You know already.¡± ¡°I know opinions.¡± Kassandora replied and Allasaria¡¯s fists tightened for a moment. The woman was smart indeed, Allasaria knew that Maisara and Fortia had been communicating with Kassandora but she did not know what they said exactly. Giving her own story, she was sure she was handing Kass a bucket of sand that the woman would sift through to find gold. ¡°They¡¯re plotting against me as Rancais and Doschia are falling into chaos.¡± Allasaria spoke slowly, mainly to gauge Of War¡¯s reaction. Not even a crack appeared in Kassandora¡¯s armour. ¡°Rancais is in flames from an Anarchian rebellion, Doschia¡¯s stock market is crashing. Two months from now, Doschia will be another Rancais.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re concerned with these countries why exactly?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s my job!¡± Allasaria shouted. ¡°What about Atis?¡± Of course Kassandora knew about Atis, of course she did. ¡°I sent Seekers, they¡¯ve not returned yet. Leona has informed me to send someone else to follow up on them.¡± ¡°Have you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m marshalling four hundred men.¡± ¡°Not from Olympiada I hope.¡± Kassandora said idly. It was precisely these words that made her so dangerous. If she was a fool, she would argue to send them from Olympiada, less men here meant it was easier to pull off whatever plans she had brewing in her own head. The woman excelled in a great many subjects, but her ability to pretend to be on your side, to honestly argue against her own self-interests was the worst of them all. ¡°I¡¯m not a child, they¡¯re from the branches in the UNN.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°Are they sent off or not?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t send them.¡± Kassandora said, she raised a finger to pause Allasaria and thought for a minute. Two. Three. Allasaria wondered once again if she was watching a pantomime, or if she was experiencing the Goddess of War craft yet another plan. Eventually of War spoke again. ¡°And you don¡¯t know what to do? Or did you only come to me for affirmation?¡± ¡°Are you planting seeds in my mind or are you giving me advice?¡± Allasaria asked, again she received another of those small smiles before an answer. ¡°Paranoia doesn¡¯t suit you Allasaria.¡± ¡°If anyone else told me that, I would kill them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m honoured you think so highly of me.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But the answer is obvious, Maisara and Fortia serve as the heads of their Orders. The Paladins will never make an independent move without their Goddess, and without them moving, the Guardians won¡¯t move either. Send them away. One to investigate Atis¡¯ death, preferably Fortia. Maisara send to Rancais, then when Fortia comes back send her off to fix the market in Doschia.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°What? I don¡¯t see the issue.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Why should I send her to Atis? Fortia? Are you serious?¡± Kassandora sighed, leaned back somehow managed to look down her nose on Allasaria even though the woman was shorter. ¡°Is Atis alive or dead?¡± ¡°Most likely dead.¡± Allasaria replied and Kassandora nodded along. ¡°So what do you think will seriously be found? The Seekers you¡¯ve sent are most likely dead, so whoever is there will be alerted.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll leave.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°If they¡¯re smart, they¡¯ve left already, but what could kill a God?¡± ¡°Another God.¡± ¡°This is why I asked you on whether you wanted advice or simply affirmation. You already know this Allasaria. Fortia will have the time of her life investigating whatever killed Atis. If you¡¯re lucky, whatever got Atis will get Fortia, and then she¡¯ll head straight to Doschia, there is no reason for her to even come here, is there?¡± ¡°I promised the White Pantheon would stay out of national politics.¡± Kassandora shook her head and sighed. ¡°Verbally or in writing?¡± ¡°In writing.¡± Allasaria said glumly. It was as if she was being lectured by a teacher who didn¡¯t think of her as stupid, but simply that her performance was disappointing. ¡°Do you know it off by heart or not?¡± Kassandora asked. Allasaria thought for a moment, there was no harm in telling Kassandora this, it was common knowledge anyway. She recalled the words she had written seven hundred years ago. ¡°The White Pantheon pledges to let the nations of Erda have full independence in their domestic and foreign decision making, and to only step in as a temporary measure against existential threats.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°That¡¯s the line.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Kassandora sighed again, although she didn¡¯t even think on it. ¡°If Arascus returned, would you stay still? Or even better, if it was Olephia?¡± ¡°They¡¯re existential threats.¡± Kassandora clapped her hands. ¡°And what does it take to be an existential threat?¡± ¡°I decide it.¡± ¡°That simple?¡± Kassandora actually looked surprise. Allasaria shrugged. ¡°Well usually we have a vote, but I¡¯m the final call.¡± ¡°Very well, from the moment you leave this room, Anarchia is an existential threat.¡± Allasaria blinked. That was so... dirty. So underhanded. Every part of her mind that thought touched, it practically soiled. And yet¡­ And yet it made perfect sense. There was no breaking of tradition or precedent. Kassandora continued. ¡°Maisara will obviously make a mess out of the situation in Rancais. Fortia will handle the Atis situation quickly and then try and stop chaos in the stock markets. Do either of them have hope of success?¡± ¡°No.¡± Allasaria replied. ¡°And you buy yourself time.¡± ¡°For what?¡± ¡°They won¡¯t stop until either you or they are dead.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°You mean to kill them.¡± ¡°Obviously you can¡¯t just kill them like this.¡± Kassandora snapped her fingers. ¡°We don¡¯t want you to be tyrannical now, do we?¡± Allasaria didn¡¯t answer that question. ¡°But you let them make the first move, then you have a justification in declaring them heretic Divines, you¡¯ll have the support of the neutrals when that happens. After that¡­¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m sure this prison has more cells than just mine, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come back to you later.¡± Allasaria said and stood up. That was such a perfect plan she would have never thought of it herself. Why bother reigning them in? Stall them, let them run wild and then punish the misbehaving children. It was that easy! ¡°I don¡¯t work for free.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll negotiate when it comes to that.¡± Allasaria said quickly. Kassandora grabbed her hand before the woman left her room. ¡°I already know what I want.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°What?¡± ¡°A seat on the Pantheon.¡± Allasaria blinked, stunned, pulled her hand away and left the cell. Kassandora sat in her cell and smiled. That went perfectly, the final comment especially. Those words were exactly the sort of thing that would appeal to Allasaria¡¯s joyful heart that ever longed for its precious dreams of unity and cooperation. Chapter 53 – War Eternal Neneria checked Atis¡¯ soul jar, the God was indeed contained in here, although she would need a safe place to subdue him. She sensed around for the souls still hanging around in this place. The Seekers, she had already captured, along with some Guguoans who did not want to move on, but the beastmen were what she wanted. Elves and humans would hang around the world for a while, beastmen accepted death and moved on quickly. She scouted for darkfurs: Beastmen infused with Anassa¡¯s sorcery. They were different. They had a sense of individual pride about them. They refused to move on if killed. There were three still here. They could lead her to Packmaster. Allasaria pushed Ilwin into Kassandora¡¯s cell, shut the door, crossed her arms and leaned against it. She would give anything to know what they were talking about inside, but more than likely, she had managed to outwit Kassandora and give her a meagre elf for excellent advice. She chased the thoughts away, now was the time to think about how to deal with those two rebellious Goddesses. Ilwin nimbly caught his step as he looked at the Divine sitting in a grey garb. The room was much like his, an oversized table, an oversized bed, a pair of oversized chairs. The only difference was the pole in the middle of the room, topped off with some black stone that looked like opaque obsidian. The Divine though¡­ She was something else entirely. He had seen Maisara and Helenna and had talked to them. He had even talked to Allasaria. To Leona. All of them to him seemed like Divines that didn¡¯t feel confident in their position. This woman though, with that deep red hair and those deep red eyes¡­ She sat there as if she was a free woman, as if she was looking down on her kingdom from a throne rather than being locked in the Lower Prison of Olympiada. She had the same imposing aura about her that Arascus wielded so easily. ¡°Will you not introduce yourself?¡± The Divine asked. ¡°I am Ilwin.¡± Ilwin replied immediately. He didn¡¯t know why, her words simply demanded an answer. ¡°Ilwin Tremali.¡± The woman said. ¡°Good, I am Kassandora, Of War.¡± Ilwin blinked, his eyes narrowed. Kassandora was supposedly dead. His grandfather did not believe it, but the Goddess of War had been captured before the Great War even ended. He had not seen any God with shapeshifting abilities, but it would not surprise him to see the White Pantheon possess one, likewise it would be stupid for them not to try and trick him with one. ¡°I see.¡± Ilwin replied carefully. ¡°You¡¯re obviously careful.¡± Kassandora said immediately. ¡°I knew your ancestor.¡± ¡°You mean Iliyal.¡± Ilwin said and then bit himself for giving out that tiny sliver of information. He tried to cover his tracks. ¡°Helenna told me about him.¡± ¡°Very careful. Just like him.¡± Kassandora said, she crossed her arms. ¡°Very well Ilwin. Tell me, would a White Pantheon tell you this: Leona is going to die soon. She apparently foresaw her own death, there is no stopping it now.¡± Ilwin blinked. No White Pantheon would ever give that out, but then it could be lie. ¡°Or this. The God of the Hunt, Atis, went missing, he is presumably dead.¡± Ilwin could not contain his surprise, he felt his jaw drop and his eyes widen. Kassandora, or the person pretending to be her, smiled as if she had won. ¡°And what about this? I have orchestrated a plot within the White Pantheon to drive them into chaos. Maisara and Fortia are after Allasaria¡¯s throat, Kavaa, Iniri and Helenna are out of the picture and Allasaria is about to drive them further away?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Ilwin stood there¡­ This was either the luckiest day of his life, or he was about to be executed and it was the White Pantheon¡¯s one last gamble to try and extract information out of him. ¡°The Divine Mountain will turn into a bloodbath within this year. The day, I cannot predict, but I have saved your life twenty minutes ago.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Ilwin said. ¡°Your freedom. But before that, I want one piece of information from you. Merely one. I won¡¯t ask for more.¡± Kassandora said as Ilwin stood there in shock. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Is Iliyal still alive?¡± ¡°He is, he¡¯s my grandfather.¡± Kassandora smiled again, she even closed her eyes, leaned back and let out a heavy breath. ¡°That is excellent. I won¡¯t ask for his location or anything like that, but whatever you give me will be useful.¡± ¡°You¡¯re¡­¡± Ilwin said slowly. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect something like that.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve never worked with me but tell your grandfather I¡¯m here. The moment you leave this cell, Allasaria will take you away to wherever you wish. I¡¯m sure I don¡¯t need to tell you that you should be dropped in a city with a major international airport, then you should take the train to one nearby and fly from there.¡± Ilwin blinked. He had not even thought of that. ¡°I will.¡± Ilwin said. Kassandora didn¡¯t even nod or respond. ¡°You were involved in something large, were you not? To end up here?¡± ¡°I got caught by Leona whilst trying to steal a plane.¡± Kassandora gave no reaction. ¡°You did a good job not to die.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Was this plan independent or were you working under someone else¡¯s orders?¡± Ilwin opened his mouth and stopped it. That was a good trick. He almost spilled important information. ¡°I was working independently.¡± ¡°You should train to be a be liar. That pause there, you can¡¯t give reactions like that. Your eyes widened too.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I assume it was on someone else¡¯s order. Now I have to ask, is the Great War still ongoing?¡± Her smile showed perfect white teeth. Ilwin did not know how to reply. His grandfather always said that as long as one Tremali breathed on this world, the war was not yet lost. But to say that to this person¡­ ¡°I will answer that for you.¡± Kassandora followed up when she saw Ilwin¡¯s hesitation. ¡°It is. Until every one of us, or every one of them is dead. They merely put the war on pause, gave us a big break when our heads were on the executioner¡¯s block.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Grandfather always says that too.¡± As did Arascus, although there was no way he would say that. Not until he saw this Goddess kneel to Arascus himself would he believe claim about her identity, the encounter with Leona at Pepayel had changed his opinion on Gods entirely. It also painted his grandfather in a new light, to think that man had killed a God! ¡°We got the line from Arascus.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It¡¯s not an original thought, as much as it pains me to admit that.¡± ¡°Are you really Kassandora?¡± Ilwin asked. ¡°The same one who fought alongside him?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that, nor can you be sure until you see me and him in the same room together, can you?¡± Ilwin nodded to that. Did she read his thoughts? What was she? ¡°I merely say things as I see them, it would be beyond foolish of you to talk here, so don¡¯t.¡± Ilwin agreed with that, only that only made the woman more enigmatic. He would not bet that the woman was actually the Goddess of War, although he would not bet against it either. ¡°And you said you saved me?¡± ¡°I did a little negotiation. Wise old sages don¡¯t work for free.¡± ¡°You¡¯re helping the Pantheon?¡± ¡°I¡¯m telling them what they want to hear.¡± Kassandora snapped back, her tone suddenly a freezing flood of fire. ¡°This is the first time we¡¯ve met so I¡¯ll let the comment slip. If you make an accusation like that again, you will be dead before Allasaria even opens the door.¡± When Allasaria threatened him, Ilwin thought it was a bluff to get him to talk. Now that Kassandora said that, Ilwin did not dare call it. ¡°Now you¡¯re an elf, so I assume your memory is good enough to hold some words in that mind of yours without needing a piece of paper to remember.¡± That cold tone was gone, replaced with the cool voice for business negotiations that she had been using before. ¡°It can.¡± Ilwin said. ¡°Good because I don¡¯t have paper to supply you with anyway. Tell him that I am here and I will free myself. It will take upwards of six months at the most, Leona will die eventually although how, I cannot say. Tell him Anassa is in the Divine Library.¡± Ilwin nodded, they knew that back at base already. ¡°To free her, Elassa will have to be removed from the picture. This can be done during my escape, she will have to come here as I¡¯m a far greater threat than my sister is.¡± She took a pause, her eyes focused on Ilwin. ¡°Have you got all that?¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Relay also this, Kavaa¡¯s Order is not to be touched. She may flip, Helenna and Iniri may flip too if they¡¯re unharmed.¡± Ilwin¡¯s eyes widened again. Goddesses of the Pantheon flipping sides? ¡°Also I don¡¯t know where Olephia is, but Leona has to recharge her prison every now and then. That¡¯s your opening. My assumption is that she takes a private jet. Monitor air traffic heading into the middle of nowhere.¡± ¡°Are you sure of that?¡± ¡°Olephia is too dangerous to lock away near a populated area.¡± Kassandora continued. ¡°That is the opening, like I said. Leona said she will die but Divines don¡¯t die of natural causes, she will be killed.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s assured?¡± ¡°Nothing is assured, I don¡¯t believe in luck. But this is the single greatest opportunity we have to end her.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Ilwin said, with every words the woman spoke, he was more and more assured the Goddess was who she said she was. ¡°How well can you remember figures?¡± ¡°Figures?¡± ¡°Numbers and statistics?¡± ¡°Quite well.¡± Ilwin replied. ¡°Good. Maisara¡¯s Paladins currently have most of the Order stationed on Olympiada, there is about eight thousand members here, another four are in forts I don¡¯t know where, but I assume you can find them. Fortia¡¯s guardians measure twenty-five thousand. Kavaa¡¯s Clerics are popular, there¡¯s over a hundred thousand of them. Kavaa has several agencies set up where her men go to combat diseases in the poorer nations of Arda but they¡¯re warriors too. The Seekers number around forty to fifty thousand, those are just estimates, Allasaria is too smart to share the real numbers.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Ilwin replied, he was almost at a loss for breath. All this? All this for free? ¡°Arcadia¡¯s numbers are apparently publicly accessible.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Mages are to be avoided until Anassa is free and you build up enough numbers of sorcerers again. Is Iliyal your leader?¡± ¡°He is.¡± Ilwin said and caught himself. He was so caught up in the information Kassandora was feeding him he lost his focus. The Goddess narrowed her eyes. ¡°Everyone makes mistakes, that was a mistake, you should not give out information that easily.¡± Ilwin nodded. ¡°I apologize.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t apologize to me. It took me a decade to make your grandfather into the General of the Eight Imperial Army. Simply don¡¯t make the mistake again. Tell Iliyal that the sorcerer to mage ratio is as it was back then, maybe it¡¯s risen more in our favour. The mages of today are apparently not what they were of a millennia ago, he¡¯ll know what I mean.¡± Ilwin saluted, the old salute, that Iliyal had taught him. ¡°Yes General.¡± Kassandora¡¯s eyes softened finally. She looked at the salute with such pride Ilwin was worried he would cry. She stood up, towering over him and dismissed his salute with her own. ¡°My titles are Divine or Warmaster. In this situation, I prefer Divine.¡± ¡°Yes Divine.¡± Ilwin replied. ¡°Finally, say this. Arascus is not dead yet. If he can be freed, then free him. He was locked in a Godstone cube, the location is somewhere in the tundra of Eastern Karaina. The place was once a fortress before the land around it was poisoned. It will still be deadly to the touch but the disease won¡¯t touch her family. If you can, free him, if you can¡¯t, then wait for me.¡± Ilwin felt a lump in his throat, but he gave no tell and no movement that Arascus was already freed, that the success of slaying Atis and saving Fer lay almost entirely at his hands. ¡°Yes Divine.¡± ¡°One last thing. Tell Iliyal he¡¯s done a good job.¡± Ilwin¡¯s smile almost split his face. He could only imagine the look on his grandfather¡¯s face. ¡°That is all.¡± ¡°Yes Divine.¡± ¡°Allasaria will question you, play along.¡± Kassandora went and knocked on the door. The Goddess of Light opened it immediately, she stood there like a radiant statue, in her white dress and golden hair and with those terrible golden eyes that were everything but warm. ¡°You had the wrong man.¡± Kassandora said cheerfully, like a girl teasing her friends. ¡°Really now Alla, I¡¯m disappointed.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Allasaria gave one look to Iliyal and then sent him off. ¡°He¡¯s not a Tremali.¡± ¡°But you said Helenna told you he was.¡± ¡°As we know, Love is always factual and objective, never prone to wild theories, is she?¡± Allasaria scowled, shot one more glance at Kassandora and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not giving you the point you wanted.¡± Kassandora shrugged her shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m not so prideful that I can¡¯t lose a battle here and there. We agreed and besides, I can¡¯t un-advise, can I?¡± The Goddess of Light gave a heavy sigh. ¡°I¡¯ll have someone else send him off then.¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re going back on your word.¡± Kassandora said, her tone entirely different from the one she was using with Ilwin. It was light and jovial, as if she was talking to her best friend. ¡°I¡¯m not a taxi service Kassandora, it will not be done.¡± Kassandora turned back to Ilwin and put on a show of unapologetic disappointment. ¡°Well you can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t try, can you Ilwin?¡± Ilwin shook his head immediately. Allasaria nodded for Ilwin to leave the room and Kassandora gave him a light shove forwards. He walked past the two Goddesses almost twice his height. When Allasaria left the cell and closed the door behind him, he could only walk forwards in stunned silence. He had just met Kassandora, Goddess of War, one of Arascus¡¯ chosen the God had personally adopted into his family. She was everything his grandfather had told him about her. Chapter 54 – Purest of Nobles Neneria called the darkfur from the ground to her service. The beastman stood as a ghost before, slightly opaque, his colours dulled. ¡°I am Neneria.¡± The woman said and the beastman kneeled. ¡°I bow to Packmaster¡¯s equal.¡± ¡°Take me to her.¡± Sara returned to Arcadia. A day had been wasted on travel, she had slept four hours on the flight back, and then slept another thirty minutes on the short train from Arcadia¡¯s single airport to the entrance. Then she had wandered in just as she had done before. This time, there was no foolish act, no stupid journalist about, nothing of the sort. This time, it was a straight march towards to the Divine Library. Sara had discarded the damn hat but kept the coat, it was a good coat, and it was a better blanket for when she slept. She loosened her hair and strode with all the pride of the title that Arascus had gifted her: Duchess Sara Daganhoff. She walked past the great guild halls without even casting a glance at them, they were huge imposing buildings, but she had taken enough pictures before Elassa had thrown her to Norje. On one hand, she was stupid for not choosing a location closer, on the other, she thanked every Divine in existence for the fact she said Norje and not the UNN. She heard mages training their chants again. Same as yesterday, exact same in fact. She kept on carrying forwards, no reason to watch more basic attempts at making water hover. There was something in that made Sara irrationally angry, why even have that power if you¡¯re only going to use it for a basic magic trick? She marched into the Divine Gardens, how grand they were. How tremendous, all ponds and fields and lone trees and benches, virtually everything, even the cobblestone pathways were blessed by Elassa. How amazing. Sara did not care a bit anymore. Elassa had put far too much of a sour taste in her mouth. She did not even ask if Sara wanted to be sent back! She sat on one of the benches nearby the Library. Some people passed by every now and then, but there was little activity this far away from the centre. The sun slowly travelled across the sky, the shadow of that huge monolith of a building creeped its way onto Sara and the woman stood up. If no one was going to appear here anyway, there was no reason to wait for darkness. She tested the front door, it was open once again. Of course the woman would have not locked the door. Sara gave on final look around herself, there was no one nearby, and she entered the Divine Library. This time, she could actually take it in. Lamps miraculously floated through the air, the bookcases were much too high for her to reach even a quarter of the way up. They seemed to stretch on for eternity, more like tight alleyways than the furniture of a building. The staircase was there too, with its huge glass windows behind it, the dirty glass distorting the blue sky behind it. Sara took a tentative step forward. Then another. Another. She walked to the first stair. Was she supposed to call out? Maybe the Divine she considered to be Anassa was asleep? Did Divines even sleep? Arascus never seemed to. Maybe Arascus was unique though? She had never seen him fly, whereas Elassa could go almost as fast an airplane. Whatever. Sara pushed the questions out of her head and took her first step onto the staircase. ¡°I would not do that if I were you.¡± A cold voice said from behind Sara. She spun on the spot. The Goddess Elassa had been talking to was stood there, in her silken red dress, that hair of pitch black. She stared at Sara with amusement. ¡°I applaud your tenacity Miss journalist, but I must implore you to leave.¡± Sara stared back for a moment, beautiful did not begin to describe the woman, she had more akin to a carved statue of a queen than to humanity, her face was perfect, her cheek bones, her nose, her eyes. Sara could practically fall into them. The Goddess smiled and snapped her fingers. A current of air pushed Sara off the stairs and she stumbled forwards. ¡°Up there is my domain, you are not to enter.¡± ¡°I¡¯m here¡­¡± Sara said shakily and she shook the worry out of her. She was damn nobility now, the title was given by a God himself! She had a better claim to it than any of the old aristocrats in Epa! ¡°I¡¯m here to speak to you.¡± Sara said sternly. The woman smiled as if Sara had just given her the best joke in the world. ¡°Well I did need some entertainment, but you¡¯re not going to learn anything here.¡± She cooed. ¡°And if you do write about this, you won¡¯t get published.¡± ¡°You¡¯re Anassa.¡± Sara said accusingly. ¡°Of Sorcery.¡± The woman¡¯s smile dropped. Her posture changed entirely, the leopard playing with her prey was gone. Her eyes focused, she straightened and stopped looking down her nose at Sara. ¡°And?¡± Anassa said. That was all the confirmation needed to know she was correct. ¡°Is this place private? No one will overhear us?¡± Anassa gave no reaction, no movement as a thick black tar spread from her feet. In a mere second, Sara was swallowed into that darkness, she stood in a room without a floor, with walls, without depth or light, but she could see herself as if lamps were beaming at her from every direction. Anassa was the same, as if the simple ambience of whatever this¡­ was it a place? Sara did not know, her eyes flickered about trying to search for a corner or an edge. There was something pleasant about it too though, the mages training outside were doing party tricks. This was proper magic. ¡°No one will overhear.¡± Anassa said, her tone a low rumble. Sara wished she could sound as commanding as that. That¡¯s how proper nobility should sound. ¡°Why have you not escaped yourself if you can do magic?¡± She went off script. ¡°Do you know what a containment crystal is?¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°No.¡± Whatever it was, it did not sound good though. ¡°Then you would not understand the explanation anyway.¡± Anassa crossed her arms. ¡°Now what do you want?¡± ¡°Are you loyal?¡± Sara asked. Arascus had said Anassa would understand. Anassa apparently did not understand¡­ or maybe she did. Sara had expected bewilderment or joy¡­ not raw rage. Anassa took a step and the distance between the two was closed. She looked down on Sara, almost twice her height. ¡°Am I loyal? Am I loyal?¡± She repeated the question in disbelief. ¡°This is the thanks I get? Am I loyal?¡± She laughed as if Sara had just called her a whore. ¡°Am I loyal? I have been locked in here for a thousand years! Elassa has not even heard a word out of me! I saw my sorcerers die one by one until they were wiped out! I have four! FOUR! Left! CHILDREN! CHILDREN I HAVE TO RAISE! When Fer asked me to assistance, I sent them away without a second thought! AM I LOYAL?¡± Sara felt her feet sink into the ground, or maybe Anassa simply grew taller. ¡°Do not insult me like that you mortal girl. That is a question only my family can ask me. If you lived for another ten thousand years, you would not even have an iota of the prestige required to think of uttering those words.¡± Sara¡¯s feet were raised off the ground and she floated up into the air to look straight into the woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°Choose your next words carefully.¡± Sara struggled in the air as an invisible force wrapped itself around her chest. She could feel her ribs struggle and cry out as it pressed harder. She kicked her legs in the air and flailed her arms. ¡°Your¡­ your¡­¡± She struggled to the get the words out as air struggled to fill her lungs. ¡°Pl-Please¡­¡± The tension around her chest gave an inch. Sara took the mile. ¡°Your father told me to ask you that.¡± And just like that, Anassa changed from the tiger hunting her to a kitten. She blinked, the forces binding Sara faded away and the woman was dropped to the ground, she landed roughly and fell onto her rear. She looked at Sara with a new light, a certain respect. ¡°I am indeed Anassa of Sorcery, what is your name?¡± Suddenly another force, so gentle it may have been a cloud, pushed Sara off the ground and onto her feet. ¡°I am Lady Daganhoff.¡± Sara said proudly. ¡°Sara, title of Duchess.¡± That was far less smooth than Sara had hoped for but it got the point across, and it was her first time dealing with an angry Divine. That had to be worth something! ¡°Entitled by whom?¡± ¡°By Arascus, God of Pride.¡± Sara beamed, the tension had dissipated entirely. That show of force had been terrifying but looking at Anassa now, how those eyes practically beamed at Sara, she would not believe that the woman would harm her. The Goddess actually gave her a smile. ¡°That is good.¡± The Goddess even inclined her head, a single nod. ¡°I have nothing to apologize for, you should have said earlier.¡± ¡°Arascus told me ask you that, he said that you¡¯d know.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± The woman sat down on nothing, an invisible chair of forces Sara did not even bother trying to comprehend. She even leaned back, her arms falling and her breathing slowing as if she was relaxing. ¡°Sit.¡± Sara tentatively copied the woman¡¯s motions. A single glance backwards told her there was nothing but that endless abyss of darkness there, but then her rear touched invisible pure cotton. She leaned back, this¡­ was it a chair? Whatever it was, it had a back too. She wanted to close her eyes and go to sleep. To fade away in that spirit of pure delight that now caressed and massaged her back. ¡°How long has he been out?¡± ¡°Six months, twenty-one days.¡± Sara forced her tired eyes open. ¡°I led an expedition into the quarantine zone to crack the Godstone prison.¡± Anassa leaned forwards, her elbows resting on some invisible table. Sara carefully reached forwards, there was indeed something there. Invisible but present. ¡°You led the expedition?¡± Anassa asked. Sara nodded and started to explain about the drill Mikhael had constructed, about Iliyal and the cult he ran. Some details, the less important ones, she left out. ¡°We have a plan, we would have tried to rescue you earlier but we didn¡¯t know where you were.¡± ¡°Do not worry, do not worry!¡± Anassa laughed out loud, her face pure joy. ¡°The fact you¡¯ve told me this means the thousand years have not been wasted, what is a thousand more? If he¡¯s sent you here, that means we¡¯re doing something? What?¡± ¡°We need your sorcerers again.¡± Sara said. ¡°To kill Leona.¡± ¡°You want mortals to kill a Divine?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°They most certainly could, I¡¯ve heard Atis was killed by men, but Leona?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know the exact plan, it¡¯s not my field.¡± ¡°Who made it?¡± ¡°Arascus and Iliyal I think, but I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve just been told we need firepower and¡­¡± She shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ve tried mechanical firepower but we¡¯re not willing to risk it when encountering Leona. Sorcery though...¡± ¡°Sorcery is tried and tested, there is no luck required.¡± Anassa seemed to understand. ¡°And what about me?¡± ¡°Leona has to go first, Arascus is not willing to even contact Fer even though we know where she is.¡± Anassa leaned forwards and thought for a minute. Two. Three. The only sound in that darkness Sara heard was the Goddess¡¯ deep breathes and her own heartbeat. ¡°We will try Goddess, I can¡¯t promise a date but-¡± Anassa waved a hand and interrupted her. ¡°Oh no, do not worry. Now that he is free, I¡¯ll be out soon.¡± Anassa said. ¡°I can give you two, not out of greed. One of the children I¡¯m training failed his awakening, he needs to stay close to me so that I can stabilize his growth.¡± Sara nodded. This was¡­ Sara had expected bargaining¡­ Expected the woman not to get along, she thought she would have to try and patch up a thousand years of isolation. Anassa though... Loyal did not even begin to describe her. The glow in her eyes was pure fanaticism. ¡°Thank you.¡± Sara said. ¡°Do not thank me, it is for the war effort.¡± Anassa tapped her fingers on the invisible table. ¡°Leona though¡­ well after a thousand years, I¡¯m sure father would have thought up of a way to kill her.¡± She leaned back. ¡°Imagine it, sorcery unconstrained by her luck? It would be a higher class of human.¡± Sara did not know exactly how to reply to that. She merely avoided the comment. ¡°I will be staying away from Arcadia, I can leave you my phone number. We have about three weeks before the plan is finalized and apologies again, but I don¡¯t know how long they¡¯ll be away.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give you Edmonton and Fleur.¡± Anassa said. ¡°They should be with you in a week. They¡¯re both argumentative but fall in line to hierarchy.¡± Sara nodded. That was surprisingly easy. It was almost¡­ disappointing. Sara had wanted to report back to Arascus with how she had to negotiate and stand up to Anassa, not simply¡­ not simply ask and receive. ¡°I also have a question, for my own curiosity, if you¡¯re going to be freed, what would it require?¡± ¡°I am trapped in Arcadia.¡± Anassa said. ¡°There are more than a million mages here. Even Arascus in his prime would not free me from this prison. That is if you can do it quickly enough for Elassa not to notice.¡± Sara nodded. ¡°Very well, that is everything.¡± She finished and looked around. The darkness melted away to reveal the Divine Library. ¡°Leave through the front door, the lock hasn¡¯t been replaced in nine hundred years.¡± Anassa said. ¡°And it is good to meet you Duchess. I hope we meet again.¡± Sara gave the woman one final look. This Divine that had been an Empress in character, a domineering, terrifying force of nature. All it took to turn her into a giggling girl who had just received an ice cream was a mention of Arascus. Sara realised she had never seen Arascus¡¯ magic. The God simply talked and they listened. If Anassa was capable of this, and she thought of Arascus like that. What was Arascus capable of? Chapter 55 – The Last Time We Meet Of Beasthood and Of War, I dare admit I have some fascination with. I have always had a fascination with them, in the same fashion that Of Food & Bounty has a fascination with me¡­ ¡­With all said and done, I do not fear Of Pride, but there is some caution and hesitation I have. The same people that created that wicked Pride created the Love that gave existence to me¡­ The first time I ever felt fear was during the Great War. It was an odd sensation, because the situation wasn¡¯t particularly, how should it be put? ¡°Traditionally spooky¡± is a good way to phrase it. I remember the moment clearly, it was me, Iniri, Kavaa, Maisara, Fortia and Atis. We were planning to breach the fortress city of Koranstin. An elven messenger brought us the news. My first instinct was to flee. ¡°Neneria has appeared, she¡¯s heading here.¡± - Excerpt from the autobiography: ¡°Roses, Blades & Blood¡±, by Goddess Helenna, of Love. Maisara watched Kassandora with pure fury. She was angry, but there was no reason to take it out on the Goddess of War. Of Order nursed the burn on her arm as Fortia took a heavy sigh and sat down opposite the Kassandora in her tiny cell. They both wore their armours, once again charred silver and darkened gold. ¡°So you¡¯ve been wounded again.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And I suppose it¡¯s because she¡¯s sent you off somewhere since you¡¯ve come here.¡± Was the woman ever wrong? Did she read minds? ¡°She¡¯s declared Anarchia as an existential threat!¡± Maisara shouted. Who did Allasaria think she was? It was a move so dirty there was no way she could take it! It was downright tyranny! And what happened later? Would Allasaria find another Divine to declare as an existential threat if Anarchia was killed? Would she simply circumvent a millennia of tradition and precedent? ¡°I assume to get rid of you two?¡± Kassandora said lazily, her eyes dull but her hair still bright red. Did she not even care? They were in this together! What was the promise she had made worth? ¡°She¡¯s sending me to the location of Atis¡¯ disappearance and Maisara to quell the unrest in Rancais.¡± Fortia said. ¡°After I¡¯m finished, I¡¯m to go and help Doschia fix their economy.¡± ¡°Well I suppose it¡¯s time to start reading economics then.¡± Kassandora said idly as she leaned back. The Goddess closed her eyes and thought about something. ¡°Do you have any ideas on what to do?¡± ¡°When does Leona have to go visit Olephia?¡± ¡°The date is unknown but¡­¡± Fortia and Maisara looked at each other. ¡°Within four months¡¯ time. Five would be pushing it.¡± ¡°And how long would this Rancais issue take?¡± ¡°Dealing with them?¡± Maisara said. ¡°Years. Two at the least.¡± ¡°I thought you could do it faster than that.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I could fix it in a month if the Paladins are granted deployment. But they won¡¯t be, it¡¯s an Epan country, they have their own national mascots.¡± ¡°What a lovely way to punish you for misbehaving.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°That was the risk indeed, but you¡¯ve driven her into a corner now.¡± ¡°Have we?¡± Maisara leaned forwards. It was Kassandora, of course she would see an opening they would have missed. ¡°It¡¯s not without risk, but it gives you leverage.¡± Kassandora began after another minute of silence. In that moment, her face was a hawk hunting a rabbit. Maisara could only imagine Allasaria as that rabbit. ¡°Tell me.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Maliciously comply.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°The issue is you can¡¯t make the first move because that will give her justification to kick you out of the Pantheon. Then it¡¯s over, you as independent Gods.¡± Kassandora gave them both a grimace of a look. ¡°Well, you¡¯re not the most popular are you? You have a base of support from the sterner part of the population, but that support will whither if you leave the White Pantheon. People who like Order and Peace won¡¯t suddenly become independents whilst the world is still functioning smoothly.¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling us to do as she says then?¡± Fortia asked, her voice cold. ¡°Do you want to fix a market? Or do you want a month-long camping session with your Order?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I¡¯d prefer neither.¡± ¡°Neither is something I can¡¯t offer you.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But you¡¯re acting as Allasaria¡¯s hands right now.¡± Her smile bared teeth. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if the hand is the one holding the knife that went through someone¡¯s back, the head still rolls.¡± Maisara narrowed her eyes. Sometimes Kassandora sounded like Helenna with her theatrics. She looked to Fortia, that Divine was staring with pure awe at Kassandora. ¡°What? I don¡¯t get it.¡± Maisara burst out angrily. ¡°You¡¯re under Allasaria¡¯s orders are you not?¡± Kassandora explained. When Allasaria explained, she always used the tone that talked down to you. When Kass explained, it was more akin to rephrasing something, that was another thing Maisara liked about the woman. ¡°Now let¡¯s say you accidentally execute the wrong person. You accidentally don¡¯t save hostages. You accidentally lead men to their deaths. You¡¯re responsible no doubt, but you¡¯re the Goddess of Order, everyone knows that mighty Maisara is¡­¡± Kassandora stopped. ¡°Excuse the phrasing, but rather blunt.¡± ¡°You mean I put a stop to criminality where I see it.¡± Maisara corrected her. ¡°Others don¡¯t see it that way, but Allasaria knows you, and she knows how you act. Why would she send you to Rancais if she did not want you to¡­ put a stop to criminality.¡± Maisara blinked and understood. ¡°Likewise you Fortia. Are you the Goddess of market economics or the damn Goddess of Peace? Sending you to manage an economic crisis? It will obviously not work.¡± ¡°Of course it won¡¯t.¡± Fortia said, she smiled like a wolf out for blood. ¡°Only a fool would send me to manage markets.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°This happens all the time in war. If men go on a rampage and rape and pillage through the villages, it¡¯s the captain that takes the blame for losing control of his men.¡± Kassandora said lightly. ¡°It is like sending Zerus to clear out the dwarven tunnels, like sending Elassa to improve a country¡¯s birth-rates. It is simply stupid.¡± ¡°And then-¡± Fortia said. Kassandora finished for her. ¡°And then, if a leader cannot manage their men, the leader should be replaced, removed. This rule applies to businesses, to wars, even to the White Pantheon. It is simply the natural law of responsibility.¡± Maisara looked to Fortia and Fortia looked to Maisara. Maisara knew the expression smear over her closest¡¯s face. She knew she carried the same one. ¡°Allasaria won¡¯t survive this.¡± ¡°She may.¡± Kassandora cooled their excitement. ¡°But she won¡¯t the leader of the White Pantheon anymore.¡± Maisara stood up. It was exactly why they had come to Kassandora. ¡°Thank you.¡± Maisara said. ¡°This is the final move.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°This is indeed the final move, unless something happens, this is the last time we meet when I¡¯m a prisoner.¡± The Goddess of War brushed her hair. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t forget your end of the deal.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Maisara said. ¡°We are honest, we said we would free you. You will be freed.¡± Fortia added. Kassandora looked as if she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Sara rolled out of bed and answered her ringing phone. ¡°This is Edmonton Weaver speaking.¡± Anassa did work fast. Helenna, Kavaa and Iniri sat in silence in Kassandora¡¯s cell, all three of the guests were dressed in black, a dress and two suits. Helenna on the chair opposite Kass, the other two the bed, hands clasped tightly together. The Goddess of War nodded to the report Helenna had just given her and thought over something. Helenna wondered how much the woman had planned, and how much she was actually working out now. Anyone else, she could buy that they needed to consider. But Kassandora? Eventually, the Goddess of War stood up, grey garb somehow making the blood-red mane on her head more brilliant. ¡°Unless something big happens, this is the last time we meet.¡± Kassandora said suddenly. Helenna felt her own hair go white, she saw Iniri¡¯s eyes widen and Kavaa¡¯s grip around her friend¡¯s hand tighten. ¡°From my side, everything I could do is done. Unless you need more advice, there is no more reason for you to come here.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°You¡¯re done?¡± ¡°Today, I have removed Fortia and Maisara from the picture. Their Orders are shut down too, they will not assist the Seekers when we make our move.¡± The other Goddesses looked at each other in pure shock. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°The chance of them staying out of the conflict is greater than the chance of them going in. That¡¯s the best we can hope for.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And I would like to discuss my escape plan.¡± ¡°Your escape plan?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Am I supposed to lead from this cell?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°You came to me for help, I told you what I wanted in return.¡± ¡°But the Pantheon¡­¡± The others looked at themselves. Helenna¡¯s hair went into a pale shade of ivory. They had agreed but¡­ But the Pantheon had not collapsed yet. Leona was still alive. This wasn¡¯t an act of survival, it was treachery. ¡°If you wait until after Leona dies, then it will be too late. Maisara and Fortia will return the moment they hear the news to issue their challenge to Allasaria.¡± ¡°How?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°How did you even get rid of them?¡± ¡°Maisara will be dealing with Rancais¡¯ Anarchian issue, Fortia is sent to fix Doschia¡¯s economic malaise.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Kavaa asked, her green eyes narrowing. ¡°How? What?¡± ¡°You told Allasaria what to do.¡± Helenna said accusingly. She already knew Of Light had visited, that was partly their reasoning for coming here today. But this? If the decision was made today, then it would take until dusk to confirm it from her own spies. ¡°I told her what she wanted to hear.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And threw in a little of my own words too.¡± ¡°What did you tell her?¡± ¡°I asked her for a seat on the Pantheon.¡± Helenna gawked. ¡°SHE WOULD NEVER!¡± The Goddess of Love shouted. Allasaria would never, should never, could never let Kassandora have a seat. If that happened¡­ what happened to them? All this scheming for nothing? ¡°Of course she would not.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But it will leave her thinking and the more she thinks, the less she does.¡± ¡°Are you sure that Maisara and Fortia will play along?¡± Kavaa asked again. ¡°They¡¯ll be going off today. I¡¯m sure Helenna will confirm this information. Fortia is heading to find Atis¡¯ death site, then to Doschia.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But I have said that already. It is good that you came, I want to talk to you about the plan.¡± ¡°You mean to free you?¡± Kavaa asked and Kassandora nodded. She took a step forwards, practically beaming with energy. Helenna wondered if every meeting she had in the Great War was like this too. She could see how it managed to last a century, when Of War spoke of battle, her tone was simply untouchable. She practically glowed like a Divine among Divines. ¡°Your men, I would say ten thousand is enough.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Bring Orders that deal with the regions in Arika, they should have the best men among them.¡± ¡°Arika is facing a malaria outbreak right now.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Then send the Epan Orders to replace them, your troops are the only ones with real combat experience that isn¡¯t chasing criminals Kavaa. Ten thousand will be enough, even against Allasaria¡¯s Seekers.¡± Kavaa took a heavy breath, she looked to Iniri, then to Helenna, then down at her knees. ¡°Are you sure this will succeed?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Ten thousand Clerics is not a force the Seekers will want to move against, even if it is to stop me. Especially if I have their back. Make sure they know I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Kavaa once again looked to the other two Goddesses. Helenna had always been attuned to Kavaa¡¯s feelings and today it felt like the woman was about to throw up. ¡°This is war, proper open war we are talking about.¡± Kassandora stepped towards the woman, around the containment crystal in the middle of the room and grabbed the woman¡¯s white shirt. She pulled her off the bed and forced her to stand. ¡°Did you think this would be bloodless? I told you so much at the start, I will be your gladiator. Gladiators fight and kill and die. Why do you think Maisara has barricaded her quarter? Do you think it¡¯s simply theatre? Or a show of force?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a show of force.¡± Kavaa replied sadly. ¡°There is no greater show of force than spilling blood. If you want to be treated equally, you will have to show that you¡¯re equal to them. That is simply the way our world works.¡± ¡°What about the other Divines?¡± Kavaa asked quietly. ¡°We can¡¯t¡­ I would be sending ten thousand men to their deaths.¡± ¡°That is my responsibility.¡± Kassandora said put her hand on her chest. ¡°How far away can you be to heal?¡± ¡°The closer the better, physical contact is best.¡± ¡°If my arm were to be blown off, how long?¡± Kassandora asked, Helenna¡¯s eyes bulged. It was one thing to play at plots, it was another entirely when Kassandora was talking about wounds so casually. ¡°If I laid hands on you¡­¡± Kavaa bounced her head from side to side. ¡°A minute? Thirty seconds?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do it faster?¡± ¡°It would hurt.¡± ¡°I can take it.¡± ¡°Then it could even be five seconds, maybe even faster, but it¡­¡± Kavaa¡¯s voice trailed off. ¡°The pain is unimaginable Kass. It¡¯s not something¡­¡± ¡°You come back to me personally with a blade, we will test it later then.¡± Kassandora said, she looked to Iniri. ¡°You will stall.¡± ¡°Stall?¡± ¡°Can you not command plants? Grow vines to block corridors, make trees go on a rampage? The Goddess of Food & Bounty was once considered a jealous Divine who took as much as she gave.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not me anymore.¡± Iniri said looked down at her hands. ¡°But yes, I can stall. But I made a vow not to harm people.¡± ¡°Vows come and go, I¡¯m sure your vow never accounted for you going against Allasaria, Maisara and Fortia. It will understand.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Iniri said quietly. ¡°And me?¡± Helenna almost bounced on her seat. ¡°What about me?¡± ¡°Kavaa will take over the entrance to the prison, her clerics will clear a path to Olympiada¡¯s airport. You Helenna have the most important task.¡± Kassandora turned to the Goddess of Love, her hand raised to the containment crystal, a single finger pointed forwards. ¡°You will break this.¡± Chapter 56 – The Pack Will March Kavaa watched Kassandora put her hand on the table and lift the knife. She had brought Of War a bucket, a towel and a bottle of water too. They had talked for a minute or two, more advice on what to do, what else to bring Kass before they were ready to unleash War on this world once again, and then Kassandora got right to it. In one quick stab, she impaled her hand on the table straight to the hilt, the yanked her arm back and split the rest of the hand: bone, veins, muscle and skin. All that for a grimace. ¡°I guess I¡¯ve grown rusty.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It hurt less in the past.¡± Kavaa shook her head. There was no other Divine who would describe tearing their palm apart like that as merely ¡®it hurt less in the past.¡¯ Of War swung her arm to Kavaa, her own blood spraying over the walls, the floor, over Kavaa¡¯s dress. Good thing she had expected this and worn a work uniform. ¡°Now let¡¯s see what you can do.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°This would normally take me twenty seconds or so to heal, maybe a bit more.¡± ¡°Make it two.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Kavaa reached forwards and held the two halves of the Goddess¡¯ broken hand. ¡°How bad can it be?¡± The healing process hurt considerably more than making the wound. It was the first time Kavaa had seen Kassandora collapse. Of War ripped the knife out of the wood. ¡°Again, until I can take it, again.¡± Fer sat around in a circle with the commanding figures of her herd, a campfire in-between them, the rest of the valley lit up by a thousand more. The huge minotaur Traius was there, his two great horns winding twice in a circle before ending in jagged points, his muscled chest bare from the neck until the animal took over again at his waist and his legs sprouted dark brown fur. Next to him sat the three leading dark furs, goatmen clad entirely in sleek black hair like that of a dog¡¯s, the flames danced in their eyes and its reflection danced on their hides. Kanstantin, Naro and Traian, they led the magical aspect of her herd. Logar sat on the other side of Fer, the wolfman in charge of day-to-day runnings of the back. From disputes over hunts to firewood, he stopped all but the most urgent news reaching its way to Packmaster. Everyone but the Goddess was covered in wounds and scars received during the conclusion of the Greatest Hunt, everyone proudly flaunted them as humans and elves would flaunt medals. Fer reclined onto the bison hide, humans would find it rough, dwarves would find it demeaning, elves would call it barbaric. Fer loved it, she twisted her spine and scratched her back, her golden mane of hair thick enough to serve as a pillow. ¡°About Iliyal.¡± Logar spoke up. ¡°I know I¡¯ve asked already but I would urge to unite the pack with his forces.¡± ¡°We cannot.¡± Fer said. She had explained it at least everyday, but she didn¡¯t mind. They weren¡¯t in a hunt, nor was Logar particularly annoying with his requests. The wolfman had their best interests in his heart, he was simply sentimental. ¡°We are unable to hide this large a force, it would reveal the General¡¯s location and bring him trouble. I don¡¯t want that.¡± ¡°If a need arises, we can return to him.¡± Traius added, his voice a low rumbling avalanche. The man had missed all but the ending of the battle, his skin was untarnished with fresh scars and the small posture of the giant evidently said it brought him shape. ¡°And if we move west, we risk aggravating the Pantheon Divines.¡± One of the darkfurs said. That was the true reason Fer had kept away from the West. Guguoan hunts were easier to fend off than Allasaria, although she had explained before, no reason to do it again. ¡°To think Huntsmaster was not killed by us.¡± Kanstantin shook his head as he spoke. Unlike the rest of the pack, dark furs expressed their beast on the outside. They all spoke with the intonation of educated men. ¡°How do you think he would have tasted?¡± Fer asked absent-mindedly as she looked up at the stars, her finger tracing the constellations. ¡°Sweet no doubt.¡± Kanstantin answered. ¡°No no.¡± Logar said. ¡°Like deer.¡± ¡°Like man.¡± Traius said. ¡°Not like Guguoan I hope!¡± Naro said and the campfire chuckled. ¡°They eat too much rice and not enough meat.¡± Kanstantin agreed with his fellow darkfur. ¡°Aye.¡± Logar said as he leaned back and rested on his arms, a fresh slash across his lean chest proudly displayed. ¡°But with Huntsmaster¡¯s death, I worry for the safety of the Pack.¡± ¡°If they come, let them come.¡± Fer said. ¡°We¡¯ve had an Age of peace, Ages come and go.¡± ¡°And these¡­ guns?¡± Traius said the word awkwardly. ¡°I remember when the spear came about.¡± Fer calmed her children. ¡°Others thought it would be an end to us. We adapted. Then the bow. We adapted. The boar-pike, the crossbow, the musket, armour, from leather to chain to plate, it was supposed to be our end every time. We are still here.¡± Fer finished. ¡°But they are a change.¡± ¡°Your fingers are too large, but I¡¯m sure we can find one for you to use if you¡¯re so worried.¡± A shooting star! Amazing! The rest of the campfire laughed as the minotaur shook his head. Fer thought about the idea. Beastmen were hesitant to use sword and axe and hammer, until they did. Then they were hesitant to don armour over fur, until they did. Her brow narrowed. Why should they not use rifles? She blinked in shock, amazed at her own intelligence. What an idea! ¡°PACKMASTER! PACKMASTER!¡± A lesser satyr interrupted their rest. A small figure, taller than a human naturally, but comparing themselves to humanity was a needless exchange. He was half a head shorter than Logar, a full head lacking to the darkfurs, Traius stood over him half his height again and more than twice as wide, whereas Fer towered over them all. ¡°PACKMASTER! IT IS URGENT!¡± ¡°I heard no alarms.¡± Fer said lazily. Maybe her glorious red-haired sister Of War would have executed the fellow for breaching the chain of command, but Fer held little value in such concepts. She would not cut off a finger simply because it was weaker than the arm. ¡°So? Speak.¡± Every pair of red eyes turned to the satyr and he took a heavy breath. ¡°It is cause for celebration.¡± He said. ¡°Even better then.¡± Fer said. ¡°Now out with it.¡± She put a snap into her tone, it was one thing to not kill needlessly, it was another entirely to train animals and maintain strength. ¡°Your sister has returned.¡± Fer blinked. The campfire now slowly turned to her, every bestial face contorted into a cruel mix of shock and awe, teeth spiling from maws and beady red eyes growing larger. Fer sat up instantly. ¡°Sister?¡± She shouted. ¡°Here? Now?¡± The satyr nodded immediately. ¡°Which one? Now? Take me to her!¡± ¡°She is coming here.¡± The satyr replied. ¡°She¡­ ahh¡­ we tried to slow her down but¡­¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Do not worry! Do not worry!¡± Fer jumped up to her feet like a prancing jaguar. ¡°So whi-¡° Fer¡¯s eyes went to the ambient green glow slowly approaching from behind the satyr. There was a crowd behind slowly creeping behind her, of beastmen in nothing but sheer awe. It was a pale horse, ashen, tinted with the ghastly green of a soul made to stay too long on this world. Two great wings of delicate feathers folded by its side, it slowly trotted in the air, a foot above the grass. Its eyes were of black pitch but its mouth still let out the warmth of condensation in the cold tundra air around them. Fer¡¯s eyes swallowed it all in their awe. And on that ashen horse, rides Death. Neneria sat sideways on Pegaz, her first steed. It had served for several millennia, it will serve for several more. The darkfur did indeed know the tracks, and he had led her effortlessly here. They had floated over rivers, across valleys and sidestepped mountains. Above the coniferous treetops untouched by civilization until they finally caught up to the nomadic beastmen. Fer was good, if it had taken almost ten sleepless days and nights for Neneria, mortals would not stand a chance. Neneria rode in her black cloak, she always had a soft spot for dresses and tight bodices, but a millennia of hiding had taught her not to flaunt herself. Simple travelling clothes hidden with a black cloak was enough. Her sister was apparently the opposite. Fer could be gazed upon from a mile away and the only conclusion a sane mind would come to was that they were looking at a Divine or a madwoman; She was in a white lion¡¯s mane. The animal skin barely covered whatsoever, worn more like a cape of honour rather than clothes. Neneria rolled her eyes. A thousand years of wilderness would bring the civilization out of anyone, but Fer had always been like this. She remembered when Arascus had to force her to actually put on a- ¡°NENE!¡± Two arms wrapped themselves around waist and she was thrown off Pegaz. She fell backwards as something warm embraced and immediately curled into a ball to absorb the impact, tried to. Neneria landed on the grass behind her as the winged horse faded into thin air. A choir of oohs and aahs echoed her steed returning to rest as Neneria blinked to recover her vision. Two bright yellow eyes stared down at her, below them sat a smile so wide it almost split her sister¡¯s face, fangs revealing themselves. Thick golden hair cascaded down like curtains on a bed, two arms serving as bed posts. ¡°You are an animal.¡± Neneria said as she caught her breath. She tried to push Fer off her herself but the beast was simply too heavy. ¡°YOU¡¯RE ALIVE!¡± Why did she have to shout? Neneria was right there. ¡°I am.¡± Neneria said. ¡°As are you.¡± ¡°OF COURSE I AM!¡± Fer poked Neneria¡¯s cheek, then her forehead. What was she doing? Was she going to stab her eyes out? ¡°AND YOU¡¯RE REAL!¡± Neneria tried pushing at Fer again. How much did she weigh? What was this? ¡°Get off me.¡± Neneria said as she tried to slide away. ¡°You¡¯re heavy.¡± ¡°Sorry sorry.¡± Fer said. Neneria grunted when Fer¡¯s knee dug into her stomach as she stood up. Was she doing it on purpose at this point? There was only so much a lack of culture could excuse! Neneria pushed herself up with her elbows trying to get up until Fer¡¯s hand grabbed her shoulder. Is this what feathers felt when you flung them into the wind? Fer lifted Neneria off her feet and then delicately set her down, delicately for the Goddess of Beasthood, not for Of Death. Neneria groaned as her knees chattered. She looked ahead at the horde of beastmen staring in awe at the two. ¡°Everyone!¡± Fer shouted, immediately, there was still sweetness in her tone but it was obviously a command. ¡°Meet my sister! This is a great day!¡± Wolves started to howl, goats started to bleat, bulls roared and the valley entered into an orchestral cacophony. Fer waited with a bright smile for this mass of animals to settle down. ¡°Rations are doubled tonight! Make feast and make merry!¡± The cacophony returned for twice as long. Neneria had never considered herself short. Kassandora just beat her out, as did Irinika and Arascus but she always thought height was one of her strengths. Here Neneria was obviously the second tallest, she towered over the beastmen; she only reached Fer¡¯s shoulder. Of Beasthood never waved it anyone¡¯s face though, she turned to Neneria, grabbed her arms and lifted her into the air. Neneria feared her what her arms would feel like tomorrow. ¡°Nene!¡± If there was one thing Neneria hated, it was that nickname. ¡°Nene!¡± Did Fer know? Why did she repeat it? ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± Didn¡¯t they go through this already? Fer hugged Neneria like a doll. Of Death wondered if this is what mortals felt like when they were being crushed by bears. ¡°Please Fer.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Put me down.¡± It was one thing to fly through the air, it was another when she was being manhandled. ¡°One minute.¡± Fer purred into her ear. She held her close like that and Neneria eventually returned the hug. She collapsed into that golden mane, it was rugged leather that was soft as snow. Fer squeezed her one last time and finally let her go. Neneria landed on the ground and stretched her chest. Broken arms before, what were broken ribs to add to that list? ¡°Come, come, sit at the fire, it¡¯s warm.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have to crush me like that.¡± Neneria said as she looked at the audience they had. Fer had told them to be merry and some chanting songs were beginning in the distance, but she doubted those close would do anything but watch. ¡°I had to mark you.¡± Fer replied happily as stood next to a fire. A bullman was there, a wolfman and three darkfurs. Neneria took a step forwards and realised what Fer had just said. A dozen curses, a hundred insults and a thousand questions ran through her mind. She pushed them all away. Frankly, she did not want to know. ¡°Sit sit.¡± Fer patted the ground as the rest of the beastmen stared at her in silence. Should they bow? Incline their heads? She wasn¡¯t a member of their pack though¡­ But¡­ Whatever. Beastmen rarely entertained Neneria, there was no reason to worry about them. She sat crossed legged on the ground and Fer lay down behind her, sprawled around her as if someone was about to stab Neneria in the back. ¡°This is Logar.¡± Fer said, the wolfman inclined his head. ¡°Kanstantin, Naro, Traian.¡± The dark furs. ¡°And Traius.¡± The bullman gave Neneria a single silent nod, Fer introduced them to her as if she was showing off dolls to her older sibling. ¡°This is Nene.¡± Fer said to the beastmen. ¡°Neneria, Goddess of Death.¡± Neneria growled, although Fer talked over her. ¡°She is one of my sisters, she is not of the blood but she is a member of the Pack.¡± Immediately, every expression changed. From wary and careful and awe to surprised, then to joy and happiness and even more awe. ¡°It is fantastic to have two Divines in the pack.¡± On of the dark furs said. Naro Neneria thought his name though. ¡°Of Death?¡± Traius asked. ¡°That is indeed a title.¡± Beady little red eyes stared at her and Neneria gave a nod. ¡°Nene is quite shy.¡± Fer said. ¡°So don¡¯t bother her with questions for now.¡± Neneria gave a heavy sigh. She was not shy, she simply¡­ whatever. There was no reason to argue with her sister over such trite. ¡°So Nene? How have you been? Or do you want my side of the story first?¡± Neneria had come here expecting¡­ Neneria did not know what she had come expecting. Fer was, had and will always be like this. ¡°I found something.¡± Neneria chose her words carefully. ¡°And I wanted your help with it.¡± ¡°Anything I can do, the Pack will follow.¡± Fer did not get it. Kassandora would have got it. Irinika would have understood what she was asking for. Fer did not. ¡°I meant¡­¡± Neneria stopped and thought for a while. ¡°Can we talk somewhere more¡­ private?¡± She squeezed that final word out of herself. ¡°I shared my campfire today, I will not chase people out of it.¡± Fer said. The woman still sounded happy even when she was disagreeing. ¡°And what I know, the Pack will know, so you can ask me here.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Neneria said. She thought of whispering the words to Fer but these were beastmen. They could hear listen to heartbeats. ¡°I found something.¡± Neneria said, the beastmen in front of her shared glances. ¡°Well I took it, but I need a safe place to¡­¡± To break a God. Neneria left that unsaid. ¡°Where the Pack is, there is safety.¡± Fer said. ¡°No harm will come to you while I am here.¡± Neneria shook her head. She wasn¡¯t afraid of these beastmen, even if they came at her all at once, she could crush them. How did Fer not¡­ whatever. The woman had a dog for brain, dogs had to be told things explicitly and directly. ¡°I have found Atis¡¯ soul.¡± Neneria said as outright as she knew how to. ¡°And I have it with me.¡± She brought out the soul jar from the bag underneath her cloak. Fer¡¯s smile dropped. ¡°Oh.¡± Oh indeed. The audience around the campfire who were not even pretending not to listen in fell into silence, and the five¡­ Neneria wondered what they were? Captains? That seemed good enough. The five captains followed along with the audience. ¡°We would need a sequestered spot.¡± One of the darkfurs said. What was his name? Traian? Traius? ¡°Underground?¡± The bullman spoke. Neneria looked to the wolfman, his jaw curling into a terrible grin. Wolves should not be capable of smiling. He said only a single name. ¡°Iliyal.¡± Neneria blinked. Did he mean Iliyal Tremali? Impossible! Kassandora¡¯s man? He was still alive? If she knew, she would gone to him immediately! ¡°Do you-¡° Neneria quietly began and Fer cut her off. ¡°I agree.¡± Fer said. ¡°Logar, you are correct. Today sister, I will fill you in on what has happened, we have a story to share regarding this.¡± She tapped the jar in Neneria¡¯s lap. Oh, so she could be gentle now? Where was this gentleness when she was crushing Neneria¡¯s bones? ¡°You have to indulge me for one day, unfortunately.¡± From the tone, Neneria assumed her sister was trying to be sarcastic. There was no sarcasm about, it WAS unfortunate! ¡°And tomorrow?¡± Neneria asked quietly. Why did they have an audience? This was supposed to be private! ¡°Tomorrow, the Pack will march.¡± The five captain¡¯s eyes shifted to a deeper red. They began it, the audience close by joined in, then the campfires away from them, until every half-human let out a war-cry. The valley howled. Chapter 57 – End Education, Begin Annihilation Maisara spoke to her Paladins: ¡°Whatever Allasaria or anyone says, do not do it. Our loyalty lies with Order in the world! Not with Order of Allasaria¡¯s Pantheon!¡± ¡°Where was it?¡± Fleur angrily commented. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Edmonton admitted, they had disappeared from Arcadia once again, left the school to its trivial machinations. Edmonton cared about his attendance six months ago, now¡­ It had dropped from the high nineties to the low thirties. It wasn¡¯t even Anassa, frankly, the Goddess did not take up much of his time. It was the simple slog of turning up to learn trite that Anassa skipped over. To figure out concepts so simple he could not understand how others struggled with them. Anassa was high and mighty, each word she said hid twice as much as it revealed but there was one difference between her and the faculty of Arcadia: She treated his intelligence with respect. If Anassa said something was possible, then it would be possible. Not easy by any means, but possible. The toughest challenge on his curriculum was staying awake. The grandest insult was when he was stopped for picking up a weight of water too great for him. For fuck¡¯s sake he had killed people! What was a small pool compared to that? ¡°If you¡¯re going to pretend to know directions, then you have to know them.¡± Fleur said angrily. Sometimes, Ed wished the girl would shut up. There she was, as pretty as the day he had saw her when they had met for the first time in class, hair like the night sky, a face of marble, a loose shirt and a red skirt. Her voice was velvet and then those pink lips twisted to make yet another demand. ¡°Pull out your map then.¡± Edmonton interrupted whatever she was going to say. ¡°Wow.¡± Fleur said sarcastically. ¡°I¡¯m surprised anything gets through to Lord Weaver.¡± ¡°Have you said anything nice yet?¡± ¡°Do you deserve anything nice said about you?¡± Great. Fleur pulled out her phone, a few taps later and she brought up the map of Atny. It was the capital of the country that had ceded land to Arcadia, an ancient city thoroughly impoverished and left behind by the rest of the world, marble buildings older than most other nations on Epa surrounded, glorious relics those buildings were, their doors blocked by black trash bags. Marvellous white statues of the Divines and heroes from the past, each one with people covered in rags at their base. Crystal clear water flowed from fountains in the dirty pools. A low skyline mandated to keep the image of city tarnished with the massive port under Olympiada¡¯s authority in the distance. Six huge container ships were being unloaded, a dozen more were waiting for permission to dock. ¡°I¡¯m surprised.¡± Fleur said. ¡°Are we here?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve passed it five times now.¡± Great. Fleur, Edmonton decided, was the one person who should not be given any reason to be anymore proud of herself than she already was. To think he had once envisioned marrying her! That was possibly the greatest thing he had Anassa to thank for, as now all he could envision with her was endless moaning and whining. ¡°Where is it then?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°Across the street.¡± She looked up from the phone. ¡°Small place.¡± ¡°Quaint.¡± Edmonton said as he looked at the meeting location. A small family-run caf¨¦, it was largely empty apart from a few tourists. The plants surrounding the outdoor were struggling to survive in the hot sun, their leaves already going brown. ¡°Homely.¡± ¡°Cheap.¡± Fleur and her pretty little remarks. Edmonton didn¡¯t reply. The girl stepped out into the road bringing a car to a screeching stop. Edmonton ran after her, frankly, she deserved ever swear the driver had just yelled. She leaned down and looked at the menu outside. ¡°Wow. Amazing. So much choice.¡± Her tone said it was none of those things. ¡°Just come on.¡± Edmonton grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. ¡°Do you even know who we are meeting?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a woman.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you the ladies¡¯ man?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°What¡¯s with you today?¡± Edmonton finally barked. ¡°I¡¯d rather go to read than to chase random phones.¡± ¡°You know she said we should go.¡± Both of them knew meant she meant Anassa, but neither of them were going to say the name of a Goddess who served Arascus in public. ¡°I had a talk with her.¡± Fleur said. ¡°And?¡± ¡°Waste of time, she said basically nothing.¡± Whenever Fleur said anything referring to Anassa, her tone had so much bile in it she could have been uttering a slur. ¡°And now she tells you to take me to this woman?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see what she has to say, how about that?¡± Edmonton replied. ¡°Wow. Fantastic. Amazing. I¡¯m sure it will be worth the two-day trip.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you wanted to see Atny once?¡± ¡°And now I¡¯ve seen it.¡± Edmonton sighed as he looked around the caf¨¦. It was a small place, all wooden furniture topped off with tablecloths that were about fifty years out of fashion. The guests looked happy enough, chatting quietly over coffee. Ed narrowed his eyes. ¡°Do you see it?¡± Fleur whispered quietly, she took a step closer to him, their arms rubbing against each other.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Swords.¡± Edmonton whispered back. Fleur gave a single nod. Swords were common enough in Atny, officially the stance was they should be inaccessible the majority of the population but things changed when economies took downturns. Every customer had a blade by his chair. ¡°The two tables at the back are just watching us.¡± Edmonton whispered. ¡°I saw them.¡± Fleur replied, but she made no movement or tell that said of nervousness. Edmonton took a breath and confidently strolled to the bar in the centre of the room. Ultimately, they were sorcerers first, mages second, students of Arcadia third. The first two was enough reason for them not fear harm, the third was reason enough to be able to get away with everything if anything were to happen. The counter had a man working, rinsing out a glass that was far too clean to need rinsing. ¡°We have a reservation.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Do you?¡± The man looked down at a piece of paper with absolutely nothing scrawled on it. ¡°It¡¯s with the Duchess.¡± That was all the phone-call had told him to say. The barkeep looked at him, looked at Fleur, weighed both of them with his eyes and shrugged. ¡°You ask for a drink normally.¡± He said lazily and shouted past them. ¡°Markus, these are the two she wanted.¡± The man called Markus stood up from his table, sword on his belt and gestured. ¡°Follow me.¡± Fleur and Edmonton shared a look. All the annoyance had been driven out of the girl, now only replaced by curiosity and excitement. She was smiling! Edmonton did not blame her, he knew he was too. They silently followed Markus up a set of stairs, into a room, then through a wardrobe into another room. ¡°Normally I offer drinks but she¡¯s prepared some.¡± The man said, the bored tone, the slow movements, it all said this wasn¡¯t the first time he had gone through this rigamarole. ¡°Anyway, pleasure to serve.¡± He opened yet another door to reveal a small room. Windowless and lit up only by candles, four bunkbeds lined one wall, swords and spears hung off the wall, in the corner Edmonton saw throwing cocktails, bottles filled with jelly and storm matches taped to the side. And a woman. A pretty woman, but Edmonton had his share of pretty women in Arcadia. She sat there in a suit as if ready for a business meeting. Edmonton felt himself underdressed, he simply wore a white shirt and shorts to deal with Atny¡¯s summer sun. ¡°Hello.¡± The woman said. ¡°Please sit, I have wine, beer, water and soda. Take your pick.¡± She herself was sipping on wine already. Edmonton sat down first, Fleur close behind him. ¡°So we are here for what exactly?¡± He began immediately. There was no reason to sit in a room much too hot. ¡°You are Anassa¡¯s sorcerers, yes?¡± The woman said the name as if she was familiar with the Goddess. No point in hiding it then. ¡°We are.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°We¡¯ve talked over the phone. I¡¯m Edmonton Weaver. This is¡­¡± Fleur liked to introduce herself, he gestured towards her. ¡°Fleur Ambelee.¡± ¡°Sara Daganhoff. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± She said. ¡°Right, since we¡¯ve skipped the pleasantries, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re wondering why I called you out here.¡± ¡°Not to see the sights I assume.¡± Edmonton replied as Sara, if that even was her real name, brought out two tickets. Atny to Yetergrad, business class, three days from now. All that had to be left was for them to be signed. ¡°I¡¯ve not agreed to anything yet.¡± Edmonton said as Fleur inspected the ticket. The back and the front, it was as real as they came. Sara watched them for a moment, smiled and leaned forwards. The top two buttons of her shirt were undone and she knew how to press herself against to table to bring attention to that. ¡°You¡¯re here already.¡± She practically purred. ¡°Did Anassa not inform you?¡± That was not the thing to ask Fleur. ¡°Anassa tells us what she thinks we have to know.¡± Fleur barked. ¡°And contain yourself woman. He is taken.¡± She wrapped her arm around Edmonton¡¯s. The man only sat there and sighed. Taken? Since when? ¡°How nice.¡± Sara leaned further and took off her jacket. If there was one thing Ed and Lyca agreed on, it was that when you¡¯re given permission to look, then look. ¡°So you know nothing?¡± ¡°We knew to turn up here.¡± Edmonton said. He leaned back, pulled Fleur alongside him and very obviously looked to the blades hanging on the wall. They were plain but obviously kept oiled and clean. ¡°Now I¡¯d remind you that even if you don¡¯t get what you want, we¡¯ll walk out of here one way or another.¡± She should get the hint. ¡°We¡¯re not on opposing sides.¡± Sara said. ¡°That¡¯s not for you to decide.¡± The woman sighed, leaned back and shook her head. ¡°Are all mages like this?¡± She asked the open air. ¡°Just the ones who¡¯ve dealt with Anassa.¡± Edmonton replied. ¡°So? What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not under permission to tell you.¡± ¡°Grand.¡± Edmonton replied. ¡°We¡¯ve been on an adventure before, I have no plans to repeat it again.¡± Sara sighed, closed her eyes, that black hair spilling down. Edmonton enjoyed the show, enjoyed it until he felt Fleur pinch him. ¡°You¡¯ve met Fer too, have you not?¡± Fleur answered. Well¡­ she accused. ¡°You work for Iliyal Tremali. Ex-General of the Eighth Imperial Army, once a servant of Arascus.¡± Sara stopped the show, straightened, her blue eyes growing wide. ¡°And I assume you want some service that only mages can do.¡± ¡°And you know that how?¡± ¡°I do a lot of reading.¡± Fleur replied. ¡°So? We owe you no favours nor loyalty. As Ed said, we¡¯ve been sent off on an adventure once. We learn from mistakes.¡± Sara sighed. ¡°I do indeed work with Iliyal. My apologies for not treating you seriously.¡± She put her arms on a ball in the table. ¡°I¡¯ve been to Arcadia and the quality of person was not, how should I say it? Up to par.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not the masses.¡± Fleur added. ¡°Neither am I.¡± Sara continued. ¡°I have been titled Duchess, first of my house. Right then, if I tell you, I expect agreement.¡± ¡°And if we don¡¯t?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°Then Anassa will know.¡± Sara said. Edmonton thought it was a bluff for a moment but if they snuck into the Divine Library, this woman could have just as easily. How difficult would it be to hand Anassa a phone? The words had little effect on him, but he felt Fleur¡¯s finger intertwine through his. ¡°This better not be a suicide operation like last time.¡± He said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t much of a suicide operation if you¡¯re still alive.¡± ¡°We got lucky.¡± ¡°We had it planned out entirely.¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± ¡°Doubt all you want.¡± Sara finished. ¡°You want the story? We have decided it is time for you to quit wasting your life at Arcadia and actually do something that is worthy of your talents.¡± ¡°Mages have a good life.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°In two to three years, war will be unleashed on Arda. Mages will be pulled back into military service but they will be on the losing side.¡± She tapped one of the Gracya Air tickets. ¡°This is an invitation to join the other team.¡± ¡°There¡¯s always doomsday talk about.¡± ¡°Doomsayers don¡¯t have the assistance of a God, do they?¡± Sara smiled at them. ¡°And I don¡¯t mean Anassa.¡± ¡°You want us to leave Arcadia properly?¡± Fleur asked ¡°Forever.¡± Sara said. ¡°I still have things there.¡± Fleur replied. ¡°Returning to pick them up should not be an issue after the mission is done.¡± ¡°Should or will not?¡± Fleur asked. Sara smiled at her like a teacher looking at her pupils. ¡°You have friends, even if it¡¯s impossible for you, they can bring it.¡± ¡°What is in it for us?¡± Edmonton asked finally. Being a lawyer was one thing, being a wartime sorcerer though¡­ And then the prestige and fame from that¡­ Fleur sighed heavily, but she did back him up. ¡°It¡¯s not a case of morality.¡± She explained. ¡°It¡¯s a case of if it¡¯s worth doing or not.¡± Sara leaned forwards, she must be acting like that on purpose. Her chest practically wanted to burst the buttons on her shirt. ¡°You will kill a God.¡± Chapter 58 – Mikhail Alash, Bringer of Jobs, Restorer of Cities, Saviour of Children. Damian Sokolowiecz, Cleric-Chaplain of Kavaa, stood in his camp. Five hundred and thirty-eight men stood behind him, all Clerics in light beige shirt and shorts for dealing with temperatures of Arika. Cleric-Chaplain of the Order of the Knights of the Crimson Cross stood before him. The camp had grown silent since the Epan Order had arrived, all clean plate armours and thick capes as if they had dressed for the Karainan snow. ¡°Excuse me?¡± He asked. ¡°It is the Goddess¡¯ will. The entirety of the Twin Hearts are to return to Olympiada.¡± ¡°What for?¡± ¡°I know not¡­ but she said to bring arms.¡± Arascus watched Mikhail¡¯s workshop through a glass plane. Was it a workshop at this point? The name should be changed to factory. The location had been moved from headquarters to the eastern Karainan cities. They had all but taken over the lesser towns in the region at this point with their own men. It was located close to Tarin and halfway between Kira Car factory and the Aklasia refinery and inhabited the ruins of an abandoned iron smeltery. Closed down some thirty years ago as people moved away. Now the local populace treated Mikhail Alash as a hero. A man who had come and restored industry and employment for them. The engineer had posters stuck up in his office created by some youths, marvellous propaganda frankly, even better that Arascus did not order it himself. The man was drawn like a hero, towering over a mass of shackled people and handing them a hammer, a factory behind him. Smash the chains of poverty written in striking yellow text before it. Arascus and Iliyal had not even considered the purposes of this for recruitment. ¡°I apologize for the wait.¡± Mikhail entered his office and bowed to the God. His style had reverted back to the blue engineer¡¯s overalls, a cap over his balding head, a new pair of glasses and he was holding a rose bouquet in his hand. ¡°You¡¯ve become a hero here.¡± Arascus said idly. ¡°It is underserved.¡± Mikhail put the bouquet into a vase on a table. Four more stood there. ¡°I didn¡¯t stop them becau¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t explain yourself Alash.¡± Arascus interrupted him. ¡°Pride is good for us all.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± The man smiled and awkwardly rearranged the roses. ¡°I do suppose I like it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve come to inspect the planes, are they ready?¡± ¡°As ready as they¡¯ll ever be.¡± Ilwin looked at his band of thirty men behind him. Allasaria had tasked some thoroughly unpleasant minor God to take them back to Doschia¡¯s capital of Neustadt. From there, they had taken the train to Lubska¡¯s capital of Zawitz, a three-day trek to the Karainan border, through the barely populated Stary Las they had snuck into Karaina and were heading back to headquarters. Mikhail could barely contain himself when he took Arascus down a small wooded footpath to a secluded warehouse away from Tavda town. ¡°The population decline has stemmed entirely.¡± Mikhail spoke to fill the silence, he was sure that Arascus would know already. ¡°Over the past four months, we¡¯ve seen emigration decline from two hundred a month, this month, we¡¯ve had an intake of five hundred people.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Narma suggests you for the local elections.¡± Arascus said and Mikhail laughed nervously. ¡°Th-That isn¡¯t my domain.¡± The flowers were bad enough. He had come here to oversee the plane development, not to manage party politics. Then he realised he was talking to Arascus. ¡°If you¡­ I mean, it can be done but¡­¡± The God started chuckling. ¡°I don¡¯t throw fish into forests and bears into the ocean.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We¡¯ll find a man and you¡¯ll throw your support in behind him. One speech is all, Daganhoff will write it.¡± A weight disappeared from Mikhail¡¯s shoulders, a speech he could give. ¡°But I have to say, I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re not married yet.¡± Mikhail and responded on instinct, this talk was all too familiar back at home. ¡°Are you my mother?¡± He said, stopped and bowed. ¡°I-I apo-¡° Arascus looked down at him from twice his height, his dark eyes shone with mirth and he burst out in laughter. To see a God laugh? Mikhail could barely believe his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t apologize.¡± He said, still chuckling. ¡°Empires run on men who talk, not servants who ask for permission.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Mikhail blinked. ¡°I mean¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m simply surprised.¡± Arascus continued walking through the forests as birds chattered away. ¡°Roses?¡± He smirked. ¡°It was from a married woman.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°They did not want to move away, her son was ill, her husband started work in Tarin. The boy survived.¡± There wasn¡¯t any reason to drag the story on. Arascus¡¯ hand slapped him on the back. ¡°Mikhail Alash! Bringer of jobs, restorer of cities, saviour of children.¡± The God laughed as Mikhail kept on hiking through the forest. Those weren¡¯t bad titles¡­ were they? Neneria kicked her legs into the air as she rode on Pegaz next to Fer, Traius led them forwards. Almost ten thousand beastmen marched behind them, from the eldest and the wounded who were carried on the backs of bullmen to the children, who seemed to have endless energy and played games as they ran around the larger pack members. It was an army on the march. Two armies. Neneria had hers in her pocket. ¡°The plane can fly without the back door.¡± Mikhail spoke swiftly and confidently. ¡°If worst comes to worst, it can be blown off. The pilot¡¯s cabin is entirely sealed with its own oxygen intake, there is a cabin in-between the rear where we plan to put sorcerers and the pilot, that can be used to hold the men who aren¡¯t jumping. We have installed cords to hold men too, we wanted a release mechanism but you said the less mechanical parts the better, everyone on board is expected to have a knife with them if they are jumping.¡± Mikhail drew his finger over the diagram. Arascus leaned over the table, the two jets stood before them. They were barely recognizable from the meagre planes Operation SkyStealer had acquired. The engines had been replaced from the circular civilian designs to pointed jet engines used by government officials, two more had been fitted onto the back, on the top to further improve top speed. The nose had been redesigned, made into a spear-tip to minimize air-resistance. Even the wings had been replaced, gone were the two wobbling rectangles sticking out of either side and in came a pyramid design, intertwined into the plane¡¯s body from the from all the way to the back. ¡°I¡¯ve called this design the Raptor model.¡± Mikhail voice¡¯s shook as he spoke. The team of engineers Iliyal had brought him along with his own intelligence, he was sure that this was the most advanced plane in the world. The name though¡­ none of them were flowery artists. ¡°Like the bird.¡± Arascus said idly as he straightened his back and looked at the jet before them. ¡°Raptors pick prey up and drop them to finish them off.¡± Mikhail said and the God chuckled yet again. ¡°Not everything needs a mechanical reason behind it Alash. The name fits.¡± He looked directly at the plane. ¡°Why the paint?¡± He asked and Alash nervously laughed. The twenty-two engineers who lived in this secret compound all shared nervous glances, they were stood lined up on the side, each man dirty from oil. Half of them covered in cuts from working with sharp steel. Rough and dirty hands on all of them, but all of them smiled at the God¡¯s reaction. It was beyond obvious he enjoyed what he was looking at. The plane was covered in black paint, the front was splashed with yellow to try and add a beak. Two red eyes, tilted downwards, were behind the pilot¡¯s cabin. ¡°We thought it fit.¡± Chapter 59 – Sorcerers of the Future The Order of the Legacy of the Twin Hearts, the Order of the Saints of Flowing Blood, the Order of the Lifeshield, of Healing Saints, of the Woundbearers, of Hartmann¡¯s Chosen and of I-Em-Hetep¡¯s Apostles stood arranged two miles from Olympiada. Allasaria looked down at them as the clouds cleared around the mountain. Six thousand men, six thousand men and counting. The apostles of Hippokrat were inbound from Atny¡¯s port. Three more ships were waiting to be provided entry to dock, projections from her advisors suggested twelve thousand men will conglomerate on that field by the end of the week. Orders going on parade did not bother her. Especially not Kavaa¡¯s Orders. They weren¡¯t weak men by any means, but when compared to the Seekers? Or to Maisara¡¯s and Fortia¡¯s Orders? The hierarchy had been set in the Great War and the tradition had continued; Kavaa¡¯s Orders were auxiliary support and healers, they weren¡¯t front line fighters. But they had brought their armouries and vehicles. Over a hundred helicopters were parked in a square, and twenty of Kavaa¡¯s personal air-fleet. Planes which were used to transport the wounded and ill away from disasters and her Clerics into them. Kavaa stepped onto the balcony. Allasaria did not need to look to check, a millennia of dealing with these fools had taught her to recognize them by footstep. Kavaa¡¯s were a light march, rigid and even but filled with a careful trepidation. ¡°You called for me.¡± She said. ¡°What is this?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°I do not believe that Maisara and Fortia won¡¯t make a move.¡± Allasaria rolled her eyes. Was it a lie? It could be, but then she herself expected those two to be up to something during Leona¡¯s next Olephia trip. ¡°So you brought an army?¡± ¡°Maisara has an army on the mountain.¡± Kavaa said coldly. ¡°I at least keep mine off it.¡± Allasaria sighed. Sometimes, she wished she had not bound herself with moralistic legalisms. Arascus watched two maids clean the rest of his office. They cleaned every day, he hated coming across even a speck of dust, it simply was not right for a man destined to be Emperor of all Arda to have dust in his abode. It was two pretty girls in outfits modest, they had served under Iliyal for a decade before Arascus had joined. The General had recommended them himself. Neither of them asked questions and both were smart enough to know when to they did not see something and did not hear anything. ¡°If we¡¯re going to be dealing with sorcerers, then I¡¯d recommend wine.¡± Raika said. And they weren¡¯t scared of him. That was as rare a skill as the previous two. ¡°Daganhoff said they¡¯re children.¡± Raika looked up from her brush and looked at the God. A short girl, dirty blonde with quick eyes and a fascination with Mikhail¡¯s creation. Her own room was practically an armoury. ¡°I had wine here and there when I was young.¡± She said and got back to sweeping. ¡°A cup won¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°Bring wine and water, something to eat too.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Biscuits? Cakes?¡± Arascus leaned back as he waited for Daganhoff to bring these new sorcerers. It was a total breach of protocol, Leona was still alive and these two weren¡¯t trained to deal with the omnipresence of Lady Luck. But¡­ but¡­ but he was sure her end was coming soon and, more importantly, these two were apparently his daughter¡¯s own creations. Chosen to serve as the first sorcerers of the modern world. She had trusted them enough to go and help Fer, he was sure she was proud of them, and he wanted to partake in that pride. ¡°Your choice Raika.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°What do you think they¡¯ll be like?¡± ¡°Sorcerers?¡± The girl gave one final sweep of her brush and stood straight, her black dress immaculate. ¡°I¡¯ve seen mages on TV and they¡¯re not so impressive.¡± She said. The other maid, Alee, nodded along as she finished rearranging the bottles in a cabinet. She was older than Raika by nine years and worked as the Mistress of the Maids in the headquarters. ¡°During the Tuyyah Earthquake, they sent mages to contain the flooding and it overwhelmed them. I¡¯d like to see them myself.¡± Maids were curious a millennia ago, maids were curious now, some things never changed. ¡°One¡¯s a young boy apparently.¡± ¡°Of course you¡¯d know that.¡± Raika said. ¡°A boy and a girl, nearing the age of twenty.¡± Arascus confirmed. ¡°Whiskey then.¡± Alee said. ¡°Whiskey?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Children like being treated as adults. Whiskey and a meeting with me.¡± She said, saw Raika¡¯s blushing face and laughed. ¡°And we can send the girl off to Iliyal, he¡¯s quite the charmer, isn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll fall in love.¡± Arascus said dryly and the maids cackled. There was some who looked down from maids, but these two girls gave him the greatest of all: a respite from managing the war effort. A knock on the door interrupted their giggles, they fell silent immediately. It was one thing to engage in small-talk with their Lord, it was another to thoroughly embarrass him. ¡°Duchess Daganhoff.¡± The voice from outside said. The maids looked at each other, then at Arascus. ¡°Seems like we¡¯re too late with the drinks.¡± Alee said. ¡°Seems like it.¡± Arascus replied before straightening his back and cracking his neck. ¡°Let them in, prepare their rooms.¡± ¡°At once.¡± Alee said, she snapped her fingers and Raika followed along to the wooden door. ¡°Arascus wishes to meet you.¡± He saw her wink seductively at someone and walk off into the corridor. A dozen steps her and Raika before they started giggling with each other. Most importantly, they were likable. He had to be likable too, it was the single greatest difference between his rule and the rule of lessers. Daganhoff stepped in first, in a business she had buttoned up to the top and walking like a queen. On one hand, some pride for the woman was good, on the other, Arascus wondered if giving the woman a noble title had gone to her head. She had called the two youths who followed her children, but one glance said they were anything but. The boy was a tall man, young, his skin soft, but his blue eyes were hard. He met Arascus¡¯ gaze and did not look away. The girl was similar, dark haired and carrying herself as if trying to emulate Daganhoff¡¯s stride. ¡°Edmonton Weaver and Fleur Ambelee.¡± Sara said and bowed. The two sorcerers simply stood there like statues, Arascus wondered if they were nervous or simply trying to make a show of their characters, most likely a bit of both. ¡°Thank you Duchess, you can leave us now.¡± Daganhoff did not let the disappointment onto her face, but she retreated considerably slower than before. ¡°Tell Alee to have someone ready their rooms and bring drinks.¡± Arascus continued. ¡°Would you like anything?¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The two sorcerers shared a glance. The girl made the tiniest shake of her head as the boy smiled. ¡°A whiskey.¡± He replied. Arascus decided Alee deserved a reward, the woman could be a spymaster and yet she refused every opportunity at promotion. The girl sighed heavily and looked to Arascus. ¡°Apologies for his behaviour, it was a poor joke.¡± She spoke firmly, as if there was going to be no more discussion of the topic. ¡°We¡¯re fine with just water.¡± ¡°Tell them to bring a bottle of whiskey, something to eat, water and juice. And glasses.¡± The girl elbowed her friend as he smiled. ¡°That is all Daganhoff.¡± Sara saluted and shut the door. ¡°So, sorcerers?¡± He leaned back and stretched his arms out. ¡°Sit, sit, please, rest your legs.¡± The two exchanged looks once again, but they did sit on the comfortable cushioned seats Raika and Alee had prepared. ¡°How long have you been sorcerers?¡± ¡°Six months about.¡± Edmonton replied. Arascus nodded, talented then. Past the age of twelve, it was usually deemed too late. Fifteen had been a hard cut-off once. He supposed beggars can¡¯t be choosers though, Anassa had found people she felt had the spark and lit it within them. ¡°And? How do you feel about it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like magic.¡± Edmonton spoke again. ¡°But not. Magic is easier.¡± ¡°Magic is a light drizzle, sorcery is a hailstone.¡± Fleur said. Arascus had it be described as that before. ¡°Just that?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Well¡­¡± Fleur looked down at her knees. Edmonton stepped in. ¡°When¡­¡± He looked around the room. ¡°Sara?¡± ¡°Sara.¡± Arascus confirmed. ¡°When Sara told us more what we were going to do, we did try to tell her we¡¯re not experts.¡± ¡°Are you not? Iliyal praised your performance during the Great Hunt.¡± They seemed like they needed a little both of confidence to him. Anassa had always been one to tear people down and treat them like fools. Sorcerers needed to be built back up before they could outshine mages. Both of the youths went red. ¡°And Sara told me you worked out who Iliyal was Fleur.¡± ¡°It was the only explanation that answered everything.¡± Fleur replied quietly, still looking away and playing with her hair. ¡°So you must know who I am then.¡± Arascus said and both of them nodded. A knock on the door interrupted them. ¡°Will you let them in?¡± Arascus nodded to Edmonton. ¡°The room is soundproofed.¡± It wasn¡¯t, but asking someone to do something always eased the tension. The boy opened the door, it was Alee. She gave him a look filled with a thousand promises that Arascus pretended not to notice and carried a tray of snacks and drinks to the table. An old whiskey, three glasses, orange juice, some fruit, a pitcher of water, biscuits and slices of pre-cut cake. The maid left without saying a word as Edmonton sat down, his cheeks going red. ¡°Her name is Alee.¡± Arascus said. ¡°She¡¯s like that to everyone.¡± Edmonton shook his head as the girl scowled again. Arascus gave them another look. Where they together? They very well could be, sorcery called to sorcery just as divinity called to divinity. That could be a problem then. Lovers on a battlefield always went off plan. ¡°Are you two together?¡± Arascus asked it flatly. Fleur blinked, went crimson and Edmonton chuckled. ¡°Nyes.¡± The girl replied. ¡°Depends on the day.¡± Edmonton added and he got another elbow in the side. So it was like that then? How cute. Arascus poured some whiskey for all three of them and held the glass. Edmonton took it eagerly, Fleur followed along after moment. ¡°Cheers.¡± Arascus said. Edmonton drank half in one go and put it on the table. ¡°I apologize for this.¡± He said. ¡°Or I don¡¯t if I should apologize or not. But you are nothing how I expected you to be.¡± Arascus chuckled. ¡°Am I not?¡± ¡°Not at all.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± Edmonton got right into it. ¡°We¡¯ve both seen Elassa at Arcadia. She¡¯s something else entirely. When she speaks, it¡¯s just like, you know you¡¯re speaking to a Divine. You just know. She holds it above your head. And¡­¡± He trailed off. ¡°Anassa I assume?¡± Arascus said. ¡°Yes. Goddess Anassa.¡± Arascus smiled at the boy¡¯s attempt at negotiation. Titling his daughter but not a member of the White Pantheon? It was obvious, but he would be lying if he said he didn¡¯t like it. Edmonton must have caught the smile. ¡°She is, if I¡¯m going to be frank, when I speak to her I feel like a child.¡± ¡°You mean she treats everyone as if they¡¯re stupid.¡± Arascus corrected him. ¡°That puts it less diplomatically, but yes.¡± Edmonton replied. ¡°She treats us as if we¡¯re idiots. She doesn¡¯t say a word more than needs to be said.¡± Arascus nodded, he supposed it was good they had come here early then. ¡°I will require your assistance for a month or two.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I cannot give a hard date because we ourselves don¡¯t have a date yet. When we get one, we¡¯ll have maybe half a day¡¯s notice to have everything be ready.¡± He tapped the whiskey glass. ¡°This is the only drink you¡¯ll get until we¡¯re done.¡± ¡°And what exactly are we doing?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°Because the woman would not share. The most she said was that we were going to kill a God.¡± Another breach of protocol but Arascus would not deduct points from Sara for that. If she succeeded, then she succeeded, that was that. ¡°Not exactly.¡± Arascus said. ¡°You will not do any killing yourself. You will bring down a plane.¡± Edmonton blinked and Fleur drank her glass of whiskey. She coughed and poured herself the juice to was it down with. ¡°Just that?¡± Edmonton asked. Arascus loved sorcerers. He especially loved first-generation sorcerers, the strongest of the bunch, specifically picked out by his daughter. No sane man would reply like that to what he had said, but all sorcerers needed a little bit of insanity to them to pass Anassa¡¯s examination. The boy saw Arascus smiling and apologized, waving his hands. ¡°No no, I meant, it¡¯s not¡­ I mean, we were told it was to kill a God, bringing down a plane¡­¡± He looked weakly at Arascus. ¡°It¡¯s less¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s the plane of the Goddess of Luck. Mortals would not even be able to touch her.¡± ¡°Would we not?¡± Fleur asked grimly. ¡°It¡¯s not a case of whether you can or not. It simply won¡¯t happen.¡± Arascus said, he leaned and supposed he should tell them about Leona. ¡°Over the course of the Great War as you call it now, back then we called it the War for Arda, we sent an assassin a month, maybe two.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°A man with intent to harm will simply collapse dead. Heart failures, blood clots, strokes. Everything and anything that can incapacitate someone. Over a century, we had only men who managed to even loose an arrow. The wind turned, someone stepped in the way, Leona happened to bend down or lean out of the way. Without her permission, a mortal simply cannot touch her. It will not happen.¡± Edmonton and Fleur looked at each other. The boy finished his glass, the girl poured herself another. ¡°You¡¯ll have a headache tomorrow.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I¡¯m Rancais, we have wine for breakfast.¡± She replied. The colour in her cheeks obviously said she did not have wine for breakfast but Arascus let it slide. People learned from mistakes. ¡°You want us to down her?¡± ¡°Her powers don¡¯t touch things around her. You are not to even think you want to harm her, she will survive the plane crash, but she¡¯ll be on the ground. Your work is done then.¡± ¡°So you have a ground team to finish her?¡± ¡°We¡¯re working on it.¡± Arascus replied honestly. There was no reason to lie. Lies caught up to you sooner or later. ¡°So one of us can¡¯t be a ground team?¡± Edmonton asked and Arascus took a drink of the whiskey. ¡°Do you actually want to kill a Goddess?¡± He asked. Edmonton did not reply, but his face obviously said he was up for the challenge. ¡°I would not be against it.¡± ¡°We need two planes in the air.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°I expect one of the two to fail. The more the better, but I only have two sorcerers so we¡¯re using two planes.¡± ¡°How will you kill her?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°We have ways.¡± Arascus replied. There was no way he would tell them about the rifles Mikhail had created. Leona was still alive, they could send a message to someone and leak the secret. ¡°But I won¡¯t share out of secrecy.¡± He thought of a reason that would satisfy them. ¡°We have a team trained specifically to counter her.¡± ¡°She needs that?¡± Arascus kept his face calm, it looked like the reasoning worked. ¡°Your job is to down the plane, that is all you should worry about.¡± Arascus said and changed the topic, if they got annoyed with him, they might start thinking of leaving. ¡°While you¡¯re here, you will have skydiving lessons.¡± ¡°Excuse me?!¡± Fleur half-shouted. Two full glasses of whiskey in a conversation? She was obviously drunk by now. ¡°Skydiving?¡± ¡°Parachuting.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Two days from now, you¡¯ll be sent off to handle them. I¡¯ll go with you.¡± ¡°Skydiving with a God!¡± Fleur giggled. ¡°Well would you look at that Ed! We¡¯ve hit the big leagues now!¡± Edmonton looked at her and at Arascus. ¡°She¡¯s not usually like this.¡± He said quietly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°And I know how my daughter handles students. I will try to make it up to you.¡± That sobered Fleur up, Edmonton leaned forwards, his eyes hungry. Arascus had no issue with how Anassa had treated them, frankly, she had done nothing wrong. Leona was still at large and any poor move could spill what had happened. ¡°We really don¡¯t have anything to ask for.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°I will train you in the arts of sorcery myself.¡± Chapter 60 – Ready to Report: Operation SkyStealer ¡°Artica. Me. Cuts Off.¡± Allasaria drew up a plan. Five planes, each with ten invention Gods. Artica would not kill Leona. She would simply grab Luck by its terrible horns and drag it away from jaws of death if need be. Mortals were useless, no Seeker would participate, even the pilots would be Divines. There would not be a force on Arda that would stop them. Leona would not be allowed to die. If Hell itself descended upon Arda, Allasaria would cleanse it. ¡°How many men are we talking about?¡± Iliyal asked Arascus. They were watching Edmonton and Fleur train their sorceries. Iliyal didn¡¯t know if the God had taken a liking to their youths, or if it was simply that they were untalented still. Most likely a mix of both. ¡°How many men can we realistically use?¡± Arascus stood there in his military garb. A sleek suit topped off with a heavy greatcoat. Summer had descended on northern Karaina but it certainly did not favour it. The coniferous trees creaked and groaned as the heavy winds swept through them. ¡°With the planes? About two hundred.¡± Iliyal said grimly, he pulled his greatcoat around him as another blast of wind bit into them. By the end of the Great War, they had simply resorted to throwing assassins at Leona in some vain hope at drawing cards until they had the fabled royal flush. Gods had to run out of power eventually, Arascus certainly had whilst trapped in the Godstone prison, and Gods had fallen in the Great War. That alone proved that the power they had was limited. Then he had killed Atis and it had reinvigorated morale. Gods could be killed, and they could be killed by mortal men. But Atis was not Leona. Atis was a hunter with a spear and a bow. Leona¡¯s weapon was her mind, there was no catching Lady Luck off-guard, no secret ambushes to be done. No, Leona had to be overwhelmed with sheer force. So much had to be hurled at her that the chance of survival was flat out impossible. Playing the game with a woman who drew a perfect royal flush on each hand could only result in a draw. They had to set fire to the entire casino, then barricade the doors until the flames consumed every soul within. ¡°How are the rifles?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Alash has simplified the design. They don¡¯t jam anymore, they can¡¯t jam.¡± The A2 was now in full production. A notably worse model than the A1, but several of the A1s had jammed during his encounter with the Great Hunt. The A2 had to be loaded manually, but it was the peak of reliability. The weapon could be used as a damn forging hammer and still work. That was no exaggeration, he had seen it happen when Alash showed off the design. ¡°Send a message to stall production, it¡¯s a rifle specifically designed to counter her, when she is removed, the A1 will be better.¡± ¡°Alash is already on a third version.¡± ¡°Is he?¡± ¡°One of the plane engineers had an idea to make it fire automatically.¡± Iliyal adopted a shooting stance and pulled his finger rapidly. ¡°Like dum dum dum.¡± ¡°That would revolutionize warfare.¡± Arascus said. Iliyal had served under Kassandora in the Great War, she was an excellent Warmaster, but even she held that little bit of divine arrogance all Gods held, Arascus was the only exception Iliyal had met. ¡°It would.¡± Iliyal agreed. Edmonton screamed before them, flung his arms forwards a tree and a red blast of sorcery appeared before him. Both, the elf and the God, smiled. That pure nostalgia. The great battles of the past flashed past him, with sorcerers throwing men into the air, a single man tearing through an entire army with barely so much as a swipe of his finger. The red flash flew forwards like a sword slash, it dissipated halfway before hitting the tree. Edmonton collapsed to his knees, sweat pooling off his brow. Fleur looked at him and repeated his movements. Her own flash of red materialized, it managed to close the distance somewhat more, but still dissipated. The wind died down and the only sound was Arascus¡¯ slow clap. ¡°Very good!¡± The God shouted and walked to the two youths. Iliyal followed him close behind. ¡°Excellent in fact. You did in three days what it takes most three months.¡± That was a flat-out lie. These two were nearing the age of twenty, by now they should be able to knock down a dozen trees while barely moving a finger. Iliyal didn¡¯t let it show on his face though, people needed motivation and back then, they had sorcerers to train sorcerers. Arascus had magic too. Now though? Iliyal supposed it would have to do, and these two needed motivation. ¡°It¡¯s only downhill from here.¡± Fleur took a shaky step, tried to show off and then fell backwards. She lay on the grass staring up at the blue sky above them. ¡°W-W-Why?¡± She asked. ¡°Wh-why not just magic?¡± She flicked her finger and grass circled around her into a flurry of wind. ¡°Because magic has a hard ceiling you hit.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°Sorcery does not, it can scale limitlessly.¡± Fleur tried to give them a nod and then closed her eyes as Edmonton passed her a bottle of water. ¡°It¡¯s not easy.¡± He said. ¡°But you said downhill? It doesn¡¯t feel like it.¡± ¡°Magic is theory, knowledge.¡± Arascus sat down to get lower to the two. Even sitting, he almost reached Iliyal¡¯s height. ¡°It¡¯s assembling a puzzle. You work it out or you don¡¯t, you learn the knowledge and that¡¯s it. Sorcery is exercise. You run a hundred metres today to run one fifty tomorrow. A week later, you¡¯re running a mile, then two. In a year, you run a marathon.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°That¡¯s not what we were taught.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°In Arcadia, magic is practice.¡± ¡°You get better at puzzles as you do more of them but the core is still the same. Magic relies on your willpower fundamentally. Willpower has a hard limit eventually.¡± ¡°They say you can always get better.¡± Edmonton retorted and Arascus stopped for a moment. The patience he had with these children! Iliyal would have had them doing press-ups already for talking back to him. ¡°Iliyal, will you help demonstrate?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Gladly.¡± ¡°Good, stand in front of Edmonton and brace.¡± Iliyal stepped in front of the boy. ¡°Now punch Iliyal in the gut.¡± Arascus said and the boy¡¯s face grew pale. Iliyal smirked at him. ¡°What?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t, I will.¡± Iliyal growled. Motivation was needed, but sometimes, motivation could be substituted for a little bit of fear. ¡°As hard as you can. Iliyal, don¡¯t block.¡± Iliyal tensed his core and prepared. The boy stood up, looked up at the elf as if he was afraid and proceeded to punch him in the gut. He may as well have been punching a wall, the elf did not even flinch. ¡°Did it hurt?¡± ¡°No.¡± Iliyal replied and Arascus nodded. ¡°So what would help you more Edmonton? More willpower or more strength?¡± ¡°More strength.¡± The boy admitted. Arascus stood back up. ¡°You two can have a break, you¡¯ve pushed yourselves today. It never gets easier, you just get better. That is the fundamental difference between practicing sorcery and magic. Tomorrow, you will not fell the tree either and you will lie on the ground like this, but in a week¡¯s time? Eventually you will get so good it won¡¯t even break a sweat.¡± ¡°And then?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°And then we move onto two trees.¡± Arascus replied, he turned to look at a man running across the clearing towards them and walked to greet him, a single step covering the distance that would take a normal man three. Iliyal ignored the messenger, he put his fist on the boy¡¯s chest. ¡°When you punch, you want your fist like this.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Thumb on the outside, not inside.¡± The boy looked quizzically at him and even the girl opened her eyes to watch the demonstration. ¡°Why?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°So you don¡¯t break your own thumb.¡± The boy paled and the girl giggled. Arascus leaned down as the messenger gave him something and he read the note. ¡°We¡¯re returning Iliyal. Call them back.¡± The God spoke and Iliyal turned to the two sorcerers. ¡°Did you hear that?¡± ¡°Hear what?¡± Sometimes he forgot humans were near-deaf. ¡°How much further?¡± Neneria asked impatiently. ¡°Not far Goddess, four days march at the current pace.¡± Traius the minotaur replied. Neneria shook her head and kept on kicking her legs into the air. Her rear was starting to hurt from riding on Pegaz for so long. Back in the underground headquarters, there was a crowd about. Iliyal had run a tight ship before, a large ship, but packed tightly. He knew half the people here by name and could recognize the rest simply by face. It wasn¡¯t by choice, it was that he simply never found a person more competent than him to manage security. Now that Arascus had returned and most of the leadership tasks were handed off to the God, he had only made the ship tighter. And now this? He saw thirty faces that were new. They obviously weren¡¯t the followers of one of the daughter Goddesses, he would skin whoever had broken protocol in this manner. His eyes travelled up to Arascus, the God was smiling. ¡°Weaver, Ambelee, you¡¯re dismissed for the rest of day. Enjoy yourselves.¡± The two youths trailing behind them both gave their thanks and disappeared down a sleek corridor, all steel panels and fluorescent lights. ¡°What brought that on?¡± Iliyal was never one to question orders but his curiosity finally got the better of him. They stepped into the dining hall were the newcomers were held. It was as grand as a dining built for pure utilitarianism could be. The ceiling high, with portraits hanging off the walls of Arascus and his daughters. Iliyal¡¯s was on the side of the wall, Iliyal had no clue on what to think about that. He was not equal to the Divines and to hang besides them? Some it would have brought pride to, to Iliyal it was merely disconcert. That and annoyance. Sara pestered him endlessly about when she would get her own picture next to his. Frankly, Iliyal would rather take his own down than give her a spot. He had at least served and killed, what had she done? Show off her breasts and lure men in? Did that really deserve a spot next to the Divines? ¡°We have a mission report to here.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Iliyal did not see anything. He had thought all missions were ran past him. He wasn¡¯t arrogant enough to think Arascus needed his help for everything but something grand? Organized in total secrecy? With newcomers coming to headquarters? Everything told him it was a bad sign. ¡°Have you ever seen a man return from the dead?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°I¡¯ve seen ghosts and ghouls but I doubt either of those count.¡± Iliyal answered. He rubbed the hilt of the blade hanging off his belt. Now that these men knew the location of headquarters, they should not, could not, would not leave. At least until not while Leona was still alive. If they felt that they needed to¡­ Iliyal felt the hilt. ¡°It¡¯s good to know you can still be surprised after a thousand years.¡± Arascus said as Sara came into the room from another entrance. She grimly looked over the newcomers and shook her head, then saw Arascus and Iliyal. Great. All that Iliyal needed to improve his mood now was this faux-noblewoman, at least Arascus had instilled some modesty into the woman. She kept her shirt buttoned finally. ¡°I do not know what this is.¡± She said. Iliyal kept straight as the crowd fell into silence. Each face turning to the three watching them. ¡°It¡¯s a mission report.¡± An elf finally managed to free himself from a gaggle of maids and straighten the dirty clothes he was wearing. A simple green t-shirt and shorts, torn, with cuts all over his legs and arms as if he had been trekking through brambles. His blonde hair had grown longer, his face was dirty, his eyes practically shone and Iliyal felt his heart stop. His grandson. Another family he had written off the moment he heard the bad news from Operation SkyStealer. A family member he had lit a candle for and swore to take revenge. Another comrade in arms felled by Divines of the White Pantheon. A face that haunted him for a week every time he closed his eyes. A man denied a father due to Iliyal¡¯s own poor planning; a man to whom Iliyal owed a debt he could never repay. His grandson strode proudly past the crowd and stepped before Arascus. He pulled a perfect salute, just as Iliyal had taught him. Iliyal kept his posture straight, his face hard, even as he felt wetness slide down from his eyes. Arascus returned the salute and dismissed the elf, finally he spoke. ¡°Captain Tremali ready to report Operation SkyStealer along with news of Goddess Kassandora, Of War.¡± Chapter 61 – The Ground Team ¡°It¡¯s them! It¡¯s them! It¡¯s them!¡± People shouted out at a shooting range in the far reaches of Karaina B, far away from civilization. ¡°Look, the beastmen have returned!¡± Fer leaned in close to Neneria. ¡°Come on Nene, at least put the horse away.¡± Ilwin, Iliyal and Arascus sat alone in the war-room as the youngest among finished explaining. Iliyal and Arascus sat in silence listening to every word of the tale. From the disaster with running into Leona at Pepayel Regional Airport, to the capture, to the interrogations, to meeting Kassandora. And then the information Kassandora had told him. Iliyal poured himself another glass of whiskey and passed one to Ilwin. This was the first time Ilwin had seen his grandfather drunk, all smiles and with rosy cheeks. It somehow didn¡¯t sit right with him, that hard face, the cold eyes, the military garb. It simply did not fit. Arascus had allowed it though, he had poured the first glass for Iliyal. ¡°Then, we trekked here.¡± Ilwin said. ¡°I brought the men because they saw the White Pantheon, I thought it was right to do.¡± ¡°Right indeed!¡± Iliyal raised his glass. ¡°Rightly so! Righteous in fact!¡± Arascus rolled his eyes and leaned back in that massive throne of a chair. ¡°It was a breach of protocol, but a sensible one.¡± Arascus said and explained. ¡°Given the exceptional performance and initiative, the information acquired. If your family were not nobles, you would have been titled today.¡± ¡°Thank you Sir.¡± Ilwin said, colour going to his cheeks. To be praised like that? ¡°You¡¯re owed a medal.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And a promise akin to Daganhoff¡¯s. Post-war, any palace or castle, you may have it along with the old Tremali holdings.¡± ¡°You hear that!¡± Iliyal cheered and downed yet another glass. ¡°Praise you get used to, rewards though? Eh?¡± The ancient elf burst out in laughter and put his hands on the table. He slurred his words, his eyes were cloudy, his cheeks red, but as he stood up, he embodied all that a general should be. ¡°So we have an opening now. We have found Leona.¡± ¡°We have indeed.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I hope the planes from the other airports are what they were hoped to be.¡± Ilwin said. Now that he had given his story, he wanted to hear about what had been happening back in the headquarters. He could not ask Arascus of course, and his grandfather wasn¡¯t in any state to talk today either. Ilwin did not mind that though, he had expected Iliyal to give him a salute. Maybe a hug and two or three words. He had seen the man cry. Arascus tapped his fingers, gave Iliyal another look and thought about something. Ilwin waited in silence, the three of them barely took up a tenth of the table together but with Iliyal giggling away between every breath, the war-room had more life in it than during a meeting. ¡°Before that Ilwin, I have something to offer.¡± He took another breath. ¡°Yes Sir.¡± Iliyal barely stopped himself from giving an instinctual salute. ¡°A promotion. Iliyal will train you to serve as his replacement.¡± Arascus began slowly. ¡°If what Kassandora said about Leona was true, then¡­¡± He paused as Ilwin¡¯s eyes got as wide as saucers. A replacement for his grandfather? ¡°Leona will indeed die, that is assured, but at what cost?¡± Ilwin blinked. ¡°I do not understand.¡± ¡°Killing Leona is a battle, we¡¯re fighting a war. You can win every battle and still lose the war. Her death, we both predict will be a pyrrhic victory. The chance for it to be bloodless on our side¡­¡± He took a sigh. ¡°It practically does not exist.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You do.¡± Arascus said and looked to Iliyal, he took a breath and finally dropped the words. ¡°Your grandfather will lead the ground team.¡± Ilwin¡¯s face paled as Iliyal sobered up immediately. Gone was the colour in his cheeks, those eyes refocused themselves as if the man was a wolf hunting for prey. Ilwin leaned back in his seat and nodded. ¡°I am the best candidate to lead an assassination of Leona.¡± Even the slurring was gone from Iliyal¡¯s words. ¡°I have faced the White Pantheon before, it is only right that I lead the ground team.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Ilwin said the word without emotion. He tried to think of some counter-argument. He himself had failed an operation against the Goddess already. His grandfather had survived the Great War. ¡°Now that Arascus has returned, my role as leader is no longer needed. We have no armies either, a General without an army?¡± Iliyal merely shrugged. ¡°It is what it is. The simple situation is that Leona must die, and for Leona to die, it is best if I do it.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°But you¡¯re a mortal.¡± Why did Arascus not do it? Ilwin gave a single at the God, he was massive in stature but now he sat like a defeated man. ¡°I have killed a God already.¡± Iliyal raised his glass smoothly, as if it was his first drink and not his second bottle. ¡°When I meet my ancestors, they will already be jealous with envy. Two?¡± He smirked at Ilwin. ¡°I may be the greatest Tremali a hundred generations back and a hundred forwards.¡± ¡°And Fer?¡± Ilwin barked. His eyes bulged as he apologetically looked to Arascus. That sort of tone would be unacceptable to a sergeant, much less the God of Pride. ¡°We have extensively discussed already.¡± Arascus explained slowly, he seemed to take no notice of the anger in Ilwin¡¯s voice. ¡°Fer¡­¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°I adopted her third. Goddess of Beasthood, she is loud, brash, she rarely thinks before doing anything, prone to emotion, filled with rage, she enters a bloodlust when she tastes blood.¡± Ilwin blinked. Was the man talking about an enemy or his own daughter? ¡°She takes initiative by herself, rarely sticks to plans, she believes in luck far too much for her own good and will frequently play down her own strength and owe success to chance.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Ilwin said. Arascus shook his head. ¡°You don¡¯t. Fer is an angry dog, fiercely loyal, but Leona will most likely not be alone. If by some miracle it is just her, then I would send a team filled with nothing but rookies to kill her. Allasaria will be there most likely, we did expect back-up from Maisara and Fortia and planned for it.¡± ¡°Six teams in separate locations to stall, bait and pull away. It would be a one-way trip for all of them.¡± Iliyal said grimly. ¡°A seventh and eighth would move in to deal the killing blow, failure would be assured from the curse of Leona¡¯s Luck. Team nine would serve as bait to finally exhaust her, we expect most guns to jam and men to keel over from heart attacks and the like but Leona cannot handle that much combat in such a short about of time. Team ten, mine, would move in for the kill. I would do it personally.¡± ¡°Why must you do it?¡± ¡°Because there are only two souls in this entire base I would trust to successfully kill her. I am one of them.¡± Iliyal said, he looked to the God in that pause. ¡°It would not be a shot through the chest. She has to be killed, not merely shot or stabbed. She has to be taken so far past the edge of living that even Kavaa would look at the body and shake her head. She has to be annihilated.¡± ¡°And how are you going to do that?¡± ¡°Shoot her, then douse the body in gasoline and ignite it. Team ten then has to stall the other Divines for up to one minute, until there is nothing but ashes and bones left.¡± Iliyal looked to Ilwin. ¡°Do you even know how to stall Maisara? Much less Allasaria?¡± Ilwin fell back into his seat. ¡°Fer would grow enraged and would not be able to divide her herd properly.¡± Arascus said. ¡°When the beastmen would start dying, her force would all enter a bloodlust. It would be a slaughter, maybe they could kill Allasaria or the other Divines but they would forget apart Leona. It takes about thirty minutes or so for them to calm down, Elassa, Zerus and Sceo are all fast enough to intercept them.¡± ¡°And there is no other way?¡± Ilwin asked. ¡°If we had other Divines, different daughters available. I would trust them to finish the job. If I had my magic, it could be done. But we play with the hand we¡¯re dealt. Fer, simply said, is a candidate so unreliable I would trust mortals rather than her.¡± Ilwin poured himself a glass of whiskey. ¡°So we have two months?¡± He asked. ¡°Two months for you to learn every important teaching Iliyal can give you.¡± ¡°And then?¡± Ilwin asked. ¡°And then you assume Iliyal¡¯s role.¡± ¡°So there¡¯s no chance he won¡¯t return?¡± Ilwin felt like as if he was banging his head against a brick wall. There had to be some other way. Something else¡­ There¡­ This simply could not be it. His grandfather had survived so long, Iliyal was sure the man would outlive him too. He was as eternal as the Gods at this point. There was no one else like him¡­ ¡°We¡¯ve not planned for it.¡± Arascus admitted. ¡°Tell Kassandora to pour one out for me.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°That¡¯s it then?¡± Ilwin asked. ¡°I¡¯ll plague you for two more months.¡± Iliyal answered. ¡°But yes.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Ilwin felt his own eyes grow wet, he downed the glass and poured another one. Drank that, then poured another. Arascus watched him with careful eyes but said nothing. There was nothing the God could say anyway, Ilwin did not want to hear any of it. ¡°I mean¡­¡± For the first time in his life, he felt what it was like to manage a war. His grandfather had always sequestered him away from relationships, it was one thing to fraternize with the men after a successful mission, it was another to have friends. Ilwin finally understood why the man had did it. ¡°The first time is the worst, you never get used to it, but the first time is the worst.¡± Iliyal said as he took the bottle out of Ilwin¡¯s grasp. ¡°But being sad over a man still walking is no excuse to start drinking.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not¡­¡± Ilwin collapsed in tears on the table. He would rather he go alone. He would rather slit his own wrists than¡­ than this. He had never known his father, the man died before Ilwin had even began walking, Iliyal had raised him alone. ¡°So what then?¡± Was there anything that helped with this pain? ¡°Get duties.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Duties push thoughts away and keep you thinking about the living and not the dead. You¡¯ll be seeing ghosts if you let your mind wander.¡± Ilwin burst out into pained laughter as he stared at the girl in the corner behind the two others around the table. Short, pale, in a dress, with silver hair and blue eyes, almost dull. She stared at Arascus, at Iliyal and at Ilwin. ¡°Like that one?¡± He cried through tears. He had gone mad already! This is what he was! His grandfather had guided him for over two hundred years, the man had managed the remnants of Arascus¡¯ forces for eight hundred before that! And here he was! A complete wreck! Who was he to replace Iliyal Tremali? The Great General, blessed by Kassandora himself! What accomplishments did Ilwin have? A few operations? Where success had all but been guaranteed by his grandfather¡¯s planning? Arascus and Iliyal looked at Ilwin pointing past them, then at themselves before they exhaled. Iliyal kept his gaze on Ilwin as Arascus poured himself a glass of whiskey. He eventually turned around to see what the elf was pointing at. Arascus stood up. The bottle fell on the cold panelled floor. The whiskey splashed over Arascus. He took a step forwards. The ghost moved. It bowed its head and Arascus spoke: ¡°Mint?¡± Chapter 62 – The Reunion of a Millennium Kavaa read her report. Eleven thousand, eight hundred and ninety-two Clerics were at the ready. Now Kassandora¡¯s plan was only a matter of time. Arascus watched Mint smile at him, bow and blink away from existence. His step felt lighter, his breathing easier. The burn of the whiskey had melted away and he knew a smile had curled its way onto his face. ¡°That was real?¡± Ilwin asked. The elf had taken the news of Iliyal¡¯s suicide mission badly, but it was news he needed to take eventually. Immortals simply did not exist in this world, everyone died eventually. ¡°Yes.¡± Arascus replied, still unmoving. His eyes feverishly scanned the corner for any trace of the ghost. There would be none of course. He blinked and Ilwin¡¯s eyes grew wide. ¡°Who was that?¡± Ilwin asked. ¡°That was Maid Mint.¡± Arascus tried to keep the joy of out his voice but when he saw Iliyal down his glass and stand up, shakily saluting the empty air, he wanted to burst out in joyous laughter. ¡°My daughter¡¯s maid.¡± Ilwin¡¯s eyes bulged. ¡°Yo-your daughter¡¯s maid?¡± ¡°Neneria¡¯s.¡± Arascus confirmed. Neneria had found. There would be no chance she had died, she was the Goddess of Death, defeatable in a war but not in a battle. A woman who had a legion built up over millennia in her pockets. ¡°She will be here soon.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°And she likes making an entrance.¡± He took a step, wobbled and caught the table. ¡°One moment.¡± ¡°Neneria?¡± Ilwin asked again. ¡°She¡¯s¡­¡± Arascus thought about how to explain quiet and precious Neneria. ¡°You¡¯ll meet her.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Iliyal pushed himself off the table, took a step away from it and wobbled. ¡°She¡¯ll trigger the alarms.¡± Arascus chuckled to himself. ¡°That she will.¡± He said and kicked his legs to get the whiskey off his trousers. Iliyal took another step, bent down and looked as if he was about to throw up. ¡°Now now Iliyal.¡± Arascus chuckled. ¡°I thought you could hold your drink.¡± ¡°I¡¯m an old man now.¡± Iliyal stood up, stretched and shook himself off. ¡°I¡¯ll tell the commanders to¡­¡± He bent down and threw up. It splashed all over his clothes but frankly, the smell wasn¡¯t even so terrible. The man was just throwing up more than a bottle of whiskey and nothing more. ¡°Wonderful.¡± Arascus dryly commented. Iliyal looked to his grandson. ¡°Never drink boy. And never on an empty stomach.¡± Ilwin shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not something I thought I would ever see.¡± Ilwin said to himself. Iliyal straightened and wiped his mouth. ¡°You do feel better after throwing up though.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see how you feel in the morning.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Now are you going to-¡° His voice was cut off by a siren. The lights cut out for a second, and then red started to flare. ¡°Fast as ever.¡± Iliyal laughed as he fondled with the door the handle. It took his drunkenness a good few attempts to work out how to open the door before his mind figured out what to say. ¡°Death waits for no one. I¡¯ll tell the men it¡¯s a false alarm.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been trying to get out of this room for how long now?¡± Arascus asked and the elf¡¯s laughter came from the corridor. Arascus looked to Ilwin as he sidestepped the vomit on the floor, red lights and alarms still blaring. ¡°Do you remember how I said Fer was the worst candidate?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Ilwin nodded along, five times for each of the two words. ¡°Neneria is the best.¡± It took the drunken elf a few moments to realise what that meant. If Neneria was the best¡­ Arascus could practically see the cogs in Ilwin¡¯s head trying to twist and turn as the elf tried to put the pieces together. If Neneria was the best candidate¡­ that meant Iliyal was no longer needed. If Iliyal was no longer needed¡­ Ilwin blinked and looked up at Arascus. ¡°You mean grandfather won¡¯t be going?¡± ¡°The situation has changed. We will discuss this when you¡¯ve sobered up.¡± Arascus looked to the door as Sara opened it to check inside. She looked to Arascus, to Ilwin, the bottles on the table and the vomit on the floor. Her eyes narrowed for a moment before the siren blared again and kicked her into action. ¡°There¡¯s an intruder! Someone is trying to get in.¡± She half-shouted, half-screamed. At least she was dressed properly, in a suit and with the Duchess¡¯ cape. ¡°We know.¡± Arascus said. ¡°It¡¯s a false alarm, let her in.¡± Sara blinked, looked behind herself, then at Arascus. ¡°Are we sure?¡± ¡°We¡¯re sure.¡± Arascus growled hard this time. Repeating himself was not one of his strong points. ¡°At once.¡± She stood up, took a step into the corridor and stopped again. ¡°And Iliyal?¡± ¡°What about him?¡± ¡°I saw him in-I assume he¡¯s to be taken to the infirmary?¡± ¡°Have maids take him to his room, he¡¯ll recover.¡± Arascus said and watched Sara¡¯s eyebrow twitch. Ever since her acquiring of nobility, she thought it was beneath her. It was her own fault frankly, if she had left the room immediately, Arascus would have let her go. ¡°And then get two girls to clean up after him here.¡± Arascus made a wave towards the dirty ground. ¡°That¡¯s Iliyal¡¯s?!¡± She burst out. ¡°He¡¯ll probably be sick in the corridor again.¡± The alarms stopped. The elf did indeed work fast. The red lights turned off casting them into pitch black darkness for a second and Arascus heard the woman squeak. The standard white fluorescents came on to cast the darkness away as a voice came over the speaker system installed into every room. ¡°False alarm. I repeat. False alarm. All troops stand down and open the gates. Goddess Neneria has returned. I repeat. Goddess Neneria has returned.¡± It wasn¡¯t Iliyal¡¯s voice thankfully, although Arascus had not even considered the issue that the elf might embarrass himself and try to slur commands in his drunkenness. ¡°General Tremali has ordered all troops to stand down and let the Goddess in. Do not, I repeat with urgency, DO NOT try and stop her.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Oh.¡± Sara said. ¡°Handle this an-¡° The speakers came on again to interrupt Arascus. ¡°Prepare the guest rooms and the main hall. There has been a spill reported in the war-room and in corridor twenty-one. Clean up is required. I repeat, this is not a drill, the spill is urgent. All maids nearby are to clean up the war-room and corridor twenty-one.¡± Arascus sighed. Sometimes the elf was simply too good. Sara¡¯s face trying to hide its smugness simply annoyed him. ¡°Make sure they clean it up properly.¡± He said and strode past her. ¡°Then help Ilwin, he¡¯s not in much better of a state.¡± Daganhoff stepped out of his way, bowed as he moved to the great hall. It was crass, he was sure Sara would be annoyed but frankly, he did not care. It was time for a family reunion. The alarms speakers spoke before the doors finished sliding shut. ¡°Maids are also to report to the security centre, there has been a spill.¡± Wonderful. Fleur and Edmonton were training alone today. Edmonton unleashed a blast of red energy and collapsed to his knees, his breathing heavy, his shirt covered in sweat and his head spinning. He felt as if he had just ran a marathon. He looked up as Fleur put her hand on his shoulder and squinted. ¡°Look.¡± He pointed to the tree across the clearing. The bark had come off. Arascus went to find Neneria. He set off at a walk. Two steps and it had become a brisk pace that ate up the corridors underneath him. Another steps and he crashed into the wall during one of the sharp turns in a sprint, the metal panels creaking and one of the lights above him falling to the ground. That could be fixed, it wasn¡¯t important. Neneria was important. He sprinted down one corridor. Down another. He heard screams, saw a maid turn and run, dropping the tray she was carrying. A ghost strolled past her, an ancient legionary, his body skeletal. A cape dragging behind him and a spear in his hand. The ghost gave a passing look to the maid, then turned and saw Arascus. It knelt onto one knee, spear extended to the corridor he had just come from, a direction. Arascus slid to a halt on the panelled floor, caught the ridge on the edge of the corner and used momentum to spin himself around. At the end of this corridor, a ghastly legionary was already kneeling, spear extended to the right. His grey-green aura fighting the fluorescent built into the ceiling. The ghost blinked away just before Arascus slammed into it, instead the God slid into the wall and left another dent. This corridor had two guards armed with rifles watching a ghost. Swords hung by their belts as they aimed the apparition. Arascus sprinted past them in a flash, knocking them over in a blast of wind. Another turn. To a room, he slammed into the heavy door. It buckled, an alarm went off and his fingers wormed their way into the small opening. The steel ruptured, twisted, screamed and then collapsed as he pushed through it. And then he saw her. Neneria. Timid Neneria. Lovely Neneria. Precious Neneria. A rose of all thorns, the Goddess of Death. A Goddess reviled and feared, a Goddess used to keep naughty children in their beds. Thought uncontrollable and unmanageable by all. A Goddess only he, with his delusional Pride, would see the value of. Neneria looked up, dark eyes fixed on Arascus as she wrapped the cloak around herself. She took a step, then tried to take another. A third, her leg started to shake and she reached out a hand. Arascus closed the distance in a matter of moments, he caught Neneria before she fell. ¡°Fa-Father¡­¡± Her arms wrapped around him in a hug and she buried her head in his chest. Arascus pulled the dark hood of her cloak back. That hair, black as pitch, spilled over it and put the darkness of the fabric to shame. She looked up at him, tears spilling down her face. ¡°Father¡­¡± ¡°Shh¡­¡± Arascus merely hugged her. There was nothing left to say. No need to ruin the moment. Nothing could be said. Neneria had returned. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡± Neneria cried into his chest. ¡°For not¡­ I tried¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be.¡± Arascus picked Neneria and hugged her tightly. Not too tight, she had always been delicate, but tight enough. ¡°I¡¯m here now, you¡¯re here, we¡¯re safe.¡± Her arms wrapped around him and wiped the tears and sneezes into his shirt. Arascus did not care one bit. He could hold her like that forever. He would have. His failure had stolen a thousand years of time together. What should she apologize for? It was his fault that they lost. He should get on his knees and beg for a mere chance at redemption. Neneria cried tears of joy and then those tears became laughs. ¡°I¡¯m here. I have everything. I¡¯ve not lost anything. The legions¡­¡± Arascus put her down and the Goddess looked around to see the crowd of guards and maids, they had careful smiles on their faces, as if unsure if they should be watching but no one would look away. Arascus did not care if they spat at him. He had adopted the Goddess of Death into his family because no one else would, they could not touch his Pride. Neneria¡¯s face went pale and red. Her eyes grew dark as she took a step away from Arascus and smoothed her dress. ¡°What are you watching for?¡± She did not shout, but her cold tone carried to the furthest reaches of the crowds. Maids shivered and guards took a step back. Arascus sighed. She was still the same Neneria she had been back then. He put his hand on her shoulder and colour returned to her cheeks. ¡°This is the remnants of the Empire.¡± He said. ¡°Don¡¯t be harsh on them.¡± Neneria only nodded, then her mouth dropped as she sniffed the air. Arascus smelled it too: wet dog. ¡°I almost forgot.¡± Neneria said. ¡°But I¡¯ve brought Fer too.¡± Arascus blinked. He knew Fer was free but seeing her would attract attention to her and to himself. There was not a chance in the world that the Goddess would have been left unsupervised by at least a dozen lesser Divines capable of flight. It had been safest for her not to know about him. ¡°Fer?¡± Arascus asked. Well¡­ the situation changed with Neneria about. Fer was a powerful warrior but she did not compare to Neneria. One brought a war-herd, the other brought the Dead Legion. With Neneria here, then having Fer would be better too. Strength in numbers. His head spun as he touched Neneria¡¯s cheek again, simply to make sure the Goddess was real and this wasn¡¯t a dream. She pressed into him and giggled lightly. ¡°I ran off but she wa-¡° Neneria began and was interrupted. ¡°DAD?!¡± A voice cried, a voice so joyous and sweet it may as well have been the embodiment of honey. A sniff sounded down the corridor as if something was going to inhale all the air and then the voice cried out again. ¡°DAD!¡± Men started to shout as crashing came from the corridor. Maids screamed, brooms clattered, plates smashed, men cried out and Arascus shifted his stance as if he was ready to parry. Fer launched herself into the air with a jump, clad only in a cape and her mass of golden hair. She twisted in the air, her claws dug into the wall and a supporting cast of tearing metal was added to the chaotic orchestra playing. ¡°DAD!¡± Her eyes met Arascus¡¯ and she screamed out. The God braced as if he was about to enter combat. She curled on the wall, crouched, then launched herself over the crowd. Arascus caught her. Tried to at the very least. Fer was a full head taller than Neneria, she was the only other Divine that could say they at least tried to match Arascus¡¯ height. And she was almost all muscle, heavy. Very heavy. It felt like a cannonball the size of a tree had hit Arascus, he spun, grabbed her, spun, and then slammed into the wall. ¡°YOU¡¯RE ALIVE!¡± Fer shouted. Arascus knew she didn¡¯t mean to, she simply got loud when she was excited, but the people closest to them took a step back. Some even covered their ears. ¡°I¡¯m alive.¡± Arascus said as took off his cloak and put it around the girl. She simply did not care about such trite as modesty. Not then, not now apparently. ¡°As are you.¡± Fer vigorously shook her head, those golden eyes staring up at him, they changed colours on emotions, ranging from yellow daffodils to crimson blood. The ears on top of her head quivered as she looked up at the God who had adopted her. ¡°You¡¯re alive.¡± She said and nodded to herself. She looked up to Arascus as if expecting an order. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Fer nodded rapidly, her eyes large as she stared up at Arascus. ¡°I am.¡± She replied quickly as Neneria finally recovered from the shock. ¡°You said a thousand years, I did it.¡± She saluted, a clean salute just as Arascus had taught her back in the Great War. ¡°Goddess Fer of Beasthood ready to report. Fifty-two dark furs remain, as you asked.¡± Arascus sighed, he did not care about that in the slightest. He was just happy to see her. He put his arms around her felt hers embrace him. Her hair was as strong as leather, but as soft as clouds. It smelled of wet dog. Chapter 63 – The Game is Set Olephia stirred in her sleep and murmured an unintelligible word. The men watching from behind the thick pane of glass noted it down. The commander of Olephia¡¯s Prison spoke after reading the notification which just popped up on his screen. ¡°Send word to the Pantheon, we need another recharge.¡± The message travelled through the air, beamed from Artica to a satellite and back down to Olympiada. It ran through the air, an invisible snake of bits and bytes dancing and swirling across the world in a mere minute. Impossible to see by the naked eye. Its smell shot in all directions, the snake had never been careful and the smell lasted for the blink of an eye. No one had ever tried to intercept the Pantheon¡¯s electronic communications. But today, five different wolves around Olympiada caught the snake¡¯s scent. ¡°So here we are.¡± Arascus stood up in the war-room as he looked at the team of every important figure in the plan. Everyone had come, from the young sorcerers to his daughter-Goddesses, everyone dressed formally, in battle armour for those who were leaving and suits for those who weren¡¯t. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, two months have passed and we have received word from the teams providing surveillance in Atny.¡± Markus sat on his blanket in the shadow of Olympiada. A Doschian pair of binoculars had been sent to the Atny Branch from Headquarters, one of the best in the world apparently. He believed it, they could pick out even spiderwebs half a mile away. Navigating here, he had passed by Kavaa¡¯s Clerics at least twenty times. They did not seem to care about sightseers though and a short story about how he was taking a few weeks off to escape the depression of Atny pulled them away. Some had given water, a few treats, two men had handed over a bottle of Arikan spirits. Strong stuff, although he only took a sip here and there to get to bed. He fiddled with his phone, a throwaway also sent from headquarters, and looked back through the binoculars. Olympiada¡¯s mountain skyport came into view as if he was right there. Five planes had come in yesterday from the north. Fat, oversized jets, as if someone had taken standard airplanes and simply made them bigger. A crowd stood there, tall people although Markus could work it out because of the Seekers about. They stood in formation and brought scale to the situation. A giant walked among them: Allasaria. Leona was next to her, Lady Luck looked as if she did not want to be there. She turned, spoke something, pointed about, to the Gods, to the planes, and eventually the conversation ended. Markus sighed, flipped open the cheap phone and reported the sighting to the one number which had been saved as a contact. Arascus took a slow walk around the table. The white lamps were especially bright today. Everyone knew what this meeting would be for, no one so much as spoke. Arascus was sure some of them were even holding their breathes. He flipped open his notes and pulled out a piece of paper. ¡°From the Atny branch, this has been reported: Five planes, sized for Divines, spotted. Thirty to Fifty lesser Divines estimated. Allasaria spotted. Leona spotted. Prediction is soon. Clerics are not moving, goal still unknown.¡± Arascus finished and looked over to Mikhail. Mikhail Alash stood in his workshop and gazed at Raptor One and Raptor Two. It was an entirely different kind of plane from anything in existence, a mad-man¡¯s vision of planes made to hunt other planes: The world¡¯s first interceptors. All black, with the beak and eyes painted on the front, massive engines built into the wings rather than hanging below them, two more attached to the back. The pilot appeared from the rear and gave him a thumbs up. ¡°It¡¯s all good sir, the changes have made her even easier!¡± Mikhail looked over to his assistant who was scribbling everyone down. ¡°Write that Raptor One and Raptor Two are perfect. There is nothing to improve upon now.¡± ¡°Are you sure sir?¡± The assistant was another engineer. A man called Igor Sasky. He had been a handful when Ilwin had brought him but a nice place to stay in, good drinks, pretty maids and an unlimited budget had quickly changed his mind. ¡°Can you think of anything?¡± To mount the engines into the wings was Igor¡¯s idea, it reduced weight by a good amount but also fulfilled Arascus¡¯ demand for the smallest amount of points of failure possible. Every screw had been checked by Igor, then by another pair of engineers, then by Mikhail himself. ¡°I cannot.¡± Igor admitted. ¡°Then we are ready, write that down.¡± Arascus pulled out a photo of the two planes and slid them onto the table. Everyone looked over, the two young sorcerers, Fleur and Edmonton gawked. The older, more experienced members who remembered the nostalgia of the Great War only reclined and smiled. Iliyal¡¯s eyes had a burning fire within them Arascus had only seen in the man when he had first returned. Neneria paid attention as she had always done, Fer simply stretched and yawned. Classic. ¡°Your planes are ready Mikhail?¡± It was both a statement and a question. Arascus knew already, but he wanted to make sure that everyone else knew too. ¡°They are Sir.¡± Mikhail said. He stood up and saluted, Sara had apparently chosen a pristine suit for him but the man had only gone for a plain and unimpressive one: Black and white, the sort of modesty in looks that would befit his engineering skill. ¡°Inspections have been ran every day since two weeks ago. All testing flights, even the long-distance hypersonic tests have come in within the prediction models. There are no faults, I would bet my life on it.¡± Arascus nodded and motioned for him to sit down as the table nodded in silence. Most of the table did, Neneria rarely expressed emotion in public, Iliyal only smiled as if it was expected and Fer looked around as if bored. Arascus looked over to the two young sorcerers, Fleur Ambelee and Edmonton Weaver. Both dressed in military uniforms, short red cloaks behind them falling halfway down their backs. Edmonton looked in amazement as five trees were cut through. Ten days ago he had managed to cut only one down, a month ago, he was barely scratching the bark. Fifty days ago, Arascus had sit him and Fleur down to explain the exercise that was sorcery. The God had stopped visiting, now they were going out with Sara to practice by themselves. Arascus had described it as riding a bike, he could show them the stances and explain the balance but ultimately, it relied on one¡¯s own practice to get better. He looked down at his hands, touched his brow and blinked. Dry as the sand in the desert, he had not even broken a sweat. ¡°Nice one.¡± Fleur said next to him and snapped her finger. For a brief moment, a halo of bright red light surrounded her body and then vanished. She crossed her arms, smiling proudly as Edmonton tilted to look behind her. A tree slowly moved, then fell, the cut had been fast it had taken the plant a second or two to realise it had been felled. ¡°That¡¯s how you do it.¡± She said when the sound of crashing needles and breaking branches reached them. And just as yesterday, and the day before, and the entire week, they got into a fight on who was better. ¡°Stand up.¡± Arascus motioned to them. They both stood up, staring down at everyone but the Divines in the room. Arascus knew it was annoying but to train pride out of a sorcerer was to train a dog not to drink water, a fruitless exercise that made one more experienced only in futility. Iliyal smirked at them as if they were children, Sara tilted her nose up, Neneria merely gazed over them and Fer collapsed on the table, her arms outstretched as she played with her fingers. ¡°How is training?¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°I can fell six trees in a beam. Sir¡± Edmonton said, he saluted then smiled proudly. ¡°Five easily.¡± ¡°Same here.¡± Fleur added and then did her own quick salute. ¡°And range?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Up to a hundred metres.¡± Fleur replied, Arascus saw Iliyal scribble down a seventy on the piece of paper before him. It was always better to be safe and sorry, and Arascus had largely left them to their own training. Sara had little to do in the past few weeks anyway, all activities had been focused on perfecting the Irinika plan. ¡°And the skydiving lessons?¡± Fleur and Edmonton gave each other a grin. Sara had taken them skydiving, although the woman did not want to take any part of it. They had assumed it was going to be some secret base and jumping in the middle of nowhere, neither of them considered that it would be a two-day course near Elzbietgrad. They had spent last night seeing the beautiful city with its grand bridges cascading over the Volrha. Sara had treated them well, she had found a private instructor and rented him out for the two days. The first jump, she had done with the man on his back, then she watched Ed. Two times that repeated. This was her first jump alone. She took a deep breath as the instructor opened the door, the roaring engines and wind blowing into the small plane forced them to shout. ¡°I¡­ right¡­you¡­¡± He gave up, throwing his arms up in the air. The only issue was that they had no common language. The man pointed to Fleur, then made a running motion with his fingers and jumped as he pointed to the window. Then repeated the same movements to Edmonton. He counted to ten, showing off with his fingers to both of them, then made a pulling motion at his breast. ¡°Ten seconds and then pull the chute.¡± Edmonton leaned in and shouted into Fleur¡¯s ear. Did he think she was stupid? The instructor saw them talking, most likely assumed they were agreeing, smiled and gave them two thumbs up. Fleur returned thumbs up with her own friendly smile. He pointed to the door. Well here it was¡­ all or nothing¡­ Fleur ran out of the plane and fell towards Arda. ¡°Both of them are qualified now.¡± Sara replied to Arascus¡¯ question. ¡°They can run their own skydiving lessons now.¡± ¡°I¡¯d do it again.¡± Fleur said and she gave the Duchess an angry look. Arascus didn¡¯t comment, sorcerers and their pride. ¡°Quite fun.¡± Edmonton added. ¡°It was.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Arascus motioned for them to sit down. Frankly, the skydiving lessons of Fleur and Edmonton weren¡¯t important, their loss was not assured, but their survival was not guaranteed either. He simply did not want to throw away two sorcerers his daughter had chosen personally out of sheer apathy. It could be done, so it should be done. The God turned to Iliyal, this was a matter more important. ¡°Have we secured an airbase in Southern Arika?¡± Iliyal looked over to the setting Arikan sun, it painted the sky purple and red and orange and yellow and gold as the stars came out. The sand here was a deep red and the terrain beautiful. Iliyal had never seen anything like it, a plain so flat it may have as well been smoothed out by a giant¡¯s iron but interspersed with odd pimples of rock. Some where mountains, simply rising out of the ground with steep cliffs, others were the size of homes. He had chosen this space for the airbase. What was an airbase anyway? A building? A warehouse? A runway? A radar installation was needed, but they knew the general path that planes from Olympiada to Artica would take. Ultimately, you do just have to go south. But did you need an entrance hall? A barracks? A dining hall? Arascus did say to be as fast as possible. He looked at the team of thirty men. Ultimately, an airbase could just be a campsite. The planes would be covered in camouflaged nettings and what did men need at the end of day? They should be glad he had given them tents, this land was away from civilization anyway. It was a full day drive to the nearest village. ¡°Flatten out two paths in the sand, then smooth them out. Press the sand in and be fast about it.¡± He gave the command. The elf stood up, his long coat moving like a slow wave as he pulled a clean salute. ¡°They are. The planes are ready to be sent, notice came in that the airport was ready four weeks ago.¡± He gave a report as he always did, clean and efficient. Neneria gave no reaction and Fer got up from the table. The ears popping out of her bounced up and down and she started to scratch herself. Arascus turned to Mikhail. ¡°And they have the range to get to Artica?¡± A question which was a statement again. ¡°They do.¡± The engineer responded. ¡°Enough to fly to Artica and back twice. I thought they would set off from Karaina so range is a none-issue if we¡¯re setting off from Arika.¡± Excellent, although Arascus expected nothing less. He motioned for Iliyal to sit down and turned to Neneria. ¡°Neneria.¡± The Goddess of Death stood up and made a slow salute. ¡°Yes Father?¡± ¡°The Atis situation?¡± Arascus had been impressed that Neneria found Atis but there was little he could do with a God¡¯s soul. The commonality of Divines who could communicate with the world beyond per Divine was similar to the amount of Divines per mortal. That, and of them all, Atis was a particularly annoying God. He had been a hunter in the Great War, slaying dragon and beast and rarely making any strategic decision. He was no Fortia or Maisara, much less an Allasaria, nor did he have the knowledge of Saranael or the wits of Helenna. Atis, through and through, was a brute. Neneria had always considered him a brute, and when she opened the jar and saw his ghastly visage appear before her, colourless apart from a green glow in the clothes he had died in, his chest pockmarked with bullet-wounds and he held his spear. His bow was on his back. He focused his gaze on Neneria, sighed, and looked around the underground room that she had sectioned off for this. ¡°I never thought I would look at the world like this, Goddess of Death.¡± Atis said, his voice resigned. ¡°Who killed me?¡± ¡°Iliyal Tremali.¡± Neneria answered as she looked up at the man. He was indeed tall. She had prepared everything already, a binding circle, the walls were covered in runes, her own black dress she enchanted to protect herself from him. ¡°A mouse can kill an elephant.¡± Atis said. ¡°I¡¯ll tell him you said that.¡± ¡°Please do.¡± Atis replied and sighed again. ¡°So what do you wish to know from me? I will not lie when I¡¯ve been caught, Allasaria kept us all away from her decision making and I was never one to stick my nose where it does not belong.¡± ¡°For now, nothing. I don¡¯t want your knowledge yet, I want you.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Kneel, recognise me as Queen of the Damned and join the Dead Legion.¡± Atis raised an eyebrow at her and snorted in humour. ¡°I am a Divine Neneria.¡± Neneria smiled back at him. ¡°And?¡± ¡°Have some respect, I thought you better than this.¡± ¡°I hate to disappoint.¡± Neneria said coldly. Atis nodded and ran his fingers along the spear. He could not touch her, they both knew it. ¡°And to think I once thought myself better than people.¡± ¡°When did you stop?¡± ¡°As the Great War concluded. When I saw Fortia and Maisara act no better than your beastly sister.¡± ¡°We are unequal even in Death.¡± Neneria raised her hand at him. ¡°Unfortunately for you, the hierarchy is quite simple here. There¡¯s me, and then there¡¯s everyone else.¡± She snapped her fingers. Atis¡¯ scream filled the room. Arascus watched Neneria smile. Her eyes start to exude darkness, her fingers fidget. The room turned silent as everyone looked up. Even Fer, ears turning forwards, leaned away from the Goddess of Death. Atis collapsed as Neneria let his bones regrow and heal again. He was a ghost, a soul in another world, a soul that stayed behind because it was much too attached to the world here. A child who wanted to stay home instead of going to school. A child who had to be punished. She poured her magic into him. She was the God of Death, the Gatekeeper who held the keys to what lay beyond. Once there, he would be safe from her reach but while he was in the mid-point, while he was at the Gates of Death, he was in her demesne. And her demesne touched everything, there was nothing that did not die. Atis screamed again as he collapsed. ¡°Stop¡­ stop¡­ please¡­¡± ¡°Swear allegiance and join the Legion.¡± Neneria said coldly as she stared unmoving at Atis. ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I swear.¡± Neneria smiled. She had broken a God. Arascus raised his eyebrow. ¡°Neneria?¡± ¡°Atis is broken.¡± For a moment, she smiled. It was a smile so terrible, only Arascus, Iliyal and Fer did not shudder. Then she retreated back into herself, becoming the cold emotionless statue she always pretended to be. ¡°Good.¡± Arascus said. That only made things better. The plan would have worked without Atis, but now that Neneria had broken the God of the Hunt, it only gave them a spare ace to use. That was everything important that needed to be covered. The groundwork was laid, the game was set. The God of Pride pulled out one sheet from the folder before as Neneria sat back down. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, this will be the final meeting for Operation Misfortune. Three hours ago, the radars we have set up around Olympiada intercepted a message.¡± He read out what was had been caught. ¡°Chaos stirs, Luck needed.¡± Chapter 64 – A Pantheon Sick ¡°Seer-Central, testing, testing. Comms Check, over¡± ¡°Raptor-One, confirmed, comms work, over.¡± ¡°Raptor-Two, confirmed, over.¡± ¡°Pelican, confirmed, cargo loaded, over.¡± ¡°Seer-Central, Atny has given the green light. Luck is in the air. I repeat, Luck is in the air.¡± Helenna stood and watched in silence. Helenna stood as she watched Allasaria declare Elassa as being temporary leader of the White Pantheon. Helenna stood as she watched Allasaria prepare her team of thirty-five inventions. Helenna stood as Sceo pushed the clouds away from Olympiada. Helenna stood and watched as a few Divines gave their goodbyes and good luck to Allasaria and to Leona. Helenna stood and watched as Allasaria proudly marched with Leona in tow. Helenna stood as she watched the thirty-seven Divines enter their white and gold planes. Simple oversized jets, the sort that fabulously wealthy mortals would use. Helenna stood and watched the speakers came on. ¡°You are given permission to take off. Good luck and safe travels.¡± Helenna stood and watched as mortals guided the planes towards the runway of Olympiada¡¯s skyport. Helenna stood as one plane turned its jets on. Helenna stood as her red dress was whipped by the blast of air. Helenna stood and watched as the first plane took off, it accelerated from a complete stop to liftoff on the runway, and glided off the mountain before gaining altitude. The second followed, then the third, the fourth and fifth. They waited for the whole team before assembling into a V-formation, making a sharp bank and flying south, towards the midday-sun. Helenna stood and watched the five planes grow smaller as they flew further, from the massive pieces of the world¡¯s finest engineering to the size of birds, then dots, and finally they disappeared behind hills in the horizon. Helenna stood and watched the sky. The mountain was silent, it was always silent, Helenna hated the silence. It wasn¡¯t fit to be a place that was the seat of the Gods, it was a dysfunctional household, with each family member locked away in their own quarters and only coming out for the odd meeting. Helenna stood and watched the slowly travel across the clear blue sky. It wasn¡¯t even the magnificent deep blue that proclaimed dominance over the world, it was a pale pastel that retreated and only made the Sun into a giant blinding flashlight. Helenna stood and watched, and finally made her mind up. Today, the White Pantheon would be shaken, the world change, and her name would be engraved everlasting into the annals of history. This would be the single greatest event of the millennia, greater than the God-killer, it would rival Arascus¡¯ Great War. Today would be remembered as the day the Pantheon fell. Helenna turned and left the skyport. Through the silent corridors, past the maids, half of them she knew by name, all of them served as her eyes and ears in this mountain. Past Allasaria¡¯s Seeker proudly standing in formation as Elassa gave them a speech: ¡°The Paladins have built a fortress, the Guardians sharpen their spears, the Clerics are at our gates. We will no-¡° Helenna left, she had no wishes to listen to a woman who could not even handle a modicum of conversation, glory should be left to those who did not lose all of their humanity in some vain pursuit for magical knowledge. The best Elassa could hope for is ever-being a court scholar and a jester-witch, anything more would be an embarrassment for the whole court. Helenna walked to her own quarter. A grand palace, colourful, with carpets and paintings of landscapes and noble heroes and herself. With wallpaper on the walls and a complete lack of magical lamps. Tall windows, wine in every cabinet, chocolate in every other. A place she tried to make homely, although it was difficult to bring home to a job site. She walked through the corridors, where easy-going maids and butlers were smiling and chatting as they worked and finally entered her private room. All wooden furniture, the carpets all crimson red, the wallpapers patterned with roses. A fireplace that was growing cold, three empty bottles on the table before it. Kavaa and Iniri were already there. Of Health in the battle-armour that had served in the Great War, simple plate with a green cloak emblazoned with a blue cross, a mark for clerics and healers. A blade that would have been called a greatsword by mortals although by Divine standards, it was merely a simple duelling blade hung on her waist. Her round shield was already fixed to her forearm, her helmet was donned and pair of pale eyes stared out through slits. Iniri was much the same, but in a wardress, it was appropriate for her station as the Goddess of Food & Bounty. It befit the titles she had abandoned when the Great War ended and the new age of Peace began. A green cloak that hung to her feet covered in enchantments and magical enchantments, reinforced with strands of living wood that curled and twisted with every movement. ¡°Allasaria has left. She has taken Leona and thirty-five inventions. Three hours ago, they won¡¯t turn back now.¡± Helenna skipped the pleasantries, the expressions on her friends¡¯ face said they wouldn¡¯t appreciate them anyway. ¡°It is time.¡± Kavaa took a deep breath and stood up from the purple armchair. ¡°So it is.¡± She said. ¡°How long?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Three hours as was decided.¡± Kavaa responded with one nod. Her eyes cold, grey and emotionless, she made the same eyes when she healed people. ¡°I will get changed.¡± Helenna took off her dress and opened her wardrobe. There was going to be battle, there was no doubt about that. The two Goddesses watched her pull out ancient armour that had been locked away and used only whenever Allasaria decided to make a mascot out of them in parades. A gold breastplate, a chainmail skirt. A belt with daggers strapped to it, tall bronze boots to her knees, each with a blade in the foot. Gauntlets with more blades hidden within, another pair of daggers strapped to her thighs underneath her skirt. A red cape for throwing and distraction, it could be detached with a mere click of a shoulder button. No helmet, Helenna had never liked covering her face. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was pitch black today. It fit the mood. ¡°Iniri, you will guard the prison entrance. Kavaa, you clear a path. I will free Kassandora.¡± She saw the reflections of the other two nod. Kavaa turned to leave and stopped at the door. ¡°Good luck.¡± She said to the two Divines behind her. ¡°We are led by the Spirit of War, the World¡¯s Greatest Strategist. Luck will not be a factor.¡± Helenna said it more for herself than for Kavaa. Of Health only replied with a silent nod of affirmation. Kavaa shut the door and left the two inside. Helenna looked at the clock, they would set off in two hours, thirty minutes. She knew already Iniri was in no mood for chit chat. It would be a long and silent wait. Helenna stood, and Helenna waited. ¡°Raptor Nest, Raptor Nest, this is central Arika reporting. Luck is above us. I repeat, Luck is above us.¡± Kavaa watched her Clerics assembled. Almost twelve thousand men, hardened by the trials of Arika where they ventured into jungles to kill beasts as much as they healed the sick of disease and wounds. Twelve thousand men. Kavaa wondered how many of them would die today. Was it waste? It could be a waste, she was exchanging their lives for her own freedom. But they had sworn to fight and die for her. They knew what they were signing up for. The Clerical Orders were not Guardians or Seekers or Paladins who lured in with promises of gold and glory. To take Kavaa¡¯s vow, to become a full-fledged Cleric, one had to be willing to enter lands of epidemics, to withstand the sight of diseases which ate flesh and rotted organs, to comfort the families of those who could not be saved, to be willing to give one¡¯s life when the cause called for it. To be ready for a death agonizing and fall to the very illnesses they were trying to cure. When the situation called for it, Kavaa¡¯s vow said to kill and ease suffering. The Clerical Orders were looked down upon, spat upon, belittled as mere battlefield doctors. In an age of Peace, they had lost even that, now they were mere idealists fighting a fruitless war against ever changing diseases. Twelve thousand men, in the plate armours of their respective orders. Some with swords, with hammers, some with spears, some with shields and some without, some with spiked clubs. They looked at their Goddess with cold gazes, the sort that was appropriate for a surgical amputation. No. They were men who had seen the true horrors the world had to offer. Not beasts or dragons or bandits, but the tears of family, the expressions of those who lost limbs in their sleep. They had heard men dying of torturing illnesses when medicines ran out, they were there for when men begged to be rid of illness and they were there for when men begged to be rid of pain. And they still came back for more. They deserved a speech. Just as a doctor would rally the trainees out of panic, she should rally them. They were her men. This was her army. They lived for her. They died for her. They would die for her. She remembered Kassandora¡¯s reaction to when she asked what sort of speech it should be. ¡°They¡¯re your men, who am I to take them from you?¡± It was exactly the sort of words Kassandora would say, it treated her equally as a Divine. It was the exactly the sort of words Allasaria had never said. Kavaa opened her mouth as the Sun fell and clouds returned to Olympiada. The shadow of the mountain fell upon them. ¡°Clerics!¡± She spoke. She had never been one for speeches. Helenna was much better at swaying hearts. Iniri had a way of being homely. Kavaa knew she was too cold, she usually had to feign emotion in the White Pantheon, the horrors of healing had dulled her in that regard. But these men had gone through everything she had, heard and seen everything she had. ¡°Healers!¡± She shouted again. That fit more. Heads turned and the crowd fell silent. Even the helicopters in the back slowed their rotors and settled down. Kavaa continued. ¡°We serve the ailing diseased and the feeble wounded! We serve the afflicted, the rotting, the tainted and the defiled! We serve the sick! We have not, do not, and will never serve a Pantheon! We work with the Pantheon but we are not part of the Pantheon! Who the Divine Mountain forgets, we remember! Where the Divine Mountain looks away, we are there! We have been there in Arika fighting alone! No support came from Allasaria and her glorious Seekers! No help from the mages of Elassa! A continent broiling in war, left alone by the Goddess of Peace, a continent ever on the brink of Chaos which Maisara turns her nose up at.¡± Kavaa took a breath as she looked at her Clerics. Every single one stared at her with bated breath. ¡°Is that the Pantheon you wish to work with?¡± She spread her arms out and the Clerics answered. ¡°NO!¡± ¡°Is that the Pantheon you were promised?¡± ¡°NO!¡± ¡°Is that the Pantheon you wish to die for?¡± ¡°NO!¡± Kavaa pulled out her sword and held it forwards. It glittered remorselessly in the sun. ¡°We serve as doctors, we kill disease where we see it! Today, the Pantheon is our patient! Today, the Pantheon is sick!¡± She got a chorus of cheers, of spear butts hitting the ground and of weapons clashing against shield. Kavaa finally spoke again when the cheering left the air. ¡°We heal where we can, we give the ultimate reprieve where we cannot. But we are one Order! We are a doctor devoid of tools!¡± Her arm twisted and she raised the sword to the sky. ¡°Just as a vaccine is an illness made to fight a disease, today, we our acquire vaccine.¡± Kavaa held her breath. This was it. The words just said could be explained. Taken back. Allasaria would not kill her for a mere speech. The next sentence was the jump off the cliff. ¡°Today, our vaccination is the Divine Kassandora! Goddess of War!¡± Kavaa turned, her blade aimed at Olympiada. She could not look at the faces of her men and her expression broke, her lips quivered, she closed her eyes and listened to the silence. It lasted for a mere moment. Twelve thousand Clerics cheered. Chapter 65 – The Gates of Olympiada ¡°Raptor Nest, Raptor Nest, this is Seer-Central. Luck is above you, launch the birds.¡± ¡°Kavaa has started her march.¡± Iniri said to Helenna as the former fondled her dress, the latter fondled her knives. The Goddess of Food & Bounty looked through the window as of Helenna¡¯s quarter, it had a direct view to the grand staircase leading to Olympiada. A staircase deluded by myths of its own grandiosity, mortals vowed it would take a week to climb the steps. It was a half-day climb for the sick and feeble. Adults could make the trip there and back in that time. And Kavaa¡¯s Clerics? When led by their Goddess herself, they devoured that staircase step-by-step like a pack of hungry wolves. They marched, chanting a battle-hymn of Kavaa¡¯s Iniri had heard maybe a dozen times since the Great War concluded. A dozen was pushing it, and it was always sung without fervour, always used in demonstrations and parades. Always as if it was a blade calling to be used once again. Now though¡­ Now, it sounded like a blade crying out, eager to taste blood. Four lines of helicopters flanked them, in the same fashion that navies would arrange their ships in preparation for a breakthrough of the enemy broadside. Iniri watched, and Iniri smiled. You could take men out of war, but you could never take war out of men. It was simply human nature. This feeling was simply bliss. Nostalgia. ¡°How long?¡± Helenna asked, she secured the knives under her battleskirt again, her hair had grown darker than pitch. Even Irinika, wherever the Goddess of Darkness was, would be jealous of hair like that. ¡°Thirty minutes at the rate they¡¯re going.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s time we make our move too.¡± Helenna said coldly. Iniri turned and smiled, she felt her skin harden like an ancient oak¡¯s bark, she knew her eyes had gone a noxious green. The flowers in Helenna¡¯s vases had started to grow out of control, furiously climbing the walls with tiny roots. The wooden table creaked and started to disfigure as Iniri tapped into energies long unused. Energies that did not befit a Goddess whose title was Of Food & Bounty. ¡°Elassa! Elassa! Call Elassa! Call her now! WHERE IS SHE?! SEND WORD TO ARCADIA THEN! KAVAA IS LAUNCHING A COUP! ¡°Skyport repeats, skyport repeats! YOU ARE NOT GRANTED CLEARANCE TO LAND!¡± The speakers rung out throughout Damian¡¯s plane. The Order of Twin Hearts had been ordered to secure Olympiada¡¯s skyport and thoroughly rough up the runway as to block any reinforcements coming in from abroad. ¡°TURN BACK IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS AN ACT OF TREACHERY AGAINST THE PANTHEON!¡± Damian turned back to his men. They had seen the horrors of Arika, they had seen villages devastated by epidemic, they had powerlessly watched flooding and landslides, they had to dig half-rotten corpses out of the ground and give them proper burials. Kavaa had begged for Pantheon support again and again. The most the White Pantheon could spare was pocket-change. The Orders of other Goddesses were all too happy to put down revolutions of unarmed men, but to step into the jungles teeming with ageless beasts? Never. ¡°You hear that boys?¡± He shouted over the man screeching in the speaker. He wanted to put music on at first, but the panicking tone over the radio, growing higher and higher with desperation, was better than music. ¡°Sir, they¡¯ve raised barriers.¡± Zalewski¡¯s voice through the speaker temporarily stopped the screaming fellow in charge of skyport navigation. The man was the sole pilot of the 77T, officially, they needed three pilots, but one good one was enough. It was a huge plane, but Olympiada¡¯s skyport had enough room to line five 77Ts nose to rear. ¡°Can you land?¡± Damian asked over his radio. ¡°I¡¯ve landed in worse before.¡± Zalewski over the speakers again. ¡°YOU WILL TURN BACK NOW!¡± That brought a good amount of laughter from the other Clerics on board. Every man armoured in the plate they had received upon taking the vows. With sword and axe and hammer, the Twin Hearts had spent too long in Arika to care for such trite as uniformed tool usage. Damian had a halberd in hands, it was good to slay beasts with. Men were much easier to slay than beasts. The 77T tilted its nose sharply downwards. In the massive cargo hold, the hundred cramped men kept their cool. There was no falling over, no screams or shouts of panic. They had flown past hurricanes. This? This wasn¡¯t even light turbulence. ¡°I REPEAT! I WILL GIVE THE ORDER TO ARREST ANYONE ON BOARD!¡± The radio shouted as Damian moved passed his men to the huge doors on the rear of the plane. ¡°Slight warning guys.¡± Zalewski cut out the tunes of the madness again. ¡°The wheels will come off. Hold on.¡± He cut out, the plane reversed its angle in a second, from pointing down to nose up. ¡°HOLD ON!¡± He cut off as the operator came back on. ¡°AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!¡± His cry was cut out by the anguished screams of tearing metal and rock. Damian did not look back at his Clerics to check, he knew they were fine. Zalewski turned off the radio once again as he spoke over the speakers. ¡°Zalewski Airlines thanks its passengers for the journey. Please leave a review.¡± He heard a few men burst out in laughter and some more crack jokes about how their blind dog could land better. Damian kicked the rear door, the mechanism had busted although that was no surprise. The plane¡¯s steel floor had twisted out of shape in the crash. ¡°Get the manual release!¡± He shouted to the Clerics on either side. 77Ts weren¡¯t the fancy scalpels that other jets were. They were clubs. Locks twisted, pistons sounded, air released on either side of the cargo holds and Damian covered his ears. This was the worst part. An explosion rocked the plane and the rear door flew off to reveal the runway of the skyport. At the edge, raised steel barriers were twisted out of ship where they had caught the plane¡¯s wheels and then a crevice began where the 77T had carved a path for a new stream. If this did not count as disabling the Skyport, Damian did know what Kavaa meant. He jumped from the rear as his Order grew silent and followed out. It was a short drop, and Clerics of Kavaa carried their Goddesses blessings of Health. A fall of a man¡¯s height in full plate armour had about as much impact on them as rolling out of bed in the night. Two more 77Ts were closing in, Damian steeled himself for the screaming of steel once again. Barriers caught wheels once again, hulls slammed into the ground, jet engines swallowed loose rocks and spewed their mechanical entrails behind. Doors rear doors blasted open and more Clerics of Twin Hearts emerged. Damian saw the various captains look around and being disembarking as the final set of planes, these smaller 40Ts, flew in. They had the same colours schemes of white and blue, with Order emblems emblazoned on them, along with various writings that said what the men thought of the Pantheon. Horribly unprofessional, but Arika killed professionality and replaced it with efficiency. Damian merely thought they were funny. One, two, three, five 40Ts ate up the rest of the runway. Kavaa had led them plan their operation alone. They were her trusted doctors after all, there was no reason to take that away from them. Damian had first thought he would have to set fires and blow the planes but now? He looked over the ruined stone. Plan succeeded. Damian motioned for his men to follow him. Those who already made the jump from the plane started their march and freed up space for the rest to leave. A platoon of Seekers, a hundred men in total, had assembled. Tall men, handsome men, with fancy capes and armour and armed with spear and sword. They stood pale-faced, staring at the devastation of what eight controlled crash landings could do. Damian had to give it to the Seeker captain, the man managed to control his shock enough to take a step forwards, he didn¡¯t think Seekers were capable of that. ¡°WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?¡± The Seeker captain said as Damian felt the energy of the men beside him. It wasn¡¯t magic or blessing, it was some greater: brotherhood. Simple human brotherhood, forged in Arika and now brought to the Divine Mountain. Professionality died, vanity ceased, needless displays vanished. ¡°STOP AT ONCE!¡± The Seeker captain shouted again, his golden armour so pristine. It did not even have a scratch on it, the complete opposite of the Twin Heart¡¯s plate. They had enough scars of battle to share among the Seekers and still have some left over. ¡°STOP! UNDER THE ORDERS OF GODDESS ALLASARIA, TURN IN YOUR ARMS!¡± He stamped his spear against the ground.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Damian slowly closed the distance as the other teams prowled in. Eight snakes waiting to strike. Damian was disappointed, he had expected a battle and blood spilled and skills tested. He had expected the Seekers of myth, not the palace guards of today. He stopped an arm¡¯s length from the Seeker and heard the Cleric¡¯s march stall behind him. The Seeker angrily stared at him, one fist over the spear, the over clasped angrily on his side, both shaking, tears were beginning to form in his eyes. Damian felt like an adult staring at a petulant child. This was a Seeker captain? These were the men who complained about the Clerics? This is who got the first share of resources? This scum? Back when Kavaa gave her speech, Damian knew he would follow, she was his Goddess after all, but he had not believed her. Speeches rallied and exaggerated and embellished. They raised spirits, but only a fool would take them at face value. ¡°TURN OVER YOUR ARMS AT ONCE AND WE CAN SORT THIS OUT!¡± The Seeker Captain shouted, it would have had more effect if the man¡¯s voice didn¡¯t break every word. When Damian did not respond, the line of men in gold armour took a step back. ¡°PLEASE! DO NOT SHED BLOOD! WE DO NOT WANT TO HARM YOU!¡± Kavaa had lied indeed. She had not gone far enough. This was not some mere sickness, this was cancer. And it was terminal. As if he was about to fell one of the great Arikan giant spiders, Damian swung his halberd. The Seeker¡¯s head came off, it launched into the air, blood sprouted from his neck and the body dropped to its knees. The Captain fell as his head landed on the ground, the helmet coming off. The Seekers behind him at least had the thought to lower their spears and start charging their magics. Damian¡¯s Clerics raced past him, they were Kavaa¡¯s scalpel against this cancer. Zerus, Call Zerus! Helenna and Iniri are moving towards the prison! HOLD FOR TEN MINUTES! ELASSA IS BRINGING MAGES! Kavaa cleared the final step of Olympiada¡¯s staircase. Eleven thousand men behind her, they formed a snake that winded and scale its way across the cliffside. Allasaria¡¯s Seekers had already prepared a defence, along with several minor Gods. Mere inventions. She took a breath, frankly, she would have prepared to meet Zerus or Sceo or even Elassa here, the wait was the worst part. It always was. These fools though? They weren¡¯t even a roadblock. Kavaa silently took a step forwards onto the marble of Olympiada and walked through the grand gateway. Once, long ago, there had been walls here, the archway had gates. Once, it had served a purpose that wasn¡¯t mere decoration. There were a few hundred Seekers here, Kavaa heard her men run to spread out on either side of her, then continue the silent march forwards. They were men forged by Arika, this would be their first time on the mountain, their first experience with the soft-skinned Seekers and petulant minor deities who ran around and demanded. They would see the grandest city on Arda. She wondered what they would think of the grand pillars, the empty rooms, the purposeless swarms of maids. ¡°STOP AT ONCE GODDESS KAVAA!¡± Someone shouted from the crowd ahead. A line of men in hard gold, with faces of soft butter and eyes of terrible fear. This was the glorious Order of Seekers. She continued her march, the rhythmic beat of steel boots on marble behind her said her Clerics followed too. ¡°STOP AT ONCE!¡± Ten minor inventions had interspersed themselves throughout the battleline of Seekers. Kavaa wondered who they were, she never bothered to learn the names of fools who lived up here. Gods of various medicines were sent off to Arika, anyone who willingly came to serve Allasaria on the Pantheon was had a bureaucrat¡¯s soul. Kavaa had never liked bureaucrats. ¡°UNDER THE ORDERS OF GODDESS ALLASARIA, MILITARY FORCES ARE BARRED FROM ENTERING OLYMPIADA!¡± Kavaa kept on her march forwards. Her Clerics were right behind her. The helicopters finally broke rank and flew ahead to secure various important locations. Chokepoints and intersections and watchtowers, Kassandora had forged the plan, Kavaa only had to show it to the men. It wasn¡¯t particularly advanced, although the simpler the better when dealing with Divines. She heard her men mutter some curses at the tone the minor deity was using. ¡°GODDESS KAVAA! YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE PANTHEON! YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN THIS!¡± A dull explosion sounded from behind the men, judging the sound and direction, it was from the Skyport. Damian Sokolowski¡¯s Order of Twin Hearts. They had seen the worst Arika had to offer and they asked for support from the Pantheon every month. Every month, Allasaria would turn them down. Kavaa could only imagine the man¡¯s rage. Some Seekers turned the heads, the ranks slightly shifted as if a wave rolled through them, and Kavaa took another step forward. ¡°GODDESS KAVAA! THIS IS AN ACT OF CLEAR DEFIANCE AND TREACHERY AGAINST THE PANTHEON!¡± Kavaa took another step forwards. The helicopters disappeared behind buildings as they landed. ¡°GODDESS KAVAA! ONE MORE STEP AND YOU WILL BE DECLARED A HERETIC DIVINE!¡± Kavaa took another step forwards. Her Clerics did too. ¡°DO NOT DO THIS, GODDESS KAVAA!¡± Some of the Seekers began to lower their spears. Kavaa finally stopped. She spread her arms out, she was the Goddess of Health, fighting was not her strong suit. She took a heavy breath, fighting was not her strong suit, but this was why she had Clerical Orders. Battlefield Healers, once a feared force. Once, they had been one of the four pillars of the White Pantheon¡¯s Armies. She closed her eyes, took a breath and let her magic seep into the Clerics. On Divines, her magics were weak, there was little she could do to amplify the strength of those who were ever at the peak of Health. But on mortals? Fatigue faded away from their Seekers as Kavaa¡¯s healing entered them. The trek up the mountain had not tired them out, but now, it was as if they had only just left their beds. Their eyesight became sharper, their hearing sharper, their muscles turned and twisted as they regrew into stronger versions. Armour that felt like steel suddenly felt as if was as easy a further, swords became the weight of pens. Tower-shields became paper-weights. ¡°Clerics!¡± Kavaa called out. ¡°We have just been declared heretics for coming to heal the Pantheon!¡± The Seekers shuffled slightly, and the minor deities took a step back. Clouds rumbled overhead. Zerus was starting to pay attention. ¡°GODDESS KAVAA! STOP!¡± Someone shouted from the other side. ¡°YOU ARE MAD!¡± ¡°Clerics!¡± Kavaa shouted again and then grew silent. Someone had loosed an arrow into the chest of one of her men. It pierced through the plate of his armour and into his chest. The Cleric pulled it out and Kavaa silently worked her magic. There was no blood, no wound, the man touched his chest and then crushed the arrow in his hand. He looked to Kavaa and then bowed. ¡°GODDESS KAVAA! DO NOT BREAK THE PEACE!¡± Kavaa laughed. Who was this deity? What sort of minor invention would speak to her like this? To even utter her name was blasphemy. Do not break the peace? She existed solely for that. She was not the Goddess of Healing but of Health. She was a doctor, a doctor¡¯s primary role was to keep health, to take preventative measures, to stop disease before it spread. An epidemic was a doctor¡¯s failure. To treat wounds? She was not here to treat wounds. She was here to stop them from happening in the first place. The Goddess of Health was a battlefield Goddess. ¡°Clerics!¡± Kavaa said quietly, she knew they could hear her. ¡°They fire at us. You have my blessing, be my sword.¡± A hundred men raced past Kavaa. Every man at the peak human functioning, they moved as if naked. Allasaria¡¯s Seekers responded, a phalanx formed, the minor deities rose into the air and beams of Allasaria¡¯s light blasted forwards. But Allasaria was not here. A proper Divine was a weight unbeatable by humans. Arrows glanced off plate and bounced off skin. Allasaria¡¯s light should have incinerated and eradicated what it touched, instead it merely singed muscle and set hairs alight. One of the minor deities launched forwards and smashed into the Clerics. He broke two men with a sword and then a spear pierced his back. An axe landed in his chest. A Cleric jumped into the air, both hands holding his heavy shield and crashed into the God. The God¡¯s head rolled. The line of Seekers was a dam, and the Clerics were a flood. They crashed, the first wave pushed back, then another and another. Eventually, a crack formed in the damn. A tall Cleric with a great axe snapped the spears of four Seekers. Before the gap could be filled, before the Seekers drew their swords, the space was overtaken by Kavaa¡¯s Clerics. They utterly outmatched the Seekers, in skill and in power. Neither Divine blessing nor years of combat experienced could be replicated or feigned through armour and weaponry. The line of Seeker broke from that opening and then it fell as Clerics overran the Seekers. Where lone squads formed, spears pointed in directions, Clerics would jump onto the walls of points and land behind them. Where men ran, Clerics would catch up or throw their weapon. Where minor Gods of inventions tried to prove their superiority, Kavaa would turn her attention and empower her men to strengths they could not imagine. The first line of defence at the Gates of Olympiada was broken in less than two minutes. The Clerics rearranged themselves into battlelines and Kavaa restarted her march. She did not count her dead, some Clerics must have died, men died in all battles, but it could not be much. With her blessing, a man would need his head removed or his heart destroyed to die. Kavaa wiped the sweat off her forehead and looked up. Two figures floated in the air. An aged man and a woman. Kavaa smiled and disappeared into the first temple, the shortest route to the Lower Prison. So Zerus and Sceo had finally awoken. She wondered how Iniri and Helenna were doing. This was the easy part after all. Chapter 66 – Mother Nature, Capricious & Cruel Zerus held Sceo¡¯s hand, they hovered above Olympiada and watched Kavaa¡¯s Clerics move in. The first line of Allasaria¡¯s had been broken, the second line had assembled between Maisara¡¯s and Kavaa¡¯s own quarters. ¡°Are you not going to do anything?¡± Sceo asked. ¡°Do what?¡± Zerus growled. ¡°Stop them?¡± ¡°Kavaa must have her own reason.¡± Zerus said. ¡°Kavaa has marched the Clerics on Olympiada. This is an act of revolution.¡± ¡°So you want me to kill them?¡± Zerus growled. ¡°Helenna and Iniri are part of it too.¡± ¡°Stall them at least.¡± Sceo said. ¡°We¡¯ve been in a good position because of our refusal to take sides. Maisara, Allasaria, Kavaa, I do not care who leads¡± ¡°You have to get off the fence when it¡¯s on fire Zerus.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not too fond of Elassa myself Sceo.¡± ¡°But Allasaria?¡± ¡°Allasaria is not here, is she?¡± ¡°But she will be, with Leona. And then what hope do any of them have?¡± ¡°Then why should we move in if Allasaria¡¯s success is assured?¡± ¡°You¡¯re despicable Zerus.¡± ¡°As are you, my lovely wife.¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to make sure that there is a Pantheon for Allasaria to return to.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not even part of the Pantheon.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s your job, your duty to hold them together.¡± Iniri followed Helenna as the two Goddesses made their way through the Pantheon. For once, the Divine Mountain was not silent. Explosions were coming from the direction of the skyport and the sounds of battle had travelled from the entrance to Kavaa¡¯s quarter. Helenna¡¯s would be next, then Kavaa would arrive at the Lower Prison. Iniri took a deep breath as Of Love left the empty marble corridor they marched through and entered the field which guarded the Lower Prison. Seekers were already assembled there, along with minor deities Iniri had never bothered to learn the name of. Such things were beneath even her. The Seeker captain saw them, spears lowered, a golden phalanx formed. ¡°Goddess Helenna! Goddess Iniri! You are under arrest under charge of conspiracy!¡± Helenna turned to Iniri. ¡°Can you clear a path?¡± ¡°Can I?¡± Iniri walked past Helenna. What sort of question was that? Could she? How many Divines had served in the Great War? How many had ended up in the Pantheon? She was one of the pillars of this world. Gods of suits, Gods of clothes, Goddesses of grass and Gods of barks simply did not have the qualifications to go toe-to-toe with her. She had even changed her title to appease them, to make them feel good about themselves, to feign that there was some pretend equality among the Divines. No. Of Food & Bounty? What a joke. Food & Bounty were not the reason she had been a Great War general. Iniri saw Helenna¡¯s eyes look up at her as she stepped onto the grass between them and the battle-line of Seekers. Grass sprouted around her shoes, the branches in her dress turned and twisted, flowers burst from the ground, seedlings deposited over the years start to sprout: Sunflowers and roses, ash and birch saplings broke the earth, a thin apple tree rose and collapse under the weight of fruit in a matter of seconds. Iniri took another step and shouted. ¡°I am a pillar of the Pantheon, lower your weapons.¡± She blinked, that was too¡­ modern. What would the Iniri of a millennia ago have said? ¡°Move.¡± The grass carried her whisper. That was better. The Seekers took a step back as Helenna caught up to Iniri. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you could do this anymore.¡± The sunflower by Helenna¡¯s side replied for Iniri. ¡°Cannot and did not are two different things.¡± The Seeker captain rallied his men, several of the minor Divines took steps forward. Zerus hung in the air above, Sceo did too. Kavaa had just broken through the second line of Seekers, she lost twelve men, eighty-three Seekers were lying dead, two minor invention Gods as well. On the other side of the mountain, Clerics of the Order of Twin Hearts were setting fire to the planes. Alkom of the Sun was approaching them. Through flowers and roots, through trees and decorative vines, Iniri saw it all.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! She saw and she heard. She spoke. ¡°I have suffered a millennia of humiliation. Do not think that the Pantheon can go against Nature.¡± The branches of Iniri¡¯s dress launched themselves against the ground. ¡°Move!¡± The Seekers remained still, so Iniri moved them. The ground below them burst. Marble and man screamed as ancient roots ripped both apart. Spikes of wood tore through armour of gold. It had been a long time since the flora of Olympiada had tasted blood. Iniri licked her lips. Her arms remained still as the Seekers answered. Beams of light tried to answer devouring woods. Those Seekers who lost their spears drew blades encased in Allasaria¡¯s magic. They burned vine and incinerated wood. And then they fell themselves, pierced by furious woods, slashed by razor leaves or torn apart by green ivy. Iniri moved a finger and an oak roared out of the ground. A tree that would grow a century flourished in mere moments, it turned and croaked and groaned and twisted, and twenty Seeker were sent flying through the air. One of the minor Gods started to fly away, branches caught him by the foot and dragged him into the earth. Iniri turned to Of Love, ¡°Helenna, your path is clear.¡± Helenna nodded nervously, her eyes wide, her hair as white as bone. She murmured something unintelligible and ran off into the entrance of the Lower Prison. ¡°Iniri.¡± Zerus¡¯ voice boomed from the sky. A thunderous boom. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Iniri looked up at the man. Sceo, of the Sky, was floating next to him with Alkom, of the Sun, by the other side. All three of them were dressed in their ancient armours, fine plates, silver for Sceo and Zerus, gold for Alkom. There were no weapons among them, the Divines of the highest forces would not lower themselves to carry arms. A wind piercing roared through the fresh forest that had sprouted from Iniri¡¯s magic, Alkom held a ball of fire in his hands. ¡°Can you not see Zerus? Has age caught up to you?¡± Iniri shouted from the ground. Sceo¡¯s brows furrowed in anger, those blue eyes shot daggers at Iniri. ¡°So you destroy the Pantheon?¡± ¡°The Pantheon is a walking corpse. From the ground we are born, to the ground we return. The Pantheon is no different.¡± ¡°Would you say the same if Allasaria were here?¡± Sceo shouted in that high-pitched voice of hers. Iniri had always disliked it. The Goddess of the Sky was a Goddess destined to be part of the background, she hated that the woman always tried to take centre stage. ¡°Allasaria is not here, is she?¡± ¡°Why did Helenna enter the prison?¡± Zerus asked. Another oak sprouted under Iniri, it grew rapidly, the wood tearing through buildings around it as the trunk expanded to the thickness of a river. Iniri looked down on the Divines from her stand in the branches. ¡°Why do you think? Leona is going to die. If not us, then Maisara and Fortia will free her.¡± Zerus tightened his fists and shook his head as he slowly floated through the air, higher and higher. ¡°Do not look down on me, Goddess of Food & Bounty.¡± Iniri¡¯s smile cracked as Kavaa entered the courtyard, Clerics behind her. Their weapons were stained with blood. ¡°Look down on you?¡± Iniri shouted, she raised a hand forwards and the great oak twisted, bark screaming as leaves fell to the ground. The tree told Iniri it was ready. ¡°You are part of my demesne.¡± Zerus¡¯ eyes turned blue, pale wires of electricity burst from them, like drops of white paint flicked from a paint brush. The tiny sun in Alkom¡¯s hand expanded to the size of a man. ¡°Goddess of Food & Bounty, don¡¯t aggrandize yourself.¡± Iniri shook her head. ¡°Goddess of Nature Zerus. Goddess of Nature.¡± Alkom¡¯s sun grew larger. Storm clouds roared overhead as Zerus and Sceo held hands. Lightning danced above. Iniri swept her hands through the air, the great oak followed her movements, and swatted at the three flies pestering Mother Nature. Elassa rose through clouds with two dozen mages behind her. Her gaze touched Olympiada. Fires, trees, destroyed buildings, sounds of battle, screams, Zerus, Alkom & Sceo were flying through the air as Iniri¡¯s trees tried to bring them down. Elassa curled her fists as she heard the gasps of the mages she was bringing back. Elassa had never liked that Goddess. Of Food & Bounty? What a joke of a title. Helenna sidestepped a Seeker¡¯s corpse, a knife sticking out of his neck. She turned, and she ran. Through corridors, around other men, too fast for them to realise she was coming. She barged into one man, her sheer height knocking the fellow down and then scrambled to her feet. ¡°STOP! GODDESS HELENNA STOP!¡± Seekers were screaming behind her, their boots echoing throughout the hallway as they chased Helenna down. Ahead, two Seekers had raised spears. The corridor was growing tighter now as Helenna got closer to Kassandora¡¯s cell. A final line of defence against Of War¡¯s fighting style of swinging her greatsword. Helenna dropped to one leg and slid on the ground, she grabbed the knives on her thighs and threw them forwards as the two spears aimed at her started to resonate with Allasaria¡¯s divine blessing. The two Seekers dropped, their throats impaled with a dagger each. Helenna somersaulted over them, landed on her feet and closed the final stretch to Kassandora¡¯s prison. ¡°STOP! YOU WILL BE TRIALED!¡± Of Love cast a look behind her as she barged into the cell door. It collapsed underneath her weight as Helenna got to her feet. Kassandora stood there, arms resting on her head. She nodded towards the containment crystal. The Seekers screamed again. ¡°DO NOT DO THIS! THAT IS TREACHERY! SHE IS OF WAR!¡± The Seekers formed a shield wall with spears extended. The tips were already glowing with magic. Helenna wrapped her fingers around the black obsidian rock, the magic inside it turned and twisted. Of Love turned, the crystal above her head as she looked back into the corridor. The Seekers stared at her with eyes wide and full of shock. Blood had drained from their faces and their jaws had dropped. Helenna heard Kassandora sigh behind her. ¡°DO NOT DO THIS HELENNA!¡± One of the Seekers called out. ¡°ANYTHING! WE CAN NEGOTIATE! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO END THIS WAY!¡± Helenna shook her head, she saw loose strands of her own fair hair. Pure white, it was always like that when she was scared. She felt a tear go down her cheek. ¡°GODDESS HELENNA! PLEASE! DO NOT FREE HER!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve come this far Helenna.¡± Kassandora said from behind her. ¡°Are you going to back out now?¡± Helenna shook her head and whispered to the men at the end of the corridor. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She threw the crystal onto the cold stone tiles. It smashed like a delicate wine glass, effortlessly. Magic spewed from behind Helenna, magic she did not want to touch. The Seekers controlled their panic and charged their spears. Kassandora was faster. A greatsword shot past Helenna, her hair and shirt moved with the wind. It¡¯s flight path faltered, the hilt brushed the wall, and it spun of out control. The Seekers were submerged in a cloud of dust. Silence flooded into the corridor once again. Chapter 67 – Cry Havoc And Let Slip The Dog Of War Helenna fell to her knees, her mouth agape. What had she done? Kassandora took a breath. The air was filled with magic here. She had been in a scorching desert for the past millennia and a cooling monsoon had finally come. She took another breath as the sensations ran through her throat, her arms, her chest, to her feet and fingers. Even the strands of her hair felt as if they were alive. A thousand years had passed and she had got her goal. Freedom. A thousand years of smiles and jokes, a thousand years of conniving thoughts, a thousand years without a single misstep. Where every move had been planned out and theorized in her mind as she waited in this cramped cell. Kassandora tore the grey prison clothes off herself and reached forwards with the hand that had just sent her greatsword, Joyeuse, into the crowd of men. A black gauntlet formed around her fingers, it travelled to her wrists, spikes embedded into it, then down her arm. A cold chest-plate touched her skin. A black helmet covered her head. Kassandora tied her hair back with a sliver of torn cloth as she tightened the straps around her armour. The feeling was simply euphoric but something was off. It was her armour, but it felt heavy. A millennia of being all but naked, and now¡­ The dust at the end of the corridor cleared and kneeling Helenna whispered something in shock. Bodies were laying there, strewn as Joyeuse had torn through them. The sword had pierced a man¡¯s chest and pinned him into the wall. Kassandora reached her arm forward, the blade disappeared, the body fell to the ground leaving a red trail on the wall. Joyeuse reappeared in her hand and Kassandora grunted with the weight. She had indeed grown weaker. Of War put her hand on Of Love¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Stand.¡± Kassandora said. Helenna¡¯s hair had grown pale as she shook her head. ¡°What did you think was going to happen?¡± Kassandora grabbed the scruff of the woman¡¯s dress and hoisted her into the air. ¡°Stand Helenna. Stand.¡± Helenna gurgled some words and let her arms fall as Kassandora dropped her. The woman was a whole-half head shorter than without armour, in it, Kassandora towered over her. ¡°Did you think this would be bloodless? Are you a child?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­ Did you see¡­ Iniri has¡­ Kavaa¡¯s Clerics¡­¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes. These three were far easier to handle than Maisara and Fortia, that had played a large role in her decision to support them but maybe Allasaria had been correct. Maybe they were insects. Kassandora turned and looked at Helenna. The Goddess had retreated back into herself, arms wrapped around her chest as if she needed a hug. What to do with Helenna? What to do with the Goddess of Love? Blades turned in Kassandora¡¯s mind and castle gates fell. Very easy. Helenna had been given tough love for the past millennia, she needed someone to support her. The Goddess of Love was the Goddess of Relationships and everything that came with them. Kassandora gave Helenna a hug. ¡°It will be alright.¡± Helenna sniffled. ¡°Will it?¡± She asked. ¡°You have me, of course it will.¡± Kassandora said and dropped the hug. She grabbed Helenna¡¯s arms tightly. ¡°But you can¡¯t be like this.¡± Kassandora wished she could slap the stupidity out of Helenna, but she kept her eyes soft, she even threw in a little smile. Sometimes a smile was the deadliest weapon in her arsenal. Helenna brushed her tears away and shook her head in a frantic nod. ¡°Good, now follow.¡± Elassa hovered above the childish brawl below them. Zerus was obviously holding back, Iniri was flailing rapidly. Kavaa had secured the courtyard with her Seekers. Sceo was simply hurling winds about. Alkom¡¯s great sun was a small of fire. This was a fight among Gods? Elassa raised her hands down at Iniri¡¯s oak. The world gave birth to nature, and nature conquered the world. Then nature gave birth to magic. It was simply the cycle of these things. ¡°MAGICIANS!¡± Iniri looked up when she heard Elassa¡¯s shout. The massive oak that cast a shadow over Olympiada stopped flailing. Alkom¡¯s sun calmed down and stopped incinerating her leaves, Zerus¡¯ lightning faltered and the wind died down. Elassa hovered in the air, high above them, two dozen mages around her. And then, Elassa, Goddess of Magic, shouted again. ¡°FIRE!¡± Pure energy poured from Elassa¡¯s hands in a beam. Fire burst from her magicians, lightning cackled and danced, blades of ice materialized in the air, winds howled and the air condensed into daggers of water. Elassa¡¯s beam crashed down upon them like a sword. A huge branch, its thickness twice the height of a man, creaked, tore and fell to the ground. It cascaded down, losing leaves and then dropped onto one of the bronze tiled roofs of a nearby palace. A cloud of pale marble dust submerged the Clerics in the courtyard as magic fell upon them.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. From within the branches, a scream came. ¡°ELASSA!¡± Iniri launched herself out of the tree like a bullet. Branches curled around her feet and creaked as she poured her power into them. ¡°YOU WITCH!¡± Leaves swirled around her, made a shield against the blasts of magic pouring in. They were peeled away, layer by layer by the magicians, with ice and fire and blades of wind and bombs of air. They regrew with all of nature¡¯s wrath. ¡°Better a witch than a traitor.¡± Elassa replied as she wiped her hands on her dress and readjusted her posture. Both arms were raised at Iniri as storm clouds roared overhead once again. ¡°Allasaria¡¯s DOG! NOTHING MORE! NOTHING LESS!¡± Iniri screamed out again. ¡°FORTIA WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU!¡± ¡°About me?¡± Elassa¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t even a shout but it reached the ears of everyone, from the Seekers on the ground to the Divines in the air. ¡°About me sweet Iniri? Goddess of Food & Bounty? What did she say about you?¡± Iniri did not let respond. She raised her arm, the great oak twisted and the branch holding Iniri in the air split into two, then four, eight, sixteen, a hundred different tendrils that launched themselves at Elassa. Alkom stepped in between them and the Goddess of Magic. He lifted the sun in his hands above his head and then hurled it downwards. The wood flashed alight, incinerated a moment later and another roar of wind blew the ashes away. Iniri jumped backwards and fell to the ground, a single half-second later and Elassa¡¯s beam would have taken her along with the nest she stood on. Of Magic taunted again. ¡°Remind me Iniri, a Goddess of Food & Bounty replaced by fertilizer. What was it again? By actual shit?¡± Iniri slammed into a roof as blasts of lighting caught her. She let out a half-scream, half groan as leaves flourished to cushion her fall. Bronze roof tiles cut into her as branches encased her. ¡°Iniri! Iniri! Iniri! LET ME IN!¡± Kavaa¡¯s voice called out. Iniri could barely lift a hand, branches slowly groaned and twisted as Inri saw Kavaa¡¯s blade cut through the wood. Of Health laid her hands on Iniri and Iniri started to scream. Her body started to move faster, her heartbeat quickened, her bones reformed, blood spurted out of the cut in her stomach as fresh blood pushed it out. Her muscles stitched themselves together, each strand on fire as if a thousand needle were retying into one again. Her vision went black, a slap woke her back up. ¡°Stand Iniri.¡± Kavaa lifted pulled Iniri up and forced her out of the ruin. The Clerics were there, their armour beaten but their skins untouched. Some had holes in their plating where they had been stabbed, the flesh underneath looked untouched. They formed a shield wall around the two Goddesses as Elassa, Zerus, Sceo and Alkom slowly descended to them. In silver and golden armours, Zerus with lightning crawling out of his eyes, Alkom with his sun floating behind him, Sceo next to her husband, her hair twirling as if in a breeze and not the storm that engulfed Olympiada. ¡°Iniri, Kavaa.¡± Elassa said, she was still, untouched entirely by the elements. ¡°This has been fun. Allasaria will be unhappy she missed it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t look down on me!¡± Iniri shouted, but the strength in her voice was gone. She fell to her knees as the oak sprouting from the ground once again started to twist. ¡°Don¡¯t fool yourself into thinking you can defeat us.¡± Elassa said. ¡°It is four against one.¡± She did not even look at Kavaa as she said that. ¡°I am the Goddess of Nature.¡± Iniri croaked. The oak moved, its roots shooting out of the ground, its branches crashing down again. A flurry of razor-sharp leaves spewed from it towards the four in the air. Alkom and Sceo took the leaves, half were blown away by hurricane winds, the other half incinerated. Elassa took the oak itself. She raised her hands again, a staff materialized in her hands and she swung it like a scythe. A blast of blue magic took off the rooftops and split the tree at the base. It stopped moving and slowly started to fall, Of Magic turned back to the two Goddesses on the ground. ¡°You are a Goddess abandoned. We gave you a title because we felt sorry for you Iniri.¡± ¡°No¡­¡± Iniri¡¯s exhaustion finally started to catch up with her. ¡°Of Nature is no longer needed in this world, Of Food & Bounty.¡± Elassa laughed. ¡°It was more humane to leave you as a Goddess of Agriculture than forget you.¡± ¡°No¡­¡± Iniri collapsed onto her hands and knees. Kavaa took a step forwards, sword and shield drawn. ¡°Don¡¯t humiliate yourself Kavaa. You are nothing.¡± Elassa said. ¡°Signal for your men to retreat, or I will kill every single one of you.¡± ¡°I will not stand for this.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°If you want to kill her, you will kill me.¡± ¡°I will kill neither of you, Allasaria will not allow it.¡± Elassa bit back. ¡°She will decide your fate, I will merely hold you for her.¡± ¡°Then you will have to defeat me.¡± Elassa looked to Zerus. The old God shook his head, his beard rolling from side to side as he floated further down, just out of reach of the Cleric¡¯s spears. ¡°Kavaa, I am sorry for what I will do but you have broken a thousand-year peace.¡± Kavaa spat on the ground and stamped the spot with her boot. ¡°I SPIT ON YOUR PEACE!¡± Zerus nodded sadly, raised his hands as thunder and lightning crashed overheard. Sparks of electricity burst from his eyes again. Kavaa pulled every strain of hidden power she had in a bid to withstand the magic. She raised her shield and met Zerus¡¯ gaze. Elassa merely crossed her arms and shook her head. ¡°Get on wit-¡° Elassa never finished her words. A sword sprouted from her chest, a black blade, a massive edge of steel. A blade with a name: Joyeuse. Zerus raised his arms as Iniri looked back up, beasts of lightning danced along his fingers as Iniri¡¯s hairs stood up. Lightning was coming¡­ A force Iniri had never matched with. And then the lightning never came. For all the thunder in the clouds overhead, it was Zerus who fell. A figure in spiked black armour, tall enough to match him slammed into his back. A fist hit spine, the God shouted in pain. The figure twisted, kicked off Zerus in mid air and towards Kavaa as Sceo rushed to catch her husband. Kassandora landed before Kavaa and Iniri. The great sword disappeared from Elassa¡¯s chest and re-appeared in her hand. It slammed into the ground, cracking marble tiles under its sheer weight. And silence descended on the Pantheon again. Chapter 68 – A Pantheon Shattered ¡°Raptor-One, comms-check, over.¡± ¡°Raptor-Two, comms-check, over.¡± ¡°Seer-Central, copy both of you loud and clear. Raptor-One, Raptor-Two, you are on interception course. Do not respond. Do not respond. I repeat: Raptor-One, Raptor-Two, you are on interception course. Do not respond.¡± Kassandora swung Joyeuse from side to side as she took a step forwards. Her mind became a spiderweb of decisions and choices. Each move with its dozens of outcomes as her eyes scanned the sight of a shattered Olympiada. Iniri¡¯s felled great oak had cascaded onto two palaces. Alkom was still in the air, Zerus was recovering from the hit but Elassa was being shielded by her mages. That blade throw was the best decision, taking the Goddess of Magic out of the fight had removed the queen in this game. ¡°Kavaa.¡± Kassandora said slowly, she knew Of Health would hear her. ¡°I need your men.¡± ¡°They will follow.¡± Kavaa responded immediately. ¡°They know.¡± Kassandora swung her sword through the air once again, simply to feel the sensation. Freedom had been joyful but this battle? Each breath she took was a gulp of pure euphoria. This was her demesne. Kassandora raised her sword and let her power spill into the Clerics around her. Of Health¡¯s blessing was one of individual resilience, but Of War¡¯s? War fuelled War. Kassandora saw through the Cleric¡¯s eyes, heard through their ears, she heard their subconscious. Their fears of defeat and of marching against the Pantheon, their dreams of being of wiping away disease, their worry of simply being pawns in a game of Divines. She pushed them away, no word was said, but phalanxes began to form. Clerics moved to secure doors, they pushed into the Seekers that were still at the doors of the Lower Prison, they grabbed Helenna by the arm and pulled her out of the fray. War fuelled War. Their strength was shared with Kassandora. Joyeuse, bane of kings, her greatsword, became the weight of a mere dagger, her armour grew lighter, her movements fasters. She silently gave decisions as Sceo rushed Zerus into the air and Alkom, God of the Sun, stared down at her. ¡°We have defeated you once Kassandora. It will be done again.¡± ¡°I will be defeated when I¡¯m dead.¡± Kassandora said and the Clerics echoed her. ¡°To the death!¡± Kavaa looked around, her eyes wide as her men started to push her back towards the entrance of Olympiada. Staying here would be a mistake. Allasaria could return within hours, Fortia and Maisara likewise, they were the true forces to fight against. These Gods of Forces? What was something as petty as the Sun against War? War raged day and night until eternity, the Sun was so lazy it needed to rest half the time. Kassandora crouched, her legs tightened, and she cracked the marble stones with a jump. Alkom was like Neneria, a pocket-army, not a fighter in his own right. He had to eliminated to protect her army of Clerics. Zerus turned in the air pulling away from his wife and flicked his fingers. A second later and Alkom would have been split in two, instead, two forks of lightning blasted down from the dark clouds overhead and slammed into Kassandora. Lightning caught her helmet, raced through her body, frying her muscles and slamming into the ground. ¡°Kavaa!¡± Kassandora called out as she thought to maintain her conscious. Her arms broke as she slammed into the ground but the Goddess of Health was upon her as Alkom retreated into the air. ¡°NOW! DO IT!¡± Kavaa slid her fingers under Kassandora¡¯s black helmet and around her neck. Of War held her breath, bit her tongue and felt the fires of healing try to incinerate her sanity once again. Blood burst from her mouth, bones rearranged themselves, a thousand knives clipped her muscles and then pulled them together. Kassandora got to her knee through a heavy breath. The pain of Zerus¡¯ lightning was nothing compared to that. Of War scanned the battlefield again. Alkom held a growing ball of fire above his hands, now the size of a barn, Zerus and Sceo were below him. Elassa was enclosed in a protective bubble as a dozen mages circled around her. The Goddess of Magic clutched at the bleeding wound in her stomach, blood soaked her dress, dripped off her feet and made a small puddle of red in the bottom of the bubble. She was out for now¡­ Kassandora¡¯s Joyeuse pirouetted around her like a ballet dancer, Alkom had to be stopped, but he was untouchable as long as Zerus was around. That was a rather easy fix. She swung the greatsword, it danced through her fingers, twisted it, spun, her core muscles tightened and she sent the sword flying at Sceo. Time seemed to slow as Zerus¡¯ eyes widened. ¡°Iniri, accept me!¡± Kassandora shouted, she felt the gates to Iniri¡¯s mind open and pulled on the Goddess¡¯ power. Wooden spears rose around Kassandora as Of War adopted a throwing stance. A wooden branch grew into her hand and she launched it at Zerus. Another one. A third. Fourth.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Zerus moved like lightning, one instant, he was on the other side of Alkom to Sceo, the next, he was in front of his wife. Sweat burst out of his angered face, he held his arms forwards and called upon the clouds once again with a thunderous roar. The skies above answered his cries as a rain of lightning came upon the spinning greatsword heading towards his wife. One, two, three. They did little to change the blade¡¯s trajectory but the speed faltered, the whir faltered and he caught the blade, they split his hands and stopped at the wrist. Kassandora allowed herself a smile as she reached forwards to recall her greatsword. The God of Lightning let out a lion¡¯s roar, clouds rumbled overhead and then they faltered. Wooden stakes dived into his chest. His front became a porcupine as a dozen spikes crashed into him. Kassandora threw one after another. Sceo caught her husband, swept her hands through the air and a gust of wind threw the rest of the spears away from them. She wrapped her arms around Zerus and pulled back further beyond even Elassa. And now Alkom. God of the Sun. Tall and thin, Bringer of Day, Bearer of the World¡¯s Hearth. The fire above him grew to the size of a palace and he finally spoke. ¡°Kassandora, today you die.¡± He groaned, his jaw tightened, sweat poured from like a shower, as he heaved and pulled the sun down on the courtyard. ¡°Kavaa!¡± Kassandora shouted, Joyeuse back in her hands. The armour on her back disappeared revealing her pale skin. ¡°Strengthen me!¡± She felt Of Health¡¯s hands on her back, the terrible magic of healing pour into her, her muscles tore once again, her chest crushed itself as every fibre of her being twisted and rewound into a stronger, faster, better version. Kassandora called on Iniri¡¯s magic, an oak raised out of the ground, pushed them above the Clerics as they raised shields to try and guard from the terrible heat of a star. Kassandora swung Joyeuse into the Sun. The blade effortlessly passed through the flames, a trail of fire following it. She let go of the sword, it embedded itself deep in marble as Of War put her hands up. Alkom¡¯s fury and rage pressed down on her, the oak set alight, Kavaa cold hands pushed into her back as her armour start to melt. Black drops of steel fell onto the ground below them as the Clerics carried Iniri and Helenna off. Kassandora¡¯s skin turned black, her fingers cracked, her blood evaporated still within her body, her wrists burst from the inside, her bones charred, turned to ash, blew away in the wind. Blood burst from her nose, her vision started to go dark and Kassandora screamed. ¡°OUTHEAL HIM!¡± The Sun burned with fury of a thousand stars above, Kavaa¡¯s healing burned with the power of Life itself. Kassandora¡¯s bones regrew, turned to ash, regrew again. Her hands reformed in that heat, her vision went away entirely, her senses grew dull with the raging flames above her, fires cracked her armour, it molten metal seared her skin, nothing but heat and Kavaa¡¯s healing remained. Elassa clutched at her chest, her eyes widened, through the blue haze of the shield around them, she saw the impossible. Kassandora, Glorious Goddess of War, submerged in flames, roared and stalled a star. Kavaa took her breathes as her head started to spin. Never had she expended this much power in a single healing, never had she thought it was possible for one person to take. Willpower would eventually give out, minds would crack, bodies would reject healing after being put through so much. A state like that once reached would be a death without wounds, as if Death itself had simply come and claimed the soul, leaving an empty barren husk. Kassandora held a star above her head as Kavaa poured more of her power into her. The woman had become a shield for the army below them, holding up the sun as her Clerics retreated. And then, she felt her powers cool down. Where before Kassandora was beckoning a flood, now it was a mere torrent, then a river, a stream. The sun above them started to shrink, Alkom moved away, wobbling in the air as if about to faint. Kassandora roared a bestial growl gave one final push as the ball of fire started to crack, the tendrils of flame it spat became loose, the heat above Kavaa lessened, it started to shrink. The sun in Olympiada¡¯s courtyard burned out. Gone just like that. Steam rose out of the dead, from the ashes that once composed Iniri¡¯s great oak. From the molten marble itself. The oak below them gave way and Kavaa caught Kassandora in her arms as she landed on the ground. Above them, Sceo was in tears, Zerus was barely holding onto her, Alkom had grown pale and Elassa had a gaping hole through her stomach. ¡°Do-Don¡¯t!¡± Kavaa tried to stop Kassandora, but Of War, still stood. She rocked from side to side. ¡°This was a warning!¡± Kassandora shouted. Joyeuse appeared in her hands as her helmet disappeared to reveal a burned face. ¡°These three are under MY protection!¡± Kassandora took a step forward and smashed her greatsword in between Kavaa and the Divines in the air. Seekers from the other districts took a step back, then fled. ¡°Kass.¡± Kavaa put her hands on the woman as Clerics came rushing back into the courtyard. Their armour started to singe in the heat, cloaks set alight, but they still stood. ¡°We¡¯ve won.¡± Kassandora turned, her eyes red with bloodlust. Her face black, muscle and teeth exposed across her face but it still twisted into bestial anger. ¡°We¡¯ll win when they¡¯re all dead!¡± And then Kassandora fainted. Kavaa caught her before she fell, the Clerics formed a battle line, but there was no more fight to be had. Three of the four Divines in the air had been incapacitated. Iniri had begun to recover, Helenna was still unhurt, Kavaa was fatigued, but she could still fight. They turned their backs to the Gods in the air, and Kavaa carried Kassandora off the Divine Mountain. Chapter 69 – Operation Misfortune ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll succeed?¡± Iliyal asked Arascus. The God took a while to respond. ¡°With Luck.¡± Above the frozen wasteland of Artica, a desert of ice that was flat and stretched into the horizon no matter which direction one turned in, flew five intruders. Five oversized jets, white and striped with gold made their slow journey from Olympiada to Olephia¡¯s Prison, flying in a V. They painted a clear white line behind them, as if an artist was dragging his paintbrush across a blue canvas. Five fat seagulls, gently gliding through the air. And behind them, chased two birds of prey. ¡°Raptor-One, this is Raptor-Two, I have visual.¡± Edmonton listened through earpiece in his ear. He stood in the holds of Raptor-One. Arascus had sent him off with a team of men, although they weren¡¯t here for much other than moral support. They were all dressed in thick coats, lined with fur. The dark goggles on his face dulled the blinking lights in the plane¡¯s compartments, but looking through the windows, he would not take them off. The ground below was a blinding white sheet of paper that reflected sunlight too brilliantly. He rubbed his hands together, eager to put some gloves on and clicked the earpiece to monitor the chatter. ¡°Copy you Raptor-Two, same here.¡± His pilot repeated. The voice of Seer-Central came on. Edmonton was sure he had heard it in headquarters, but the poor connection quality distorted the accent to little more than a robot¡¯s speech. ¡°Raptors cut the chatter. The Pelican is a half-hour behind you. Close the distance.¡± Seer-Central took a heavy breath. ¡°Sorcerers, you¡¯re free to engage. Make it count.¡± Edmonton grabbed a steel bar as the plane jerked. It twisted sideways and began to descend. Allasaria sat with Leona in a plane too cramped for her. Leona had no issue of course, neither did the minor Divines Allasaria had called on to act as a shield for them, but she herself was just too tall to sit comfortably. She slouched in the seat, better this undignified posture than craning her neck for the twelve-hour flight. The plane wasn¡¯t even uncomfortable. With leather seats and carpeted floors and a cabinet for drinks, but it still made Allasaria anxious. She had never liked flying in vehicles when she could fly herself, but jets were undeniably faster and they undeniably did not get tired. In the past, she would have carried Leona on her arms and the trip from Olympiada to Artica took a week. Now, it took a half day of slouching. Leona looked around nervously, she touched the temples on her head and wiped sweat off the brow. She had been like this ever since they stepped on the plane back at Olympiada¡¯s skyport, if she were a mortal, Allasaria would have thought her to be ill. ¡°Allasaria¡­¡± The pilot¡¯s voice broke the monotonous silence and Allasaria immediately sat up, she craned her neck forwards and pulled herself out of the seat. In the back, the seven Gods on this plane had sat up too. They were only minor inventions, but inventions were better than mortals. ¡°We¡­ ugh¡­ we have a situation.¡± Allasaria only shouted a response, she was sure the pilot would hear her. ¡°What?!¡± ¡°We are being pursued, look through the windows.¡± Fleur stepped to the side door of Raptor-Two¡¯s cargo hold, heavy coat around her. Mikhail had come to before Operation Misfortune started and said that the planes were barebones, little more than tubes with jets attached to them, but she had expected heating. Lights at least! Instead it was a series of tiny blinking red lamps, and they were there to merely indicate that the plane was turned on. Why even have such a feature? She could look outside the window for that! ¡°Sorceress. Final checks.¡± The man at her side said. Fleur shook her head and did the final checks. Mufflers, on, hat, on, oxygen mask, working, goggles, on, parachute, on her back, coat, buttoned-up, shoelaces, tied. Done. He opened his mouth to say something else, saw Fleur¡¯s angry eyes and decided against it. Smart choice. The pilot¡¯s voice came over, through the earpieces in her mufflers. ¡°Raptor-Two team, hold on, beginning descent in three, two, one.¡± Fleur grabbed one of the steel bars interspersed throughout the hold as the plane turned. It was a steep and fast descent. More like a giant had merely flicked the plane into a tumble rather than it being guided by a pilot. ¡°We¡¯re in firing range, they¡¯re below us. Open doors.¡± Two of the men turned the heavy red wheel on the door, Fleur gave a final tug to the cable going from her belt to the ceiling, gave them a thumbs-up and stepped forwards. Were it not for that cable, the wind would have instantly ripped her away from the plane, instead it only tugged and tried to crush her chest. Fleur flailed in the air, held onto the bar and regained her footing. Fresh oxygen started to flow in her mask, it almost made her lightheaded, almost. The pilot¡¯s voice came on again. ¡°Raptor-One is in position, doors open, Seer-Central has given permission to fire. Sorceress, it¡¯s all on you now.¡± Allasaria pushed her face into a window as Leona screamed out and fell to the floor. There was a plane above them. One Allasaria had never seen before, triangular, with the entire wing fixed into the body. Huge too, with jets in the wings and two more on its back. It was more akin to a rocket used to launch satellites than anything to transport men. It was painted black, apart from a yellow beak and red eyes above the pilot¡¯s cabin.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Allasaria narrowed her eyes and then she felt her breath stop. One of the plane¡¯s doors was open. There was a person standing there, obscured by thick winter clothes, with a cable struggling to hold them in the wind. The person raised their arms and Allasaria¡¯s instincts kicked in. ¡°DIVE!¡± She shouted and turned to grab Leona. A bubble of light shielded them, she felt her own plane jerk downwards and looked through the window with Leona in her arms. A force Allasaria had not seen in nine hundred years came out of that person. A force that ripped through the plane next to them and sent it crashing towards the snow and ice below in a ball of flame. Sorcery. Edmonton moved his fingers as ice started to form on them. Thirty seconds he had been told before frostbite would kick in. Thirty seconds was more than enough. He pressed them forwards, concentrated just like during Arascus¡¯ training and channelled sorcery. It came easily so easily he may as well have been riding a bike. Two months of training and he had surpassed whatever magical prowess he held before. There was no charge time, no accelerating flow of power, no need to condense water from the air. One instant, his hands were bare, the next, red sorcery was pouring out of them in a beam. He felt sweat appear on his brow and his arms grow weak and he stalled the flow. It was enough anyway. The red beam had cut through the wing of the closest plane like a knife through butter. Fuel leaked out, caught fire, the body of the plane exploded, its trajectory faltered and it fell to the ground in a ball of fire. The white trail of condensed air it was leaving was replaced with black plumes of terrible smoke. Edmonton took a breath and looked up at Raptor-Two. Fleur was there, looking at him, her own kill falling to the ground below her. Two out of five done. Edmonton was disappointed, he wanted to best to her, he knew she wanted to best him, and he knew that she thought the same. The plane in the middle, the one they had settled on privately for first-come first-serve, began a dive. The pilot¡¯s shout came on in his earpiece. ¡°Get that one be-¡° His voice cut out as Edmonton and Fleur both fired upon it. Each got a wing, and the plane became a spear that fell towards the ground. Edmonton felt his fingers again and aimed at next plane. He wanted to get his gloves on. It was cold. ¡°Seer-Central, this is Raptor-One reporting. Five birds are down. I repeat, Five birds are down, no casualties on our side. Mission succeeded.¡± ¡°Roger that Raptor-One. Pelican is moving in.¡± Allasaria did not scream, she had lived too long to be panicked at this point. Her body moved on instinct, one arm held Leona, the other spun, cast beams of light, caught the plane and stalled its fall. It was an impossibility for her to stop the plane from crashing into the ground but maybe she could slow it down enough for them not to be crushed in the wreckage. With Leona here, it was a chance she was willing to take. The other Gods braced for a crashlanding as Allasaria cast shield after shield. The pilot¡­ He was too far away, the seven behind her were more valuable than the one in the front. A world of white engulfed them. An impenetrable shell as Leona cried into Allasaria¡¯s white dress. They would not die in this plane crash, it was humiliating. The Goddess of Light and the Goddess of Luck? In a plane crash? It simply did not befit them. Metal screeched as the plane impacted against the snow. Allasaria had steeled and prepared herself for the crash, she and Leona were not rocked in the slightest, the Gods behind her weren¡¯t so lucky though. They crashed forwards in a series of cries and screams. Allasaria opened her eyes and saw them, scratches and bumps, but they were all alive. ¡°Control yourselves!¡± Allasaria shouted and they began to settle down. Allasaria waved her hand, the shell of white expanded around them, pushed the wreckage of the plane away and then disappeared. The four other planes had crashed around them. The two black ones that had hunted them down were already in the distance, making slow arcing turns. Were they going to go for a pass on them? Impossible. The seven Gods behind Allasaria grew silent as Leona threw up on the ground. ¡°Leave Allasaria!¡± Leona shouted. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Leave! You! LEAVE!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not leaving you here!¡± Leona shook her head and fell over onto the ground. Allasaria would not leave the woman, no matter what happened, but with two enemy planes in the air¡­ Allasaria tried to think of reasoning. Sorcery meant Anassa. Anassa was not free though. Elassa had seen her sister only recently, it would take weeks to train to that level. Months realistically. How did¡­ Allasaria shook her head and made a silent decision. Anassa had only survived because Elassa had a soft heart a thousand years ago. If she still wanted to keep the woman around, then it would be in the Lower Prison and not in Arcadia. If she refused, then Anassa would die. It was that simple. But Anassa was not the issue now. Olephia was. A free Anassa was a headache, a free Olephia was a threat. Not to the world in particular, but to the Gods of the Pantheon. Allasaria thanked herself that she always came two months early for Olephia. Planes could be called from there. The two planes circled around them stayed far away. So they did not want to engage. Allasaria turned and looked behind herself. In the distance, a third plane was approaching them. ¡°Seer-Central, Seer-Central, this is Pelican.¡± ¡°Copy Pelican, what¡¯s the issue?¡± ¡°We¡¯re nearing the crash-site. The cargo wants to jump.¡± ¡°¡­¡­. Copy that Pelican ¡­¡­. Are you sure?¡± ¡°I am positive Seer-Central, it¡¯s the¡­¡± ¡°Pelican?¡± ¡°You know, the cargo with yellow hair. Just refuses to.¡± ¡°And the other?¡± ¡°Has absolutely no opinion on it.¡± ¡°¡­.. I see Pelican.¡± ¡°Should I let them?¡± ¡°¡­.. Permission received from Headquarters. Let them jump then circle around and land to pick them up.¡± ¡°Copy Seer-Central. Will do.¡± Allasaria squinted as the plane passed above them, it started to dive sharply, then smoothed its flight into maintaining steady altitude close to the ground. A cloud of snow pushed up by its jets obscured the plane, very smooth. A fog for hiding, very smart. Too bad Allasaria had seen it already. Two silhouettes had jumped out of that plane just before the snow obscured it. Two very tall silhouettes. Chapter 70 – The Dead Legion ¡°Seer-Central, Seer-Central. This is Pelican. Cargo has been dropped. I repeat. Cargo has been dropped.¡± Fer fell through the air with Neneria behind her. It wasn¡¯t a long fall, and there wasn¡¯t a beast out there that did not enjoy jumping snow. Fer held out arms wide, legs spread, and screamed and she fell through the air. The plane pulled up, its jet blasted up a cloud of snow around them and Fer disappeared under surface of the white ocean that covered Artica. The Goddess of Beasthood clambered out of her hole as she watched her sister float down. Ghosts of fairies held the edges of her thick coat, they made beds for her wintry boots and floated beat the fog of snow away from her. Neneria always liked to make entrances like that. Fer shook the snow off her own coat and patted it down. If Arascus had not ordered her to, she would have just worn beastskin again. Now though, with her breath misting as soon as it left her nose, she was glad she had listened to him. The coat and heavy boots was all he had managed to force on her, gloves weren¡¯t needed, scarves were for puny humans, hats likewise. Her mane of golden her served as a replacement for the latter two anyway. Neneria of course to everything he had. Thick woollen gloves, an either thicker scarf, her coat was buttoned down, the only thing she had not taken was the hat and goggles. The fairies dropped her down, disappeared and she took a light step on the snow. ¡°You were right it would be faster.¡± Fer started to button up her own coat. The eastern tundra was cold, but it was not Artica. Things at least lived in the tundra, here, birds even migrating birds would avoid. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re cold.¡± Neneria cooed as she looked around. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Fer buttoned her coat up to her neck and put her hands into the large pockets. Maybe the gloves had been a good idea. ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± Neneria replied as she started to survey the snowy dunes around them. Gentle rolling hills that slowly crawled to giant heights, recurved every year as the winter storms came in. ¡°Should I find them or you?¡± Fer lifted her and smelled the air. It was fresh here, lifeless, she could pick out specific spells in forests and jungles, here? The smell of burning fuel two miles west of them was a lighthouse calling out in all directions. ¡°That way.¡± Fer pointed straight at the planes that had just been shot down. ¡°Over that hill, not far.¡± ¡°You are fast.¡± Neneria said as Pegaz appeared underneath her. The ghostly horse, wings followed, clambered out of the snow and started to trot in the air. Fer guided her sister, making sure to weight every two dozen stops for the lazy animal to keep up. ¡°You are slow.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not in a hurry, are we?¡± ¡°LEAVE ALLASARIA! LEAVE! NOW! GO! RUN!¡± Leona screamed on the ground as she curled into a ball, clutching at her head. ¡°LEAVE ALLA! PLEASE!¡± ¡°I am not leaving you here.¡± Allasaria replied coldly. The seven surviving Gods from her plane where being joined by nineteen from the other planes. There was something in her that made her furious at that. A Divine killed in a plane crash? What sort of ignoble death was that? Each would glance at Lady Luck on the ground, then at Allasaria and pretend they saw nothing. Leona vomited, wiped her mouth, and got up on shaky feet. She took a step forwards and would have collapsed if Allasaria did not serve as a pillar for her to lean on. ¡°Allasaria.¡± She said quietly, eyes closed, blonde hair out place, cheeks flushed and breathing heavy. ¡°I have seen every way this works out just now.¡± ¡°Have you?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°I will be dead in twenty minutes. If you stay here, you will die with me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not going to happen.¡± ¡°But it is. It is.¡± Leona collapsed on Allasaria. Of Light turned to the small crowd. Morale had not dived off the cliff yet, but it was being held on by nothing but a blade of grass. They needed something to do to take their mind off the situation at hand. ¡°Secure the area!¡± Allasaria shouted. ¡°Call Artica for pickup! Call Olympiada for reinforcements! We will NOT die here. I will NOT allow it!¡± They got to work. ¡°Can you see them?¡± Fer asked as her and Neneria lay just before the massive snow-dune¡¯s summit. They were two black snakes that had crawled their way for the while fifty feet. ¡°Brilliantly.¡± Neneria whispered back angrily as she squinted her eyes. ¡°Really?!¡± Fer exclaimed. ¡°Of course I can¡¯t! Who do you think I am?¡± Neneria shouted back. Fer rolled her golden eyes and tutted. ¡°Don¡¯t tut at me! Who¡¯s who?¡± ¡°You really can¡¯t see?¡± Fer asked again.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°All I see is people moving about!¡± Fer pointed forwards at the moving Divines. They had conglomerated around one still-flaming plane carcass, fifteen secured an outer ring, seven more made up a second line. In the centre stood Allasaria in a pristine dress of white and gold. She was obviously very angry today. Leona lay next to her, wrapped in a large coat as Of Light furiously trotted about, leaving trails in the snow. Fer explained about as much. ¡°Was that so hard to explain?¡± Neneria replied when she finished. ¡°I thought you were a Divine sister, you don¡¯t like it when I undershoot your abilities.¡± Fer tried to accommodate of Death¡¯s mood. ¡°Don¡¯t speak to me like I¡¯m a child Fer.¡± ¡°I would never.¡± Fer buried her face in the snow to hide her smile. ¡°So let¡¯s get to work then?¡± Neneria said. ¡°Let¡¯s get to work.¡± Allasaria stopped mid-strike as she turned her head. She felt her hands drop, saw several of the Gods take a step back and finally understood what Leona meant. Two figures in black coats blemished the white snow and the clear blue sky above them and behind them, ghastly green, was a banner. A banner that did not move in the wind, with a headless horseman proudly raising a sword over his torso. A banner Allasaria knew all too well. The Banner of Neneria¡¯s Dead Legion. Fer turned as the Ghost of Atis stepped forwards. His chest was pincushioned with bullet holes, just as had happened when he died. Bow in his hands, arrow already notched. Behind them, Neneria¡¯s Legion assembled. Her dead chevaliers, as they served a thousand years prior, so they served now. One by one they flooded down the hill, each man appearing in the space of a blink. Neneria took a heavy breath as she grabbed Fer¡¯s shoulder, tried to at least. Fer caught her sister by the arm before she fell. Of Beasthood did not comment, there was no need to say anything, this power she could not match if she lived for another ten millennia more. The legion grew from a hundred to a thousand, to ten thousand, it doubled and doubled again as Neneria called upon her favoured soldiers. Each man in ancient plate and on a ghastly horse. They carried the wounds that had felled them, some without heads, some without heads, others pierced, a few diseases and ailing. A battalion of knights in black armour stood closest, all with a wound almost identical. A stab through the chest, they had offered their own lives to serve as Neneria¡¯s guards during the Great War. Neneria pushed off Fer when the hill was flooded entirely. Giant and elf, dwarf and man. From peasants to lords, knights to serfs, naked or armoured, with or without weaponry, Death claimed all; and when Death called for service, service was given. ¡°Legion!¡± Neneria called out. ¡°Kill Leona!¡± And the Legion moved. ¡°Do you see that?¡± One of the inventions asked Allasaria. The Goddess of Light did not respond, of course she see it. A mass of sickly pale green cresting the summit. Cavalry and giant and man and elf, every warrior that had ever been unlucky enough to not pass on through to the next world before Neneria caught them. Fer watched the Legion pour over the summit. They passed by her and Neneria without a word as ancient cavalry started a charge. Half-way down, they lowered their lances as they rode in utter silence. Beams of light burst from Allasaria, hundreds of ghosts disappeared and passed on into the next world. Steam rose from where her light touched snow and the snow melted as hot water tumbled into the depths of Artica below them. Allasaria stayed close to Leona as she slew a hundred with a swing of her arms. Then another hundred, again and again. The Gods circled close around her as they tried to work their own magics. Metal from the plane disfigured and screamed as it was launched forwards, burning fuel was catapulted into the air, cracks formed around the ground. Any living army would have long turned and fled as self-preservation kicked in. But these men were not living beings, they existed as nothing but puppets on Neneria¡¯s strings. Slowly, the Legion enveloped the crash-site. Allasaria was a lion; pour an ocean of ants onto a lion and they would leave nothing but bones. Atis¡¯ ghost silently drew his bow next to Neneria, he took aim and fired. One of the living Gods fell, an arrow golden even among its etherealness stuck out of his. Allasaria stopped. She turned to Leona. In the silent battle, Fer heard it all. She heard Leona scream. She heard Allasaria haul her up, she heard the push as Leona forced herself out of Allasaria¡¯s arms, she heard Lady Luck¡¯s final words. ¡°If you escape now, you will survive. If you stay or take me, you will die.¡± Fer heard Allasaria¡¯s tears, she smelled her sadness. ¡°Go Allasaria, go. I have two minutes left. GO!¡± Atis readied another arrow. ¡°GO! ATIS WILL SHOOT YOU DOWN IF YOU¡¯RE WITH ME!¡± ¡°I cannot¡­¡± ¡°They are after me! Not you!¡± ¡°Leona¡­¡± Fer saw Leona pushed Allasaria away. ¡°THEY ARE AFTER ME!¡± Fer¡¯s ears quivered and she grabbed Neneria again. ¡°Tell your forces to kill them all. Not just Leona.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± Neneria asked. Always so argumentative. Fer doused the spike of rage and tightened her fists. ¡°NOW! ALLASARIA! NOW! GO! GO!¡± Allasaria rose into the air as Atis drew his bow. ¡°YOU¡¯RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME! LISTEN TO ME AND GO! DO NOT DIE HERE! IT WILL BE FOR-¡° ¡°TELL THEM TO KILL ALLASARIA TOO!¡± Fer grabbed Neneria. ¡°YOU SAID IT WRONG! KILL ALLASARIA! NOW! SHE WILL ESCAPE!¡± Neneria let out a heavy breath and shook her head. She rolled those dark eyes of eyes for what felt like eternity. ¡°And after Leona, kill Allasaria.¡± She had to force the words out. Fer glared at her. ¡°NO!¡± Of Beasthood shouted. Atis loosed arrow. Fer turned, watched it fly. The mile flight took less than a second, it was too slow. Allasaria rose into the air like a hummingbird. Leona coughed, bent over, and the arrow flew over her head. Fer saw Allasaria turn pale as her golden eyes widened at Atis¡¯ arrow burying itself into the hull of the airplane behind and then disappear. ¡°ALLASARIA FIRST NENERIA! ALLASARIA FIRST! SHE¡¯S MORE DANGEROUS! FIRST!¡± ¡°Kill Allasaria first then.¡± Neneria said, she stretched the words out. Fer saw the Leona looking straight at them. Of Luck stood up straight, spittle hanging from her mouth, she smiled and locked eyes with Fer. Leona slowly shook her head and Allasaria howled from above as she turned to make her escape. A shield appeared around her as Atis drew his bow, then he let his aim fall. ¡°Too far.¡± He said slowly. ¡°Just Leona then.¡± Neneria replied, then blinked. ¡°Why? It¡¯s like¡­¡± She looked down at herself and then and moved her fingers before looking at Fer ¡°Did you just get tired?¡± Fer angrily roared at Leona as ghosts swallowed Lady Luck. And so, Lady Luck¡¯s luck finally ran out. End of Arc 2 ¨C Lady Luck¡¯s Final Draw Chapter 71 – A Vow For War Olephia walked along her path. She walked and walked and walked. Past the castle again, then through the forest, then through the desert, then the ravine. She knew this land well, she had walked through an uncountable number of times already. It never changed. Then came the fields of sheep. They looked so soft and fluffy. Olephia wanted to hug them, to pick one up and roll around with it in her arms, but she passed them by still. The land changed to the lakes with the mountain backdrops. She had never been up those mountains, although she always wanted to. The path never led to the summits, it would always stay near the crystal-clear water. Why did she not step into the water? Olephia took another step. Her feet hurt. She wanted to sit down. Why did she not step off the path? She did not know. She simply kept walking. Next time, she would go and hug one of the sheep. That would be fine, wouldn¡¯t it? Just a quick hug and a rest. - Olephia¡¯s Divine Dream, Present Day, Present Time. Kassandora woke up in some bed. She scanned the room here. It was a tent. A large tent, rugged, with signs of holes that had been stitched together. The air here was hot and humid, she wasn¡¯t in Epa then. Of War closed her eyes and remembered the battle, the sun above her, the heat and healing that had brought her to the precipice of madness. She touched her face, her skin was smooth. Healed then, Kavaa must have done it. Kassandora sighed and sat up. The tent was empty apart from her bed in the corner. She reached out her hand and Joyeuse appeared in mid-air. It crashed into the bare ground and buried itself half way in the dirt. Well she wasn¡¯t dead then, and this wasn¡¯t a dream either. In dreams, the blade was always lighter than in reality. She ran her hands over her body, someone had taken her clothes off. Kavaa most likely. There was clothes prepared on the ground for her. A simple white shirt, the stitching was well done but the material left a lot to hope for. A skirt below it, a simple thing with a string to tighten it to stop it from falling down. Sandals were provided too, simple things, a bed of wood lined with leather and some straps nailed onto it. Kassandora dressed herself quickly as she watched the sliver of light coming from the opening of the tent. No one came in. Whoever had made the clothes obviously made them quickly but they could at least have given her underwear. Of War had never thought of herself as modest, but she wasn¡¯t like Fer who could flourish in nakedness. Measurements had obviously not been done either, the shirt would have been too large for Arascus, on her, it hung like a skirt for the skirt. Kassandora thought of donning her armour instead, but it was hot and the metal would heat up. In the Great War, she had always worn thin clothes underneath to stop the various sharp edges from nibbling her. Eventually, Kassandora simply decided not to worry about it. She was sure this wasn¡¯t a prison and from outside, she could hear men shout, laugh, sing, argue and give orders. The sounds had all the hallmarks of being a military camp. She stepped out of the tent and into the sun light. The humidity of the tent was exchanged for an increase in temperature. The light breeze did little to fight against the red Sun overhead. There wasn¡¯t a cloud in sight, the ground was red, tents spread out to block all view although beyond them, to the North, a cliff-face of jungle trees suddenly cropped up. Banners of Kavaa¡¯s various Orders were hung up above them, men walked around in beige shorts and loose unbuttoned shirts, they sat around on foldable stools, some were carrying logs in teams, others were sharpening blades, an armoury was about were armour was being fashioned. Kassandora felt the wind brush her red hair and looked to the men who were stood by her tent. Scarred and once again in loose clothes, but one with a halberd and the other a spear. They turned and bowed when Kassandora stepped out. ¡°How long have I been out?¡± ¡°Two days.¡± The man carrying a halberd responded. His accent was thick, stretching out the vowels in each word. Eastern Epan dialect. ¡°And we are where?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Central Arika, in Kirinyaa.¡± Kassandora folded her arms. Arika was a continent and Kirinyaa was a country that did not exist a millennia ago. ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± ¡°Divine Kassandora, Goddess of War.¡± ¡°And do you know when the last time I stepped in Arika was?¡± The Cleric seemed to realise what Kassandora was insinuating. ¡°Would you like a map?¡± Kassandora lowered her tone. ¡°I would. And where is Kavaa and the rest?¡± ¡°Goddess Kavaa is organising the rest of the Orders to retreat from Epa. Goddesses Helenna and Iniri are currently aiding the nearby villages.¡± The man said smoothly as he pulled out a small notebook from his pockets. He handed a pamphlet to Kassandora: All the Sights to See in Kirinyaa! Of War did not comment on the fact it was a tourist pamphlet, she had gotten information from worse before and besides, a map was on the first page. Kirinyaa was in Eastern Arika, far from Epa. It had a number of lines to famous airports, eight hours away from Aris, six from Atny. Good enough. So they were safe then. ¡°Another one is coming in!¡± The man with the spear said and pointed to the distance. A large plane painted white and bearing Kavaa¡¯s blue cross on its wings made a quick landed as it dropped from the air in a cloud of dust. Kassandora heard commotion as vehicles turned on and men rushed about. Above them, two more planes were circling, presumably waiting for permission to land. ¡°So what are you doing here?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°We volunteered to guard your tent.¡± Halberd-man responded. Kassandora raised an eyebrow. ¡°No introductions then?¡± The man blushed and struck a pristine posture, his back as straight as the weapon in his hand. ¡°Damian Sokolowski.¡± The other¡¯s was just as clean. ¡°Piotr Zalewski.¡± That only made Kassandora more intrigued. ¡°No title or Order?¡± She asked and the two men looked away. ¡°It would be better for you to discuss with Goddess Kavaa first about the situation.¡± Kassandora hated answers like that, but it was obvious the men felt silly about something rather than trying to hide information from her. ¡°We¡­¡± Damian continued. ¡°Well¡­ It¡¯s an unprecedented situation.¡± Kassandora shook her head as she tried to Kavaa. The woman was always a stealthy one, she wasn¡¯t healing now and the camp was filled with Clerical energies. If these two had volunteered to be her guards, then she should make use of them. ¡°Take me to Kavaa, take a long way around your camp.¡± They were beginning to attract a crowd. Men were coming to look at her, some knelt, some inclined their heads. There wasn¡¯t a single look of disrespect among them. Kassandora had expected a far worse greeting considering her history. Damian took the lead. ¡°At once Divine. At once!¡± He led Kassandora through the camp with Piotr besides him. It was a camp of Kavaa indeed, for every line of tents to house troops, there was another line to house the wounded and sick, for every storeroom of arms, two existed that supposedly should be filled with medicines, although supplies were dwindling. Kassandora came to a stop near the edge of the camp, where organized ranks stopped and tall triangular tents started to sprout from the red ground instead. Dark men walked around much like in Kavaa¡¯s camp. They sang and argued and drank and a few gave orders. ¡°Those are tribespeople.¡± Damian began his explanation. ¡°They bring their wounded to us and guide us in the jungles. Sometimes we fight alongside each other.¡± ¡°They guide you?¡± ¡°We have steel, they have knowledge.¡± Damian shrugged. ¡°We keep to ourselves though. Kavaa does not want to enter Kirinyaan politics. Sometimes her camps serve as negotiation spaces over disputes.¡± ¡°What disputes?¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Land and water mainly.¡± Damian kicked the dirt, a little cloud of red dust floated away from his impact. ¡°There¡¯s arable land further east near the coast but here, little grows. Rivers are rare too, streams change year on year.¡± ¡°You venture into jungles?¡± ¡°With them.¡± Damian waved to the men and a few waved back, he continued the tour. ¡°The jungles take people, we take them back, try to at least.¡± Kassandora followed along as she looked North. She remembered to a time a long past, before even the Great War. When the lands of Epa were still unclaimed, even then, the forests were thick and brutal, but here, the jungle was a wall. Forests started out thin and grew thicker, here, it was red ground, red ground, red ground and suddenly thick green. Bark wasn¡¯t even visible, every tree wore a suit of vines. And as Kassandora looked into the forest, she felt something look back at her. ¡°How often?¡± Kassandora asked as they started to head into the camp. ¡°People disappear all the time. Entire villages sometimes, we venture in about once every two weeks.¡± Damian replied. ¡°That is Kavaa¡¯s tent.¡± It was larger than most of the tents, but it wasn¡¯t any different than the storerooms. Poles had been hammered into the ground and then thick cloth had been put to make walls and a ceiling. ¡°We¡¯ll wait outside Divine.¡± Damian bowed as Kassandora stepped in. There was a short corridor of thick cloth, Kavaa would most likely have her own quarters here. Something in Kassandora was impressed. She had always hated the magnanimity of palaces. Men walked on dirt, so dirt was good enough, there was no need try and hide it with fancy flooring. Kavaa was sat on a large chair around a table, several Cleric-Captains were one, with the dark men of Arika on the other. They were pouring over a map as one of the Arikans drew his finger in a line. ¡°From here to here, this¡­¡± He looked up at Kassandora and fell silent. Then at Kavaa, the Goddess of Health smiled and waved for her to come closer. ¡°You¡¯re awake early.¡± ¡°I am.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Sokolowski has shown me around.¡± She looked to the Cleric Captains, not a single here had his shirt buttoned up, Kavaa herself was wearing a pale white short-sleeved shirt, the Arikans were shirtless. Everyone but the Goddess had some sort of visible scar on them, one Cleric had a scar along his head, one of the Arikans was missing half an ear. ¡°This.¡± Kavaa looked to the Arikans and extended an arm to Of War. ¡°Is Kassandora, the one I was talking about.¡± Kassandora narrowed her eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t agree to anything yet.¡± Kavaa answered immediately. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect gladiators to talk back.¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes and stepped forwards to the map as the mortals looked over her. A few Clerics inclined their heads with respect, a few Arikans did too. Most did not. ¡°So what is this?¡± The map was one of the region they were in, the jungle in the north and the mountains in the distance confirmed as much. Their location was marked with a dot, various villages were scattered about. ¡°The jungle is expanding.¡± One of the Arikans said, his tone suddenly became apologetic. ¡°I am Waf.¡± He looked to the man next to him and prodded him with an elbow. They gave their names. Kimani was the tallest of them, with a scar across his chest that that looked as if a claw had made it. Arusei was the one who had half his ear missing. Jebet and Eyapan. They were interesting at least, each one was obviously a warrior of sorts, scars like theirs did not come from mere play. They had their black hair cut short, Jebet had his almost bald, all with brown eyes. The Clerics then took their turn. Donovan, Mittelbach, Liam & Javier. All led their Orders, all Kassandora did not give a second look to, none of them had been at the summit in Olympiada, none of them deserved her attention. ¡°So Waf? What can I help you?¡± Kassandora asked. The man leaned over the table again, the leanness of his chest made exposed every twisting muscle. ¡°These villages have recently disappeared.¡± He took a heavy breath. ¡°The people will not most likely not be recovered but there¡¯s a pattern.¡± He drew his finger along the map. ¡°From North, then South, then East, we think it¡¯s new hunting ground for something.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°We don¡¯t.¡± Waf sighed heavily. ¡°Kavaa said you were a strategist, we want to ask for your help.¡± Kassandora¡¯s lips smiled and she looked to Kavaa. ¡°I thought Kavaa already agreed for me.¡± The Arikans shook their heads and Arusei spoke up. He was the oldest of them, his black hair going grey at the roots. ¡°That is not the way things are done here. Especially not with Inhumans. We ask, you demand tribute.¡± Kavaa let out a sigh and shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it Kass.¡± Kassandora smiled back at her. Demand tribute? Odd, but it was done in Epa a long time ago. ¡°Are there customs for this? I assume you don¡¯t want me to ridicule you with a piece of string.¡± Kassandora asked and the Arikans looked to each other. Kavaa leaned back, shook her head and sighed. The Clerics likewise weren¡¯t amused. Not the Arikans though, Eyapan even smiled. Arusei replied, he seemed to hold the highest rank among them. ¡°Aye, do not humiliate us. We are not here to beg. We are here to trade.¡± ¡°Clothes.¡± Kassandora answered. The Arikans did not like it until Of War¡¯s armour appeared around her body. It crumbled the white shirt and sliced a piece off. ¡°Fine clothes for your sun¡­ and make them fit underneath this.¡± They looked at each other. ¡°Do not shame us that we cannot produce clothes.¡± Kassandora¡¯s armour disappeared. ¡°I am a Divine. I do not need food. You cannot outmatch my weapons. Magic, you cannot offer as I can¡¯t learn it. I do not want your lives as servants and clothes may not be much for you, but they are for me.¡± She pulled at the shirt. ¡°As you can see, Kavaa¡¯s men here do not have much skill in them, do they?¡± ¡°A thirsty man will trade a kingdom for water.¡± Arusei replied. Kassandora already had her reply before the man finished. ¡°A man may build a thousand kingdoms as long as he lives, but he¡¯ll build nothing if he dies of thirst.¡± That seemed to satisfy the Arikans. ¡°Clothes it is.¡± Arusei confirmed the deal with a handshake. For a mortal, he had a surprisingly strong grip. ¡°Hardy, for combat and for the weather.¡± Kassandora added. She thought she got the hang of these men. They were prideful, but the pride did not delude them into thinking they were unstoppable. That was good, she could see similarities between them and the men she had chosen to serve as generals in the Great War. ¡°Not gaudy, you asked not to be humiliated so I will do the same. Do not dress me as a princess.¡± ¡°We would never think of such a thing Kassandora.¡± Arusei said. He looked to Kavaa. ¡°You said she would be hard to work with.¡± Kavaa merely shrugged. ¡°Very well. We will await you tonight in our camp at dusk.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± The four Arikans left, they followed Arusei out like a pack of wolves. The Clerics looked to Kavaa and Kassandora. ¡°That was the first time I ever saw them leave without an argument.¡± Kassandora answered. ¡°They do not want your charity.¡± Kavaa spoke up before the Cleric could reply. ¡°Leave, I have something to discuss with Kassandora.¡± A chorus of Yes Divine answered, and soon it was just two Goddesses in the tent. Kassandora spoke up first. ¡°You¡¯re in a bad mood today.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been in a bad mood since yesterday.¡± Kavaa replied from the other side of the table. ¡°Beasts like this come every fifty years.¡± ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Yes, you are. So you¡¯ll make yourself useful.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll need men.¡± ¡°You have them.¡± ¡°I meant soldiers I can train, not Arikans on hire.¡± ¡°I said you have them.¡± ¡°Do I?¡± Kassandora asked as she leaned down. Now this was news. ¡°Do you know how many losses I suffered on Olympiada?¡± Kavaa asked. Kassandora thought for a while. Most wounds in a battle came after the end from wounds and disease. Clerics were immune to that. But then battles like Olympiada had not happened in a long time, maybe Kavaa had grown a heart since the Great War. ¡°About five hundred.¡± Kassandora answered. Out of Twelve thousand, that seemed appropriate. ¡°Three hundred and sixty-one men died up there.¡± Kavaa replied and clicked her tongue. ¡°I¡¯m annoyed you got close.¡± Kassandora smiled and raised her hands defensively. ¡°It is my demesne. What can I say?¡± Kavaa shook her head. ¡°And how many Clerics do you think I lost?¡± Kassandora thought for a moment. Clerics were a tough lot, but marching on the Pantheon would break the toughest hearts. ¡°Four thousand.¡± ¡°Two thousand, four hundred, seventy-nine.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°One hundred quit outright, do you know what happened to the rest?¡± Kassandora shook her head. ¡°They felt you.¡± Kassandora sighed and rolled her eyes. ¡°Well I apologize for that but what was I supposed to do?¡± ¡°Not your power, yesterday I got a report. There are two hundred three hundred and sixty signatures on it. Do you know what for?¡± Kassandora smiled. There was only one thing the woman could be hinting at, but to say it would only get her angrier. ¡°TO QUIT AND FOR PERMISSION TO TAKE YOUR VOW! THEY ACTUALLY ASKED FOR MY BLESSING ON THIS!¡± ¡°You have good men.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°And?¡± Kavaa rolled her eyes and shook her head. ¡°I let them go naturally. I¡¯m simply angry. Do you know how many casualties I took at the final siege of Rhomaion?¡± Kassandora did not have time to answer. ¡°Two thousand on the dot. An hour with you is worse for my forces than an eight-month siege Kass.¡± Kassandora burst out in laughter and struck a grand pose. She rode her arms down her sides to pull the shirt tight and squeeze it across her chest. ¡°What can I say? I¡¯d fight for me!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even joke about this. I don¡¯t want that power being used again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the power, it¡¯s the men.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°If you let me test it out on everyone, then-¡° ¡°Then I¡¯d lose forty thousand! Don¡¯t even question me or argue! NO! You won¡¯t steal my Clerics!¡± ¡°Your so jealous you sound like Helenna now.¡± Kassandora leaned over the table making sure it emphasized her assets. ¡°I¡¯m just a poor Goddess you know. You shouldn¡¯t-¡° ¡°I¡¯m calling in the rest of the Orders from Epa and the UNN. Kirinyaa is the Cleric¡¯s new headquarters. You are in charge of making sure that when the Pantheon does come here, they¡¯ll be sent home. That is all I wanted to tell you. Now go, you have men waiting outside. They want to swear their vows.¡± Kassandora turned, then stopped by the cloth door. ¡°Do the Arikans drink?¡± ¡°They brew a spirit called Changaa.¡± Kavaa shouted back. ¡°I¡¯ll get you a bottle then.¡± ¡°You do that and I¡¯ll shove it up your ass.¡± Kassandora burst out in laughter as she left the tent. Outside, Damian Sokolowski was already waiting, a crowd of a few hundred men around him, with more coming in to swell it further. Kassandora stood straight and looked down at him, her mirth dispelled. ¡°You have something to ask to me.¡± The man nodded and then kneeled. ¡°Divine Kassandora, Goddess of War. I wish to swear a vow.¡± The crowd knelt with him. Chapter 72 – An Arikan Sunset Alee stepped into Arascus¡¯ office. Sara, Iliyal, Ilwin and Arascus were there, pouring over documents. Double checking the specs of the Raptor, making sure that nothing had been missed. It was only to kill time, there was nothing they could do at this point even if some mistake was to suddenly appear. ¡°What is it?¡± Arascus asked the maid. ¡°I¡¯ve just been told to report to you. We got word from Arika. They¡¯ve returned, success.¡± Fer sat on the red soil of Artica. Artica had stolen more fuel than expected and the jets needed to quench their thirsts. ¡°What do you think?¡± She asked Neneria. They had finally abandoned the Artican coats, Neneria had donned a black dress, Fer satisfied modesty with shorts and a shirt. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°About Leona I mean.¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. It was easy.¡± Fer agreed with her sister. ¡°It was.¡± ¡°It¡¯s like¡­ remember when we all together? The first two decades? It went like that.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get there yet.¡± Fer leaned back on her arms and watched the night sky. The stars here were different than the tundra. Brighter, and while it was cold, the air did not bite as much as it did in the North. The universe above was a black canvas, splashed with pale blues and whites where nebulas peered down onto the world and splattered with stars. Fer¡¯s ears quivered, she sniffed the air, one of the men was coming. One of the pilots. She turned her head and watched the man approach. For her and Neneria, it was rare. Kass had a gift to her which attracted people, Irinika did too. Fer didn¡¯t like it, but that was just the way it was. You could not suddenly force men to not be scared of beasts, else they would not be beasts. The pilot approached, still in his black jumpsuit, a picture of a bird¡¯s head over his breast. His helmet hung off his belt, complete with the inbuilt visor and rebreather. He had a camera in his hands and gingerly stepped forwards as if afraid to close the distance. ¡°Come, come, I don¡¯t bite.¡± Fer waved him closer. ¡°I do.¡± Neneria said and the pilot stopped. Fer giggled and waved her away. ¡°She doesn¡¯t, come, what do you want?¡± The pilot looked down at his camera, then at the planes, there was a crowd around them, then back at Fer. ¡°I¡¯m Douglas, Doug for short, pilot of Raptor-Two.¡± He began then showed off his camera. It was a huge thing, the sort Fer had only come across when documentarians tried to record in her tundra. ¡°And¡­¡± He scratched his head. Fer tried to help with his fright. ¡°You¡¯ve just gone to kill Gods and you¡¯re scared of us?¡± ¡°Not scared.¡± He said. ¡°Just, it¡¯s a bit silly, I don¡¯t want to pressure you or anything but¡­¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°We wanted to take a picture with the whole crew. The Sorcerers agreed already and I thought¡­ I didn¡¯t want to leave you out.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Not a chance in Hell.¡± Neneria did not even turn to look at the man. Fer blinked, then a smile grew on her face. She stood up, almost twice the height of the man, her golden hair alone matched the man¡¯s height in length. ¡°That is¡­¡± Fer thought of a word. ¡°The most brilliant idea I¡¯ve heard all day.¡± The man finally took a breath and burst out in laughter. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s just¡­¡± ¡°I said we¡¯re not doing it.¡± Neneria said quietly and Fer grabbed her arm. In powers, Of Death outmatched her utterly. In terms of physicality, the hierarchy flipped entirely. ¡°We¡¯re doing it.¡± Neneria kept on moaning as Fer dragged her to the ground before the planes. ¡°Make sure to send it to Dad, alright?¡± ¡°Of course, of course!¡± ¡°And print me a picture!¡± ¡°You will get the first one!¡± ¡°No planes lost, the parachutes weren¡¯t even needed.¡± Iliyal commented as he flicked through the report. It was short words, but the tone was one of disbelief. ¡°We¡¯re free of her.¡± Fer grabbed Edmonton and scooted him to the side. He was a tall boy for a human, and he blocked view of the other Raptor pilot: Erik. Fleur moved with him, how cute, they were holding hands. Fer knew they would be good for each other ever since she saw them when they first met her in that abandoned dwarven stronghold, although they kept to themselves generally. ¡°Smile!¡± Doug shouted, he checked the camera one last time, gave the crowd a thumbs up and rushed forwards to fill in his own spot, in front of Neneria. ¡°Thirty seconds! Or like twenty now! Smile!¡± Fer put her arm around Nene¡¯s shoulder and pulled her close. ¡°Smile.¡± ¡°I hate you.¡± Neneria softly. Fer knew she didn¡¯t mean it. The camera ticked down, it flashed and started to madly print out picture after picture. The ground crew cheered, Fer joined along and she even saw Neneria smile. Doug ran up to the camera, pulled out a knife from his jumpsuit and started slicing the chain of images. Fer broke from the rank and excitedly ran to the pilot. ¡°First one for you, as promised.¡± He looked away and started working quickly with the combat knife. ¡°Goddess, can I ask something?¡± Fer leaned down to pat the man¡¯s back. It pushed him forwards, he grunted and almost stabbed himself. ¡°Fer is enough.¡± ¡°Could you take a photo with me? I¡¯d want to show it to the boys back home.¡± Fer burst out in laughter. ¡°Of course!¡± Sara watched Arascus, Iliyal and Ilwin exchange stupid looks. The way men did when they did that thing were they telepathically spoke with each other. Arascus broke the silence. ¡°So, we should organise a feast.¡± ¡°It does call for one.¡± Iliyal agreed. ¡°It is a big event.¡± Ilwin added. And again, they shared that stupid look. Then the three of them looked at her. Sara sighed. Frankly, it was better this way. They¡¯d fuck it up somehow. Fer lay on her back next to the campfire as men chatted away next to her. The Sorcerers were playing some boardgame, the ground crew was scrambling to fuel up the Pelican. She held the printed image above her. There she was, in the middle, smiling wide, fangs exposed. Neneria even had a good shot! She quirked a slight smile and even managed to look at the camera. The Sorcerers were in front them, smiling wide, the pilots on either side held their helmets. The ground crew and support teams flooded to each side and the three planes were in the background. On the back, Fer had collected the signatures of everyone until they were spilling onto each other. Even Neneria had written her name in the corner. When people realised she was collecting signatures, the first few were embarrassed to ask for hers, until Doug finally broke the dam. Then a line had formed, Fer was more than happy to write her name a few dozen times over. It was only fair, they had all written theirs on hers. She ran her finger gently along the ink, careful not to smudge and turned it back around to look at everyone who had taken part in Operation Misfortune. Brilliant! It was prettier than the stars above. Chapter 73 – Sunset Contingency You never defeat Olephia. You merely survive her. Raymond sat in the monitoring centre of the Artican Prison Facility. In glasses, a white coat and balding, he looked like the scientist this job said he was. It was a simple job, it should be a simple job, it had been a simple job for the past twenty years. Simple and well-paid, directly from the coffers of Olympiada. All that was needed was a lot of time and the willingness to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Still, it was six months on, six months off. The wage was more than good enough to pay for his entire family. ¡°It¡¯s going down.¡± He said. ¡°I CAN SEE IT¡¯S GOING DOWN!¡± Georges screamed back, a Karainan man, tall, he had been fit a few years ago when the project accepted him. Now a beer-belly stretched his white coat. Officially, they were scientists, unofficially, their ¡®science project¡¯ relied entirely on monitoring a screen and finding ways to pass the time. Right now, the Goddesses were coming so the monitoring centre had been cleaned up. Spare PCs had been moved away, the boxes of snacks had been hidden in cupboards, the extra monitors were taken down. Raymond wondered if this was what the bridge of ship looked like, seats, various simple screens filled with graphs, and a large screen ahead of them. It read 28.9% in white letters over a red background. ¡°When will they get here?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve sent the report a month ago, Olympiada told us Leona would be here¡­¡± Raymond sighed. ¡°Well, she should be here now.¡± ¡°I KNOW THAT!¡± Georges shouted again. They all knew that, it was their last method of coping with the fact Leona¡¯s energy was running low. Everyone got nervous whenever it hit below 40%, then panic mode hit at 30%. The less there was, the faster it went. It made no sense, the drop from full charge to 90% took four months usually, then the next ten percent would take two. By the time they got to the sixties, they would lose a percent a day. The screen changed. 28.8% now. Aron opened his mouth to give more bad news. A tall fellow, in the white coat they wore, with a rather snakish face. He was borderline unbeatable in the game nights they held. It flicked again. 28.7%. Raymond took a deep breath, that was the first time he had seen it lose a full tenth of a percentage so quickly. ¡°LOOK AT THAT!¡± Georges shouted again. The door to the monitoring centre slid open. The guards came in. Ex-Order members, all of them, usually pulled from Seekers although a few Guardians and Clerics were mixed in. Weaponry, officially, was forbidden in the monitoring centre. No one cared about officiality here though, all of them had the standard issue greatswords they received when Olympiada accepted them for the job. The tallest man, Isaiah, was the captain, he got the rank because he had served as a Seeker Captain some decade past. ¡°I have bad news.¡± He said.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Worse than that?¡± Georges pointed up at the 28.7% on the screen. ¡°Worse.¡± Isaah said, it was the first time Raymond had ever seen traces of Seeker discipline in the man. ¡°We called Olympiada about Leona. They said five planes set off some fifteen hours ago.¡± Raymond put his cup of tea down before he dropped it. Strength drained from his arms and he felt his cheeks go pale. It was only a twelve-hour flight. Georges sat down in his seat. ¡°Then when are they?¡± ¡°We sent out drones to chart the area. They were on a direct route to us, the same one they always take.¡± Isaiah faltered for a moment and leaned on the desk to continue. ¡°We found them.¡± The control room went silent. Raymond felt his breath catch, he did nothing to ease it. ¡°Five planes downed, bodies around them. Goddess Allasaria brought thirty-five minor deities with her. We confirmed the deaths of twenty-one. Goddess Allasaria is not among them. Goddess Leona is.¡± Raymond was glad he put his cup down just in time. His arms dropped to his sides. Georges collapsed into his chair, the rest of the so-called scientists in the monitoring centre did too. A few dropped whatever they were drinking. Cups and glasses smashed on the cold tiles of the ground. Raymond looked back to the screen. That 28.7% was all between them and the awakening of Olephia. ¡°Le¡­¡± Georges could not even the name. ¡°Co-confirmed?¡± Isaiah replied with a slow nod before speaking. ¡°It¡¯s the Sunset Contingency, worst case scenario. We will prepare for her awakening.¡± Raymond wanted to turn and run. To flee. That wasn¡¯t an option though, they were in the middle of Artica, in the middle of nowhere. No one among them even knew the co-ordinates of the location. Only the pilots of Olympiada and the Gods themselves were privy to that information. Planes where scheduled to pick him up a month from now. Raymond looked at the 28.7%. 28.6% now. ¡°Have you called it in?¡± Georges asked. Isaiah nodded again. ¡°I¡¯ve called it in already. Olympiada has told us to hold.¡± ¡°Hold?¡± One of the other scientists shouted. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°Do you have any ideas?¡± Isaiah shouted back. ¡°Does anyone have any ideas?¡± No one answered. He turned back to his monitor and turned on a screen that was checked out of boredom and curiosity only. It was a direct feed to Olephia¡¯s sleeping chamber. The Goddess of Chaos almost two miles deep in the ice below them, the only connection was a single staircase carved out a millennia ago. Olephia lay on the floor in the middle of the room. It had been refurbished as time went by, now the walls were white-painted titanium, reinforced with beams of Godstone. A series of yellow crystals lined the room, each one with a thick leading from it into the wall. Those were the dream generators. They kept Olephia wandering for all eternity. How it worked, no one really knew. Maybe Olephia and Allasaria themselves did, but everyone who worked on the project had long passed away by the forces of time. It wasn¡¯t even supposed to work. Theoretically it only had a one-in-five chance to keep her asleep for an hour. The chance dropped to near zero after a day. It was a statistical impossibility for Olephia to be held in her dream state longer than a week. Through Leona¡¯s powers, it had maintained Olephia asleep for a full millennia. And now there was no Leona. Raymond looked up at the main screen again. There it was, a single number in white on a red screen: 28.6% 28.5% 28.4% Chapter 74 – The Dreaded Delusions of Humanity Raymond looked up at the monitoring board: Six hours had passed: 22.3% Kassandora marched out of the Cleric¡¯s encampment with her new army behind her. On one hand, it was a large force, two thousand men were nothing to scoff at. On the other, during the Great War, millions had served, killed and died under her command. There was still a long way to go. Kavaa, apart from being angry, had accommodated them quite well. Sokolowski and the men who were granted permission to leave were allowed to keep their armour, after their heraldries had been scratched off, whereas weaponry was each Cleric¡¯s individual responsibility. They weren¡¯t Kavaa¡¯s to take. Kassandora thought of what to call them, she had never much liked the idea of Orders. They were too autonomous, each with their own ideas and traditions. They made for good soldiers of course, but it was in spite of being in a Divine Order rather than because of it. There was a reason most Divine strategy was merely to pick a battle and throw the local Order in. So the unorganized band of men marched behind Kassandora, a short half-mile stint over red ground to the Arikan camp. The tent architecture changed, from the long rectangular barracks that housed a dozen men to tall round things that only had a few warriors sleeping in them. There was no storage room, Kassandora saw through the doors everyone slept with their arms next to them. Some Arikans went out to greet Kassandora, tall dark men, now that night had settled in they had donned shirts and cloaks. Bonfires had been lit. That was another difference. The Clerics had electric lamps scattered about, the Arikans had huge bonfires that warmed with heat. The smell of wild game wafted in and Kassandora lifted her hand up. ¡°Stop!¡± She shouted. The men behind her stopped. Kassandora did not turn, she merely spoke to them as more Arikans started to exit their tents and curiously inspect the force approaching them. ¡°Wait here until I return.¡± It was the most basic of tests. Some people thought pain or suffering broke wills, that was true to an extent but Kassandora had long found a much better exam that did not require any input from her: boredom. Without giving them a reason, a time, any information whatsoever, Kassandora alone walked into the Arikan camp. Most of the Arikans went back into their tents. A few introduced themselves, a few waved. Back in Epa, Kassandora would have already caught a crowd who were hoping to be blessed by simply catching a glimpse of a Goddess about. She decided this was much better. Waf was the first person to approach that she recognised, he had a light shirt on and shorts and came weaponless, the light of fires reflected off his face and dark hair. ¡°I have come.¡± Kassandora made her voice loud but there was no reason to shout. The air simply carried her tone far. ¡°I see.¡± Waf said as he leaned past Kassandora and her red hair to the ex-Clerics waiting at the edge of the camp. ¡°Are they not coming in? We have room.¡± ¡°They are not.¡± Waf shrugged and sighed. ¡°Suit yourself. The chief¡¯s tent is this way.¡± He turned around and waved for Kassandora to follow. The Goddess did. The journey was short, there was no tour of this camp like Sokolowski had given her of the Clerics, although even from the short journey, Kassandora had seen enough. People were roasting food, dancing, drums were playing as laughter filled the air. Every now and then, the camp would fall silent as another detachment of Clerics arrived in a plane. Then everyone would cheer, laugh, clap and giggle at the arriving Epans. Kassandora decided she needed more information about these people. It was too ragtag of a band to be able to handle large military operations. ¡°Straight to the chief¡¯s tent?¡± ¡°Straight there.¡± Waf answered. ¡°You don¡¯t have any protocols about this?¡± ¡°Is there a need?¡± Waf replied. Kassandora supposed there wasn¡¯t. ¡°How many men do you have here?¡± ¡°This war camp has eight hundred.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°Kavaa¡¯s camp only has four thousand.¡± Kassandora showed no reaction but her mind worked quickly. Waf was correct to ten percent, Kavaa¡¯s camp only had four thousand one hundred as of this evening. How did he know? ¡°And what do you want me to do?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°The elders will inform you.¡± Waf replied. ¡°Are you not an elder?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± He thought for a moment. ¡°In Kavaa¡¯s camp, I would lead an Order, that¡¯s my rank.¡± ¡°Captain then.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like that though.¡± He said. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Captains steer ships, they don¡¯t go on the ground.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Kassandora replied. A prideful people then, if they thought ships as beneath them. Good to know, although she had thought as much from the short interaction back in Kavaa¡¯s tent. ¡°How much further?¡± ¡°A minute.¡± The minute passed quickly. Waf led the way to a large tent, circular, held up by logs that bad been hammered into the ground. The cloth was the same material the Clerics used, but this one had animal skins hanging as decoration on the outside. There were no guards, nothing, children played by the entrance as if they didn¡¯t have a care in the world. Two women watched them and chatted away as the clouds above gave way to the stars and the bright moon. Inside, Waf led Kassandora to a circle of men who were sitting on carpets on the ground. Some had weapons, axes and spears, others daggers, a few came with bows, some had no arms whatsoever. The dress code varied about as much, two men were shirtless. Kimani was one of them, he sat with his arms by his side to display the massive scars across his chest. One-eared Arusei was close to him, these men held their hair colour for a long time. Arusei was wrinkled, signs of age obvious as the light from torches danced across his face, but only his roots were going grey. No one else in the tent could claim that. Eyapan and Jebet, both bald, both with their weapons across their knees, watched Kassandora enter. The rest of the men inclined their heads, one, obviously the youngest, offered a cup of water.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. As customs went, Kassandora had seen worse. She would have drank it even if she wasn¡¯t a Goddess and poisons could have harmed her. It was cold, with an earthy taste, but she did not sit. ¡°I have come to help solve your problem.¡± It was the small things like that which people liked, obviously she would solve it alone, but making them feel as if they were here to do anything but inform her would do well for social standing. ¡°We have been awaiting you.¡± Arusei replied and indicated for her to sit. Even with her legs crossed and tips of her red hair sprawling across the coloured carpets, Kimani, the tallest man only reached up to her shoulders, the rest not even that. ¡°We have heard you have men outside the camp.¡± ¡°They¡¯re mine.¡± Kassandora said. That was all they needed to know, but answers like that did little to inspire. ¡°They won¡¯t enter without my permission, I¡¯m training them.¡± The explanation revealed nothing of importance but she saw several of the dark men relax, their shoulders falling as tension left them. ¡°I do not know how you do things, personally, I skip pleasantries and get right to the heart of the matter.¡± These men were obviously warriors, and she had not met a single warrior in her long life that enjoyed gossip during meetings. ¡°That is good.¡± Jebet replied without permission to speak from Arusei. The others took no notice, nor did Arusei seem particularly perturbed. Meritocratic then, or they were equals, each leading their own. Kassandora made a note on it in her mind. ¡°We should get right to the heart of the matter. As said before, villages have been disappearing.¡± ¡°And you¡¯ve shown me the pattern.¡± Kassandora interrupted him as a test. No one seemed to mind. ¡°Indeed.¡± Jebet said. ¡°We have decided it is not hunting grounds.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because beasts would destroy villages. Our scouts have returned, everything is left in place as if the people simply got up and left. Foods were left cooking, some homes were burned down but the fires were obviously not set from outside. Children have their toys, spears were undisturbed, it is not a beast.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a demon.¡± Kimani spoke up. ¡°As I said before, so I will say it now, this is the work of demons.¡± Kassandora ignored the man entirely. ¡°And is there a pattern?¡± Kimani showed no reaction to being ignored. ¡°It moves, whatever it is.¡± Arusei explained. ¡°The jungle in the area has expanded two miles south in a month. It has stopped at the streams.¡± ¡°Demons cannot cross running water.¡± Kimani added. ¡°And there is no chance this is nomadic activity?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°None.¡± The entire room agreed. Kassandora broke posture and leaned back as the room turned on her. Well, it was an interesting dilemma alright. ¡°Have you thought about jungle expansion and which villages disappear? Tried matching the dates up?¡± The Arikans looked to themselves, the silence did not last long, Kimani broke it. ¡°We have not considered that.¡± He said nodding. ¡°It¡¯s obvious when you think about it though. The jungle is taking them, villages disappear as the jungle nears them.¡± Kassandora gave no reaction but inside she was very happy with these men. She had met generals filled with ideas of grandiosity who would never admit a mistake. This man had just done it and not batted an eye. The rest of them nodded. ¡°That makes the situation worse though.¡± One of the men Kassandora did not know, a tall man with pale tattoos over his body spoke. ¡°A beast can be killed, a demon chased away. The jungle though?¡± ¡°Have you ever tried to stop the jungle?¡± Kassandora asked. The entire room looked at her as if she was an idiot. Kassandora laughed at the honest reaction. Arusei answered. ¡°Have you ever tried to hold back a river?¡± Kassandora had held up the Sun, but she was not about to tell them that. They most likely would not believe her. ¡°I¡¯m asking because from the short time we¡¯ve been talking, most of your problems seem to stem from this jungle.¡± ¡°Everything we cannot deal with stems from there.¡± Kimani added. Kassandora tilted her head. This was a solution so obvious she could not believe it. How had Kavaa missed it? Treating problems at their source was her speciality after all. ¡°Have you never tried to cut down the jungle?¡± Kassandora asked and the room burst out in laughter. ¡°Kassandora.¡± Kimani said through bouts of giggling. ¡°We understand you are new to this land but do not joke.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not joking.¡± Kassandora said, she had to wait for the men to settle down. It was as if she had just told them to slay a God. ¡°The jungle is unstoppable.¡± Arusei said. ¡°Indeed, it takes and eats and we live around it.¡± Kimani spoke up. ¡°It gives birth to beasts and demons.¡± Jebet continued. ¡°It is Arda¡¯s answer to humanity.¡± Waf now. ¡°It is not a place to step in.¡± One of the unknown men said. ¡°You can trick it, you can avoid it, you cannot defeat it.¡± Another man finished. Kassandora leaned forwards. These men¡­ they treated the jungle as¡­ two swords in her mind clashed together, steel against steel produced a spark and that spark razed a nation as it grew into an idea. Divines were ultimately the collective consciousness of humanity coming together to give birth to an incarnation of an idea. There were general rules some had tried to categorize but typically the grander and more universal an idea, the grander the Divine. ¡°How long has the Jungle existed?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Since before man stepped here.¡± Kimani answered. ¡°And have things ever been different?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Do you satisfy the Jungle in any way? Sacrifice to it for food and so on?¡± Arusei answered this question. ¡°Several ceremonies are held throughout the year, after hunts, during the solstices, important events, when a prophesized child is born for example. But all that is asked is survival.¡± Kassandora took a deep breath. That sealed it. The fact she could see how it began was even worse. A man walks into the jungle, trips, dies, some animal gets him, how it started did not matter. What mattered is he did not return; The Jungle took him. And another. And another. Give it some time for folk-tales to spread and then when someone enters, he does not trip, nor does an animal get him, but this does, the Jungle takes him. People avoid it, they beg for survival, they only fuel the dread. And now? ¡°I will need time.¡± Kassandora said. The Arikans looked in shock to each other. ¡°You will need time?¡± Kimani asked. ¡°The question of disappearing villages is easily solved, move them away.¡± Kimani narrowed his dark brows. ¡°And if they don¡¯t want to?¡± ¡°What do you do when an ill does not want to take medicine?¡± ¡°We make him.¡± Kimani said, then seemed to realise what he said and nodded. ¡°I see.¡± Kassandora stood up, being always listened to those taller than them. And they needed hope that the Jungle could be stopped. ¡°You win battles against the Jungle every year. Each beast slain, each scar over your bodies marks another victorious skirmish and yet how is your war going?¡± She did not give them time to answer. ¡°You are losing! Every mile of land given is a mile conquered from you!¡± She made her tone hard. There was no question about it. In a war against delusions, certainty triumphed. ¡°I am Kassandora, Goddess of War. I swear upon my name and title, you will win this war with me.¡± Chapter 75 – First Leona, Now The World! Raymond stared at the screen. It was the first time he had ever seen it go so low. 20.1% 20% 19.9% Arascus entered Fer¡¯s room. It, for once, was not a mess, although that was because she had been away for two days. Fer was sitting in a shirt on the floor, Alee was standing behind her, brushing the golden hair. Fer was obviously enjoying the attention, eyes closed and rocking rhythmically as her locks destroyed yet another brush. Her ears bounced when Arascus entered, she sniffed the air, and she went back to rocking. Alee gave her three mores furious strokes and then the brush snapped. She muttered a quiet curse, turned and saw Arascus. ¡°Ah¡­ I didn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Arascus interrupted her. ¡°Fer.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Here¡¯s your clothes.¡± Arascus put them on the ground next to her. To put the woman in a dress was an impossibility, but she should look presentable at the very least. Fer¡¯s mood went from sailing on clouds to drowning in the ocean. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Why?¡± Arascus sighed at the sheer stupidity of the question. He loved Fer, she was funny and warm and empathetic and caring, but sometimes she began to grate on his nerves. ¡°There¡¯s a dress code. I already bent it for you. You¡¯re wearing this.¡± He pushed the clothes towards her with his boot. ¡°Really?¡± Fer asked again. Arascus looked at Alee, who was obviously trying not to laugh. The maid began playing her dark hair and readjusting her black dress. ¡°Really. It¡¯s an order.¡± ¡°Ugh.¡± Ugh indeed. But if Arascus had not ordered her himself, she would either turn up in animal skins or naked. ¡°I¡¯ll see you at the feast. Bring some beastmen to fill a table.¡± Arascus said then realised he made a mistake. ¡°Bring ten, no more than that.¡± Fer nodded, then leaned back to look at Alee, her golden eyes wide as she shook her hair to demand more brushing. ¡°I hate parties.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Thought so.¡± Arascus said, then turned to leave. ¡°It¡¯s going to be fun, Sara organised.¡± Fer forced yet another brush into Alee¡¯s hands and returned to sitting cross-legged in front of the mirror. ¡°Mmh. I like her.¡± She said idly as Alee pulled the brush through her mane. It got stuck on the second stroke. ¡°Love you Dad.¡± ¡°I love you too.¡± Red screen, white numbers. Raymond stared at it as he grabbed another bottle: 18.8% 18.7% 18.6% Arascus walked through the room when Sara, Ilwin and Iliyal stopped him. Sara was in a magnificent red dress dashed with lines of royal purple, the contrast of that and her dark hair made the woman seem paler than she was, Ilwin and Iliyal both wore pristine suits. Iliyal¡¯s had a short red cape to mark his station as a general of Kassandora. ¡°Sir.¡± He said, bringing out a phone. Even after eight months of being in the modern world, Arascus was still amazed at the device. ¡°A situation has arisen.¡± ¡°Is it urgent?¡± Arascus asked as he towered over them. Iliyal took the initiative. ¡°It¡¯s better that you know about it.¡± He thrust the phone towards Arascus, it was a live broadcast of EIE, Everything In Epa. One of the news channels that covered the continent. Arascus took it from his hands without a word as he watched the video. The two hosts were speaking about¡­ he was saw the image behind them. ¡°¡­-ivine has still been unidentified but we have received reports from the White Pantheon. From Divine Elassa, Goddess of Magic, herself. She has said that the situation is under control and it is an internal Pantheon matter but¡­¡± The hosts looked at each other, then at the image on the screen behind. ¡°Who that is, we still don¡¯t know. There are conspiracies that the White Pantheon has had a coup with the recent movements of Clerical Orders, although they have all left the Divine Mountain at this time.¡± The first host finished and the other began, Arascus only heard the words half-heartedly, his attention was entirely on the image on that screen. ¡°We have a panel of experts scheduled for nine o¡¯clock tonight to discuss this further, but let¡¯s look at the image again. If you think you know what caused this, we would love to hear your opinions from it at¡­.¡± Arascus paid no attention to the words as the image came to the forefront. A thick oak, leafless and burned, grew out of the ground, it¡¯s top wide as the if it was holding up a plate. Kavaa was there, Arascus would never forget the people who had fought against him in the Great War, her, but she wasn¡¯t the main figure of the image. A woman stood there, arms up in the air as she held up a giant ball of fire. Her arms burning, her armour black, her back exposed as Kavaa healed, her hair a vivid crimson it could have been dyed with blood. There was no need to confirm, no need to ask. It was Kassandora. Divine Kassandora. Another Goddess he had adopted and given a chance to when the world had rejected her. There she was. Arascus¡¯ arms trembled as he slid against the wall. There she was. Alkom was cut off in the image, but it was obvious it was him. Thin legs like that, the armour, it was obviously him. Arascus wiped his eyes of their wetness with a huge finger stared at the image. How much had precious Kass been through? Why? With Kavaa? Kavaa wasn¡¯t exceptional among the White Pantheon, but there she was, healing his daughter, as his daughter held up a Sun. Arascus looked to Iliyal, the general was smiling. ¡°It¡¯s her.¡± Iliyal finally said as Arascus handed him his phone back. ¡°It¡¯s her.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°She¡¯s most likely in Kirinyaa, in Arika, all the Clerical Orders are being called to there.¡± Iliyal finally dropped the question. ¡°Should we contact her?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Of course we should.¡± Arascus answered, he looked down at his own suit and smoothed the creases. ¡°There¡¯s more than one reason to celebrate today now.¡± Iliyal laughed. ¡°That there is.¡± Arascus replied slowly. Two out of eight were found. Kassandora was free. Anassa, they knew the location of. Olephia would escape without Leona¡¯s help. That was five out of eight. And there was no Leona. He could feel the pieces coming together. Raymond drunkenly reached for another bottle. He knocked it over and the glass shattered on the tiled floor. It was empty anyway. He leaned back, his head spinning, and watched the red monitor. 12.2% 12.1% 12% Arascus took his place in the biggest hall the underground headquarters had. Sara Daganhoff had done a good job indeed, there were rows of grand wooden tables, furnished with clothes and plates already. Drinks prepared, smells were coming from the kitchens. The only curiosity was a new painting on the wall. Sara had asked for permission to hang it and Fer had vouched for her, but neither of them said what exactly was being hung up. The God of Pride sat at the head of the largest table as he watched people filter in. Neneria came first, that was no surprise, Death was always punctual. There had been no need to pester her about the dress code either, Arascus had overheard maids gossiping about how picky she was with her clothes. Back then, he had thought it merely amusing, now, he understand them entirely. It was a black gown, with loose sleeves and a collar of raven feathers which spiralled to form a short cloak that ruffled with every step. She saw there was no in the hall, then allowed herself a smile. Her walk changed immediately, from that slow saunter to a giggling pace as she sat down next to Arascus. ¡°We¡¯ve done it!¡± She said, giggling. ¡°We have.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe it.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t either.¡± Arascus replied as Neneria burst out in giggles. Those giggles stopped immediately when Iliyal and Ilwin arrived, along with a retinue of the other elves who served in the headquarters. Tall, in suits, with hair either golden or pitch black, and with stern faces. Iliyal wore his general¡¯s coat, his sword, Ilwin came in with a blade at his belt too. Arascus had bestowed one upon him after the escape from Olympiada. That had been the nail that sealed Leona¡¯s coffin. They took their seats, Ilwin and Iliyal at the head table, the elves scattered about to the other places. Then the other people started to slowly flow in a trickle that became a raging river. Daganhoff was all smiles when she Arascus was enjoying himself. The God of Pride saw the two sorcerers enter, they were easily the youngest guests, and they took seats directly at his table. The maids had dressed them, from the local gossip, Edmonton had been rather fun to tease, Fleur was the complete opposite. She wore a dress of dark blue and with dashes of red and had a white flower in her hair. Arascus would have never thought her for one to dress like that, but somehow, it was so predictable. He had never met a single sorcerer who did not try to show off. Fer came near the end, a band of ten beastmen behind her. The room fell silent, everyone had seen the beastmen about every now and then, but they kept to themselves. Fer had managed to dress them in suits somehow, a wolfman in a bowtie, a minotaur in a bowler hat. Arascus chuckled as Fer came to a stop, legs wide and hands on her hips. She stared everyone down in the hall, a smile on her head. Arascus had given her clothes, a white shirt and a skirt. She had made some changes, the top two buttons of her shirt were undone, she had a thick bearskin on her back as a cape, and tall black boots. ¡°I have entered!¡± She shouted. ¡°You may continue!¡± The room remained silent until Iliyal stood up and gave her a clap. ¡°To the Goddess of Beasthood!¡± Applause flooded the room as Fer smugly nodded to herself. She gave some hand signals for her men to sit down and took her seat by Neneria. Iliyal indicated for Arascus to get Of Death to stand. Arascus had to poke her twice before she gingerly stood up, her neck low as she took a deep breath and looked nowhere in particular. ¡°And to the Goddess of Death! Who killed Leona!¡± Cheers and applause pounded throughout the room long after Iliyal sat down. Neneria¡¯s cheeks had already gone red and she returned to her seat and stared at her empty plate. Even with all that though, Arascus could see a small smile on her lips. Then came the rest of applause. For Edmonton and Fleur, who stood up together. For the pilots, Douglas and Erik. For the ground crew. For the support teams in the air. For Ilwin and Iliyal who organised the operation. For everyone here for believing in them. Arascus was the only one not mentioned, there was no need, their pride was his pride. Finally Fer stood up and the room went silent. ¡°I would also like to thank Sara for helping me with this!¡± She shouted loudly and indicated to the hidden painting on the wall. A maid was on standby and immediately pulled the red cloth down to a chorus of oohs and aahs. It was a picture of Fer, Neneria, the planes, everyone who participated in the mission. ¡®Operation Misfortune¡¯ was written in the corner in Fer¡¯s scratchy handwriting. Arascus stood up first, it was an amazing photo! He clapped and the whole room joined in, only Neneria buried her face in her hands as she went red as a beetroot. With all that done. It was time for Arascus¡¯ speech. He never planned them, it was always to improvise them on the spot and follow the mood of the crowd. This was going to be a short one anyway, people were starting to get hungry. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen.¡± He stood up and spoke loudly, the hall immediately fell silent. Man and elf and beast and Goddess turned their heads to listen. ¡°It has been more than a thousand years since we began the Great War.¡± He took a pause. Pauses were always good at the start, to get the ball rolling. ¡°The Great War raged for a century. Throughout the century, we had tried to Leona an uncountable amount of times. With blade and dagger and poison, we caught her out in the open, we caught her in her sleep. Ladies and gentlemen.¡± Arascus raised his cup. ¡°Today! We have done the impossible! We have burned down the casino! We have out gambled Lady Luck! Ladies and Gentlemen! Yesterday, we took Leona! Tomorrow, we take the World!¡± There was no need to drag it on, yet still a chant started. The World, The World, The World! It raged on for a minute before it finally died down. ¡°And now, while the White Pantheon recoils, we drink and feast and make merry! Ladies and Gentlemen, this is our first feast here and it will be the last! Next time, we¡¯ll be feasting in a palace!¡± More cheers, more song. Arascus sat down as people brought out food and drink. Raymond blinked as the screen sobered him up. 10.1% 10% 9.9% Arascus watched and drank and ate his fill as the feast raged on around him. Alee was pestering Iliyal after they both had a few too many drinks, she was planting more than a few kisses on his face. Ilwin watched his grandfather fight a losing a battle as a maid set upon him. Behind them, Fer was drinking men into the ground. There had been an arm-wrestling contest with the Goddess of Beasthood that ended in one round and several broken fingers. Two men had already collapsed on the table, mumbling about how they should have never tried to outdrink a God. The beastmen, especially after every had a few drinks in them, became immensely popular. A minotaur was lifting a giggling girl with one hand. Here, the arm wrestling continued, not with the minotaur. No one was drunk or stupid enough to take on that mass of rippling muscle, but the wolfman still stood undefeated. The sorcerers were close by, they were entertaining a group of guards and soldiers with showcases of magic and sorcery. Water danced in between Edmonton¡¯s fingers and Fleur had folded the metal cutlery into various figurines with nothing but the air itself. The raptor pilots were drinking their fill and telling tales to others about how they had to manoeuvre their aircrafts, Arascus was sure no rolls were done, but he let them talk. Even Neneria had find some people who were brave enough to face Death. She was showing off some ghostly fairies who were bringing her cake throughout the night. Arascus leaned back and sighed as Sara tested her luck with him. She was always like that, but for once, he enjoyed the company. It was a good feast. Raymond blinked as a message appeared on the screen. He had never thought that thing was programmed to do anything more than say how much energy was left. The 8% moved up and below new text appeared: Warning: Chaos Crisis in 6 hours. Chapter 76 – The Chaos Crisis Olephia walked along her path. The lake again. She angrily clicked her tongue. Where were the sheep? She was sure she had not missed them, but locations where starting to repeat. 7.5%. 7.4%. 7.3%. Raymond stared up at the graph as Isaiah entered the monitoring centre again. He looked over the scientists, most of them were drunk, a few had managed to bless themselves with sleep. Isaiah stared at them, then moved to Raymond. Hard brown eyes stared at the scientist, the guard was dirty. His armour and hands were slick with oil. Dark rings were under his eyes, the greatsword had been ditched somewhere. ¡°I have bad news.¡± That was all the guard had. ¡°What now?¡± Raymond asked. This is what he got for participating every night in the drinking matches. Now with a bottle and a half down, he was only groggy. The screen at the front was a better sobering medicine than anything he had ever taken. He glanced at it again. 7.1%. Isaiah continued as his guards flooded into the centre. Each man was dirty, some had minor cuts on their arms. ¡°Olympiada has said Allasaria has disappeared. They¡¯ve told us to go fuck ourselves.¡± Raymond felt his arms fall by his side. ¡°Fantastic.¡± Raymond said flatly. ¡°They said it more diplomatically than that, but that¡¯s the equivalent, we¡¯re on our own.¡± ¡°So no Divines?¡± Why did he even ask. He looked at the board again. 6.8%. Underneath the text changed. The time halved. Chaos Crisis in 2 hours, fifteen minutes. ¡°No Divines.¡± Olephia angrily kicked a stone and hissed as she sped up her walk. The landscape around her changed. It became a desert. She took a few more steps. The dark castle. Another few steps. The grand palace. Another step. The forest with its singing birds. Isaiah showed off his dirty hands to Raymond, they too had a few cuts in them. ¡°I¡¯ve had the men set up explosives around her chamber. We¡¯ll blow the ice around her and crush her.¡± ¡°Will that stop her?¡± Raymond asked. ¡°Do you have any other ideas?¡± Raymond shook his head. What were they supposed to do? In the past, Allasaria herself could not kill Olephia, what hope did they have? An electronic voice turned on. It was the local text to speech. ¡°Warning. Warning. Radiation levels are rising around the containment chamber. Please evacuate all personnel from the area.¡± Isaiah and Raymond both looked to the cameras as Raymond shakily moved the mouse about to flick through each one. It was more fear than drunkenness which hampered him. They settled on the camera overlooking Olephia. ¡°The walls.¡± Isaiah said. The white paint was peeling off the Godstone, it was burning up in areas. The area around the Goddess had started to turn black, the white tiles around her cracking. Olephia took another step, the landscape changed once again. A field. Green. A cloudless, sunless, blue sky above. Olephia narrowed her eyes. Where was the Sun? It was daytime. She had never thought about it. Where was it? She looked around. The sheep were here. They were eating grass. Olephia blinked as she looked at them again. The exertion of walking endlessly left her body as she scanned them. What was she doing? Why was she still walking? She looked down at feet but did not stop. The sheep weren¡¯t so cute anymore. They were skinny, their coats mangy, some rolled onto the ground and did not get back up. ¡°Heat levels rising. Air pressure increasing. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued. All personnel, please leave the staircase.¡± That robotic voice sounded over the intercoms again. Raymond watched a fire break out around Olephia, it flashed through the room, devoured the paint and then went out. Above, the red screen started to flicker. 4.3% 4.1% 3.8% ¡°Warning, Olephia¡¯s leakage has been detected. Wake up estimated to be within ten minutes.¡± Raymond looked to Isaiah. The guard had sat down as the guards organized themselves. Someone had brought the captain his greatsword and Isaiah was running his hand along the blade, gently mumbling a prayer to Allasaria. A few of the men had found some bottles that were hidden away somewhere. One man pulled out a bag of mints and had his eyes closed as he sucked on the sweets. Raymond flicked through the cameras again. The radiation monitor was useless, the entire area was coated in it. The infrared was just as bad. Olephia and her immediate area was pure white, the edges of the room were heating up as if they were trying to contain a nuclear reactor. Then the Luck-Crystal monitor. Half of the things were exhausted entirely, two had cracked, warnings above them said they needed immediate repair. ¡°Right lads.¡± Isaiah said as the red screen flickered once again. 2.3% 1.9% 1.5%. ¡°Blow it.¡± A man pulled out a switch and flicked it as Raymond turned on the cameras. Three cut out immediately, the rest clattered about. The ground underneath them shook as the Artican ice started to shift. Olephia stopped. She took a deep breath. Why was she on this path? For what reason? Why had she never stepped off? Memories started to rain into her mind. Of the lakes and the deserts, of castles and palaces, forests. She had seen animals here but never a person. There was never a maid cleaning in the homes, no swimmers in the lake, no hunters in the forest. Never even a caravan in the distance. What was this place? She looked at the path before her. It stretched over hill and disappeared past the summit of a hill. It would continue after that. She knew it would. Why would it not? It had continued for how long? She didn¡¯t know how long she had been walking. She turned around to look at the sheep again. They were skeletons, the flesh picked off them as they had been abandoned for a millennia.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Olephia took another step and realised she was still walking on the path. The land around her changed to another crossroads. On the left was a field, filled with sheep again, all fluffy and chewing their grass. On the left was a grand palace. Songs were coming from it. Olephia stopped. She looked left. She looked right. Left and right. And she took a step forwards. Off the path. There was no crumbling world. No darkness clouding over her. No peeling back of curtains. Olephia stepped off the path, and Olephia opened her eyes. ¡°Warning. Warning. Imminent Danger. Olephia is awake. Olephia is awake.¡± The robotic voice blared as the cameras broke down immediately. Raymond stood up and walked to one of the small windows. It was Artica alright, all white ice and blue skies, with a terrible sun that threatened to blind if you stared outside too long. Next to the base, a chunk of ice was starting to slide downwards. It roared and shook the entire compound with an earthquake. ¡°What now?¡± Raymond asked. ¡°Run or don¡¯t.¡± Isaiah replied. ¡°I¡¯m not going to keep you here. If you think you can survive the ice, then go ahead, I¡¯m not stopping you.¡± Raymond did not reply. He could obviously not withstand a night in Artica, no one could. He returned to his monitor. But then, could he survive Olephia? The cameras were all broken. Only the scanners and monitoring equipment worked. The radiation metre had capped out. The temperature gauge was spiralling upwards. The pressure monitor had cracked and simply replied with ¡®0.00 Atmospheres¡¯. Olephia woke up. She looked around. There was no path. There was no sunshine. She was in a dark room. Her hands ran over cracked tiles. They were warm. The ceiling above her cracked. There was an earthquake. It was coming down on her. Olephia slowly stood up. She raised a single hand, palm open. Memories came flooding back. Of Arascus adopting her. Of the good times they shared together. Of the Great War. Of the endless battles. Of Allasaria. Of Leona. Of the final fight where she was captured. Olephia looked up in the darkness. Her eyes made out the crumbling ceiling. Dust and rubble fell around her. A stone cut her cheek. Another landed her arm. Some things simply never changed. Olephia started to hum. ¡°The temperature monitor has cracked.¡± Raymond said as he leaned back and sighed. It was over. ¡°What did it read?¡± Isaiah asked as he stood up and hefted his blade. The guards assembled as everyone started to crowd around the windows. ¡°Twelve thousand degrees.¡± Raymond said. Somehow, the fear had washed out of him with the robot saying Olephia had woken up. It could be adrenaline, or it could have been resignation. It was the difference being seeing a knife swung in front of him, and then it sticking out of his chest. The former idea called forth panic, the latter was a call to action. This was a call to action, and the only action was resignation. There was no Divines coming, no planes to pick them up, the ship was sinking. He may as well enjoy his last moments. He sipped his cup of whiskey. It was tasty and it burned on the way down. Isaiah got back from the window and waved for Raymond to come close. Alarms were blaring and some of the scientists who had drank themselves to sleep were beginning to stare. ¡°What¡¯s that in human terms?¡± Isaiah asked. ¡°Twice the surface of the Sun.¡± Raymond replied as he stumbled to the window. A bottle and a half had not done him in, but those few sips had pushed him over the edge. ¡°We better get the AC on then.¡± Isaiah replied as he grabbed Raymond¡¯s arm and pulled him to the window. The ice that had been collapsed had made a dark hole in the surface of Artica. It was sliding down and down. ¡°It should have stopped right now.¡± ¡°She¡¯s melting it.¡± Raymond answered immediately. ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll cook herself?¡± ¡°I hope so.¡± Raymond replied. He sipped the cup. Half down. ¡°But do I think so?¡± ¡°No.¡± Isaiah replied. ¡°No indeed.¡± They watched ice slide another metre. Then another. Another. It disappeared from view. Yet another alarm turned on. The robotic assistant spoke again. ¡°Radiation has been detected in the compound. All personnel are advised to take iodine.¡± ¡°Well we¡¯re fucked then.¡± Raymond replied. ¡°Don¡¯t say that, it¡¯s bad for morale.¡± Isaiah replied absentmindedly. He ran his hand along the greatsword. The voice turned on again. The lights flickered. ¡°Water pipes have burst. Water has been contaminated. All personnel are advised not to drink from the taps or shower.¡± The lights went out as the room went silent, the monitors turned off, the computer fans slowed until they came to a halt. A few seconds later, dull red lamps turned on. The robot spoke again. ¡°Power failure. Backup generators have been turned on.¡± The building shook, some people fell as the floor shifted. The robot informed them. ¡°Structural failure in the central staircase. All personnel are advised to stay away from building C and buil¡­¡± The robot shut down. The lights went off entirely. ¡°That¡¯s the backup generators gone.¡± Raymond replied. He took another drink. The cup was empty. He threw it behind him and heard it shatter. Then something else shattered and the building shook again. ¡°Look at that.¡± Isaiah pointed towards the window. Steam was beginning to rise out of the hole. First a single trail. Then another. The trails expanded, then joined into a cloud. A rushing river of hot air. ¡°So much for her cooking herself.¡± Raymond replied, but he could not take his eyes off the sight. The steam changed, it glittered in the sunlight like a rainbow, purples and greens and oranges danced within it. And then, the rest of the ice exploded. For a moment, night set over their tiny region of Artica as a giant chunk of ice was flung up into the air. It shattered in the air and then toxic rain came down. The raindrops sizzled and fizzed wherever they landed on the ground. The steam grew thick enough to be an impenetrable fog. ¡°Do you hear that?¡± Isaiah asked. ¡°It¡¯s not just me?¡± Raymond nodded, several of the other men voiced their affirmations. One man started to cough, another fell over. It was there, faint from distance, but it was there. A woman¡¯s humming of a slow tune. The fog started to clear. ¡°Look up.¡± One of the scientists drunkenly said. ¡°Up there, above us.¡± Raymond¡¯s eyes scanned the fog and then he saw her. Floating in the air, high above the base, was a woman¡¯s silhouette. Her hair was sprayed across the air as if she had been thrown onto the ground. The fog avoided her, the sky seemed darkened by her very presence. Raymond¡¯s vision started to grow worse. The woman raised her hand. The hum grew louder. Raymond lost control of his legs, men around him started to fall down. Blood burst from their faces. Their faces were red like the inside of watermelons. The temperature in the room rose. Olephia looked down on the building. Her humming increased, it grew faster, stronger. She stood her ground in the air. Her hand twisted and turned, she found the weak spot. Two tiny particles about to hit each other. Her hum sped them up. They bounced, cracked, and released their energies. A moment later, for a mere instant, an explosion like the Sun appeared from within the base. The sound came a second later. Olephia started to float away, the ice underneath her melting. She didn¡¯t bother to look at the cloud shaped like a mushroom behind her. Up above, on the edge of Arda¡¯s atmosphere, a satellite fell out of orbit. Chapter 77 – Next Daughter: Anassa! Fortia stared up at a hundred of monitor in Nulmdorf¡¯s Stock Market. There wasn¡¯t even a single sliver of green among the sea of red. Edmonton to a knock on his door. Wait¡­ He grimaced, closed his eyes, the light hurt his head and shook himself to open them again. There was something soft in his hand. He squeezed and Fleur purred in her sleep. The knock came again. Louder this time, impatient and aggressive. Edmonton looked around and sat up. This was Fleur¡¯s room. Tidy and clean, with a picture of Lyca, Eliza, himself and Fleur on the desk, next to it the framed photograph Douglas had given her of Operation Misfortune. Then the usual stack of books. Empty water bottles, a half-eaten slice of cake. Some fruit. Clothes on the floor. Edmonton¡¯s and Fleur¡¯s. A white flower was on the desk. Memories of last night came flooding back. The feast, the drinks, the speeches, the sorcery match against Neneria¡¯s magic. Fleur and Edmonton deciding it was time to retire. Them stopping at her door. Them deciding it wasn¡¯t time to sleep yet. Everything that came after that. Edmonton squeezed again and looked down as Fleur purred again. Who thought icy Fleur could purr like that? He sat against the cold bed and flinched. His back was scratched. More memories, the feast was pleasant, these were even better. ¡°Wakey wakey sleepyheads!¡± A woman called from outside. ¡°I¡¯m coming in! There¡¯s a meeting you¡¯ve been called to!¡± Alee, her dark hair tied back and in her usual black dress, opened the door and stepped in. She took one glance at Edmonton before he pulled the bedsheets above himself. Fleur sat up instantly, Edmonton brought her close before the covers fell from her too. ¡°WHAT?¡± She shouted. Her hair flung around in a panic as Alee stepped in. Was the maid immune to alcohol? Edmonton had seen how she was drinking last night as she tortured Iliyal with her tempting jokes. How did she have the energy to stand? Edmonton tried to speak, then saw Fleur look at him, then at Alee, then back at him. This time, her cheeks were scarlet. ¡°We-we-we-we-It¡¯s not what it seems like!¡± Her mouth scrambled some words out. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure.¡± Alee said. She strutted in with two fizzing glasses. ¡°This will help.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± Edmonton asked, words were hard to speak today. ¡°Medicine.¡± Alee put the two glasses on the desk, then proceeded to think for a moment and handed them directly to the two on the bed. ¡°Drink. It¡¯s good for you.¡± She nudged them forwards. ¡°Go on, I squeezed lemons in them for taste.¡± Edmonton took it. It did indeed taste like lemonade. ¡°Do you want clothes?¡± Alee asked. ¡°You¡¯re not my mother.¡± Edmonton replied after he drank the glass. Fleur watched him for a moment, then carefully drank her own. ¡°Do you want to run through the corridors naked then?¡± Alee took his and Fleur¡¯s glass and set them on the table as she started folding up the clothes on the floor. ¡°I¡¯d rather have my clothes.¡± ¡°Thought so.¡± Alee said with a smile. ¡°Arascus called a meeting, I let you sleep in, it¡¯s in the usual meeting room in fifteen minutes.¡± She turned to the door and shouted. ¡°Raika! Bring the clothes!¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a circus for you to come in!¡± Fleur pulled the bedsheets up further around herself until only her head was exposed. Alee did not reply as golden-haired Raika stepped in with her arms full of clothes. There was a dagger on her belt, she saw the two on them bed and started to smile that wicked smile of hers. Edmonton had thought her a pretty girl at first, but he decided to start avoiding her after the first they talked. ¡°I knew it.¡± She said devilishly. ¡°You knew nothing!¡± ¡°I made a bet on you two.¡± She giggled smugly, an absolutely horrible he-he-he, and looked at Alee. ¡°Tasha owes me the big bucks now.¡± The two maids burst out in laughter. ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone about this!¡± Fleur shouted. Raika responded with that sneaky voice of hers that made every word she said sound distrusting. ¡°Of course I won¡¯t.¡± Edmonton sighed, if that voice said grass was green, he would bet on it being red. ¡°Maids never talk.¡± Alee said as she grabbed Raika¡¯s hand. ¡°Now I¡¯d suggest getting to the toilet before you make a mess over the carpets!¡± She disappeared out the door before Edmonton could ask why. He felt it almost immediately after the door slam shut. His stomach gurgled as whatever she had made him drink started doing its work. He barely made it to the toilet in Fleur¡¯s bathroom. Before he even finished, Fleur was throwing up into the bath. Maisara stepped through the Rancais Police Barricade, her armour appeared her, her axe carved a line into the tarmac. There was a protest behind her, a protest against her. She cared for it about as much as she cared for the Anarchians located inside the building. They had been blessed by their cursed Goddess somehow, powered up to a level standard men could not compete with. Unfortunately for them. They weren¡¯t facing mortals today, their opponent was Divine. Arascus, Ilwin, Iliyal, Sara, Fer and Neneria were already in the meeting room by the time Edmonton and Fleur arrived. They were on time, just. It had been a quick dress, Edmonton had barely managed to brush his teeth, Fleur had her hair tangled and out of place. Everyone looked at them as they entered the room. Arascus in his suit, Iliyal dressed like a general, Ilwin and Sara dressed as if they were heading for a business meeting. Sara smiled that leering smile at Edmonton he knew Fleur hated. Fer was in a simple shirt, yawning and playing with her fingers. Her golden hair cascaded down the back of her chair like a water. Neneria was cold and dressed in black as always, although she gave them a small smile. Last night¡¯s show of sorcery had warmed her up to them. Arascus broke the silence. ¡°Told you.¡± He leaned towards Sara and the woman shrugged. Two months ago, Edmonton would have never thought of questioning the God of Pride, but after spending so much time with him, he had grown confident enough to ask. ¡°Told you what?¡± ¡°We were betting on whether you¡¯d be late or not.¡± Arascus leaned forwards, arms on the table. ¡°Now this is a light meeting. It¡¯s just setting plans for things to come.¡± He extended his arm for them to take chairs at the end of the table. ¡°It¡¯s about Anassa.¡± ¡°Anassa?¡± Fleur instantly spoke up, her hands dropped and she stopped fixing her hair. Fer sat up, a bright smile painted on her face.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Anassa.¡± Arascus confirmed. ¡°That¡¯s the next target. You can probably see why you were invited.¡± The two sorcerers nodded quickly. Arascus gestured to Iliyal and the elf brought out a folder. How did the man manage to organize a stack of papers that thick after last night? Was he superhuman? Super-elven? Ilwin at least looked groggy. ¡°Indeed. Today marks the third day after Operation Misfortune and the third day Allasaria has not been seen. Not in Olympiada. Not even in Southern Arika. We don¡¯t know what happened to the woman.¡± ¡°She¡¯s not dead.¡± Fer said. ¡°Leona blessed her at the battle and stalled me.¡± Neneria added quietly. She looked down and started playing with her fingers. ¡°It was Leona.¡± Arascus said and waved his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself over it.¡± ¡°Indeed. We were there during the Great War. She was untouchable back then.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I have a theory about it.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°With the information Ilwin provided, she¡¯s been using her own energy to keep Olephia imprisoned.¡± He looked at the three Divines at the table. ¡°Now we know Olephia isn¡¯t easy to handle. Even for her, after a millennia, it could start to drain her.¡± ¡°It makes sense.¡± Arascus agreed. ¡°In the Great War, even air-cavalry would not get close to her.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Better to overprepare than to be caught lacking.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Leona has trained us well.¡± ¡°That¡¯s one way to put it.¡± Iliyal said as he turned a page in the folder. ¡°The plans change entirely on whether Allasaria is present or not. Elassa we account for in every situation.¡± Edmonton looked at Fleur. With these ageless beings talking, it seemed like there was nothing for them to add. ¡°And if Elassa is not there?¡± Edmonton asked. Fer flashed that laughing smile of hers at him. Her fangs exposed and her ears quivered. ¡°If we prepare for Elassa, then we prepare for everything her mages can throw at us.¡± Fer said. Edmonton nodded slowly. He felt stupid for even asking the question, but he supposed it was better to ask than not do anything. ¡°And if more Divines are there?¡± Edmonton asked, he tried not to shrink in his posture. Arascus noticed it immediately. ¡°If there¡¯s more than one Divine present, we retreat immediately. Time right now is on our side, there is no pressure to free her immediately.¡± Edmonton nodded as Arascus continued. ¡°We brought you in because you¡¯re familiar with the terrain of Arcadia. Don¡¯t beat yourself over asking questions.¡± ¡°Everyone does it at the start.¡± Ilwin added. ¡°You get used to it quickly.¡± Edmonton nodded. It was so odd after the schooling of Arcadia. There, they roleplayed meetings with everyone being forced to ask some trite. Then when it came to actual planning during group activities, everyone shut up. ¡°The presence of more than a million mages forces a quiet approach.¡± Iliyal said as he flipped a page. He finally looked away from the paper and looked to the two young sorcerers. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to know what is keeping Anassa trapped?¡± Edmonton looked to Fleur, then shook his head. ¡°We don¡¯t.¡± Fleur spoke up. ¡°She never shared that with us, but we think it¡¯s on the second floor.¡± ¡°She¡¯s never allowed us to go up there.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s dangerous.¡± Arascus said. The two sorcerers looked at each other again, then at Arascus. ¡°We¡­ ahhh¡­.¡± Fleur began. ¡°We never got that impression.¡± ¡°Anassa is like that.¡± Arascus said. ¡°She rarely says why, but if she thought you could handle it, you would have freed her already.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°She¡¯s the Goddess of Sorcery. She outmatches Elassa, only a few Divines are a danger to her and Anassa is fast. She would take the first chance at escape she can.¡± Arascus followed up. ¡°I see.¡± Edmonton had never thought Anassa had their interests at heart. ¡°Is there anything you can tell us about the Library?¡± Edmonton looked to Fleur, the girl brimmed with a smile as she launched into an explanation of the building¡¯s history and how she worked it out. Everyone in the room listened carefully, even Fer and Neneria. ¡°So it was built around 25 years after the Great War.¡± Iliyal wrote it down. ¡°It¡¯s going to be one of the ancient capture methods then, not any of the modern ones.¡± He pointed the pen at Fleur. ¡°That¡¯s a good catch.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Fleur played with her hair at the attention. ¡°It could have been updated.¡± Ilwin said and the table nodded. ¡°The defences yes, but not the capture method.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Although that is a consideration, Anassa may not be break the traps around her by herself.¡± He looked to Fer. ¡°I could.¡± Fer said. ¡°We can¡¯t field the Legion in Arcadia. The mages would wipe it out.¡± Neneria said quietly. ¡°Indeed.¡± Iliyal wrote something else down. ¡°Beastmen then.¡± He looked to Arascus. ¡°It¡¯s a stretch, but should we reveal the gun?¡± The table fell silent as Arascus thought. The God of Pride eventually replied. ¡°We will settle the matter of guns later when we get into operation specifics. Make a note though, have Alash design knew rifles for beastmen to use.¡± ¡°Make a big one!¡± Fer shouted immediately. ¡°For the minotaurs! Make it big!¡± ¡°Noted.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Alash will probably like it, he didn¡¯t like the plane job.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not his field of expertise.¡± Arascus said. ¡°There is one thing more I wish to discuss.¡± Iliyal closed the folder and set it on the table. ¡°Kassandora, we should contact her immediately.¡± Fleur and Edmonton looked at each other and the God laughed a low rumble. ¡°Not you two, Daganhoff, you¡¯ll contact them.¡± ¡°I want to raise a proposition.¡± Iliyal raised his hand. ¡°I want to go, rather than Sara.¡± ¡°Your presence could raise a problem with Kavaa, Iniri and Helenna about.¡± Arascus said, then he leaned back. ¡°Although¡­ You three.¡± Arascus pointed to Ilwin, Iliyal and Sara. ¡°You three go. No one is allowed to stay in Kirinyaa. This is to you Iliyal. I know she blessed you, but you are to return.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Iliyal collapsed into the back of his seat with a smile. Edmonton had seen the elf smile before, smile and laugh, he had even apparently cried when Ilwin returned from Operation SkyStealer, although Edmonton had not seen that, but he had never seen a man carry such a face of bliss as Iliyal did just then. ¡°Thank you.¡± He stood up and saluted Arascus. ¡°Sit down and don¡¯t embarrass yourself.¡± Arascus waved his hand towards Fleur and Edmonton. ¡°Look, these two will laugh at you.¡± Neither of them were laughing. ¡°You mean Kassandora? Goddess of War?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°I mean Kassandora, Goddess of War.¡± Arascus confirmed, he leaned back to speak to the whole table. ¡°Now I have a question I don¡¯t know, can we get a direct line set up to her?¡± ¡°You mean a phone?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°I¡¯ve heard phones can be intercepted. We did it with the Artica transmission.¡± The elves looked at each other. Fer raised her hands defensively and shook her head. ¡°Not my domain to talk in.¡± She said loudly. Edmonton thought for a moment as Sara shrugged. Did none of them know? They were ageless Gods after all, they wouldn¡¯t be up to date with technology. But Sara? Shouldn¡¯t she know? ¡°What about a VPN?¡± Edmonton asked. The table turned to him again. ¡°I apologize for the lack of knowledge.¡± Arascus said and moved his hand as if to hurry Edmonton along. ¡°But explain.¡± ¡°Lyca knows about them.¡± ¡°Of course he would.¡± Fleur muttered quietly. ¡°He¡¯s told me, it encrypts data. I don¡¯t really know but he pays for one.¡± Fleur shook her head and spoke over Edmonton. ¡°He pays for one to illegally download movies and games, it¡¯s not¡­ at least I don¡¯t think it can¡­¡± Arascus shook his head. ¡°Iliyal, Ilwin, Sara, the two of you set off to Arika in two days. Before then, I want a report from each of you on this.¡± Arascus turned to Fleur and Edmonton. ¡°You two, I¡¯d appreciate a report from as well. Although you have longer.¡± Edmonton felt Fleur¡¯s elbow hit him in the side as Arascus leaned back and clapped his hands. ¡°Very well. Meeting over.¡± Iliyal started to get up immediately. Fer rolled her eyes. ¡°Finally.¡± She said. ¡°First Leona, now the World.¡± Ilwin said as he stood up. ¡°I have a question.¡± Edmonton stopped the procedure. ¡°In regards to us. Are we going back to Arcadia?¡± Arascus raised an eyebrow. ¡°Do you want to?¡± ¡°Not particularly.¡± ¡°Then no. I graduate you two from the school. What sort of title would you receive?¡± ¡°A novice.¡± Edmonton replied. ¡°Don¡¯t demean yourselves. You¡¯re both sorcerers. Do you want certificates?¡± ¡°Really?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°Iliyal, write them up.¡± The elf chuckled and immediately started writing in his folder. A minute later, Arascus was signing them. He even pulled out a stamp and made sure to slam it hard on the paper before handing them to Edmonton and Fleur. Edmonton stared at the piece of paper. Iliyal¡¯s handwriting wasn¡¯t simply neat, it was a masterpiece of calligraphy. There it was: Certificate of Graduation: For Edmonton Weaver. Bestowed rank of Sorcerer. Signed. Arascus, God of Pride. Chapter 78 – The Calling Jungle Maisara looked out the window of the palace she was staying at. There the crowd was again. With its signs and its chant: ¡°Maisara, Go Home!¡± ¡°I can hear it!¡± Kassandora came to a stop when she heard one of the men shout. She turned and looked at the line of fifty men she had picked out. No one important, it was the men who had served the least amount of time before they cast away Kavaa and swore allegiance to her. They stood there in a line, on the red Arikan dirt, in shorts and light clothes, some had brought swords, others bottles of water. ¡°Who?¡± Kassandora shouted out, she was twenty steps ahead of them. A man raised his hand. The Arikan Sun today was furiously beaming down on them, good thing she had only brought a light white shirt, a skirt and sandals. Her hair was tied up into a long tail, Divines would not die of heatstroke, but she felt sweat on her face. ¡°You stay there! The rest, forwards! Stop if you feel anything!¡± The line of men advanced. Kassandora saw Kimani¡¯s band watch them from the nearby hill. Within five steps, ten men had stopped and shouted that they felt the Jungle¡¯s call. Twenty steps and everyone had come to a halt. Kassandora eyed the distance. A mile to the Jungle still. She sighed. ¡°Does anyone want to go forwards?¡± Some men awkwardly stood about, obviously afraid of the green wall behind Kassandora. One man answered. ¡°It¡¯s calling me, but I don¡¯t want to go.¡± Kassandora nodded. She had come to the edge of the Jungle before alone and felt nothing. It was indeed something on the level of Divines then. ¡°How does it feel?¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°I feel a whisper.¡± One man replied. ¡°It¡¯s like my mother is calling me forwards.¡± Another added. ¡°Like I¡¯m returning home.¡± A third answered. Kassandora went down the line of men, everyone gave something similar. It was a pleasant feeling that beckoned them closer. ¡°I need a volunteer!¡± Kassandora shouted, no one raised their hand. ¡°Double rations for today!¡± Twelve men were brave enough to take it, Kassandora picked the one closest to herself. ¡°The rest, do not move or approach. Stand here! You, what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Thomas Babbage, General.¡± He saluted proudly. A tall man, somewhat young to be a cleric. Kassandora scanned looked him up and down. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, but then he was an ex-cleric, Kavaa¡¯s blessings would always make someone age better. Late twenties then, maybe early thirties, with a full head of brown hair, a jaw to make girls swoon and bright green eyes. ¡°Babbage, five steps forwards!¡± He bravely took them. ¡°What can you feel?¡± ¡°It¡¯s louder General!¡± ¡°Five step forwards.¡± The cycle repeated nine times. Each time the man came to a stop and Kassandora measured the distance. She stayed a fair distance away from him, her own presence could interfere with the Jungle¡¯s call. ¡°Five step forwards!¡± Kassandora shouted. The man¡¯s voice was beginning to crack. The forty-nine behind him merely watched. ¡°Stop!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°Babbage! Stop! I command you. Stop!¡± ¡°I-I can¡¯t!¡± His voice sounded as if he was drunk. His posture broke, and he started stumbling towards the Jungle. Kassandora scanned the distance again, so it at amount eight hundred metres. That did put a damper on her plans to merely fell the trees with axes and saws. She watched the man approach. Seven hundred. Six. At five hundred, the Jungle started to move. Vines came rolling out of the green like a pack of hunting snakes. They cracked against the ground like lightning, straight for Babbage. Kassandora was faster. Joyeuse appeared in her hands, she rushed forwards like a bolt released from a ballista. Joyeuse cut through the vines effortlessly, that wasn¡¯t any test though. It would cut through stone when she wielded it. She grabbed the man¡¯s shoulder, he kept stumbling forwards. ¡°Babbage, wake up. Thomas! Tom!¡± Kassandora shouted. She poured some magic into him. The man rejected her entirely. A Divine-threat entirely then. Kassandora knelt down, threw the man over her shoulder and retreated back as more vines came from the Jungle. These were thicker, and they slowly slithered along the ground. So it could learn and adapt too. ¡°Everyone, return to base! March! Orderly!¡± She shouted. The men started to turn around as Kassandora watched them. Thirty-five, the men who stopped first and furthest away from that green cliff turned. Some had to drag their feet for the first few steps. Kassandora watched it all. She caught up to the closest man and threw Babbage on the ground. ¡°You, with water, over here!¡± One of the soldiers approached and handed the bottle to Kassandora. She threw it over Thomas¡¯ face. He spluttered, his eyes opened and he panicked for a moment on the ground. ¡°Wa-wa-wha-what?!¡± He crawled away from Kassandora before his mind caught up to his body and he calmed down. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°You tell me.¡± Kassandora said as she turned to look at the fourteen men still standing. Three had managed to pull themselves away. One man had fallen over and had to crawl back. The vines had stopped and retreated. They even pulled the ropes she cut back into the forest. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Thomas said as Kassandora threw him the water bottle. He drank half right away. ¡°I just¡­ I don¡¯t know. I just blacked out. I can¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°Did you hear me shout?¡± ¡°I heard the five steps forwards.¡± ¡°And the stops?¡± Kassandora asked. Joyeuse finally disappeared from her hand, the greatsword merely vanished into thin air. Thomas merely shook his head. So it was like that then? They would have to engage from range then. How do you cut down a forest from range though? Kassandora wished she had sorcerers about. Her eyes scanned that great green wall of jungle again. It was a picturesque view, it crawled over the mountains and into the valleys in the distance, but it was odd. Jungles were supposed to be loud, filled with animal cries and shaking trees. This one, the wind barely rustled the leaves.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. And it watched her. She was sure of that. She felt it when she had crested the hill, and she felt it now. Hundreds of eyes all over her. Three of the men could not pull themselves away. They merely stood there. One had managed to get his arms shaking and was trying to knock himself over. One by one, Kassandora went and brought them back until they could move themselves. They all said the same things. They wanted to return, but they couldn¡¯t. Something was holding them in place. ¡°And your name?¡± Kassandora asked when she. Apart from Thomas, this was the fellow who had travelled the furthest. ¡°Leonard Koch.¡± ¡°And you couldn¡¯t move?¡± The man nodded. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like I was frozen. Do you know when you¡¯re scared?¡± Kassandora nodded, although she had rarely if ever felt the sensation. ¡°Just pure terror, I couldn¡¯t move, it was like someone was holding a blade at my throat and calling me forwards.¡± ¡°And now?¡± Kassandora asked as she knelt down and patted red dust off the man¡¯s shirt. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing calling you to the Jungle anymore?¡± ¡°Not anymore.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Go back to camp.¡± She stood up straight and shouted. ¡°I want a report from everyone here! Make it long or make it short, just tell me what it was!¡± She stayed at the back of the party, her attention split on the men in front and the Jungle behind. Eventually, they crested that hill in a tight march. Kassandora split off to join Kimani and his group. The Arikans were silently watching them all throughout the exercise. ¡°I told you, it beckons you forth.¡± Kimani said when Kassandora approached. He stood there, spear by on his back and shield in his arm. ¡°I had to see it.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°The Clerics said you enter the Jungles with them?¡± Kimani nodded. ¡°How do you resist it then?¡± ¡°The Jungle grows tired when the moon disappears. Our shamans carve runes into us, then we enter.¡± ¡°Into you?¡± ¡°Into our bodies. The Clerics heal us after.¡± ¡°Do you ever find anyone?¡± ¡°One in five who disappear are found.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s that like?¡± ¡°They shamble slowly further in, we don¡¯t know where.¡± Kimani said then chuckled and corrected himself. ¡°Well we do, it¡¯s to the Jungle¡¯s stomach, but where that is, I don¡¯t know.¡± Kassandora nodded. So they merely had a folk tale and not a geographical location. ¡°By the way, your clothes.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve not succeeded yet.¡± ¡°It was for help with the villages.¡± Kimani replied. ¡°I didn¡¯t help with that.¡± ¡°We asked a question and you gave an answer, we won¡¯t be held in your debt.¡± ¡°My answer wasn¡¯t a particularly good one.¡± Kassandora turned to two men, tall and dark, approaching neatly bundled clothes. ¡°Our philosophy is that when a men holds a knife to his own throat, we let him slit it. We learn through mistakes. You saved eight hundred lives with that answer.¡± Kassandora took the clothes without further argument. They would force them on her anyway, and she already knew she would offend them if she rejected them. Kimani continued as Kassandora curiously unwrapped one of the bundles. ¡°This war you wish to wage, I have no hope in its success.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I wage it and you don¡¯t.¡± Kassandora replied as she unfurled a shirt. It was indeed what she asked for. The material was odd, as if it was hand-woven grass, but it was sturdy and soft. Another shirt that was short enough to reveal her stomach. A skirt and another. A pair of trousers. Even a traditional dress. They had really gone all out. ¡°Thank you for this.¡± Kassandora said. She supposed politeness would not kill her. ¡°It¡¯s our payment but also a gift from the villages, they were delusional by the time we got there. A few more days and they would have gone in too.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the expansion like?¡± ¡°These camps will have to be moved by two weeks¡¯ time, it is speeding up.¡± Kimani turned to Kassandora. ¡°Arusei say it senses you and the other Divines and doesn¡¯t like having competition.¡± ¡°Like a predator that doesn¡¯t want to share hunting grounds.¡± Kassandora said and Kimani nodded. ¡°If you can¡¯t find a way to stall or slow it, we¡¯ll ask you to leave. You have roughly two months.¡± Kimani turned and pointed to the red hill in the distance with his spear. ¡°There¡¯s a stream after that hill. It will stop the Jungle for a while, and then it will dry up. When it gets to the stream, that¡¯s when we want you gone.¡± ¡°Thanks for the heads up.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no reason for us to hide things from you in a situation like this. We won¡¯t monitor you as we do Kavaa, but we want results.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll get them.¡± ¡°I hope so.¡± Kassandora returned to the camp with the bundles in her hands. Here someone was watching her too, she could always tell. It wasn¡¯t a menacing gaze like the Jungle, but curiosity. Kassandora wished her gift was as powerful as Fer¡¯s, her sister could pick out a person from a crowd behind her simply based off their intentions. Kassandora¡¯s power simply annoyed her. She was a Goddess, of course people would be watching her. Kassandora walked to her own tent, in her own camp. There was commotion about. Commotion was always about during construction, Kavaa had basically kicked her out to sleep in the dirt after the day. Kassandora smugly grinned to herself as she looked at Of Health¡¯s camp. Kavaa was simply sour Kassandora was far more popular than her. Two soldiers came up to her. There was no reason to give them ranks yet, two thousand people could be managed by Kassandora herself. There was a woman with them. Dark haired, in a pale shirt and trekking shorts. Her hands were tied behind her back with rope. The taller soldier spoke first. ¡°This woman was found sneaking into the camp when you were away. She had this.¡± The man pulled a dagger from his belt and presented it to the Goddess. ¡°How very dangerous.¡± Kassandora said sarcastically, she took the dagger and gave it a juggle with a hand. It was finely balanced, obviously something by hands that knew what they were rather than a cheap assassin. ¡°She refuses to reveal her name and intention, and only says she wishes to speak to you.¡± The soldier continued. ¡°We searched her, there¡¯s no documents on her either.¡± ¡°Lovely.¡± Kassandora said sourly. She supposed assassins would be sent eventually, but this girl? The Pantheon really had lost its touch. She crouched down to bring her eyes level with the woman¡¯s. A mixture of excitement and disbelief stared back at Kassandora. Not an assassin then. ¡°Who are you?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I cannot say yet.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not here to play games.¡± ¡°I have a message.¡± The woman said. ¡°From someone who knows you.¡± ¡°A lot of people know me.¡± Kassandora replied. The woman started to speak as if she was reciting something. ¡°War was given a chance, and War gave me a chance.¡± The woman said nervously and struggled with her bindings as Kassandora contained her shock. Those were words she spoke to bless the men she had chosen to lead Arascus¡¯ armies in the Great War. ¡°He said you would know what it means.¡± ¡°I do indeed.¡± She stood up straight. Who though? One of the elven ones, the humans and dwarves would be long dead by the passage of time. A Tlerin? A Tremari? Iliyal had been talented¡­ ¡°Unbind her.¡± Kassandora said and the soldiers immediately followed. ¡°I understand you girl. What is your name?¡± ¡°Sara Daganhoff. Duchess.¡± The woman rubbed her arms and winced at the red marks along her wrists. Kassandora looked around the campsite. Around at the hills. They were empty. Then the mountains further ahead. She narrowed her eyes as a figure caught her gaze. Sometimes, she wished she had Fer¡¯s perfect vision. But sometimes, her own eyes were enough. There were two figures far away watching her, dark from the distance, but she saw them. One of them wore a red cloak Kassandora had personally bestowed upon him. Chapter 79 – The Jungle Takes Olephia continued to hum as she floated through the air. Eventually, she reached the edge of the massive ice sheet. There was a dark ocean ahead of her. It had been calm from the distance but started to rage as she got closer. The ice and snow started to steam as she got closer to the ground. She could not land here. She slowly lifted into the air and set out onto the ocean. The gentle hum of Chaos made its way north. ¡°It¡¯s that way, isn¡¯t it?¡± Kassandora pointed to the two figures she made out on that red cliff. It was more of a stone dropped from the sky than a natural mountain. Sara looked at where Kassandora was pointing and nodded. ¡°And are you to be at this meeting?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I¡¯d prefer to.¡± Kassandora thought for a moment. If that was one of her Generals, his opinion of her would not change if she made him wait a week up there. Frankly, he¡¯d probably prefer it. This girl proclaimed herself as some Duchess, it may do well to be in her good favours. Kassandora took a deep breath. Alone, she could cover the distance in fifteen minutes, with the woman, it would be a few hours to hike. Kassandora could carry her she supposed. Looked at the nervous girl again. This was a modern Duchess? She seemed more like the sort of woman her soldiers would sneak into camp to share a good night with. Sara looked away and let out some stress with a nervous giggle. Kassandora sighed, simply from looking at her, she would not manage to hold on even if Kass did allow Sara to ride on her back, but then if she carried her, she could hold it over Sara¡¯s head for a while at least. ¡°Come.¡± She leaned down and flung the girl over her shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t scream, you¡¯re not wearing a skirt, there¡¯s nothing to see.¡± Kassandora leapt across a field in one step. The journey took fifteen minutes, the Sun above had barely even moved. Kassandora made the figures out after the distance had been half closed. Iliyal and Ilwin. She recognised the former faster, that man would never leave her memory, Ilwin she remembered from the encounter when she was still captured in Olympiada. Kassandora landed on the ground and squeezed Sara. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± ¡°S-Sick.¡± Sara barely mumbled the words out. ¡°Hold it for one last jump.¡± Kassandora crouched, she poured some power into Sara to strengthen her body, and then cracked the ground when she jumped. In a few seconds, she scaled the cliff and landed before Iliyal and Ilwin with a flourish. In these simple clothes, she wasn¡¯t dressed for a reunion, but then they weren¡¯t either. Ilwin wore a pale shirt, shorts, boots. On his belt, on one side he had a sword, on the other he had a flare gun. Iliyal dressed the same, with the only addition being his cape. The older elf¡¯s face quivered as he tried to hold himself together. ¡°Warmaster, I report for duty!¡± He shouted as Kassandora crouched to roll Sara off her shoulder. The woman crawled onto her knees and began to throw up. Kassandora dismissed the two elves with a salute of her own, knowing Iliyal, he would hold it until he died of heatstroke. ¡°I see we¡¯re doing good.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Excellent, never been better!¡± Iliyal answered. Kassandora took a step away from Sara before the woman¡¯s vomit reached her sandals and wiped her hands to get the red dust of them. ¡°It¡¯s good that you did not come close, Kavaa is in her camp.¡± ¡°I thought so.¡± Iliyal said, he could not take his eyes off her. Kassandora took another step to the side. Iliyal had always been an odd one. He was a strategic genius, unparalleled in tactics too, but he grew fanatical over the Great War. That was no surprise of course, all her Generals grew to respect and trust her judgements, but Iliyal would be first to march off a cliff if Kassandora said so. Still, he hadn¡¯t lost his sharpness if he accounted for Kavaa being in the base. ¡°As you can see, I have escaped from Olympiada.¡± Kassandora said. She took another step to the side, Iliyal was focused on her like a hawk on a mouse. ¡°You were on the news.¡± Iliyal said. Ilwin seemed to notice his grandfather¡¯s behaviour and grabbed his shoulder. ¡°Should we sit?¡± He asked. ¡°They could be watching us.¡± ¡°They¡¯re working with me now.¡± Kassandora said as she turned to the camps. ¡°The large one is the Clerics. The one next to it are men who have decided to join me. That one over there.¡± She pointed. ¡°That¡¯s Kirinyaans.¡± She clapped her hands together and turned back to the elves. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯ve been busy, it¡¯s good to see you, if you spend a night here, I¡¯ll haggle with Kavaa to forget your grievances against her.¡± The two men looked at each for a moment as Sara finished throwing up. ¡°Why do I always get these jobs?¡± She moaned, tried to stand up, then rolled onto the ground next to the puddle. ¡°Don¡¯t complain, it¡¯s unbecoming of nobility.¡± Kassandora replied. Better to focus on her than Iliyal. Elves sired children rarely but only a grandchild after a thousand years? She didn¡¯t exactly know what to say. ¡°I¡¯m not even real nobility.¡± Sara moaned, her eyes closed. ¡°There¡¯s no lands or palaces, it¡¯s just a title Arascus has given me.¡± Kassandora, for once, could not contain her emotion. She felt her jaw drop, she blinked and stared at the woman on the ground. Did she just hear that? Did the woman say that name? There was no¡­ But she wasn¡¯t lying, one would have to be superhuman to lie in a state like that.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Excuse me?¡± She looked at the two elves. Ilwin scratched the back of his of his as Iliyal stood at attention. ¡°Did I just hear that?¡± ¡°Yes Goddess!¡± Iliyal answered promptly. ¡°God Arascus did indeed bestow the title of Duchess upon Sara Daganhoff.¡± There was some bile in his tone when he said her name. ¡°Oh.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°So he¡¯s out?¡± ¡°I got him out.¡± Sara moaned. ¡°There was a drill. You know what a drill is right?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Kassandora replied. She only knew from a few days ago, when she found out after reading about Kirinyaan mining operations that had to be abandoned because of the Jungle¡¯s expansion. ¡°That was another bad job.¡± The woman rolled over in the dirt, away from the puddle her stomach had made and lay flat on the ground, facing the sky, arms spread. ¡°You¡¯ve broken every bone in my body.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve torn some muscles.¡± Kassandora said and shook her head. Arascus was out? Arascus was out! That meant? That meant everything! She dropped to sit on the ground. Ilwin followed along and she had to wave Iliyal down for the elf to sit. ¡°So? He¡¯s out? How? Where? Is he coming here?¡± ¡°We¡¯re stationed in central Karaina. Eastern Epa.¡± Iliyal said promptly. He reported on it as he did back in the day, short sentences packed to the brim with information as if he was afraid to waste even a single word, he talked of Fer and Atis. Of Neneria and both Operations: SkyStealer and Misfortune. Kassandora hung onto all of them. ¡°He has lost some power, we work under the impression that the Pantheon does not know. It would be a mistake to reveal his presence now.¡± Iliyal finished. Kassandora sat there for a while. ¡°Leona is dead?¡± ¡°Leona is indeed dead.¡± Iliyal replied. Kassandora burst out in laughter. So it was done. These men had accomplished in less than year what they could not in a century back then. She wanted to cry. The march of technology had continued until the Gods were worthless! Atis felled by bullets? What was that? She knew about it from Ilwin, but to hear Iliyal say it himself was a different matter entirely. And Leona now? Because of a plane crash to Artica! What was that? It was comedy! She settled down eventually as her mind got to work. The knowledge these people had access to technology on such a scale was another matter entirely. If they could build planes. She turned to the jungle. ¡°My idea originally was to indebt this nation to me and work from there. Kavaa and her men serve as good defences, Iniri would be able to fix the seasonal famines they have, Helenna would have managed public relations, a new Malam so to say.¡± Malam was the Goddess of Hatred, another of her Arascus¡¯ Daughter Goddesses, she had an exceptionally sweet way with words. Iliyal nodded, but his face soured. ¡°Kirinyaa does not have the industry of Epa.¡± He said. ¡°Pantheon Peace is actively enforced in Epa though. This country could be modernized based off the fact it would become the world¡¯s factory of arms.¡± She tapped her head. ¡°Muskets and the like, although you¡¯ve beaten me to it.¡± Iliyal thought for a moment and then nodded. ¡°A greater union of Arika could be hoped for too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all for the future now. Arascus is back.¡± Kassandora said the words with pure bliss. She looked at the blue sky, then at Ilwin. ¡°You knew, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Knew what?¡± ¡°About Arascus, when we met in the prison.¡± The elf replied with a slow nod. ¡°I did.¡± He said eventually. ¡°Good job on holding back. You really are Iliyal¡¯s descendant.¡± Ilwin¡¯s cheeks when red and Iliyal roared with gleeful laughter. ¡°Hear that Ilwin! Praise from the Goddess herself!¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes. ¡°It is good that you informed me. We can make Kirinyaa into a new base of operations.¡± ¡°Arascus is focused on Epa at the moment.¡± Kassandora nodded. She and Arascus thought in different ways. She usually took the easy part of merely capturing land, Arascus knew how to hold it when the war finished. If he said Epa, then Epa it was. There was no point to argue and besides, any leadership was better than everyone clamouring for control. She saw what that did to the White Pantheon. ¡°Do you want me to return?¡± ¡°No.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°We wanted to contact you to let you know you have allies. Fer and Neneria can be transported to Kirinyaa at a day¡¯s notice, anytime. Fer¡¯s beastmen can also be brought, although that will take longer. Our airfleet can only transport about a hundred bodies at a time.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°So I will continue with my original plan.¡± She looked out to the Jungle in the horizon, a mass of green. ¡°But there is one thing I would like assistance with.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± ¡°This country is under threat from that Jungle, it grows and grows.¡± She gave her own explanation. There was no reason to hold things back. If she could not trust these people, then who could she trust? The elves listened closely, Sara struggled on the ground and tried to sit up. Every now and then, she let out a cry of pain as she tried to move her arms. Kassandora finished up. ¡°All in all, mortals cannot get close, we¡¯ll need something that can cut it at range. Four sorcerers won¡¯t be-¡° A cry interrupted her. Helenna¡¯s voice. ¡°KASSANDORA! KAVAA! KASSANDORA! KAVAA!¡± ¡°Wait here.¡± Two minutes earlier Helenna followed Iniri as they made their way to the jungle. It was a green cliff, that was the best way Helenna could describe it. The red dirt suddenly gave way to a wall of impenetrable brush and tree and leaf and vine that block all vision, worse was the feeling that jungle gave off. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have taken Kass?¡± Helenna asked. Every step the Goddess of Nature took was a step slower than the last. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to ask of her again.¡± Iniri replied quietly. ¡°She¡¯d have gone with you.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I know she would, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want to ask, she¡¯s done enough for us already.¡± ¡°She destroyed the Pantheon.¡± ¡°We destroyed the Pantheon.¡± Iniri said and came to a halt. Helenna merely rolled her eyes. There wasn¡¯t much she could say against that. ¡°So what are you here for anyway?¡± ¡°She asked me to investigate the Jungle, but to keep a distance.¡± Iniri said slowly. ¡°I see we¡¯re still being treated like children.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not. She¡¯d come with us if we we¡¯re being treated like children.¡± Iniri took a tentative step forwards. She raised her hands towards that great mass of green. The grass red ground around Iniri¡¯s feet started to sprout with grass and flowers, and then Iniri stopped. ¡°That is not my demesne.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°That Jungle is not my demesne.¡± Iniri said. She took another step forwards. ¡°But I can hear it.¡± Helenna noticed it immediately. There was something wrong with her voice. ¡°Iniri? Iniri. INIRI!¡± She grabbed Iniri¡¯s shoulder and pulled her back. ¡°Iniri? What¡¯s gotten into you?¡± Iniri shook her head and blinked. Her emerald eyes stared at Kavaa in fear as the jungle rustled. ¡°Save me.¡± She whispered and pushed Helenna away. ¡°INIRI!¡± Helenna screamed as Iniri took a step backwards. The jungle opened, vines tore out of that green wall. They moved faster than Zerus¡¯ lightning, cracking through the air like whips. One caught Iniri¡¯s stomach. Another her arm. Her leg. And then Iniri was gone. Helenna scrambled to her feet and could not move. Terror ran down her body. Iniri was gone. Helenna felt wetness on her cheeks, tears. That woke her up. She turned and fled. ¡°KASSANDORA! KAVAA! KASSANDORA! KAVAA!¡± Chapter 80 – The Aldanstein Meeting ¡°Send a mayday, that is not a storm¡± In the Alchan mountain, south of Doschia, east of Rancais, north of Rilia, in the centre of Epa, was an ancient palace, Aldanstein. It had stood there for a few centuries, with all the traces of modern castle building techniques. Round towers, pointed roofs, walls covered in glass windows. It was a product of Pantheon Peace, a palace built for comfort rather than a fortress built for war. The gatehouse had no gate, the walls had no crenelations, there was no moat. It had a winding road, almost as if a giant had drawn a dark line on the white canvas of Alchan snows, and a heliport. Today, that heliport was full. The carpark was brimming with dark vehicles, all with tinted glass and luxurious interiors. People meandered about; guards, police, servants and chauffeurs as they waited for the people who had disappeared into the upper levels of palace Aldanstein. The people who managed the lands of Epa. ¡°That is everyone.¡± King Wissel Ellenheim said, ruler of Doschia. A man in his early forties who had served as caretaker of the land for more than half of his life. ¡°Sit, the meal will come later, I will pre-emptively apologize for the modesty of it.¡± Doschia¡¯s mascot Goddess, Saksma, stood behind him. A tall woman, beautiful, although all Divines were. With long golden hair that fell to her waist and brought contrast to the green dress. She smiled at Rancais¡¯ Paida, just as tall, but with a more refined face and eyes the colour of her nation¡¯s prized purple wine. ¡°Cutting costs Wissel?¡± King Richard VI, ruler of Allia said. A handsome man, the youngest of them all here. Only thirty-one, he had sat on his for a mere three years after his father, Richard V, retired. Wissel shook his head and spoke as he took his place in the table. ¡°It would not be fit to spend extravagantly in a time like this. The Konigreichbund Ministers send their regards and wish you good luck in your marriage.¡± ¡°Likewise all of Rancais cheers that Allia¡¯s succession is secured.¡± President Artois said. Head of legislature in Rancais. Tall, dark haired and blue-eyed, he was only dressed in a suit compared to the nobilities royal garbs. ¡°King Louis apologizes for his absence and sent me in his stead. He has asked for understanding with regards to the Anarchia issue in Rancais.¡± ¡°It is understandable indeed, you had your hands full with Anarchia and now the Pantheon sent Maisara.¡± Richard replied. ¡°Although you said this meeting was about that.¡± ¡°About Divine involvement in Epa.¡± Wissel confirmed. He watched Jozef, take his seat. President of Lubska, a man in his fifties. The man dressed modestly, he had even come in a civilian helicopter all the way. He met Wissel¡¯s eyes and nodded before speaking. ¡°Olonia could not attend. She is busy with flooding in the south and we¡¯ve found our own Anarchian cells in the country.¡± That was Lubska¡¯s own mascot Goddess. Wissel thought little of it, but Saksma would probably not be happy. The mascots liked each other. ¡°My condolences.¡± Jozef¡¯s chair made a terrible sound as he brought it close to the wooden table and pulled out a folder of papers from his briefcase. ¡°I understand did want to bring up another issue.¡± ¡°I think I know which one it is.¡± Wissel said. The last man, Aimone came sat down. Ruler of Rilia, he was dressed in all extravagant oranges and reds that brought to mind a perfect Rilian sunset. Agrita, mascot of Rilia, stood close by. Shorter than Paida and Saksma, far less noble, but far more homely, with a chest and rear that always called for attention. The tight dress did not help. Wissel pulled his eyes off her, he had never liked Agrita. ¡°Very well gentlemen.¡± Wissel brought out his own stack of papers now that everyone had sat down. Having served for two decades and since such a young age, people always respected his words, he cared little for theatrics. He disliked them even, but sometimes, situations did call for a speech and some drama. ¡°Today marks fourteen months since the start of Doschia¡¯s recession. Twelve months since the fighting started in Rancais. We¡¯ve seen Anarchians spread out even to Lubska now, we¡¯ve seen the recession take seven percent of our continent¡¯s total economy. At the rate we are going now, neither will get better. We¡¯ve begged the White Pantheon for assistance with both.¡± He took a sigh. ¡°And after so long, they sent Maisara for one issue and Fortia for the other.¡± He pulled out an image. It had been on every news channel for the past week. The image that Everything in Epa had broadcast to the world, of the battle on top of Olympiada. ¡°And this is what the White Pantheon has been up to while Epa has been suffering. You all know me gentlemen, you know I am not one for speaking in grandiosities.¡± He took a breath. ¡°But this is, without a doubt, the greatest threat to stability in Epa since the Great War.¡± The room descended in silence. Wissel had thought it would. He wasn¡¯t a schemer, nor did he care much for what people thought of him. He was the King of Doschia, that title was enough for him. He continued. ¡°I¡¯ve sent this image to historians. I am sure you have too.¡± Richard answered. ¡°I did not want to believe it.¡± Jozef leaned forwards. ¡°That was one of the situations I was hoping you¡¯d bring up.¡± He pulled out a piece of paper with a photograph of an ancient portrait of a Goddess. Tall, red haired, in dark armour and with terrible crimson eyes. Below it, something was written in pen. Kassandora, Goddess of War, Daughter-Goddess of Arascus. ¡°I think everyone knew immediately.¡± Artois crossed his arms and leaned back. ¡°Our historians had it down and we tried to contain the leak.¡± ¡°There was nothing to contain after EIE aired it.¡± Wissel said. ¡°EIE did air it, but the image was out on the internet before this.¡± Richard spoke up. EIE was an Allian company after all. ¡°I¡¯m not blaming you for the leak. It has happened, we can only work around it now. Better that EIE broke the news than one of us.¡± Wissel said. Aimone chuckled grimly before speaking. ¡°Imagine the speech.¡± He raised his hands in a grand theatrical gesture. ¡°Dear people of Epa, I am sorry, but Kassandora is out. Yes, the Kassandora you¡¯re all thinking of. Don¡¯t be afraid, we definitely have it under control.¡± He dropped his arms and folded them again. ¡°I was joking, but it¡¯s not funny.¡± Wissel nodded along and Richard spoke up. ¡°There is actually information that has not been leaked, courtesy of AMNI.¡± That was the Allian Ministry of National Information. He too sounded grim. ¡°It¡¯s only hearsay, but it lines up with what we do know. And it¡¯s bad.¡± ¡°What?¡± Wissel asked. ¡°Kavaa, Helenna & Iniri are to be kicked out of the White Pantheon.¡± Richard replied. ¡°But with the fact we know that Kassandora has retreated to Kirinyaa¡­¡± ¡°And that Kavaa has recalled all her orders from Epa.¡± Jozef said, he stalled for a moment, then quietly continued. ¡°To Kirinyaa.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to add, my government received a notice from Olympiada to stop and arrest all Clerics still swearing allegiance to Kavaa.¡± Aimone said and Agrita shook her head behind him. ¡°I did too.¡± Wissel replied. ¡°As did I.¡± Artois added. ¡°Not here.¡± Jozef said. ¡°Although all our domestic Orders were in Arika already.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± Richard added. ¡°Are you going to go through with it?¡± ¡°Do I want an open civil war?¡± Artois replied. ¡°The Clerics are loved.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretending the letter has not arrived.¡± Wissel said. Anytime the Pantheon made of their ridiculous demands was a lose-lose situation, but this felt more like a death-death situation; death by mob & pitchfork, or death by Allasaria.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°I¡¯ve not replied to it either.¡± Aimone said and Agrita nodded with a hmph from behind him. ¡°Letters get misplaced all the time and Rilia is not known for its efficiency anyway, is it?¡± The table had some laughter at the self-depreciation joke at that. ¡°But as I was leaving, something else came through, this one I can¡¯t pretend to ignore, an Invention brought it.¡± ¡°What?¡± Wissel asked. ¡°A demand to embargo Kirinyaa.¡± The king replied. ¡°I assume you¡¯ll get it too.¡± ¡°I received word of it on the phone on the way here. An invention came to Zawitz and personally presented it to our Sejm and then the Senat.¡± Local words for their government. Wissel had studied some Lubskan for his visits. Jozef shook his head. ¡°A god of cutlery apparently.¡± ¡°We got the god of radios at least.¡± Aimone replied with a chuckle before looking over the other three. ¡°But if Rilia and Lubska got it, you will too.¡± ¡°So embargo it is.¡± Wissel replied. ¡°We can¡¯t stand against the Pantheon, and Kirinyaa is poor.¡± ¡°Embargoes in recessions.¡± Artois said. ¡°Truly genius.¡± ¡°It is what it is. We can¡¯t stand against them.¡± Wissel replied. ¡°But since they¡¯re openly treating us like this, I would like to get the point of the meeting. A new vision for Epa.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± ¡°The Anarchians and the recession will result in revolutions, every academician in Doschia already agrees that someone¡¯s head will roll.¡± ¡°In Rancais, we¡¯ve already given decentralization compromises and they did little. Now two provinces are aiming for independence referendums precisely because of the concessions in those compromises.¡± Artois said. ¡°I want to avert that, salvage what we have.¡± Wissel said. ¡°It is radical however.¡± ¡°How radical?¡± Jozef asked. ¡°It¡¯s why I asked only you here. Combined, Allia, Rancais, Rilia, Lubska and Doschia account for sixty percent of the entire Epan population. Economically, we are seventy percent. In manufacturing, practically everything made in Epa has the stamp of one of our five countries. What we decide here, the other nations of the Epan Community will follow.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°We cut the fat. Gracya will obviously never join.¡± Wissel said, that was the nation Olympiada and Arcadia sat in. ¡°But when the ship is sinking, we don¡¯t have the luxury of having time to beg to step on the lifeboats. We ring the alarm and cast off when we¡¯re ready.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Jozef said. ¡°If we don¡¯t avert civil war in Rancais, it will spread to Doschia and then how many millions will die? Same with the recession. Foodbanks in Zawitz are running low, imagine that? Starvation in the largest grain producer in the Epan Community?¡± He shook his head. ¡°So what do you suggest Wissel?¡± Wissel took a breath. ¡°It is radical indeed, but I have talked it over with the Konigreichbund. The ministers agree.¡± He sighed again. ¡°At this point, the economic crisis cannot be stalled. The Doschian financial sector has entered a death-spiral. We can¡¯t stop it, we can¡¯t reverse it. But we can find a scapegoat to take the blame.¡± The man sighed heavily. When he became King at the age of the nineteen, he had never thought he would be talking about a plot against the Divine Mountain. ¡°You mean¡­¡± Richard did not say the name. ¡°I mean Fortia, Goddess of Peace. The White Pantheon said it would help, it sent her. She has no knowledge of this, I do not blame her of course, she is the Goddess of Peace, not the Goddess of Economics.¡± He sighed. ¡°But¡­¡± Artois broke it the minute-long silence. ¡°But indeed.¡± ¡°Likewise, the same can be done in Rancais.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Artois said. ¡°You have been having anti-Maisara protests, have you not?¡± ¡°Her methods¡­¡± Artois shrugged. ¡°Well, she goes in and kills everyone.¡± ¡°Has she stalled the violence though?¡± ¡°Order has been restored to Aris and the neighbouring towns, she¡¯ll be sent south.¡± ¡°You let her go South, you let her go under notion that you have no right to interfere with Divine Matters as per the Olympiadan Directives, and then you abandon her once she cleans up the mess.¡± ¡°That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.¡± Artois said. ¡°A bad taste in your mouth is better than a rope around your neck, Maisara is effective, she can go to northern Rillia after that, then south-eastern Epa, then circle to Lubska before finishing at Doschia. Give her all the logistical assistance she needs but don¡¯t crack down on the protests, then say you¡¯ve won and beaten Olympiada.¡± ¡°That would actually go against the Directive.¡± ¡°That is the final step of this plan. Once Maisara is finished with her slaughter, we expel both her and Fortia and rebuild Epa from the ashes.¡± ¡°You mean, cut ties with the Pantheon.¡± Artois replied. ¡°If what AMNI says is true, there is no White Pantheon anymore. How can they kick out the three most loved Goddesses they have?¡± ¡°If they released Kassandora, they can.¡± Artois said. ¡°If they released Kassandora, then it raises even more questions about what is happening on Olympiada. People would rather follow Iniri, Helenna and Kavaa rather than Allasaria.¡± Wissel said. ¡°However we if step away from Olympiada, we have need insurance.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± ¡°To break Pantheon Peace.¡± The silence this time crushed and deafened. ¡°The people would never agree to the creation of an official standing army.¡± Richard finally said. Wissel finally took out a breath, the fact they weren¡¯t immediately against it but against the logistics meant they agreed, they only needed to be shown how. ¡°An official army is off the table of course.¡± Wissel brought out more papers. Some for all of them. Doschia had already began its silent buildup. ¡°But an increase in police recruitment. A modernization of their armour. Anti-magic bows under the guise of countering Anarchia¡¯s magic. Support for rural hunting clubs, any outdoor activities really. This year, we are holding the first Epan Archery competition in Doschia. I invite everyone at the table to send their best sharpshooters.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Jozef flicked through the papers as his eyes greedily scanned them. ¡°This is¡­¡± Aimone said. ¡°This is something indeed.¡± ¡°And if the Pantheon comes, which I suspect it will.¡± Wissel tapped his own stack of papers. ¡°Then it will not be difficult to repurpose these into an unofficial army.¡± ¡°I do not have the authority to agree for Rancais.¡± Artois said. ¡°Rancais does not have to know. Your term lasts another three years. The police has to be expanded in your nation to deal with any Anarchians.¡± ¡°Lubska will agree.¡± Jozef said loudly. Wissel allowed himself a smile. ¡°Rilia will too.¡± ¡°Allia¡­¡± Richard said. ¡°We don¡¯t have the Anarchian menace and my government is for austerity to deal with the recession.¡± Wissel nodded. ¡°Of course I see the sense in this, but the feasibility?¡± ¡°This is not a pact.¡± Wissel said. ¡°I have no authority in your countries, I am simply proposing how to deal with the issue. It is time Epa started dealing with its own issues rather than relying on Divines for all its problem solving.¡± He smiled again. ¡°We did it in the past.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Artois said. ¡°You have my support in this, but to trick a nation is not easy.¡± ¡°There is no trickery required. Support for the White Pantheon is at all time lows among the populations no matter who is surveyed. Even the Clerics are polling at only sixty percent. We simply saw the problems first, if we don¡¯t prepare now, then it will be too late when people are clamouring for solutions.¡± ¡°I agree then.¡± Richard said. ¡°There is one thing I wanted to bring up.¡± Wissel nodded. ¡°I have too.¡± Jozef added. ¡°It seems we all do.¡± Artois commented. ¡°Artica?¡± Aimone asked. ¡°Artica.¡± ¡°I was hoping it was one of you.¡± Wissel brought out a satellite photo. It was the white Artican ice sheets smudged with a pitch-black hole. ¡°It looks like we were all hoping for that.¡± Artois said. ¡°This is from our own satellites.¡± He brought one out of his suit, it was similar to Wissel¡¯s photo, but slightly clearer. ¡°We lost a satellite.¡± Richard said. ¡°It¡¯s been recovered now by a science ship. There¡¯s no photo, but the bottom half was coated with radiation.¡± He crossed his arms. ¡°And it¡¯s not the sort of damage that uranium makes.¡± ¡°I hope not.¡± Wissel said. ¡°We did an investigation on it through RAE.¡± Aimone spoke up, Agrita behind nodding with every word said. The Rilian department of Accidents and Emergencies. In a country with volcanoes, such a thing was needed. ¡°But the area is Pantheon land.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Jozef asked. ¡°It¡¯s Pantheon land.¡± ¡°Why does the Pantheon have land in Artica?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I want to know.¡± Aimone replied. Agrita once again shook her head and Wissel once again forced himself to peel his eyes off her. He felt Saksma¡¯s finger flick his back in disdain. ¡°So no one knows?¡± Wissel asked. ¡°AMNI has proposed a theory. It¡¯s top-secret though.¡± Richard said. The entire table turned to him, even the Divine mascot-Goddesses. ¡°Go on.¡± Wissel said. Richard brought out a series of papers. ¡°With the fact it was Pantheon territory, we think it was a prison.¡± ¡°Why?¡± The King of Allia spread the papers out and Wissel felt his stomach turn. It was such an obvious pattern that it could not denied. ¡°This is meteorological data. I think you all see it.¡± Wissel did. It was a contained storm, barely three miles wide, but it started at where that black mark in Artica was, and then it started moving north. Straight to Epa. ¡°I¡¯ve only brought these images with me, but we take a new recording everything fifteen minutes.¡± He pulled two more out. ¡°When it got to the edge of the Artican ice sheets, it stopped moving for thirty minutes, then continued. Today, we lost a ship.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°It was a cargo ship, twenty-four men on board. It gave a final notice of coming across something that wasn¡¯t a storm. Then communications were lost.¡± ¡°Do you have any recording of that?¡± ¡°We do.¡± Richard brought out a cassette player. ¡°This data has been analysed by AMNI and they¡¯ve sent it to historians. Listen.¡± He played the tape. It was short, only a minute long. Lightning crashed, waves roared, winds howled, the ship¡¯s horn sounded twice. Suddenly steel snapped, and then there was the sound of an explosion, the sound finished less than half a second after that. ¡°This was broadcast to Southern Arika, who then sent it to us.¡± ¡°What did they say?¡± ¡°They said they don¡¯t know, but that it was our ship so it¡¯s our data.¡± Richard sighed. ¡°AMNI isolated the sounds, it¡¯s faint, but listen to this. Like I said, nothing has been added to the sound, and I don¡¯t think the Arikans are playing some joke on us.¡± He played the sound again. This time the sound of crashing waves was quieter, the ship¡¯s horns were dulled, the lightning wasn¡¯t as vivid. A sound that wasn¡¯t there came through, barely audible, but once Wissel heard it, he could not unhear it. Richard played the tape again. Now that Wissel knew what he was looking for, it was obviously there, right from the start. A woman humming. Chapter 81 – War’s Reinforcements Mikhail Alash stared at the piece of paper in his hands. ¡°Alash, excellent work on the planes. The success of Operation Misfortune rests as much on your shoulders as it does on Neneria¡¯s. The next project will hopefully be more to your liking. Required will be:¡± Mikhail stared at the list below the congratulations. It was indeed more to his liking. Kavaa ran out of her tent the moment she heard Helenna¡¯s cry. Her blade appeared in her hand, armour sprouted her clothes. Trails of were severed and left on the ground as Kavaa rushed to sound, it was coming from the direction of the Jungle. Kavaa set off immediately as Helenna kept crying, she crested the hill and saw Of Love running back across the red dead. ¡°Kavaa! Kassandora! Kavaa! Kassandora!¡± Tears were streaming down Helenna¡¯s face, her shirt and shorts were covered in red dust and she half-ran, half-stumbled forwards. ¡°I¡¯m here Helenna!¡± Kavaa shouted and rushed down the hill. The Clerics were mobilizing behind her, grabbing armour and weapons. A band of Arikans was coming too from the other side too. ¡°Helenna!¡± Kavaa raced down the hill as quickly as she could, a trail of red dust left in the air behind. She jumped towards Helenna and embraced her in a tight hug. ¡°Helenna. Helenna! What happened?¡± Of Health¡¯s magic surged, she inspected the woman, there was no damage on her apart from a scratch on her calves. That didn¡¯t require healing. ¡°Kavaa!¡± Helenna collapsed onto Kavaa as she cried. Tears streamed down her face and her hair turned pure ivory-white. ¡°Kavaa! I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry!¡± ¡°What happ-¡° Kavaa¡¯s voice was cut off by a blast of wind. The dirt burst exploded close to them into a cloud. Helenna ignored it entirely, simply continuing to cry and repeating how sorry she was. How she could not do anything. Kassandora walked out of that cloud of red dust, in her sleek black armour, with her greatsword ready. ¡°Where?¡± Kassandora said coldly. Kavaa felt her heart beat in fear. She had seen Allasaria grow angry, she had seen the arguments Maisara and Fortia held with them. She had seen Atis calmly hunt and Zerus grow into a roaring rage of cracking lightning. Never once did they carry expressions like that. Helenna pointed to the forest, to where something had clearly been dragged through the dirt and into the jungle. Kavaa let go of Helenna and collapsed to her knees. Impossible. No. Kassandora crouched, that helm of black plate appeared over her head until the only that was exposed was her red hair. She twisted, and then cracked the ground in an explosion of red dust. A tree fell in the forest as Of War dived into that green wall. ¡°Helenna.¡± Kavaa said slowly. ¡°Tell me it¡¯s not so.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry Kavaa!¡± Helenna fell down next to Kavaa. ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­ I couldn¡¯t do anything! She just pushed me away! I couldn¡¯t¡­¡± She bawled as men came rushing down the hill. ¡°She said save me Kavaa. She told me to save her!¡± The Clerics formed a phalanx around them, shields and weapons at the ready, and Kavaa saw another tree fall from within the forest. Kassandora would save Iniri, right? She had to. She was the Goddess of War. She had never lost a battle in her entire lifetime. She held up Alkom¡¯s Sun for Heaven¡¯s sake! She had to! ¡°Sleep Helenna.¡± Kavaa put her hand on the woman¡¯s forehead and took her consciousness away. She stood up, Helenna in her arms, and turned to move back. ¡°Take her to my tent, let her sleep.¡± Kavaa handed the Goddess to a grim-faced Cleric who strained as he readjusted the Goddess onto his back. ¡°At once.¡± He replied. Kavaa wasn¡¯t looking at him though, she had already turned to the great Jungle. Trees collapsed in the distance. Sometimes a vine would be thrown into the sky, the Arikans would cheer every time that happened. Kavaa wished they shut up. There was no cheer in this situation. Fifteen minutes later, silence returned to the forest. Impossible. No. Iniri was one thing, but Kassandora too? Kavaa would have collapsed if her legs had not frozen. Then a figure jumped out of the greenery in the distance. A figure in black armour. It moved in the air, Kavaa saw it clearly. Kassandora crouched, held her sword in the air, one hand on the hilt and the other on the blade¡¯s tip. Her feet landed in the middle of the blade and she pushed off. Her arms broke, a few fingers fell off the hilt, the hand holding the tip was sliced in half. Kassandora catapulted herself off the blade as it launched like an arrow and dematerialized. Of War flew like a rock launched by a trebuchet towards them. The Clerics managed to a take few steps as Kassandora landed in the ground, red dust was thrown up in the air and she slid to almost land at Kavaa¡¯s feet. ¡°Healing. Now.¡± Kassandora growled.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Kavaa was already on the case. Of War closed her eyes and smashed her fist into the ground as her fingers regrew. She took a simple deep breath, then stood up. The armour disappeared around her shirt. It had been white once, now it was red and torn where the metal had cut her. Where was Iniri? Kassandora put her arms on Kavaa¡¯s shoulders and looked her straight in the face. Kavaa was a doctor. She had seen dehydration and starvation, the worst diseases and the greatest losses. She had seen mothers cry for children lost and fathers bury sons. Cities razed in the Great War, villages burned to the ground, monsters and ghosts. She thought she had seen it all. And she looked into Kassandora¡¯s eyes that burned with a fire more terrible than all of them. ¡°Iniri, or the Pantheon?¡± Kassandora growled. ¡°W-What?¡± ¡°Iniri or the Pantheon!?¡± Kavaa did not even think about. ¡°I-Iniri.¡± Kassandora replied with a single nod. She jumped to the summit of the small hill behind her as Clerics ran out of her way. The greatsword reappeared in her hands. She stabbed it deep into the ground, then kicked off with sound of a cracking whip. The blade launched into the air and disappeared a few moments later. Kavaa stood there, and Kavaa waited. Kassandora returned fifteen minutes later, with a woman crying in pain and an elf who fell to his needs and was sick. Kavaa moved to heal them. ¡°DO NOT!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°Save your energy, have a cleric do it. Bring all papers regarding the jungle here. However trite you think it is, I do not care. Bring it. NOW! IMMEDIATELY!¡± Kassandora shouted to the Clerics. ¡°FOLLOW HER ORDERS!¡± Kavaa backed her up. Kassandora did not even turn to acknowledge her, she jumped off the band of Arikans and made a similar demand. They ran off to their camp as Kassandora returned to Kavaa. ¡°What have you done?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I have called for reinforcements.¡± Kavaa blinked. Kassandora? Reinforcements? What reinforcements? ¡°What?¡± ¡°I cannot track her and the two of us are not enough to get through that jungle. I will slip up eventually, and then the jungle will get you.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Kavaa blinked. ¡°Get me?¡± ¡°You want to rescue Iniri? You¡¯re a healer. For all we know, she may be limbless when we find her.¡± Kavaa felt blood drain from her face. ¡°How long?¡± ¡°Nine or ten hours.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°WHAT? SHE¡¯LL BE DEAD BY THEN!¡± ¡°The Jungle does rarely kills in the first five days. Arusei was taken when he was a child, he lasted two weeks in there.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°I do my investigations.¡± Kassandora said then turned to face the great wall of green. ¡°Then we should go in now!¡± Kavaa shouted back. ¡°Every moment we waste here is another¡­¡± Kassandora did not reply, she faced Kavaa and merely extended her arm forward. Joyeuse appeared in her hand. She held the blade that was as long as she was tall without even a hint of exertion. Then she dropped it, it landed like an anvil and threw red dust into the air. ¡°Lift that.¡± She said coldly. ¡°W-what?¡± ¡°Lift that and I will go in with just you and me.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°LIFT IT!¡± She shouted. Kavaa slowly bent down, this was an entirely different Kassandora than the one she had talked to before. This was the one that they had fought against in the Great War. Kavaa¡¯s fingers wrapped around the handle of Joyeuse and she straightened her back. And she stopped straightening her back. Kavaa gritted her teeth, the handle of the sword moved maybe an inch off the ground. Then her fingers gave out and it fell back down. Kassandora took a step forwards, put her foot under the handle and kicked it up easily. She made the sword pirouette around her fingers, those burning crimson eyes always focused on Kavaa. ¡°That is the difference between us Kavaa.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like it, but that is the way we have been made.¡± The sword disappeared as Kavaa took a step back. Kassandora continued her assault. ¡°The greatest Divine gift I have received is the ability to think. I know if I enter with you, I will not be able to hold against that unending madness. An hour, we would both enter, but if I have to protect you for a day, a week, then I will lose you too.¡± Kavaa felt her eyes start to water. ¡°But Iniri¡­¡± ¡°Iniri will have to hold!¡± Kassandora roared. ¡°She¡¯s been around for longer than both of us! She WILL be around for longer than both of us!¡± She turned to the forest and shouted. ¡°DO YOU HEAR THAT INIRI! STAY ALIVE! WE ARE COMING!¡± There was no reply. Kavaa felt a tear go down her cheek as Kassandora crossed her arms. ¡°Do you know of Iliyal Tremali?¡± Of War asked. ¡°He was one of your generals¡­ back then¡­¡± Kavaa sniffled and wiped the single tear off her cheek. ¡°He¡¯s still alive.¡± Kassandora turned and pointed to the elf still on the ground. ¡°That¡¯s his grandson. Iliyal is up on that hill.¡± She pointed to a mountain in the far distance. Kavaa would need an hour to clear that distance. ¡°I see.¡± Kavaa said. She was already with Kassandora, what was working with men she had fought against a thousand years past? Did grievances like that even matter after such a point? ¡°Don¡¯t kill him.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Kavaa said and Kassandora nodded. ¡°He¡¯s calling the best hunter I know.¡± ¡°Who?¡± A light suddenly shone from that hill. A green flare that was shot high into the darkening sky. Kassandora turned, all the ruthlessness from before had left her face. Those red eyes had lost their burning infernos within them and returned to the lovely rubies they were before. She even smiled a lovely smile. ¡°That¡¯s the signal we have permission!¡± Kassandora shouted excitedly. Joyeuse appeared in her hand again and she stabbed it into the ground as she had done before. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ve met her before!¡± She jumped and launched herself off that sword as Kavaa was left standing on that hill. A hunter? Kavaa was left there standing in confusion. A huntress? Who? The best huntress Kassandora knew? And Kavaa had met her before? Who called themselves a hunt¡­ Oh no. Kavaa knew exactly who she meant. Chapter 82 – As It Was Back Then Arascus smiled as he reclined to turn on the news. There was some unnatural storm on the news today. He didn¡¯t care so much. Kassandora had called. She apologized for the quick message and asked for Fer and Neneria! Of course he would help her. Kavaa watched as Kassandora returned with Iliyal over her shoulder. It was a longer wait this time, almost an hour. They must have discussed something in secret. Kavaa clicked her tongue, she hated being left out like that, but then she left Kassandora out of most of her own planning too. The elf was dropped onto the ground, he took a few wobbly steps and stretched. ¡°That is one thing I¡¯ll never get used to.¡± He said, Kassandora was already away from him and walking towards Kavaa. The black armour disappeared from around her as she shouted another demand. ¡°What¡¯s the endurance of your powers? And where is Helenna?¡± ¡°Helenna¡¯s asleep.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I set her to sleep. And¡­¡± Kavaa¡¯s voice fell silent. What was the endurance of her powers? She was a healer, there were times when she got tired of course, but the last time that had happened was during the Great War, when she had to heal entire armies simultaneously. ¡°And I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Kassandora crossed her arms and clicked her tongue, her tone disbelieving, then annoyed. ¡°How do you not know?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never tested it. It¡¯s high.¡± ¡°When you healed me with the Sun, did you reach your limit?¡± ¡°No.¡± Kassandora looked Kavaa up and down and clicked her tongue again. ¡°How close did you get?¡± ¡°Not close, it wasn¡¯t tiring.¡± ¡°Good enough.¡± Kassandora replied after a moment of consideration. ¡°Wake Helenna, bring canteens. Where are the documents?¡± ¡°My men are still getting them.¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes. ¡°They¡¯re not very fast.¡± She said and shook her head. ¡°Whatever, don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m fetching the Arikans. Have a table out here with the papers when I come back.¡± Kassandora launched herself towards the neighbouring camp. ¡°You heard her!¡± Kavaa shouted to the crowd of Clerics that was growing. Everyone in the camp was awake right now, some had thought it was an attack at first. ¡°Bring a table! Bring documents about the Jungle! Bring Helenna! And canteens!¡± What did she need canteens for anyway? The Clerics ran off and organised themselves on the move. Order-Captains and Chaplains took command, but the differences of which group a Cleric belong to quickly faded. Kavaa allowed herself a smile as she watched the well-oiled machine that was her army, she had always liked that about her men. When put to use, they moved as one very healthy body. She approached Iliyal. The man stood there and watched her army with hawkish eyes. She had been accustomed to Kassandora¡¯s investigations, she couldn¡¯t stop that after all, but this elf? Who did he think he was. His grandson had been healed, and two Clerics in full plate were kneeling over the woman. ¡°What¡¯s the situation on her?¡± ¡°Not dangerous but tiring.¡± One of the Clerics, a grim-faced man, answered. ¡°She¡¯s been torn by g-forces, her muscles basically...¡± Kavaa looked at the woman, so this is how Kassandora treated her own. ¡°Well, they¡¯ve turned to shreds. Her organs are fine though.¡± ¡°Move, I¡¯ll heal her.¡± Iliyal stepped between the Goddess and the woman. He was tall, elves were always tall. A full head taller than a human, but then that meant he only reached Kavaa¡¯s shoulders. Still, even with that difference in height, he stood before her. ¡°Goddess Kassandora told me to make you save your energy.¡± He didn¡¯t use a hard tone. Nor was it cold or aggressive, it was simply a statement of fact. Kavaa felt anger flare up inside her. ¡°And who are you to command me?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Iliyal Tremali. General of the Eighth Army, Herald of Arascus.¡± He made no movements. ¡°Is this how your Goddess treats her own?¡± Kavaa waved a hand to the woman on the ground. ¡°The pain of today is the victory of tomorrow.¡± Iliyal replied. ¡°How grandiose.¡± Kavaa looked at the woman again as she moaned. This elf, with those mad emeralds for eyes, was obviously a blessed fanatic. There was no fear coming from him, no concern at the fact he was facing off a Goddess, nor at the Clerics who were giving him dirty looks from around. He simply sounded sure of himself, he may as well have said that his blood was flowing and his heart was flowing. Kavaa sighed. ¡°Move.¡± She said. ¡°I refuse.¡± Looks like Kassandora had an eye for men. The man¡¯s grandson, Ilwin, caught up to them. This one too had Kassandora¡¯s energy, but it wasn¡¯t as thick. ¡°It¡¯s not that she knows you can¡¯t heal her. It¡¯s that she wants you to be at the peak of your power for the entrance into the Jungle.¡± He spoke quickly, gestured with his hands, tried to explain. A much more reasonable man. ¡°One woman¡¯s muscles won¡¯t make a difference.¡± Kavaa said. Ilwin¡¯s question destroyed her. ¡°Are you sure?¡± No. She was not sure. She was terrified of entering that cursed land. She did not want to. Her heart had dropped when Kassandora said she would taking Kavaa inside. Kavaa sighed and shook her head. ¡°Very well. Who did you call?¡± Iliyal had no change in his posture, Ilwin looked at his grandfather and then adopted a similar posture. ¡°Are you not going to tell me?¡± ¡°I cannot, the Goddess said not to, she will be here before dawn.¡± ¡°How?¡± Either Kassandora had an army ready in Kirinyaa, or she had access to planes. Or Anassa was free. But then Anassa was not free, nor was there some secret army in Kirinyaa. How did Kassandora have planes? What was she? Both elves remained silent as the two Clerics on the ground wiped their brows and continued their hands over the woman¡¯s forehead. ¡°Who is that at least?¡± ¡°Duchess Sara Daganhoff.¡± Iliyal replied. Well, at least she knew he didn¡¯t like her from the tone. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Iliyal confirmed. Maybe Helenna could get information out of him, but she doubted it. She was about to ask another question when Kassandora landed back in the camp. ¡°The Arikans are coming. They¡¯re bringing their elders.¡± She shouted then turned to the Clerics. ¡°Make room, clear the path. WHERE ARE THE PAPERS?!¡± ¡°Here.¡± A voice said. Two men in steel armour were hauling a chest to them. Another holding a table on his head as he followed them. ¡°On the hill!¡± Kassandora pointed to the summit of the small mound that blocked vision of the Jungle. That mound was partly the reason Kavaa had chosen this location for her camp. She didn¡¯t like the feeling of that Jungle watching her. ¡°And Helenna?¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°I am here.¡± Helenna¡¯s said. The short sleep Kavaa had sent had calmed her down. Kassandora cleared the distance between with a simple jump. ¡°What happened? Tell me everything.¡± Helenna was a wreck. Her clothes were still dirty, her pure-white hair was all out of place. She was barely managing to hold herself together. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Helenna said at first. ¡°We were approaching the Jungle.¡± She sniffled and wiped her nose. ¡°I was actually complaining about you. And then¡­ Iniri stopped. She said she heard it.¡± ¡°She heard it?¡± Kassandora said the words as if she couldn¡¯t believe them. ¡°She actually heard it?¡± Helenna nodded as Of War waved Kavaa closer. ¡°And then, what happened?¡± ¡°She¡­ she turned, she turned the Jungle was not her demesne. Then she pushed me away.¡± The Goddess of Love was close to tears at this point. ¡°And¡­ she¡­ sh-she said ¡®save me¡¯.¡± Helenna started to bawl again. Kavaa had seen Helenna cry before, in joy and happiness and sadness, but never like this. Of Love collapsed into Kassandora¡¯s arms as the taller held her.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Hold yourself together Helenna. I am here.¡± Kassandora whispered as she stroked Helenna¡¯s hair. ¡°Keep yourself strong, Iniri is relying on you.¡± Kavaa had always hated that about Kassandora, she simply knew what to say and when. She even sounded like she meant it. ¡°How did she get taken? Tell me everything, everything is important.¡± ¡°The Jungle just took her. Vines I mean¡­ They just¡­ I couldn¡¯t do anything, it happened in less than a second.¡± Kassandora remained silent for a moment. Did she really care? Kavaa didn¡¯t know the answer to that. Kassandora was just like that¡­ in a few days, she had ingratiated herself with the Arikans to the point that they now waved to her when they saw her. Kavaa¡¯s Orders had been here for four hundred years, and the Arikans still treated her coldly. ¡°That is everything?¡± Kassandora gently asked. ¡°Ye-yes. I¡­ I¡¯m sorry Kass¡­¡± Why was Helenna apologizing? What did she have to apologize for? Kavaa stood a few steps away, stone-faced as she watched Kassandora tightly squeeze Helenna. ¡°I¡¯m letting go now, stand by yourself.¡± Kassandora whispered. ¡°O-okay.¡± Kassandora let go of Helenna and the woman wiped her tears. Colour returned to her hair. A faint red. ¡°Did you hear the Jungle?¡± ¡°N-No.¡± Kassandora nodded and turned to Kavaa. ¡°Have you ever heard it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never heard it.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°I haven¡¯t either, and I got close.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Have you ever entered?¡± ¡°Twenty-two times.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°And you¡¯ve never heard it inside?¡± ¡°Never.¡± Kavaa replied. Kassandora turned to the table where Kavaa¡¯s Clerics were stacking papers, paused for a second and then turned to Helenna. ¡°Can you hold yourself together?¡± She asked. ¡°I think so.¡± Helenna said. ¡°If you start crying, I¡¯ll send you away. We¡¯re doing for this for Iniri. Now come.¡± She turned and continued to shout orders as she made her way to the table. ¡°SOKOLOWSKI! ASSEMBLE THE MEN!¡± Kavaa clicked her tongue, she didn¡¯t think highly of those who had left her. ¡°ALL CLERICS WHO HAVE ENTERED THE JUNGLE! I ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE! LINE UP BY THE HILL! WHERE ARE MY CANTEENS?!¡± She didn¡¯t even look to see if the men where following her commands, but Kavaa saw they were. She approached the table, Kassandora was already scanning a piece of paper. ¡°ILIYAL, ILWIN! COME HERE!¡± The two elves ran to meet their Goddess without a moment¡¯s hesitation. ¡°Reporting!¡± Kassandora dumped a stack of papers in Iliyal¡¯s arm. ¡°Have Ilwin help you. You¡¯re looking for the same of shit you did back in the day.¡± Kavaa blinked. Did the woman just swear? She recalled her memory, all the way back to the Great War. That was a first. ¡°At once.¡± The elf saluted, and sat down on the ground with Ilwin. He passed a paper to Ilwin and they started to speak quietly to each other. Kassandora already was working on her own stack of papers. A man up to them. Damian Sokolowski. Once Captain of the Twin Hearts, now the Order did not exist. Kassandora had stolen every single member. ¡°Soldiers reporting! Full assembly will be completed in two minutes.¡± Kavaa crossed her arms. How did they move so fast? The Clerics would have taken at least ten. ¡°Good.¡± Kassandora replied without even looking at him. ¡°Have them sit and rest, don¡¯t strain yourselves. Those who want to sleep are allowed bags. Have something to eat. No alcohol. Tobacco is fine. Assemble over there.¡± Of War pointed to the edge of the hill where no one stood without taking her eyes away. She flipped the paper, then threw it back in the chest. ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Apologies Kavaa, but you¡¯ll have to reorganize these papers.¡± Kassandora said as her eyes scanned the paper. ¡°Do you know the Jungle?¡± ¡°Of course I know it.¡± Another paper was thrown in. Was the woman actually reading them? ¡°What is this about the Glassing?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°And the Glass Desert?¡± She read further. Helenna answered before Kavaa could. ¡°The Jungle was spreading to Western Arika in the past. Around the year 600-¡° Kassandora interrupted her. ¡°It says 628.¡± Helenna nodded. ¡°Then, Allasaria and Elassa went to scour the Devil¡¯s Gap. They burned the Jungle that had grown west of it and turned the desert to glass.¡± ¡°So it can be stopped.¡± Kassandora smirked. ¡°So fire works?¡± ¡°It does.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°The countries of Ausa and Kinshasa where devoured by the Jungle and reduced to only cities on the coast. They hold daily burnings outside their walls to clear it away.¡± ¡°And it doesn¡¯t adapt to fire?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°There¡¯s not much to adapt with when you¡¯re a plant.¡± Kavaa replied. Kassandora threw two more pages into the chest. Iliyal shouted a question from the ground. ¡°What is the Poison Line?¡± ¡°Another deity came here before the Glassing.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°We don¡¯t know who, but apparently they were begged to stall the Jungle by the countries in Western Arika. They created the Poison Line but then disappeared. They started at the coast and moved north, then disappeared. The Glassing was just how we finished the Poison Line.¡± ¡°When did they disappear?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Around 600, we don¡¯t have an exact date. The Poison Line started appearing in 589.¡± Kavaa replied. Kassandora followed up on the question. ¡°It says the first Clerical Order to arrive to specifically counter the Jungle¡¯s disease was brought in 613.¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t poison before then.¡± Kavaa said and then worked it out. ¡°You don¡¯t mean¡­¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°So assimilation is on the table.¡± She looked up at the great green wall. ¡°If Iniri is assimilated¡­¡± ¡°With her powers.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°Then Arika will fall in a matter of months. It could even grow into the Sassara.¡± ¡°Then Epa.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°The whole world.¡± Kassandora said and chuckled. ¡°Where¡¯s Allasaria when you need her, huh?¡± ¡°We could ring.¡± ¡°By the time the Pantheon organises a response, it will be too late. You know that as well as I do. They¡¯ll spend a year squabbling over how to run an expedition and then a year squabbling about the fact they squabbled.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Iniri has to be recovered, and we¡¯re going to do it.¡± She got back to the papers as the Arikans got close. Arusei and Waf and Kimani and Jebet and the rest of them. They all carried grim expressions. Kassandora noticed them without even looking. ¡°What is the inside of the jungle like?¡± She shouted. The Arikans must have been told already, Arusei spoke without even introducing himself. ¡°The first five miles are its skin, that¡¯s where its toughest.¡± Kavaa had never paid attention to their folk tales but now, she listened with her full attention. ¡°Then inside, further in, it starts speaking.¡± ¡°I thought you said you can hear it outside.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Out here and in the skin, it whispers to you. Inside, it starts to speak.¡± ¡°Have you ever recovered a man from there?¡± Kassandora asked. Another paper fell into the chest. Iliyal was done with a quarter of his. ¡°Twice in my lifetime.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°They take a while to recover, but it is possible.¡± ¡°I meant what do they say about the inside?¡± ¡°They say that¡­¡± Arusei fell silent as Clerics carrying a crate ran up the hill. ¡°Your canteens.¡± Kassandora finally got up from the papers. She moved to Iliyal and demanded more from Arusei. ¡°Well, go on then.¡± ¡°They say you see everything you don¡¯t want to.¡± Arusei said grimly. ¡°But everyone says different things.¡± ¡°How does it know what you don¡¯t want to see?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°The Jungle knows everything.¡± Arusei replied and Kassandora shook her head. She turned to of Health. ¡°See Kavaa, this is what we¡¯re dealing with.¡± And then back to the elf on the ground. ¡°Your sword Iliyal.¡± The man did not even look up, he pulled his blade out of its scabbard and handed it to his Goddess. It was a longsword, in the elf¡¯s hand, it was an imposing weapon. In Kassandora¡¯s, it was a toothpick. She turned and approached Helenna. ¡°How much do you want to save Iniri, Helenna?¡± The woman looked at the blade, wiped one last tear, her hair turned crimson and she spoke coldly. ¡°Anything.¡± Kassandora put the blade on the table along with one of the canteens from the crate. ¡°Then fill as many of these as you can.¡± ¡°What are you talking about!?¡± Kavaa shouted. Kassandora ignored her entirely, of War merely watched Helenna as the woman uncorked the canteen, looked into it. Helenna sighed, picked up the blade, and slit her hand with a wince. ¡°Kavaa, replenish her blood every now and then.¡± Kassandora turned towards her camp and crouched in that posture she used to launch herself. ¡°And where are you going?¡± ¡°To get dressed.¡± The hours passed by slowly. Kassandora had returned, changed from the torn and bloody shirt she had used before and in the clothes the Arikans had fashioned for her. It was a hardy material, yet tough and flexible. Kassandora tested it out with her armour, it only had a few scratches after a few minutes of use and then complimented the men. She spent the rest of the time alternating between questioning the Clerics who had visited the Jungle, the Arikans, and reading the documents on the desk. Sara woke up eventually and was tasked to helping Iliyal. The woman had little to say, and her main job was merely bringing them water. Kavaa would put her hands on Helenna every so often whenever the Goddess started to look pale. Of Love would slit her hand again and get to filling the canteens. She managed thirty-six before the situation changed. Jet engines from the north. High in the air, two planes rushed towards them. They flew low to the ground, Kavaa could barely make them out, both were painted black apart from yellow tips at the front. They faded into the night above them. Kassandora stopped to watch them. ¡°Bring Iniri¡¯s clothes.¡± Kavaa moved to set off. ¡°Not you!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°Mortals! I don¡¯t her who, bring a full basket.¡± ¡°Why not me?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll contaminate the smell.¡± Kavaa sighed. She wanted to argue, she didn¡¯t want Kassandora to be right again. She hated the words that came out of her mouth. ¡°I¡¯m not stinky.¡± ¡°I never said you were. You¡¯re a Divine, we¡¯re looking a Divine, you¡¯ll contaminate the smell, like I said.¡± Ever so sensible, Kavaa wanted to sit down and give up. The preparations had driven her mind off the fact Kassandora was pulling her into the Jungle. Now¡­ Now those planes served as a taunting reminder than reality had caught up to her. They circled back around, flew over the camp again. One more circle, then one of the nearby radios started to buzz. The Cleric next to it saw Kavaa and raised the volume. ¡°Ground Control, Ground Control. This is Raptor-One. Make space, cargo is jumping.¡± Kavaa looked to the Clerics who raised his hands in question. Then she turned to Kassandora. Of War replied with a confused shrug and turned to Iliyal. ¡°Ah¡­¡± The elf finally stood up. ¡°She¡¯s always like that, she¡¯ll jump down on the next pass.¡± The planes turned, twisted, their speeds and they shot over the camp again. Kavaa saw two figures jump and instinctively tightened her grip around the sword sheathed on her belt. Two figures she would never forget. One in a black dress, on a ghastly winged horse, lethargically floating down to them. The other a monster with a mane of gold. She screamed during the fall, her eyes locked on Kassandora. ¡°LITTLE SISTER!!!¡± Little? Chapter 83 – Into The Jungle ¡°Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa! Look! Look!¡± Hafeni let his son excitedly drag him outside and to the cliffs overlooking the ocean. ¡°Look! What is that?!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± There it was, in distance, moving along the horizon. A dark storm so small and contained he could lift his hand and cover it with his thumb. It was slowly moving north. What an oddity. Kavaa watched Kassandora kneel down, her body tensed, her arms tightened, and she cracked the ground to meet that falling monster. Fer slammed into Kassandora mid-air, the two became a blur, and then crashed into the red dirt of the Kirinyaan Badlands like a small meteor. Kavaa looked up at Neneria, Goddess of Death, slowly drift down. Shivers went down her spine when Neneria¡¯s cold dark eyes fell on hers, and then the Goddess looked away. ¡°Hold!¡± Kavaa shouted to her Clerics. They had already began preparing. Kassandora shouted as that cloud of dust began to settle down. ¡°FER! STOP!¡± The red fog was blown away to reveal Kassandora lying on her back, squirming under Fer¡¯s weight. ¡°NO! BAD!¡± Kassandora shouted as Fer leaned down to ruffle Kassandora¡¯s hair. The Goddess of Beasthood¡¯s tall ears suddenly quivered, that mane of gold fell, as she looked away from her sister. Fer, clad in those thick animal skins, laid those golden cat eyes on Kavaa. Of Health shivered and instinctively took a step back. ¡°NO! FER!¡± Kassandora shouted as Fer launched herself at Kavaa. Kavaa stood there, stunned. She wouldn¡¯t have time to draw her sword even if she could stand up to that monster. Then Fer¡¯s trajectory changed, Kassandora was holding onto her leg. Of War dug her feet into the ground, twisted, and slammed Fer into the ground. ¡°Owie.¡± Fer moaned. ¡°That hurt little sister.¡± Little? Kavaa blinked again, her mouth agape. Helenna was staring just as much. Memories of the Great War spiralled in front of Kavaa¡¯s eyes. Of Kassandora¡¯s unbeatable leadership. Of Fer¡¯s savage hordes. The destruction they left, were they passed, nothing but broken bodies and burned homes was left. And this was them? Kassandora straddled Fer, took her arm, bent it backwards and wagged her finger at the woman. She actually wagged her finger? Kavaa would have fallen to her knees in shock if her body hadn¡¯t frozen. She saw Sara and Ilwin have the same reaction, and then Iliyal just stood there, bored, hands on his head with his fingers interlocked. The wind gently rippled through his red cloak. How could he look bored at this? ¡°BAD!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°NO!¡± She grabbed Fer¡¯s hair and forced her to look at directly at Kavaa. Kavaa took another step back, mouth agape. Fer smiled and laughed, a spine-chilling hur-hur-hur of a laugh. ¡°THAT IS KAVAA!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°SHE IS GOOD NOW!¡± Fer laughed that hur-hur-hur again. ¡°Are you good?¡± Neneria said from behind Kavaa. Chills raced down her spine again. ¡°NENERIA! DON¡¯T SCARE HER!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°You¡¯re no fun little Kassie.¡± Kassandora let go of her Fer¡¯s head, her cheeks going red. Fer laughed again. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t have done that.¡± She said, twisted, her fist landed in Kassandora¡¯s stomach. Of War grunted, was grabbed, and in the next moment, the position had reversed. Fer pinned Kassandora between her knees, leaned down, and pulled her cheek. ¡°That¡¯s what you get.¡± ¡°Ge-get off me.¡± Kavaa watched Kassandora pushed up against Fer, she saw the woman struggle, her face go red. She must have looked like that when she tried to lift Kassandora¡¯s sword¡­ If there was any blood to drain from her cheeks, it would have drained again. Fer did not get off her. She sat on Kassandora, arms crossed and looking down at her, until Of War gave up. ¡°Y-you win.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°There we go.¡± Fer said and stood up. Kassandora tried to get up, then was hefted to her feet by Fer like a doll. ¡°So, what did you call us for? Dad didn¡¯t say.¡± Kavaa blinked. D-d-d-dad? She couldn¡¯t¡­ Arascus? Who else would they consider a father? Helenna grabbed Kavaa¡¯s hand, then the two of them stood there. There was only one question on her mind. How greatly had the Pantheon failed? ¡°We lost Iniri.¡± Kassandora said and pointed to the jungle. Fer crossed her arms, closed her eyes and nodded. ¡°Mmh, I like her.¡± Kavaa blinked. Fer liked Iniri? Excuse me? ¡°The Jungle took her.¡± Fer smiled wickedly, her fangs exposed to the air. ¡°And you needed me?¡± Kassandora sighed, dropped her arms, and looked utterly defeated. ¡°Yes¡­ I needed you Fer.¡± Her tone was the exact same as her posture, simply dismal. ¡°What do you say?¡± ¡°Please.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Who¡¯s the best big sister?¡± ¡°You are¡­ Fer.¡± Fer burst out in laughter and slapped Kassandora on her back. The Goddess of War stumbled forwards as Kavaa felt Helenna¡¯s hand tighten around hers. If that slap had hit Kavaa, her spine would have snapped. ¡°They¡¯re always like this.¡± Neneria said quietly from behind them. ¡°Just ignore them.¡± Kavaa jumped when she remembered who was standing behind them and took a few forwards, pulling Helenna along with her. Neneria turned and looked at the jungle. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem too impressive.¡± She commented. ¡°Obviously supernatural, but not impressive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Kavaa¡¯s voice left her as Kassandora approached them Fer. Of Beasthood was suddenly all smiles, she looked around at her Clerics, they all took a step back, then at Iliyal, Ilwin and Sara. Those she gave a bright smile to, then to Arikans. Her ears quivered curiously and she tilted her head as she looked at them.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°It¡¯s a Divine.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°How, I don¡¯t know. But the Jungle is one Divine.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Neneria said. ¡°That is interesting.¡± ¡°It¡¯s stronger than I am.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And it took Iniri, I believe it can assimilate, if eats Iniri then it will be unstoppable.¡± ¡°Against ghosts too?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°Try it if you want.¡± Kassandora said as she turned to her men. ¡°SOKOLOWSKI, COME HERE!¡± Fer looked at the papers on the table, made a disgusted face and turned to look at the Arikans. They stood there, holding their weapons, looking half-humoured, half-shocked and half-curious. Then Fer sniffed the air, she looked at Helenna, at her hand. ¡°I smell blood.¡± She said. ¡°Yours.¡± Helenna nodded quickly. ¡°I see.¡± Fer turned to the Jungle, her tone suddenly became annoyed. ¡°Does it ever shut up?¡± Kassandora stopped, her face in utter terror. Neneria turned to Fer as if she was crazy, the dark Arikans suddenly looked pale and Helenna practically wrapped herself around Kavaa¡¯s arm. ¡°You can hear it? From here?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t?¡± Fer asked. ¡°It¡¯s very loud, and I don¡¯t mean just because of these.¡± The ears on top of her head bounced. ¡°What¡¯s it saying?¡± Fer turned and made that wicked smile again. She licked her lips. ¡°It¡¯s telling me it doesn¡¯t like me very much, and that I¡¯m on its hunting grounds.¡± Her eyes became sharp, her tone sharp. ¡°And to go back to my own lands.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not calling you?¡± Kassandora asked and Fer shook her head. ¡°No, it simply does not like me. Like when jaguars meet each other.¡± Kassandora turned to the Arikans. ¡°Have you ever heard of something like this?¡± Arusei shook his head. ¡°Never, not once. There is not a tale about the Jungle telling someone to stay away.¡± ¡°Do you think she can enter?¡± Kassandora asked and Fer laughed. She cracked her fingers. ¡°Oh I will little Kassie.¡± Kassandora¡¯s cheeks became red again for moment before she contained them. Kavaa was still baffled that this was the same commanding Kassandora she had met with before. ¡°I have to thank you for this present, it has been a long time since I¡¯ve found something I want to hunt.¡± She finally pulled her face away from the trees and gave Kassandora a thumbs up. ¡°Good job.¡± Kassandora stood there as if she was about to give up. Eventually, she took a heavy breath. ¡°Well then we continue. This is the plan.¡± Kassandora began. ¡°Fer, there is Iniri¡¯s clothes basket, you can track her through that, right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t insult me like that Kassie, of course I can.¡± ¡°You, Kavaa, Neneria, and I will go in. Helenna, you will stay here. We¡¯ll find her, and we¡¯ll get out.¡± Fer sighed. ¡°Just that?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I don¡¯t really know how to fight a jungle Fer, do you?¡± Fer looked at the green mass in the distance, thought for a moment and shook her head. ¡°You make a very good point.¡± ¡°I will ride on Pegaz from above then.¡± Neneria said quietly. ¡°I was expecting you on the ground with us.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to dirty my dress.¡± Neneria said, she turned to Kassandora and stared her sister down. ¡°I will not dirty my dress.¡± Kassandora sighed and gave up. ¡°Very well, you will ride from above.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± Neneria said and Kavaa blinked. This was Kassandora? Since when did people make demands to Kassandora? What was this? ¡°We are out of our league.¡± Helenna whispered quietly from Kavaa¡¯s side. ¡°We are.¡± Kavaa agreed. ¡°Fer, I have prepared blood for you. It¡¯s Helenna¡¯s, so it¡¯s Divine.¡± Kassandora said and pointed to the canisters on the table. ¡°Don¡¯t drin-¡° ¡°I know, I know.¡± Fer said, she ignored the canteens entirely and walked up to Helenna. Kavaa didn¡¯t know what she should do. Kassandora was far stronger than her, and if Fer tossed Kassandora around like a doll then what would she do to her? Fer bent down to Helenna. Kavaa had never been insecure of her height, she wasn¡¯t the tallest, but she was in the top quarter, but against Fer? The woman towered over her. If the Sun was right, Kavaa could fit in her shadow. ¡°You have blood on your hand.¡± Fer said and Helenna nodded. Kavaa felt Helenna¡¯s grip tighten like a vice. ¡°I do.¡± Helenna said quietly. Fer tilted her head, sniffed the air, and patted Helenna¡¯s head. ¡°It¡¯s very sweet, you eat too much sugar.¡± Helenna¡¯s hair turned white. ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°And drink too much wine.¡± ¡°FER! BAD!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°Stop wasting time and get to smelling!¡± Fer looked at Kavaa, made a horribly mopey face, and rolled her yellow eyes and wandered past them to the basket. Kavaa watched Kassandora approach her men and begin to give a speech. ¡°Soldiers! There is an enemy behind us greater than anything I¡¯ve ever faced. Today, I enter alone, but your strength enters with me! I ask for you have!¡± Magic spilled from her, it touched each of her men, and then it came racing back. The process took less than thirty seconds. One by one, her men started to faint. Damian Sokolowski was the last man standing. He collapsed too and Kassandora turned. Her crimson hair was practically glowing. Armour appeared around her body, Joyeuse materialized into her hands and she gave the greatsword a swing. Kavaa could not even think of swinging her own longsword as easily as Kassandora swung that monster. They loaded the canteens on themselves, twelve on Kavaa, twelve on Kassandora, twelve on Fer. Neneria absolutely refused to take any. Kavaa was in position to negotiate with the Goddess of Death, and Kassandora gave up after Neneria¡¯s first denial. Fer did not seem to care whatsoever. ¡°I have the scent.¡± The Goddess of Beasthood said as she stood on the hill. ¡°Already?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Already.¡± Fer confirmed. She pointed to a random patch of ground near the jungle. ¡°Over there is where she was taken.¡± Kassandora turned to Helenna. ¡°She¡¯s correct, it happened over there.¡± Helenna said. ¡°No time to waste then. Kavaa, stay behind us but stay close. Fer leads, follow her directions. I command, all of you follow my orders.¡± ¡°Little Kassie is very good at orders.¡± Fer said. Kavaa did not know if that was sarcasm or not. Of Beasthood then made that horrible hur-hur-hur of a snicker as Kassandora grew red with embarrassment again. Fer began before Kassandora recovered, she walked quickly, the party of Kavaa and Kassandora, with Neneria on her ghostly horse above them struggled to keep up. Fer gave the air a sniff, she walked to the edge of the Jungle and growled at it, then took one of her canteens and drank all of it immediately. Kavaa looked to Kassandora, the woman was shaking her head, but said nothing. Fer threw the animal skins off herself as fur sprouted across her body. Her nails became claws, her ears grew and became sharper, Kavaa watched of Beasthood¡¯s skin turn leathery and the woman grow a foot taller. And then she roared. If an explosion could be unleashed from vocal cords, then it would be that roar. She turned, looked at Kavaa, looked at Kassandora, then at Neneria. One claw pointed at the Goddess of Death. ¡°You do not go in.¡± Neneria stopped in mid-air. ¡°Why?¡± Neneria asked. Kassandora stopped too, as did Kavaa, her hand resting on the blade still sheathed on her belt. ¡°Why Fer?¡± Kassandora adopted a battle stance and Kavaa heard her whisper. ¡°If she¡¯s taken by the Jungle, then run.¡± Fer¡¯s ears jumped about at that whisper. ¡°Little Kassie, it has not taken my mind. You can go in, as can Kavaa. Not Nene.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°Because her blood is sweet and heart is warm, you two are both bitter and cold.¡± Fer shouted. ¡°It will take her, it will not take you.¡± Kassandora dropped the posture and then looked at Neneria. The Goddess of Death looked at them from above, then shrugged. ¡°I did not want to go in anyway.¡± She said, her horse turned in midair, and then trotted back to camp. ¡°How do we know it will not take you?¡± Kassandora shouted and Fer revealed those pointed fangs in a smile again. ¡°Because when a tiger meets a bear, they can flee or they can fight. There is no such thing as tigers and bears living together.¡± She turned, lifted her clawed arm and slashed at the greenery. ¡°Come now, I will make a path, stay close.¡± Fer stepped into the Jungle¡¯s demesne, and the two behind her followed. Chapter 84 – The Jungle’s Skin Premier-General Abakwa looked through his reports. Whatever it was, it was approaching them. He started writing a report to the Epan governments, to the UNN, to Guguo. At the end, he almost forgot, he scrawled a quick letter to Olympiada. It was worth a shot. It was Hell from when it began. There was no gradual increase of pressure, the moment Kavaa stepped into the Jungle behind Fer and Kassandora, it started to flood onto them. Branches swung like swords, trees became massive clubs, vines became vipers, even the leaves became tiny razor-sharp rain that pelted at them from above. Kavaa watched Fer and Kassandora plough through the Jungle. Kavaa only had to swing her sword every now and then to cut vines that were attempting to snag at her legs. They moved quickly, too quickly for mortals, but none of them were mortals here. The moon shone overhead, Kavaa would catch sight of the starry sky every few minutes whenever they came a less dense patch of Jungle. The dark blues were fading into oranges, dawn was approaching. It didn¡¯t matter much to the three inside, the canopy above them blocked most of the light. Kassandora suddenly stopped, turned and launched her greatsword spinning past Kavaa¡¯s head. The Goddess of Health jumped and twisted to watch a massive plant, with maw spilling with acid collapse behind her. ¡°Watch your step.¡± Kassandora said and then grunted. The Goddess of War looked down to a vine that had wrapped under her armour. Joyeuse reappeared in her hands, she twisted and slammed the blade down onto the ground. Her armour flashed, it disappeared for a second, Kassandora ripped the vine out of her stomach, threw it away and her gauntlets started to rematerialize. Kavaa managed half a step, magic already ready to heal Kassandora when the woman grunted. Three wooden roots stabbed through her chest. Of War swung her greatsword again, split them and jumped backwards. She through the spines away, ripped them right out of herself leaving gaping holes and landed at Kavaa¡¯s feet. ¡°Healing, now.¡± Kassandora said through a grunt. Her armour finished reappearing apart from her back. Kassandora grit her teeth as Kavaa started to heal her, still swinging her to protect the two of them. ¡°Dodge left, from above.¡± Kassandora said through the pain as Kavaa looked up. A tree was coming down on them. Its razor-leaves whistled through the air as the wood came down. Kavaa grabbed Kassandora and pulled her left. The tree above moved just as swiftly, something that large should not be able to move so fast. It whipped through the air, changing trajectory immediately, branches shooting out straight at Kavaa and Kassandora. The Goddess of Health raised her shield, ducked, and tried to cover the woman on the ground as Kassandora threw her blade into the air. Fer came in like a cannonball, Of Beasthood was nothing but a blur. The tree above them exploded into wooden shards as Fer let out a bestial roar. She slammed into and through the next, and the next, grabbed into the ground, dug her feet in, and launched herself towards the two as more vines grew out of the ground. Kavaa watched Fer effortlessly claw through the ground and roots and vines around them. She drew a circle. Grabbed the two, then jumped forwards. Kavaa grunted as Fer threw them, then grunted when she slammed into the ground. She closed her eyes, bit her tongue and still let out a scream as her magic healed her broken leg. Then she laid her hands on Kassandora¡¯s back, the Goddess of War was already on her feet as she raised her blade and turned backwards. Of War grit her teeth, her knees shook, but her wounds closed, muscle and bone and organ regrew in its place. Kavaa threw the blood of herself as Fer caught up to them. ¡°That¡¯s the skin done.¡± Fer commented. She pulled a canteen off Kavaa and drank Helenna¡¯s blood without wasting a drop. Kavaa watched, awestruck. Her body was covered in matted fur that was drenched in blood, but the woman had no wounds on her. Fer stopped, her ears quivered, her hair sat up and she looked down at her leg. ¡°Spiky.¡± She said to herself and then leaned down to pull out a spine as long as Kavaa¡¯s arm was thick from her thigh. She gave it a look, then flicked it away. Kavaa blinked, then scanned her with magic. The wound had already closed, the muscles had regrown. If there was no blood, there would have been no sign of damage. Fer gave the air a sniff, looked around and pointed. ¡°Iniri¡¯s trail is that way.¡± She turned back to Kavaa and Kassandora. ¡°Can you two manage?¡± ¡°We can.¡± Kassandora said as Kavaa nodded. Her own sword was barely a toothpick compared to Kassandora¡¯s, and Kassandora was a toothpick compared to Fer. The Goddess of Beasthood towered over the two of them. ¡°It¡¯s more dangerous now.¡± Fer said as she set off at a brisk pace. Kavaa had to jog every few steps to keep up, she stayed close to the two of them, jumping at every and any sound from the Jungle, no matter whether it was the wind or some branch snapping in the distance.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Seems safer.¡± Kassandora commented. Her sword disappeared, but her armour stayed on. She looked back to Kavaa. ¡°That was good work Kavaa.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Kavaa said as she stumbled on another branch. ¡°Those men described it as the skin, didn¡¯t they?¡± Fer said as she kept on walking. Thick bushes lay ahead of them. Fer stopped, look back to the two smaller Goddesses, then turned and punched the nearby tree. It collapsed slowly, and then fell on the bushes. ¡°Don¡¯t touch these, they¡¯re poison.¡± Fer said. ¡°How do you know?¡± Kavaa scanned them with magic. They were indeed poison, but she hadn¡¯t felt Fer use any of her own energy. ¡°I can smell it.¡± Fer replied as she jumped onto the massive log and then kept walking. Kassandora jumped up, and then gave Kavaa a hand to lift her up. ¡°So Kavaa, you¡¯re a doctor?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Kavaa said as the two caught up to of Beasthood. The bushes around them spread out into the darkness of the Jungle, they even continued further than the massive tree had fallen. ¡°Wait here.¡± Fer said. She jumped. Just like that, simply jumped, and smashed into one of the nearby wooden trunks. It collapsed next to them. ¡°Can you make that?¡± Fer shouted from the distance. Kavaa looked to Kassandora as they both looked down into the poison brambles around them. ¡°I can.¡± Kassandora said. Her armour disappeared. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Kavaa said the words and felt her pale blonde hair be swayed by wind. Fer picked her up. ¡°You too Kassie.¡± She said just before Kassandora set off. ¡°Keep your armour on, if you can¡¯t make a jump, then call.¡± The world briefly became a blur, and then it stopped just as suddenly. Fer dropped Kavaa onto the fallen tree as Of Health collapsed to her knees. Kassandora picked herself up and her armour reappeared. Fer bent down to Kavaa. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°That was too fast for me.¡± Kavaa mumbled as she healed herself again. It was two ribs this time, she wanted to roll over and cry. ¡°I¡­. AHHH!¡± Kavaa screamed as her own magic healed her. Rib was spliced with rib, born reformed, and she lost consciousness. Kavaa awoke to Fer and Kassandora kneeling down besides her. Fer merely stared curiously at her, Kassandora was holding onto her hand, those big red eyes of hers shining. ¡°How long was I out?¡± ¡°Half a minute.¡± Kassandora replied with a sigh. Kavaa got to her feet as she felt her hand. Was Kassandora really worried about her? She didn¡¯t know what to do with that image of Kassandora¡¯s eyes in her mind. It couldn¡¯t¡­ Kassandora was the Goddess of War¡­ Fer set off again, strolling down the massive piece of fallen wood. ¡°Are we going the right way?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°We are.¡± Fer answered as the two caught up to her. ¡°These plants are fresh. Six, maybe seven hours they¡¯ve been here.¡± She looked around again as they kept walking. ¡°So, Kavaa, as I was saying, you¡¯re a doctor, aren¡¯t you?¡± Kavaa gave a questioning look to Kassandora, how could the woman be in a chatty mood now? Kassandora merely shook her head. ¡°I am.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°Mmh.¡± Fer answered. ¡°I¡¯ve met doctors before, you know?¡± They came to the edge of the tree again and Fer sniffed the air. ¡°What hurts less? Being carried or being thrown?¡± Kavaa took a moment to reply. ¡°Thrown?¡± Kavaa answered. Fer grabbed Kavaa¡¯s stomach and threw her underarm as if she was a ball. Kavaa flew the air, spinning, she saw Kassandora being launched behind her in the same gentle manner, on her next spin, she saw Fer disappear as the wood cracked underneath her. Kavaa closed her eyes, curled up into a ball, and wished for this to end already. She landed into something soft. Kavaa opened her eyes to Fer¡¯s face smiling down at her, those cat¡¯s eyes then looked away, Kavaa was dropped onto the ground, and Fer caught her sister. ¡°That was easier, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Fer laughed and scratched her head. She turned to point again. ¡°Iniri¡¯s trail is that way.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s set off.¡± Kassandora said. Fer harrumphed and began her brisk pace, giving the air a sniff. Kavaa saw the fur on her arms standing at attention. ¡°So as I was saying, I met this doctor once, he tried to walk into my lands.¡± Fer began as if reminiscing a good memory. ¡°He tried to explain the human body to me I remember.¡± Kavaa did not want to know what happened to that doctor. She kept silence as she walked through the vines on the grass. It really was easier here, now that they were past what the Arikans referred to as skin. Fer rounded a tree and continued. ¡°So, he tried to explain it to me, I¡¯ll be honest, I didn¡¯t really understand it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not easy.¡± Kavaa felt she had to say something, but she picked her words carefully. Fer famously had a bad temper in the Great War. She looked at that mountain with its mane of gold walking ahead of her. It was hard to imagine a bad temper on that. ¡°It wasn¡¯t.¡± Fer agreed. ¡°But I remember, he talked about the skin being like fur, and then inside, you have wolves running around you that hunt everything down.¡± ¡°You mean white blood cells?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Don¡¯t bother explaining, she¡¯ll forget anyway.¡± Kassandora whispered from the side. ¡°Very funny little sister.¡± Fer said. ¡°Don¡¯t be rude now, but to continue Kavaa, I think so, I don¡¯t really remember.¡± Fer stopped, her ears rose, they grew and pointed and turned independently. ¡°Something about an immune system.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Yes, composed of tiny little wolves that eat everything.¡± ¡°What does this have to do with anything?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Well, don¡¯t be scared now, but wouldn¡¯t that make us illnesses here?¡± Fer said. She pulled out another canteen and quickly drowned it. ¡°I think the word you¡¯re looking for is bacteria.¡± Kavaa said gently. ¡°Well, I think there¡¯s tiny little wolves chasing us.¡± Fer pointed forwards. ¡°Iniri is that way, but it knows we¡¯re inside it.¡± Fer took a step forwards as Kavaa came to a stop. The Jungle began to speak. Chapter 85 – Tiny Little Wolves Arascus turned on the news. Impossible¡­ Iliyal, Ilwin and Sara were recalled immediately. Kavaa took a step forwards as she heard the whispers, Kassandora was saying something, she didn¡¯t hear. Fer turned and looked at her, Kavaa did not understand the look. She didn¡¯t hear them as they began talking, and stumbled forwards. West. She had to go west. Fer suddenly appeared in her field of vision. The Goddess of Beasthood waved her hand as Kavaa stumbled into her, then Kavaa sidestepped the massive monster and kept on moving. West. Fer stepped in front of Kavaa again. Sighed, then smashed her fist into Kavaa¡¯s gut. Sound suddenly returned as Kavaa fell to the ground with a groan of pain. The rustle of Jungle leaves, Fer¡¯s and Kassandora¡¯s breathing, them walking around her. ¡°Told you that would do it.¡± Fer said happily. ¡°I didn¡¯t say it would not work.¡± Kassandora rolled Kavaa over and looked down on her with those red eyes again. Her hair fell around her face like streams of crimson blood. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Don¡¯t apologize, what did you hear?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Kavaa said replied. ¡°To go west, but I¡­ it just¡­ I knew to go there, but I didn¡¯t hear anything.¡± Fer sniffed the air. ¡°That¡¯s the way we¡¯re going anyway.¡± She looked at Kavaa curiously. ¡°Can you stand?¡± Kavaa got up, her stomach hurt. She wanted to take her armour off and inspect the wound. Surely something was cracked. She didn¡¯t want to heal herself again¡­ ¡°Heal yourself Kavaa.¡± Kavaa collapsed onto her rear and got to work. The sooner it would begin, the sooner it would end. Muscles tore in stomach tore and regrew, she screamed, her vision blurred, and she rolled onto the grass. ¡°Does it really hurt that much?¡± Fer asked. ¡°It hurts.¡± Kassandora replied. Kavaa mumbled something, she felt spit spill from her open mouth down onto her cheek as the pain started to pass. ¡°Well you¡¯re getting better at it.¡± Fer picked Kavaa up and set her on her feet. ¡°You didn¡¯t pass out this time.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t break bones this time.¡± Kavaa answered as she took a heavy step still supported by Fer. ¡°If you let yourself go again, I¡¯ll break bones.¡± Fer replied. Suddenly, the Jungle did not sound so loud to Kavaa. She felt a chill go down her spine as she looked up at Fer. And then Fer started walking again. Kavaa and Kassandora followed. It went on like that for a day. And then a second. And a third. Sometimes, they ran into more poisoned brambles. Some would be sidetracked, some Fer would fell trees for them to serve as makeshift bridges. They walked through dried out riverbeds and past ancient towns overran by vines. Every now and then, the Jungle would put a fight. A tree would move, only to be smashed by Fer, or vines would awaken to try and stall them. Those, Kavaa and Kassandora cut through what Fer did not rip apart. At the end of the first day, Fer gave the five canteens on her belt to Kavaa. ¡°You take them.¡± She said as she practically shoved them into her hands. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I know I can¡¯t contain myself.¡± Fer said. She had already walked off before Kavaa could reply. Kassandora split them with her, they had ran through nine at the end of the first. Four on the next. Then three. ¡°Better to be overprepared than underprepared.¡± Kassandora talked to Kavaa as they continued down the trail Fer apparently was following. ¡°She doesn¡¯t need that much blood, she just likes it.¡± ¡°I do!¡± Fer shouted from ahead. ¡°Helenna¡¯s is really sweet! Like grape juice!¡± Kavaa would be stunned every single time of Beasthood opened her mouth. That monster laughed and giggled and smiled and hummed to herself without a care in the world. How could they have thought against the same Fer in the Great War? It was a night and day difference, simply the complete opposite. ¡°You mean wine?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°No.¡± Fer shook her head, from behind, Kavaa watched that golden mane of hair moving like waves in the wind. ¡°Grape juice. Wine is sour. Helenna isn¡¯t as sour as wine is, just a bit.¡± And so they walked. Through more swamps and thickets, in the darkness of the jungle. Kavaa had always considered herself a good time-keeper, she knew they must have travelled at least three days now, maybe pushing four. Kassandora kept the time, she would inform them every few hours how long had passed. On one hand, each hour meant Iniri had to spend more time alone, on the other, Fer was certain that the trail was fresh. Iniri was not locked away in some cavern somewhere or being devoured by a plant, instead she was being taken off somewhere. Fer was sure that the gap between them was narrowing, the trail becoming fresher and fresher. Kavaa believed her, she had no choice to. It almost grew formulaic. Until they reached a clearing. Fer peered out into from behind a tree.. ¡°Well that¡¯s new.¡± She said and gave the air a sniff. ¡°And it¡¯s not good.¡± ¡°Did you lose it?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Trail goes right through here.¡± Fer replied and pointed straight ahead. They looked around to the sides. It was almost a line in the Jungle. ¡°I don¡¯t like it, very open.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Agreed.¡± Kassandora said. Eventually Fer sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll go first, you two stay close behind me.¡± She demanded a canteen, drank it to the last drop and threw it ahead. It landed in the tall grass and sat there. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re wasting time, I¡¯m setting off.¡± Fer stepped out into the open and Kavaa followed, close behind her. She wished she hadn¡¯t. Fer stopped. Her ears quivered, she cast a quick glance behind her. The field stretched on endlessly. So this is how it was. Whatever. She continued walking forwards. Kassandora would be smart enough to use her brain to get out of this. Kavaa would probably make it too. They both had bitter blood after all. Fer took a step and looked down at a cub. A darkfur. A tiny baby darkfur. He rolled around in a litter of wolves. It was perfect newborns, without a drop of blood on them, quiet and looking up at her with eyes full of love and comfort. Surety that Fer would save them and protect them and raise them. She raised her eyes and saw Kassandora standing ahead of her. Those cheeky eyes on her. She saw Neneria standing cold, the smallest hint of a smile on her face. She saw Irinika and Baalka, Olephia and Malam and Anassa. And Arascus standing behind them. Everyone smiling and getting along like the great big family they were. Fer looked ahead at them, looked down at the cubs, looked ahead and down again. She gave the air a sniff. No smell. Her ears wiggled. No sound. ¡°Whoever you are, I am not impressed.¡± She said and lifted her leg. The cubs were crushed. Mercy killings. Fer felt the Jungle recoil around her and she started laughing. ¡°Who do you think I am little tiger?¡± Fer whispered to the air. ¡°You should be afraid of me.¡± She approached Kassandora. Her sister raised her arms in a hug and smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t know me.¡± Fer said. Kassandora would test her or pull her ears. Kassandora was torn in half. Irinika took a step forwards. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting big sister.¡± Irinika said. Big sister? Irinika was a showman. Irinika would come in bring night to the whole world. ¡®Big sister¡¯? Just that. ¡°Don¡¯t insult my sister like that.¡± Fer said. Irinika¡¯s head rolled. Baalka stepped forward. Cute and timid little Baalka. Almost like a child when compared to Fer. ¡°Hey!¡± Baalka said in that cute voice of hers. Fer never took her eyes of her. Baalka being sweet? To her of all people? The Sun would burn out first. Baalka fell. Olephia stepped forwards. ¡°It¡¯s good to-¡° Olephia never talked. If Olephia opened her mouth at this distance, Fer would be dead by now. Olephia died in Fer¡¯s grasp. What a farce. Anassa and Malam and Arascus fell just like that. Fer did not even want to listen to them. Arascus died last. Fer¡¯s fist had made a hole in his chest without a hint of regret. There was nothing to be regretful of. He simply smelled wrong. All of them did. Every single one of them had the exact scent associated with them. None of them smelled of family. Fer awakened and looked around the field. Kavaa and Kassandora were still standing there. Should she do something? She supposed she should. She moved in front of her sister and smelled her. That was something the Jungle could never replicate. That was family. Fer cracked her fingers. ¡°Sorry Kass.¡± She said. There was only one foolproof method she knew to break someone out of some hypnotised state. Kassandora looked around the field. Kavaa and Fer had disappeared. She started walking forwards. Sokolowski appeared next to her. Then Iliyal. The rest of the Generals. Her armies of men spiralled into the distance and the ground raised until she saw the horizon. They were calling her name. Kassandora did not stop walking. She made it down the hill. She walked to the other side of the field. That obviously was not real. Sokolowski had no way of getting here. Arascus would not suddenly appear out of nowhere. Neneria would not enter and catch up to them. Kavaa had no reason to watch her from the sidelines. ¡°If you¡¯re going to use trickery, you¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡± Kassandora said. The world crumbled around and Kassandora woke up. She saw Fer standing in front of her. Fist curled into a ball and a wicked smile on her face. Instinctively, Of War skipped to the side to dodge, even though Fer threw no punch. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me.¡± Kassandora said as Fer stood up and raised her hands in apology. ¡°I know one way which always works.¡± She said in a stupid tone that was supposed to be some explanation. ¡°So you were going to break my ribs for it?¡± Kassandora asked. Kavaa was still stood there in that trance. ¡°Well¡­¡± Fer looked around. ¡°I mean, Kav can heal it.¡± ¡°Kav?¡± ¡°She should get a nickname too, shouldn¡¯t she?¡± Fer waved her hand in front of Kavaa¡¯s face and turned to Kassandora. Yellow eyes wide, mouth questioning. ¡°Should I wake her?¡± ¡°One minute. Let¡¯s see if she can get out.¡± Kavaa walked through the field and heard a child cry. She stopped and looked around. Fer and Kassandora had disappeared somewhere. The child was to her side. She took a step¡­ almost took a step. Then looked back. Where was Kassandora and Fer? Neither of them would leave like this. She remembered the face Kassandora had made when Kavaa had fallen unconscious last time, those eyes¡­ Kassandora may have been a master of a manipulator, but there was no way to fake eyes like that. Helenna could not express emotion that earnestly. The child¡¯s cry came from the grass and Kavaa wrapped her hand around her blade. She should check, she was a doctor¡­ Kavaa shook her head and took a step away from the child. A doctor yes, but not a modern doctor. A doctor that came out about long before the first oaths of healing had been established, a doctor whose duty was to end suffering as much as it was to heal it. She took a step away and came face to face with Kassandora. ¡°How are you?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± Kavaa carefully replied, her pale eyes narrowing, her hand twisting around the blade. There was something off about this Kassandora. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll protect you.¡± Kassandora turned and walked forwards. ¡®Protect you?¡¯ Kavaa could believe a lot, but she could never believe that the ever manipulative Kassandora would purposefully say something that she knew annoyed Kavaa. She took three steps, then stopped, and looked down at Kavaa¡¯s blade piercing her chest. ¡°I knew you were fake.¡± Kavaa whispered. ¡°From the moment I saw you.¡± And Kavaa awoke. Fer and Kassandora were looking at her already. Kavaa almost felt disappointed, she was beaten by them again. ¡°I told you.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I never said Kav wouldn¡¯t break out.¡± Fer replied as she turned. Kavaa gingerly touched Kassandora¡¯s black armour. She saw the woman questioning her sanity. Good. That meant this Kassandora was real. ¡°How did you know I would?¡± Kassandora was about to answer, for once, Of War looked at a lack for words, Fer spoke up. ¡°Like I said at the start.¡± Fer waved them to hurry along. ¡°Neneria would get trapped in something like that. There¡¯s monsters that use this sort of hypnosis in nature.¡± ¡°And?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°They adapt to the general population.¡± Fer said. ¡°So people with lots of empathy who care about others. You two would never fall for it.¡± Kassandora stopped. ¡°Then how did you?¡± Joyeuse appeared in her hands. Fer only chuckled from ahead. ¡°I can smell it Kassie. You wouldn¡¯t understand.¡± Chapter 86 – Some Things Never Change King Richard VI looked through letters. An invitation to a dance, the official proclamation of the first Epan International Archery Competition, a plea for help from Ausa, a rather terrible financial report. Helenna lay on the ground and watched the stars above. Divines did not need to sleep, nor could they get absolutely wasted like mortals, they could faint from pain or be put to sleep but Helenna was never good at closing her eyes. Now with Iniri gone, with Kavaa and Kassandora gone into that great green mass on the horizon, with them being accompanied by Fer¡­ Could anyone sleep with all that on their minds? She heard Iliyal approach, felt him rather. Helenna¡¯s hearing wasn¡¯t exceptional, nothing like Atis¡¯ had been, even Kavaa had better ears than she did, but Helenna would always know when mortals were about. Iliyal had a slow heartbeat and a fast mind, both cold. They reminded her of clocks. ¡°Helenna.¡± Iliyal said. Helenna did not move. She sat on the ground, knees brought to her chest, and eyes focused on the Jungle ahead of her. She did not care what the camps did, Kavaa¡¯s Clerics and Kassandora¡¯s new army weren¡¯t hers to command anyway. She had never met soldiers who liked Love snooping about when the winds of war were blowing, so she stayed away. ¡°Mm.¡± Helenna idly replied after a minute of silence. ¡°We¡¯ve been recalled. Me, Ilwin and Daganhoff. We¡¯re leaving when the Raptors arrive.¡± ¡°Are you not taking Neneria?¡± ¡°Neneria wants to stay.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°And she wasn¡¯t called by name.¡± He came close and stood next to Helenna. ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll get out?¡± ¡°It is Goddess Kassandora leading.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Of course they¡¯ll get out.¡± and Helenna smiled. The man was cold, but when he spoke of Kass, it was like he was speaking of a loved ancestor. It was just a slight change in his tone, barely a drop, no one else but her would have noticed it. His heartbeat quickened just slightly, his muscles tensed for a moment before he relaxed them. It was good that Kassandora had people that worried about her. Helenna turned to look up at the man. He stood there exactly as she remembered him from the Great War. Tall and cold faced. With the pointed ears peering out of his blonde hair and those dreaded eyes that were the colour of green snakeskin. ¡°How can you be so sure?¡± ¡°Because Goddess Kassandora is the best of them all.¡± Iliyal said. Then sighed and looked down at Helenna. ¡°Hold yourself together, she¡¯ll make it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the last person I¡¯d expect that from.¡± ¡°There¡¯s not many of us ancients about.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°She¡¯ll come out, she wouldn¡¯t have gone in if she thought there wasn¡¯t a chance.¡± Helenna smirked. A mortal proclaiming himself in the same league as the Divines? The man had courage, she had to give him that. ¡°Well¡­¡± Helenna wandered what she should say. She had never fought directly with the man, but her spies had ruined a great many of his plans back in the Great War. ¡°Take care then.¡± ¡°Take care.¡± Iliyal looked up at the night sky. The two planes that had dropped off Fer and Neneria shot above. ¡°That¡¯s my ride.¡± Iliyal took another breath. ¡°I¡¯ve given Damian Sokolowski a contact to us. If help is needed, then call.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not on the same side.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°Are we not?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°You may not be, but Kassandora is.¡± He turned. ¡°You¡¯d do well on our side.¡± And then he walked off. Helenna sighed as she looked back at the forest. Joining Arascus? She had never considered that nowadays. It was a proposition she had thought about a thousand years ago, she had stalled then. Stalled until Allasaria had swept her up. Did she join the White Pantheon? Or was she merely conscripted. Helenna did not know. Maybe a bit of both. Probably a bit of both. Before she knew it, she was working for Allasaria. She smiled to herself. Same story, different time. Now, she was simply working Kassandora. Some things never changed. The night changed to day. Dawn rose above that Jungle, with all its vivid oranges and yellows, then dawn gave way to day. The light scorching blue Arikan sky eventually started to retreat to purples and reds, and until it collapsed into a canopy of dark blue. It was a full-moon today, a beautiful night, the sky spilled over with stars. Helenna had sat through another day. Helenna felt Neneria a mile away. The Goddess of Death was sitting down on the red sand and being avoided by everyone. Even the Arikans did not particularly like her. Still though... Helenna watched the woman as she gazed into the forest. How long had she been there? An hour passed and Neneria did not move. The moon slowly sauntered across the sky and Neneria did not move. It began to set as the east started to get brighter and Neneria still sat there. Helenna finally moved. It was a slow walk. Helenna wiped the dust off her clothes and readjusted them until there was nothing left to change. Then she straightened them a bit more. Eventually, she reached Neneria. The woman sat there, silently, watching the Jungle. In her dark dress and with that black hair, she practically melted into the night, but her pale skin reflected the light like a torch. She did not even glance at Helenna. ¡°Can I sit here?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°Divines don¡¯t ask.¡± Neneria replied, still unmoving. ¡°But go ahead.¡± Helenna sat. Of all the Divines, Neneria was the one Helenna understood least. Even Malam, Goddess of Hatred, had things to be said about her. What was the Goddess of Death? Death was death. The end. That was it. Someone died and life was over. Helenna pulled her knees up to her chest. ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll make it out.¡± ¡°Kass is there. They will.¡± Neneria replied. First Iliyal, now Neneria. It was one thing for a mortal to treat a Divine like a¡­ like a Divine. But Gods did not bow to Gods. ¡°How can you be sure?¡± ¡°Because Kass is there.¡± Neneria answered quickly. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Neneria replied then sighed. Those cold dark eyes and that alluring face turned to look down at Helenna. Neneria was taller, but now that Helenna saw Fer, minor differences like height didn¡¯t seem to matter so much. ¡°Why have you come here?¡± Oh. Helenna shrugged.Stolen story; please report. ¡°I wanted someone to talk to.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ve chosen the worst there is.¡± Neneria replied flatly. ¡°You¡¯re all there is.¡± ¡°There¡¯s mortals about.¡± ¡°But they¡¯re not us.¡± ¡°No. They¡¯re not.¡± Neneria agreed, then went back to watching the Jungle. They sat in silence as day rose again. Eventually, Helenna simply had to speak. ¡°Why do you trust Kassandora so much?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t have been made part of the family if we didn¡¯t trust her.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°That wasn¡¯t the question.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s an answer.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°I trust her because I trust her. That¡¯s the end of it.¡± She smirked. ¡°Why do people love?¡± Helenna had been asked this question before, countless times. She had never worked it out. ¡°Because they do.¡± That was the best answer the Goddess of Love could give. ¡°Same as why people die.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Same as why they draw swords for war. It simply happens. Same as why I trust Kass, I simply do.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°You¡¯re talking to too old a woman to have this conversation. A millennia ago, maybe we could have had this conversation.¡± Neneria replied. And silence fell on them again. Helenna sat there, the Goddess of Love next to the Goddess of Death, as they silently watched the Jungle. The Clerics got to their daily trainings, Kassandora¡¯s men had already started, the Arikans went out to hunt. Cooking fires were started, more tents were being put up, two more planes landed ferrying more Clerics from Epa or Guguo or the Union or wherever they came from. Helenna did not really care. She just wanted her friends to leave that Jungle. ¡°Time passes faster if we talk.¡± Helenna tried again. ¡°Time passes all the same.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°You¡¯re not easy to talk to.¡± ¡°I get that a lot.¡± Neneria replied then smiled. ¡°Fer complains about it to me.¡± ¡°She seemed sweet.¡± Helenna saw how the short interaction she watched between Kassandora, Fer and Neneria. Between all the shouting and hitting each other, the order-giving by Kassandora, she saw the woman smile in a way she had never smiled with them. And then Fer told her she drank too much, that was true too. There was nothing in it for Fer to say that, but she did anyway. ¡°She¡¯s annoying, loud, lazy, stupid and never pays attention.¡± Neneria replied in a flat tone. ¡°But you¡¯re not allowed to say that.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because she¡¯s my sister, not yours.¡± Helenna smiled as she looked out at that Jungle. That would never fly in the White Pantheon. There, everyone complained to everyone about everyone. Love and Death spent the next few hours next to each other in silence. ¡°Iliyal told me something.¡± Helenna said quietly and Neneria sighed. ¡°That man, you are allowed to talk about. All of them. Daganhoff too. Daganhoff especially.¡± Helenna¡¯s eyes broke from the Jungle and at Neneria. That was a reaction at least. ¡°The girl?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know her.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°Don¡¯t be so high and mighty as to pretend you¡¯re not prejudicial.¡± Neneria scowled. Helenna felt her lips quirk up. Why did the woman get so angry at mortals? What was there to get angry about? Mortals were simply mortals. ¡°I mean¡­ she¡¯s pretty.¡± Helenna said. She knew it would be annoying. She thought Neneria would get mad. ¡°She¡¯s a chit who oversteps boundaries.¡± Neneria looked at Helenna and shook her head. ¡°You know already, Fer spilled, of course she did, but Arascus is awake.¡± Helenna nodded. Honestly, once the shock wore off, there wasn¡¯t much to think about. Arascus¡¯ awakening did little to affect Iniri and Kavaa in that Jungle. He had sent these two because Kassandora had asked, if they were to come out, then it would all be down to Fer. Frankly, she felt as if she had a debt to the God of Pride. ¡°We held a feast the other day. She started to put her hands all over him!¡± Neneria scowled. ¡°Can you imagine that! And he did nothing about it!¡± Neneria swore and kicked up some red dust. She shook that black head of hair and went back to looking at the forest. ¡°Whatever, what¡¯s done is done. I don¡¯t like her.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Helenna said. ¡°What?¡± Neneria scowled. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Helenna did not how to describe it. It was refreshing. In the White Pantheon, they spent a thousand years of using roundabout ways to hint at mutual dislike. This woman went out and said it. ¡°Well, you can¡¯t fix that.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I thought you were Of Love.¡± Neneria said. ¡°You should be good at these things.¡± Helenna¡¯s mood immediately changed. She hated whenever people brought that up. ¡°Well I¡¯m sorry very much!¡± Helenna scowled. ¡°But what am I supposed to say? I can¡¯t fix her for you.¡± Helenna realised who she was shouting at, remembered how easily Neneria could crush her, memories of the ghastly Dead Legion crossed her mind, and then shied away. ¡°Sorry.¡± She said quietly and looked at Neneria. The woman was looking down at her in confusion. ¡°Why are you apologizing?¡± She asked. Helenna did not know. Why was she apologizing? She had always done so for Allasaria and Maisara and Fortia, Elassa and even Sceo. Zerus¡­ All of them frankly. All of them save for Kavaa and Iniri. Helenna merely shrugged. Neneria shook her head and went back to looking at the Jungle. ¡°Don¡¯t apologize to me. It doesn¡¯t fit you.¡± Neneria sighed. ¡°So? What did Iliyal tell you?¡± ¡°He said I should pick a side.¡± ¡°So he asked you to join ours.¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°And¡­ well¡­ I don¡¯t know, I couldn¡¯t give an answer.¡± ¡°If you did give him an answer, I would veto your joining.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Helenna asked, her tone incredulous. ¡°It took me thirty-one years to make a decision. I am the fourth daughter-Goddess of Arascus.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Helenna said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about that¡­¡± To join the ranks of Arascus¡¯ daughters? She had never even considered the idea. It crossed her mind only in dreams and nightmares. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be able to do that anyway.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Neneria asked. Helenna blinked. Wasn¡¯t the answer obvious? She was only the measly Goddess of Love. How could she stand straight in the same ranks as Chaos? Or Death? Or Darkness? Or War? ¡°I mean¡­¡± Helenna did not know how to say it. Damn her own pride. She should just be able to come out with it¡­ ¡°It¡¯s¡­ How could I?¡± Hopefully Neneria got what she was hinting at. Neneria, the Goddess of Death of all people, did understand. ¡°You mean you¡¯re too weak to compete with us.¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± Helenna gave a wordless acquiescence of a reply. ¡°I¡¯m not one to talk badly about my sisters, but Fer, like I said, is stupid. Kassandora is weak. Olephia cannot speak.¡± Neneria stopped. ¡°Well she can, but she doesn¡¯t. I¡¯m cold and hard to talk to. Iri thinks she¡¯s the star of the show. Baalka is more annoying than Fer. Malam¡­¡± Neneria actually laughed. ¡°Well, you know Malam, she¡¯s like the opposite of you, she always think she¡¯s the smartest in the room. You¡¯re easier to talk to all of them.¡± ¡°I meant power wise.¡± Helenna said quietly. Her own powers did little. ¡°And?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°What can Kassandora do?¡± Helenna blinked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I asked the question, what can Kassandora do?¡± ¡°Have you not seen her fight?¡± Helenna asked. Neneria chuckled a deathly chuckle. ¡°Do you think we needed another person who can just swing a sword around? Did you not see her and Fer? There isn¡¯t a power-gap, Fer is simply in another league. And even that is nothing compared to me. To Olephia. To Irinika or to Arascus.¡± ¡°But you¡­¡± Helenna simply did not understand it. It was simply not how things worked. ¡°You listen to her.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Neneria gazed over the Jungle again and smiled. ¡°I am rather dismal in planning. I cannot do what Kassandora does. So I don¡¯t bother.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not my domain. It simply isn¡¯t.¡± Neneria said and shrugged. ¡°We leave Kassandora to what she¡¯s good at, she leaves us to what we¡¯re good at. Like I said at the beginning. I trust her. She trusts me.¡± ¡°Is that why you didn¡¯t argue about going in?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°Fer said I shouldn¡¯t, so I won¡¯t. Fer is annoying, she¡¯ll pinch my cheeks and rub my head, but she won¡¯t wish me harm. If she says I can¡¯t handle it, then I can¡¯t.¡± Neneria shrugged again. ¡°I¡¯m not going to argue with her senses when mine aren¡¯t anything stellar.¡± Helenna turned away. She felt her eyes grow wet. It slid down her cheek. She had spent a thousand years in the Pantheon, and she had never seen this. She looked down at herself. The tips of her hair had gone from the ivory white of worry to blue. She smiled and shook them away, but the blue still remained. How could they get along like this? They were Forces and Abstracts of domains that directly encroached on each other. And yet¡­ And yet they did. Simply and without reason. Like that trust Helenna had never felt. Trust and love unexplainable. Existing for its own sake. ¡°Come now.¡± Neneria said as she put her arm around Neneria. ¡°I don¡¯t like watching people cry.¡± She pulled Helenna close into herself. ¡°They¡¯ll be out soon, and you¡¯ll have your Iniri and your Kavaa back.¡± Love cried into Death¡¯s embrace and as they sat there, together, and waited for everyone to return. Chapter 87 – The Jungle’s Stomach Allasaria fell into the ocean. She had not flown back to Olympiada. What point was there to? She merely floated above the oceans until her energy drained. A whale swallowed her. A week they spent. A full week trekking through the Jungle. Kavaa followed Kassandora and Fer as they cleaned tore through another section of living plants and tearing vines. It was all growing thicker here, the poisons were noxious green clouds that rested in dried out streams. The trees here grew old and thick, their bark gnarled and scarred. They reached high into the sky and made a canopy so thick it blocked all light. Kavaa gripped her sword, freed her legs again, blocked spine that would have penetrated her chest with her shield, jumped to dodge a branch that would have decapitated and stabbed at another one of those poisonous man-eating ones again. She threw the blood off herself, watched Kassandora scream as the magic flowed through the Goddess of War. She felled a massive tree with a single swing, then swung it in a blur to break the vines that had crawled onto her armour again. And then Fer roared. The Jungle fell silent as Kavaa felt a blur move past her, a tree cracked, fell, another, a third. Another maneater exploded as Fer ploughed through, her fur burned with poison, then stopped burning. And silence descended again. This would be another few minutes. They came in waves. Kassandora had worked it out first, she said they were getting close to whatever their destination first. ¡°That¡¯s the last one.¡± Fer said as she stopped. Her ears twisted, her cat¡¯s eyes sent a chill down Kavaa¡¯s spine as they passed over her and she turned. ¡°How do you know?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s given up.¡± Fer said. ¡°Like a dog.¡± She spat on the ground and kicked a nearby tree. The bark exploded as if it had been by a cannonball. ¡°But we should move fast.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a given.¡± Kassandora barely finished speaking before Fer started her jog again. Kavaa had to sprint along with Kassandora to keep up. Why where they even here? Fer had basically done everything herself. Kassandora was had helped every now and then, but Kavaa? She was only here to heal Kassandora whenever the woman took a wound, and most of those wounds came from her having to free Kavaa from another piece of aggressive flora. They crossed a mile in the space of a minute. Ten miles passed under their feet. It really had cleared up. Kavaa felt her guts wretch. Why wasn¡¯t she taken? With Iniri, this journey would have taken half the time. She looked at Fer and Kassandora again as Of Beasthood slowed to a stop, leaving a trail of dirt behind in the air and then slamming into a tree. Without the help of Arascus¡¯ daughter Goddesses, even if Kavaa had brought every Cleric in the world, they would have not made it half the way. A quarter even. ¡°We¡¯ve caught up.¡± Fer said and sniffed the air. ¡°It¡¯s very smart.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Iniri first.¡± Kavaa watched Fer lift a finger and she stepped forwards to next to the woman. They were standing on the edge of a cliff, trees finally gave way to reveal the clear cloudless blue sky. The ground suddenly gave way and dropped to form the bowl of a massive crater. There was no great tree, no poisonous swamp, no mark that this was Jungle¡¯s stomach. But it had to be. ¡°That is what I¡¯m thinking it is, isn¡¯t it¡± Fer asked. In the very settle, the trees finally gave way. The ground became clean white ivory. A field of bones that grew until they made a small hill. ¡°Neneria would have a field day.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Can you feel it?¡± Fer merely lifted her arm in front of them. Her thick fur was standing on its roots as if she had been struck by lightning. ¡°We still have eight canteens left.¡± Fer quietened down as her ears twisted and moved. ¡°It¡¯s speaking.¡± Kavaa looked at Kassandora. The Goddess of War shook her head. ¡°What¡¯s it saying?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°That we¡¯ve beaten it.¡± She gave the air a sniff and then stopped. ¡°There¡¯s something odd here.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve beaten it.¡± Kassandora said as she looked around at the edges of the crater. ¡°It¡¯s telling me it¡¯s given up.¡± Fer said again, her ears moved again. ¡°It¡¯s very adamant about it.¡± ¡°Very adamant about giving up?¡± Kassandora asked, her voice bitter. ¡°It¡¯s saying it will give up Iniri if we leave.¡± Fer added. Kassandora turned to Kavaa and then raised her arms. ¡°That¡¯s almost too easy.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Look!¡± Fer shouted. In the very of the huge crater, out from that mountain of bones, a flower was growing. A huge one, with giant pink petals making up a flower. There was someone in the middle. Kavaa¡¯s vision was just too weak to make it out, but there was obviously a person there. It rose and rose into the air, until it stood like a small, thin skyscraper in that crater. ¡°Can you see?¡± Kassandora asked Fer. ¡°It¡¯s Iniri.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Is she hurt?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Fer said. ¡°And she¡¯s not, her feet are dirty though.¡± ¡°Can you grab her?¡± Kassandora asked.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Too far to jump.¡± Fer said. ¡°And she¡¯s being held.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°There¡¯s vines wrapped around her limbs, one around her stomach too.¡± Fer said. She put her arms on her head and shrugged. Kavaa stood there, hand wrapped around her blade. Iniri was here! She was so close! They could cover that distance in less than a minute! It was practically flat ground. Why didn¡¯t they? She felt Kassandora¡¯s hand on her shoulder. ¡°Hold.¡± Kassandora said. Joyeuse appear in her hand again, and she threw it forwards, onto that patch of skulls. It spun in the air, then crashed into the ivory in a cloud of bone-dust. When it finally cleared, all that remained was a deep hole in the ground, as if someone had tread into dirty snow. ¡°See.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We can¡¯t land there.¡± ¡°Onto the trees then.¡± Fer said. ¡°How close do you have to get?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°To make the jump I mean.¡± ¡°The edge of the bone hill.¡± Fer replied. ¡°Are we going? It¡¯s really not happy with us.¡± Kassandora took a step, then stopped. ¡°Drink some of my blood.¡± Kassandora raised her arm. Her black armour, now reddened with blood, disappeared. Fer¡¯s ears raised and the woman smiled. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°I am sure.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Kavaa, heal me.¡± ¡°Why not Helenna¡¯s?¡± Kavaa asked, took hold of the woman¡¯s arm as Fer licked her lips. ¡°Mine is stronger.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Helenna is weak.¡± Fer added immediately. That was no surprise, but Kavaa had seen what sort of effect Helenna¡¯s blood had on Fer. Now Kassandora¡¯s? ¡°Remember, not too much.¡± Fer rolled her eyes as she looked down on Kassandora¡¯s hand again. ¡°I¡¯ll pull away.¡± ¡°Five mouthfuls.¡± Fer said. ¡°Five.¡± Kassandora agreed. Fer¡¯s teeth sank into the woman¡¯s hand and Kavaa started to apply magic to her. Replenishing blood was easy, it was simply speeding up production. Kassandora sighed, and eventually pulled her arm away. ¡°That was six!¡± She said. ¡°You didn¡¯t stop me.¡± Fer replied. She was already changing. Her fur grew thicker, her eyes turned red. Her fangs expanded to spill out of her mouth, past her lips. Her step became lighter, she turned around and looked at the mountains in the distance. ¡°Do you remember when I talked about tiny little wolves in your body?¡± Fer said. ¡°What does that have to do with anything?¡± Kassandora scowled, but her eyes still followed Fer¡¯s hand. ¡°Those are moving. And they¡¯re not tiny little wolves.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Kassandora said. Kavaa squinted at the horizon. It was merely a dark line in the distance, Kavaa would have put money on those simply being hills. ¡°Are they coming here?¡± Kassandora asked as she leaned forwards, her eyes trying to pick out what Fer was looking at. ¡°We have a day at the speed their moving at.¡± She moved to jump and Kassandora stopped her. Joyeuse appeared in her hand, straight in front of Fer. ¡°Break the cliff here.¡± She said. Fer looked at Kassandora curiously, then at Kavaa. ¡°You two should be off the ground though.¡± Fer said. Kassandora¡¯s armour disappeared and the woman crouched down. ¡°Get on my back.¡± It took Kavaa a moment to realise Kassandora was talking to her. ¡°W-what?¡± ¡°Get on my back.¡± Kassandora hands moved in a grabbing motion. Kavaa sheathed her blade and hugged Kassandora from behind. She put her arms around the woman¡¯s neck and brushed the red hair out of her face. The woman smelled of sweat. She felt Kassandora¡¯s hands clasp her from behind. ¡°Are you ready Fer?¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have about ten seconds.¡± ¡°I need two.¡± Kavaa felt Kassandora¡¯s hair brush against her as the woman nodded, she felt Kassandora¡¯s legs tighten, felt magic flow from her, and then they were in the air. Kavaa reacted too slowly, by the time she was looking down, Fer was already brushing her fist. The cliff cracked, stones and dust started to roll into the canyon and Fer gave the ground a kick. It slid forwards as the Goddess of Beasthood jumped away to avoid the landslide. It slid forwards and fell, but Kavaa wasn¡¯t looking at the crash the dirt made. The breaking of trees as it buried them. No. She was looking at that huge piece of ivory bone that Kassandora landed on. Kassandora slid Kavaa off her back and inspected the ground. Joyeuse appeared again, she stabbed it into the ground. Tried to at least. The blade ricocheted off that ivory. Kassandora looked to Fer. Kavaa wandered if they could speak telepathically with each other, or if they simply knew each other so well that glance was worth a sentence. She wished she had that bond with others. Fer lifted her leg and smashed it against the ground. A small crack formed, a few chips fell off and Fer bounced away, holding her foot. ¡°Owie!¡± She squealed. ¡°What is this?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Bone.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Teeth.¡± She sighed and looked at the plant again. ¡°It¡¯s a trap.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°If little Kassie says it¡¯s a trap, it¡¯s a trap.¡± Fer said. Kassandora her blade to the Goddess. ¡°Can you cut that plant at this distance?¡± Fer moved with the blade as if it was a feather. When Kavaa had tried to lift it, the blade wouldn¡¯t move. When Kassandora moved with it, she made it a blur. Now that Fer held it¡­ She may have been holding nothing. The Goddess of Beasthood twisted, took aim, and sent the blade directly at the stem of that huge plant holding Iniri. The plant moved. The plant moved very quickly. Kassandora¡¯s sword disappeared from the air and reappeared in her hand. ¡°Now you¡¯ve done it Kassie.¡± Fer said. ¡°What have I done?¡± ¡°It called us very smart. And to get out of here. And that we¡¯re never getting her back.¡± Kassandora shook her head. ¡°Tell it shouldn¡¯t talk so much. I only realised because it said it was going to give her up.¡± Fer smiled. ¡°It heard you, and it doesn¡¯t like you.¡± ¡°Well I don¡¯t like it.¡± Kassandora kicked the tooth. She stopped for a moment. Kavaa wandered what was going on in that head of hers. ¡°Right Fer. We¡¯re going in.¡± The plant moved immediately. The petals closed around Iniri and it quickly retreated into that mountain of bones. Kassandora started chuckling as Kavaa looked on in dread. What was there to laugh about? Kavaa had disappeared! What was funny? There was nothing funny! The bones started to fall once the pink flower bud retreated entirely, as if they had laid on a floor which suddenly disappeared. Kassandora eventually controlled her laughter, although that mostly at Kavaa¡¯s behest. ¡°This is why I live Kavaa.¡± Her armour reappeared. She grabbed of Kavaa in one arm, of Fer in the other. ¡°Impossible odds like this. This is War in its truest form.¡± Her dark helmet appeared over her face to cover it. ¡°Under no rational circumstances, should we follow after Iniri. We should retreat, we should come back with another sister later on. That¡¯s the rational thing to do.¡± ¡°Iniri may be gone by then.¡± Kavaa said. She grabbed onto Kassandora, realising what was going to happen. ¡°But if we were rational, we wouldn¡¯t be here. If we could be stopped, it wouldn¡¯t need to trap us.¡± Kassandora gripped Fer¡¯s arm harder. ¡°If this Jungle had balls, it would come to face us ourselves. And not send plants to slow us down.¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t like that Kassie.¡± Fer said. ¡°If we were insignificant, it wouldn¡¯t care. It is facing the Greatest Strategist in all Arda! It has already lost!¡± Kassandora took a step back as she shouted. Kavaa felt chills go down her spine, her back stiffen, but there was something about the crazed expression on Kassandora that was almost¡­ soothing. This was the Kassandora of the Great War, and this Kassandora was on her side. ¡°Fer, take us into that hole.¡± Kavaa felt the wind rip past her as Fer pulled on Kassandora, and Kassandora pulled on Kavaa. She looked down to see the basin of that crater below them. She saw the giant tooth, another crack on it from Fer¡¯s jump. She saw the hole approach. An endless, dark abyss. Kavaa, Kassandora and Fer shot into that abyss like a tiny meteorite. Chapter 88 – To Plan For The Unplannable Lyca and Eliza both looked at the letters they had received. ¡°Notice of Sassara Training Exercise. All talented Arcadian mages are expected to stand duty. Leaving the territory (Of Arcadia) is not allowed with valid permission.¡± Iliyal finished giving his report to Arascus. He talked about meeting Kassandora, the situation in Kirinyaa, the Clerical Orders, the fact that Kassandora somehow had two-thousand men sworn to her. The rather amicable relationship she had with Kavaa and Helenna. The Jungle¡¯s taking of Iniri, Kassandora¡¯s plan to take her back. Arascus sat in his throne, in that war-room where every plan had been forged so far, and listened. Iliyal eventually finished and readjusted his folders on the wooden table. There was little to add, Kassandora had taught him the sanctity of succinct reports, and it took maybe four minutes to give a report on everything. Ilwin and Sara sat opposite him, on the other side of Arascus. Still in the clothes they had from Arika, Arascus had barely given them time to even change. ¡°How long do you think it will take for her to get out?¡± Arascus asked. He sat there, in that throne, like royalty, in a black suit and with the red cape. The only thing that was missing was a crown. Iliyal shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The elf answered honestly. ¡°But not soon?¡± ¡°Most likely not.¡± Iliyal said. Arascus leaned back and sighed. ¡°Very well, we will not rely on Kassandora for this. I¡¯m glad to hear she¡¯s doing well though.¡± Arascus flicked through the papers. ¡°I was going to tell her we have a prototype for liquid fire already. The one you called about five days ago.¡± ¡°That was fast.¡± Iliyal commented. Kassandora wanted something to burn the Jungle down with. ¡°It already exists, the mixture just had to be refined. Mikhail has been reassigned from guns to vehicles again. He did not like it. Some progress was made on being guns for the beastmen but they¡¯re all in the prototype stages.¡± Iliyal nodded. ¡°Him and the plane team are working on a platform for the liquid fire, it should be done within two weeks. We can have vehicles rolling off the production line in Kira in four.¡± ¡°That is good.¡± ¡°Without Kassandora and Kavaa, we¡¯re limited by logistics. We can¡¯t have flights from Kira to Kirinyaa every single day.¡± ¡°What did you have in mind?¡± ¡°For Kassandora and Kavaa to propose a joint venture with the Kirinyaan government. Build whatever Alash designs domestically. It would be the first block in their own industrial foundation too.¡± Arascus waved. ¡°We still have to wait on the design anyway, and now for them to return from the Jungle. Write that down Iliyal, that¡¯s the next move for them.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Iliyal started to scrawl. It was the sort of simple move that Arascus excelled at. In one move, it would create a binding between the Kirinyaans and them, and whatever these vehicles would be, Iliyal was sure that Arascus had ordered them to be easily re-designed for war. Ilwin and Sara sat silently and merely waited with tired eyes. ¡°Small quantities of liquid-fire can start being transported for field testing, we¡¯ll use the Pelican, although it won¡¯t be flying every day. Neneria is still there, isn¡¯t she?¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°She is.¡± ¡°If mortals cannot approach the Jungle, then I would have said to build catapults but she can use the Legion to haul them into place. Send a letter with the first shipment.¡± Arascus leaned back and put his hand on the folder by him. ¡°Now, for the real reason of this meeting.¡± He pulled screenshots of weather reports from various Arikan stations. ¡°What is this?¡± He said as he threw them into the centre of the table. Iliyal leaned in from one side, Ilwin and Sara leaned in from the other. The ancient elf saw it immediately. It was a pattern that once seen could not be unseen. ¡°Something is moving North, from Artica.¡± Arascus nodded as Sara readjusted the papers to be in chronological order. There was no doubt about it. Storms faded, turned, winds affected them. They grew and shrank. There was no such thing as a storm maintaining its size and moving in a straight across the ocean. ¡°The question is what, or rather, who?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Sara said. ¡°When we killed Leona. She was heading to Artica.¡± Arascus pulled out a map of the world. He took a pen, marked a point on Olympiada, another in the location they had caught Leona on. Then drew a perfectly straight line that intercepted both of them. The same was done with the path of the storm. They intercepted each other in Artica. ¡°Modern technology is a joy.¡± Arascus said grimly as he pulled out another printed paper of some scientific journal: Unusual seismic activity in Artica. ¡°We don¡¯t have an exact area, but they¡¯ve been able to narrow it down to this region. He drew a large circle, the centre was at the intersection of those two lines. Arascus leaned back and crossed his arms. ¡°This journal is largely worthless. They report what they¡¯ve seen and then talk about how it¡¯s a one-in-a-thousand-year earthquake made by shifting ice, the low chances of that happening, and how fascinating it is.¡± ¡°Earthquakes do happen.¡± Ilwin said quietly. It was obvious the elf did not believe his own words. ¡°We account for natural factors when there isn¡¯t an explanation readily available.¡± Arascus said and smiled. ¡°And I have one which accounts for the storms and the quake, and the dates line up too perfectly. Not some one-in-a-thousand earthquake.¡± The God of Pride grinned as he looked at Iliyal. ¡°Really Iliyal? I thought you would have worked it out by now.¡± Iliyal did. His gut had told him they would have this meeting sooner rather than later, but it had only been two weeks and a half weeks since Misfortune. Iliyal would have given it a month, maybe two. ¡°Olephia.¡± Iliyal said. The mood immediately grew grim from Sara and Ilwin. ¡°You mean the Olephia?¡± Sara asked. ¡°The Olephia.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°Goddess of Chaos. Another of my daughters. She¡¯s woken up.¡± ¡°And she will¡­ She can¡¯t be allowed to make landfall.¡± Iliyal said, plan after plan appeared and was swiftly reject in his mind. Olephia was rarely, if ever, accounted for in the Great War. She was a cannon, you aimed Olephia, and you fired Olephia and that was that. Back then, he had always stood on the firing side of that cannon. Once, just once, Kassandora had told him and the other generals that if Olephia were to turn, then retreat would be the only option. Retreat followed by a swift surrender. ¡°She will hit the Ausa capital of Igos.¡± Arascus pointed on the map. A coastal city, straight in her path. ¡°Igos has twelve million people living in it. The city won¡¯t even slow her down.¡± Iliyal turned as someone opened the door. It was Alee. Dark haired and black-dressed. Iliyal wanted to forget what had happened with her that night of the feast. He had thoroughly embarrassed himself in front of his grandson. ¡°The sorcerers are currently training outside.¡± She said, her tone prim and proper. ¡°Leave them then for today, they¡¯re too late to be part of the planning stage. Send someone to tell them to come back and stop all training exercises.¡± Arascus said. ¡°That¡¯s it, you¡¯re dismissed.¡± The maid bowed and left. ¡°Two sorcerers can¡¯t stop her.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even entertain the idea that they could.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Sara, you will fill them in on this meeting once it is over. Don¡¯t try to understate the severity of the situation.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± ¡°Olephia cannot be allowed to march through the city.¡± Arascus continued. ¡°With this modern media, news would spread too quickly. There would be no chance to cover it up. A massacre on our hands would be baggage we can¡¯t carry. It would utterly crush whatever chances we have at popular support and it would also give the Pantheon a casus-belli on breaking the Pantheon Directives that stop them from interfering with national politics. Olephia in rampage fulfils the need for an existential level threat. She is an existential threat.¡± ¡°So is there any sort of thing we can do?¡± Ilwin asked. Arascus smiled as he pulled papers out of his folder, a plan had already been fashioned. ¡°We put on a show for the whole world to see.¡± Chapter 89 – Dinner is Served Sir Edward Heffery, director of EIE, read the letter from Olympiada. It carried the official badge of office, but there was no signature. ¡°Here is an article you may be interested in publishing soon.¡± He pulled out another piece of paper, the title made him sick, and his eyes got wider and wider with each word: ¡°Olephia destroys Igos.¡± Kavaa held onto Kassandora for dear life. Fer¡¯s claws grew and grew, until they reached the lengths of swords. Then Kavaa was whipped through the air as Fer caught hold of the wall. Those claws dug in like climbing picks, Kassandora and Kavaa both grunted under the strain put on their arms, their bones creaking and their muscles tearing. Kavaa hated that her first thought was about the pain healing would bring. They were here to save Iniri, of course it would hurt. Fer slid the along the wall. From the smell, it was just bones without a shred of dirt. Fer slid and slid, until they came to a stop in the darkness. Something rumbled from above as Kavaa heard Fer sniff the air. ¡°It¡¯s a short drop ladies. Kavaa you first.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Let go.¡± Kavaa looked down, her eyes straining. There wasn¡¯t a floor! What was the woman talking about? ¡°Trust me Kavaa, let go.¡± Kavaa silently cursed the woman, then let go of Kassandora¡¯s arm. The other Goddess was still holding onto her. ¡°Heal yourself if need be.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m right above you.¡± And then Kassandora let go. Kavaa did not what Fer meant by a short drop, she had seen the monster rip through trees as if they were nothing, she handled Joyeuse like a feather. Kavaa opened her mouth to scream and then her feet touched the floor. Oh. It really was a short drop. Fer laughed from above. ¡°Told you scaredy cat.¡± Kavaa took a few steps and back, through the cracking bones, and heard Kassandora drop. She could just about make out the woman and her red hair in the tiny amount of light that reached these depths, but her armour faded into the darkness entirely. Fer leapt away from the wall and landed behind them. ¡°Stay here. I¡¯ll get her!¡± She shouted as Kassandora strained her eyes to look around. ¡°Will she really find her?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t she?¡± Kassandora replied. Joyeuse appeared in her hands. Kavaa could only make out faint glints of light reflected off the blade whenever Kassandora swung it. ¡°We¡¯re not moving from here.¡± The rumbling from above came about even louder. ¡°What is that sound?¡± ¡°The teeth most likely.¡± Kassandora said. Kavaa could just about make out the woman¡¯s face. There was nothing on it, apart from a madness in her eyes. Kassandora actually smiled, her perfect white teeth showing. ¡°A-Are you not scared?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°What is there to be afraid of?¡± Kassandora asked. She swung her blade again. Was she just doing it for fun? Kavaa felt the wind blow past her. ¡°Are you scared of dying?¡± ¡°I¡­ think so?¡± Kavaa replied. Was she? She had never thought about it. In the Great War, she rarely faced anything that could harm her and then it would be a quick retreat. By the time Paraideisius and Tartarus joined the war, she wasn¡¯t a front-line Goddess unless the battle was exceptionally safe. ¡°I am.¡± Kassandora admitted without breaking a sweat. ¡°But what can be done about it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ to be brave?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Veer off the bridge of bravery and you fall into the river of stupidity.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°I have an easier method.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± Kavaa asked as she heard Fer howl from within the darkness. ¡°Is she safe?¡± ¡°She¡¯d roar if it was bad. She howls when she gets happy.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And the method I use is denial.¡± ¡°What?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I just ignore it.¡± Kavaa blinked, she felt her hands drop and she sat down on the field of bones. It wasn¡¯t comfortable, but it was the first time she had sat since they entered the Jungle. Frankly, she didn¡¯t care anymore. ¡°How? Fear is a natural reaction. You can¡¯t just¡­ just ignore it.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°But I do.¡± Kassandora replied. Kavaa heard the woman take a step, stop, take another. Kassandora started to walk around in a circle. ¡°Simple as.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we help Fer?¡± ¡°Can you see here?¡± Kavaa felt Kassandora¡¯s hand touch her head. ¡°There you are.¡± Kassandora said. Hand still on her head, Kassandora sat down next to Kavaa. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine. I wouldn¡¯t let her go if I could help.¡± ¡°Just like that?¡± ¡°There isn¡¯t a better option here, is there? We go with her and she¡¯ll have to protect us. Who knows what could be here?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°Obviously I¡¯m curious.¡± Kassandora said and chuckled. ¡°But you know what I do with curiosity in situations like this?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Ignore it.¡± Kassandora said. Kavaa heard the woman change posture and then reached over. Her hand touched the cold chest-plate of Kassandora¡¯s armour. ¡°Are you actually lying down?¡± Kavaa said in disbelief. ¡°Can I not? There doesn¡¯t seem to be anything.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t feel anything watching me.¡± Kassandora said and Kavaa sighed. Just that? What sort of explanation was that?Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°You¡¯re mad.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the Goddess of War. There has to be some madness in here.¡± Kavaa heard metal on metal as the woman tapped herself. Kavaa heard the woman shift. ¡°Do you want to be scared?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± Kavaa replied in the darkness. ¡°Look up.¡± Kavaa looked up at the hole they had entered. There was¡­ Nothing. It had closed. Kavaa felt a tear in her eye, then blinked it away. So this is how it ended. She lay down and burst out in laughter. So this was it? That entire trek? She had brought Fer and Kassandora here for what? Two more Divines dead. And herself. And Iniri. Or maybe they would be assimilated? Would Fer be assimilated? What sort of abilities would that even give? And Kassandora? Well she had intelligence at least. Maybe with Kavaa¡¯s powers, the Jungle would become a grand healer. Kavaa closed her eyes and shook let out a sigh of exasperation. There was something freeing about this. She had lost. Lost utterly. And she had killed two others. ¡°Kassie!¡± Fer shouted from the distance. ¡°Yeah?!¡± Kassandora shouted back from Kavaa¡¯s side. ¡°I found her!¡± Fer said. ¡°She¡¯s in the flower! What should I do?!¡± ¡°Can you get her out?¡± Kassandora sighed. Kavaa listened to them in disbelief. How had they not given up? The Jungle¡¯s maw had swallowed them! What else was there to do? Now they could only lie down and rot! ¡°Yes!¡± Fer shouted back. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Fer shouted. ¡°It might trigger something!¡± ¡°Do you think so?¡± Kassandora shouted back and Fer fell silent for a few moments. ¡°Well actually I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Can you get back here?¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Fer replied. ¡°You smell.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Kassandora answered. Kavaa listened to the woman sit up. Or roll over. Or whatever she was doing. Kavaa heard Kassandora whisper quietly. ¡°She¡¯s scared.¡± ¡°Is she?¡± ¡°This is how she shows it.¡± Kassandora replied then raised her voice. ¡°I¡¯m here! We have to do it anyway! Just get it over with!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Fer shouted. ¡°Prepare. I¡¯m doing it! Three! Two! One!¡± There was a sound of tearing. More tearing. Fer growled. Howled. Something fell. More tearing. And then Kavaa heard the ground besides her break. She lay there unmoving as something walked up to her. It was Fer. The constant sniffing was the giveaway. Kavaa lay there, then suddenly something landed on her stomach. A heavy weight, large. Kavaa ran her hands along it. Soft too. ¡°That¡¯s Iniri.¡± Fer said and Kavaa pulled her hands away. She shouldn¡¯t have squeezed that soft part. ¡°Heal her.¡± Kassandora said. Kavaa was already on it, she didn¡¯t have to be ordered to heal her friends. Kavaa¡¯s magic poured from her and into Iniri. The woman was asleep, she could be awoken after the procedure. Fer sniffed the air again, then walked off. ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°I smell it.¡± ¡°Smell what?¡± ¡°There¡¯s someone else here.¡± ¡°Grand.¡± Kassandora said. Kavaa heard Joyeuse slam into the floor of bones. ¡°Can you see it?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t see anything here.¡± Fer replied. ¡°It¡¯s pitch black.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to fight it then.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I can¡¯t feel anything.¡± ¡°Oh no.¡± Fer stopped. She sniffed the air again and again. ¡°It¡¯s not anything we have to fight.¡± Kavaa heard Kassandora sigh and sit down a few steps away. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that before?¡± She asked. Fer jumped around. ¡°Too excited.¡± She did sound excited. ¡°I smell family.¡± Kavaa stopped the healing. There was nothing to see, it was pitch black here, she couldn¡¯t even look down at the tip of her nose. But she still looked up. Family? Fer smelled family? What? That was¡­ That was an impossibility¡­ Kassandora finally moved. Kavaa heard the woman drop her sword. ¡°Excuse me.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°What did you say?¡± ¡°I smell family. Sorry for not¡­ saying before¡± Fer laughed. ¡°She¡¯s here.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t tell.¡± Fer gave the air a loud sniff. ¡°Just smells familiar.¡± Another sniff. ¡°One of us.¡± And another. ¡°Definitely one of us.¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Off in the distance.¡± Fer took a pause. ¡°I¡¯ve realised you can¡¯t see me but I¡¯m pointing right now.¡± ¡°How far?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Some distance.¡± Fer said. ¡°Is it safe?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± Kassandora considered something for a moment. ¡°Is anything else down here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Everything smells dead.¡± ¡°Neneria-dead or dead-dead?¡± ¡°Dead-dead.¡± Fer replied. ¡°Be swift then. Bring her back. Don¡¯t hang around here.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Fer replied. Then she shot off. Kavaa heard the woman crush bones under her feet as Iniri coughed underneath her. The Goddess of Nature woke up and panicked. Her hand hit Kavaa. Her legs kicked up. A final trail of magic gave a splutter and then wisped away. ¡°I¡¯m here Iniri.¡± Kavaa hugged her friend. ¡°I¡¯m here. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m here. You¡¯re with me.¡± Iniri calmed down, her hand ran up Kavaa¡¯s arm, towards her neck and Kavaa heard Iniri let out a breath. ¡°Are you real?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Kavaa said. Iniri rolled over and hugged her. Then burst into sobbing tears. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry! I should have taken Kass! I didn¡¯t want to! I¡¯m sorry!¡± It continued like that for a while as Kavaa stayed silent. She heard Kassandora¡¯s footsteps crush bones underneath them as she approached. Iniri did not notice. She simply kept repeating how sorry she was. How she didn¡¯t want to seem like a child in front of Kassandora. How Kassandora had enough on her plate. How it was just scouting out the Jungle. How she heard it earlier, from the distance, she just didn¡¯t say anything. How she blanked out. The whole story spilled out in between cries and sobs. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Kavaa! I shouldn¡¯t¡­ You shouldn¡¯t have gone.¡± Kassandora stumbled in the darkness and there was a crash of metal. ¡°Fuck!¡± Kassandora and Iniri fell silent. ¡°Eh?¡± She said, still clinging onto Kavaa like a child. Kavaa did not mind. She wanted Iniri to hold on and never let go. ¡°I¡¯m here too.¡± Kassandora said growled from the darkness. Kavaa heard the woman stand up and fingers poked her head. ¡°Who¡¯s this?¡± ¡°Me.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Iniri cried out again Kassandora¡¯s finger trailed down her face and onto Iniri¡¯s arm. ¡°Well you are real.¡± Kassandora said flatly. Then Kavaa felt the woman sit down and lean against her side. Kavaa leaned back. ¡°Why did you come!?¡± Cried out. ¡°Why do you think?¡± Kassandora said flatly. There was some movement, Kavaa couldn¡¯t tell who it was in the pitch-black darkness. ¡°Ow!¡± Iniri shouted. ¡°What was that for?¡± ¡°So you¡¯d stop crying.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You¡¯re alive, I¡¯m here. Kavaa¡¯s here.¡± She paused. ¡°Fer is here too.¡± That did make Iniri stop crying. Kavaa felt the woman squeeze her tighter and her tone change scared. ¡°What did you say?¡± ¡°Fer is here. She¡¯s the one you should be thanking.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It¡¯s a long story, I¡¯ll explain it when we¡¯re out of here.¡± ¡°Fer?¡± Iniri whispered as quietly as a mouth. ¡°The Fer?¡± ¡°I only know the Fer that¡¯s my sister so it may not be the Fer, but it¡¯s a Fer.¡± Kassandora said with some humour. Kavaa blinked as she realised what Kassandora had done. The woman wasn¡¯t even holding on tightly anymore, she had practically let go and sat on Kavaa¡¯s knees in that pitch black darkness. Kavaa found Kassandora¡¯s thick arm and squeezed it. ¡°That¡¯s my thigh.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Here.¡± She took Kavaa¡¯s hand in hers and held it. ¡°So where are we?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°We¡¯re in the jungle¡¯s stomach.¡± Iniri scrambled around towards Kassandora. ¡°That¡¯s me Iniri.¡± ¡°So where is Fer?¡± ¡°She¡¯s found someone else, she¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Kassandora replied. Iniri scrambled some more until she found Kassandora. ¡°Here.¡± Kavaa felt Kassandora lean forward. She probably took Iniri¡¯s other hand. They sat there in silence for a minute. Two. Three. Kassandora broke it. ¡°Iniri?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You can grow plants, right?¡± ¡°I can.¡± ¡°Can you grow them here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m out of magic.¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± ¡°What did you want?¡± ¡°For you to grow one of those glowing ones, I don¡¯t know the name.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t see here?¡± Iniri asked and Kassandora chuckled. ¡°No Iniri. I can¡¯t. I¡¯m not omnipotent.¡± ¡°Are you scared of darkness?¡± ¡°I ignore it.¡± Iniri took a pause then scrambled to her feet. She pulled Kassandora and Kavaa up with her. ¡°What?¡± She sounded half in disbelief. Kavaa still could barely believe it. ¡°Don¡¯t bother.¡± Kavaa interjected. ¡°So that wasn¡¯t you?¡± Iniri asked. Kassandora chuckled again before answering. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the wetness then?¡± Iniri moved, from the way she dragged, Kavaa assumed it was a kick. Something made a splash. Fer roared in the distance. Chapter 90 – A Concoction of Divine Blood Abakwa sighed in his office. Was there even a point? Igos had twelve million people. It was surrounded by jungle, the only way out was through sea and air? How many could be evacuated in a week? A hundred thousand? And how was he supposed to pick them? Fer roared as her feet start to burn. In this pitch-black darkness, she couldn¡¯t see as far as her own nose. The cave seemed to stretch on forever, that smell of family was straight ahead. Fer jumped high, felt the skin on her feet regenerate and then splashed back into the acid mixture at the bottom. She grit her teeth, the first howl had been more out of surprise rather than anything, and sniffed the air. Very close now. Very close indeed. She sniffed, then jumped forwards. The acid burned her feet and reached up to her calves here. It would have hurt someone else, but her? She had gone through far worse. This merely tickled. Fer jumped forwards in the darkness again and landed on something different. No longer were her feet crushing bones under them as if she was wading through a deep snow. Now. This was soft and sleek, leafy and fresh. Fer put her face down to the plant and sniffed it. One hundred percent. This was it. One hundred percent. Fer felt herself stalling. She shook that feeling of danger off herself and carefully slid one of her nails that had grown into claws with the help of Kassandora¡¯s blood. It effortlessly slit through the plant, Fer felt cool water and sticky sap pour out of it. And a smell. A smell of family, now unleashed, she would be able to identify it anywhere and everywhere. Baalka, Goddess of Disease. Her sister. Fer howled and wished there was some light here to see the woman. Her hands pressed into that hole, they travelled through something that felt like jam and jelly, and then they hit something soft and cool. Fer¡¯s claws retreated and she pressed forwards with her finger. Flesh. Human skin. Ribs. She ran her hands up onto the chest. Heartbeat. Onto the neck. A pulse. Then along the rest of the body, to see if something was binding her in the way it had done Iniri. Nothing. Fer thought for a moment on what to do. How to get Baalka out. She took a sigh. It was a plant. Plants were grown to be cut. One arm held Baalka down, the other grabbed the leaf. Fer didn¡¯t know why she poured so much strength into tearing it apart, but she did. She couldn¡¯t see it in the darkness, but she assumed the leaf went flying far. Some distance off, there was a faint splash, and the sticky mixture of water and sap flowed past her. Fer hated it. Her fur matted together. She gently leaned forwards, one hand always on Baalka, and grabbed her. Then hugged her. Her sister did not respond. Fer didn¡¯t care. Anger chased inside her as she felt Baalka¡¯s body pressed against her. Ribs and gaunt skin. Skinny bony arms and legs. A head that merely rolled onto Fer, and did not respond further than that. ¡°Don¡¯t worry sister.¡± Fer whispered to Baalka¡¯s body. ¡°I am here. You¡¯re safe now.¡± Fer turned, smelled the air, heard Kassandora talking, started to jump back. Baalka in her arms held as delicately as she would hold a baby cub. --- ¡°Fer will be back soon and then we¡¯ll get out of here.¡± Kassandora said as she scouted out higher ground with her blade. She thanked whatever deluded madness she had been in a thousand years ago to learn basic movements while blinded. It had never come in useful until now. ¡°Alright? Iniri? Kavaa?¡± ¡°I hear you.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°Mmh.¡± Iniri merely made some sound of agreement. Kassandora didn¡¯t sigh, but at least she didn¡¯t have to contain the exasperation on her face for once. She herself was close to diving into panic, and if she was close to panic, then these two girls were already wading through its depths. The only reason they hadn¡¯t given up yet is because she was here. That much was obvious, Kavaa had practically resigned herself to death when they came here. Kassandora took another step, Joyeuse sweeping across the ground before her. There was another issue though. How exactly where they going to get out? Fer could snap that tooth at the start. Kassandora¡¯s original plan had been to wait for Iniri¡¯s magic to recharge, and then simply have her create a hollow root to serve as a tunnel out of the crater. Even if that didn¡¯t work, Iniri should at least be able to get them out of this pit. ¡°KASSIE! KASSIE! KASSIE!¡± Fer shouted as she splashed to their left. ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± Kassandora shouted back and started to move skulls with Joyeuse as to provide a constant source of noise for Fer to lock onto. The splashing got louder and louder, more frantic, as the sounds became deeper. ¡°Owie!¡± Fer shouted when she landed on bones, rather than splashed into stomach acid. Kassandora sighed. She should have realised it immediately. There were no animals in the Jungle, but the bones here were picked clean. What else could have done it? ¡°Heal her Kavaa.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°On it.¡± Kavaa¡¯s footsteps were lighter than Kassandora¡¯s but not by much, certainly not when Kassandora¡¯s extra height and weight were accounted for. The woman should train her footwork. Kassandora shook her head and hid the scowl as she felt those cool traces of Kavaa¡¯s healing magic in the air. Fer wouldn¡¯t scream from it, Kassandora knew already. If she could withstand the searing pain of healing and not faint, then it didn¡¯t have even a chance of climbing the massive mountain that was Fer¡¯s pain tolerance. Of course though, Fer always had to surprise. She giggled like a little girl. ¡°That tickles.¡± She said smugly. ¡°Really Kassie? You complained about this?¡± ¡°I did heal her just now.¡± Kavaa said in the darkness. ¡°I swear I did.¡± The Goddess of Healing sounded more as if she was trying to convince herself rather than Kassandora. ¡°Did you find her?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Mmh-mmh!¡± Fer said. ¡°Come here, come here, quick quick. You too Kav. She¡¯s alive, isn¡¯t she?¡± Kassandora approached the sound, and then the source of Kavaa¡¯s magic, which had to be Kavaa. Iniri was stood close by. Kassandora dematerialized Joyeuse, let her gauntlets fade away too, and leaned down. She touched a shoulder. Thin and gaunt, as if it had been starved.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Kassandora felt her own heart drop. A person at this state, in her army, was given the mercy of a swift death than a slow waste. ¡°Kavaa¡­ what¡¯s her situation?¡± Kassandora hoped the Goddess of healing would throw some sliver of hope she could latch onto. Kavaa did not throw her a sliver, she threw an entire damn bridge. She spoke quickly and clinically, each word another beam in that tremendous bridge. ¡°Alive. Weak obviously, starved but stable. Her body has such down to prevent further waste of energy. She¡¯s not ill, I¡¯ve healed the splashes of acid she received, but she needs to sleep? Eat?¡± Kavaa stopped for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know really, I¡¯ve never seen a Divine in this state. A mortal, I¡¯d put on a diet of milk porridge.¡± Kassandora stood up. She heard Fer¡¯s breath catch, she knew her own was in disbelief too. She blinked in that darkness, it did nothing for sight, but it got her moving. ¡°I understood that as she¡¯s fine, just out of energy.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Kavaa, you are a blessing.¡± Fer said. ¡°Basically.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°She¡¯s out of energy, I can¡¯t wake her in this state.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want you to frankly.¡± Kassandora said as she turned and looked around in the darkness. Her arms moved and she thought of what to do. There was one way. Now that they had Baalka, it would be possible, her mind had gone to it immediately, before even she felt any joy from her sister being alive, she had already crafted a plan. A plan that disrespected one sister, and could kill the other. Kassandora allowed herself a smile, none of them could see anyway. It was a plan that certainly lived up to her reputation. ¡°How quickly is the acid rising Fer?¡± She asked. ¡°It went from my feet to my calves in the time it took me to bring her back.¡± ¡°How long did that take?¡± ¡°Ten minutes?¡± Fer said the amount as if it was a question. ¡°I think that much?¡± Fer usually undershot time. That should mean fifteen. Then¡­ Kassandora kicked the ground. She sent a bone flying and it splashed in the distance. Kassandora turned to face Fer and Baalka, Kavaa and Iniri in the darkness. ¡°Fer, can you climb out of this pit? Not past the teeth, but into that valley we jumped over.¡± ¡°Easily.¡± Fer shifted. ¡°Now?¡± ¡°Now, look around and then come back.¡± Kassandora felt a blast of wind erupt from the ground as Fer jumped up. A minute later, she crashed back down. That was bad news. A trip that fast was too little for an investigation, it meant the woman had gone up and immediately decided it was bad. ¡°How is it?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s bad.¡± Fer replied. ¡°How bad?¡± ¡°All the plants have awoken.¡± Fer said. She made some movements Kassandora listened to. The plants would be dangerous. Fer and herself could probably survive them. Kavaa¡¯s combat performance was superhuman obviously, but it was lacking when compared to Divines. Without the healing, even Iliyal would be a better fighter, he didn¡¯t shut down every tenth step. That would be if they only had to protect Kavaa. Baalka was out cold. Iniri was basically a tall mortal. Kavaa was a poor fighter. Kassandora herself could manage, but even she would need a helping hand every now and then from Fer. There was no way to do it without losses. They could not wait for Iniri to recharge. They could not wait for Baalka to wake up¡­ Her mind went back to the original idea. It would work... It should work¡­ But would Fer manage it? ¡°Fer.¡± Kassandora realised she had trepidation in her voice, then restarted. Hopefully no off them noticed it. Fear was a luxury a commander could not carry. ¡°Fer. I have a plan.¡± Fer rolled over in that darkness and crushed bones underneath. ¡°I knew you would.¡± She said happily. ¡°It¡¯s bad.¡± Kassandora pulled one of the canteens filled with Helenna¡¯s blood off from her belt and emptied it. If this would kill Fer¡­ Kassandora did not know if she could bear it. She had sacrificed allies before, but none of them were family. Still emptying it, the blood spilling onto the bones below, she turned to Kavaa. ¡°Kavaa, empty two of your canteens. Have you healed Fer already?¡± ¡°I have.¡± Kavaa said. Kassandora heard the rustling of clothes, the uncorking of a canteen, and liquid spilling onto the ground. There was something satisfying in the fact the woman simply did as told without questions. Kassandora emptied it and slit her wrist on Joyeuse, it took a few seconds without sight, but she was sure her blood was spilling into the canteen. ¡°It¡¯s empty.¡± Kavaa called out. ¡°Fill it with your blood.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Fer, where are you?¡± Fer started to move the bones around her and Kassandora got closer to the sound. She walked into her sister, then sat down next to her. ¡°Fer. We are going to break a vow.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Fer said quietly. ¡°Can you manage it?¡± ¡°How much?¡± ¡°A litre of mine for will. A litre of Kavaa¡¯s for healing. A litre of Baalka¡¯s for power.¡± Kassandora felt Fer¡¯s arm wrap around chest as her sister hugged her. ¡°It¡¯s the only way.¡± ¡°If you say it is, then it is.¡± Fer said. ¡°I¡¯ll hold it together.¡± Fer moved Baalka onto Kassandora¡¯s legs and sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll try to. Baalka¡¯s blood is poisonous.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Kassandora said. That¡¯s why she had added her own and Kavaa¡¯s. Kavaa and Iniri moved closer to sit down next to the two sisters on the ground. ¡°What about mine?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°What can yours do?¡± Kassandora replied. At this point, they were breaking Fer¡¯s limits anyway. Iniri took a few moments to reply. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Can I try it?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Go ahead.¡± Iniri shoved her arm into Kassandora¡¯s face. ¡°Wrong person.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Sorry, sorry.¡± Iniri moved over and then squeaked when Fer bit her. Kassandora heard her sister drink for a moment, and then stop. ¡°We¡¯re using Iniri too.¡± She said suddenly. Kassandora shrugged and passed a canteen to Iniri. ¡°Empty and fill.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Why?¡± She asked. ¡°I¡¯m just curious.¡± ¡°Iniri¡¯s will bind it together.¡± Fer said. Kassandora didn¡¯t really understand, but there was nothing to argue about. Fer knew how her own powers worked better than anyone else. ¡°Can I have your sword Kavaa?¡± Iniri said. There was some movement and shuffling. ¡°Here, don¡¯t stab yourself. I¡¯m holding the blade.¡± Kavaa said then moved again. ¡°How are we using Baalka¡¯s blood? She could die if we empty her.¡± Kassandora sighed, she supposed they should start soon. Her own canteen had almost filled. ¡°Heal me first.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Is this your leg?¡± ¡°It¡¯s mine.¡± Fer said. ¡°This?¡± ¡°Mine.¡± Iniri replied and Kavaa sighed. ¡°That¡¯s Baalka so¡­ This one?¡± Kassandora felt her arm be grabbed by Kavaa¡¯s cool fingers. ¡°Me.¡± Kassandora said, a moment later, she felt the muscles in her wrist rip themselves apart as they sewed each other shut. It was over in a second, it felt like it lasted an hour. ¡°I¡¯ll make a cut on her, you make her pump blood.¡± Kassandora said, Kavaa had done the same on Helenna, it couldn¡¯t be that difficult. Helenna didn¡¯t moan about pain. ¡°That should work, shouldn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That will work.¡± Kavaa replied then laughed. ¡°Of all the people I healed, I¡¯ve never thought Baalka would be added to the list.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a first time for everything.¡± Kassandora said. She held her hand above her head, Joyeuse appeared pointing straight up and she moved it slowly as to not cut the limb off anyone here. Her hand found Baalka¡¯s bony hand and she sighed. ¡°Mine is filled.¡± Kavaa said as she corked her bottle. ¡°That was fast.¡± ¡°I increased the blood pressure to make it faster.¡± ¡°Can you do it on me too?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°After Baalka, alright?¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Iniri said quietly. ¡°I¡¯ll just nick her hand then.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Do her finger, it¡¯s easier to aim.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°It won¡¯t clot?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll stop it.¡± Kaava replied. Kassandora emptied one of her canteens, made a small cut on Baalka¡¯s finger and stuck it in the top. She felt Kavaa¡¯s power work on Baalka. The canteen sound of flowing blood increased from a trickle, to the sound a running hose would make. It overflowed in half a minute. ¡°That¡¯s her done.¡± Kavaa said. Iniri took twenty seconds and Kassandora sat there with four canteens on her legs. ¡°Is there an order you want?¡± She asked Fer. ¡°Iniri, Kavaa, you, then Baalka. Baalka last.¡± Kassandora rearranged the canteens to that order. She grabbed Fer¡¯s hand and brought it to Iniri¡¯s canteen. ¡°This is Iniri¡¯s. Move up from here.¡± Kassandora said. If this did not work¡­. Kassandora would never face her family again. Chapter 91 – Breakout ¡°Radar has picked up the hum! It will hit in three hours!¡± Fer sat in the darkness, next to Kassandora, and gave her sister one final sniff. She wanted to hang onto that sweet smell of Kassandora. Fer reached to Iniri¡¯s bottle. Iniri was weak. Containing her blood would not be difficult. She uncorked it, put it to her lips and tipped her head back. Iniri¡¯s blood entered her stomach and she felt the cooling power of Nature travel through her. Her muscles got stronger, fur grew thicker, smells became more apparent. She finished the canteen and reached for Kavaa¡¯s canteen. The same movements again, uncork, put her lips around it, and tip back. Kavaa was stronger than Iniri, but not by much, and her powers weren¡¯t as flashy. Fer felt tiny pricks made by sharp bones she was sitting on forcefully heal. Her matted fur shed, then regrew. Her nails fixed themselves, rearranged to be perfect. It was like her own healing, but simply better and less pleasant. Colder and more clinical, not like the warmth of rest but the coolness of a surgery. ¡°Two down.¡± Fer said, she kept the tremble out of her voice. ¡°Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± Kavaa asked in the darkness. Her voice sounded now that Fer had the blood of two Goddesses inside her. Fer felt Kassandora shake her head through the tiny movements of wind her sister¡¯s hair made. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Fer smiled as she reached for the canteen filled with Kassandora¡¯s blood. Her sister was always like that, always so protective and secretive. Did Kavaa have to know about how powers worked? She didn¡¯t know or think so. Kassandora¡¯s blood hit her stomach. War¡¯s will entered her mind. Kassandora¡¯s intelligence, her strength and power. Fer felt her fur grow thick, each strand angry and sharp, the edges made sharp as they grew to the full potential. That was Kavaa¡¯s doing. And then Iniri¡¯s reinforced the roots. Fer¡¯s mind grew sharper, she always liked Kassandora¡¯s blood, it always brought about new ideas she had never thought of. Kavaa should not be told how her powers worked exactly because she would be able to counter them. That was exactly Kassandora¡¯s thinking, but then her own mind started to work and change those ideas. Kavaa should be told, because if she needed healing, then a moment to explain would be too long. ¡°Tell her.¡± Fer said as she reached for the canteen containing Baalka¡¯s blood. A sister stronger than her, a Divine she knew her own body would not be able to handle. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Kassandora asked in the darkness. ¡°If you don¡¯t, I will.¡± Fer said. ¡°But you¡¯ll explain it better.¡± Kassandora sighed as if defeated and then proceeded to speak. ¡°Fer is like a hearth. Blood is fuel. You and Iniri are wood. I am coal. Both work and are safe. The quantity does not matter, it is the quality of the fuel, the more she has, the longer she can burn it for.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°So Baalka?¡± ¡°Baalka¡­¡± Kassandora trailed off. ¡°We don¡¯t know. I would say it¡¯s like pouring crude oil into the hearth.¡± Fer smiled. She knew Kassandora would explain it better, her sister always did. ¡°So you¡¯ve never done it before?¡± Kavaa asked. Fer smelled Baalka¡¯s blood. It smelled like poison. There was no other way to describe it. Poison and nothing else. ¡°Not with Baalka.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Once I tasted Iri¡¯s blood.¡± Fer said. ¡°Irinika¡¯s?¡± Iniri this time. ¡°My ears had black tufts for twenty years after that.¡± Fer smiled to herself as she spoke, then her voice became soft. She missed Irinika. ¡°They were cute.¡± ¡°After that, we swore to never feed her the blood of someone stronger.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Why would you do that in the first place?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°There has to be rules to Divines.¡± Kassandora spoke. ¡°I know Maisara and Allasaria have written about them too. We prefer experimentation to theory.¡± Fer felt her sister¡¯s eyes pass over her in the darkness. That was another trait of Kassandora¡¯s powers, but made greater by the fact it was in her, and reinforced by Iniri. ¡°I would describe it differently.¡± Fer said. She knew she was delaying at this point, but her entire body told her not to drink Baalka¡¯s blood. ¡°Go on.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m the enclosure. Iniri and Kavaa are like tiny little gerbils. Kassie is a cute little raccoon. Baalka would be a charging bull.¡± Kassandora sniffed in humour. ¡°Classic.¡± She said flatly. Fer felt her sister¡¯s arm on her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ve got you Fer.¡± ¡°I know you do.¡± Fer sniffed the canteen again. ¡°Kassie. I love you. Don¡¯t forget me.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t have to remember you. And I love you too.¡± Fer sighed. This was it. There was no point in delaying anymore. She took a deep breath, put the canteen to her lips and tipped her head back. Baalka¡¯s rancid blood burned her tongue and throat, Kavaa¡¯s blood immediately started to heal her. Then it hit her stomach. Her own blood turned toxic as it burned her veins. Her spine cracked, then healed and cracked again. Skin ruptured and sutured itself, her sense of smell grew a thousandfold, she could see everyone here simply off their smells. Her hearing grew enough to where she could pick them out by heartbeat. Fer felt Kassandora fly away from her. That meant the gate had cracked and the bull was released. Fer knelt down, looked up, and launched herself off the ground. She heard shouting from below, there must have been a mess made below.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Then Baalka¡¯s blood hit her again. She tasted it in her mouth as her stomach tried to expel its contents. Her senses became dull, her legs grew limp, her heart stopped, then restarted, her trajectory changed and she hit the ground of bones again. ¡°Ka¡­¡± She moaned. ¡°Ka¡­¡± They were here, Kavaa and Kassandora both of them. Kassandora took charge as always. Fer would have vomited already if Kassandora wasn¡¯t here. Her sister immediately began to shout. ¡°KAVAA! HEAL! NOW!¡± Fer, by smell and sound alone, saw Kassandora throw Kavaa towards her. The Goddess of Healing wrapped her arms around Fer¡¯s neck and Fer felt the coolness of Kavaa¡¯s power work along with the woman¡¯s blood flowing through her veins. ¡°She¡¯s alright!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°Her stomach shut down. I can¡¯t start it!¡± Fer tried to get onto her knees. Her arms gave out. ¡°STAY FER!¡± Kavaa shouted at her. ¡°Give me a minute!¡± The coolness spread, the lethargic dizziness faded away. The world stopped spinning, the smells and sounds became defined, not just general masses in a general direction. ¡°Fer?¡± Kassandora asked gently. ¡°Can you hear me?¡± ¡°Sick.¡± Fer replied. ¡°Terrible. Feel. Very. Not. Good.¡± ¡°STOP TALKING!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°Keep it in! Hold yourself together! I¡¯m working on you!¡± ¡°Is this curable?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s an enteral inebriant.¡± Fer smiled and closed her eyes. She didn¡¯t know what that meant. ¡°EYES OPEN FER! DON¡¯T FALL ASLEEP!¡± ¡°Like an alcohol?¡± Kassandora asked quietly. Fer smiled. It was satisfying to know there were things her sister did not know either. ¡°Like chloroform!¡± Kavaa said. ¡°It¡¯s hit her whole body.¡± ¡°Can you heal her?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I feel better now.¡± Fer said. The dizziness had stopped, every word still made her want to vomit but that was expected. ¡°I¡¯m keeping it down.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t heal her!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°I¡¯m not lying. I do feel better.¡± Fer said quietly. ¡°SHUT UP FER! KEEP QUIET BEFORE YOU VOMIT YOUR STOMACH OUT!¡± Fer blinked. Oh. It was more serious than just being sick. Kavaa waited for a reply and when none came she finally cooled down. ¡°I¡¯m keeping her body working right now. Her stomach is burning up and her veins are clotting.¡± Fer moved her fingers. It didn¡¯t feel like it. ¡°Are you?¡± She asked quietly, barely moving her mouth. ¡°I AM!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°YOUR HEART WILL STOP IF I LET GO!¡± Fer moved. ¡°DON¡¯T STAND UP!¡± ¡°We still have to get out.¡± Fer said slowly, her lips barely moving. Expelling your stomach was a scary image. ¡°We¡¯re this far in.¡± ¡°Are you sure Fer?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t be able to hold on.¡± Kavaa said, her voice filled with panic and Fer smiled. Whether it was her own instincts or Kassandora¡¯s mind, she realised how to fix this. ¡°Put your arm in my mouth.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Worst comes to worst, you¡¯ll have to regrow it.¡± Fer whispered gently. She took hold of one of Kavaa¡¯s cool hands, interlocked her fingers to make sure the woman wouldn¡¯t let go and guided the other to her mouth. ¡°Can you work through pain?¡± ¡°Ye-¡° Fer bit down on Kavaa before the woman even finished. She pulled the woman onto her back as Kavaa¡¯s blood flowed down her chin and filled her mouth. What she could swallow, she did. It felt like a fresh rain on the burning lake that was in her stomach. Kavaa let out a scream and then grit her teeth but she was tough. Her magic did not stop flowing for even an instant. ¡°Break out and then come back for us.¡± Kassandora said. Fer grinned and Kavaa kicked her from behind. She had bitten down again. She relieved some pressure and felt Kavaa¡¯s legs wrap around her. Her tail¡­ Fer blinked. She swished it from side to side. There was a tail there, it was as natural a part of her as her arms were. When¡­ Fer pushed the questions out of her mind. This was Kassandora¡¯s power, simply ignore what is not worth searching an answer for. Her tail wrapped around Kavaa to make sure the woman wouldn¡¯t fall off. Amazing. Her sister was smart. But also, she was careful. Everything needed to be prepared for. Every possibility had to be accounted, everything had to be written down and gone through. Every plan was a spiderweb of possibilities that the woman would run through in that quick mind of hers before making a move. A mortal would never manage it, but that was why her title was Goddess of War. Fer had a different mindset entirely. If it could be done, it would be done. She grabbed Kassandora in one arm and tried telling her to hold on before realising Kavaa¡¯s arm was in her mouth. Iniri and Baalka were grabbed too, in the same arm. Kassandora seemed to realise what was going on quickly enough. ¡°You want me to hold them?¡± Fer nodded, each movement bringing a groan from Kavaa on her back. Kassandora grabbed the other Goddesses, then wrapped her arm around Fer. Fer stepped out of the Jungle¡¯s acid that was filling the dark pit they were in and walked to the tallest point of the bone-hill. The sound bouncing around the cave was enough to tell her where every sat. She stopped. Then knelt down. ¡°On my go, everyone hold on, okay?¡± Kassandora said. She got a series of replies from the rest of the team. ¡°Fer. Are you ready?¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora counted down. ¡°Three.¡± Fer tightened the muscles in her legs. Iniri¡¯s blood held them together like the ground, Kavaa¡¯s healed her them as they ripped each other apart, Kassandora¡¯s organized them and sure each strand worked perfectly, and Baalka¡¯s gave them raw strength. ¡°Two.¡± Fer tightened her core until it became tougher than steel. A cannonball shot at her stomach would bounce off, a bull would snap its neck if it her. ¡°One.¡± Fer calculated the distance. The strength to be used. Everything and anything. ¡°Go.¡± Fer shot upwards and felt the blood of others inside her; a mighty reed spiralled into the sky, a scalpel of a doctor flicked away rotten skin, a bolt of a ballista launched into the underside of a tremendous dragon, a disease wiped nations away. Fer raised her free arm made a fist above her head; an aged oak that stood against a hurricane, a doctor injected himself with a vaccination, a formation of pikemen prepared to take a cavalry charge, a cancer spiralled into another cancer. Fer¡¯s fist touched the Jungle¡¯s teeth; a flytrap snapped shut, the immune system started to devour bacteria, a spear found weakness in steel plate, a disease entered the wound. Fer felt the teeth shatter; an avalanche began to pick up speed, a body started to produce its own cells to counter an illness, a shieldwall held as the flanks were encircled, an illness mutated to spread. Fer broke out of the pit of the pit and flew right past it into the air; a noble wood regrowing after devouring flames, a healthy heart pumping blood, a victorious army cheering after a battle, a land blistering with life. Fer saw the night sky and heard her own blood calling to her as ivory shards of shattered teeth rained from above; a wolf howling after the hunt, a pack migrating, a healthy cub being born. Chapter 92 – The Igos Crisis King Richard VI sat in his room. Eleanor and Richard VII where playing with toys, Queen Anna sat next to him on the couch. ¡°Are we really going to watch the news?¡± She asked. ¡°Wissel told me to put it on, it¡¯s happening today.¡± He flicked to the live broadcast of Igos. EIE was broadcasting it, but it was Doschia¡¯s The World Today reporters on the ground. Premier General Abakwa woke up with another coffee. The Igos Central Crisis Centre had become his home for the past four days, a skyscraper in the middle of the city, not the tallest, nor largest building, but it was a modern-day fortress. Thick concrete walls stood tall, reinforced with thin plasters of steel to stop the building falling if the Firewall around the city were ever to be breached by the Jungle. In the bunkers below, two-hundred thousand people currently sheltered, the building was currently at 149% capacity. Out of twelve million people. Early evacuations had gotten forty thousand people to flee to the other coastal cities of Ausa. The other crisis centres held a million combined in their bunkers. The subway had another third of a million. Schools and public buildings added another two hundred thousand. Police stations and jails had been pushed to capacity, fifty thousand. The storm would travel along the western edge of the city; that meant the Igos Central Airport, in the city¡¯s east, could be retrofitted into another safe-zone. Eighty thousand people sheltered there. Police were still evacuating the western edge, along the storm¡¯s central path, but even with everything prepared, there wasn¡¯t a single prediction that gave a predicted casualty number not in the seven figures. Those were the optimistic ones. The realists talked about a failure of the Igos Firewall. If that happened, the Jungle would quickly spread inside. Then it wouldn¡¯t matter where people sheltered. The men here worked tireless hours, powered by adrenaline at this point rather than anything else. Abakwa thought about if this was the same feeling his ancestors had when building the Firewall, and the hundreds of thousands nameless dead gave their lives in an attempt to stall the woods from expanding before the first flames could be called upon to create the charred lands around Igos. In the city centre, there was still a memorial to them, fashioned out of the remaining bricks, steel and concrete that had gone into the city¡¯s protection. ¡°Video broadcast from the western lighthouse!¡± A no-name response officer shouted up from the crowd. He wore a black shirt and pants, standard dress, but the shirt was unbuttoned, the belt was loose. His black hair was slick with sweat and grease. ¡°Putting it on monitor Three-C!¡± The Crisis Centre fell quiet for a moment as everyone looked up from their monitoring equipment and the panicked phone calls stopped. One of the monitors on the wall ahead of Abakwa turned on. The black screen became a video of the ocean at night, beautiful and starry, then suddenly not. The storm was approaching. The sea was calm, calm, then it suddenly became tumultuous. The waves high as if they were being blown away by a jet in the centre. Lightning roared from dark clouds as they trailed off towards the south in a line. ¡°Can we bring it in?¡± Another officer shouted. ¡°It¡¯s as zoomed as it goes!¡± The first no-namer called out. Another phone started to ring and the Crisis Centre returned to standard operating duty. People ran around. Someone brought a fresh round of coffee. Sixty cups were emptied from the cart in less than a minute. Abakwa listened in on the chatter about the storm. ¡°Distance?¡± ¡°Ten miles! It will hit in thirty minutes!¡± ¡°It¡¯s steady?¡± That was a final plea to whatever God was watching them. ¡°It¡¯s steady.¡± And the conversation died out. There was nothing else left to say. A minute went by. ¡°The Eastern lighthouse has sight on it too!¡± Screen three-D turned on. This one clearly showed the storm moving north. They had heard reports on it, they had seen pictures and meteorological data about how the storm was contained to a mere five-mile radius, but it was different to see it in the flesh. The Western lighthouse was visible on that video, Igos¡¯ Firewall was built a mile out onto the ocean, even at the lowest tide, there would still be water in the harbour. It was topped off with the Western Lighthouse, a massive structure. A modern-day castle, topped off with towers and lights to navigate ships. And now, whatever that thing making the storm was, was approaching it. Aimone, King of Rilia watched The World Today with his ministers. There was no reason to show his family what he knew would happen, he had specifically told his wife to get drunk and put the children to sleep early today. It would be a late night. None of the ministers would have sleep today. If it ploughed through Igos, it would most likely plough through the Jungle. Then through the Sassara. And then¡­ it would hit Rilia. He silently thanked the Gods Wissel had convinced him to make preparations for breaking Pantheon Peace. General-Premier Abakwa read up a report brought forth from the Igos University of Sciences. They weren¡¯t any Epan elite school, nor the high-class league schools in the UNN, but Igos needed people to study the Jungle, and foreigners would rarely visit. The UoS was currently safeguarding eight thousand people in its storerooms. Projects had been scrapped, experiments thrown out onto the street to make room for them. ¡°This is¡­¡± The student was a young man, mid-twenties most likely, with glasses over his dark eyes. ¡°Well¡­ read it yourself General.¡± Abakwa looked at the charts filled with countless lines. He wasn¡¯t a scientist, but even he could tell none of these statistics were good. The student picked up on the fact Abakwa was having a difficult time reading it immediately. ¡°I apologize, but we¡¯ve not had time to format it into something presentable, these are the direct readings from our equipment.¡± He began. ¡°None of it is good.¡± Abakwa said. That was enough for him, but the student continued nevertheless. ¡°Radiation is spiking in the ocean. We have a team in the Western Lighthouse currently sending monitoring drones out into the storm. It spikes higher there.¡± He pointed to where the readings simply became 25.000. ¡°That right there is a mistake, our sensors only go up that high, we don¡¯t know how high it is in the centre of the storm.¡± ¡°Radiation?¡± Abakwa asked and the student nodded. ¡°Like from reactors.¡± He took a sigh. ¡°Sea temperature is rising too, it has reached boiling point near the storm. Even the waters on the beach have increased by two degrees last I got the report from that team.¡± He looked at the time. ¡°Eight minutes ago.¡± ¡°So it will be higher now.¡± ¡°I can contact them but I¡¯d need my phone.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you have it?¡± ¡°The guards took it on the way in.¡± Abakwa shook his head and started writing out a slip to let the young man have his phone. ¡°You stay here, ring them all.¡± ¡°We¡¯re in a group chat.¡± The man said as he took the permission and ran off. He almost knocked over two officers with his quick turn who were yelling about the ships in the port and why they still had fuel in them. What sort of damage oil being spilled onto the beach and how long it would take to clean up would do and other issues that became trite when... whatever it was, was approaching. The people of Igos in the bunker of one of the crisis centres grew quiet as they watched the TWT broadcast. At first, the bureaucrats had tried to block to it prevent panic, but that measure quickly failed when the smartphone was omnipresent. Now, they sat silently as the storm approached the cameras; winds howled, lightning struck, waves crashed as the ocean bubbled. ¡°Fifteen minutes until touchdown.¡± Premier-General Abakwa didn¡¯t need the reminder. He could see it on the monitors on the wall. Now, every single camera that could be pointed into the ocean was broadcasting a feed of the approaching storm. ¡°The police cordon has been broken!¡± Someone else shouted. Did it matter? Waves were slamming against the floodwalls already. ¡°The Blue Grace is reporting tilting of twenty-five degrees!¡± That was one of the ships still in the dock. A massive cargo ship that had unloaded food and was planned to take another ten thousand people away from Igos. That had been the plan anyway, plans were little more than writings on a piece of paper in reality. ¡°She¡¯s reporting an anchor chain has cracked in the heat!¡± Frankly, Abakwa did not know what to do. He only listened to the panicked call outs and updates his army of officer were reporting. ¡°The floodwall to South-Street is reporting waves approaching twenty feet!¡± ¡°Market street is reporting sewers overflowing!¡± ¡°Docks one, two and three have been flooded!¡± ¡°The warehouse district is reporting a rise in air temperature!¡± ¡°Radiation rising in the western lighthouse! Are we free to evacuate?¡± ¡°Doschia¡¯s TWT is requesting entry for a final interview!¡± ¡°Dock one warehouses has been breached!¡± ¡°The police cordon has broken! People are out on the streets!¡± ¡°Fires have broken out on Market Street!¡± ¡°South-Street floodwall team reports that waves are now splashing over the wall!¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Dock one warehouses have collapsed under the waves!¡± ¡°Blue Grace has tipped! It¡¯s issued a mayday!¡± ¡°Western lighthouse has issued an emergency evacuation! They¡¯re reporting the sea bubbling too!¡± ¡°Southern subway has been dropped emergency floodwalls! There¡¯s water in the tunnels!¡± ¡°The station in the western Firewall is requesting coolant for its fuel!¡± ¡°Sir! Two planes are requesting entry!¡± Abakwa blinked and looked away from the chaos on the streets. A man had come right behind him and didn¡¯t even notice. A young fellow, tall, with a headset that disappeared into his black hair. His black shirt was half unbuttoned and he reeked of sweat, black marks of tiredness painted the dark skin under his eyes. ¡°Excuse me?¡± He said. ¡°Two planes are requesting entry, they¡¯ll be here in two minutes.¡± ¡°Where are they from?¡± ¡°North East, unidentified. From Epa probably.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± He pulled a face and pulled the headset off his head. ¡°Put the radio on. The public frequency.¡± ¡°Radio! Public frequency!¡± Abakwa shouted. The chaos in the crisis centre took a moment of respite as a man readjusted the radio. It caught on to a tune, an old war hymn Abakwa had once heard in history class, he couldn¡¯t quite place it. Someone else caught it though. ¡°That¡¯s Arascus¡¯ Imperial tune! From Epa!¡± Abakwa leaned back and rolled his eyes. What did he care about this? Did someone think it hilarious to play jokes right now? He waved to turn it off and almost stopped when the man by his side caught his shoulder. ¡°That¡¯s the frequency the pilot of that plane told me to tune into.¡± ¡°So what?¡± Abakwa stood up and roared. His cup went flying into the crowd, it was empty anyway, and a flurry of papers became a blizzard around his desk for a moment. ¡°What do I care what the Epans think? Did they send anyone before? WHAT ARE WE WANTING THEIR HEL-¡° His voice ended when the tune ended and a face voice came over that frequency. A noble voice, the sort Abakwa had only heard in movies before. People did not have voices like that. ¡°This is Arascus speaking. Arascus, God of Pride. This is an open communication to the city of Igos and the Ausa Government. Stay in your homes. Olephia is approaching your city.¡± The crisis centre fell silent as everyone looked to the Premier-General. He was in command here. The man by his side passed the headset to him. ¡°It¡¯s the pilot.¡± ¡°They¡¯re blocking the frequency!¡± A member of the radio team shouted. ¡°We can¡¯t kick them off until they disconnect themselves!¡± ¡°The bunker is reporting their radios have received the broadcast too!¡± ¡°Subway is the same.¡± ¡°As are the UoS teams.¡± The student close to Abakwa¡¯s desk said. So the whole city had received it. Abakwa took the headset and put it on his head. The entire centre, more than two hundred people who had previously been in panic, now waited in silence and with bated breath. ¡°This is Premier-General Abakwa speaking.¡± ¡°This is Captain Douglas of Raptor-One. Hold on, he¡¯s making another broadcast.¡± The radio came on again. It was Arascus again. ¡°I am currently in talks Premier-General Abakwa of the Ausa Government.¡± The radio said. ¡°The only way to stop Olephia is for me to get close to her. We request permission for our planes to enter the Ausa Airspace¡± The radio fell silent again and Abakwa heard Douglas speak over the headset. ¡°You heard him. We want full permission to enter your airspace, we will be coming in from the north, over the city.¡± Douglas said. Abakwa looked at the screens ahead of him as questions scrambled through his mind. That was Olephia? Why did they even ask? Just enter! ¡°Yes!¡± Abakwa shouted. ¡°Yes! You have full permission to enter Ausa! Stop Olephia!¡± ¡°Copied, entering now, clear your own airspace. Make sure there¡¯s no drones in the air, we¡¯re coming in low. Raptor-Two out.¡± Abakwa roared at the members of the Crisis Centre again before he even heard Douglas click the radio off. ¡°CLEAR ALL DRONES OUT OF THE AIR! THEY¡¯RE COMING IN LOW! GO! GO! THE POLICE HAVE CLEARANCE TO ARREST ANYONE FLYING A FUCKING KITE!¡± Richard saw Wissel his phone buzz. His children had stopped playing, his wife had put down the cake she was eating. Everyone was paying full attention to that Doschian broadcast. The King of Allia answered the phone. ¡°Did you hear what they just said?¡± ¡°I heard it.¡± The TWT camera crew placed on one of the skyscrapers had already prepared. They had heard the radio broadcast, everyone in the city had heard it. This was the broadcast of the century. Of the millennia. This was Arascus¡¯ return. ¡°Two highspeed cameras facing north, get a shot of their plane coming in! Quick! Quick! Keep the other focused on Olephia! Make that the long-range! We¡¯ll catch a fight between Divines! We¡¯re making history here! Quick! Get a move on!¡± Neneria and Helenna sat and watched the laptop that one of the Clerics had brought them. He had said they probably wanted to watch this. He was completely right. Arascus looked back at Fleur and Edmonton, both them were had ropes going from a harness to the airplane¡¯s ceiling. Masks over their faces and heavy dark clothes. Arascus had thought no one would capture a sight of them here, but there was no such thing as being too careful. Leona had trained him well, even if someone was to snap a picture of the cargo holds, the most that would be seen would be two dark figures. ¡°Last time, repeat.¡± He said. Fleur moved her hands, Arascus felt a strand of solid air wrapped around his chest and then lift him up. He floated in the holds of Raptor-Two like that for a few moments, then Fleur set him back down on the ground. Good. She could do it. ¡°You¡¯ll throw me at her, understood? Throw. Throw hard.¡± Olephia kept humming to herself as she approached the city ahead. It was a beautiful sight, as if someone had transplanted a section of the starry sky onto the ground. The tall buildings crept up as if they wanted to catch clouds, all glittering with lights. Bright bonfires lit up the streets, there was a mass of people watching from the walls against which the stormy ocean was hitting. The whole city was like an enclosure, guarded by a huge wall that began in the ocean, circled around the city, and then re-entered the water. On both ends sat massive towers with spotlights aimed towards her. Olephia smiled and kept humming as she drifted forwards. Premier-General Abakwa watched the TWT broadcast. To think a government would have to rely on public news to get the best information. Frankly, it was an embarrassment, but the Doschians had brought cameras better than the old models installed on the lighthouses, and it didn¡¯t matter anyway at this point. The western lighthouse had been evacuated entirely due to radiation and heat levels. Abakwa did not care at this point what happened to the tower. He would give it up if it meant Olephia would turn around or make her way around the city. A tall handsome man in his forties was reporting the news. This was their Allian division, they had subtitles below, sometimes a mistake would slip by, a word misspelled or something like that, but it didn¡¯t really matter. He knew enough Allian to catch what they were saying. The reporter looked at his clock and the screen changed. ¡°I see them now!¡± He said. ¡°Over there is the plane claiming to be Arascus¡¯ transport.¡± The screen changed. The feed displaying Olephia¡¯s storm became a quarter of the video, the rest was taken up by another camera pointed north. It was comical. In one direction was a storm Igos had not seen in centuries, with the ocean boiling and spilling over the floodwalls, with fires caught in view and a capsized cargo ship slowly sinking, with lightning crashing overhead and the sky taken up by a cover of storm clouds, and the other was the pristine jungle. Stars glittered above, the city edges of the city caught in the bottom of the frame looked as they did on any other night. The camera zoomed into two flashes of light. Two comets hurtling through the air. A glimpse was caught, and then they were out of view. Abakwa heard them overheard, even from the inside of the Crisis Centre. A deafening explosion that marked the breach of the sound barrier. ¡°We¡¯re bringing our image of the planes onto the screen right now! And back to Olephia! We can see them there!¡± The reporter kept on going even as he rubbed his ears. ¡°This is live from Igos. Everyone, this is live from Igos, this is Olephia, Goddess of Chaos¡­¡± Abakwa tuned out the reporter¡¯s words. There wasn¡¯t much of a script anyway, what was there to report anyway? The video was what was important. An image flashed onto the screen of two planes, painted black, four engines each. Two on the underside, two in the rear, with their tips painted yellow and angry red eyes above the pilot¡¯s cabin. Each plane had three tallies, two full-lengths and then one half the height. Abakwa wondered what it meant. ¡°That image was caught by our cameras of the planes. We don¡¯t have an identification yet, but look at them! There they go!¡± The image disappeared as the feed pointed at Olephia came onto view. Those two planes were tracked, they flew low, straight at the centre of the storm. One opened its cargo hold and then pulled up. Something huge shot out of it before the clouds obscured the camera feed again. Olephia hummed happily as she approached the huge tower at the end of the wall. Two stars had just shot past her, those were very interesting, but now this wall blocked her way. What an annoyance. She raised her hand. Olephia¡¯s hum stopped for a moment. Her lips started to move as she picked out a word. Something to get a building to move. What sort of word did that? Rubble? That was it! Rubble! Her throat moved and then she heard something. ¡°OLEPHIA! NO!¡± She felt thick arms wrap around her. She recognized them instantly and fell backwards into the embrace. Arascus hugged her from behind and whispered into her ear. ¡°Don¡¯t speak now. Let me handle it.¡± They both dropped into the boiling ocean. Abakwa stared at the TWT camera feed speechless. The entire Crisis Centre stared stunned. All of Igos watched. Every city in Ausa watched the broadcast. The whole world seemed to stop as people looked away from what they were doing and watched that storm slowly start to calm down. Wissel stared speechless at the broadcast. Richard was still on the phone, neither of the men spoke. Olephia, they had both read about. She was a Goddess the White Pantheon at its peak could not defeat in battle. Allasaria herself, who would force nations to kneel at her knees, was in a league below Olephia. And now¡­ The storm slowly died down. The lightning stopped. The waves slowed their crashing. The dawn was coming in, pushing the darkness of night away. ¡°Wissel.¡± Richard said. ¡°Are you there?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± Wissel replied. ¡°Your reporter was correct, it¡¯s him.¡± ¡°It is.¡± Abakwa raced out of his black car as his men pushed through the clamouring crowd. It was chaos, cars had been upturned, water reached up past the shoes, but no one seemed to care, now everyone was trying to get to the beach and see what had happened, why the storm had stopped. ¡°It¡¯s the Premier-General! Make way! Make way for the Premier-General!¡± The police formed a cordon as the sun started to come up. Igos had survived the night. Someone from on top of the floodwall shouted. ¡°They¡¯re coming out of the water!¡± Everyone on the floodwall started to cheer. Abakwa saw hats being thrown into the air as people burst out into cheers of joy or song or both. ¡°Open the gates!¡± Abakwa shouted. The bustling crowd simmered for a moment in their anticipation as policemen passed the order along. It took a few minutes to reach operators and then it took another minute for them to open the locks. Pistons released streams of gaseous air as they worked, the locks twisted, and the gate split in half as each side split to the half. The crowd spilled onto the sandy beach. There was no storm anymore. The sky was turning blue as the Sun slowly meandered its way from the east. Apart from the water covering the walls, there was no damage. The crowd pointed and gasped in awe. More hats thrown. More tears. More joyful songs. Someone even set off a firework. Wading through the water was a giant of man. The water slid off him, drenched the dark clothes he was wearing. Arascus, and in his arms, wrapped in a red cape and hugging him, was Olephia. Arascus stepped onto the sand as he carried Olephia towards Igos. The gratitude of ten million poured into him. He carried another of his precious daughter-Goddesses, but the feeling bathing him wiped away everything else he felt. Power. Chapter 93 – Gratitude Divines Cannot Do Wissel stared at his minister, the man looked as if he could not believe what he was saying. Neither could Wissel. ¡°Olympiada has told us to embargo Ausa for harbouring Olephia and Arascus.¡± First Kirinyaa. Now Ausa? Did they want to turn the whole world against them? Kavaa concentrated on nothing but pouring more and more of her healing into Fer. When Kassandora had held up the Sun, that had required a flooding river to keep the woman standing and her arms regenerating. It was tedious, but likewise a simple thing, as long as her skin kept regrowing, she would not burn up. Now Fer¡¯s veins where filled with poison, her stomach was burning up, her heart only beat because of Kavaa, her lungs needed to be worked manually, her senses had to be kept aware, her vision had needed to be sharp. Every movement Fer did, whether the woman felt it herself or not, tore her own muscles apart, they simply shattered under the quick compressions as if they were being hit by battering rams. Her bones broke every few seconds, the woman crushed her fingers every time she moved them. Kassandora had needed a river to be kept alive, Fer needed a dam to be broken and for the whole countryside to be submerged. And she had to do that with her arm caught in Fer¡¯s teeth. Kavaa did not dare to heal herself apart from simply accelerating her own marrow to recover the lost blood, a single drop wasted in the magic being given to Fer would shatter the Goddess. Kavaa was barely holding on as it was. She recovered Fer¡¯s hand before the pain caught up to the woman. Her fist would have exploded if she did not reinforce it as it shattered through the Jungle¡¯s teeth. Kavaa saw the stars in the air, the light glow of day in the East and closed her eyes. Darkness was preferable now, she didn¡¯t need eyes to see, and she didn¡¯t want to be bothered by anything. Kassandora took command immediately. ¡°Ignore that thing! Go that way!¡± And Kavaa felt Fer whip through the air and crushed her own legs as she landed. She laid the magic on thicker, practically slathered Fer in healing in a way no one had ever received it before. Fer¡¯s teeth twisted in her arm, her tongue lapped up Kavaa¡¯s blood, and Kavaa was whipped by the momentum of the woman jumping. Again and again it went. They travelled through the air as sweat burst out over Kavaa¡¯s face. Her breathing got ragged. She lost sense in her feet, her legs unfurled from around Fer¡¯s body. If that tail wasn¡¯t wrapped around her, she would flown off. Her shoulder would simply be ripped away, this was a speed no body, mortal or Divine, should be able to withstand. But Fer¡¯s did. Kavaa kept her eyes closed as her breathing stopped. A branch would cut at Fer, and Kavaa would heal it. The woman would breath in noxious fumes, and Kavaa healed it. Leaves cut Fer¡¯s body, and Kavaa healed it. Twice, Fer was hit by one of the Jungle¡¯s moving trees, her ribs shattered, her organs collapsed, and Kavaa healed it. Baalka¡¯s poisonous blood burned within Fer, and Kavaa healed it. How long they travelled for, Kavaa did not know. She threw up from the exertion, she heard Kassandora shout directions, she heard Iniri squeal and felt Baalka¡¯s heartbeat, and she kept on healing Fer. Through swamp and tree and bush and rock, until Kavaa was healing the damage of sand. They jumped again and Kavaa healed Fer¡¯s feet, two more times. And then the rollercoaster stopped. Fer slid in the sand, let go of Kavaa¡¯s arm, and dropped the three Goddesses in her arm. ¡°FER!¡± Kassandora shouted from behind as Kavaa held with what little strength she had left. She felt Fer collapse and finally opened her eyes. They were in a desert. The Sassara, it had to be, the endless smooth sand-dunes that separated Arika from the Epa. The sky above was a bright blue, cloudless, with a merciless Sun that distorted the air in the distance. Kavaa did not care, she rolled off Fer¡¯s back, kept her hand on the woman and pushed the smell of blood and vomit and that noxious aura of Baalka¡¯s blood away. Fer was on her hands and knees in the sand, trying to throw up. The woman shouldn¡¯t be doing that. Her stomach had let go of its lining and was trying to escape. ¡°Sto¡­ stop¡­¡± Kavaa said as she kept pouring into the woman. She pushed the shock away from herself, simply ignored it as Kassandora had said she would ignore fear. This was no time for shock, a Divine¡¯s life was on the line. Fer was a mess. Fur had burst out over from all over her body. Her nails had ripped from her fingers and became claws, the woman had a smooth long tail ending in a tuft for some reason, the sort that lions had. Her hair had grown to length of her whole body, her once-yellow eyes now were a dim crimson. ¡°Fer¡­ no¡­¡± ¡°S-Sick.¡± Fer growled in between hurls. She managed a tiny amount of the coagulated concoction of Divine blood from her body. ¡°Need. Out.¡± She said in between tired breathes again as Kassandora half-ran, half-limped up to them. ¡°Kavaa! Heal her!¡± Kassandora half shouted, she held her stomach as if a rib was broken. It most likely was. Kavaa did not have the fortitude to check anymore. ¡°I¡­¡± Kavaa said as she forced her eyes open. ¡°I¡­¡± Her mind started to race. The woman was poisoned. The blood needed to be removed. It was an operation she had done countless times before. ¡°Side.¡± Kavaa said, she felt her own body start to shake. It was the constant upkeep of magic, she was sure of it, this is what exhaustion felt like. ¡°Roll. Fer. Side.¡± Kavaa forced the words out, her eyes had closed already.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Kassandora was a good assistant. Kavaa smiled as she kept her hand on Fer¡¯s arm and felt the woman roll onto her side. She forced her eyelids up, Kassandora was holding Fer onto her side as the Goddess was still trying to throw up. Kavaa fumbled with her free arm at her belt. Her sword was there. Somewhere. Where? Kassandora got it immediately. ¡°You need your sword?¡± Kavaa smiled, closed her eyes and nodded as the strength left her knees and she collapsed onto Fer¡¯s arm. Somewhere, their bodies made contact and Kavaa kept that healing dam open. She forced her eyes open again, wiped blood from the arm was in Fer¡¯s mouth and made a red mark on the woman¡¯s torso. ¡°Here. Deep.¡± Kassandora pulled Kavaa¡¯s blade in a panic and held it against the woman¡¯s stomach. ¡°Like this?¡± She asked. Kavaa forced one eye open again, her breathing was getting harder. Desert was quiet, it was harder to stay awake here. Even Fur¡¯s mad attempt at expelling her stomach interspersed with fits of coughing was getting quieter. ¡°No.¡± Kavaa said. Kassandora held the blade as if she was going to split Fer¡¯s chest in half at the waist, she was simply stupid. ¡°In. Poke. Deep.¡± She meant to say stab, but it was the same thing. ¡°Now. Cannot. Hold.¡± There was supposed to be an ¡®on¡¯ at the end of that, but Kavaa¡¯s throat no longer made the sound. Kassandora nodded hurriedly and stabbed the tip onto that red spot of blood as Kavaa¡¯s senses faded away. That noxious smell became dull, her ears became silent, she forced her eyes open one last time to watch Kassandora cut a hole into Fer. That was deep enough. Kavaa waved her hand, attempted to, her fingers moved but the woman caught sight of it. ¡°This is deep enough?¡± Kavaa forced her hand into a fist, thumb straight, then gave it a shake to the side. ¡°Out?¡± Kavaa made the smallest nod as she prepared to use the last reserves of whatever magic she had left. Kassandora pulled the sword out and Kavaa forced the wound to stay open from the inside. A black liquid spilled out through that hole in Fer¡¯s stomach, with the pressure relieved, Fer¡¯s burning immediately started to drop. Her fever disappeared, her gasps became sighs as she drank the air heavily. ¡°Up. All fours.¡± Kavaa rolled her head towards Fer. Tried to at least. Kassandora heaved the heavy Goddess onto her front, that black stream became thicker as Fer¡¯s stomach emptied itself. Kavaa stabilized the woman¡¯s blood-flow. A complete heal would be impossible now, but she had seen Fer regenerate her wounds before. The threat-to-life had to be addressed and then Kavaa could rest. She found scraps of energy within herself and smashed them into the clots in Fer¡¯s veins. The woman¡¯s heart was damaged. Another scrap fixed that. Kassandora had accidentally nicked a lung when she made the hole. A scrap patched that. Kavaa silently searched Fer¡¯s body as she floated in a darkness devoid of her own senses. The stomach emptied itself and another scrap patched that. The wound and bleeding and broken bones, Fer would have to deal with on her own. Kavaa smiled and talked to no one in particular, she just hoped one of them would hear. ¡°Done. She. Survive.¡± Kavaa felt something touch her cheek and then Fer¡¯s voice whisper into her ear just before she lost consciousness. Soft words, filled with a gratitude she had never received in the White Pantheon. A gratitude they had all been allergic to. ¡°Thank you.¡± So sweet. She smiled in that darkness, ready to die. It wouldn¡¯t be a bad death. She just wished Iniri didn¡¯t have to see her like this. Maybe it was for the better. Iniri would never forgive herself if Kavaa died somewhere randomly. And then something smashed into her chest. Kavaa lungs filled with air as she felt someone¡¯s lips touch hers and breath out. Then her chest was hit again. Kavaa felt her heart kick and Kassandora scream from above her. ¡°KAVAA! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE! NOT NOW! NOT EVER!¡± Their lips met again and Kassandora forced more air into her. ¡°KAVAA! YOU¡¯RE ALIVE! I KNOW YOU ARE!¡± Ten more thumps on her chest, more air. ¡°KAVAA! HEAL YOURSELF! HEAL YOURSELF AND THEN SLEEP! YOU ARE BLEEDING!¡± Kavaa scanned her body. She was bleeding. She had forgotten about it. ¡°KAVAA! HEAL YOURSELF NOW! DO IT ALREADY!¡± Kavaa shook her head. If that¡¯s what it took to catch a break, then that¡¯s what it took. ¡°HEAL KAVAA! HEAL NOW!¡± Kassandora screamed, she leaned in, pinched Kavaa¡¯s nose and blew more air into her. ¡°Yee¡­¡± The word trailed off as Kavaa tried to push Kassandora off herself. She only pathetically managed to brush the back of her hand against the woman¡¯s stomach. ¡°I¡­ will¡­¡± Kavaa held her breath and closed her wounds. She shouldn¡¯t have done that. How could she forget healing hurt? It felt as if in a thousand sewing needles had grabbed each twine of muscle and stitched them shut. As if a pair of tweezers had grabbed her veins, slammed then together, and something welded them shut. Kavaa shot up with a scream, threw Kassandora backwards, the Goddess slammed into the sand and grabbed at her ribs again, before rolling over to look at Kavaa. There was a victorious little smile on Kassandora¡¯s lips, a mad pride in her eyes as if she had just won a battle. ¡°I¡¯m awake!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°I know.¡± Kassandora said and then rolled back. ¡°I know Kavaa.¡± She burst out in laughter as Kavaa looked around. Iniri was on the ground, rolled over to look at them. She smiled and waved. Baalka was unconscious next to her, looking as if she still did not care. Kassandora was lying on the burning sand in a fit of laughter that was broken up with cries of pain as she grabbed at her stomach and Fer¡­ Fer was lying next to Kavaa, breathing slowly as she watched. The ears that usually stook out of her hair were now tilted downwards, her eyes were yellow again and she took Kavaa¡¯s hand. ¡°Thank you Kavaa.¡± She said again. Kavaa collapsed onto her back, the sand hurt, it was too hot. She held her once-injured arm up and looked at the closed wound. It was still dirty and covered in dirt, mud, stabbed with thorns and slathered in blood and spit, but the damage of Fer¡¯s teeth may as well have never happened. She thought about the situation. She had freed Kassandora, arch-enemy of the White Pantheon, commander of Arascus¡¯ armies, and had recruited her and Fer to rescue Iniri. They had rescued Baalka too, and now Kavaa had been pushed further than she ever had in the attempt to save Fer¡¯s life. Her arm dropped. And then Fer thanked her for it. Even though it was Kavaa¡¯s friend, even though there had been no reason for her or Kassandora to enter the Jungle, even though she had done nothing but slowed them down the entire way. She thanked her with a gratitude that poured from her whole heart. She thanked with a gratitude Kavaa had always thought Divines weren¡¯t capable of. Kavaa burst out in laughter in that desert sand. Chapter 94 – The Gratitude of Mortals ¡°Cancel the Arcadian transports to north Arika. Let Arascus have his victory.¡± ¡°Are you sure we don¡¯t want to move in on Igos?¡± ¡°A united Pantheon could not defeat Olephia, can a fractured one?¡± - The White Pantheon¡¯s Meeting Room. Arascus walked onto Igos¡¯ sandy beach with Olephia in his arms. She curled into the red cape to cover herself, and stared up at him with her violet eyes. A smile on her face. ¡°I have you Olephia, don¡¯t be scared now.¡± He said as he maintained his posture. The floodwall reached high behind the beach, flashes of light were coming from it as the onlookers took photos. The great gates, massive panels of sliding steel turned and twisted to flood the sand with people who ran out as Arascus kept walking on. Olephia wrapped tighter around his chest. People cheered in the dawn. People threw up hats into the air. They burst into laughter and song, they swore adoration for the storm settling and blessed Arascus with their thanks. They didn¡¯t care for their wet clothes from the rain, nor the water streaming past them as the floodgates released the excess water that had flooded the street. Someone even shot of fireworks. Olephia watched that with an awe in her eyes. A torrent of awe and adoration, a torrent of power seeped into him. A group of men in modern armour eventually pushed through the crowd. Thick black vests over dark shirts, a marking on their shirt, a dot surrounded by a circle. They had batons on their vest although none of them used them. Guards Arascus realised, so they must be guarding the person in the centre of their circle. A tall dark man, who walked with all prideful stride that Kassandora¡¯s generals had once carried. Obviously the ruler here, or the herald of one. The man strode onto the sand as his guards made space for Arascus. More flashes came from the skyscrapers, as people on roofs and in windows started taking their own photos. ¡°We¡¯re on film Olephia. Don¡¯t speak now.¡± Olephia answered with a tap on his shirt. One tap meant confirmation. Two would have been a rejection. Arascus came to a stop as those guards encircled him, and then turned around to stop the crowd from closing in. The man in the centre stopped several steps away and looked up at Arascus. He was tall, but Arascus was a Divine, and he tall even for Divines. The man¡¯s head barely reached up to his stomach, even with the long rain coat that reached to his shins, the mark of office over his breast, even with Arascus dripping from salt water and with Olephia wrapped in that cape, the authority lay with Arascus, it was as clear as the Sun coming up. The man came to him. Finally the man saluted. More flashes from the sidelines, more photos taken. ¡°I am Premier-General Abakwa. I thank you for saving Igos.¡± He said in a booming voice. That loud meant the man wanted to be caught on video saying that. ¡°The fault was ours.¡± Arascus said. People liked modesty, and especially when you did not make them feel indebted. This Abakwa certainly did have a debt to pay, but there was no reason to hold it over his head. ¡°I would have come sooner had I been informed of what was happening.¡± And that was to tell the rest of the world that he did not have secret channels or anything like that. That Arascus, God of Pride, operated with the same knowledge that the common man did. Abakwa looked at them and turned to scan the crowd. The cheers had died off as the crowd waited for what their leader would say. Arascus wondered if it was Olephia in his arms, or the anticipation of the crowd that made the decision, most likely a bit of both. ¡°Igos and all Ausa welcomes the Divines Arascus and Olephia into its borders.¡± The crowd exploded into a mad flurry of cheer. ¡°Come.¡± He turned, the police cordon around them closed the circle as they pulled away from the water and they slowly made their way through the floodgates and into the city. If Arascus was in Abakwa¡¯s position, he would have hated it. The man was escorting a foreign God through cheering crowds, who cheered not for Abakwa but for Arascus. They took images and they took videos, they sang songs, they had to be pushed out of the way. Abakwa gave one look at the cars and heavy vehicles of the police, and realised Arascus would not fit in them. That would have forced Arascus to simply pull a smile and parade a saviour through the city. But Arascus was not Abakwa. The positions were reversed. He basked in the glory. Olephia nuzzled into his chest as she closed her eyes to the flashing lights. Arascus felt her heartbeat close to his as he walked through Igos. Eventually, they made their way past a statue of brick and concrete and steel of men and women holding up stones. The foundations of a wall, around them. Abakwa saluted the statue as Arascus read the plaque. Nameless but not forgotten: Builders of the Firewall. Arascus saluted it too, as he held Olephia in one arm. That made the crowd silent as they all paid their respects. Who to, Arascus did not know, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Abakwa then guided him to a massive concrete building, painted in a dull-yellow, a modern-day fortress. With tall walls and watchtowers, an empty moat dug out around it. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people were streaming out of multiple heavy doors that smattered the building, over bridges leading to the street level, or others leading to the upper levels of skyscrapers. ¡°This is Igos¡¯ Central Crisis Centre.¡± Abakwa finally spoke as the police made a line behind them and blocked the crowd from following. He came to a stop at the door. It was wide, but not tall. Far too short for Arascus. ¡°I apologize but it¡¯s not made for Divines.¡± ¡°We can meet on the roof.¡± Arascus said. With the influx of power, he eagerly wanted to test it out. Flight, he had not done in a thousand years. ¡°The rest of the Igos government will want to talk with you.¡± ¡°I have no plan to meddle in your politics.¡± ¡°Save it for your later.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°Thank you for saving the city, as I said¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°We¡¯ll meet on the roof.¡± Arascus had imagined it would be like this. The people would cheer for a saviour, the figures in charge would now deal with another crisis. Abakwa entered the building as Arascus tested his magic. It was unsteady for an instant, but then the instinct came back. His feet slowly let go of the ground. His divine magic wasn¡¯t fast as fast as Anassa¡¯s, not as strong as Olephia¡¯s, not as versatile as Fer¡¯s. It was simply an extent of himself, a creeping doom, ever assured of its own success, almost lazy in its movements, but never slowing down, nor speeding up. A boulder that tumbled down a hill, a slow march of an army. A surety, but not a quick one. Arascus listened to the cheers of the crowd as he floated up the wall. Olephia squeezed into him and kicked her legs as her dark hair blew in the wind. She had always enjoyed flying with someone else, but she remained silent all throughout it. ¡°I¡¯m going to tell them about your powers Olephia.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. We want to work with these people.¡± Olephia nodded to him. ¡°It¡¯s going to be a boring month from now on, but I¡¯ll stay with you, alright? We can do what we want as soon as this is finished.¡± Olephia poked him once and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. They headed up that building until they finally reached a roof. It was empty, with tables and chairs laid out as if the place was an outdoor restaurant. There were several pads for landing helicopters, and even one very short runway that cut into the small outcrop of concrete, and extended with a small bridge off the building. On one hand, it was rather modest, with parasols and flagpoles interspersed not taking up a lot of space. On the other, that modesty hid another function. The windows here were mere slits, the doors were heavily reinforced with beams and twisting locks. There were no railings around the edge, instead it was a small concrete crenelations. Arascus let Olephia down as the girl wrapped herself in that thick red cape. He turned to look at the rest of Igos. It was a huge city, with massive skyscrapers interjoined by bridges as if a giant spider had spun a steel web over the city, and around it was a massive wall. It started in the ocean, the beginning marked with a massive lighthouse, went straight onto land, made a curve, and then ended in the ocean again, another massive lighthouse signalling its end. Beyond it lay the Great Central Arikan Jungle. It stretched over the hills and mountains in the distance, an endless carpet of green. Eventually, Abakwa came with his men. Arascus had thought it would be a lot of people, but it really wasn¡¯t. They were dark-skinned and tall, in clothes that looked as if they had not been changed in the past few days. Unbuttoned shirts, shorts and trousers, the only constant was the dark shirts. ¡°Apologies for the wait.¡± Abakwa said as Arascus watched the Sun rise in the horizon, Olephia had come to hold his hand and watch with him, her fingers had gingerly interlocked with his and her head rested on his arm. ¡°Nothing to apologize for, we were admiring the view.¡± Arascus said as he turned. ¡°Are we sitting?¡± Arascus had thought bureaucrats would consider it beneath them to arrange tables, but these men did. They pushed a few tables together and brought a bench. ¡°We don¡¯t have chairs for your size.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°So the bench¡­¡± ¡°It will suffice.¡± The bench creaked as Arascus sat on it, even now, his eyes were above theirs. When the men sat down, they still only reached his chest. Olephia wrapped the cloak tighter around herself. She broke the silence before Abakwa could even introduce anyone with her fingers madly tapping on the wooden tables. ¡°Do you have a pen and paper?¡± Arascus asked, Olephia would need it. ¡°A notepad would be best.¡± Abakwa looked to his men. One that was balding and with glasses over his brown eyes quickly pulled one out and slid it across the table to Olephia. She quickly wrote down a reply and showed it to the rest of the table. Thank you. The men looked at each other in confusion before Abakwa took charge with a cough. ¡°I am Premier-General Abakwa, in command of the United Cities of Ausa.¡± He extend an arm to the balding man who had passed Olephia the paper. ¡°That is Professor Chinua, head of the Igos University of Sciences.¡± ¡°My pleasure.¡± The man said in a deep voice and soothing voice. Abakwa continued to the next man. ¡°Abubakar, director of Igos.¡± A tall man, his shirt drenched in sweat and looking as if he had not slept in a few days. ¡°It is my blessing to host two Divines.¡± The man said in a tone that said it was obviously his misfortune. Abakwa introduced the last man.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°And General Domkat. In charge of the Igos Crisis Unit.¡± The man merely nodded to confirm. Arascus gave his own introduction, as short as there¡¯s were. ¡°I am Arascus, God of Pride.¡± He extend to Olephia, who had already finished writing. She ripped a piece off the notepad and slid it across the table. Olephia, Goddess of Chaos. Arascus sat there in silence as the four men looked at it and at themselves, and then at Arascus and Olephia. They didn¡¯t know what to do. He supposed they wouldn¡¯t. What would he do in their positions? They were most likely worried. He supposed he should calm those worries. ¡°Olephia¡¯s power works through her voice. She cannot speak.¡± Olephia nodded along and pointed at her throat. That didn¡¯t seem to calm the men whatsoever. ¡°I promise she will stay silent while she stays in Igos.¡± Abakwa finally broke the tension among the men. ¡°I¡¯m not¡­¡± He stopped carefully and picked out words. ¡°We¡­ I¡¯m sure you understand that Ausa is in a difficult situation.¡± Arascus knew exactly what the man was getting at, his presence here would put Ausa in the White Pantheon¡¯s spotlight. That was the sort of eye no one wanted to be watched by. Ultimately though, he was here to recruit these people as much as he was here to stop Olephia from an accidental massacre. If there wasn¡¯t a city in the way, he would have let her smash through the mages gathering in Arcadia first and then come to assist her later. But there had been a city, and that had changed plans. He leaned back, Olephia watched him from the corner of her eye and leaned back with him, and then Arascus sighed. Olephia repeated the movement but simply made no sound. The men flinched when she opened her mouth. ¡°Premier-General, you are a military man, yes?¡± Arascus said. ¡°Officially Ausa has no military.¡± Abakwa answered carefully. ¡°I¡¯m not here to enforce Pantheon Peace, General.¡± Arascus missed out the redundant part of the title on purpose. ¡°I myself am a military man.¡± Olephia started to scrawl something down. ¡°So I¡¯d prefer if we talked straight about this situation. I understand that my presence here is an issue for you internationally, but I know you can¡¯t simply kick us out because you cannot defeat us.¡± Olephia slammed a piece of paper onto the table. I¡¯m not going to get mad. Do not worry about offending me. Abakwa read it, looked at Olephia again and leaned back into his chair. ¡°You do have it about right.¡± Abakwa began. ¡°Ausa is reliant on international aid, we don¡¯t farms or a countryside. An embargo would cripple what is left of this nation so I would...¡± He stalled again. ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to leave. But I¡¯m asking you to leave.¡± He said eventually. ¡°This is our issue, because we can¡¯t leave as we have nowhere to go.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Unless you know of a nation that will willingly house Olephia?¡± Abakwa shook his head. Abubakar, Igos¡¯ director, Arascus assumed it was something to the position of mayor, spoke up. ¡°If you excuse Abakwa, he is thinking about the long-term. You may stay here for a week.¡± Arascus watched Abakwa¡¯s reaction, it was feigned, but feigned well. A mortal would have been tricked. That was very good, one wanted them gone immediately, the other wanted them gone in a week and had a tone as if he was actually apologetic for it. ¡°How long of a term are we talking about here?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Years.¡± Abakwa answered immediately. Arascus already had an answer prepared. He had assumed he was going to deal with civilians first. Civilians were always tougher to convince, they needed speeches about grandiosities. Military types had a blander way of looking at the world, as just a series of cost-benefit ratios. ¡°Did you see what happened in Olympiada a month ago?¡± Arascus asked. Of course they did, the entire world must have seen that. ¡°We did see a fight broke out on it.¡± Abubakar answered. Arascus gauged the reaction. The fact he called it a fight meant they didn¡¯t know who it was, or what had happened exactly. It was impossible for people not to identify Kassandora from that picture. Then¡­ did they simply not care? Arika was far from Epa, and what Iliyal had said that Kassandora told him, Arika had no love for the White Pantheon. ¡°That was my daughter, Kassandora, escaping from it.¡± Olephia¡¯s hands slammed the table as she looked at him in disbelief. It took her a few moments to dispel her shock, then she quickly wrote something down again. Kass is free? ¡°Yes. Kassandora is free.¡± Arascus slid the paper to show to the men. Olephia was rarely taken on diplomatic visits because notes like this left a sour taste in people¡¯s mouths. It was always bad when the girl started passing out notes in secret. ¡°She has gone to Kirinyaa, along with Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri.¡± Arascus let the moment have a second to process the news. Abakwa spoke as he rubbed his stubbled chin. ¡°That explains the Cleric¡¯s movements then.¡± ¡°Currently, Kassandora is in the Kirinyaan Badlands working on a way to push the Jungle back.¡± Arascus said with full certainty. The fact she had ventured into the Jungle proper was irrelevant, she would figure out a way, and if not then he would. ¡°By the end of the year, we aim to start proper reclamation efforts. Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri have been excommunicated from the Pantheon, Leona and Atis are dead. The White Pantheon is broken already, it will not exist in five years¡¯ time.¡± The four men leaned forwards as Arascus continued. He could tell already, they had been caught hook line and sinker. There wasn¡¯t any shock about the news of dead Divines, nor anything else like that, it was merely hungry intrigue. So they really did not have any love for the White Pantheon. That was good, now they only needed a tiny little push to start moving, and they would come to him themselves. ¡°When the White Pantheon breaks officially, Epa will fall into Chaos. Pantheon Peace has stunted them to such a degree that they can not deal with the Anarchia situation. Where will you get your supplies from then?¡± Abakwa and Abubakar shared a look. Domkat and Chinua merely looked crushed. ¡°I understand you most likely know more than we do about this, but we will have to confirm this information.¡± Domkat eventually spoke up, the rest were simply stunned. ¡°For surety.¡± ¡°I said this before to the General, but I will repeat it for all of you. I do not wish to meddle in your internal politics. How you rule yourselves is your prerogative.¡± The men looked around. ¡°I would also like to confirm that my planes have been given permission to land.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve landed already.¡± ¡°The pilots will need accommodation. I would also ask that they be given passports of Ausa. We have two more with us, but they will find their way back home alone, I¡¯d rather they not be harassed or questioned by journalists. It would be best if they are not even to be seen. The pilots can take centre-stage for any interviews.¡± ¡°It will be done.¡± Domkat pulled out his phone and started typing something. Abakwa finally seemed to realise that Arascus had just given an order to his man, and the man had followed along with even asking a question. ¡°In regards to accommodation for you two.¡± He thought. ¡°You can fly, so it will be easiest if you take one of the hotel penthouses. Abubakar will organise it.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The man said. Arascus contained his smile. Kassandora won battles, Olephia slew dragons, Neneria would raise the dead, but out of them all, only he had the power to win nations. ¡°If you wish for assistance, then you will know where to find us. Otherwise, we won¡¯t appear. I¡¯m not taking interviews.¡± Arascus said. A God who became common lost his enigmatic charm, if he only appeared where was needed, his image would be far more powerful. ¡°Naturally.¡± Abubakar said. ¡°You cannot stay at the White Pantheon embassy, can you?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Igos rarely has Divines visit. I pre-emptively apologize, but it will be tight.¡± ¡°As long as its out of sight, do not worry.¡± Arascus quickly thought of another minor way these men could be called on to cooperate with him, something trite and small. That¡¯s how relationships were made, no one would die for a man on their first meeting. Cooperation was a house, to start building it, first you had to cut the grass on your building spot. ¡°Olephia will also need clothes.¡± That was a perfect request, it would cost these men nothing, and it would make an even larger divide between them and the petty Divines of the White Pantheon. ¡°Of course.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°We¡¯ll send someone today, tomorrow morning at the latest.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I thank you for your generosity.¡± From what he remembered of Allasaria, that woman would only show gratitude if she was handed the moon on a plate. It was time to show these people a new type of God. The rarest of them all, a God who let people get on with their lives without asking for anything. ¡°Unless you have your own questions, we would request leave.¡± Kassandora was the second-best, behind Arascus, at negotiating, but she was always too blunt. When they had first met, she would always make these discussions impersonal, finish off with something like ¡®our business is done¡¯. That was a poor move, it made every move with her into a transaction. Olephia started scrawling something quickly and then slid a piece of paper. Her handwriting was extremely pretty. Could I have paints? And an art-kit? Abakwa looked at it with some humour as Abubakar chuckled. The two men looked at her as if she was a little girl for second, before they realised they were talking with the Goddess of Chaos who had almost smashed Igos into the ground. ¡°Of course.¡± Abubakar said, he turned to Chinua. ¡°The University should be able to provide this, yes?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The man said and tapped the table. ¡°And I do have some questions. If you can answer them before you leave.¡± ¡°Ask away.¡± Arascus had hoped for some. Fighting was one thing, but fighting won battles. Words won hearts and minds. He had always preferred winning the latter. ¡°In regards to¡­¡± The man gestured to Olephia. ¡°Olephia¡¯s radiation. We are recording it now, but if you know any information about it, it would be extremely helpful.¡± Arascus sat there as he thought quickly. The modern world was a marvel, with technology and terms that seemed to explain anything and everything. Technology and terms he had not come across in the past: radiation was one such term. He thought of what to say, and eventually settled on the smart answer, the least pretentious option he had available that did not admit he was a fish out of water. ¡°Where is the radiation?¡± ¡°In the lighthouse and the water, the water will clear most likely just through ocean currents, but we¡¯ve quarantined the lighthouse since it¡¯s at a level dangerous for human life.¡± Arascus looked at the great lighthouse in the distance. ¡°The one Olephia was close to?¡± He asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Chinua replied. The lighthouse shot out of the water like a cliff, as if a giant had misplaced a massive brick in a puddle. Arascus thought for a moment, he had not thought it possible to measure Olephia¡¯s Curse. It wasn¡¯t something healable, like Baalka¡¯s diseases, Olephia simply contaminated lands she visited when she started to speak. That was that, in the past, it had always simply been called Olephia¡¯s Curse. He remembered the tests they had ran long ago. ¡°From just humming, adults should be safe in sixty-four days, for children, double it, for pregnant women, double it again. It causes harm to the baby.¡± Chinua nodded eagerly and wrote it down. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°We ran these tests in a different age, so the results may differ. It¡¯s been a long time since Olephia used her powers.¡± Chinua shook his head. ¡°We were wondering if the Lighthouse would have to be demolished but if you say that the half-life is short enough to where it disperses in two months, then¡­¡± He turned to the other men. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a weight off our shoulders, isn¡¯t it?¡± Arascus had no clue what the term ¡®half-life¡¯ meant. ¡°It is.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°Very well. I know you said you wanted to leave but if there is anything else, we are more than eager to provide.¡± Arascus had thought this would come sooner rather than later, they felt indebted, and now they wanted to start clawing that debt back before the interest would accrue. ¡°I would like to inspect the Jungle myself some time from now.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But before that, I¡¯d like to read your reports on it.¡± He thought of if it was too direct. He had grown too used to simply ordering people about back at the base. ¡°If that would be possible. I don¡¯t want state secrets or anything like that.¡± ¡°It will be done, but I will have to ask you to wait a while.¡± Domkat said, he chuckled. ¡°If I¡¯m honest, you two have made a mess we have to clean up now.¡± Arascus almost burst out in laughter. If the man was willing to make small jabs like this now, he had obviously grown to like them. ¡°Olephia tends to make a mess.¡± Arascus put his arm around the Goddess and brought her close as she quickly scrawled something: Apologies but I will do more harm than good. ¡°But if you need Divine help, then I am here.¡± The men looked at each other one last time, all of them obviously happy with how the conversation turned out. Abakwa took charge. ¡°Domkat, you and me, will draw up a plan. Abubakar, find accommodation for them and the pilots. Hold a news conference, calm the people.¡± Finally he turned to Arascus and put his arm forward. ¡°I¡¯ve met the other Epan Divines before, and they were nothing like you.¡± ¡°I hope that¡¯s putting me in a good light.¡± Arascus knew the answer already. ¡°It certainly is. You are much better.¡± And then Abakwa shook hands with Olephia. The girl looked at him with confusion, actually recoiled for a moment, then smiled, shook hands and started writing quickly. She slid the paper to Abakwa and the man chuckled as he read it. You are the first man to ever want to shake my hand. Whether brave or stupid, I do not know. And then, at the end, she added little doodle of a face: :) Chapter 95 – Bloodied, but Unbeaten Arascus has brought a living weapon into Igos and now he wants to stay? And? What do you mean and? Are you going to be the one to tell him to leave? Helenna sat with Neneria. ¡°It¡¯s been seven weeks now.¡± Helenna said. The life of the two Goddess had devolved into little more than sitting on that hill and waiting for Fer, Kassandora and Kavaa to return with Iniri in their arms. Since two weeks ago, every single time the wind would brush the treetops, Helenna would keep up hoping it was Kassandora moving a tree. Or Fer. Whichever of them was actually stronger. Every shout from one of the nearby camps, her head would pop up before she realised the sound came from the wrong direction. ¡°Seven weeks was yesterday. We¡¯re on a straight fifty days.¡± Neneria said. ¡°I didn¡¯t count the first half-day.¡± ¡°I did.¡± Neneria said. And so they sat. Neneria in that long black dress with a collar of raven feathers, Helenna in a simple shirt and shorts. An hour went by as the Sun gently wandered across the sky. Helenna had grown comfortable of Neneria. The Goddess of Death was terrifying at first, but she wasn¡¯t too bad when you got to know her. Quiet, with an odd way of speaking that seemingly killed conversation, but it was just direct. ¡°What did you get the reports for?¡± Helenna asked. Several had arrived to Damian Sokolowski from¡­ somewhere. Helenna did not know. She had slowly built up a spy network here, not out of malice, but rather it was just how she got around. A servant would talk here, a maid there, soldiers and guards would complain and Helenna would be there to listen. But the men blessed by Kassandora were different, they had been in the past, they were now. They seemingly never got tired, and when they did, they would go and sleep. ¡°They¡¯re for Kassandora.¡± Neneria replied. It was the same reply again. Helenna did not want to push the issue, she had talked with Neneria, but she had not seen the woman get angry, nor happy, nor show any emotion. Neneria simply sat there, sometimes went for a walk, and then returned to sitting and watching the Jungle. Helenna turned and leaned against Neneria. The woman was taller, her dress was soft and her arms were pleasant to lean against. Kassandora¡¯s men were holding drills again. They rarely had combat drills, now, they were shovelling holes, in the evening, they would start burying them again. The Arikans rarely came now, twice they appeared to ask for assistance from the Clerics when someone was injured, once again when the Jungle stole someone again. That person was never found even after a search party entered the woods for a day. The Clerics themselves were training marches. A new camp had appeared, representatives of the Kirinyaan Government. They wanted to talk with Kavaa and Kassandora, but with neither of them about, now they only stood and monitored the situation. Helenna had supposed they would, Kirinyaa now had over a hundred Clerics in its borders. That was a foreign army, it would be foolish to let them go unmonitored. They had the sleekest tents of the lot, ones that extended from cars and vans and buses to create cool, air-conditioned rooms. They would send inspectors to the various Cleric Orders, and Kassandora¡¯s army, but largest let kept their noses out of Divine politics. The wind brushed the treetops again and Helenna jumped. Neneria was sat there, her eyes unfocused, as ghastly opaque fairies soared from her. This activity, she started two weeks ago. At first, it had been done twice a day, in the evening and the morning, then three times a day, again at noon. Now, Neneria would spend do it on the beat of every hour. They flew into the air, scattered in all directions and flickered above the Jungle. Helenna saw the Arikans come out to watch, they always watched the ghosts and talked with each other.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. A minute went by. Two. Ten. The fairies started to return. One that had travelled North flew to Neneria¡¯s ear and whispered something in some incomprehensible language. The rest of the fairies disappeared in an instant. They were there, and then suddenly they weren¡¯t. Neneria¡¯s eyes grew sharp and she chuckled to herself. ¡°Helenna, stand up.¡± It was the first time Neneria had actually given a direct order to Helenna, in a cool tone that simply demanded a person act. ¡°What is it?¡± Helenna brushed the red Arikan dirt off herself. ¡°North. They are back.¡± For an instant, Helenna did not hear the words. Her ears caught the sound, but her mind simply did not register them. Then it did. ¡°They¡¯re back?¡± Helenna half-shouted, half-spoke in excitement. ¡°They are.¡± Neneria said. The woman spread her legs, her ghostly winged horse appeared underneath her, and it hoisted her into the air. ¡°Come. I¡¯ll keep pace for you.¡± ¡°They¡¯re back?¡± ¡°Five of them.¡± Helenna jumped up in excitement, took a step and then faltered. ¡°Five?¡± There was only Fer, Kavaa, Kassandora and Iniri. She counted them twice to make sure it was four. ¡°Five.¡± Neneria said definitely. ¡°Baalka is the fifth.¡± There was an inkling of a smile on Neneria¡¯s lips as Pegaz started to trot. Helenna faltered. Baalka? That Baalka? The Goddess of Disease? The woman with a list of titles longer than them all? None of them good: The Scourge and The Walking Plague were only the kindest. Helenna stopped for a second as Neneria¡¯s horse trotted into the air and walked a foot above ground. The Clerics had already started to look. Kassandora¡¯s men ceased their hole-digging. It was the first time the horse had appeared since they left, so of course they must have noticed. ¡°Do you have clothes?¡± Neneria asked. Helenna looked down at herself and touched her shirt. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Helenna asked and Neneria sighed. ¡°Spare clothes I meant.¡± ¡°I do.¡± Of course she did! ¡°I assume you know Iniri¡¯s size. Bring them something to cover themselves with. Bring a blanket for Baalka too and something large for Fer.¡± Neneria sighed. ¡°If you don¡¯t have anything for her, then I have a box in Kassandora¡¯s camp, there¡¯s cloaks in there that should fit her.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll find something of mine!¡± Helenna shouted as she ran off. ¡°Wait here for me!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be moving north, you¡¯ll see me, I¡¯ll be slow. They¡¯re far away anyway.¡± Helenna did not respond. She ran off immediately back to her own tent in Kavaa¡¯s camp. They were back! They were back! She couldn¡¯t believe it! Kavaa and Iniri! She knew they¡¯d return! They had taken Kassandora with them! That woman could do anything! After planning an escape from Olympiada, of course a little Jungle like this would be nothing for them! Why did she worry anyway? Helenna burst out in laughter as Clerics stopped to look at her. The Goddess of Love did not care whatsoever what they thought of her. Men were starting to organise, Neneria¡¯s horse and her reaction must given away what was happening at this point. Kassandora¡¯s army had formed a team of a dozen men, led by Damian Sokolowski and were slowly following Neneria, the Clerics had organised several teams. Even the Arikans, both the government and the nomads, had sent people. Helenna burst into her own tent and tore her wardrobe apart. A dress like this could fit Iniri. It was slightly oversized, but light enough. The woman would be tired no doubt, she wouldn¡¯t want to be cooked in some thick jumper. What else? Something for Baalka! Helenna did not even care she was fetching a cloak and a light blanket for the Goddess of Disease, someone she had thought against a thousand years prior. It was meaningless anyway! They had rescued Iniri! Of course she¡¯d help! It was the least she could do. She spun with the clothes in her arms, and then spun again. Fer! She had almost forgot. Fer was much more difficult. She found the biggest dress she had, and even that would be too small for Fer. Kassandora, it would fit, but not of Beasthood. A cloak would have to do. Fer didn¡¯t seem to have a problem with strolling around naked anyway. A cloak, and the biggest shirt she had. It may as well have been a blanket for Helenna, but it should fit Fer. She had only worn it when something had to be thrown on and she knew her privacy wasn¡¯t going to be compromised. With the clothes in her hands, she ran out. Neneria was slowly trailing along the ridge of the hill that block view of the Jungle, Kassandora¡¯s men behind her. Then the Clerics. Then the nomadic Arikans. Then at the end of the convoy, a modern offroad-car was slowly following them. Helenna did not care, she ran to Neneria. They slowly walked forwards until Neneria extended her hand and brought the company to a stop. Five figures slowly appeared from the horizon. Neneria did not send out a ghost to confirm, there was no need to. Fer¡¯s towering stature and then Kassandora¡¯s great blade and black armour made silhouettes that were impossible to mistake. Helenna burst out in joy and ran forwards. Chapter 96 – Straight Back To Work Wissel, Richard VI, Aimone, Artois and Jozef sat in another palace. An Allian Castle this time. The subject of discussion was the Ausa embargo. ¡°We obviously can¡¯t do it, it would sentence millions to starvation. We¡¯d have a refugee crisis in Epa within the month.¡± Aimone said. Everyone was of the same mind. An embargo for simply harbouring Olephia and Arascus was a travesty. And it would set too great a precedent for the White Pantheon intervening in modern politics. You give an inch, you give a mile. Splitting from the White Pantheon was just as bad though, Allasaria or Elassa could demand regime change. ¡°There is a way.¡± Artois said. ¡°Maisara has finished in Southern Rancais. She¡¯ll be travelling to Rilia now.¡± ¡°What are you suggesting?¡± Aimone asked. ¡°Rancais will take the hit. Maisara has brought peace, but it cost the White Pantheon its public image. And it has made my government seem ineffectual and weak. We¡¯re not going to break the Pantheon Directive, but we¡¯re not going to follow the embargo. We cannot if we want to maintain any sort of legitimacy and keep the Anarchians from popping up again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a full embargo though.¡± Wissel said. ¡°I don¡¯t see a way around it.¡± Artois nodded as he dropped maps and papers onto the table. ¡°Kirinyaa has reject the proposition already, they¡¯ve told the Pantheon to keep its nose out of Arika. The Kirinyaan embargo affects only companies, not charity NGOs.¡± Artois continued. ¡°You send your goods to Rancais, we donate them to the Arika Jungle Crisis Fund, they ship them to Kirinyaa, then Kirinyaa ships them to Ausa. I already have channels set up in Kirinyaa, Rancais will already do this, but this way, we can avert a total collapse of Ausa and it keeps the Pantheon off your backs for a while.¡± Wissel looked through the notes. It was a genius move of diplomacy. No laws were broken, no embargos were simply ignored. They kept their hands clean entirely. ¡°And what happens when the Pantheon blocks this route out too?¡± ¡°What then? Will they sanction charities too?¡± ¡°Helenna¡¯s running here.¡± Kassandora said as she looked south. It was midday, with the Sun beaming down straight into them. Kassandora was sure she had got a tan, she had donned the armour for a mere ten minutes, and it was already starting to get uncomfortably hot, in another ten minutes, she would probably be able to fry an egg on her armour. ¡°What is she carrying?¡± ¡°Clothes.¡± Fer said half-heartedly. Divines did not sleep in the ways mortals did, Kassandora could stay on her feet for months at a time before tiredness began to set in. Fer though was more temperamental, especially after the effort, she needed somewhere cool to lie down in. That had been impossible in the desert, and now she was dragging her feet. Kassandora looked back at her team. Baalka was in Fer¡¯s arms, wrapped in part of Kavaa¡¯s green dress. Kavaa herself was looking ragged, her armour, unlike Kassandora¡¯s, wasn¡¯t a magical extension of herself, it was a physical suit she wore. When they had entered the Jungle, the woman wore a green battledress that hung to her knees, now it ended at her thighs. That pristine silvery-steel chestplate was now battered, bloody, with holes in odd spots and dents in others. Iniri wore Kassandora¡¯s clothes, they were loose and hung low off the woman, but it was better than nothing. Fer had merely grown a light coat of fur to safeguard herself from the Sun. ¡°I want a drink.¡± Kavaa said. Kassandora turned back to Helenna. Neneria was in the distance standing on a hill, standing and watching them on her horse. A ragtag band of Clerics, soldiers and Arikans were behind her. All of them needed a rest. Kassandora sighed, they had just trekked through the unending Sassara, until it ended. Then they had turned South, entered Kirinyaa and kept walking the perimeter of the Jungle. Kassandora had kept them a mile or two away. Every so often, they would crest a hill and see the great green sea of flora in the distance, and from the chills it sent down Kassandora¡¯s spine, it saw them too. It wasn¡¯t merely watching now, Kassandora could tell it wasn¡¯t happy about losing two Divines. ¡°You¡¯ll get one.¡± Kassandora said. She looked down at herself as she pulled another foot forwards. It was getting much too hot. The only saving grace was the layer of blood and dirt and mud her armour still carried. It fixed itself, but it did not keep itself clean. Every now and then, they would pass by some thin Kirinyaan stream, Kavaa would ask if Kassandora would wash, and Kassandora would deny the request. That thin layer of mess kept her from cooking herself. ¡°Shade.¡± Fer said. ¡°You¡¯ll get it.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Stop. Helenna¡¯s getting close.¡± Kassandora had kept them moving every day, through the hot days and the cold nights. At first, the breaks were mere reprieves, now, Iniri, Kavaa and Fer all sighed with relief. Iniri actually sat down as Kavaa went to lean on Fer. Fer patted the woman¡¯s dirty pale-yellow hair and leaned back as Helenna came into shouting distance. It was all cries of You¡¯re back! And I knew you¡¯d make it And Iniri! And I should have gone. Kassandora rolled her eyes at that last statement. Helenna would have died if they took her. ¡°We¡¯re back.¡± Kassandora said as Helenna grabbed Iniri in a hug. ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± ¡°I am.¡± Kassandora assumed Iniri would have had more of a reaction but seeing the woman¡¯s fatigue, that explained it. Helenna noticed it too. ¡°You¡¯re tired.¡± ¡°We all are.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I said we¡¯d get her, we got her.¡± ¡°I brought clothes, Neneria told me to.¡± Helenna showed off the bundle in her arms. ¡°We saw her fairies.¡± Kassandora said, she hoped there was something in that bundle for her. Helenna gave Iniri loose clothes she threw over the Arikan outfit, and then looked at Baalka. Kassandora watched the woman¡¯s face. It was these first impressions that gave the most away. Kassandora expected disgust at looking at the Goddess of Disease, or fear, or self-interested worry. There was none of that. Helenna looked at Baalka in surprise, then with pity.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°I have something to cover Baalka with too.¡± Helenna said. She said the name lightly. It was almost odd. Helenna threw a blanket onto the ground. ¡°And something for you Fer too.¡± Fer¡¯s tiredness seemed to fade away as she put Baalka on the blanket and her ears jumped. Her tail whipped the dirt and her mouth fell slightly ajar. ¡°For me?¡± She asked. Helenna nodded as she handed a massive cloak and a huge shirt to Fer. Kassandora looked at Kavaa and tapped the woman¡¯s battered armour with her gauntlet. ¡°We¡¯re not getting anything.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not.¡± Kavaa agreed as Fer shed her coat of fur. ¡°That¡¯s much cooler.¡± The shirt could have fit two Helennas within it and with the cloak. Her tail wrapped around her leg and she looked down at it. ¡°Neneria won¡¯t be happy.¡± ¡°Neneria will not happy.¡± Kassandora agreed, Neneria was a pompous stickler for rules. She¡¯ll get mad that they fed Fer powerful blood without her about. ¡°She¡¯ll ask-.¡± Fer interrupted Kassandora. ¡°You can tell her about everything. I don¡¯t want to.¡± Kassandora sighed as they kept up the slow pace. Helenna had practically glued herself to Iniri and now was crying joyful tears that she had been rescued. Iniri was telling Helenna how good of a job she did that she contacted Kassandora and Kavaa immediately. ¡°I was just about to tell you that you¡¯re doing the explaining.¡± Kassandora did not want to waste an evening calming Neneria down. It would be an evening, and then the entire night. Not until Neneria just got bored. There was work to do here anyway. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Fer said. ¡°You are.¡± Kassandora bickered back. ¡°I¡¯m faster than you and her. You can¡¯t make me.¡± Fer said. Kassandora supposed that was true. Fer wouldn¡¯t run away¡­ She needed reinforcements. She turned to look at Kavaa. ¡°Will you explain to Neneria what happened?¡± The Goddess of Health was staring at them quizzically, pale eyes flicking in between Fer and Kassandora. ¡°Do you two not like her that much?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I love Nene!¡± Fer proclaimed. ¡°She¡¯s my sister.¡± Kassandora said at the same time. ¡°So why do you not?¡± Kavaa asked and then waved her hand. ¡°I mean¡­ she can¡¯t be that bad?¡± ¡°She¡¯ll tell us off.¡± Kassandora said and Fer harumphed as she nodded rapidly. ¡°And?¡± Kavaa asked. What did the woman not get? Kassandora did not want to get told off. That was it! Neneria would stand over her, wag her stupid finger at her, and then drone on and on. It¡¯d be a waste of time, especially since there was nothing to apologize for! ¡°I don¡¯t want that to happen?¡± Kassandora half-answered, half-asked. Kavaa shook her head and giggled. ¡°Alright.¡± She finally answered. ¡°You lot really are something else.¡± ¡°Everyone acts like this.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Keep quiet now, we want to look on the return. There¡¯s a car there. Government probably.¡± And so they felt silent. The Arikans circled around and looked on. Kassandora saw Arusei and Kimani watch her in awe and wonder, although what they were saying, she couldn¡¯t make out. Kassandora¡¯s own men simply organised themselves into ranks, it was a wonder what a good month of training could do. Kavaa¡¯s Clerics originally started to move, saw Kass¡¯ men remain still, then stayed themselves. That was good too, it put on a good show whoever was in those cars. Neneria eventually did move. Her opaque horse that shined with pale green trotted up the party. ¡°I was worried about you.¡± Neneria said from on top of the animal, how did the woman bear a black dress in this weather? ¡°But it¡¯s good that you¡¯ve returned.¡± ¡°We have.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Kavaa will tell you the story.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Neneria said, then her voice became quiet. ¡°I¡¯d prefer you do it.¡± ¡°Who are those people who have arrived?¡± Kassandora pointed to the dark men and women in suits and clean shirts who had gotten out of the cars. ¡°Kirinyaan Government overseers over this situation. They came because of you and Kavaa¡¯s army, to make sure we¡¯re not up to no good.¡± Neneria said, then she asked again. ¡°And I want you to tell me it, not Kavaa.¡± ¡°Kavaa¡¯s a sweetheart.¡± Kassandora said, she felt Kavaa¡¯s armour click against hers as the woman elbowed her. ¡°And these people have to be dealt with.¡± ¡°Kass.¡± Neneria used that tone specific tone that meant Kassandora was in trouble. Fer slowed down until even Iniri and Helenna were ahead of her. ¡°We rescued Baalka. You should check up on her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to be happy, am I?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°Make you unhappy sister? Me? I would never do that.¡± Kassandora approached the hill, she had managed to drag the conversation on long enough for Neneria to simply fall quiet because there were too many people about. She had always proclaimed how much she didn¡¯t care about her public image, how she would do anything and everything irrespective of who was around, but she did care. Neneria cared far more than most. Kassandora picked out Sokolowski from the crowd and waved him over, they were all dressed in the same matching uniform, green shirts and shorts. The troop moved with him, almost as one. That was good, organisation like this always made a good impression. ¡°We are reporting for duty!¡± Sokolowski said loudly and pulled a salute. The rest of the stamped the ground and pulled their own. Kassandora returned the salute to relieve them. With the Kirinyaan government here, it would be better to seize the initiative, go to them, and take charge of organisation immediately. ¡°Sokolowski! By my side! The rest of you follow.¡± Kassandora left her fellow Divines to deal with their own troops. Fifty days had been wasted! Fifty! Now that she was back, she felt the loss of almost two months. ¡°Was anything re-arranged in my tent?¡± ¡°Nothing at all!¡± Good. Someone¡¯s head would roll if things had been rearranged. ¡°I assume Iliyal is not here?¡± There was a noticeable lack of the elf, he would have been the first on the hill if he was here. ¡°He¡¯s been recalled, along with Duchess Sara and Ilwin Tremali.¡± Kassandora kept on walking back to the camps. They were much in the state she had seen them when she left. More of Kavaa¡¯s planes had landed. Helicopters too, but it was just a mass of tents, if a larger one. Her own forces were still there, in that clearing between the Arikans and the Clerics, and there was a new camp. ¡°That¡¯s the government?¡± ¡°Kirinyaan Internal Affairs Bureau. We call them KIAB for short.¡± Damian Sokolowski replied. ¡°Also I think you should know, Arascus is in Igos in Ausa. Along with Olephia. She was coming to destroy the city but then he stopped her. It was in every headline for two weeks.¡± ¡°He succeeded?¡± ¡°Yes. They¡¯re staying there even though the Epan Community put Ausa into an embargo. He¡¯s been helping them fix the damage.¡± That was indeed to know. ¡°Good job for telling me. Anything else that happened?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been given instructions on how to manufacture the fire you wanted, they¡¯ve called it napalm. Iliyal sent us the recipe, a plane arrived with one shipment but we can¡¯t request anymore from him.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°He said Arascus told him not to because it would risk exposure of his own airstrips.¡± ¡°Is it difficult to produce?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a chemist, I can¡¯t say.¡± Sokolowski admitted his own ineptness without even thinking about it. That was good. ¡°Do you have it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s in my tent.¡± ¡°Bring it to me, anything else?¡± ¡°There¡¯s designs for a vehicle which can shoot it, apparently they¡¯ve built one in Karaina but again, there is no way to transport it.¡± ¡°Collect every paper, and wait for on the edge of camp, towards where KIAB has their camp.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°How is the training going?¡± ¡°On schedule.¡± Sokolowski replied so flatly that Kassandora smiled. They were indeed ex-Clerics. The regimen she set was difficult, with constant hikes and digging. Back-breaking endurance work that was far more important for soldiery than basic strength training was. ¡°Finish today¡¯s training early too, the men can have a rest day tomorrow.¡± It would be bad if they associated her with extra work. They would have enough of that soon enough anyway. Chapter 97 – The Kirinyaan Internal Affairs Bureau Arascus felt the crowd behind him. Igos had come out to watch, from its children still in schools, to its elites from their ivory towers, to the camera crews that desperately begged Abakwa and his men for permission for an hour with Arascus. He stood at the edge of the port, and accessed his Divine Armoury. Some Divines had their own, Kassandora¡¯s carried her armour and blade, Maisara and Fortia had them too, but his was one worthy of the status of God of Pride. Golden gateways opened around him, to the sides and above as the crowd ooh¡¯d and aah¡¯d. Harpoons slowly slid of out of them, he took his time to put on a show, there was no reason to rush. Then they launched into the water. Arascus felt them pierce the ship that had sunk in Olephia¡¯s storm. He slowly began to reel it back out of the water. Kassandora was angry. She liked when things went to plan, when work was done on schedule, and she understood human limitations. People were simply not able to keep up with her, that was why the schedule she set for Sokolowski¡¯s soldiers was so hard, she had expected that they would take a day or two¡¯s rests. On-Schedule meant Ahead-of-Schedule in her mind. Failure was assured, there was no such thing as success, at the end of the day, she simply failed less than others. Thus, at the end of the day, she was closer to her goals than others. Now, she had wasted fifty days chasing Iniri. Back in the desert, there was nothing she could do, so she simply ignored that anger and impatience. She had pushed them all hard enough on the way back anyway, Kavaa, even though she hadn¡¯t used magic once since she healed Fer, still had not fully replenished her magic. They were back in the camp now, and now that they were in the camp, that righteous rage flared inside her like a bonfire. If she could give it physical form, the Jungle would be blazing already. Unfortunately, she could not. Unfortunately, she had to deal with civilians now. Kassandora retrieved the papers from her tent, it had indeed not been touched, there was a layer of red dust on everything. Good! Then she would have had to chase up cleaners and maids and see who they talked to, if they were talking with Clerics, and so on. Then she made her way to a water-hose. A grey-green rubber snake attached to a canister. Her own men, dirty and sweaty, in those green shirts and shorts and shaved bald, were drinking from it. They saw her and moved out of the way. The closest one, she stopped by. ¡°Hold this.¡± She gave him the papers before he even had chance to agree, although he eagerly took the job. Then she sidestepped the line and stopped the bald man from drinking. ¡°Goddess! Your orders?¡± The man saluted with the hose still spurting in his hand. Kassandora dismissed him with a salute and spread her arms and legs to her sides. ¡°Wash my armour.¡± She could take it off, but then she¡¯d have to put the straps back on and that took twenty minutes of tedium. It was much easier to simply materialize it already fastened on her body. The man looked at her, then at the hose. ¡°Spray me!¡± Kassandora said. ¡°How do you wash a car?¡± In her armour, she was easily the size of a car. ¡°Do I need soap?¡± ¡°Spray the dirt and blood off my armour!¡± Kassandora barked and the man jumped into action. He put his thumb over the tip, until the hose became a spray and he started at her. The water was cool, it steamed off her armour, Kassandora hadn¡¯t realised the metal had grown so hot. ¡°Start at the top.¡± That was more effective in time, then she finally realised why the man was so careful about washing her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about getting my face or hair wet, they¡¯re dirty too.¡± The man nodded and sprayed the top of her armour. The water came from a tank buried in the sand and covered in a tarp. ¡°By that, I meant wash my hair.¡± The first time was always the worst. Men were coming to watch the sight and pretending they weren¡¯t interesting. Kassandora would never give them permission to look, but she would never tell them off either, a Divine bathing in this way simply drew naturally curious human eyes, there was no reason to try and wage war on human nature. In the past, it had been the same, eventually her armies got used to it. She was sure they¡¯d tell tales of washing the Great Of War¡¯s armour, but they were soldiers. They¡¯d have worse stories to tell eventually. The water drenched her red hair, the blood and dirt and mud and sand washed out of it as she threw it and methodically rinsed it. Once. Twice. Twelve Times. Then the man got to her armour. Kassandora, quite honestly, had no clue what it was made out of. It was a hard metal, it was naturally black, it resisted damaged, it either regenerated itself, or it was her own magic that fixed it. That was enough information to work with, she didn¡¯t need to know the nitty-gritty science of it, nor did she have time to work it out beyond the bare essentials. Very simply put, what metal her armour was made of, was not useful information. The man finished and her black plate was left with a nice, shiny gleam. On the battlefield, on campaigns, Kassandora rarely washed herself. There was no reason to, she would get dirty anyway and her armour glinting could only give her away. But now, she had to deal with civilian bureaucrats. The Kirinyaan Internal Affairs Bureau, it reeked of middle-management that she would have simply side-stepped in the past, and blood scared types like that. It would be better not to scare them away. Kassandora looked up at the Sun, and towards the North. Kavaa and Fer and Iniri were only now just returning. There was something in her that longed for that easiness of life, for that ability to simply take time, but War did not sleep. War raged and raged and raged until it brought Peace, and when that happened, she would die. That was her lot in life, and she had accepted a long time ago. Was it sad? She rolled her eyes at the meaningless question in her head and kept moving, her stride long, her back straight. Her crimson hair falling to her waist as it glistened in the Sun. ¡°You, follow me, after this, you¡¯re free for the rest of today.¡± Kassandora pointed to the man holding the papers who happily trailed along. Damian Sokolowski, in his green shorts and shirt, was already waiting at the southern edge of her camp, his hands full with papers. ¡°Are these sorted?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°The oldest is at the top.¡± Sokolowski replied promptly. ¡°Good, turn around.¡± Kassandora had thought the hot Sun would dry her off in a few minutes, but maybe she had gotten used to the sweltering heat of the desert. She wiped her hands on the back of Sokolowski¡¯s shirt and took a paper. The man actually thanked her for it. Great. Another Iliyal. ¡°Both of you, follow me, we¡¯re having a meeting with KIAB, simply drop the papers off for me and wait outside.¡± ¡°Understood General!¡± They both replied curtly as Kassandora started scanning the paper. She had always read fast, her mind was simply able to pick out what was useful, what was not. The first three papers were not useful, they were mere project updates from Iliyal writing about some Mikhail Alash and his team. The next one was useful though: Naphthenic & Palmitic Acid, Napalm. Iliyal of course wrote about it wrong, he called it a weapon for a new style of war. Under Pantheon Peace, all weapons were banned. Production was simply disallowed, enforced by the decree of the White Pantheon. Kassandora had read historical reports about countries which broke the rule. They would break it, and then they would get a visit from the Zerus, or Allasaria, or Elassa, or Atis, or a group of minor Divines.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. There was little mortals could do against Divines. Kassandora flicked through more of Sokolowski¡¯s notes. Near the end, Iliyal had written a report for civilians, about how the Kirinyaa needed a tool to deal with the Jungle in the same way that woodcutters needed an axe. Taken at face value, it may as well have been a method of clearing woods. There was also plans for a vehicle. This Alash had given it a name, the SPG-M1, model name ¡®Binturong¡¯. A picture of some cute animal, looking like a fat raccoon but all black with a long tail, was attached. SPG-M1 apparently stood for self-propelled-gun-mark-one. Kassandora sighed. If they were going to build an army in secret, then calling their inventory SPGs was the first thing they should not do. She finished Sokolowski¡¯s reports and started thinking on how to convince whoever she met at KIAB to buy Binturongs. The KIAB camp was a stark difference to the Arikans who dwelled near the Jungle, and to the Clerics¡¯ camps. It was modern, with the tents extending from jeeps and caravans, with everyone walking around in loose white shirts that screamed that they still cared for fashion even in this outback. Several men walked up to her and the two following, almost as if they were unsure of what they were supposed to do. Kassandora took the initiative, she ignored her annoyance, she ignored her negative predisposition to middle-men, and she met them with a bright smile that would have made even Helenna blush with how lovely it was. ¡°I apologize for making you wait for so long, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve been made aware of the urgent situation that was happening, I¡¯ve been meaning to visit.¡± She towered over them, they barely reached up to her chest, and her armour gave her an imposing bulk. It was good she had arrived this soon, normal people would never expect even a Divine to already be planning a move after only just arriving from the Jungle. The men nodded, smiles painted on their faces, obviously they were impressed that Kassandora was so easy-going. Hopefully, they would be thinking that they would be prepared for negotiations. One rung a radio, said something in a fast language Kassandora did not know, got a quick reply and put it down. ¡°We do not mind whatsoever, come, I¡¯ll show you around the camp.¡± ¡°Can my men come in too?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± They followed along with the papers as these two men led them around. They were dark-skinned, with the white shirts and black shorts, shoes laced up to their knees. Batons on their hips. They shoved off the various cars and made a long circle through the camp. Kassandora had seen this trick before, leadership was not prepared, so they had to quickly scramble to organise a meeting. There was nothing more shameful than not being prepared for guests. The tour ended when another message came through the radio. Again in Kirinyaan, but the tone was calm, as if everything was planned and KIAB had just scored some great victory. Kassandora thought about whether she should have given them notice. Maybe haste was a mistake, she was always a hasty one. Arascus had told her that a long time ago. Maybe she should have sent Helenna, the Goddess of Love would no doubt be a good diplomat, but then if she wanted to use Helenna, she would have to probably wait all of today and tomorrow. The two guards led Kassandora to a modern tent, with window netting and even a door that had been built into the dirt. One of them opened it for Kassandora, and motioned for Kassandora to enter. Four people were already waiting, two men, two women, all dark, all in suits that weren¡¯t suited for the hot temperature. One of the was shaved bald, with glasses, the other with his cut short. The two women had both of there¡¯s cut to their shoulders, the sort of style that screamed professionality. Kassandora supposed she wasn¡¯t one to judge fashion, she had come in battle armour. ¡°Leave the papers here, and wait outside.¡± Sokolowski and the other soldier deposited the papers in the middle of the desk as Kassandora took a seat. They had prepared a bench for her, obviously they knew she wouldn¡¯t fit in a chair. ¡°I thank you for coming to meet me with such short notice and I want to apologize again for it.¡± The men who had met her were obviously guards. ¡°Goddess Kassandora, there is no issue whatsoever.¡± One of the men replied. Arusei had not used the title, and this man¡¯s tone was far too pleasant. Even Arascus did not use that tone with her. Kassandora kept her smile up as they introduced themselves. The bald man who spoke first was called Mwinga, the other man was called Rigathi, the two women were Auma and Wahome. Mwinga continued. ¡°We¡¯re here simply to see what the Clerics, and you, are doing. Kirinyaa has had a long relationship with Kavaa, so it¡¯s no issue, we¡¯ve already told the Pantheon to¡­¡± He looked down at the table and cracked a smile. ¡°Well, to stay away, let¡¯s leave it at that.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°I thank you graciously for that.¡± If the man wasn¡¯t willing to swear, then it was good she had cleaned her armour before coming here. ¡°It does mean a lot that you have not given me up.¡± ¡°Goddess Kavaa has helped stem many a plague, Goddess Iniri has helped stem many a famine, the Clerics vouched for you, so we believe them.¡± Kassandora nodded again, her face brimming with a smile that even Helenna would believe. The Clerics vouched for her? She was Kassandora! She was the Goddess of War! They should be glad she was containing herself here! ¡°We also congratulate you on rescuing Goddess Iniri from the Jungle, if I say so myself, I thought it was impossible.¡± Kassandora smiled. She caught the meaning, they knew she had gone in, and they had networks fast enough to communicate that they had seen her return. A thousand years ago, it would have been impressive. Now, the radio existed, a child could tell on her if it wanted to. ¡°That is partly the reason I¡¯ve come here.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m not here to interlude in your organisation or anything like that, but I would like for assistance.¡± The four looked at themselves quizzically. That was the worst expression Kassandora expected. Joy would have meant they were feeling gratitude or greed, a denial would have been condescension or guard against outsiders. Confusion simply meant that they had been cast out of their depth. Kassandora kept her smile up and pretended not to notice. ¡°You want our assistance?¡± Auma asked. ¡°I do.¡± Kassandora said. She decided it would be better to give them a moment of respite before bombarding them with information from her notes. ¡°Internal Affairs¡­¡± Rigathi, the man with the short hair, spoke this time. ¡°We don¡¯t really have that sort of jurisdiction.¡± Kassandora already had a way out for them. ¡°You could pass it on.¡± Kassandora said. They looked at each other again. ¡°We don¡¯t really¡­ we¡¯re only here to report on what you¡¯re doing here if we¡¯re going to be honest.¡± Kassandora blinked. She was good at reading people, and these people were in fact being truthful. They seriously had no way to help her. ¡°We could pass the information on.¡± ¡°It was a plan to deal with the Jungle. To stem its growth. Its going to hit urban areas in thirty years from now.¡± Kassandora said. Anger flared up inside her again. ¡°We can make a note and send it. I¡¯m sure the government would heed your advice.¡± Kassandora had heard talk like that before. ¡®Heed your advice¡¯ was code for ¡®Throw it in the bin.¡¯ If she wasn¡¯t going to talk to someone face-to-face, then nothing would happen. Kassandora nodded, feigning disappointment. ¡°I work for Kavaa now.¡± She said. If they had a good opinion of Kavaa, then she would take that easy benefit. ¡°And you can pass it on. Is there really nothing you can do?¡± ¡°We can listen, but any decision has to be passed along.¡± Kassandora made a sad face, like a child who just had their lollipop taken. She didn¡¯t lay it on too thickly, sadness, once mastered, always seemed like a genuine emotion born out of care. ¡°I¡¯ll write out a report then, you can have it¡­¡± Kassandora thought. ¡°Tomorrow evening at the latest.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll deliver anything you wish.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Kassandora stood up and called for Sokolowski and the other man to take the papers out. She sighed, she looked up at the Sun. It was scorching hot. What a waste of a day. Kassandora left the KIAB camp. The Sun was still overhead, but already music was playing from Kavaa¡¯s camp. No doubt they were celebrating tonight. There was a reason to celebrate, that was true, but Kassandora did not feel it. She kept a straight face, and tapped her thumb on her fingertips to keep herself from drawing Joyeuse and exterminating everyone in that useless fucking KIAB camp. Chapter 98 – Shoulders To Carry A Campaign Allasaria woke up in the stomach of that whale. How long had she been in here? Kassandora back to her own camp, her thumb dancing along her fingertips as she took heavy breathes to calm herself down. Kavaa¡¯s camp was now in open celebration, the Clerics had brought drums and guitars out and song had descended over the red dirt. Kassandora took a breath. ¡°Sokolowski, the men are free for today, it¡¯s an order, enjoy yourselves with the Clerics.¡± ¡°Of course General!¡± The man said happily. After every battle, men would need some time to celebrate. They had not ventured in the Jungle, but she would let them bathe in her victory. That way, at least the fifty days weren¡¯t wasted time. At least she could cope with the fact it built camaraderie and morale. ¡°Bring your stack of notes to my tent.¡± The two men followed her, entered her abode and Kassandora absently gestured. She held her breath as the men put the papers down and left. The moment the curtains shut, her armour disappeared, Kassandora fell to her knees, and smashed her fist into the dirt as she grit her teeth. Her skin cracked and she hit again. And again. Until her arms were tired. WHY? What sort of useless bureaucrats were they? She could bring them plans! She could organise the factories herself! She would do it fucking all! Just as it was in the past were she spent every night organising logistics singlehandedly, so she would do it now! And now? And now they told her to wait! What was that about? It was a simple waste of time! Elassa was making moves. Allasaria was making moves. The White Pantheon was slowly turning and twisting, it¡¯s machinations no doubt working in the shadows and KIAB did what? Told her they didn¡¯t have authority for this? What sort of joke was that? If they didn¡¯t have authority, then they should go and pester someone until authority was given. Eventually Kassandora stopped beating the ground. Her knuckles were dirty, blood had been thrown about onto the tent walls, and Kassandora got up and sat on her bed. The Arikans must have joined in on the partying too now, there was a fast and rhythmic singing in a language Kassandora did not know. Kassandora sat alone on her small bed, in that tent, and pulled her knees up to chin as she thought of what to do. This Napalm? How hard would production be? If Kirinyaa would not produce for her... She didn¡¯t even finish the thought. Kavaa had a large treasury, she was an ex-member of the White Pantheon after all, but her money wasn¡¯t unlimited. The quantity required would require the backing of a national government, bankrupting Kavaa would only mean that she wouldn¡¯t be able to hold her forces together. But that would mean she would have to go and lobby the government herself. Kassandora rolled her eyes as she idly played with loose strands of her crimson hair. And she had not seen how this napalm burned yet. Maybe the Jungle would not burn in the first place? Then how? Then magic would be the answer, although that was simply jumping to conclusions. She looked at the burning candle, it had shrunk by a quarter, so she had wasted another hour simply sat here and thinking. Kassandora got up and dressed. It was the clothes the Arikans had given her, one of the loose shirts and a skirt. Knitted out of the heavy fabric that insulated from the heat. It was tough, the clothes she had worn into the Jungle were ruined by damage, but they fact they had not fallen apart was a mark of good craftsmanship. Kassandora left her tent and looked around the camp. Most of her soldiers had disappeared, most likely to the celebrations the Clerics were holding. A few men were still idling about, smoking and sharing a drink, sitting about in loose shirts unbuttoned and sharing tales from before they were Clerics. They tried to stand up and salute Kassandora but she simply waved them down. Mortals were like this, mortals needed their recuperation. ¡°Di-Divine General Goddess!¡± One said, half-slurring. ¡°Enjoying yourselves?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Ye-Yes!¡± The man responded. His head was shaved bald, all of theirs were. Kassandora always had her soldiers shave, long hair could be grabbed in a brawl. ¡°Good on you.¡± Kassandora said lightly and smiled pleasantly. There was no reason to take her anger out on these people. No reason at all. ¡°I have a small job I want help with.¡± ¡°O-O-O.¡± The man hiccupped before getting the sentence out. ¡°Of-course!¡± He finally managed to get the sentence out. ¡°I-I-I ap-apologize for my sorry state!¡± He said, his face going red. ¡°There is nothing to apologize for, I¡¯ve seen far worse. Can you stand?¡± The group of five men stood up. None were particularly steady, but only one looked as if he was teetering on the edge of collapse. ¡°Do you know where the napalm is?¡± ¡°O-Of course!¡± The man forced his way through the hiccup. It was most likely the alcohol giving them vain courage, but they actually managed to talk to her on the way. ¡°W-We think it is very impressive you rescued Goddess Iniri!¡± ¡°Did you worry about me?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°So-somewhat!¡± One of the other men said. ¡°Es-especially aft-ter the sec-second wee-week.¡± ¡°I¡¯m honoured.¡± Kassandora turned back and shot them a smile and a wink. This would be another story added to their repertoire. ¡°We-we-we kept uuuppp with tray-training erryday.¡± One of the men said, like a child looking for praise. Kassandora smiled at them all again. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have expected anything less.¡± She said and they all cheered. It was usually like this, soldiers that had felt her blessing grew addicted. Once man got the taste of War, he rarely had the willpower to let go of the blissful sensation. ¡°So, the napalm?¡± ¡°Right here!¡± The man had to put some effort into raising his arm to the nearby tent. ¡°Bu-bur-buried.¡± Kassandora entered the tent, there was indeed a tank that had been buried in there. The top was exposed. She reached down and gave it a twist. Some force was needed, but it slowly slid out of the ground. Kassandora strained as she picked it up. If Fer wasn¡¯t off partying, she would have called Fer to carry it. Kassandora set it on the ground and rolled it out. It was a simple barrel with handles on the top. She inspected it, it looked to be sealed fully. Kassandora rolled it out of the camp and sent the men to get bows. They smoked, so they¡¯d have lighters on them. She rolled the barrel on top of the hill, stood up it and sat on it. It was tall her for her to kick her legs against the air as she waited for her drunken soldiers to come back. They took their time, but this was expected too. Kassandora merely thought of how to manufacture this. Kirinyaa needed to have refineries, the country had some oil it was exporting, so it would be impossible for them not to¡­Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Ausa. Arascus was in Ausa. He could negotiate. She finally smiled. That was an excellent idea! It would further foster relations between the two nations and Ausa had their firewall. Kassandora had read about it, each of Ausa¡¯s twelve coastal cities was surrounded by a massive wall that would burn the land around it, every day, the Jungle would grow vines onto the wall, and twice a day, the front would ignite to burn it away! If she could get her hands on whatever refineries they used¡­ the problem of production would be solved. Her smile did not fade, but her good mood did when she saw Iniri heading to her. The woman had changed into a light green dress-thing that ended at her knees, she was walking alone, with a bottle of wine in her hands. Kassandora kept herself from rolling her eyes. Iniri was coming with thanks no doubt. Kassandora had practically already forgotten she saved Iniri, it was merely another task to complete. Now, she wanted to get back to work. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Iniri asked slowly. Her green eyes looked over the barrel Kassandora was sitting on. ¡°I¡¯m working.¡± Kassandora said and Iniri nodded. ¡°Fer said you wouldn¡¯t attend the party.¡± ¡°I rarely do.¡± Kassandora answered promptly. ¡°There¡¯s work to be done.¡± ¡°Neneria said you¡¯d say that.¡± Iniri¡¯s face quirked into a smile. She put her hands on her hips and adopted a low tone. ¡°Don¡¯t annoy Kass. She¡¯ll give you some snarky reply and then say ¡®There¡¯s work to be done¡¯.¡± Then she wagged her finger. ¡°Neneria said that.¡± ¡°I assumed.¡± Kassandora replied looked over at her camp. How hard was it to find a bow? ¡°You¡¯re amazing.¡± Iniri said. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Kassandora shook her head. She didn¡¯t like compliments from Divines. Well, she supposed she did, but when they were for her battle tactics, her strategic thinking, her quick orders. She didn¡¯t like compliments to her character, there was nothing to compliment there. Iniri shook her head, that brown hair gleaming like a rich fertile ground. ¡°No, you are. No one has the energy to so much as think and you¡¯re¡­¡± Iniri gestured to the barrel. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what you¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°I¡¯m running a test.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Well.¡± Iniri said. ¡°I wanted to thank you. For saving me. I wouldn¡¯t have made it out without you.¡± ¡°Thank Kavaa and Fer. Both of them were more useful than me.¡± Kassandora said. That was true, Fer did all the heavy lifting and Kavaa did all the healing. If either of them had a little bit more of brain, Kassandora would have not had to go in with them. ¡°You led them though.¡± ¡°I lead a lot of people Iniri. Leading is the easy part, doing is the hard part.¡± ¡°You make people believe they can do it though.¡± Iniri said and Kassandora sighed. Her arms fell and she posture collapsed. ¡°Iniri. I have nothing to say. Thank you for thanking me. I¡¯m glad you did. But I¡¯m doing something right now.¡± Iniri raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m waiting for that lot.¡± Finally the men appeared from the camp, they walked in shaky lines, all holding bows and arrows. ¡°I¡¯ll wait with you then.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°You¡¯re annoyed.¡± Iniri said. ¡°I am.¡± Kassandora said quickly. ¡°Not at you, but I¡¯m just annoyed.¡± Kassandora sighed, that wasn¡¯t a good answer. Iniri would think it was because of her, then their relationship could take a hit. ¡°I went to KIAB earlier. They told me they don¡¯t have any authority to make decisions.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re annoyed because of that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m annoyed because that¡¯s not a war I cannot win. They don¡¯t have the authority, so they simply don¡¯t. I can¡¯t give them authority and from looking at them, they¡¯re the types that won¡¯t argue for me.¡± Iniri smiled as she leaned over. ¡°I was laughing about them with Helenna. She said they couldn¡¯t be very good if they were sent here to just sit about.¡± She finally passed the bottle of wine to Kassandora. ¡°This is for you.¡± Kassandora took the bottle of wine and looked at it. A southern Rancais burgundy. ¡°I like it.¡± Iniri followed up quickly. ¡°Fer said whiskey would be better for you, but I still wanted you to try something new.¡± Kassandora put a smile on as she rubbed the bottle, people always liked to see their gifts bring happiness. ¡°Thank you Iniri.¡± Kassandora slid off the barrel as the men got close, Iniri would have to made happy. Kassandora quickly added something to make her happy. ¡°We can drink it later together.¡± ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d attend Kavaa¡¯s celebration, at least for an hour.¡± Iniri¡¯s voice fell quite. ¡°Please? Kassie?¡± Kassandora¡¯s smiled dropped. ¡°I can count the number of people of people who call me Kassie on two hands. Never call me that again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s cute though.¡± Kassandora sighed, shook her head and passed the bottle to Iniri. ¡°Hold this.¡± Iniri took the bottle from Kassandora¡¯s hand and was replaced with Joyeuse swiftly materializing. ¡°Stand back, all of you.¡± Frankly, she did not know if the barrel would explode or what would happen, but she gave Iniri and the men a good amount of distance. Joyeuse cut a small slit into the top of the barrel and the smell of chemicals immediately hit. Kassandora tipped it over. It was jelly. That was odd. Kassandora had expected liquid fuel. ¡°Arrows!¡± The men set off immediately, one tripped over his own feet and planted his face into the dirt. Kassandora took one arrow and dipped the tip into the jelly. It slathered and stuck to the metal. ¡°Bow!¡± A man passed her bow, it was mortal sized, too small for divines, Kassandora still drew it though. She wasn¡¯t about to have drunk men fire flaming arrows. ¡°Does anyone have a lighter?¡± ¡°I-I d-do!¡± Kassandora looked at the man hold his lighter up proudly. He had a cigarette in his mouth, unlit. Truly exceptional. ¡°Pass it to Iniri.¡± If he couldn¡¯t light a cigarette, he wouldn¡¯t be able to light an arrow. ¡°Iniri, light the tip, don¡¯t touch it.¡± Iniri carefully spark the lighter, it didn¡¯t even have to close, the heat set it off. The tip ignited into a red flame that burned with dirty black smoke and Kassandora loosed the arrow. It hit the closest tree and still kept burning. Twenty arrows were sent off like that. Not a single one went out mid-flight and only the first five burned out by the time the last had been let loose, they did burn a few leaves, but the wood was untouched. Whoever this Mikhail Alash and his team was, he did a good job. The ancient liquid-fire they had used in the past burned out after a minute. Kassandora hefted the barrel and decided it was still too heavy to throw such a distance. She wasn¡¯t Fer and she didn¡¯t have the strength of a trebuchet. She tipped it over to its side, the jelly slowly oozed out and then Kassandora gave the barrel a kick. It was all downhill anyway, it bounced along the ground, then crashed into a tree. The barrel was dusty with the dry red dirt of this land, but it looked undamaged. Kassandora hefted Joyeuse again, it was much lighter. ¡°Men, watch this!¡± She shouted and the drunken band cheered. She sent the greatsword spinning throw the air straight into that barrel. Metal crashed against metal, and the flammable jelly was strewn about the front of the Jungle. The men cheered. Then Kassandora sent another flaming arrow into the liquid. Joyeuse disappeared as a moment later as she recalled her greatsword. The napalm burst out in a fiery explosion, coated the trees, and burned with a thick black smoke. As if someone had taken a paintbrush of tar and slowly started to paint the landscape in it. They watched the flames for a while. The wood did burn, a tree fell over and after an hour or so, the flames went out, revealing a small black in that great green wall. An incision into armour. Kassandora¡¯s eyes stared at it and she finally relaxed, the tension in her shoulders disappeared and she took the wine from Iniri¡¯s hands. The cork fell onto the ground and she drank straight from the bottle. It was good, it was indeed good, but that sight was better. The Jungle was a fortress. An impenetrable fortress the Arikans thought would be impossible to siege. And now, that fortress wall had a tiny cut into it. A cannonball had been fired, the wall had repelled it, but a crack had formed on that wall. Kassandora would launch the cannonballs herself if she needed to. ¡°Are you happy now?¡± Iniri asked. She felt wind bare against her teeth as her lips smiled. Fire burned in her eyes. This was the first probing attack of the War against the Jungle, and it had gone better than she could have imagined. ¡°Oh I am.¡± Iniri grabbed her hand and pulled Kassandora towards Kavaa¡¯s camp. ¡°I don¡¯t like when you make that face.¡± Chapter 99 – Jungle Stalkers! Arascus turned and looked back to the people, he made sure to maintain his face cool. Not hard, not but not cheery either. The ship sat on the dock, battered by the weather, with seawater still pouring out of it. It was heavier than he had expected. Or maybe he was just weaker. The cameras took their pictures, and he lifted off into the air to return to Olephia. She was also working on something for people of Igos apparently. Iniri pulled Kassandora¡¯s hand as the woman sipped more of the wine. She was glad Kass was enjoying it, it was a good bottle, one of Iniri¡¯s favourites, and it made the smile on her Iniri¡¯s face shine brighter that she could give it to her. ¡°I knew you¡¯d like it.¡± And, most importantly, it had wiped away that sadistic glare in Kassandora¡¯s eyes that reminded her of the time Kassandora had been their archenemy in the Great War. That was a terrifying glare, it burned with a pride one could have only when their army razed a city to the ground. ¡°It is good.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m not one for wine, but it is good.¡± She smiled again and handed the bottle to Iniri. ¡°Do you want some?¡± ¡°From the same bottle?¡± Kassandora laughed. ¡°Why not?¡± Kassandora pushed the bottle to her. A third was gone already. Iniri took it and couldn¡¯t answer that question in her head. She drank and passed it back to Kassandora. ¡°Thank you Kass, really.¡± A bottle was a small price to pay for being saved, far too small of a price. It didn¡¯t even make a dent in the debt Iniri had accrued to Kassandora. The taller woman sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Really, thank Fer and Kavaa. I did the least.¡± Iniri stopped, and made Kassandora stop with her. This rejection was getting annoying. Kassandora was a genius, Iniri had nothing but respect for the woman, even in the Great War, her name wasn¡¯t hated, it was feared. But now, this was¡­ it was simply childish. It wasn¡¯t the sort of grandiose behaviour she expected from mortals, Allasaria would reject thanks out of feeling too good for them. Maisara and Fortia likewise, Elassa would scoff at them. Kassandora was simply rejecting them¡­ why? Because she didn¡¯t do a lot? She only organised the entire damn expedition to save her? And that didn¡¯t deserve credit? What was she even talking about?! ¡°No Kass.¡± Iniri looked up into Kassandora¡¯s crimson eyes. ¡°I am thanking you. Do not reject me again. Thank you Kassandora, for saving me.¡± She reached up and gave the woman a hug. Kassandora hugged her back and squeezed tight. Iniri squeezed back just as tightly. When they finally let go of each other, it was a new Kassandora entirely. Almost a timid one, her cheeks blushed and she cleared her throat, then shook the blush off in a momentous shake of her head, bright red hair waving side to side. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°I am.¡± Kassandora said. She obviously wasn¡¯t, she didn¡¯t move, Iniri had to take the first step before Kassandora would follow along. ¡°You¡¯re not.¡± ¡°I am.¡± Kassandora growled this time, adamantly. Iniri dropped the issue. Sometimes, she thought she could work Kassandora out, and sometimes the woman went and pulled a move like this. This was Kassandora? She was acting like Helenna of all people! Kass took another drink of the wine. ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± She said. ¡°That¡¯s why I got it for you.¡± Iniri replied. The bottle was empty by the time they made it to the edge of Kavaa¡¯s camp, where Kavaa was holding her celebrations. The men were singing cheery songs and roasting local game over campfires. The Arikan tribesmen had over come over too, and even some KIAB officials were here. Those were easily noticed for how overdressed they were for the scorching Sun overhead. Tables had been hastily brought out, carpets and blankets, and everything in between for people to sit on as the mass of men turned. ¡°Neneria is here.¡± Kassandora said quietly as the closest people started to fall quiet now that a gloomy Kassandora had gotten into view. ¡°She¡¯s at the main table, with Kavaa and Fer.¡± ¡°I feel her watching me.¡± The music started to quiet down as more and more people turned there heads. Kassandora could straightened her back as Iniri beamed with a bright smile. A man stood up, a cup in his hand. ¡°To the Jungle Stalkers!¡± And then, the crowd exploded with cheer and applause. They chanted Kassandora¡¯s and Fer¡¯s and Kavaa¡¯s name. Kassandora stood there and waved back as Iniri watched her from the corner of her eye. ¡°Thank you!¡± She shouted back. ¡°Thank you! Thank you!¡± Fer had tried to cool the crowd before, and it took her a minute, Kavaa only managed to do it as an order. Kassandora moved her arms rhythmically as she took a step into the crowd, yelled out her thanks, started telling them to return to their meals and partying, and that today was a good day, and she did it in less than ten seconds. Iniri followed along, stunned. She hoped she could work crowds like that one day. It wasn¡¯t any single word, it was simply the way the woman carried herself. You simply wanted to listen to her. Even her voice, deep yet feminine, strong but caring, it wasn¡¯t an annoying teacher or a scolding mother. It was¡­ Well. It was exactly how a general should be. Kassandora walked through the crowd to where the main party was. Where the Divines sat. Fer was sitting, her ears low, her head down. Neneria sat unhappy, her arms crossed. Kavaa and Helenna were both holding laughs in. ¡°So the lady of the hour has arrived.¡± Neneria said crossly. Fer wrapped the dark cloak Helenna had given her tighter across herself, her head and golden mane retreated into the cover of the cloak. Kavaa had changed from her damaged armour into a loose shirt, fit for the Arikan sun and a skirt. Helenna looked stunning, although she always did, in a majestic purple dress. And then Neneria. In that raven-feather cloak, fit for a winter rather than this weather, and a dark dress underneath that. Helenna had said the woman was usually quiet, Iniri struggled to somehow believe it. Kassandora sat with a sigh opposite Neneria and uncorked a bottle of clear spirits, and poured herself a cup-full. ¡°Well Neneria, go on, lay it out on me.¡± She said.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°So you do know you did something wrong.¡± Kassandora made a show of drinking from the cup as she waved for Neneria to continue. ¡°And now you¡¯re acting like a little girl Kass. You did a mistake, you went unprepared, you got yourself lost, you should have retreated and come back with reinforcements.¡± Iniri sat close to Kavaa and leaned in. Neneria had been scolding Fer when she had left. ¡°She¡¯s still angry?¡± Kavaa nodded in reply to Iniri¡¯s question. ¡°How bad is it?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°It¡¯s like children.¡± Kavaa replied quietly. Fer¡¯s ears quivered and she stuck her tongue out at them. Neneria kept on droning on as Kassandora downed the cup. ¡°You not only put yourself in danger, you put Fer and you put Kavaa in danger. Now I know I can¡¯t stop you from danger, but Fer? Really Kass, you should know better.¡± Iniri sat there and wondered what the woman was hoping to achieve? Did she take pleasure from this? Everyone at the table looked as if they had blanked out. Kassandora slamming her cup down to a chorus of cheers and other glasses clinking against the table behind her finally awoke Iniri from the daze brought on by Neneria. ¡°You¡¯re right. I made a mistake.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Do you feel better now?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Neneria leaned back, arms crossed and smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t, you didn¡¯t even put up a fight.¡± She repeated. ¡°Because I know you¡¯re right, so how can I argue against right-ness?¡± Kassandora said, Fer slid out of her cloak, half-smiling. ¡°I¡¯m not right.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re always right Neneria.¡± Kassandora cooed. ¡°When I¡¯m wrong, I admit it.¡± Neneria said. ¡°But you¡¯re never wrong.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m never wrong.¡± Neneria replied. Iniri blinked, what were they even talking about? ¡°So you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°Yes, but not here.¡± Neneria reaffirmed her wrongness, even though she just proclaimed she was always right. Iniri blinked as Kavaa looked to her in confusion. Fer merely gave them a thumbs up from the table. ¡°Now you¡¯re just being argumentative for no reason.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m not argumentative.¡± Neneria said, Kassandora raised an eyebrow and the Goddess of Death pulled her violet eyes away as she looked down. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°I was wrong, but you know I wouldn¡¯t put us in danger if I didn¡¯t need to.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I do.¡± Neneria admitted as Kassandora extended her arm over the table and Neneria shook it. ¡°Done?¡± The Goddess of War asked. ¡°Done.¡± Of Death replied. ¡°There we go.¡± Kassandora poured herself another cup, and one for Neneria. Then for Fer. For Kaava, Iniri and Helenna. Two bottles went just like that. Iniri should have brought more alcohol as she looked at Kavaa and Helenna. Both of them were staring at the vodkas before them with the same expression. ¡°You all drink this?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Are you not a Divine, Kavaa? This is basically one shot for mortals.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Weak.¡± Neneria quietly commented. ¡°Very disappointing Kavaa, I expected better from you.¡± Fer cooed from the other side of Neneria. Kassandora stood up and held the cup above her head. ¡°EVERYONE!¡± She shouted. Music died down, dances stopped, and heads turned as a blanket of silence was rolled out over the crowd. She took a step back, stepped onto her chair, then onto the table. ¡°Today, I, Kassandora, Goddess of War, Fer, Goddess of Beasthood and Kavaa, Goddess of Health, have rescued Iniri from the Jungle!¡± She got a series of cheers for that. ¡°We trekked for four weeks before we found her! And then we ripped her from the Jungle¡¯s stomach!¡± Another series of cheers, louder this time. ¡°Now we look to the future! We ventured into the Jungle!¡± Kassandora looked down and gestured to herself with her free hand. ¡°Am I still here?¡± ¡°YES!¡± The crowd shouted. ¡°Did the Jungle take me?!¡± Kassandora shouted and Iniri leaned back and sipped her drink. She wished she could make up speeches as quickly as that. ¡°NO!¡± ¡°IT HAS NOT!¡± Kassandora echoed. ¡°Today. We defeated the Jungle! For the time in history, we have shown that the Jungle is not some great deity! The Jungle is a just a forest!¡± Kassandora drank her cup. ¡°This is what I think of the Jungle!¡± She turned and hurled her cup over the hill towards the where the Jungle lay, from the high arc, it had surely flown far enough to hurtle into the greenery. More cheers came from the crowd. ¡°The Jungle will be cut down! The Jungle will be defeated! Kirinyaa will be free! I formally declare war on those plants behind me!¡± Kassandora shouted to more cheers. ¡°Now enjoy your night gentlemen! We have a busy month ahead of us!¡± Kassandora sat down as the people were still cheering. ¡°How did you like that?¡± Fer harrumphed as her fists her the table. She gave two thumbs up. Neneria merely rolled her eyes. ¡°As impressive as this.¡± A tiny ghostly fairy started dancing on the table. ¡°Ever hard to please.¡± Kassandora said, then looked into their cups. ¡°You three haven¡¯t drank.¡± She said to Iniri, Kavaa and Helenna. Iniri quickly downed hers. It burned on the way down. It was said Divines could not get drunk, but then, it was rare for Divines to ever drink too much. It was mainly for the prestige and status of drinking. Iniri herself simply appreciated the taste of wine. ¡°There we go!¡± Kassandora said to Iniri, she was already pouring herself some more with a wide smile. ¡°So, I wanted to talk about this, but you Helenna, I wanted to send to the Nanbasa.¡± ¡°To the capital?¡± ¡°To represent us, I¡¯ll go with you at the start bu-¡° ¡°Kassie.¡± Fer leaned over the table and grabbed Kassandora¡¯s hand. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t talk about war plans now.¡± Kassandora sighed. Then downed her next cup, she shook her head, then wiped her lips with her wrist. ¡°Alright. Sorry.¡± Iniri was glad her and Kavaa had convinced each other that dragging Kassandora here would be a good idea. Torches were brought out as the Sun set and darkness swept over the camp. Iniri had seen Kassandora laugh, but not like this, not when she talked with Fer and Neneria about their stupidities, sharing jokes Iniri missed out an entire war¡¯s worth of context on. She didn¡¯t mind though. Kavaa and Helenna were here. They talked and gossiped and sang throughout the night. About tiny little unimportant trite that made them forget the fact the Jungle had stolen Iniri, that made them not worry about the future, even if just for a little while. Elassa and Allasaria could be planning something, but whatever it was, there no use not enjoying their time here. Eventually, some of the Clerics got so drunk they had enough bravery to challenge Fer to an arm wrestle. The first man merely locked arms with Fer, and had his wrist crushed. Kavaa was on hand to heal the injury, and even then the fellow did not take it badly, he and his friends burst out with laughter. Kassandora at first refused the competition with another mortal, until she sighed, shook her head and took the man¡¯s arm. She didn¡¯t break his wrist, she merely slammed his hand down so quickly on the table his elbow shattered. Good thing Kavaa was on hand for that too. Then Helenna started to show off her singing skills, and naturally, she was talented at them. She was the Goddess of Love after all. Kassandora leaned back as she listened to the woman singing, then looked over to Kavaa. ¡°Neneria can do better.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± ¡°Oh she can.¡± Kassandora said then looked back. ¡°Nene, how much have you drank?¡± ¡°Ei¡­Eight big cups.¡± Iniri lucked over, Neneria had her face her in arms, her cheeks blushed, her back slouched, and she watched Helenna slowly turn on the table. Frankly, Iniri would have never expected Neneria to turn into such a caricature of a slob even when drunk. Even the crowd went silent as they listened in to the slow song Helenna was sing. Kassandora¡¯s smile exposed her teeth. ¡°She only does this when she¡¯s drunk.¡± She said to Kavaa and then turned back to Neneria. ¡°There¡¯s a singer.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Neneria wailed. ¡°I¡¯m better!¡± She said. ¡°Are you sure she can sing like this?¡± Iniri leaned forwards and asked. ¡°Trust me, she gets better the more drink she has.¡± Neneria finished her glass, stood up, closed her eyes and flared. Ghostly dancers appeared on the table, Helenna turned, mid-stride, and fell silent. Neneria seized the opportunity immediately. The Goddess of Death really could sing. Iniri could not decide which was them was better. Even though Kassandora had said it was a waste of time, Iniri was glad it happened. It was time she enjoyed wasting. Chapter 100 – To Sell A Binturong Elassa talked with Zerus in the White Pantheon¡¯s grand council room. ¡°Elassa, we will not sanction charities.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Are you being serious right now?¡± ¡°We¡¯re the White Pantheon. The world trembled at our might in the past.¡± ¡°And now we¡¯ve lost Helenna, Iniri & Kavaa¡¯s Orders. We¡¯ve lost Leona. We¡¯ve Atis. We don¡¯t even know where Allasaria is. What Pantheon Elassa?¡± ¡°You were always too careful.¡± ¡°Kirinyaa and Ausa will fold under the embargos eventually, there¡¯s no reason to be hasty.¡± ¡°And the Rancais workaround?¡± ¡°We can sanction them.¡± ¡°Very well. Zerus, very well¡± Arascus looked around his hotel room, a grand place, even if all the furniture was too small. The bed was just large enough to fit Olephia, but he was easily too large for it. Abakwa had set him up well, although he supposed he had paid for it with stopping Olephia from destroying the city and with assistance in the clean up operations. The minor tasks were handled by the Crisis Forces, the fires and the like. He was only here for the things that would take a month or two to fix. Pulling that ship out of the water was one. It had been a grand display of strength too, he couldn¡¯t do it at first, but when he felt the awe of Igos¡¯ population behind him, that gave him strength. When the ship started to move, he felt them start to believe he could do it. Then their belief manifested into his reality. Olephia was in a long dress fit for a Goddess, all purple with dashes of black. She herself had made the design and forwarded it to Abakwa, who had it ready the same day. She was painting and listening to music. Another work of art, this one was a grand landscape piece of Igos itself. Arascus had carried her through the air to show her what the city looked like from the ocean, and now she was busy forging that sight onto paper. She had already given two paintings to the city, both were now in museums, both apparently well received by the population. There weren¡¯t many countries that could boast of having art created by the Divines. Even during Arascus¡¯ last meeting with the Premier-General, the man was talking about how he hoped it would cause a tourism boom in Igos, and how he hopes that Olephia will stay long enough to fill up a section dedicated entirely to her pieces. But other than that, it was a boring stay. There wasn¡¯t much to do, gone were the days of planning back in the Headquarters, of countless operations being made, their plans then scrapped and redrawn from the ground up. Arascus trusted Iliyal would not make any hasty moves as he turned on the news. Ausa news was covering him still, with a panel of men and women talking about how the cost of the damage done by Olephia¡¯s storm was only relatively minor because of Arascus¡¯ involvement. One man was playing Devil¡¯s Advocate and trying to argue against Arascus being granted further permission to stay, but all the arguments were rather weak. And so, half a day went by. It wasn¡¯t until the phone rang. An unknown number. Olephia stopped painting and turned to Arascus. She pointed to the phone. ¡°I know, I know.¡± Arascus said as he moved away from the window and answered. ¡°Arascus speaking.¡± There was a moment of silence on the other side uncharacteristic of Igos officials. When they wanted something, they¡¯d ask immediately. Then a voice came through, a voice Arascus instantly recognised. Deep and direct and curt and commanding. ¡°Kassandora.¡± Arascus¡¯ face burst out in a smile, Olephia saw him and put her paints down. ¡°I¡¯m putting you on loudspeaker, Olephia¡¯s here too.¡± He put the phone on the table as Olephia came from the other side, put her elbows on the table and leaned in. ¡°Can she hear me?¡± Olephia looked up at Arascus, her eyes wide and her mouth open. There was a notebook with a pen tucked in on every table for Olephia to communicate with. She immediately went to grab it. ¡°She can.¡± Arascus said, still smiling as Olephia wrote something down. Her hand moved like a blur and she had the paper in front of Arascus. Tell her: Hello and that I missed her! ¡°Olephia says hello and that she missed you, with an exclamation mark.¡± Olephia smiled, closed her eyes, and nodded. ¡°Hello Olephia.¡± Kassandora said from the other side. ¡°I missed you too. We¡¯ll meet each other soon enough. I actually called because I have a problem, and I was hoping you could help me, dad.¡± Olephia¡¯s eyes widened again. And she once again got to writing. We¡¯ll help her of course! What is it? ¡°What is it?¡± Arascus asked. Kassandora audibly sighed from the other side of the phone. ¡°This line, I assume it¡¯s not secure, is it?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s most likely tapped.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Our mutual associate, the eighth man.¡± That meant Iliyal. General of the Eighth army, the eighth man. ¡°He¡¯s sent me a design for what I need.¡± Olephia¡¯s mood soured and she started writing again as Kassandora talked on. ¡°For the material to burn the Jungle, I¡¯m sending Helenna and going with her to Nanbasa tomorrow to try and lobby the Kirinyaans, but I know Ausa has a firewall. I¡¯m sure they have production capabilities.¡± Olephia slid the paper to Arascus: This is so like her. She¡¯ll only call or send letters when she needs something done. Arascus took the pen from her fingers and wrote back. It¡¯s classic Kass. ¡°So you need me to ask them if they can produce it here?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°I do.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°And then send it to Kirinyaa.¡± ¡°How much?¡± Arascus asked and Kassandora let out a humoured chuckle over the phone. ¡°Enough to coat the entire Jungle.¡± So there wasn¡¯t any limit then. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± Arascus said. ¡°How are you doing? Olephia wants to know too.¡± Olephia nodded at that. ¡°Dandy.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I entered the Jungle with Kavaa and Fer. We took Iniri out of there.¡± There was a pause for a moment. ¡°Then we made it out. Also the Jungle should stop producing diseases now.¡± ¡°Should it?¡± ¡°We did a fair bit of damage.¡± Kassandora said as if it was nothing. ¡°Thanks for the help dad. The formula is on the eighth man¡¯s email. You know the details right? He said you did.¡± ¡°I do.¡± Arascus looked up at Olephia¡¯s flat gaze as the woman started to angrily scrawl. ¡°That¡¯s all. We¡¯ll talk when we meet each other.¡± The phone beeped to marked the other person had disconnected. Olephia angrily slammed a piece of paper down on the table. That is so Kass! She calls just for work! She did this back then too! Never hi! Never a hello! Never a how are you doing?! She¡¯s always been like that! Each exclamation mark was bigger than the last. Olephia angrily crossed her arms, shook her head, then added some more text. She¡¯s just ruined my mood! This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°She¡¯s like that.¡± Arascus said as he leaned back and sighed. Kassandora had always been like that, he assumed she would always be like that. She cared, he knew she did, but when her mind got set to a task, she would single-in on completing that task and ignore the rest of the world. ¡°At least she told you she missed you.¡± Olephia threw her black hair back and shook her head again as she stood up and went to the freezer. They were well-stocked with alcohols and other things, but Olephia liked ice cream the most. She got one on a wooden stick, it was comically small in her hands, and she devoured it in a few bites. ¡°You¡¯ll get brain freeze.¡± Olephia threw the stick at him and grabbed another one. This one went even faster. She closed her eyes, her chest rose as she took a deep breath, and she went to her painting. ¡°I¡¯m going to Abakwa then, see what I can do.¡± Arascus said, he logged into the email him and Iliyal had set up to quickly send each other information. It was from a server his own men had set up in Eastern Karaina, he used magic to push the keys down on the keyboard, his own fingers were too big to press the individual keys. There was a note. Goddess Kassandora wants both of these. One was the chemical formula for napalm Alash¡¯s team had designed. Alash himself had not done any work on it, chemical warfare was not his speciality. The other was simply entitled Binturong Schematics. Iliyal had edited the design to simply be the schematics and nothing else, there was no reference to how it was an evolution to the cannons used near the end of the Great War. Arascus printed himself off one spare copy of each, one for Abakwa, and then deleted the files. The mouse moved by magic too, it was unbearably small to use. ¡°Do you want anything?¡± Arascus asked and turned Olephia. She looked at him and pointed to the freezer. More ice cream. ¡°Any flavour?¡± She quickly drew a cherry on her a spare piece of paper. ¡°Got it.¡± Arascus went to the balcony and felt the cool wind blow in from the ocean. It was always windy here. He took a step over the railing and floated in the air towards the Igos Parliament. From below, crowds stopped and pointed up at him. In the nearby skyscrapers, people went to their windows and waved and pointed and those who had balconies went out to shout their greetings. Arascus gave them a single wave as he landed at the Igos Parliament. It was a grander building than the Central Crisis Centre right next to it, the buildings were joined with bridges that could retract into the walls to break the connection, with columns for decoration and statues of men holding axes, but it was still an Ausa building. The windows were narrow, there were crenelations on the roof, the walls thick. ¡°God Arascus!¡± They always had some butler or maid or attendant on duty for him now, although it was mainly because Arascus came and went as he pleased. This time, it was young man in his mid-twenties with fashionable hair and in a nice suit. ¡°It is a pleasure as always.¡± Arascus could actually believe it, the effort he had planted during the cleanup now had a bountiful harvest of good will. It was helped somewhat by the fact the Pantheon had decided to sanction Ausa for harbouring him. ¡°Is Abakwa free?¡± ¡°He is in a meeting with General Domkat and Minister Abubakar right now. I can ring.¡± ¡°Please do.¡± Arascus said. It was annoying he still had to come here, but it was what it was. He wasn¡¯t in charge so he couldn¡¯t expect that people would go to him. And they had all the leverage in the relationship, he was staying in their nation, not the other way around. Arascus waited for the man to ring and heard Abakwa¡¯s voice reply to send him in. The man turned and extended his arm. ¡°Follow me, the Premier-General is free right.¡± Arascus followed along. This building was one of the few that was built with consideration to Divines. They ceilings were tall, the doorframes spanned wide although even then, it was obvious they were for Allasaria¡¯s measurements. He was a good few inches taller than her, and the top of his hair brushed against the frames. People turned and work stopped whenever he came around, although it was only for a moment. A few men saluted, a maid who led him previously waved, Arascus merely raised his hand to acknowledge them and followed the young man up a wide staircase. This route had felt long the first time he traversed it. Now, it was very short. The corridors back in the Karainan headquarters were longer. The man knocked and the door was opened from the inside by General Domkat. The man was wearing his green military uniform today, Abakwa and Abubakar were both in their black suits. ¡°Greetings.¡± Abakwa said. Arascus sat down in one of the large chairs. Two had made their residence in Abakwa¡¯s office now that Arascus and Olephia were staying in the city. The office was tall, but it wasn¡¯t particularly big. Those small slit-like windows were behind Abakwa, paintings of past premiers hung on the wall, along with a map displaying the twelve cities of Ausa. There should be a table in the middle, but there wasn¡¯t unfortunately. Instead, Abakwa had his desk and the rest of the chairs made a semi-circle around him. ¡°Greetings.¡± Arascus raised his hand to wave down Domkat¡¯s and Abubakar¡¯s. Generally, Arascus liked them all, they were all direct and didn¡¯t argue. Even something could be done, or something could not be done. Arascus pulled out the papers from his pocket. ¡°I¡¯ll be straight to the point, as always. I have proposition for pushing back the Jungle.¡± He got three stunned looks. ¡°For pushing it back?¡± Domkat asked, stroking his chin as his eyes now stared with full attention. ¡°We already hold it back.¡± ¡°For actually claiming land, not simply holding it at the walls.¡± Arascus said again. Domkat spoke up first. ¡°So, how? Is it with Olephia?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± Arascus said. He stood up and put the papers on Abakwa¡¯s desk. ¡°Olephia should not be used.¡± He quickly thought up of some trite reason for not using Olephia. First, he had to sell the idea to them, then he had to convince them that everything would have to be tested and that Kirinyaa was the perfect way to test it. ¡°For one, Olephia is one person. It would take her a millennia to clear it back. For two, Olephia leaves radiation, we wouldn¡¯t be able to reclaim and fortify the area before the Jungle retakes the land.¡± Arascus pointed to the papers as he sat back down. ¡°What I present here can be deployed in every Ausa city, then the equipment can be rented out to the other Arikan countries. It has no Divine intervention, it would not force them to break any Pantheon Directive as we¡¯ve done with me staying in Ausa.¡± ¡°Binturong.¡± Abakwa rolled the word off his tongue in an odd fashion. ¡°Jungle removal device.¡± That¡¯s what Iliyal had underlined it with. Jungle removal device was a very clever way to disguise it from being self-propelled artillery. ¡°And this? Na-palm.¡± Another word he struggled with. ¡°It¡¯s a jelly that burns over a thousand degrees, trees will simply melt beneath it. It solves the issue you have now with the liquid fire that can¡¯t be sprayed over a large distance.¡± Arascus continued. ¡°The Binturong is a vehicle designed to fire shells filled with napalm.¡± Domkat and Abubakar were already stood up and inspecting the designs with Abakwa. ¡°Those are your copies. The vehicles have had light testing, in Karaina by my own men. I would like to test them in Kirinyaa first.¡± ¡°Why Kirinyaa?¡± ¡°Because Kassandora, my daughter, is there.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to use them in the cities yet in case it turns out they¡¯re dangerous or have flaws. If they explode in the Arikan heat for example. Then we¡¯d have more trouble than they¡¯re worth, but in the Kirinyaan Badlands, they could be tested.¡± The three men looked at each other. The recipe for napalm and the Binturong. ¡°This.¡± Abakwa tapped the schematic for the Binturong with his knuckle and looked up at the two men. ¡°This could be built.¡± ¡°How many would you need?¡± Abubakar asked. ¡°Are we talking about hundreds? What¡¯s the cost? One would be¡­¡± He looked through at the list of materials. ¡°Well, it is an investiture.¡± ¡°Eight.¡± Arascus said. ¡°To make one team.¡± Eight, to make one battery. Then Kassandora would train her men on it under the guise of pushing the Jungle back. They would have the only artillery crews in the world. ¡°If it¡¯s successful, Kirinyaa will buy more.¡± ¡°Are we sure about that?¡± ¡°They may build their own.¡± Arascus said nonchalantly. To sell a product, you wanted to add urgency, if they felt that their window of opening was slipping, then they¡¯d make a decision sooner. ¡°Kassandora is going to lobby the Kirinyaans to produce these too. Ausa has the factories and refineries ready to produce these, Kirinyaa would have to build its own.¡± Abakwa leaned back as he opened his desk and pulled out a cigar. He lit it and blew a cloud. ¡°You¡¯ve helped us greatly over this past month.¡± He leaned back and spun in his chair. ¡°And it is the dream of every Ausa citizen to repel the Jungle. Even if we cannot reclaim the old country, to connect the twelve cities at least.¡± ¡°The coasts would be easier.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The real tests we¡¯re doing is of the launcher.¡± He carefully avoided calling it a gun. ¡°If it works, it could be mounted on a ship.¡± Arascus stopped the smile that wanted to crawl onto his face. And artillery ship, those had not existed in the past. ¡°We¡¯ll run estimates and aim for sixteen, because of how fruitful our relationship has already been.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°What about production of napalm?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°If you say it¡¯s better for burning the Jungle than our liquid fuel right now, we¡¯ll want to switch over to it anyway. I¡¯ll send it to Chinua to let him run tests. If he says it¡¯s good, the refineries will all switch over.¡± Arascus stood up. He had read up on the mixture the Ausans were using already, napalm was undoubtedly better. ¡°Thank you for your time.¡± He said. ¡°If you have any more questions or if you lose those schematics, then don¡¯t hesitate to call.¡± Seeing none of the men had any questions, he left the office, quite satisfied with himself. Now just to pick up ice-cream for Olephia and to ring Kassandora again, hopefully she¡¯d be talkative this time. Chapter 101 – Two months in Nanbasa Allasaria waited until the whale threw her up in one of the great underwater caves. There was a mermaid there. Helenna left the business meeting. She fastened her coat, leaned into her bag and threw a piece of chewing gum in her mouth. The strongest mint she could find. Since she arrived here, some sixty days ago, her schedule had not seen more than a thirty minute break. She walked out of the Kirinyaa National Petroleum Company and sighed, then pulled out her notebook. Today, Kassandora had been generous. She had twenty-three minutes to the meeting with representatives of the Miner¡¯s Union. She walked down clean roads of this part of town. Nanbasa was divided into quarters. This was one of the upper-class areas, with all the management buildings. The government quarter was right next to it. Helenna sighed, she knew where the Miner¡¯s Union already was, she had met with them four times already. They were simply to there to secure funding. They had pledged fifty-million Luvia already, it seemed like a lot, but it wasn¡¯t. The currency engage to any Epan currency was worse than a hundred to one. Today¡¯s meeting was simply to set a schedule on payments. Kassandora wanted them on a monthly basis, the Union wanted them on a territorial basis, as land was reclaimed, they would pay out. Some cars honked to wave for Helenna as she walked down the street. People moved out of her way. The days were long and tiring, but they passed by quickly. Helenna could not wait for her dinner tomorrow with Kassandora tomorrow. They had one every three days were Kassandora would give Helenna more instructions and updates on who to talk with, in some nice restaurant. One of the perks of being a Divine was that mortals refused payment. Even the hotel, The Pearl of Nanbasa, they were staying in, one of the few which had rooms large enough to house Divines, said that their presence was enough. Helenna supposed it was, she had seen adverts from The Pearl which said how the hotel was good enough that it was now housing not just one, but two! Two! Divines! And not just any Divines! Of War and Of Love themselves! Big names! The place had filled up quickly with the wealthy after that. Helenna sighed as she looked down at herself. She wore a nice skirt, a white shirt, a coat over it. Again, these clothes were made free of charge, the advertisement the tailors received was more than enough. Helenna supposed they did a good job, she looked thoroughly professional and business-like, even if business was something her domain didn¡¯t particularly cover. Two months in Nanbasa. In those two months, she had secured funding from twenty-one workers Unions, mainly blue collar extraction jobs that wanted the ancient resource sites back and now sensed it could be possible that Divines were involved. She had secured four contracts for the production of napalm, and for putting the napalm into shells. The first shipments had been sent off to Kavaa two weeks ago. They were quite pleasant in efforts to reclaim western Kirinyaa from the Jungle, she didn¡¯t even pretend to understand the science behind it, but mortals were always more than happy to assist her. She had been on TV a grand total seventy times, each time to talk about the urgency of stopping the Jungle. She had met with government officials countless times. Those meetings covered next to everything: from funding of their project, to publicization of it, to the Kirinyaan embargo, to the laying new roads and routes. The radio, another countless times, she didn¡¯t even bother to count at this point, today, there were three more meetings scheduled. Then with business-men and rich philanthropists, those took up the most time. Not all of them were Kirinyaan, not even all Arikan. She had met Union-men, Guguoans and Epans here who had too much money to spare and hearts filled with vainglory that cried out at the plight of Kirinyaa and Arika because of the Jungle issue. Helenna sighed as she checked her phone, eighteen minutes left, she had already made to the Miner¡¯s Union Building. This had been a gift by a man who had fallen in love with her. She had a collection of phones now that would last a decade, and then a warehouse¡¯s worth of jewellery and dresses. The only gifts she appreciated at this point were alcohol and chewing gum. Something to get her through the day, and something to hide the smell that she had been drinking. Kassandora worked her like a horse, but Helenna did not mind. This wasn¡¯t working with Allasaria¡¯s unreasonable requests or with Maisara¡¯s utopian ideals of how hard people should work. Helenna had seen Kassandora¡¯s schedule. Helenna¡¯s was full to the brim, Kassandora¡¯s was practically overflowing. She honestly felt bad for Kassandora, how she managed to keep that up, Helenna did not know. She pulled out her own phone and scrolled into her contacts. Everyone important was marked with an exclamation mark so they¡¯d appear at the top. Everyone important consisted of five people: Fer, Iniri, Kavaa, Kassandora and Neneria. The rest filled up her contact book until it reached four-digits. If she stayed here another two months, she¡¯d hit five digits. She called Kavaa. Kavaa answered instantly. ¡°Hi!¡± Kavaa said. ¡°How¡¯s our star doing?¡± Helenna sighed as she angrily chewed on the minty-gum. Kavaa and Iniri had started her calling that when they saw appear on the news. ¡°Terrible.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I¡¯m waiting now, meeting¡¯s in seventeen minutes.¡± ¡°Who today?¡± ¡°Miner¡¯s Union, then ND.¡± Nanbasa Dockyards Company, simply called ND for short. ¡°Then Rose Radio.¡± Helenna didn¡¯t like those people, they always played sad music. ¡°AJCF¡± Arikan Jungle Crisis Fund. ¡°Then Kassie¡¯s given me a twenty-five minute break.¡± ¡°Seems like you¡¯re having a busy time.¡± ¡°It¡¯s worse than the War.¡± Helenna said and Kavaa burst out in laughter from the other side. ¡°How¡¯s it going on your end?¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Here we¡¯re just training the men, same-old, same-old. They¡¯ve started laying roads here, did you know?¡± ¡°Yeah, you can thank me for that.¡± Helenna said as she pulled out another chewing gum. She had met with the Kirinyaan Infrastructure and Transport Authority twelve times already, each time they complained. ¡°Thank you!¡± Kavaa cooed from the other side. Helenna would have not taken it from anyone else, but Kavaa had been into the Jungle. ¡°And thank you for the airstrip!¡± ¡°That one wasn¡¯t me.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Then thank Kassie for me.¡± ¡°Oh I will.¡± Helenna answered sarcastically. ¡°Has Kassie lost her phone?¡± ¡°She hasn¡¯t.¡± Helenna answered flatly. ¡°She doesn¡¯t ever answer calls.¡± ¡°You should see her schedule.¡± ¡°Is it bad?¡± ¡°It¡¯s worse than mine.¡± ¡°REALLY?¡± Kavaa half-shouted. ¡°She¡¯s a machine Kavaa. She¡¯s a damn machine.¡± Helenna said and checked the time. Fourteen minutes. Then her phone buzzed. !Kassandora appeared at the top. ¡°Kassie¡¯s calling me.¡± ¡°Oh so she calls you?¡± Kavaa teasingly cooed. ¡°She¡¯s stopped calling now.¡± Helenna said. Her phone started buzzing again. ¡°And there she goes again.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯ll get back to training then.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Have fun!¡± By the time she finished, Helenna missed the call again. That was no issue, Kassandora rang immediately. ¡°Hey.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Sorry, I was just talking with Kavaa.¡± She heard crashing waves and a ship horn blare through the phone. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Kassandora was always like that, always so lenient and understanding that it almost made Helenna seethe. How could a person be like that? Helenna was the damn Goddess of Love and even shot got more annoyed than Kassandora did! ¡°I¡¯ve cancelled your meetings for today.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Helenna blurt out and almost choked on her gum. ¡°Are you at the Miner¡¯s Union?¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°A taxi will pick you up.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It should be there already but you know how these people are.¡± Helenna looked around. The building was nothing impressive, simply a large office building. The Miner¡¯s Union didn¡¯t even own it all, they simply rented out the second and third floors. The car park was full, people were walking past her on the way to work, some took pictures of her. Helenna didn¡¯t mind particularly, she was the Goddess of Love, she deserved to have pictures taken of her. ¡°It¡¯s not here.¡± Helenna said. ¡°So what is it for? Big meeting or what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± Kassandora said and Helenna had to take the gum out of her mouth. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Kassandora was obviously very happy from her tone. ¡°We¡¯re done here. Shipment has arrived from Ausa.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m at the docks, taxi will take you. You have to see these.¡± And then Kassandora hung up the phone. Helenna looked at it, then silently seethed, almost cracking the glass in her grip. If there was one thing Kassandora had that was absolutely terrible, it was this manner of simply dropping the phone whenever she felt like it. There was no point in calling again, Kassandora wouldn¡¯t answer anyway. That was another annoying trait of her character, she worked like a machine, but she would never talk for the sake of talking. The taxi arrived a few minutes later. Helenna did not even have to call. Working with Kassandora was simply always like that, the woman would organize absolutely everything, if she could, Helenna assumed Kassie would calculate the optimal amount of breathes Helenna should be taking. It was a large minivan, paid for already, with the driver more than happy to transport the Goddess of Love. It was the same company they always travelled with, although usually Kassandora would schedule the meetings in such a way that all of them were still in walking distance. The top of Helenna¡¯s head brushed against the ceiling as she road. Nanbasa was a large city, with a giant zoo and a nature reserve built in the middle of the city. Species driven to near-extinction by the spread of the Jungle maintained their last stand from total annihilation there. Helenna had wanted to visit it, predictably, she still did not have the time. The man stopped outside the docks and gave Helenna directions as he could not drive any further. Supposedly, you needed papers to go inside but Helenna was a Divine. Regulations for mortals rarely applied to Divines, especially major ones. Helenna had visited the docks several times alright when she had to meet with ND. It was massive, serried ranks of containers soared above the scattered longshoremen and shipping clerks, the height homologous with the subordination of commerce over the meagre comings and goings of the peons below. The elaborate structure of the shipyard, gargantuan behemoths of cranes and of great steel leviathans, was a massive steel shrine to the Industrial Revolution. Helenna found Kassandora immediately, she was impossible to miss. There was a whole crowd with her, government officials in suits and cloaks and coats as they watched a massive steel leviathan approach them. A ship with the tricolour of Ausa, blue on the bottom, green on the top, with a white dot in the middle to represent the coastal cities of that country. Helenna pushed through the crowd, she recognised almost everyone here, she had been in meetings with all of them. Kassandora was dressed in a business suit, a red cloak behind her, with several camera crews at the ready. From the looks of the journalists talking into the cameras, they were already broadcasting a live feed. ¡°What is this for?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°They¡¯ve arrived.¡± Kassandora replied, she stared at the ship with a fiery glare that was eager and impatient, a smile carved onto her face. ¡°What has?¡± ¡°Two months ago, I rung Arascus. He told me Ausa agreed to build sixteen for field testing.¡± ¡°Sixteen of what?¡± Kassandora smiled. ¡°Binturongs.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°While you were buying napalm, I was buying these babies.¡± Kassandora looked around and leaned in to Helenna¡¯s ear. ¡°Do you remember the Great War cannons?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Helenna answered. Those steel tubes had been so feared that they were almost entirely responsible for Pantheon Peace being enforced. ¡°The difference between then and now is the difference between a kitten and a tiger.¡± Kassandora leaned back and waited for the steel ship to dock. It arrived into port, the anchor dropped and the bow folded down. And Helenna saw them. They drove off on heavy treads, great beasts of steel, the ranks of cranes that bowed to receive them looked as though they were kowtowing in submission. Like their namesake of the Binturong, their "tail", a massive cannon, was longer than their body, their exterior painted a dull dark grey. Helenna felt her hair go white as the Kirinyaan natives cheered. She had seen the damage cannons could do, and this was no medieval cannon. They looked ready to rain salvos of Hell on the battlefield and consume the surrounding environment in fire and brimstone. The purposefully theatrical display of sheer power in the port left only one question in Helenna¡¯s mind. Once the Jungle had been cleared, what would these weapons be used for? Chapter 102 – The Reclamation War Wissel turned on the news, Everything in Epa was broadcasting a live feed of KTV; Kirinyaa Television. Elassa tuned to EIE. Her face turned pale. Arascus sat down with Olephia as she stopped painting and sat on the couch. He put his arm around her to watch the broadcast. Abakwa sat in office, the feed on his laptop. Iliyal, Ilwin and Sara popped open a bottle. Mikhail Alash excitedly saw his creations on television. There was no work being done today, every engineer was stood or sat on couches or benches or toolboxes as they looked up at the TV near the ceiling. The entire world seemed to stop. Today, it began. Kassandora made a few final adjustments to her suit, then spread her arms out. ¡°What do you think?¡± She asked Helenna and gave the woman a little spin. She was dressed in a long black overcoat she had made to specifications of Helenna by the Doschian firm of HAUPT, it fell to her calves. A white shirt, barely seen, with a black tie that disappeared under the coat. Tight leather gloves on her hands, tall leather boots and a leather belt, marked off with a blade penetrating a skull to show off it belonged to the Goddess of War. ¡°You look great.¡± Helenna said, then moved close to readjust the collar on the overcoat. ¡°Like back then.¡± Kassandora smiled, she felt like it. The coat had bindings on the back to carry Joyeuse, it hadn¡¯t been necessary, but swords always looked good on television. The blade materialized into those bindings and Kassandora stretched as the rest of the Divines entered. Fer and Neneria, Kavaa and Iniri. Kassandora had ordered for them too, although they had not arrived yet, her own took two weeks to make. Helenna¡¯s was currently being shipped, although the Goddess of Love did not know about it yet. ¡°What about the hair?¡± Kassandora smiled at herself as she looked in the mirror. She was simply stunning. ¡°It¡¯s better when its loose, don¡¯t tie it back.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Alright.¡± Kassandora picked up the cap from the little stool and put it on her head. A high cap, pitch black, marked off with bands of silver and with the same crest as her belt had. It was a general¡¯s uniform, a new vision for the world. The people would stare in awe, and Kassandora would send a message to the White Pantheon through the uniform alone: War has returned to Arda. ¡°Have you got your script?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Kassandora readjusted the cap, then gave up and bent down so Helenna could fix it for her. The Goddess of Love¡¯s hair today was red, just like Kassandora¡¯s. ¡°I don¡¯t plan these things.¡± Fer leaned over as if she was afraid to touch Kassandora¡¯s uniform and mess it up. ¡°Fantastic.¡± She said. ¡°Real leather.¡± ¡°Only the best for us.¡± Kassandora said as she looked back into the grand mirror. Helenna had spent an hour today with a pair of scissors cutting Kassandora¡¯s hair to form. Gone were the loose strands angrily bursting out in all directions, now she finally looked presentable for television. Kassandora could not contain her smile. ¡°Helenna, you did a great job.¡± ¡°You said you wanted to look like the Goddess of War.¡± Helenna said. ¡°It just sort of came about naturally.¡± ¡°And you did a good job in Nanbasa too. Well done on keeping up with the schedule, I know you were busy.¡± Kassandora had tried not to burn Helenna out, she had organised a lot, but it had all been very manageable. Underlings deserved praise when they did a good job, if you never praised your soldiers, you were called a cruel slavedriver. If you gave them a kind word here and there, they¡¯d grow to like and work even harder. ¡°You had a tighter schedule than I did.¡± Helenna said as Kavaa came to clap the Goddess of Love on her back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, yours wasn¡¯t easy too.¡± Kassandora did not let the woman play herself down. ¡°I know other Divines who would have thrown in the towel after two days.¡± That much was true. Neneria and Fer wouldn¡¯t have kept up with the constant socialization. Kassandora stood up straight and took a deep breath. It was somewhat sad she had to pull her eyes away from the mirror, she could stare at herself for another day. She checked the flare gun on the table, it was loaded, and put it into her belt. ¡°Kavaa, your men know what to do?¡± ¡°They do.¡± Kavaa¡¯s Clerics weren¡¯t on firing duty, that important job was reserved for Kassandora¡¯s own soldiers, but the Clerics would be ferrying ammunition from the cooled containers that sat under shade to stop the napalm shells from exploding in the Arikan Sun. Kassandora took another breath, glanced at her reflection one last time, nodded to herself and bathed in the sensation. War was coming back. Not a fake war, not a war of words or ideas. Proper war, with armies and strategy and tactics and logistics and men dying. Her own domain was descending back onto Arda. She licked her lips. Kassandora left her own tent and her army fell silent. When she had first arrived here, there were three camps. Her own, the Clerics¡¯, and the Kirinyaan tribesmen. Now, there was a small town being built. Wooden structures were being put up, there was an airstrip, concrete had been poured out over the dirt to house give Kavaa¡¯s airfleet a place to stay. Roads had been laid down. KIAB had been replaced by real representatives of the Kirinyaan government who stayed in large buses that served as homes for them. Shops had gone up, deep wells had been dug, and there was even a brothel here and there. All the things an army needed. She marched as men turned to look at her in silence, the rest of the Goddesses had gone to their own duties. Fer was to help the men if anything too heavy or cumbersome to carry. Kavaa and Iniri would stay near the Binturongs to stop anyone getting too close, Neneria would help them. Helenna was on question duty, from spending two months in Nanbasa, she knew the most about the operation other than Kassandora herself and Kassandora didn¡¯t have the patience to deal with a thousand news crews. She was only here to give a speech. KTV, the largest news station in the country had been granted an interview with Kassandora. The only channel in the country, it was a calculated move. The Kirinyaans were ecstatic about the fact that Kassandora had picked them as her favourite and it sent a good message to Epa: This is not your country to come in and make demands as you wish. EIE had begged on its knees for an interview and Kassandora had still not granted it.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. KTV had their station set up on the small hill to record it all. It was a small platform. The green, red and yellow tricolour of Kirinyaa. Next to was the flag of Ausa, the green and blue, with a white dot in the middle. A pretty girl with curly hair was speaking as she held up a microphone. Kassandora walked in the midday Sun as journalists were pushed away by Kirinyaan police to make way for her. She didn¡¯t even turn to look at them, instead just walking straight ahead with a smile. From the top of the hill, past the tents and crowds of bustling spectators that fell quiet when they saw her, she could see the two batteries of Binturongs on the other side of the camp. Great cannons, they all had a scoop in the back that had been lowered to pressed into the dirt. The guns were already raised and men were standing at attention around them, a pile of shells next to each one ready to be loaded when for when they fired. Kavaa and Iniri were already there, along with Clerics in full plate looking just as they had when they marched onto Olympiada. They had formed a cordon only Kirinyaan officials and select news crews were allowed to enter into. Now, several teams had set up cameras to catch a shot of the first volley, more Ausan and Kirinyaan flags around them waved in the cool breeze. Helicopters flew around them, careful to stay out of the line of fire but eager to catch a recording from above. Sixteen of them. Sixteen! Kassandora contained her grin. She couldn¡¯t let herself indulge now, not when she had to be presentable. She had only expected one battery. She got two! Sometimes, the world really did her give its favour. A young man in a suit, a badge of KTV over his breast approached Kassandora as she waited. More cameras flashed as more pictures were taken. ¡°Goddess Kassandora, General Domkat of Ausa and President Ruku have finished their speeches. We¡¯re ready for you now.¡± One was some general from Ausa without an army, the other was the President of Kirinyaa, a man Kassandora had meant several times. She did not reply to him, she wanted to squeal like a little girl when she looked at her new toys. A range of ten miles! Ten miles! Back in the Great War, the greatest cannons had three! These had ten! Theoretically, they could fire every forty seconds! Forty seconds! Back then, cannons would only manage ten shots an hour! Kassandora turned her gaze away and looked at the platform KTV had built for themselves. It was a nice structure, wooden and raised. Kassandora would obviously not stand on the platform, or else only her legs and hips would be in the shot. She readjusted her tall cap and stepped towards the cameras. Olephia quickly started writing on her papers. There were already papers strewn about on the floor before her and Arascus as she filled them up. ¡°LOOK! IT¡¯S KASSIE!¡± Wissel ignored his ringing phone. There was no point. Everyone would be talking about the same thing. He knew Kassandora had been active in Nanbasa, a few channels had reported on her constant meetings but this¡­ The Goddess of War had returned to grace Arda with her demesne once again. Elassa felt her grip slip around the glass she was drinking from. Everything was going badly. Everything had been going badly. Nothing was working. And now¡­ How could Kassandora stand on national news like that? Sara leaned forwards as Iliyal and Ilwin both raised their glances and saluted the television. Then they burst out in laughter and downed their drinks. Sara could not pull her eyes away from Kassandora, she wanted to look like that. ¡°And now, before we start, we at KTV are proud to announce that Divine Kassandora, Goddess of War, has come to share a few words for us.¡± The woman turned and as Kassandora stepped next to her podium. Even with those steps and the fact her feet started at Kassandora¡¯s knees, her head only reached up to Kassandora¡¯s chest. Of War watched the cameras slowly move and focus on her, their lenses turning to try and get all of her in frame. ¡°Thank you.¡± Kassandora said, she put her arms behind her back, pushed her chest out and took a deep breath. ¡°Although these words are not for KTV, they are for Kirinyaa and for all of Arika.¡± The woman nodded excitedly as Kassandora began her speech. ¡°Firstly, I would like to say thank you. Thank you to Ausa for the sixteen Binturongs. Thank you to the Unions and companies that have put their own profits aside to fund this project. Thank you to the men who designed the Binturongs. Thank you to every to Kirinyaa for letting me stay, and thank you to the Kirinyaan people for believing in me. Thank you to you all. Today, I repay you.¡± Kassandora made her tone hard as she imagined an army standing before her. She could see it, these journalists were warriors, the battlefield was the mind. She began her war. ¡°The Jungle has rampaged unchecked through this continent for countless generations. There is a saying that man is closer to death every time he goes to sleep, that saying is nowhere more true than in Arika.¡± Kassandora raised one arm straight to indicate the Jungle. ¡°We can see the death of this continent expand every day. We wake up to the news of another person taken. We see the struggles of Ausa, reduced to a mere twelve coastal cities, always under threat by this endless enemy. We see in Kirinyaa were it grows unchecked. We suffer its plagues and diseases, we can only turn tail and run away when it spreads into yet more homes. Its wanton greed claims the riches of Arika.¡± Kassandora lowered her arm and made her posture grand. Joyeuse flashed from her back to her open palm and she stabbed it into the hill. ¡°This.¡± Kassandora let the sword go and it stood up straight. ¡°This is the end! When I first came here, four months ago I met a man called Arusei. His entire family has been stolen by the Jungle. The bones of his ancestors like under that green ocean. I made a promise to him. He will step where his forefathers could not. Over these past two months.¡± ¡°Now. I have met an uncountable number of people in Kirinyaa and all them of say the same. What happens when the Jungle grows to the coasts? When it drains Kirinyaa¡¯s rivers, when it scales Kirinyaa¡¯s mountains. What happens when it start growing north. Is the whole world doomed? Doomsayers among us say yes. But Arika says NO!¡± ¡°Through the advent of the Binturongs, we have developed a weapon to fight back.¡± Yes Allasaria. Yes Elassa. Yes to the Whole Pantheon. Yes to the whole world. Do you hear that? A weapon. Pantheon Peace has just been broken and a weapon has been developed. A weapon for war. What will you do now? Will you side with the mindless behemoth devouring Arika? Or will you let the weapon stand? Check and mate. Today. Kirinyaa breaks Pantheon Peace. Tomorrow, the whole world. ¡°No longer are we defenceless against this growing menace. No longer must we count the days until our doom. Today is the first time we wield our new blade against the Jungle, tomorrow, I hope Ausa wields it. Next week, I hope all of Arika will come together to strike at its mutual foe. Today, I, Kassandora, Goddess of War, announce to the entire world that in our lifetimes, we will see organisations like the Arikan Jungle Crisis Fund be no longer needed. No longer needed because the Jungle Crisis will be over! Today, I announce the beginning of the Reclamation War!¡± The crowd burst out in cheers and Kassandora waited for them to cool down. ¡°My last words is for the enemy right here! Today is the day that you take a step back.¡± Those words were for the Jungle, as much as they were for the White Pantheon. Kassandora pulled out her flare gun. She held it for a second and listened to her own heartbeat. Then she pulled the trigger. A red light shot into the air towards the Jungle. On the other side of the camp, sixteen explosions sounded as the Binturongs fired, the crowds went silent for a moment, then cheered. Cameras turned, helicopters pulled away. The ground shook, shells whistled through the air and Kassandora turned. Twenty-one seconds she counted. And then, fire exploded across the Jungle. Fire burning in black smoke. Fire that felled trees, that left nothing but dark ground and ash as it rampaged. And then, the sixteen Binturongs fired again. And again. And again. And the Jungle burned. And the crowds cheered. And Kassandora¡¯s artillery kept firing. Raging fire and deafening explosions and frantic cheers. Music to the ears. Kassandora licked her lips again. Chapter 103 – Lioness, Queen of the Animal Kingdom President Mwai Ruku sat in his office. It was all fine carved Arikan wood, it only made sense for the President for Kirinyaa to sit in an office that had all domestic furniture. Another sanction from Doschia had come, Karaina had finally imposed their first one. A ban on air travel, most likely they had finally worked out Kassandora and Arascus had her men stationed in there. Mwai did not care one bit. He looked over at the television. Kirinyaan politics were a fairly boring affair for him, they were a poor country, the government was seen as useless, they didn¡¯t even bother to tax anyone past the central mountain ranges where the nomadic peoples lived that had been pushed east by the coming of the Jungle. It was a country that was surviving on borrowed time, investments rarely came into a land which people were sure would be swallowed by the Jungle eventually. A depressing country, where the government wasn¡¯t even spat upon because no one bothered to spit. Not anymore. In one day, with one news presentation, the future of the nation had turned around. In one moment, Kirinyaa turned from fading campfire to Arika¡¯s shining beacon of hope. The Jungle would be stopped. Let the Epans seethe, let the White Pantheon throw around their warnings and embargos and sanctions. He would go down in history: ¡®The man who oversaw the beginning of the Reclamation War.¡¯ Fer lay on her bed, legs kicking up in the air, and browsed her phone, her ears quivered as the Binturongs started firing again. She counted. Fifteen shots. This was the second time one had broken down. She supposed she should go and help the men repair it. She wasn¡¯t any good at the mechanical parts and even if she knew what to do, her fingers were far too big to deal with the tiny screws that held the machinery together, but she could hold up the barrel for them, or bring tracks, or some other activity. Fer put her phone her down. Helenna had sent her one, and then another, and a third. They were fun little toys. Kassandora had told her not to interact with people on there, not to talk about politics, not to talk about the war, not about anything which could be considered secret. Fer rolled her eyes, she wasn¡¯t stupid, she only used it to read about things she didn¡¯t know. There was a website where people talked, but it was a pain to deal with, and she had to solve puzzles every single time she wanted to post something, and making the account was an ordeal in itself. Username: ¡®Fer¡¯ is too short it had said. Then it told her someone had already claimed RealFer. Likewise Real_Fer. Eventually she had to settle on Very_Real_Fer. Today, she had posted a picture of a wild lion she saw yesterday when on a walk, that was that. Kassandora had nothing to complain about. Fer left her tent and smelled the air. Gunpowder, fuel, napalm, sweat, food, alcohol, water, people, newcomers from the East, they still smelled of the seaside. She closed her eyes. Rubber, steel, light rust, paint, concrete being poured, dust, ash, napalm, and the Jungle smell. There wasn¡¯t a real way she could describe the Jungle smell, it was cold, sweet and sour at the same time, and it left a bad taste in her mouth. Same things with the shouting, it was an overwhelming orchestral cacophony of people talking, of vehicles working, of helicopters circling the camp, of planes and cars, broken up every few seconds by the roar of Binturong firing. Fer saw Helenna and Neneria sitting on the hill and quietly having a conversation. Her tall golden ears turned and twisted and she honed in on their conversation. Neneria hated when people listened in on her, Fer grinned to herself. Neneria could not stop her now though, could she? Helenna was asking the question, in that sweet quiet voice of hers she always used when talking with Neneria. ¡°What would Kass like?¡± ¡°Anything useful.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t think of anything she¡¯d need though.¡± ¡°Then a drink.¡± Neneria replied as Fer started walking away from them. Boring. She had expected some gossip or something, not a discussion on what Kassandora would like, besides, there were plenty of things Helenna could do. Training dummies, coats, Kassie liked clothes too, although she¡¯d never admit it. Armour, swords, no one ever gave her that apart from Fer, everyone always thought that because she had Joyeuse, she never used anything else. Fer moved through the camp, people bowed and smiled and moved out of her way. Journalists had been banned from access to Kassandora¡¯s section, that was good. Kassandora hated journalists whereas Fer thought nothing of them. They were simply doing a job, if she was a journalist, she would have snuck in already. Gifts were a good idea though, she should give Kavaa something for the assistance in the Jungle. Usually she was good on these things but it had slipped her mind with celebration, then Kassandora and Helenna had gone off and work had begun almost immediately when the constructions crews came around. What would Kavaa like? Not alcohol, everyone always gave that, not swords, Kavaa got them out of her own armoury anyway. A cloak most likely, something for the cool evenings and nights in Arika, everyone always gave light clothes for the heat here and ignored that the night got close to freezing. That was a good idea, Fer smiled to herself, she always had good ideas. She walked quickly through the narrow rows of Kassandora¡¯s camp as news crews took pictures from afar, and entered the Binturong enclosure. Supposedly this was firing field three, but Binturong enclosure rolled off the tongue. A line of Clerics were safeguarding it, a man was giving an interview and waving towards the cannons. Fer had been right, one of the vehicles had indeed broken down. A crew of engineers had unscrewed the base of the cannon and were working on it. She approached and asked cheerfully. ¡°Lifting needed?¡± ¡°Fer!¡± That was good, Fer didn¡¯t like being called a Goddess. The newcomers from the East still did, and most of the soldiers in the camp, but she had helped the engineers and builders enough for them to consider her one of theirs. ¡°Barrel broken?¡± ¡°It¡¯s this part.¡± The main man who greeted her, a Cleric assigned to engineering by the name of Jeffrey tapped the back of the carriage. Another engineer, oil all over his clothes, hands and face, appeared from underneath the vehicle and spoke in the usual manner that they did. ¡°Fucking overdesigned piece of fucking shit. You can tell some fucking labrat made these.¡± He said before seeing Fer, then blushed. ¡°Ahh¡­ ¡®Scuse the language Fer.¡± Fer laughed and waved the man away. ¡°So what¡¯s broken this time?¡± ¡°Underside.¡± The lead engineer took out a cigarette and lit it. The other members of the team knew that meant it was time for a break. ¡°Can you lift it, the whole thing I mean?¡± Fer looked at the artillery. She probably could, they were heavy, but not exceptionally, not long or steady enough for them to work on it though. ¡°I can roll it over.¡± Fer said and the man shook his head. ¡°You fucking roll over this piece of crap and it will explode or some shit. Probably shoot itself or just give up.¡± He kicked the treads of the Binturong in frustration. The Binturong answered by leaking oil onto the red dirt. ¡°So what, lift from behind?¡± Fer asked, the engineer turned and started shouting the Cleric loaders who were awkwardly staring at them, pretending not to hear how he was speaking to a Divine. ¡°Get a move on! Bring the ramp you useless fucks!¡± He turned back to Fer. ¡°If you can just lift the back onto a ramp, it¡¯ll be easier to work on.¡± He shook his head in frustration. ¡°Fucking terrible vehicle, that¡¯s what it is. This one hates us especially, fifth time today the oil started leaking on this garbage.¡± He went and sat down on a steel stool to finish his cigarette. Fer knelt down close by to listen to Jeffrey and the rest of the team vent their frustrations about the vehicle.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The team of loaders came back. Two teams of men, six each, carrying two large beams of steel that had been made the engineers. They were simple inclines, not tall, but enough for a man to be on his knees as he worked on the undercarriage. ¡°Do you want to see a picture?¡± Jeffrey showed off his phone to Fer. It was the bottom of the vehicle, a panel taken off to reveal a jumble of twisting tubes and gears and pipes and wires all dancing together. ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re working on.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t help with that.¡± Frankly, Fer hoped she would never learn how to fix that because then Kassie would call on her to be an engineer. As long as she didn¡¯t know, she was safe from being assigned to the engineering team permanently. ¡°Oh no, don¡¯t worry.¡± Jeffrey continued as another engineer passed out bottles of water around. Fer took one too. ¡°You already do more than these lazy fucks.¡± Fer burst out in laughter as they watched the Clerics set up the ramps behind the vehicle. Fer heard her name be said in the crowds, her ears turned and she listened in. It was only some journalist asking the guards for an interview with her. He was met with a swift denial. The loader Clerics finished and excused themselves. ¡°Yeah run away, daddy¡¯s working here!¡± Jeffrey shouted after them. ¡°Remember not to open the door when you hear your mother screaming! She loves it!¡± Finally that got the better of one of the loaders. He turned, raised a rude gesture into the air and shouted back. ¡°Shut the fuck up Jeff!¡± That made the team of engineers burst out in laughter along with Fer. Everyone exchanged high fives with Jeffrey for getting a reaction. Fer clapped the man on his back, he felt especially proud of himself after that and then she got to work. The Binturong was heavier than expected, good thing Fer had not agreed to lift it. She eventually settled on simply going around to the front. She felt her muscles, her legs dig into the dirt, she growled, her hands made dent in the steel, but the Binturong moved. It slid backwards, onwards and up onto the ramp. Fer had to stop herself from rolling it off the edge once it built up speed. She finally let go, made sure it was steady and flexed her fingers. All the mechanics looked on in awe, she was sure that this would on the news later on. ¡°Fucking Hell.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°That was fast.¡± He stood up, put his cigarette out in the dirt and clapped his hands. ¡°Break¡¯s over lads, back to work.¡± He was met with a chorus of sighs and half-hearted agreements. ¡°Do you need help with anything else?¡± Fer asked, she hoped they did, she liked hanging around with these people, they were some of the few who treated her without regard for the fact she was a Divine. ¡°Not now.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°You¡¯re welcome to watch though but there¡¯s not much to do, it¡¯s only the filter on this crap that¡¯s thrown the towel in.¡± Two of the mechanics disappeared underneath the vehicle and started cursing to themselves about the tragic condition of the oil pumps. ¡°Thanks though, you¡¯re a lifesaver.¡± He walked around the artillery and stopped at the front. ¡°Fucking Hell Fer.¡± ¡°What?¡± Fer¡¯s ears jumped up to attention. ¡°You fucking dented the fucking front.¡± ¡°It was soft!¡± ¡°Soft my ass!¡± Jeffrey shouted back. ¡°This is ten millimetres of steel.¡± ¡°So twice as big as you are then.¡± Fer said flatly and the entire team burst out in laughter. ¡°Not true, they built the cannon on the back in my image.¡± Jeffrey said, more laughs as some mechanical machination of a part was thrown out onto the red dirt by the pair of engineers underneath. Jeffrey leaned down and tapped the metal with his knuckle, then turned to Fer. ¡°Can you un-dent this?¡± Fer crossed her arms and looked down at the man. ¡°Do you think I can?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Fer said as Jeffrey sighed. ¡°This part doesn¡¯t have wires or anything.¡± He scratched his head. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll think of something. Thanks for the help.¡± He turned and gave Fer his hand to shake. Fer always liked shaking hands, not many people had the bravery to do it with a Divine. She made sure to only use a little bit of strength, careful not to break Jeffrey¡¯s fingers. The two men from underneath got out. ¡°Fucking thing needs a new filter and a new pump.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the fucking assistants then?¡± Jeffrey asked. He turned to look at the loaders pretending to assist with the nearby Binturong, they weren¡¯t doing anything in particular. ¡°Oi! You¡¯re not paid to inspect each other¡¯s asses! Come here!¡± The loaders all gave each other terrible looks and shakes off their heads, then slowly started to meander over. ¡°If you need help with anything else, just call.¡± Fer said, she heard her name multiple times from the crowd. People were looking for her, from the voices, she could tell it was Arusei and Kimani. ¡°We do. Blame this lot for not delivering.¡± Jeffrey said lazily waved a hand over to the loaders approaching them and Fer looked quizzically at him. ¡°I¡¯m the old one here, I shouldn¡¯t be teaching you about phones.¡± Fer said and the engineer blinked. ¡°You have a phone?¡± He asked in disbelief. ¡°Of course I have a phone!¡± Fer said. ¡°I¡¯m not your grandma!¡± ¡°Fucking Hell.¡± Jeffrey shook his head and pulled his own out of his back pocket. ¡°We were just talking earlier how it¡¯d be easier if we had your number.¡± He held the phone to Fer with his phone displayed. ¡°My hands are dirty so¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Fer added him into her contacts and rang to confirm. ¡°See, who¡¯s ancient now?¡± She cooed over him. The rest of the team were added too. Fer looked at her contacts book. Nine people now! Wonderful! She¡¯d show this off to Kassandora and Neneria later. ¡°We¡¯ve hit the big leagues now.¡± Jeffrey said as he looked into his phone. ¡°Fucking Hell, phone number to a Goddess.¡± Fer tapped the side of the Binturong. ¡°If you hand it out, I¡¯m going to pull a tread off.¡± The whole team went pale with fear. ¡°I¡¯d rather you break my hand.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°And I better be at the top of your list!¡± Fer said. ¡°You¡¯re not my wife!¡± One of the other mechanics said, the rest burst out in laughter. ¡°You¡¯ll get a wife when these things stop breaking down.¡± Fer tapped the Binturong again as the man went red and the team laughed. Jeffrey clapped him on the back. ¡°That¡¯s a long and lonely road ahead of you.¡± More laughter as the loaders finally got to them. ¡°What do you want Jeff?¡± One of them asked coldly and Jeffrey cocked his head to the pair who had inspected the underside of the Binturong. Fer turned away as she heard her name being said again. Arusei and Kimani were arguing with a Cleric holding the cordon around the Binturong enclosure about how they had to talk with Fer. She gave a single wave back to Jeffrey and his team, and went over to them. ¡°Let them in.¡± Fer said coldly, she fixed her posture, her gaze became sharp, her face cold. The Cleric turned in his silver armour, his green cape whipping around to look at Fer, then at the two Arikans, then at Fer again. ¡°But Goddess Kassa-¡° ¡°Let them in.¡± Fer growled and the man allowed the two Arikans through, immediately, Fer lightened her mood. The fact two were allowed through immediately brought more begging and shouts from the reporters here. These people would never see her as her own, but they didn¡¯t treat her with the boring sanctity Epans did. It was better, but it wasn¡¯t the engineers. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Lioness.¡± That¡¯s what they always called her. Fer didn¡¯t particularly mind it, it was a good title and she did have a mane of gold and a tail now. From their expressions and tone though, it was urgent. Had the Jungle hit back? Maybe someone else was taken, but then one of Divines would have rang her. ¡°There is something urgent.¡± The two Arikans were tall and dark, muscled, scarred, Arusei was missing his ear. ¡°Somewhere more private.¡± Fer lead towards the middle of the Binturongs. ¡°We can talk here, no one will overhear us.¡± Even the voices from the crowd had been dulled here as she turned to face them. They both were looking up at her nervously, and both reeked of fear as if they had bathed in it. ¡°You entered the Jungle and you retrieved Iniri and your sister from the Jungle¡¯s stomach?¡± They knew that much, it had been impossible to hide Baalka, but no one had given the name of who it was away. Kassandora said it was better that way, since even if news got out, anyone attacking them would have to plan for several Goddesses instead of just hyper-focusing how to cancel out Baalka¡¯s diseases. ¡°We did.¡± ¡°Where?¡± Fer tilted her head and looked at them. ¡°I don¡¯t know where.¡± Kassandora was the one who would be able to plant a position on the map based off nothing but the stars. ¡°Deep. Why?¡± ¡°We talked with Kavaa, she said that Kassandora said you entered the Jungle¡¯s stomach.¡± Arusei said. Fer shrugged to them. If they talked with Kavaa, she would have given a clinical explanation of everything she saw. She supposed she should give them something that wasn¡¯t that. ¡°It was a hole in the ground, teeth came out and trapped us in. Acid starting filling the hole, Kassandora made a plan which worked and broke us out.¡± The two nodded. ¡°Kavaa said the same thing. There is no way you could get us to talk to Kassandora?¡± ¡°She¡¯s always busy.¡± Kassie had told Fer to simply deny requests with everyone, she even mentioned these men by name. ¡°Why?¡± Colder this time. The message was simple, either answer or stop wasting her time. ¡°Iniri we¡¯ve not been able to talk to yet, and Kavaa said she didn¡¯t see anything, but we asked her what she saw. She said she heard Kassandora shout for you to ignore something on the way out.¡± Fer nodded. She remembered that. She hadn¡¯t thought much of it, Kassie said to ignore it, so she ignored it. Worse had been faced in the past anyway, when Tartarus brought Archdemons onto Arda or when Titans walked the ground. ¡°There was a big creature.¡± Fer began drawing in the dirt with her boot. ¡°Like this, it had the smell that the Jungle did, but also it smelled like a lion, a vulture, a crocodile and a snake wrapped together. It was huge, I saw it in the distance growing out of the ground when we got to the stomach but we didn¡¯t stay long enough to take a good look.¡± Fer looked up from the ground at the two men. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°I thought it was a myth.¡± Kimani whispered to himself and Arusei finished. ¡°Kassandora has to be told.¡± Chapter 104 – An Arika of Ash Mikhail read the reports. They had been written by Goddess Kassandora on the Binturongs, sent to Iliyal, and forwarded to him. Kassandora suggested some improvements but largely, she wanted to strip pieces out. Certain parts were unreliable. The main axel that held the gun was the main culprit, five of the sixteen had failed already. There was no need for the gun to be able to rotate anyway, certainly not the full-circle Alash¡¯s team had designed. Merely mounting the gun on a simpler mechanism with the ability to turn a dozen degrees on either side would be enough. Kassandora walked forwards as the sixteen Binturongs slowly trundled behind her. Now that the Kirinyaans had seen it, money had started pouring in from all of Arika. The best were the unstipulated donations from other governments and the wealthy. They had enough money to spare and saw the prospect of land reclamation as an investment. They weren¡¯t wrong about that, part of the papers Kassandora had taken to KIAB in that initial meeting were ancient mines that were forcefully abandoned by the coming of the Jungle. Kirinyaa itself had two dozen oil fields which had been lost. That oil alone was enough to offset the cost of the Binturongs and the napalm. The mines themselves were just a cherry on top. Kirinyaa and Ausa had both been given permission to manufacture Binturongs, with a portion of the money going straight to Kassandora. That made the governments more than happy. Ausa had raised production numbers, apparently eight more had already been shipped off and a full twenty-four were already half-way built. Kirinyaa had started the construction of three different factories to mass-produce them. When Kassandora had told them that after the war was over, the factories could easily be retooled to create a domestic automative industry, they had grown ever happier. Apparently more than a dozen sites were being discussed. The largest issue was the workforce, those three factories would already be understaffed. A Kirinyaan School of Engineering was also being built now, the location close to Nanbasa. Then came the donations from the goodwill of everyone else. The Arikan Jungle Crisis Relief Fund had donated a lot, other charities and NGOs had chipped in. Money started to pour in from the whole world. The Arikan Jungle was a travesty on this world and everyone felt good about giving money to a project that received constant publicity. KTV and EIE had permanently set up their temporary offices here to film everything that was going on, Helenna gave them updates every evening. She liked that much more than Nanbasa, especially since there was no longer any need to negotiate. Kassandora had told her to be fully transparent, the woman had such a way with words that even when a Binturong broke down, she made it seem like a full victory, that this was only a step towards making them even better. Of course, not everyone was happy. Olympiada had released a statement about how Kirinyaa was verging on the line of breaking Pantheon Peace. The UNN, ever loyal fanatics of Olympiada even though they weren¡¯t even on the same continent, had issued their own embargo. Kassandora smiled, every time she had a drink it tasted sweeter now that she knew Elassa and Allasaria were seething in anger about the fact they had to allow what was obviously weapons of war powerful enough to rival Divines the right to exist. In a week, a thousand square miles had been reclaimed. It seemed like a lot on paper, but in actuality, it was a thin strip of land which had not even breached the Jungle¡¯s skin yet. Today would be the first day that the Binturongs would be firing from reclaimed land. A convoy of heavy trucks was driving behind them, then four teams of Clerics to assist with the loading. Eight hundred shells would be expended in the next two hours. Kassandora¡¯s artillery could fire quickly when pushed, but that put strain on the barrels. She had already sent a report about it to Iliyal. That was something else that needed to be fixed. Then the vehicles would have a thirty minute break, the crews would rotate, and Sokolowski would take charge from Kassandora to watch over the artillery. Kassandora looked down at her feet, the ash here lay like deep snow. Each step she stook, her boot plunged into the dark ash until it reached past her ankle. She looked back at her Binturongs and studied the treads. They covered the ash with no problem. That was good, it meant they would be able in cold Epan winters in the future. From the hill, the Arikans that Kassandora was fond of were coming. Not the bureaucrats from the east, but the warriors from the west. Kimani stood tall, Arusei was walking next to him. That man was always noticeable from the lack of an ear. Jebet and Eyapan were coming too. Two dozen or so men. Kassandora gave hand signals to her soldiers to set up and walked past her great vehicles to the people coming. They looked on in awe. All of them stopped when they came to the line of ash that marked where a week ago the Jungle had reached to. Then Arusei took a step forwards. As did Kimani. Jebet. Eyapan. Careful, tender steps as if in disbelief. Kassandora trod forwards in her HAUPT uniform. She had grown fond of it, it did fit her. Helenna¡¯s had arrived. Neneria¡¯s and Kavaa¡¯s were coming soon. Fer¡¯s was a specialist design, they were still tanning the leather for it. ¡°I have kept my promise.¡± She said. ¡°The Jungle has been pushed back, and it will be pushed back further.¡± ¡°We¡­¡± Kimani begun then grew quiet. ¡°We have no words.¡± ¡°This is a debt that will never be repaid.¡± Arusei replied coldly. ¡°Wherever you need us, we will answer.¡± Kassandora would not insult them now by denying the request, no need to. She may well need their manpower and expertise in the wars to come. They were excellent trekkers, without any blessing they could outdo what Kavaa¡¯s Clerics managed. She saw potential in these men as sharpshooters and skirmishers.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°And I may call on you.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Whenever you wish, not today, not tomorrow, but a year, two. I don¡¯t know when, but it may happen.¡± ¡°If we cannot, then our descendants will.¡± Arusei said slowly, in that aged tone of a man who lived the experiences of ten lifetimes even though he was only in fifties. ¡°Already stories are told at night of the Goddess who felled the Jungle.¡± Kassandora smiled, it was the first time she had been called that title by these men. The Jungle was not felled yet, but it will be, soon. Especially once more Binturongs start arriving, she was glad she saws these in action, field-testing like this was irreplaceable. When war came, they would have the advantage of having vehicles that work in reality rather than just in theory. ¡°You¡¯re welcome to stay and watch today¡¯s burnings.¡± She said. ¡°We did not come for that today.¡± Arusei said. ¡°We talked with the Lioness in the morning.¡± That was what they called Fer. ¡°Oh? Did she want anything?¡± ¡°She said when you entered the Jungle, after you found your sister and Iniri, you all saw something.¡± Kassandora nodded, her grin dropping. She had stopped thinking of what she saw back then and merely pushed it to the back of her mind, but there was no way to forget something like the thing they saw on the way back. Kassandora answered briskly, in the same way she would she gave orders. ¡°A giant with three bodies, with three heads and three legs and three arms. Big and with animal parts over it but we didn¡¯t get a good look, do you know about it?¡± The thing had watched them, and started to follow them when they were leaving the Jungle, but it moved slowly. Fer had outran it easily. Kimani looked as if he was going to go pale, Jebet¡¯s hands shook. Eyapan massaged his stomach as if he was going to be sick. Arusei took a heavy sigh. ¡°We tried to contact you earlier when you went east.¡± ¡°I was busy.¡± Kassandora said. If there was one thing she didn¡¯t like, it was people trying to interfere with her work schedule, she had assumed these men had only wanted to thank her and swear allegiance or something useless like that. Arusei nodded, as if he understood. Maybe he did, maybe he did not. What he definitely understood was that Kassandora was not going to explain herself to him. Kassandora held up her hand to signal a pause for the crews working. ¡°Load and prepare to fire on my command!¡± She shouted, then turned back to the Arikans. ¡°Why? Did we awaken something?¡± Arusei began. ¡°Long ago, before the Jungle became what it was, there were four kings in a valley. North looked the snake, west the crocodile, south the vulture, and east the lion. They were brothers who guided the lost and tended to the woods.¡± Kassandora remembered the creature she had seen. It only had the parts of those four animals, that alone confirmed this wasn¡¯t some mere tale running rampant. ¡°They were the caretakers of the Jungle, before it became¡­¡± Arusei threw his hand towards the wild woods in the distance. ¡°This.¡± His voice was filled with disgust. ¡°Go on.¡± Kassandora said. She had always found that myths like this had a little bit of truth in them. The thing they had seen was certainly real. Arusei did go on. ¡°North is the sea of sand.¡± That was what they called the impassable Sassara desert. ¡°When the Jungle grew to reach it, the snake could not grow anymore. As his siblings grew larger, he stayed the same. His jealousy grew and grew until he went mad.¡± ¡°Is he the source of the Jungle taking people?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°No, the Jungle itself poisoned the snake¡¯s mind, and this is only a myth, we do not... did not think it real.¡± Arusei said flatly. ¡°But you said you saw it.¡± ¡°I did. Fer did too. Iniri caught a glimpse.¡± A myth incarnate. A Divine. Kassandora stopped the smug smile quirking up on her face, she had been right. Instead, she just looked on in focus at the men. ¡°The Jungle¡¯s madness then infected the others too. The four returned to the Jungle¡¯s heart and agreed to lay down their lives to make sure their power could not be used against people. But the snake, in his jealousy tricked them. He waited for the lion, the vulture and the crocodile to die, then the snake wrapped around them, bound them and they became one. From four caretakers, arose one. The first one to fall to the Jungle¡¯s whispers. After that, it started taking people.¡± Arusei finished with a heavy tone. ¡°It is an old tale, every child knows it.¡± ¡°And you think¡­¡± Kassandora turned and looked ahead. ¡°We thought you should know.¡± Arusei said. ¡°There are not many stories of the Caretaker, but¡­¡± Kimani spoke up. ¡°We only found after because we had a meeting with Kavaa a day ago and she mentioned it offhandedly, but the Caretaker is the hunter that hunts hunters. In the past, before they went mad, they would guide people and punish the guilty.¡± Kassandora readjusted her cap and made her expression flat. She knew exactly what sort of expression she was wanted to make, but she could not make it before people. ¡°Thank you for telling me. I will prepare.¡± She wanted to send these people away already in her excitement. ¡°I will visit your camp later to learn more.¡± That would make sure they were happy and that they felt respected. Her schedule wasn¡¯t too busy anyway now. Arusei nodded and the Arikans slowly started to retreat as Kassandora turned around from her and took several steps forwards, until she was sure no one would see her face. Some Caretaker? Some amalgamation? It would come to fight her? Or would it turn and flee? She heard Arusei¡¯s voice in her head ¡®from four became one¡¯. And from one would become nothing, it would become ash that would blow away in the wind and nothing more. She stood, raised her hand, palm flat and sharply brought it down. The sixteen Binturongs behind her started firing. Fire burst out ahead of her as more of the Jungle was set alight. Napalm burned black, trees started to fall, ash blew in the air and Kassandora stood there. More explosions, a chorus of gunpowder no orchestral drums could ever hope to match, a bellow of flames no singer could ever outshine. Shells whistled above her, and her guns kept firing. Her face bathed in the madness of war, her eyes burning with delight, her mouth twisted in delight. Her crimson hair danced behind her as she felt the Jungle looking back at her, screaming at her. Telling her to go away, telling her to leave and flee this land. That this was not her kingdom. Telling her that it would finish the Reclamation War on its own terms. She did not move, nor flinch, nor even feel the chills it sent down her spine. These plants wanted to end a war? She was Goddess of War, she made the rules in this field. Good. She was starting to grow tired of constant training anyway. Every War needed a battle. Let it come. Chapter 105 – The Caretaker Arrives To wage war against Kassandora would require a mind beyond what even most Divines are capable off. Her tactics are baffling, it is not that she cannot make advanced movements, it is that she refuses to engage in that sort of behaviour. They are always devilishly simple. Always reliant on thousands of variables that had been decided before a battle, if a fight goes on for too long, she will not hesitate to give up land and issue a retreat. The woman has no honour, no sense of pride about her, no bloodlust nor courage nor fear. All her choices are perfectly logical, as if she had no emotion within her body. Her captured forces seemingly know nothing of her plans, nor have we ever been able to find anything important of hers written down. She sends letters that are mere orders, with no reasoning added, and her men follow along without question. To see Kassandora on the battlefield is a clear sign that the battle has been lost before it has been started. The only battles that she has actually ¡°lost¡± are because her forces were simply outgunned and outmanned and overwhelmed. They should have been decisive victories in our favour, instead they were all pyrrhic victories. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Fortia, of Peace: ¡®How to Wage War on War.¡¯ Kassandora sat on a hill with Neneria, Fer, Kavaa, Iniri and Helenna. It was sequestered far away from the camp, the lights of cars and campfires burned like tiny little glow bugs in the distance, they pranced about in the darkness of night, although night here had never been dark. There were too many stars in the sky, and the moon today shone exceptionally brightly. Fer had carried Iniri and Kavaa here, but it was a needed private location away from prying ears. A single word overheard would put all the goodwill she had built up in the two and a half weeks since the Reclamation War began to be wiped away in an instant. The meeting had already began, the Goddesses sat on logs or the ground or simply stood as Kassandora drew out what she remembered the Caretaker looking like on the ground. ¡°My initial theory is that it will be attracted to us, since we¡¯re Divines.¡± Kassandora finished. ¡°You have little to base that off.¡± Neneria crossed her arms and looked down at the drawing. ¡°It does not target the coastal cities that hold scheduled burnings.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°If it was simply protecting the Jungle, it would have smashed their firewalls centuries ago.¡± Neneria shrugged and rolled her eyes, she obviously did not like the reasoning, but there was little else Kassandora could say. It was simply a shot in the dark, there was little else that could be said about it. ¡°It wasn¡¯t fast.¡± Fer said. ¡°No, if we stay close to the main camp, move no more than ten miles north or south, we¡¯d be able to intervene if it comes here.¡± Kassandora said. That would cover all the bases then. ¡°Neneria, I want you to scout out locations with your Legion, see the terrain and report it to me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll hand in a report tomorrow morning.¡± Neneria said flatly. ¡°Do you think the Binturongs will be able to stop it?¡± Kavaa asked. Kassandora answered as honestly as she could, there was no reason to hold back information with this lot. ¡°We¡¯ll have to see, it was plant-like, it should burn. Why? Do you have any other ideas?¡± Kavaa looked around awkwardly, then finally said, or rather asked, what was on her mind. ¡°Baalka¡¯s blood could kill it, couldn¡¯t it?¡± Fer and Neneria both looked at her as if she had just broached a topic she shouldn¡¯t have, they leaned in, Neneria¡¯s face going colder than it usually did as Fer¡¯s eyes sharpened. Kassandora answered before those two could start an argument. Sisterhood was always a sore topic for them, they could say the worst things about each other, but as soon as someone else suggested something about even touching one of theirs, tight ranks formed. ¡°The Jungle assimilates, Baalka¡¯s blood could kill it, or it could birth a monster. That¡¯s not a risk I¡¯m willing to take.¡± That shut down any further conversation of using Baalka. Kassandora narrowed her eyes though, that was an idea she had not thought of. Baalka¡¯s blood was limited, even with Kavaa¡¯s healing to accelerate the blood production, it could only fill up maybe a dozen shells. She kept her face cool. This wasn¡¯t the first time she had gone behind her sister¡¯s backs, it wouldn¡¯t be the last. A dozen shells of Baalka¡¯s blood would do. Kavaa and her would simply do it privately. ¡°And if you can¡¯t stop it?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I do have a plan B.¡± Kassandora hoped she didn¡¯t have to use it. ¡°And that it?¡± Kavaa asked. Kassandora crossed her arms. She did not even want to talk about the other option, it was an ace among aces, she simply didn¡¯t want to deal with the fallout. ¡°It will work. Now for the plan.¡± Helenna readjusted her black HAUPT suit. It was the same as Kassandora¡¯s, but with the skull and sword emblem. Instead, hers had come with a flowering rose. She stepped in front of the camera. The KTV reporter moved out of her way as Helenna took up the entire screen. ¡°We have pushed back the Jungle in this area ten miles from where it once sat. The Reclamation War is going steady, however, like with all wars, setbacks are expected. Now, the advent of ash is a major block to our logistics. The Binturongs themselves can handle traversing the deep ash, but supply trucks get struck, we will develop ways of quickly clearing the land.¡± She took a breath. ¡°The staging area will be moved twenty miles to the south, where we will proceed on clearing more of the Jungle immediately. Ash clearing operations will begin soon, after which we will return to drive a pincer into the Jungle and clear it from the inside.¡± That had been only part of Kassandora¡¯s reasoning for changing the firing locations, but she could not reveal the whole story to the public yet, it could cause panic. Kassandora stood on that small hill between the camps and Jungle, a pair of binoculars hanging from her neck. She wanted the Caretaker to arrive, but until it did, she would prepare. She turned around and looked past her camps. Eight large trucks were arriving, each one a massive moving watchtower, a ladder on them reached up for the driver to enter the cabin. Each one pulled an eight-wheeled trailer. Their loads were secured on the back, the massive cannons strapped down, the treads with blocks underneath them to stop the cargo sliding off. Eight more Binturongs had arrived. They had twenty four guns now, hopefully more would arrive. She hoped for it, but she planned around only having the bare minimum. That was how wars always were planned, you hoped for everything, you worked with what you had. Arusei, along with Kimani and Jebet, followed Kassandora to the government camp. It had been closed off to the public, only a select few had access to it without prior notice. Kassandora was one of them. She stepped forwards by a large bus and tapped loudly on the door. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. It slid open with a metallic hiss of pistons and a cheerful voice called from inside. ¡°Goddess Kassandora, come in, you¡¯re always welcome here!¡± Kassandora stepped in and indicated for Arusei, Kimani and Jebet to follow. It was cool inside, pleasant, well furnished, with carpeted floors Arusei tried not to get too dirty with Arika¡¯s red dust. Kassandora had no such qualms. She stood in front of the five people sitting around a table and stepped to side, her arm extending to the three who had followed her in. ¡°This Arusei, Kimani and Jebet.¡± Kassandora began coldly. ¡°Greetings.¡± The men and women in the cold suits replied. ¡°These people live their entire lives fighting the Jungle, their opinions on the topic are worth more than any of your scholars or academics. I can vouch for them as being my personal advisors in this matter.¡± Kassandora crossed her arms and nodded to the one-eared man. ¡°Arusei, tell them what you know of the Caretaker.¡± Kassandora walked to the planes. She had made her own design for a weapon of war. It was based off something long in the past. The engineers should be able to design it even in the desert. After all, once you had the planes, how hard was it to make them simply drop things? Fer caught up to Kavaa by sense of smell. The Goddess of Health always smelled good, never was it an overpowering sweetness, instead a cool refreshment, something like mints and lemons. ¡°Fer?¡± Of Health was in her silver armour today, she had been for the past two, since Kassandora had given them the plan to fight the Caretaker on the hilltop. ¡°I have something for you.¡± Fer said. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°For assistance in the Jungle, when we rescued Iniri and Baalka.¡± Fer fiddled and revealed the cloak she had been carrying behind herself. It was a heavy blanket of panther-hide. Light, strong and warm to protect from the Arikan nights. Fer had made it herself, from the hunt to the tanning, gifts always required some effort or else they weren¡¯t gifts. ¡°Thank you.¡± She bent her head and indicated twice for Kavaa to take the present. ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa said, her eyes covered in surprise. ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­¡± She stopped, then looked up and smiled at Fer. Those silver eyes of hers shone like two pearls. ¡°Thank you Fer. It¡¯s a wonderful gift.¡± Kassandora stood on top of one of the tall Arikans mountains. It wasn¡¯t really a mountain, but she had no other way to describe it, it was simply a giant rock, rising several hundred feet into the air with cliffs on all sides. The natives could scale these, but heavy equipment could not, that did not really matter though once helicopters came into the fray. They had carried tents and radios, camouflage netting, rangefinders and small radars to this rocky outcrop, and two others, one to the north, one to the south. The Goddess of War looked around and inspected the view around her. Two thousand of Kavaa¡¯s Clerics had been organised into small teams of two, then formed a massive cordon around the area. No civilians, not even the Kirinyaan government had been allowed here. The government didn¡¯t even want to, not after they heard what Arusei, Kimani and Jebet had to say about the issue of the Caretaker. With twenty four Binturongs working around the clock, they had burned down a rectangle, five by ten miles of Jungle here. The Binturongs worked like never before, they broke down like never before too, but that was why they had been divided into three batteries of eight. Kassandora could see them all from here, battery one and two were firing from the ash, battery three was off to the North, clearing more of the Jungle¡¯s edge. Four men per gun, another four to assist with loading, thirty dedicated engineers to each squad, with a host of vehicles to supply ammunition needs. Where each battery theoretically needed only thirty two-men, with the auxiliary and support squads, they quickly jumped to over two hundred. Kassandora had finally implemented the first traces of hierarchy in her army. Sokolowski was in charge of the first, Zalewski the second, a driver by the name of Ekkerson who Kassandora saw talent in had been put in charge of the third. Each captain had a radio, a compass and a large pick-up truck to serve as a command vehicle. Some famous millionaire who had grown sweet for Helenna had been more than happy to donate them from his private collection after she batted an eyelash and said a few pretty words. The trucks themselves were mounted with a radar, rangefinder and broadcaster, and had been painted a light green, with stripes of red to be identified from the distance, and Kassandora had ordered them to always be parked in the centre of the battery. Zalewski had been the first to work out why, although that was expected from a man who once flew planes. Their exact coordinates were transferred every ten seconds to the men besides Kassandora. She had taken a team of twelve with her, although that had been because she always liked easily divisible numbers. Three would have been enough, four would have given them leeway. Now eight of the men stood around and looked through binoculars at the Jungle with little to do. Two operated the radios, two more wrote down coordinates and moved boxes and lines on the map behind Kassandora. This was done much like in the past, a map of the terrain laid out on a table large enough for Fer to lie flat on. Several compasses lay on it for easy reach, one close by to each red rectangle that represented a battery of eight Binturongs. Kassandora clicked the earpiece in her ear, custom made for Divines. Only Fer lacked one, and that was because they would fall out of the tall ears on the top of her head. She simply had a pair of men trailing her, with their own radios. ¡°Radio check. Binturongs. Over.¡± ¡°Team One, loud and clear copy, over.¡± ¡°Team Two, loud and clear copy, over.¡± ¡°Team Three, loud and clear copy, over.¡± Kassandora smiled at how perfect their organisation was. True, it was untested in real battle yet, but they had the foundations down. She clicked her earpiece again. ¡°Neneria, radio check.¡± A click came a second later to indicate Neneria was broadcasting. ¡°Loud and clear Kass. Nothing here.¡± Neneria had been tasked with nothing in particular, she was the strongest Divine they had, she simply had to be here in case her presence could drag the Caretaker away. And her Dead Legion could be called on to support. Kassandora didn¡¯t know how much it could do, her pocket-army killed mortals. How many mortals would it take to fell a titan? Countless amounts. Without mage support, it had usually been impossible. Kassandora did not reply. She checked up on Fer¡¯s men. ¡°Kassandora. Radio check, everything fine? Over.¡± ¡°Everything fine and clear, over.¡± One of the men replied. Kassandora knew it was, she could see Fer from her location. The woman was taking a lazy walk. Fer was here for the inevitable time when a Binturong would get stuck in the ash or the dirt. If it broke down, she was to simply get the crew out and leave the machine. She had been outfitted with a loose cloak, and then grew herself a thick coat of fur to protect from the Sun¡¯s heat. She had actually wanted to go naked, but Kassandora forbid that, it was bad for the attention of her men, and she needed at least a belt for the canteens of blood. Same as when they entered the Jungle, but far less. She had four canteens of Kassandora¡¯s for strength, and two of Kavaa¡¯s for injuries. Iniri was to help her with her command over nature. That Goddess was meandering about in between Batteries One and Two, it was easy to make her out when she wore her colourful green wardress against the cold ash she stood on. Originally, Iniri wanted to fight, Kassandora expected she would fight anyway so no order on non-combat was issued, but Kassandora did not expect much from Iniri. The woman herself said the Jungle was not her demesne. The Binturongs themselves wouldn¡¯t be a loss, they were far too unreliable to be used in a real war. Kassandora liked them, but now that she had stayed with them from more than two weeks, she had grown to know their faults. The crews would be the real losses, not out of same vain moral cause to safeguard life but because Kassandora had spent almost a month training them. How they worked now was a league to how they worked then. The gunners and loaders especially. It was like this in the past too, production could be scaled almost infinitely but training was simply a hard slog that required time. It always did, it always will. Kavaa was walking about down there too, leading a team of three dozen healers trailing behind her in a tight formation. She was in charge of healing and strengthening men with her blessing for when the battle started. Like the other Goddesses, extremely easy to spot, although this one was from the pristine silver armour she wore that glinted brightly in the Sun. Helenna was close by, although Kassandora could not spot her. She had come just as Neneria had, for support and for having yet another Divine here to lure the Caretaker. ¡°Goddess!¡± One of the men on overwatch said. ¡°I see something!¡± He pointed west, out onto that great sea of green that made up the Jungle. Kassandora squinted, then gave up and looked through her own binoculars. A dark mountain was rising out of the horizon. Kassandora felt her lips twist into a smile and her eyes start to burn. Her heart beat faster, her cheeks turned red, she grew excited. It had arrived. Arascus and Olephia made their way to the Raptors. Chapter 106 – Napalm Baby! ¡°We will raze them to the ground, burn their homes, kill every man, woman and child. Then salt the earth so nothing grows, their land will become a besmirched blister of cursed soil so future generations know what it means to go against the Goddess of War.¡± Kassandora watched the mountain emerge slowly from the horizon for a minute or two. The Sun was still high in the sky, but it had crested its zenith already. Unfavourable, she didn¡¯t want to fight in the night, that was always harder than in the day when commands could be given. She pulled her vision away and quickly closed the distance to the men in the radio. They saw her expression and moved out of the way. She picked up one man¡¯s steel headphones, they were made for mortal, too small to fit on her head, so she just held one to her ear and talked into the microphone as she turned back to the map. ¡°Station South, about three thirty degrees from your location.¡± She clicked again. ¡°Station North, about two-ninety degrees. Look and give reports; degrees and ranges. Over.¡± A response came back immediately, in tone that was low-quality but still understandable. ¡°Station North reporting, we see it at two-eighty-four. Rangefinders indicate thirty three miles. Over.¡± The man switched off his broadcast from the other station as Kassandora lay out a line on the map. These plastic tools were much better than the strings they had used in the past. ¡°Station South reporting. Degrees are three-forty-one. Range at twenty-eight miles. Over.¡± Kassandora laid out another location on the map and kept talking. ¡°Binturong teams One and Two. Reverse your vehicles. Send coordinates.¡± Kassandora turned to the two radio operators by her side. ¡°Prepare calculations, triangulate the location with our coordinates, give leeway for the ninety-second travel time of shells then send them over.¡± She clicked the microphone again. ¡°Binturong team Three, move down onto the hill south of your location.¡± She looked up at the distance, team three was visible, the eight vehicles and the two dozen or so ammunition trucks behind them and judged the distance by sight. ¡°Some two klicks. Over.¡± Ekkerson replied swiftly, the Binturongs started to turn and kick up red dust in the dirt. ¡°Team three copies, rolling out, over.¡± Kassandora took the radio over again. ¡°Airbase, are the planes ready? Over¡± Another garbled tone replied, this was another good lesson. Don¡¯t go cheap on the radios. ¡°Ready as they can be. Over.¡± ¡°Warm the engines, get the pilots in and standby. We¡¯ll want you in the air in¡­¡± She looked at the behemoth on the horizon. ¡°Twenty minutes, don¡¯t take off without my confirmation.¡± ¡°Copy, pilots will be ready.¡± The man replied. Kassandora clicked and flicked the switch to the microphone to the open channel. ¡°All units, all units, this is Kassandora. The Caretaker has arrived, I repeat, the Caretaker has arrived. Prepare for combat.¡± She flicked it off and put the microphone back on the desk. The headphones were thrown to the man who had given them her, he caught them and walked to the cliffside again as she looked out over her army. It wasn¡¯t grand, barely a thousand men if the cordon Clerics weren¡¯t included, and even with them, it was only three thousand. Back then, she had been responsible for millions of souls serving underneath her. But still¡­ what if one never got the simple joy of commanding barely a battalion, they would never understand what it meant to command Legions. Binturong teams One and Two rotated their artillery. Guns were raised into the air as her radio operators gave out commands and signals, distances, the direction and speed of the wind, everything and anything needed for shooting. The vehicles had their cabins pointed away from the Jungle as they aimed their barrels high. The trucks and cars around also started to rotate, already snakes of men for handing and loading ammunition had arranged themselves, each battery stood with their command pick-up in the middle. ¡°Do we have the Caretaker¡¯s speed?¡± A soldier by edge of the cliff, in a heavy coat and with a sword on his belt, pulled his head away from the rangefinder on the tall tripod. ¡°Seventy two kilometres an hour! About twenty metres a second!¡± That was faster than expected, Kassandora had hoped it would be slower than the Binturongs, she had planned around it being lightning fast. Kassandora waved for him to return. They waited for a while as the giant got closer, it was still on the horizon, only now coming into view. She heard shouts from some of the men on the ground as they finally saw its head. A blast of energy appeared around Fer as she powered up, that was one canteen of Kassandora¡¯s blood down. Kavaa¡¯s blessing came down on the forces so quickly even Kassandora felt it from her hill. A flood of joyous energy and health, they all started moving faster. Kassandora looked through her binoculars to catch sight of her prey. It was moving forwards to them, a monstrosity of green and grey, red and black. Three legs, mad fusions of crocodile and vulture and lion limbs, sent earthquakes vibrating through the forest as it mercilessly ploughed towards them. Its torso was tight and thin, bound by the thick body of a giant snake, the beast¡¯s head snapped at the air and stared at Kassandora with beady red eyes, two massive fangs protruding from its jaw. Above it was the head of a crocodile pointed up, its jaw twisted open and overflowing with vines and trees, as if it was a moving mountain of an overgrown treehouse. Black wings sprouted from its back, entangled in vines and a giant lions mane, from somewhere, a beak popped out and screamed at them. Kassandora readjusted her black cap and ran her hands along the buttons of her black greatcoat. She shouldn¡¯t be as excited as she was, her legs felt like melting butter, and it wasn¡¯t the sort of shake that came about in fear. Joyeuse appeared next to her and slammed into the ground, the blade¡¯s alone pierced the stone and it slid a foot in. ¡°Range!¡± ¡°Twenty-seven klicks!¡± The Binturongs could theoretically hit it at this point. Theoretically they weren¡¯t supposed break down either. Kassandora shook that utter terrifying joy away from herself, and walked to grab the radio and the steel headphones again. With one pressed to her head, she could hear sporadic chatter as the commanders repeated their affirmations of disbelief to each other. ¡°Radio silence!¡± Kassandora¡¯s command cut the chatter. ¡°Binturongs, status on firing, over!¡± Sokolowski replied first, that was the drill, if they knew the order to speak in, they wouldn¡¯t talk over each other. ¡°Battery One, aimed and ready, holding fire until your command. Over.¡± Zalewski was next. ¡°Battery Two reports the same. Aimed and ready, holding fire. Over.¡± ¡°Battery Three still moving into position.¡± That was expected, Battery Three was far north. Kassandora looked down at her artillery, then at the Caretaker closing the gap between them in the distance. She had expected it to be smaller, the first shots were only to calibrate the guns anyway. She slowly brought the microphone to her mouth, her heart pounding as if was wanting to tear open that black uniform of hers. ¡°Binturong Teams One and Two. One volley each. Over.¡± They fired a few moments later. The ground shook. Shells whistled through the air as the cloud of red dust cleared. Emptied casings, each the size of an arm, fell onto the ground and the ground swiftly got to readying another volley. Kassandora watched the sixteen shots soar through the air, against the bright blue sky, it was impossible to lose sight of them. Time seemed to slow down as Kassandora listened to her own heartbeat. Zalewski broke her trance. ¡°Team Two, loaded and ready to fire again! Over.¡± Shortly after, Sokolowski gave his own report. Kassandora did not reply, she watched those shells reach their zenith and then begin their downwards cascade. Out of sixteen, nine were direct hits. Far better than expected. Fire burst out over vines, trees cracked as liquid fire trailed downwards, it stuck and coated every surface it touched. It burned in a red blaze that tarred the blue sky with its dark smog. The shells that landed around the ground had their fires swiftly put out as giant legs, amalgamations of vine and lion and tree and crocodile, stepped onto them. The monster gave no reaction to its front being coated in fire, it took another step. Kassandora had expected as much.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The Caretaker kept moving. Kassandora clicked her radio again. ¡°Good hits. Re-calibrate your shots. Team Three, how long until you can open fire? Over.¡± ¡°We¡¯re preparing now. The ploughs are digging in. Over.¡± ¡°Report when you¡¯re ready. Teams One and Two, status? Over.¡± ¡°Team One, ready to fire. Over.¡± ¡°Team Two, also ready. Over.¡± ¡°Fire at will. Don¡¯t reply unless it¡¯s urgent. Over.¡± Sixteen Binturongs started singing once again. Their cannons furious drums that beat, reloaded, then beat again. A volley fired. Men started to shout orders from below, the loading crews got to work, madly passing ammunition from the backs of their trucks in a line to the guns. The third volley left the barrels when the first had descended. The monster ahead of them came closer as fire burst out around it. Napalm coated the beast, the second volley was more accurate, the third, every shell hit. They dug into the monsters skin, then burst with liquid jelly that set alight. The few that were duds were quickly cooked off by the spreading fires. Kassandora took picked up microphone as she wanted the mountain of flame step towards them again. The Caretaker kept moving. ¡°This is Kassandora. Airbase, send your planes out. Remember to maintain altitude over the Jungle, don¡¯t get close enough to hear its whisper. Over.¡± ¡°Copy Goddess. Green light given for launch. We¡¯ll be there in four. Over.¡± More shells hit the moving monster. A huge wing, a shield of massive feathers held together by bark and flora, with vines hanging off it as if they were stalactites, emerged from it and covered its top. Kassandora smiled, it would have been worse if it simply kept walking. The fact it was guarding meant they were having an effect. Artillery immediately sent that wing alight as the first bad report came in from team two. ¡°Team Two reporting, one unit is down from mechanical failure. Over.¡± Expected. The Binturongs never had to achieve the rate of they could on paper. ¡°Keep firing.¡± Kassandora replied promptly. ¡°Can you fix it? Over.¡± There was a moment of men shouting over the radio and the reply came. ¡°We¡¯ll try. Over.¡± Kassandora let them try. She kept staring at the monster ahead of her. It wasn¡¯t picking up speed, but it wasn¡¯t slowing down either. That massive snake¡¯s head on its side kept gazing at her. Kassandora smiled. Good to know it was smart enough to realise who to take down first. The Caretaker kept moving. ¡°First Squadron reporting in. Over.¡± Kassandora¡¯s steel headphone sounded, her arm had grown stiff from holding it to her ear, and she swapped hands. She turned and looked up at the sky. In the distance, where the main camp was, three planes were up in the air, mere black dots. Cleric¡¯s jets, the smaller models these ones. Her idea of bombing had proved easy enough, each one held barrels of napalm in its quarters, with men inside to simply push them out the doors. ¡°You have the green light for bombing. Let him have it. Over.¡± More planes were rising to meet them. Two huge transport aircraft, the 77Ts had their cargo holds entirely filled. ¡°Copy Goddess. First Squadron out.¡± The three planes in the air made sharp turns, then flew towards them. The radio buzzed again. ¡°Third battery reporting in. We are calibrated and ready to fire. Over.¡± ¡°Fire at will. Take it down.¡± Kassandora said. Her cheeks were hot, her eyes were blazing. Men under her command, a plan following every step, beautifully tight organisation. This was a joy she had not felt in a millennia. With the loss one gun from the second battery, she had twenty-three now to pound the monster with. The Caretaker kept moving. The three jets flew high above the ground. Kassandora watched them as they blasted open their doors in an emergency manoeuvre, a dozen pieces of heavy metal came flying from the sky, and then they started dropping the barrels. This wouldn¡¯t be accurate, it had never been accurate. There was a method to fix it though, one Kassandora had developed herself, horribly simple, and horribly effective: sheer volume. A hundred or so barrels came flying out of the sky, most landed close to the monster, some on it. Those burst from the impact against that protective vulture¡¯s wing it held above itself and burst. Fire raged as plumes of black smoke burst from that wing. Kassandora narrowed her eyes. This fire didn¡¯t set bark alight, it simply melted it. The monster needed to have capability of regeneration then. ¡°Air Squadrons Two and Three. Are you ready for a bombing run? Over.¡± She asked. There were multiple ways to deal with monsters that regenerated. You killed them outright, or you simply exhausted them. There wasn¡¯t a more powerful healer than Kavaa, and even she had a limit to her abilities. ¡°Squadron Two, ready, over.¡± ¡°Squadron Three, ready, over.¡± ¡°Commence bombing run immediately. Over.¡± Kassandora took a breath as she looked up and see six more planes fly overhead. Great steel birds in the sky, against that amalgamation of flora and fauna on the ground. The snake moved its head, a lion¡¯s head burst out from within it dirty mane and roared. That was a reaction at least, but it wasn¡¯t the Kassandora had been hoping for. The Caretaker kept moving. Another two hundred or so barrels came in from the air. They hit that massive wing, set exploded as the planes made wide banks north to return to the base. Civilian helicopters were appearing near the cordon now, no doubt eager to record everything. Kassandora had expect it, but she had not expected to record a defeat. Sokolowski¡¯s voice blared over the radio. ¡°Team One reporting. One Binturong just had electrical failure, the doors won¡¯t open. Requesting Fer. Over.¡± Fer¡¯s team answered for Kassandora. ¡°Fer is on her way. Over.¡± Kassandora looked down at the ground, she managed to catch a glimpse of her sister as she knelt down on the ground, then became a blur as she launched herself towards Team One. Of Beasthood landed next to Team One, looked around and found the vehicle that was damaged. It was hard to miss, Kassandora had given all the teams several cans of paint to mark them with a white X when they were damaged beyond repair. In one movement, Fer was next to the heavy steel door, in the next, the door came off its hinge and she threw it away with one hand, looked in, and then jumped back to her pair of radio support soldiers as the men started to climb out. That was one machine down, permanently. Not good news, but she had planned to lose a quarter by now. It was a damn miracle the rest of the Binturongs were keeping up with the volley of fire. They had moved onto the second set of ammunition trucks now, the first ones were driving away from the combat zone and north. With orders to resupply and then report. ¡°Squadron Four reports ready to initiate bombing run. Over.¡± That was Kassandora¡¯s last air squadron, if this did not slow it down, it was onto more specialist tactics. Kassandora looked up at the sky, two ginormous 77Ts were circling in the North. ¡°You have the green light, give it hell.¡± Kassandora put her microphone down as she stared at the mass of men before her. Kavaa¡¯s Clerics had split into two groups to cover batteries One and Two. Kavaa herself was stood between them, Neneria and Helenna were both watching from the distance as the two giant transport planes flew above the monster. Unlike before, there was no emergency dropping of doors, instead their cargo holds opened and barrels streamed out in a line as if they were dropping snakes from above. The carpet bombing started early, some impacting against the Jungle itself and then bursting into flame, then impacting against that vulture¡¯s wing and continuing along its entire body until it reached the other side of the monster. Kassandora watched it burn, coated in fire from above, from the sides. She watched and changed plans. The Caretaker kept moving. Kassandora put the microphone to herself. ¡°Team three, load four Binturongs with a round of Type-B shells. Over.¡± She had twelve shells of Baalka¡¯s blood. Team three had the entire load, there was no reason to separate them about. The Caretaker had come close enough for its massive footsteps and the breaking of trees to be heard. The reply came half a minute later as the din of artillery continued. ¡°Type-B shells loaded, units one through four. Over.¡± ¡°Aim low, directly at the arm holding the wing. Over.¡± ¡°Copy and understood. Give us a minute to calibrate. Over.¡± Kassandora didn¡¯t reply, there was no need to. She kept on watching from her cliff. Men were running around like ants as they loaded the guns. Another report came in from Zalewski. ¡°Team two reports Binturong failure. Oil pipes have fucking exploded. Requesting Fer. Over.¡± Once again, Fer¡¯s men of radio operators replied for the Goddess as Fer herself got to work, once again jumping into the air as men in Team Two painted a white X over the cabin of a Binturong. ¡°Fer is making her way. Over.¡± ¡°Team Three. Four guns are loaded with a round of Type-B, calibrated and ready to fire. Over.¡± ¡°Fire. Follow up with Napalm.¡± Kassandora replied as Fer ripped the roof of a Binturong. She sniffed the air, threw the men a dozen metres across the ground and jumped away. A moment later, the Binturong exploded. Clerics and Kavaa came rushing over immediately to heal the wounded. Four Type-B shells impaled themselves into the arm holding up the massive wing. It started to discolour immediately. The greens and greys becoming diseased reds, putrid oranges and sickly purples as the illness caused by Baalka¡¯s blood started to spread. Vines finally started to fall down, the giant snake¡¯s head hissed, the lion¡¯s head roared, and that beak coming from seemingly out of nowhere cawed in pain. Barked cracked, wood snapped, vines fell, diseases strands of gigantic bustle and blood rained down on the jungle below. That massive wing above the monster¡¯s head started to lean forwards like a slowly falling oak. Its speed accelerated, it snapped, and fell to the ground, coating the Jungle below in fire. The massive mountain, ablaze and searing with a black tar of a smoke, took another step forwards. Kassandora did even look or listen to the cheers of her men, her eyes were entirely focused on that diseased limb. It was rotting, it was falling apart, and then it stopped. Somehow, it had contained Baalka¡¯s disease. It took yet another step. The loss of a limb did not even affect by a fraction. It kept walking at the same speed it did when it had first come across the horizon. Kassandora picked up her microphone. ¡°Stop cheering and get to work. We¡¯ll have a drink when it¡¯s done.¡± The cheers stopped, the guns started to fire again. The monster ahead of them kept coming. It stepped towards the edge of the Jungle. And the Caretaker kept moving. Chapter 107 – A Continental Divine ¡°An existential threat, by definition, is one that threatens existence. Such power cannot be stopped, it can only be contained. We talk of things such as the creeping jungle in Arika, we talk about major Divine Dragons in Guguo, the titanic beasts that lay dormant. None of them classify as an existential threat.¡± - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, of Order: ¡®The Policies of Ruling a New Arda.¡¯ Kassandora quelled the excitement in her teams. ¡°Binturong Teams One and Two, start pulling back.¡± It wasn¡¯t enough, the Caretaker, even with the loss of one wing, was still approaching them. ¡°Team One, go south-east, Team Two, straight east from your position.¡± Splitting them up was the obvious choice. ¡°Split up in to half-teams, Zalewski, angle your second team north, Sokolowski, your second team angle south. Over.¡± Zalewski and Sokolowski promptly responded to confirm they¡¯ve heard them as Kassandora watched the Binturongs start to drive off. Six moved off from each one, kicking up ash and dust as they went. The trucks started to turn as men jumped on board. This was still part of the plan, it was an expected move... But the Caretaker should have slowed down at least a little by now. ¡°Fer, go to Team Two, and assist with the stuck Binturong, if its damaged, evacuate the men and leave it. Iniri, you¡¯re on team One. Over.¡± Fer¡¯s handlers responded for her as Kassandora watched the Goddess become a blur below as she jumped towards Team Two. Iniri also made a show of her travel, with surfing along the ground as branches quickly carried her. The two damaged vehicles, both marked with white X¡¯s, were ignored and left behind. Fer got to her team first, Kassandora watched the quick conversation as the Binturongs of team Three started firing from the north again. Once again, shells impacted against the massive mountain of the nature and beast amalgamation approaching them. Once again, the drums of artillery sounded, once again flames burned vines. The Caretaker kept moving. Fer roared, then gave the Binturong a push, it lifted off the ground, treads started to move again, and it rolled forwards, trailing behind the vehicles that just escaped. Over on Iniri¡¯s end, the Goddess grew wooden tracks that gave her machine traction, it moved and started to roll through the ash. Kassandora clicked her radio as another voice came through, Neneria this time. ¡°Kass, I¡¯m deploying the Legion.¡± That was how Neneria asked questions, Kassandora clicked her radio. ¡°Siege engines and archers. Don¡¯t bother with melee troops. Air cavalry too. Over.¡± Neneria¡¯s voice came back. ¡°Understood.¡± Kassandora turned to look at the Goddess of Death as she stood her ground, only a mere few miles. Neneria stood in her HAUPT suit, the only addition being the cape of raven with a scarf of thick raven feathers covering it. She slowly raised her arms to either side, her body lifted off the ground and ghosts started to appear around her. Kassandora kept watching as she fiddled with the radio again. ¡°Team Three. Do you have a shot at the Caretaker¡¯s legs? Over.¡± One green catapult appeared, with a crew of men long dead around it. Then a ballista. A tall trebuchet once used to breach the walls Tourai. Another catapult. The pace accelerated. Archers materialized around her. Ranks upon ranks of them, a flood of ghastly green to counter the winged and wyvernesque mountain of a monster approaching them. The Caretaker kept moving. ¡°Two of the three, but the angle is too low for continuous volley.¡± Ekkerson replied over the radio. Ghostly cavalry started to appear on the ground, then their horses started to trot into the air to make way. More trebuchets, more ballista, more catapults came into existence as if they had just rolled off an ethereal production line. Bannermen with Neneria¡¯s symbol, the headless rider, came in to organise the troops and propel their Goddess¡¯ will further. Zalewski¡¯s tone interrupted the radio before ¡°Team Two reports another Binturong down! A tread has fallen off! Over.¡± ¡°Evacuate the troops and leave it. Fer, don¡¯t bother with assistance. Over. Team Three, load Type-B shells into all eight guns. Split four and four on the legs, take time with aiming, you have one shot. Down it. Over.¡± Ekkerson gave a swift reply as Team Three unleashed their final volley of eight napalm shells. ¡°Understood. Give us a minute to calibrate. Over and out.¡± The Caretaker kept moving. Kassandora looked at it again as Neneria came through, her voice was ragged and her breathing heavy. ¡°I¡¯ve done as many as I can.¡± Kassandora pulled away her eyes to glance at her sister, there she was, bending down with her hands on her knees as she tried to catch a breath. ¡°Send them.¡± Kassandora said as Neneria heaved on the ground. She threw an arm casually forwards and the ghastly Dead Legion started to move. Kassandora went back to looking at the demented design of the tropical atrocity beyond her. Symmetry was a mere suggestion for it, that snake¡¯s head hissed again and it raised an arm. Kassandora heard her heart beat again as her eyes jumped around the battlefield. The din of artillery, of men shouting, of vehicles rolling and helicopters in the air slowly faded from her ears as her mind dealt with the clash of calculations. ¡°FER! GET NENERIA OUT OF THERE!¡± Kassandora shouted into the air. Fer would hear, she had to.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. There was a roar, a shimmered blur along the red dust, Neneria¡¯s army charged forwards. A hail of arrows and bolts and musket rounds erupted into the beast, and Neneria disappeared from view. A moment later, a massive limb, a lion¡¯s paw twisted with vines and snake scales and trees impacted where she had stood. The crushed ghosts simply walked out of the object, but Kassandora heard Neneria¡¯s tone over the radio. ¡°That was close.¡± She said. Kassandora stopped holding her breath, it was too close for comfort. The Caretaker kept moving. ¡°Team Three! UPDATE NOW!¡± Kassandora shouted into her microphone again. She felt joyous stare as the battle turned against them. A retreat had been expected, but Kassandora had also expected even the tiniest slowing or sign of effect against it. Instead, its first wing was regrowing, its second had moved to safeguard its head again. The vines and roots and leaves and muscle flooded over the napalm, what was burned was regrown, what wood fell off was a like a single layer of an onion. Maybe if they had a thousand Binturongs, if they had more than napalm, things would turn out differently. Ekkerson¡¯s voice came over the radio. ¡°We¡¯re ready over here! FIRE!¡± He dropped the connection as team Three unleashed another volley. Kassandora once again entered her trance. Eight shells fired, she tracked them through the air, the Sun was coming close to the horizon, purples and oranges were starting to tint to the sky, but there was still more than enough light to make them out. Eight shells fired. Eight shells hit. Four in each leg. The Caretaker kept moving. It¡¯s legs started to discolour immediately, to putrid purples and sickly oranges, the vivid greens became diseased and dull, vines burst, the Caretaker took another step. The sound of tree and bone and muscle breaking filled the air like an explosion, and then its leg fell off. Once again, just as with the wing, the poison had been swiftly contained, even faster this time. The second leg did not even rip away, wood and vine shattered, the burning giant stumbled and fell. Ekkerson¡¯s voice come the radio. ¡°We¡¯ve lost five guns in that volley.¡± He took a pause as the monster crashed down, it sent a wave of leaves and dust to make a fog as the ground of Arda of shook with the weight of the monster. The Snake¡¯s head hissed so loudly Kassandora saw men fall over, those Clerics holding the cordon fell over. The Crocodile¡¯s maw tried to close and made two fresh valleys in the dirt. Immediately. Ekkerson spoke again. ¡°Five guns were lost. Over.¡± Kassandora clicked her radio. ¡°Continue firing with what you have. Teams One and Two, all units, stop retreat, turn and fire. Over.¡± It was do or die now. If it regenerated and started walking again¡­ Kassandora looked on as Fer smashed into the vines, they wrapped around her, she broke free, and then jumped away back to Neneria. and quickly downed two more canteens. Another wave of energy pushed dust away from her as she looked around. Kassandora felt her own magic and Kavaa¡¯s, the woman must have had broken bones then if she needed the healing of Kavaa to amplify her own natural regeneration. Kassandora looked east, to the remains of teams One and Two. Three vehicles each, split into four sections, separated from each other by maybe a half mile each. They stopped. Guns started to turn, stabilizer arms extended from the Binturongs, the ploughs at their rear dug into the dirt. Of Death¡¯s voice came over the radio. ¡°Fer says it¡¯s too dangerous to get close.¡± Then Fer¡¯s shout came through. ¡°I SAID ITS IMPOSSIBLE! IT¡¯S TOO THICK!¡± Good to know, Kassandora had already assumed that, she had told Fer not to test it out herself, but that woman always needed to try something to believe it. ¡°Copy. Neneria, open fire with your Legion. Over.¡± Kassandora clicked the radio as Binturong artillery and Neneria¡¯s ghastly siege opened fire. Hails of arrows came in, ghosts charged in from the sky and bounced on the edges of the plant. They made small cuts as vines passed through them in some vain attempt to stem the ethereal. Napalm shells once again impacted over the monster as trees sprouted around it. They whipped around, crushed the Binturongs that had been abandoned and retreated back into the monster. ¡°This is Squadron Four, we have another bombing run ready. Asking for permission, over.¡± Kassandora clicked her radio, she did not even glance at the two 77Ts in the air. ¡°Permission granted, drop it. Over.¡± Her eyes were entirely focused on the damage the ghosts were inflicting. Stabs were quickly regrown, shreds of torn muscles transformed to vines, then the wounds closed. Impacts caused by bolts were simply worthless. A hail of ethereal rocks came in, they ripped through leaves and broke branches, and then the leaves came back. With the Caretaker out of the Jungle, the 77Ts came in lower, their huge cargo doors opened, barrels of napalm streamed out, they exploded against the tapestry of textures that raised and receded in plateaus and pyramids across the roaring green mosaic that had been felled. It became a bonfire, more artillery came in, more shells fired from the east and south. Kassandora took her binoculars and close at the monster¡¯s legs. The Caretaker kept moving. The disease caused by Baalka¡¯s poison was retreating, strands of gigantic animal flesh were falling off to be replaced by flora. The leg that had fallen off had been grabbed by thousands of veins, each a tiny wire of muscle and was being pulled closer. That leg had already healed, what had once been poisoned had been recovered entirely. The Caretaker kept moving. Kassandora watched onwards. She did not expect the monster to be so large. With the little amount of firepower they had, it would regenerate soon. It was regenerate and rampage across Kirinyaa, if it had come for them now¡­ The Caretaker kept moving. The Caretaker had to be killed, it had to be killed here and now. Kassandora looked up at the sky as she took a breath. She readjusted her high black cap as the bonfire raged a mere two miles from her. Shells came down viciously on it, and it did nothing. Neneria¡¯s Dead Legion, enough to put fear to cause entire armies to turn tail and flee, did nothing. She needed more. She needed¡­ The Caretaker kept moving. If she was fighting the beast that brought a continent to fear, she needed someone who would bring the entire world to heel. Kassandora pulled out her phone, unlocked it, clicked the contacts. Everything was nicely organised here, with numbers at the start to sort people by their importance. ¡°1¡± for Divines, ¡°2¡± for her army and so on. She clicked the top contact: 0-0 Arascus. The Caretaker kept moving. He answered immediately as Kassandora took a heavy breath. ¡°Dad, I need some help.¡± The Caretaker kept moving. It was time for plan B. Chapter 108 – The O-Bomb ¡°Raptor One, you have the green light for Take Off.¡± ¡°Give us four hours.¡± Arascus finished the call. ¡°It¡¯s good you called Kassie.¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes, he was the one who had come up with that nickname for her. ¡°Good.¡± Kassandora said, then thought of how to end the phone call. Dealing with her father was one of the few things she couldn¡¯t just handle instinctively. ¡°See you soon, we¡¯ll talk when you get here.¡± She said and turned the phone off. That was a good conversation, she absolutely hated asking him for help, he had helped her enough throughout her life already. Kassandora¡¯s eyes went back to the great flaming mountain of the Caretaker that was lying ablaze. Four hours. She looked at the regeneration of the leg. She clicked her radio again. ¡°All teams, concentrate fire on the regrowing leg, keep it down. Over.¡± The choir of the Binturongs stopped for a moment as they re-aimed their guns like a bunch of tall needles all turning. Then they started to fire again. She had a mere fourteen guns left. Team three had taken the biggest losses when they fired with the barrels aimed too low to the ground. Kassandora watched her guns fire, watched the shells soar through the air, and watched them explode and coat the remaining leg in flaming napalm. This had much more of an effect, the strands of vines burned up and turned to ash quickly without the massive bulk of the body to support it. Kassandora smiled to herself and felt her heartbeat slow down as her cheeks cooled down. At least one thing was going to plan. The Caretaker thrashed about, it had luckily landed on its own wing, disabling one arm in its own entanglement. It¡¯s free ¡®arm¡¯, a massive elaborate concoction, a moving skyscraper of Jungle fashioned together as if a giant had sewn it, smashed against the ground in fury. Kassandora looked away from the beast, and North, at Binturong Team Three. The vehicles were a sorry sight, three had their cannons blown straight off. That was another error she made sure to note down. What was a cannon that could not shoot low? Kassandora looked over at Sokolowski Team One. One vehicle was tracked, five were firing. Zalewski had all six of his original gun firing. Then one suddenly lost control of the turret, the barrel tilted sharply down, then slammed against the red dirt. Zalewski reported the problem immediately. ¡°We¡¯ve lost one gun, it¡¯s fucked. Over.¡± Kassandora clicked her radio again. ¡°Copy that, all units, slow down your rate of fire, fuck the Binturongs themselves, but we have to hold it for another four hours in position. Over.¡± She quickly thought of a plan. Judging from how quickly that monster regrew, if they stopped applying pressure to the leg, then she¡¯d give it ten minutes. ¡°Airbase, prepare all squadrons for a bombing run but keep them grounded. Launch them three hours. Over.¡± The absolute disaster of a tone from the airbase responded quickly. ¡°Copy that, all planes will be ready in twenty minutes if you need us. Over.¡± Kassandora was already waiting for them to finish so she could broadcast more orders. ¡°Cleric Cordon, retreat from the area, you have four hours to get at least twelve klicks away. Don¡¯t let civilians past you. Support bases, send out trucks, reinforce the cordon, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT let anyone pass you by. Over.¡± The various teams of Clerics responded sequentially. ¡°CCT-One, Copy.¡± And so on, ¡®CCT¡¯ for Cleric Cordon Team¡¯. Kassandora switched frequencies to the public channel. It was a shame that this maintained better radio silence than her actual military comms. ¡°This is Kassandora speaking. The imminent area around the Caretaker will be destroyed. Do not enter within twenty miles, no helicopters are to fly either. News Crews, to you specifically, you have been warned, no warning will be given.¡± She switched back to her own channels. ¡°Healer teams, retreat from the area. Make as much distance between you and the caretaker as possible. Over.¡± Kassandora looked back at her radio operators then realised they were mortals, they were only two kilometres away, only a mile and a half. Much too close for who was coming. Kassandora clicked her radio, but Kavaa beat her to it. ¡°What about me?¡± She asked in a quiet voice. ¡°How hot was Alkom¡¯s Sun when we stopped it in Olympiada?¡± Kassandora asked. Alkom¡¯s Sun was comparable, right? Kassandora smiled to herself. It wasn¡¯t comparable one bit, but then, they had stood close enough to touch it. ¡°Come over to me Kavaa. Neneria, tell Fer not to get close, I¡¯m pulling Kavaa out.¡± ¡°I heard you.¡± Neneria, even though she was breathing heavily, she still managed to sound annoyed. ¡°The Legion, I won¡¯t be able to hold for four more hours.¡± ¡°How long?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Three at the most, that¡¯s pushing it.¡± ¡°Keep it as long as you can. Can Fer hear me?¡± ¡°I can!¡± Fer shouted excitedly over the radio. ¡°Your radiomen are to pull out, get Neneria out once she pulls her Legion away. Iniri, Helenna, you retreat now, get past the cordon.¡± ¡°Understood, over.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°I can still help!¡± Iniri¡¯s voice buzzed through the steel headphone Kassandora was holding and the Goddess of War rolled her eyes. ¡°Iniri, get past the cordon, I¡¯m issuing a full retreat, get out NOW!¡± She shouted. ¡°Understood.¡± Iniri replied. ¡°Airbase, this is Kassandora, send a transport helicopter to pick up my team, I¡¯m not going, but they are. Over.¡± ¡°Copy that, helicopter will be at yours in twenty. Over.¡± Kassandora took a breath, that was everything sorted for now. She watched the general retreat. The Binturongs lowered their rate of fire, Kassandora wandered how long they¡¯d be able to keep pushing the machines for. The cordon around them slowly expanded, the few news crews who were being pushed away. More trucks were bringing ammunition to the artillery, those were allowed to pass through immediately. Then other trucks were madly spewing Clerics out to assist with the expansion of the line of men around the military area. Fer¡¯s two men were trying to haul their radios away on their backs. Kassandora appreciated the thought, although she clicked her radio. ¡°Fer¡¯s radio support. Leave the radios, just escape yourselves. Over.¡± They stopped, looked up at her on the cliff and took a breath. ¡°Thank you for that. Over.¡± They repeated as Kassandora watched them dump the massive backpacks they were carrying, both with several antennas still blinking with lights. Kassandora turned her eyes back to the Caretaker, it was still moving, slamming its massive skyscraper of an arm against the ground, and still stuck entangled in its wing. The other had reformed its skeletal structure, barks intertwined with each other as if they were threads, and was beginning to refill with leaves. The broken leg was still damaged, vines were cracking, but the Caretaker had changed its strategy. Beams of woods the size of container ships were beginning to emerge from its body and slowly expanding. They were covered in napalm, but the sheer size of them meant they weren¡¯t burning. Four hours. They needed to hold four hours. The helicopter came in seventeen minutes. It was too large to land here, and only hovered in mid-air, clearing the cliffside in a violent red waves. The map flew off the table and radio equipment fell over as the helicopter sent ladders down. The twelve men Kassandora had brought saluted, she saluted them back, they had done a good job after all, and climbed up to be evacuated. And so, three hours went by. Kavaa had managed to scale cliff herself and stood next to Kassandora, keeping watch, although she said little. Kassandora preferred it that way, battles weren¡¯t things for small talk. The Sun started to set, half of it disappeared behind the horizon. And Neneria¡¯s troops, her ghastly Legions, slowly started to fade. The air cavalry was had been charging and pestering the Caretaker like a swarm of angry flies.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Their pale green glows started to fade, then they simply blinked out of existence. The archers went next. Neneria held onto the siege weaponry, the various catapults and ballista and trebuchets until she couldn¡¯t. Kassandora watched her through her binoculars. Neneria waved her hands, her final troops disappeared and she took shaky steps towards Fer. Her legs moved as if they were made of jelly, Fer caught her quickly. Kassandora watched Neneria slowly put a hand around her sister, and the other moved to her ear. ¡°Ka¡­ Kassie, can¡¯t hold¡­¡± She sounded as if she had just ran a marathon. ¡°Tired¡­¡± Kassandora waited for her to get off the network, and then replied herself. ¡°Good job Neneria. Have Fer take you out of there.¡± Fer leaned over and answered for Neneria. ¡°I¡¯ve got her Kassie.¡± She said, then jumped into the air with Neneria on her back. That raven black cloak fluttering in the breeze. Even Fer wasn¡¯t moving as quickly, she must have burned through all the blood that Kassandora had given her with but nevertheless, in a few minutes, she had crossed the distance to get past the cordon. Kassandora clicked her radio. ¡°All Binturong teams, any vehicles that can still drive are to start evacuating immediately. Get all men out of there and report losses. Anything that is damaged, leave. Do not bother fixing it. Over.¡± Once again, the team commanders replied in sequential order. Sokolowski with Team One: ¡°Pulling out now. We have four guns left. Two have tracked themselves. Over.¡± Then Zalewski. ¡°Team Two pulling out. Five of them can drive, but only two guns are still operational. Over.¡± And Ekkerson. ¡°Team Three. Five guns pulling out. Two don¡¯t work, but they can still drive. Over¡± He sounded shocked as he said it. Kassandora was just as shocked that so many of the Binturongs had survived. She had expected maybe two or three vehicles left after putting them through so much stress. The three teams started to retreat, forming ranks and lines as the combined might of tread and wheel left massive clouds of dust behind them. Kassandora clicked her radio again. ¡°Airbase, launch Squadron One with a bombing run, aim for the area on fire already, not the main body. Napalm still burned over the body of the Caretaker, but it was dim, the creature had put it out by swallowing the flames in vegetation. A few minutes later, three planes screamed over the Caretaker, they dropped barrels of napalm which burst out over the creature. The Caretaker kept moving. Another bombing run came in ten minutes later. Airbase reported that the first three planes were still being loaded, this was Squadron Two. Once again, they bombed the leg, it was beginning to regenerate faster now. Those container-ship-sized beams of wood reached its poisoned limb and dragged it into position. The Caretaker kept moving. Another bombing. Squadron Four this time, the two 77Ts. The two planes dropped over a hundred tonnes of napalm over the beast in a massive carpet bombing run as it used its arm to push itself up from the ground. The wing was freed, it stabilized itself, the injured leg that had been detached moved as if it had not even been scratched. The Caretaker kept moving. ¡°Are you sure Plan B will work?¡± Kavaa asked from Kassandora¡¯s side. ¡°It will work.¡± Kassandora did not even have a doubt. The Caretaker stood up, the crocodile on its top grew fresh trees, the lion roared, the giant snake¡¯s head on the side of its body hissed, eyes locked on Kassandora. The Caretaker kept moving. Kassandora¡¯s radio turned on, it was an unfamiliar voice, but she had shared the frequency when she called Arascus. ¡°This is Captain Douglas of Raptor One speaking. Goddess Kassandora, are we free to drop? Over.¡± Kassandora smiled. Four hours had not even passed yet. Her father had always been fast when she asked. She looked up at the sky, two planes were coming in from the west, much faster than anything the Clerics possessed. ¡°Kassandora speaking. You are free. Over.¡± Kassandora clicked her radio off. Then turned it on again. Now was the endgame, there was no reason to not give it her all. ¡°All troops, go to ground and take cover. I repeat, all troops, go to ground and take cover. All squadrons, get out of the air. This is the final message. I repeat, this is the final message. All troops, retreat and take over.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that about?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± Kassandora said as she took a step back. There was a nice rock to sit on. Now that Plan B had arrived. ¡°We¡¯ve won Kavaa. You have nothing to do but sit and enjoy the fireworks.¡± But the Caretaker kept moving. Olephia looked back at Arascus as the door in the rear of Raptor One opened. ¡°It¡¯s that thing!¡± Arascus shouted, he held onto a steel pole as the wind raced passed them. Olephia looked down at the red Kirinyaan desert. It was beautiful sight, all those reds, the ocean of green Jungle in the direction they had just come from. The lake of grey ash separating them. Olephia looked back at Arascus, gave him two thumbs up, and took a step backwards off the plane. She fell through the air like a meteor about to bring another mass-extinction event. The Goddess of Chaos started to hum. ¡°You hear that Kavaa?¡± Kassandora asked. She recalled Joyeuse from the cliff, the blade materialized in her hand and she stabbed it into the ground. It was impossible to miss what she was talking about. Chaos¡¯ hum was overbearing, you could hear it over the red lightning that had suddenly started appearing, over those grey clouds of thunder that suddenly materialized. The red dirt started to steam, and the limbs of the Jungle¡¯s first abomination set alight. ¡°That¡¯s our victory song.¡± Yet the Caretaker still moved. Olephia looked down on the giant monster underneath her. Her eyes did everything to record the sight before her, she would paint it later. With that giant snake¡¯s head hissing at her, its maw large enough to swallow a castle, that lion roaring. The two vulture¡¯s wings, the crocodile jaw torn open as if it was a giant tree with a thick canopy, all held together by intertwining trees and vines. She smiled, it was good that even with how long she had lived, Arda still found ways to show her new sights. The monster moved a massive arm. A concoction of green and grey and brown as if to swipe her out of the air. Olephia¡¯s smile dropped. Her hum dimmed momentarily. She said a single word: ¡°No.¡± Kassandora squinted as Kavaa grabbed at her arm. That giant had just swung it¡¯s arm, and then that arm became a flash of light. An explosion burst from it, a ball of white light as if the Sun had appeared in a mere instant. The deafening sound came a second later. The wind a second after that. It snapped trees and blew rocks away as Kassandora stared forwards. Olephia had always awed her. She held onto Joyeuse with one arm, onto Kavaa with the other. When all that remained was a massive cloud rising into the air, the Caretaker roared. The arm it had swung had simply ceased to exist. It had been incinerated from Arda by the hellfire of Chaos, by forces not made for the understanding of mortals. And, somehow, defying all belief, the Caretaker still moved. Olephia looked down at the monster below her. Arascus had told her of it. It was apparently strong. She grew disappointed again. Strong? One word had destroyed it. She had wanted to play with someone for once. The snake¡¯s head hissed at her, those blood red eyes gazed forwards, and the monster moved its second arm. Olephia said two words this time. ¡°Stop. Die.¡± Kassandora held onto Kavaa as two more stars of bright white light flashed into existence for a moment, then disappeared. Another arm gone, burned, with all that remained of was a mushroom cloud that would dissipate soon enough. Olephia hovered in mid-air, in a violet dress that whipped about in the wind, her hair splayed out in all directions as if it was made of steel, the breeze did not even seem to touch it. Red lightning roared overheard, bulbous sores of cancer burst out over the Caretaker¡¯s form. The grew and metastasized and The sound came, then the wind. Kavaa wrapped tighter around Kassandora¡¯s arm as Of War with nothing but pure glee. And still, the Caretaker moved. Olephia smiled. Three words it had taken. This monster was quite the opponent. She needed something more powerful than that. She found something bigger in her arsenal. Something more relevant to the case at hand. She had miscalculated, this wasn¡¯t a monster she could kill. This was more like a fortress she needed to destroy. She needed something bigger. That was one, ¡®bigger.¡¯ It didn¡¯t fit though, ¡®bigger¡¯ was a thoroughly underwhelming word. She searched again and found it. A word to bring about the end of great fortresses and towering citadels. Her mouth twisted, and she said it: ¡°Destruction.¡± From that day, the maps would have to be redrawn. The land was engulfed in an explosion, and then it cleared up. A new crater had formed, perfectly round as if a ball had been taken out of the ground. Kassandora pulled Kavaa between her arms and put both her arms on her blade to hold on. When the dust had settled, Kassandora opened her eyes again. Olephia floated in the air. And the Caretaker was below her. A gaping hole in its chest, it¡¯s legs decimated. The snake was hissing, the roars and cries were coming from it as the Goddess of Chaos hovered from above. And yet, the Caretaker still moved. Olephia searched her mind¡¯s dictionary for a word. Sentences themselves did not hold power, they simply caused more reactions to occur, it was the matter of the word itself. She needed something overwhelming. She searched again, what would her dictionary show her. Oh. There it was. Hiding in plain sight: ¡®Dictionary¡¯. Four syllables, very strong. But it didn¡¯t fit the situation. Olephia searched again. Her mouth twisted into a smile. She found the perfect word. One that was rare for her to get away with using. She said it. ¡°Annihilation.¡± And there was nothing left of the Caretaker to move. End of Arc 3: The Divine Jungle Chapter 109 – Ex-White Pantheon, Meet Arascus. The whole world turned into the KTV broadcast. Simple gossip was worthless, no one wanted to see another episode of the markets imploding and the debates between politicians were a mere sideshow to today¡¯s main event. An excited pair of presenters, in warm suits and all smiles, watched the video for tenth time today, then turned to camera. The pretty lady spoke: ¡°You have to see it to believe it, Goddess Olephia has saved us Kirinyaa from the Caretaker.¡± She dramatically threw up her papers and gave a round of applause. Her partner, a handsome man, joined in. They clapped for a moment before he repeated the rest of the news. ¡°We¡¯ve already confirmed with Goddess Kassandora that although some Binturongs were damaged, no loss of life was sustained. The Reclamation War will continue at full speed, we are not going to stop until all of Arika is safe!¡± And more clapping and cheers. Kassandora sat in Helenna¡¯s tent and waited. She knew what was coming. The Caretaker had been wiped from the face of Arda only an hour ago. It had been submerged in a white explosion, Olephia had descended to the ground and walked off to meet Fer and Neneria. It was a sight Kassandora was sure she would remember for the rest of her life. ¡°You¡¯re a gangster in depression.¡± Helenna said as she crossed her arms. ¡°What does that even mean?¡± Kassandora asked. She felt as if she had shrunk. She could lead countless legions of men to their deaths, she could not even stand to face her sister. What would she even say? ¡°It means you¡¯re a gangster in depression.¡± Helenna replied as if that was supposed to make any sense whatsoever. Iniri and Kavaa were here too. All four of them wore the matching HAUPT suits, Iniri didn¡¯t like her war-dress much, and changed immediately. Kavaa was of the opinion that she should look presentable for the inevitable interviews that were going to come start coming. The fact it had taken so long for reporters was already a shock for her. ¡°And?¡± Kassandora asked, her voice low and moaning. She fiddled with her red hair. ¡°It means it doesn¡¯t fit you.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you of all people would have these problems.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t!¡± Kassandora half moaned, half shouted. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ what do I say?¡± She hated meeting her sisters after a long time. Whenever she returned from campaign, they would go, they¡¯d tell her how much she had grown, they¡¯d pat her head. They¡¯d treat like her a little sister. She hated it! ¡°You don¡¯t have to say anything.¡± Helenna said as she shook her head, her tone turned annoyed. ¡°What am I dealing with? Talk to her how you¡¯d talk to us!¡± Kassandora blinked. She had forgotten as she looked up. She had not told these ex-White Pantheon members that they were going to meet Arascus. Back then, she couldn¡¯t think of anything to say to calm them down, and the knowledge they would meet the man who had once led the Great War against them may have caused them to falter in battle. Now¡­ ¡°She¡¯s here!¡± Fer shouted from outside. Kassandora took a breath and looked up weakly at Helenna. ¡°Do you have a drink?¡± ¡°YOU ARE NOT TAKING A SHOT TO MEET YOUR SISTER!¡± Kassandora sighed. It was worth the attempt. Fer pulled the green curtain that separated protected Kassandora from the inevitable and stuck her head into the tent. Her golden mane trailed in, sticking in all directions, her ears jumped around, her yellow cat eyes grew large. They landed on Kassandora and Fer smiled smugly. She made a ridiculous grin and a laugh Kassandora despised. A ¡®hehehe¡¯ as if what she was about to witness was very funny. ¡°Little Kassie!¡± She cooed. ¡°It¡¯s not nice to hide.¡± Kassandora shot daggers with her glare at Fer and the woman laughed again, her tail whipped about behind her head. Hehehe. She turned. ¡°Olia! Dad! She¡¯s here!¡± Kassandora looked around at the three Goddesses around herself. Helenna, Kavaa and Iniri all looked flatly at Kassandora, as if in disbelief. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Dad?¡± She repeated the word as if she didn¡¯t what it meant. ¡°Oh yeah, he¡¯s here too!¡± Fer said excitedly as she pulled the curtain open. Kassandora pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them. She saw them both. Olephia, in a dark purple dress, silent as always. Her black hair cascaded down her back and she looked towards Kassandora with her violet eyes. Kassandora hated when people looked at her that way. It was a warm look, all loving and caring and longing, all the things that Kassandora did not deserve. And Arascus. Her father. She had been the last daughter he had adopted, and he had adopted with open arms. She still remembered his words. Give War a chance. He had given War a chance back then, and War had become his loyal supporter. He came in as he did back then, in a royal suit, with a red cape all capped off with white fur around the edges. A man who believed he would Emperor of the world, a man with forceful will to make her believe he could do it. And Kassandora sat there as Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri seemed to shrink in his presence. The three Goddesses looked at each other, half in shock, half in fear, and actually took a step back. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again Kass.¡± Arascus came in first. Kassandora buried her face deeper, and felt large arms around him, she was tall among the Divines, but he had always been the tallest.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°I should have called.¡± Kassandora knew she should have. She didn¡¯t know why she didn¡¯t. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t apologize now.¡± Arascus said gently, he pulled her chin up, gave her a kiss on the forehead as if she was a little girl and then took her hand. ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re safe. I was going to tell you off for not calling, but now I don¡¯t feel like it.¡± Kassandora hated how gentle he was with her. She was the Goddess of War, she was brought into this world to bring men to their knees. War had never been something to be loved and cared for. It was a necessary evil. ¡°Thank you.¡± Kassandora said weakly. Arascus smiled as if she had said something stupid, and pulled her up to stand in one simple movement. ¡°Olephia will just repeat what I was going to say anyway.¡± Kassandora looked up at Olephia before her. Of Chaos was tall for Divines, about Kassandora¡¯s eyes, but now she had tilted her head back to look down her nose at Kassandora. She took a step forwards, extended her palm, and slapped Kassandora across the cheek. Fer giggled from behind. Neneria had appeared too, they were both enjoying the show far too much. Then Olephia put her arms around Kassandora and squeezed tightly. Kassandora hugged her back. She hated that she couldn¡¯t simply relax in her sister¡¯s arms. Her arms had scanned the room, Helenna, Kavaa and Iniri had grouped together against a wall and were watching Arascus silently. He was looking at them with humour and curiosity. Eventually, Olephia pulled away. She pulled a notebook from a pocket in her purple dress, ripped off a piece of paper and handed it to Kassandora. Kassandora took it, she wanted to laugh and cry as Olephia started scrawling quickly: Kassie, you are absolutely one of the most despicable characters I know. Not despicable in that I hate you, you are simply despicable in the fact that you never called. You never even sent us a text message. I do not understand how you can act like this. You know I love. I know you love me. And yet you never contact me in anyway. I have nothing else to say, it is simply a despicable way of acting. We are not your co-workers or your soldiers Kassie. We are your family. Family stick to together¡­ Kassandora didn¡¯t finish the entire text before Olephia ripped it out of her hands and put it to her throat. Kassandora heard the quietest tingle of her Olephia¡¯s throat and the paper burned away from existence. It didn¡¯t even leave ash behind. Olephia handed Kassandora another piece of paper, with a bright smile painted onto her face. Kassandora took it and almost burst into tears: It¡¯s good to see you Kassie. I missed you. ¡°I missed you too.¡± Kassandora said and wrapped her arms around her sister again. This was a better hug. Warmer, longer, less tight. It was an embrace. Still though, Kassandora monitored the situation. No one said anything, Fer was making a stupid face. Neneria had grown bored of the situation and was looking around at the men running around outside. Kassandora finally broke the hug. She supposed she should say something to introduce the three to Arascus. It was¡­ Kassandora did not know what to say. Whenever Arascus was about, her mind simply relied on him, unless it was something related to direct open war and nothing else. Arascus must have realised that too. ¡°I am Arascus, God of Pride, although I think introductions are unnecessary for us.¡± He said and extended his arm. ¡°Kavaa, Helenna, Iniri, I thank all of you for saving Kassandora. You have my gratitude.¡± Kavaa nodded first, Kassandora saw her move, step forward and if to speak, and then prod Helenna with her elbow to get her to lead the conversation. Helenna was the Goddess of Love after all, talking was in her demesne. ¡°We¡­¡± Helenna said, then pulled herself up. Her posture steeled itself, she brought her head straight and readjusted her suit. ¡°What was in the past is history.¡± Arascus smiled, his dark hair fell down past his shoulders as he looked down on the three Goddesses. ¡°What was in the past is history.¡± He said. ¡°What happened in the Great War is ancient history.¡± He looked around the room. ¡°We¡¯re some of the few people still alive to remember it. There is no reason to dig up past grievances we¡¯ve had against each over.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not in any position to act on them.¡± Helenna said, then nodded to Kassandora. ¡°It¡¯s Kass who has become the star of the show here. We¡¯re not going to be an issue for you.¡± Arascus smiled to himself. Kassandora almost saw sparks between them as they looked each other down. ¡°I¡¯m not here to cause us anymore grievances either. As I said, I¡¯m aware the three of you rescued Kassandora, and Kavaa assisted in Baalka¡¯s rescue too.¡± He extended his arm. ¡°I¡¯m not here to cause you trouble, nor are you in any position to cause me trouble. Fer and Neneria have already vouched for you too. There is no reason to let our history taint what could be a productive future together.¡± Helenna looked down at Arascus¡¯ hand. Kassandora felt her fists curl as her heart pounded. This wasn¡¯t her demesne anymore. This was for them to decide. She should have said something earlier. She should have introduced them somehow. She should have¡­ She watched Helenna shake Arascus¡¯ hand. And he passed it to Kavaa. Kassandora watched Kavaa shake his hand. And he passed it to Iniri. And the Goddess of Nature shook his hand as well. Arascus smiled at them. ¡°It will be a pleasure working with you in the future. If you ever need assistance, ask for me or any of my daughters.¡± Helenna mustered up some of her strength, her hair went from a neutral brown to a vivid red. ¡°We fled from the Pantheon because we became pawns to use as Allasaria pleased. We¡¯re not going to become your pawns either. I just want to be clear from where we¡¯re coming from.¡± Arascus looked back at Kassandora in a grandiose manner, then at Helenna. ¡°Are you Kassandora¡¯s pawn?¡± Helenna responded immediately. ¡°No, we work with her and she works with us.¡± Kassandora didn¡¯t even know how she managed to make the woman think that. She had been doing nothing but assigning orders for the past two months. ¡°You will find working with me is little different than with Kassandora.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re not her.¡± ¡°And neither are you.¡± He looked around, at Kass, at Olephia, at Fer and Neneria outside. ¡°I came because Kass asked me to, but there is also things to discuss. Business to be done. Fer, your help will be needed.¡± Fer¡¯s ears jumped excitedly at that. ¡°We should discuss somewhere more comfortable than this tent though.¡± He took a step, then stopped at the door. Arascus had always been dramatic. ¡°Helenna, Kavaa, Iniri, you¡¯re invited to join. To see how it is working with me before you make your mind up.¡± Chapter 110 – To Claim A Continent ¡°Arascus¡¯ strength today is his image. We need to ruin it. He¡¯s made himself into a saviour of Ausa, and his daughters are going to free Arika of the Jungle. We can¡¯t let him continue like this.¡± ¡°And how do you want to do that exactly Elassa?¡± ¡°Contact EIE. Not all of his daughters are talented in speech.¡± ¡°Take your seats.¡± Arascus said. It wasn¡¯t entirely like the olden days, but it was damn close. With Divines sitting around a table and planning how to rule humanity. Fer, Neneria, Kassandora and Olephia took one side. Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri took the other. All of the Goddesses he adopted were competent, there wasn¡¯t one he wouldn¡¯t trust, but Kassandora had by the far the widest skillset of them all. She had been difficult to convince a long time ago, although that was because War was a mere ant when compared to the giants of Chaos, or Hatred, or Chaos. Even Of Beasthood was a greater demesne, but then the greater the demesne, the more focused it got. Fer would never be civilized, Olephia would never be one for speeches, but Kassandora could do it all, and she could do it well. The Reclamation War, which was entirely her doing, was a damn good move. They sat as Arascus indicated for them to sit. Neneria had prepared the tent, and what that meant was Neneria used her authority to scare some of Kassandora¡¯s soldiers into preparing a tent for them. It was a grand thing, heavy linens to shield them from the outside, with guards standing outside. Maybe Allasaria or Maisara, ever needing to be reassured of their authority would take issue with it. But Arascus did not mind the dull green of the tent, nor the tables that had been lined together to make something large enough for Divines to sit around. They didn¡¯t have chair even, only heavy crates that had been dragged here. Arascus did not care, there had never been a moment when he once doubted his authority, he was the God of Pride. One of the grandest demesnes in existence, it would go on for as long as humanity existed. He could sit in shit and feel proud for it. Arascus began. ¡°Kassandora, first of all, I would like to congratulate you on the Reclamation War.¡± Little Kassie always needed to be told she did a good job, all of them did, but Kassandora most of all. She had been prone to starting wars in the past when she wasn¡¯t praised enough. Kassandora blushed so deeply her cheeks became the same colour as her crimson hair. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± And that was classic Kassie. She wanted to praise, but she always felt dirty for receiving it. Arascus laid it on a bit thicker. ¡°With no support from me, you¡¯ve rescued Baalka and you¡¯ve started a campaign that will pull Arika into the Empire. There is something there to be proud of.¡± Kassandora readjusted her cap, still blushing deeply, and managed to utter a single phrase. ¡°Thank you.¡± Arascus turned to the three Goddess that had been in the White Pantheon only a few months prior. They were the ones this meeting had to concentrate on. The planning was secondary, the real goal was recruitment. They wouldn¡¯t join the ranks of Daughter-Goddesses, there was no chance of that, but Arascus had recruited Divines in the past, only minors, Gods of Cities and Goddesses of Weaponries. Some demanded powerful stations, others wealth or indulgences, some joined out of fanaticism, but they all had shared a similarity: They had all found a place to belong. These three, freshly out of the Pantheon, no doubt wanted something like that too. He had to lay it on nice at the start. ¡°And I would like to thank you three too. Kavaa, Iniri and Helenna.¡± He had said it once before, but this was a good show. It would tell them how much he appreciates his own underlings. ¡°Thank you for saving Kassandora.¡± ¡°We did it out of own will.¡± Kavaa replied coldly. She had changed into a similar style of uniform that Kassandora wore. Helenna had apparently designed them, they were a good fit. ¡°And?¡± Arascus leaned forwards. ¡°You did it for yourselves, but you still saved someone precious to me.¡± Kassandora started to play with her fingers as Fer looked over and grinned at her sister. ¡°I do not see a difference between you saving Kassandora and saving me.¡± ¡°We had our own reasons, is what I¡¯m saying.¡± Kavaa reiterated, her voice colder this time, and harder. Arascus had expected them to be argumentative. ¡°I¡¯m not here to interrogate you for your reasons.¡± There was no need to. Before the Great War started, he had worked with each and every member of the White Pantheon. He knew what it was like to deal with them. That was precisely why Fortia, Maisara, Elassa nor Allasaria ever got an invitation to join. ¡°I¡¯m here to talk about the future.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not working with you.¡± Kavaa said. Helenna leaned forwards, put her arms on the table and interlocked her fingers. It creaked underneath her weight. Arascus let her think, she obviously wanted to say something. ¡°Now Kavaa.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I agree with you on one hand.¡± She looked to Arascus, her hair going red like Kassandora¡¯s. ¡°We cannot work with you, but also¡­¡± Arascus let her finish again. Allasaria was one to tell people what to think, he had an entirely different way of working people. ¡°Well¡­ we don¡¯t have much of a choice now do we?¡± Kavaa leaned back, crossed her arms over chest and sighed. Iniri took the initiative. ¡°Fer did save me.¡± Arascus saw the opening and he took it immediately. ¡°You don¡¯t have to make a decision now.¡± That would be the exact opposite of how Allasaria treated them, it would be the best move right now. Of all the Gods, he had a talent only a few possessed; he could make people want to work for him. ¡°But, I have one thing. Me and my daughters will plan our next move here. You are welcome to stay, but if you stay, I want nothing to be said of our conversation, to anyone. If you leave, I will not hold it against you.¡± It was the illusion of choice, no one in their right mind would give up being in one of his meetings, especially when it would be so important, and he wasn¡¯t actually going to say anything top-secret here anyway. There would be no mention of locations, nor any names being dropped that they didn¡¯t already know.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I¡¯m staying.¡± Iniri said first. Helenna followed up shortly. ¡°I will too then.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll stay likewise.¡± Kavaa echoed. And they were caught, hook, line and sinker. It was rare for someone to come to work with him. Arascus always considered himself as a man with a shovel, he dug the stream, water simply started flowing and following him. By the time they realised they were only a drop in the river, they would be caught by its currents. It was time for the meeting, something that would be expected, yet something that would pull them further away from the White Pantheon. The Goddesses themselves weren¡¯t that important, Kavaa¡¯s hundred thousand Clerics were the big prize to aim for. ¡°Arcadia.¡± Arascus said and the mood dropped. Neneria leaned back, Fer¡¯s ears collapsed. Kassandora whistled. The three White Pantheon Goddesses gave each other dirty looks. Only Olephia seemed happy, but then there was little that perturbed Olephia. ¡°Anassa is in Arcadia.¡± Arascus said. ¡°She¡¯s held in the Divine Library.¡± Helenna said, rather proud of herself, as her hair turned red. Arascus did not tell her he knew already. ¡°Kassandora, me and you will make a plan for this.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I already have one pre-emptive one, designed by myself and Iliyal.¡± Kassandora nodded. Neneria raised her hands. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be part of it.¡± Her Dead Legion could only be harmed by magic. Harmed was the wrong word to use though, any half-competent mage could dispel a ghost. A hundred mages could crush her. ¡°You¡¯re not.¡± ¡°There¡¯s millions of mages in Arcadia though.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°And Elassa can get from Olympiada to Arcadia in the span of three hours. That¡¯s if she¡¯s not going to be in Arcadia when you¡¯re there.¡± ¡°Arika gave us an opening.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Our foot¡¯s in the door, now we just have to find a way to get leverage and drag her to Kirinyaa.¡± ¡°And then what?¡± Kavaa asked sharply. Arascus shrugged. ¡°Nothing has to happen, Elassa being here would give us a few days of opening if she had to travel by herself, but realistically, we have twelve hours if she takes the plane.¡± ¡°Elassa hates planes.¡± Iniri said. Kassandora interjected. ¡°We¡¯re working with the assumption she¡¯ll be using one. If she doesn¡¯t, then that just means we have more time.¡± ¡°So it will be me then.¡± Fer said. ¡°I¡¯ll be the one that¡¯s to breach Arcadia.¡± Arascus nodded. ¡°It won¡¯t be a full assault, I would lead it then. But for an in and out job, the smaller the team the better.¡± Olephia slammed a piece of paper down on the table: And me? Arascus shook his head. ¡°Could you do it? Yes. But we¡¯re not here to cause magicide.¡± Olephia smiled and wrote down a reply: Magicide. Good word, very strong. ¡°Even with beastmen¡­¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I don¡¯t see how.¡± This part would be kept secret, there was no reason for Kavaa, Helenna or Iniri to know anything that they could use as leverage to negotiate with Arascus with. The fact he would be out to free Anassa should be obvious, she was another of his daughter Goddesses and now that these three were working with Kassandora¡­ well¡­ Elassa and Allasaria weren¡¯t idiots, even they should be able to realise his next move. ¡°We have a policy we developed in the first year of the Great War. Only me and Kassandora know the complete plans, and then people who are relevant to the situation know what they are doing.¡± Arascus said slowly. ¡°I¡¯m not here to offend, but Neneria and Olephia will not know either.¡± Helenna nodded along and Kavaa furrowed her brows. ¡°If you¡¯re not going to tell me, just say it outright.¡± She said coldly. Arascus looked her right in her cold silver eyes. They shone like Kassandora¡¯s did back then, a woman who worked and did little more. He replied in a flat tone to match her coldness. ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Kavaa said, somewhat satisfied with herself. ¡°That I can respect at least.¡± ¡°The opening is what we are here to discuss.¡± Arascus said. ¡°You mean, the opening of how we drag the White Pantheon here?¡± Kavaa leaned forwards. So she did want to partake in the organisation. Arascus held his smile, it was always like this. She was a drop of water that was swallowed up by the currents even faster than he could have hoped for. ¡°We break Pantheon Peace officially, very simple.¡± She tapped the table and looked at Kassandora. ¡°The creation of a formal army would be easy to do. Kirinyaa is primed for one, as is Ausa and the other Jungle neighbouring states.¡± ¡°Ausa would love an army, and it could field a fleet too.¡± ¡°A fleet?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°How? Warships are¡­¡± Kassandora answered for Arascus. ¡°You¡¯ll mount napalm artillery on ships. By the time complaints come in, the ships will be half-built in drydocks.¡± He was going to say the same thing. A ship was an investment, once Ausa put the money down, they would want to stick to it. ¡°In regards to napalm artillery, the Binturongs are worthless.¡± ¡°Worthless?¡± Kavaa asked. Arascus had not been reading many of the reports about them, he only knew that Alash was designed a Mark Two already in Karaina. Fer leaned forwards, her voice jokingly deep to show she was playing a character. ¡°Fucking overdesigned piece of fucking shit. You can tell some fucking labrat made these. That¡¯s the review by your engineers.¡± She wagged a finger at Kavaa. ¡°They break apart too much, we had this issue with the same cannons and muskets back then.¡± Kavaa¡¯s and Iniri¡¯s eyes widened as they looked at Fer. ¡°Since when do you know about technology?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the Goddess of Beasthood, evolution is written into me.¡± Fer shrugged. ¡°The issue beastmen have is bloodlust and temperament rather than inability to create. The herds wore armour too.¡± ¡°That they did.¡± Kavaa said and Fer smiled knowingly at her. ¡°We can use the Jungle pretence to field test more vehicles. We need a vehicle capable of direct fire.¡± ¡°I would suggest arming helicopters.¡± Neneria said quietly. Olephia loudly slammed a piece of paper down. Atomic Bombs. She grinned to everyone at the table. Her smile so wide it almost reached her violet eyes. Everyone returned with a pale expression and Olephia shook her head to write more down on the piece of paper: I was reading about nuclear reactor accidents. They blow up. How hard would it be to copy that with a bomb? Kavaa¡¯s cheeks went white, Helenna¡¯s hair pale, Iniri¡¯s eyes bulged. Fer and Neneria both turned to look at their sister in shock. And then Arascus saw Kassandora¡¯s smile. He saw her red eyes, glowing with the red crimson of War¡¯s flames. He saw their excitement, she saw him, and he knew her expression was reflected in his. This was a weapon worthy of the modern age. A weapon to singlehandedly claim a continent. Maybe even the whole world. Chapter 111 – The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Seen Arascus stared at the piece of paper. Fer grinned widely. Kavaa shook her head. Helenna scratched hers. Iniri¡¯s face went pale. Olephia gave two thumbs up. Neneria sighed reflexively. Only Kassandora grinned. Fer finally spoke. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡°Mikhail has arrived.¡± Iliyal stood up and grabbed the latest report Kassandora had sent as Alee let in the man. It was a review of the Binturong Mark Two, and not a pleasant one at that. Mikhail could probably take it, he took her other replies and those used far more¡­ colourful language. Iliyal looked at the maid, without Arascus about, she had gotten far more unpleasant to deal with. Far more aggressive and intrusive, Iliyal had no idea what she liked about him. She stood there, dark eyes watching him and a terrible smile on her face. Arascus sighed and waved her away as Mikhail stepped in. ¡°Wait!¡± He shouted. ¡°Bring Fleur and Edmonton.¡± Alee¡¯s smile dropped. ¡°And here I thought you wanted some rest.¡± Iliyal shooed her away with his hands and she disappeared behind the sliding door. Mikhail looked at her, then at Iliyal. ¡°She likes you.¡± He said. Iliyal shook his head and waved for Mikhail to sit on the other side of the desk. ¡°I know she does.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I don¡¯t know why.¡± ¡°An elven general? Ever in his prime? Blessed by Kassandora?¡± Mikhail said idly. ¡°It¡¯s not hard to put two and two together on what¡¯s going on in her mind.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not here for gossip.¡± Iliyal shut him up and threw Kassandora report at him. ¡°Here¡¯s a reply to what to your SPG BM2. Kassandora wanted to rename it to SPA, self-propelled artillery.¡± ¡°Not hard to do.¡± Mikhail unbuttoned the top button of his white shirt. He had come in a suit, the man was travelling first class everywhere at this point, he had to look the part, although it was obvious he didn¡¯t like the formal dress Sara had designed for him. His expression dropped when he opened the page. It was a printed copy of what he had written, with red text in Kassandora¡¯s clean handwriting marking almost every page. Binturong Mark Two. ¨C This is a Binturong Mark 0.5 Armour: 15mm of Steel alloy ¨C Why are we going heavier? This is a long range weapon, it doesn¡¯t need to be armoured this much. Speed: 24km/h ¨C The M1 is slow enough at 40. Why have we made this slower? Seven gears ¨C The M1 already has enough trouble with four gears. You¡¯ve made it slower and added even more gears and points of failure. Range: 30 Kilometres ¨C Good. Fuel range: 180 Kilometres ¨C I forgot we have a travelling gas station with us. Autoloader: You¡¯ve increased the minimum crew to five and yet still added whatever the fuck this is. The Binturong cannot keep up maximum rate of fire when it¡¯s manually loaded. What is the point in this? Thinner treads ¨C Is there a reason for this? Why change what isn¡¯t broken? Glass driver¡¯s window - The hardened plastic is good enough and it doesn¡¯t shatter. Don¡¯t use glass. You¡¯ve made something worse in every way, with more points of failure and complicated mechanisms that are prone to failure. You are to put a big gun on the back of a truck. That¡¯s it. Searching years for a ¡°perfect¡± is worse than having a ¡°good enough¡± now. ¡°Kassandora likes it I see.¡± Mikhail said as he turned the page. Even more red here. ¡°She wants something simple, this is why I called you. She called me and told me to drill it into your head. A cannon on a truck. Lightly armoured and fast. It doesn¡¯t need full rotation, we have ammunition trucks so it doesn¡¯t need an internal storage. We need something that is fast.¡± Iliyal thought for a moment. The engineer needed to understand in a way that engineers understood.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°So this is too specialized then?¡± Iliyal heard two swords clash in his head, they made a spark, and that spark turned on a lightbulb. ¡°Light artillery.¡± That was the language. Then he caught himself, they had light artillery in the past, he didn¡¯t want mortars that had a range of a few kilometres. ¡°The light version, of heavy artillery. Understood?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°This is heavy artillery.¡± Iliyal tapped the diagram of the Binturong design. ¡°We need a version of this that is lighter. Think about it like this, this is used for sieging Olympiada, now we need field artillery to be used to support battles. Things that can quickly duck in and out of cover, things that don¡¯t matter if they¡¯re destroyed because their replaceable.¡± ¡°So you don¡¯t want a Binturong then?¡± Mikhail asked. ¡°Not a Binturong.¡± Mikhail Alash leaned back and clapped his hands. ¡°You should have said so earlier! We have several designs for new models. The only reason we tried this was because you said you wanted to redesign the Binturong.¡± ¡°The factories in Arika are going to be building this chassis.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Then it¡¯s the factories or the design. Something has to be changed.¡± Iliyal sighed. He got a bottle of whiskey out from underneath the desk and poured the two of them a drink. It was as much a pleasant gesture as it was for later. Iliyal always needed a drink when writing a report to Kassandora recently, she back as the Goddess of War, and War demanded and took and burned whatever it touched. ¡°I¡¯ll contact Kassandora then.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°But that¡¯s for later, you can submit the designs, but we have a change of plans.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°It¡¯s more up your alley. We need guns.¡± ¡°We have a new version of the Alash. Better, we used the Binturong design, it¡¯s rapid fire.¡± ¡°Guns for beastmen. I¡¯ve sent a team to Kira already you can use for testing, but they have to travel on foot.¡± There was no reason to explain why, the beastmen were being kept secret. They couldn¡¯t just ride a plane. ¡°There¡¯ll be there a few days after you return.¡± ¡°Guns for beastmen?¡± ¡°Go fucking crazy with them.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Iliyal raised his and Mikhail clinked his. He took a small sip. ¡°Whatever you want, consider these prototypes for a human army. I¡¯m going to send elves in a month, I want long-range weaponry for them.¡± ¡°Guns are long range.¡± ¡°I meant sniper rifles.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Iliyal smiled ¡°And the beastmen?¡± ¡°Anything and everything, they¡¯ll talk with you there. Beastmen prefer things easy to use that can be used as clubs too. But go crazy, fuck, make a napalm gun if you can.¡± ¡°We already have a design for a flamethrower.¡± ¡°Then stick it on a minotaur. Mikhail, we¡¯re outfitting a warherd that will make the world shake in fear. Anything and everything you can think of, do it.¡± Mikhail smiled and took another sip. ¡°That¡¯s wonderful news.¡± ¡°I have some bad news too.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Arascus requested half your engineers. Not the gunsmiths, choose ones that work with engines and so on. You¡¯re on permanent gun duty.¡± Mikhail¡¯s smile got only wider. ¡°I thought you just said you had bad news.¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s news in either way.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a weapon designer, not a mechanic, this is excellent news.¡± ¡°Well at least one of us are happy then.¡± Iliyal replied and then looked at Mikhail again. He was grinning wide, smiling with the thought that he was allowed to do anything he wished to do as long as it armed the beastmen. ¡°They¡¯ll need armour too.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Not steel, something more¡­ I don¡¯t know. I just thought of it. But if you can, it¡¯d be grand.¡± ¡°Armour isn¡¯t my domain.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°I¡¯ll look around then.¡± Iliyal said. Honestly, he preferred this answer. It was better to simply deny than to make a mess and then have Iliyal clean up after. ¡°That¡¯s everything, you¡¯re free to go.¡± ¡°Short meeting.¡± ¡°There was little to say, take the reports.¡± Mikhail nodded to the paper on the table. ¡°I¡¯ll send the prototype designs, pick one, I¡¯ll think of a name too.¡± Iliyal rolled his eyes. It would be something terrible again. What sort of name was Binturong anyway? Mikhail stood up, tapped the papers on the table to get them into one block and saluted. Iliyal dismissed him with his own salute and the man left. Alee was already outside. With Fleur and Edmonton there. Alee was wearing her black maid dress. Fleur was in vicious purple, Edmonton in a black and white suit that made him look ready for a business meeting. Alee led them in, saw the unfinished glass of whiskey and picked it up. ¡°That¡¯s Alash¡¯s¡± Her smirk dropped, she put it down, picked up Iliyal¡¯s and drank his. ¡°That¡¯s an executable offence.¡± Iliyal said flatly. ¡°I bet you¡¯d love to execute me.¡± ¡°I fucking would.¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± She raised an eyebrow, her tone low and sultry. ¡°You want to-¡° Edmonton interrupted her with a cough. Fleur crossed her arms and spoke. ¡°Alright lovebirds, what do you want?¡± ¡°I wanted you two, privately.¡± Iliyal narrowed his eyes at Alee. The maid rolled her eyes and left. ¡°Classic.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°You should just sleep with her already.¡± Fleur added her own smart comment. Iliyal felt a vein pop in his neck. ¡°If I wanted relationship advice, I have access to the Goddess of Love thank you very much.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Now, I brought you in to tell you what you two are going to be doing.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sending you back to Arcadia.¡± Chapter 112 – Beasthood’s Wordgames Iliyal, Ilwin and Sara sat around for their nightly watch of Arikan news. Kirinyaa had taken centre stage of the world, with KTV broadcasting Kassandora, Kavaa, Helenna, or a discussion panel about them, every night. Now though, it was EIE¡¯s turn. King Wissel of Doschia sat down to watch EIE. He was on a phone call with King Richard VI, and Aimone of Rilia. Today was apparently the White Pantheon¡¯s counterattack with EIE. Something to discredit Arascus finally. ¡°I am paying attention.¡± Fer scrolled to a picture of lion cubs born in Nanbasa¡¯s zoo. Very cute! Their natural habitat had long been taken over by the Jungle and the species was on the verge of extinction. The zoo was throwing a celebration tomorrow. Fer made plans in her head to attend. ¡°You¡¯re on your phone! I¡¯ve made you a script!¡± Helenna said again. ¡°I don¡¯t need a script.¡± Fer said as she looked at herself in the mirror. EIE had obviously prepared for their interview with her. She had a large room she didn¡¯t even need to kneel in, a mirror, several chairs large enough for Arascus. Fer fiddled with her shirt and undid the top button. ¡°That¡¯s not a professional look.¡± Helenna said. She herself had come in the sleek black HAUPT uniform. Fer¡¯s had arrived, but it didn¡¯t fit for what Fer was about to pull off. She something lighter, the HAUPT uniforms were military gear. This white shirt, the shorts, her tail swing behind her back. That was the look she was going for. ¡°I brought you because you wanted to come.¡± Fer said. ¡°I don¡¯t need help when I play games.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a game! And I wanted to help you!¡± Helenna, her hair going to a light pink. An ugly colour, it was a sign of exasperation from what Fer had worked out. Fer blinked and realised it was actually a brilliant suggestion. She pointed to Helenna¡¯s hair. ¡°I want this colour as lipstick.¡± ¡°Why? It¡¯s terrible.¡± ¡°It brings more attention to my eyes.¡± Less contrast with her skin, and she was far more emotive with her eyes than others. The most she could do with her mouth was smile or snarl. Helenna found it one of the closets and brought it to Fer. It tasted terrible. ¡°Do you know why they called for me?¡± Fer asked. She smiled into the mirror, the pale pink was a good touch, her eyes were now the focus. That, and teeth, her fangs revealed themselves. Nice and sharp and spotless white. She got a pair of fake glasses and put them over her eyes, the hosts had been wearing glasses, they were only here as bait. But still, she was cute! ¡°Because you¡¯re you.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Because you¡¯re the Goddess of Beasthood.¡± ¡°Pack master. The Scourge of the Steppe. Forest Stalker. The reason you don¡¯t let your children play in the forest. Plague upon Civilization. Manhunter. Bloodmother. Queen of Claw and Fang. Beast-Queen. Sovereign of the Wilds.¡± Fer listed off her titles in a flat tone. ¡°She Who Devours the Tamed.¡± That one she always liked. ¡°Goddess of Beasthood, a person like that holding a public interview can only be disaster, can¡¯t it?¡± Helenna shrugged. ¡°Well¡­ yes.¡± She said quietly. Fer turned to face Helenna. This little Goddess of Love was very cute too! She grabbed Helenna¡¯s shoulders and lifted her off her feet to be face to face with her. ¡°Animals were speaking together long before mankind did. I know how to hold a conversation. There is nothing to worry about.¡± ¡°I know you do¡­¡± Helenna said. ¡°But¡­ I mean¡­¡± Fer gently set Helenna down and the Goddess of Love showed her the papers. ¡°I¡¯ve found out what they¡¯ll be asking and¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you did.¡± Fer put a hand on her hip and wagged a finger at Helenna. She always liked doing this to people, Big Sister Irinika had done it to her more than once. ¡°But I¡¯m not Kassandora, who needs to know everything in advance. I¡¯m not Nene, who will simply go quiet and kill you. I¡¯m not Olephia, who will show off paintings. I¡¯m Fer. I¡¯m a natural at this.¡± ¡°Are you?¡± Helenna asked, her expression low. ¡°Did Kassie even try to stop me? What about Dad? Did he give me a lesson on this?¡± Fer kept wagging her finger. ¡°No. Why? Because this isn¡¯t the White Pantheon Helenna. If Neneria got this interview, we would have denied it immediately. If Kassie, or Me, or Dad, get it, we accept immediately.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Helenna sighed. ¡°I mean¡­¡± Fer rolled her eyes, people always underestimated her ability at reading people. She didn¡¯t know why, dogs could detect the quality of a person by sixth sense alone. Shouldn¡¯t everyone just be able to put two and two together? If dogs could do it, and she was the Goddess of Beasthood, shouldn¡¯t she be able to? ¡°You feel like you owe me because I helped rescue Iniri. Now you want to pay this favour back. Helenna, if I ever need assistance, I¡¯ll ask you, but I don¡¯t need assistance for this.¡± Helenna fell back and shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re different to Kass.¡± ¡°I¡¯m direct, Kassie is roundabout.¡± Fer said. ¡°Simple as that. I know why you¡¯re here and I¡¯m happy you came.¡± A green light buzzed above them. That was the signal EIE was ready for their set-up job. ¡°That¡¯s the signal.¡± ¡°That is the signal.¡± Fer said. ¡°Trust me, I¡¯m a natural at this.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t doubt you.¡± Helenna said. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Watch and learn Helenna.¡± Fer had always wanted to say those words. Her other sisters had said them, even Olephia had written them down before. ¡°Watch and learn.¡± They did taste good. ¡°Learn what?¡± Helenna asked flatly. Fer eyebrows shot up and her ears stood straight. Actually, she didn¡¯t think of an answer to this. She just liked the words. She turned to Helenna and stuck out her tongue. ¡°Why animals evolved to be cute Helenna. That¡¯s what we¡¯re learning today.¡± She clapped her hands and set off before Helenna could ask another question. There were assistants about crewmen and so on. Everyone moved out of their way, Fer towered half again over the tallest man¡¯s height. Helenna was at least a full head higher. This, Fer always appreciated her divinity for. She didn¡¯t like to step out of people¡¯s way. The interview room was already set. Four people, two aged men and two rather grumpy women were already there. They had stacks of papers about them. Cups of water on their desk, that was a large brown thing of Kirinyaan wood. There was a chair ready for Fer, opposite them. Fer¡¯s eyes scanned the room immediately. The lights were aimed at them, there was a slightly duller for where Fer would sit. Cast her in shadow, very obvious. The cameras would be looking up at her, that was another classic, looking up at someone made them big and imposing and scary. The chair itself was rather dull and flimsy looking. Fer was sure it wouldn¡¯t collapse, but there was no way a person sitting on that would be taken seriously. There was a carpet of crimson red underneath it. No doubt to try and evoke an image of the Goddess of Beasthood sitting in a puddle of blood. A steel beam separated them in the background, that was obvious too, to draw a line between reasonable humanity and unreasonable divinity. Two monitors in the background. Fer smiled at the cameras. There was full crew of busy young men and women behind them. Working hard no doubt. She wanted to burst out in laughter. Thirty people were managing four cameras. If Kassie was here, she would have cut the number down to five. Maybe six. She waved and stepped into view. Sara and Ilwin looked at Iliyal grinning from ear to ear. They were sharing a bottle of vodka for this interview, Fer apparently liked vodka and it was a toast to her. ¡°Why are you so happy? This is a set-up job.¡± Sara asked. ¡°You don¡¯t know Fer.¡± Fer walked to her chair and made a show of inspecting. Hands on hips, back to the cameras. Tail swinging about. She had decided what to do immediately, but there was always a tinge of sadistic pleasure to be had when she didn¡¯t follow others plans. She picked it up, moved it, and sat crossed-legged on the carpet. So much for their flimsy high chair and cameras pointed up at her. One of the interviewers, a balding man in glasses coughed. ¡°We did prepare a chair for you.¡± He said quietly. Fer ignored him and fiddled with the clip-on microphone. She knew exactly what she was doing. This procedure had been explained five times to her already. But still, she was the Goddess of Beasthood, is there anyone who expected the Goddess of Beasthood to not be just a little of a klutz? She purposefully flicked it on. ¡°Sitting cross-legged is good for your back.¡± Fer answered. That, she entirely made up on the spot. She had simply always sat cross legged, it was more comfortable for her. One of the crew members motioned for her to turn the microphone off. Fer ignored him. The four interviewers gave each other sad looks. This was for show too, and then turned to Fer. ¡°This is the Goddess of Beasthood.¡± One of the men raised his hand to indicate to Fer. The words sounded weak though, it was hard to use that title when Fer was sat on the floor grinning from ear to ear. ¡°We have an expert set of historians well versed in Divinity today. Introductions please.¡± Fer was obviously going to be introduced last, then the host would introduce himself. That wasn¡¯t going to be plan, you either introduced yourself first or last, never in the middle. That¡¯s how you made an impression. Kassie had taught her that.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I am Fer, Goddess of Beasthood.¡± Fer said with a grin. A man behind the cameras threw his arms up in exasperation. The other historians took their turn speaking, obviously trying to hide their annoyance. Fer didn¡¯t even know what they were expecting here. She was a Goddess, who was she to wait for them to finish? ¡°Owyn Jordan.¡± One of the men said, a young man, early thirties, with a face so soft he probably never spent a day working in his life. ¡°Editor to the Divine Encyclopaedia of Epa.¡± Fer looked at the camera and whispered into her microphone. ¡°Not even the writer.¡± She was sure it would be picked up. ¡°Ana Kennedy.¡± The first of the grumpy women introduced themselves. A thin woman, with her hair in a bundle in the back, a pair of ridiculously large glasses on her face. ¡°Professor of Divines studies in the Union.¡± Fer rolled her eyes. Fer whispered again, she wasn¡¯t as slow as they thought she was. ¡°No university named, very high-class then.¡± ¡°Lain Alkar.¡± The last woman said. Frankly, Fer did not think highly of her just from sight, she was sixty something dressed in a suit that would have been outdated twenty years ago. ¡°Journalist reporting for EIE on the Reclamation War.¡± From the tone, it was obvious she did not think highly of it. Fer smiled. An editor, a professor and a journalist. She had expected scholars and philosophers. This would be brutal. Fer whispered once again, her voice full of sarcasm. ¡°The Arikan Jungle Crisis, brought to you straight from Epa!¡± ¡°And I¡¯m your host. Clive Aniker, proud to have the first interview for Epa with Fer.¡± Fer grinned and waved her hand. All the attention would be on her. ¡°So¡­¡± Fer immediately took charge. ¡°I¡¯m sure you have things to ask me.¡± Clive blinked and readjusted his glasses. ¡°Ahh¡­ yes¡­¡± The host regained his demeanour and Fer had to contain her laughter. This was a host? She remembered arguing for her herds with Kassandora¡¯s Generals in the past. Those were men that simply dominated rooms. Iliyal was one of them, there was little that could get under his skin back then. ¡°Well first of all, we have some questions from EIE before we get to the debate. What do you make of the Reclamation War?¡± Fer raised an eyebrow. This was a question? This was nothing. ¡°I think it¡¯s going well.¡± The host had his follow up already prepared. ¡°In regards to the Caretaker issue, do you not think it is dangerous to aggravate the Jungle?¡± Fer shrugged. ¡°Is something worth doing if it¡¯s safe? Is it better to let the continent fall to the Jungle?¡± ¡°But we¡¯ve taken damage in the latest assault.¡± Fer¡¯s ears stood up and she angled her eyes. If he was going to take an argumentative tone, she would show him why you didn¡¯t aggravate a wolf. ¡°There is no we, news-presenter-man.¡± She explicitly avoided his name. ¡°We, as in the people of Kirinyaa, the Clerics, and us, the Divines, have taken damage, that is true. About fifteen of the Binturongs were damaged. That¡¯s it. No loss of life. So we¡¯ve fended very well for ourselves.¡± ¡°And if more Caretakers arise?¡± ¡°Let them come.¡± Fer said. ¡°Are we supposed to beg the Jungle to not swallow Arika instead?¡± The host fell silent. Fer knew why, he had maybe fifteen questions prepared for what was supposed to be a thirty minute interview. She smiled at him. ¡°In that case, why does Olephia not-¡° Fer cut him off. ¡°Strategic plans are not relayed to me. You would have to ask Kassandora.¡± There you go sister. Hopefully they would be stupid enough to get Kassandora on the live stage. Fer, as talented as she was, knew she could only be brutal, her little sister would leave a bloodbath. ¡°I apologize.¡± People liked it when you were humble. ¡°But I cannot talk of why something is done or something isn¡¯t done. Divines don¡¯t read minds.¡± The host looked over to one of the women. What was her name again? Ana? ¡°There are some Divines who do.¡± The woman said, obviously taken aback she had to come in so early. ¡°You should ask one of them then.¡± Fer said. ¡°None I know do and I¡¯m sure I¡¯m on a first-name basis with more of them than you are.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve studied with countless Invention Divines.¡± Fer burst out in laughter and wiped her eyes. It was a natural reaction, but she did play it up. ¡°I was talking about Of Death and Of War, not Of Windows and Of Wires.¡± There we go. People liked when you were strong, but likewise humans did not think highly of Divines, and Inventions were the worst of the lot. Twice as grandiose as the highest Abstracts because they had something to prove. At the end of the day though, a God of Forks was nothing but a fucking joke! Fer giggled once again as she thought of a snarky comment that didn¡¯t have swearing, can¡¯t have that on TV! ¡°Gods of Spoons should stick to spoons.¡± The host tried to regain control. ¡°In regards to that, do you have any plans to expand the Reclamation War to other Arikan countries?¡± Fer had a polite answer to this, which was yes, if they were willing, but she simply did not like these people. ¡°Ask Kassandora, I¡¯m don¡¯t deal with strategy.¡± Fer smiled at the camera as the host sighed. What did they even expect? For her to get mad? She didn¡¯t get mad or annoyed when ants crawled up her leg, she simply brushed them off. ¡°And in regards to the damaged Binturongs?¡± Fer sighed. ¡°I was told this would be an interview questioning me, not Kassandora. You should have done your research.¡± That last line was pure bait. ¡°We did but it¡¯s hard to find any modern sources about you.¡± The host said. ¡°You¡¯re a rather secretive Goddess, wouldn¡¯t you say?¡± Fer wanted to burst out in glee. She let the man dig his hole though. Sometimes prey really did wander into the open and go to sleep. ¡°I¡¯m easy going and open.¡± Fer said. ¡°Well I wouldn¡¯t be sure about that.¡± Clive said. That was the host¡¯s name, right? Clive? Fer didn¡¯t like it. ¡°I think I am.¡± ¡°Helenna for example takes interviews all the time to explain the situation, but this is the first time you¡¯ve agreed to an interview.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve got a request, but I even have an account on YapYap.¡± Fer said. ¡°It¡¯s Very underscore Real underscore Fer.¡± The four people¡¯s eyes on the stage bulged. One of the women even pulled out her phone. ¡°You can pull it up now, it¡¯s publicly accessible. I don¡¯t private anything.¡± Fer grinned. She knew exactly what the millions of people would be doing at home right now. One of the screens turned from black to a feed of Fer¡¯s account. There she was, smiling wide, fangs exposed and eyes closed and making a peace sign. It scrolled down, it was all pictures she had taken of animals with descriptions. The lion cubs that had been born in Nanbasa zoo were the latest picture. Very cute babies! With a cute feline emoticon Fer had found in her phone. Then a picture of a stork in some Kirinyaan lake. Long legs! Then a picture of a lion on the prowl in near bushes. Rawr! A rhinoceros in the wild. I¡¯m in awe at the size of this lad. That was a good one, the likes were coming in now. Since the time she said it, she had gained two-hundred thousand. Fer looked at the cameras and grinned. ¡°Thank you for liking my photos!¡± She said to the audience. There it was, check-mate. Now time for the victory lap around these idiots. She could not believe they did not even search her up. Journalists? Excuse me? She laughed again. ¡°This is your account?¡± The host asked as he looked at the monitor, his tone pure bafflement. ¡°It is, you can see the picture is me.¡± Fer made the same expression to the camera. ¡°And can you prove it?¡± Fer was glad she was not Kassie. Kassie would have burst out in laughter at such a stupid question. Fer, unfortunately for them, toyed with her prey. Fer pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the presenter before he could react. Perfect image, the four of them in stunned shock. She tapped her app and quickly thought of something to say that would get under their skin. The image popped up on the feed. Four stunned people, in a thoroughly unglamorous angle, with equally unglamorous expressions. Then text below it: Wanted to go to the zoo, ended up in EIE. This one got a hundred thousand likes in a few seconds. The monitor turned off as the four started to blush and Fer grinned. ¡°So, onto the debate.¡± The host said. ¡°Is it true that you drink blood?¡± ¡°It is.¡± Fer nodded in the way innocent little puppies did, her golden hair flying out of place. That was on purpose, she liked this look. ¡°Do you not think it is unethical to drink blood?¡± The other man said. The soft boy-man. Fer had actually forgotten his name. ¡°Do you eat meat?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I¡¯m vegetarian.¡± Fer didn¡¯t believe him, but the snark came easily to her even if she did. ¡°I can see that.¡± Fer replied and shrugged. ¡°Talk to Iniri then, ask her what the plants feel when you chop them down.¡± The man swallowed his spit together with his words as one of the women followed up. ¡°Do you not think it is barbarism to drink blood?¡± ¡°Are you vegetarian too?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± ¡°Then you eat meat.¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m more moral than you.¡± Fer grinned at her. ¡°Since we both kill animals to eat, but you waste more of it than I do.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t kill them myself and skin them and-¡° Fer stopped her. She knew exactly what this tactic was. Arascus had taught her it, it was to conjure an image of horror in the audience¡¯s mind that made their eyes and ears glaze over when any counter-argument was mounted. ¡°Instead you butcher them by the thousand from some factory-farm. Where they¡¯re force-fed and injected to grow at thrice the speed they grow naturally at. I think the animals I kill, who live pleasant lives in the wild, are much healthier and happier than whatever barbarity it is your civilized world does.¡± She smiled at them again. Anything else? Come at her. Let them try to match Beasthood in a game of words. ¡°In the past, in the Great War, is it true that your herds ran rampant over what is Karaina today?¡± Fer knew this question was coming. It had to come eventually. Her beastmen were her greatest asset, but admittedly, they were rather hard to defend. You¡¯d need Divine protection to defend them. Fortunately, Fer was a Divine. ¡°War is war.¡± Fer said. ¡°Do we decry the Paladin¡¯s inquisition too? The Guardian¡¯s factory cities of the past? Allasaria¡¯s purging? The Tourai massacre?¡± ¡°Those are just theories-¡± One of the women said and Fer interrupted her once again. Her tone cold and sharp. ¡°Then what better source for it than a Goddess who lived through them. Ask Maisara, she cannot lie. Ask what happened at Tourai. Ask about the Inquisition. Will you do that?¡± The four fell silent. Nothing? Are we out? Fer looked around, made her eyes large, her ears jumped up and down, her tail whisked through the air as she tried to make herself look innocent. ¡°Does Arascus plan to start another Great War?¡± ¡°You can interview him, I don¡¯t speak for other people.¡± Fer said. And nothing again. From their postures, Fer knew she had crushed them utterly. The host attempted one final question. ¡°Why are you wearing glasses? Don¡¯t Divines have perfect vision?¡± Fer touched the glasses on her nose and smiled at them. She answered in as sarcastic a tone as she could manage. Kassandora would have smacked her for a tone like that, and rightfully so! ¡°We all know that glasses are a sign of intelligence. Only smart people wear glasses.¡± She took them off and threw them off to the side. It was a low blow, since the four hosts were wearing glasses, but it was one they did not recover from. She sat there and waited until the interview ended. Iliyal raised his glass. ¡°That¡¯s how you do it!¡± Ilwin and Sara sat there, their jaws dropped at the massacre they had just seen. ¡°Wow.¡± Wissel said flatly over the phone. ¡°That was fucking brutal.¡± Aimone agreed as Richard looked over to his children, they were scrolling through Fer¡¯s pictures of wild animals on YapYap. ¡®Fucking brutal¡¯ was one way to put it. Elassa leaned back and collapsed onto her bed. She had told EIE to destroy Fer, and Fer had destroyed EIE instead. Chapter 113 – To Steal A Country Allasaria travelled to the next undersea kingdom. One down. She smiled to herself in her whale. This was going to be a whole new Pantheon. She had made a mistake before with allowing other Abstracts to join. This would be a Pantheon of Forces. Arascus walked through Nanbasa with Kassandora. It was a sequestered city, organized for efficiency as if Maisara herself had designed it. It was a giant ring, built around a nature reserve. The only urban area in the whole world with such a design. The reserve was green fields and vivid trees, the sort that once existed in the lost areas of Western Kirinyaa before the Jungle had claimed then. Fer had gone to visit today, the reserve was holding a celebration for the birth of four lion cubs, after her stellar performance with EIE. There was speculation in the local gossip papers about whether it could force EIE to shut down the Nanbasa branch. That wouldn¡¯t happen of course, but it was a good indication that she put on a good performance. Arascus and the other Divines in Kirinyaa had drank a bottle of Arikan Rum each in celebration as they watched that. A massive port looked out onto the clear Eastern Arikan Ocean, that was a light blue, Olephia had gone off to paint it with the port today. Ships were docking and leaving, bringing supplies and Binturongs from Ausa. Then the ringed city was divided into sections. Further inland were the richer districts, closer to the port were the industrial and commercial zones, all celebrated by habitation blocks. Tall towers that housed people like ants. Like the skyscrapers in Ausa, but not as tall, and without the spiderweb of bridges connecting them. Arascus and Kassandora walked up the steps to the Kirinyaan Parliament. It was a grand building, all fine red sandstone carved in intricate fashions, with swirling patterns. Pillars held the roof up over the front, with a grand staircase of more red sandstone leading up to it. The blue, red and green flags of Kirinyaa stood waving. Blue for the ocean, green for the Jungle and red for the blood in between them. Arascus had a meeting with Mwai Ruku today, the Kirinyaan President. The big man in charge apparently, although from what he read about the government, Mwai was merely a figurehead, the whole state was a bureaucratic nightmare. With legislation needing to pass the parliament, then be voted on in the Kirinyaan High Court, before Mwai himself could sign it into action. The next president could revoke it immediately. It didn¡¯t surprise Arascus this country was failing to the Jungle if it was structured like that. An assistant met them. A tall dark man in a dark suit, a band of green over his elbow. Apparently it was used by supporters of the Reclamation War to identify themselves. Helenna had started the movement in a news presentation when she argued with some minor Epan station, it was a good move since the whole city wore green armbands. Support for the War hovered somewhere between 95 and 97% in Kirinyaa. Same as in Ausa then. ¡°It¡¯s our pleasure that you¡¯ve come to Parliament.¡± The man said as Kassandora stepped next to Arascus. They both towered over the fellow. Kassandora in her black HAUPT uniform, with skull-cap and all. Her hair was tied back into a tail today, very professional. Arascus¡¯ was going to arrive soon from what he heard. He had suits enough though, Ausa had enough of its own tailors. He walked on with a short red cape trailing behind him as the assistant led them through the building. Everyone stopped to look, everyone wore a green armband. The clerks, the assistants, even the politicians themselves. The building did make a good impression, it was obviously built with assistance from the White Pantheon, the doorways were more than large enough for several divines to walk through side-by-side, the corridors were more like halls that reached high. Paintings of past presidents and figures in Kirinyaan history hung on the walls. And it was well-organised. Maisara then, must have helped build it. This city as a whole did have traces of her touch. A ring was optimal, but it wasn¡¯t a human design. Without any official jurisdiction, it celebrated the working classes from the government simply by distance. There were talks of Kirinyaa of building tunnels underneath the animal reserve in the centre to ease transport, but nothing had ever come of those talks. Mwai was sitting in his office. His ministers had already been prepared. Arascus did not know them, he had no reason to learn their names. Ministers in Kirinyaa changed as often as the seasons. They all sat in dark suits, with two chairs already prepared around a circular table for Arascus and Kassandora. They all looked more than happy to meet Arascus, although that was expected. The Reclamation War made this the first government in Kirinyaan history with an approval rating above 40%. It was now sitting at a safe 71%. That in itself was amazing, in the past, falling below half meant the fires of revolution started to stir. Falling below 40% meant someone¡¯s head would roll. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you, please, sit!¡± Mwai raised his arm and motioned for Arascus and Kassandora to sit. ¡°It¡¯s a great honour to host the two of you here.¡± ¡°The Epan countries don¡¯t seem to think so.¡± Arascus said lightly as he tested the waters. ¡°We¡¯re not in Epa though! The White Pantheon has such a problem now but they had nothing to say when the Jungle crept onto us!¡± Mwai said and the table guffawed with laughter. Two men raised glasses and drank to that. ¡°So, what is this meeting about?¡± Mwai finally asked. ¡°Naturally, it will be about the Reclamation War.¡± Arascus said as Kassandora pulled out a binder of papers from the inside of her suit. ¡°Kass.¡± ¡°One month from now, at the rate we¡¯re going at, we¡¯ll reclaim the lost Chasoi copper mine. We¡¯ll then cut north to the open-pit mines in Kabatwa and scour them of the Jungle, both should be operating within three months of today.¡± The table clapped at that. Reclaiming land was one thing, that brought public support. Reclaiming lost mineral sites though, that was an entirely different matter. That brought the whole country from its knees and onto its feet. ¡°Under our agreement, the Miner¡¯s Union have negotiated to have access to Chasoi, the Kabatwa site though is yours.¡± Kassandora said. She stopped and Arascus took over. ¡°We¡¯d rather inform you that you can hold an auction or nationalize it soon. Better to tell you what¡¯s going to happen. I¡¯m not one for surprises, even if they¡¯re pleasant.¡± Mwai raised his glass as assistants poured two cups of whiskey for Arascus and Kassandora. It was good stuff.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Excellent!¡± He said. ¡°We¡¯ll start working on our plans, do you want us to run them by you or no?¡± Arascus apologetically raised his hand and shook his head. He did want it ran by him, but only for the sake of his own curiosity. It wasn¡¯t crucial, and these people needed a taste of Divines that weren¡¯t the White Pantheon¡¯s micromanagement. ¡°It¡¯s your country, you decide what to do with them. I can help you plan, but I¡¯m not here to interfere with how you manage yourselves.¡± Kassandora leaned back as Arascus laughed and continued to talk. ¡°The tribesmen I¡¯ve met are rather blunt, and I appreciate bluntness rather than word games, so I¡¯ll say it how it is. This is your business.¡± Mwai raised a cup, the entire table did. One man spoke up. ¡°And here we were talking about what to do if you wanted to claim the land.¡± Arascus laughed the man¡¯s worries away and took a drink with them. Kassandora intervened. ¡°I would like to bring up that the tribesmen deserve land. I did promise to help them, I won¡¯t allow them economic sites but I¡¯d rather they have something.¡± This was untrue entirely. Arascus and Kassandora had simply made this up to make themselves seem like benevolent saviours. To give the impression of what Divines should be. And to have land for themselves. ¡°Of course!¡± Mwai said. ¡°Kirinyaa is expanding as a nation, we have more than enough land for everyone!¡± Arascus and Kassandora looked at each other. This was the signal for moving the conversation on. Now that they had made a pleasant atmosphere for them, they had to drop the bad news. ¡°In regards to that.¡± Arascus said and sighed. Kassandora took over. ¡°We have enough land, but we do not have enough people.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°The Clerics field a hundred thousand true, but as efforts expand, we will have an exponential increase in our needs for bodies.¡± The mood dimmed only slightly. ¡°And that means?¡± Arascus sighed. ¡°We would like to propose something.¡± He said it heavily, as if it was hard for him to say. As if he didn¡¯t want and need this more than everyone in this room. ¡°Kirinyaa has an unemployment rate of eight percent right now, I can half that within the year.¡± ¡°You can?¡± Arascus nodded. ¡°There is an issue though.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Because it won¡¯t be good diplomatically for you.¡± ¡°How?¡± Mwai asked. He looked over to a man, Arascus recognised him from KTV. The minister of foreign affairs. ¡°We are in a bad position diplomatically already, with sanctions from Epa and the Union, we can¡¯t get much worse.¡± ¡°I¡¯m talking about Kirinyaan troops working the Binturongs.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We need more men, several teams to take the South-Western angle. We need road layers. We say can it like this and talk about in roundabout measures, but the White Pantheon will call it the creation of an army. To an extent, they won¡¯t be wrong.¡± Kassandora nodded to add to it. The mood did not drop an inch, Arascus knew how to work a room. ¡°Kirinyaa could do it. How many men do you need?¡± Mwai said. ¡°We come to you because of the legislature issue.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It would be the creation of an army.¡± She pulled out piece of paper and put it on the table. She and Arascus had spent the last night designing a hierarchy fit for the modern world. The advent of radios effectively allowed every modern soldier to receive orders. No longer was it needed to separate men into large armies, largely independent and commanding themselves, but rather into a centralized system led by one person. By Kassandora. ¡°I have only one stipulation, which is that I lead it.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It would be easier to pass in legislature for you, since you wouldn¡¯t have to deal with mortal self-interests, and it is largely needed because the Clerics and tribesmen¡­¡± Kassandora searched for a word. These were merely reasons to give the leaders of Kirinyaa an excuse in their minds to relieve themselves of the responsibility. ¡°Well¡­ they don¡¯t have a high opinion of the government, but they do listen to me.¡± ¡°Would you give it up?¡± Mwai asked seriously. So the man wasn¡¯t entirely stupid. His eyes scanned the paper. ¡°This would be a country within a country, we would be creating a parallel society.¡± ¡°When the Reclamation War is done.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Or as its ending and once victory is secured, but not until then.¡± Mwai passed the form around. It went through the entire hierarchy, from team, to platoon, to a regiment, brigade, then division and Corps. And finally it ended at the top. General Kassandora. No one in the room but the two Divines actually knew full hierarchy. There was one rung still higher. Supreme Commander Kassandora. With the ability to appoint and dismiss generals and create new armies. Nowhere in Kassandora¡¯s manuscript did it mention that, but there was more than bureaucratic language that could be stretched to show that if they agreed to this, they effectively granted her that title. ¡°But you would not be secretive with this?¡± One of the men asked. ¡°Of course not.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We would continue as we are, but with this organisation. It would allow me to manage multiple fronts against the Jungle, but we¡¯d still be holding news interviews and allowing journalists to record.¡± Journalists were an effective cover, they recorded seemingly everything, but actually, all that they showed was maps and Binturongs shooting and men training. The ¡°transparency¡± they brought was an excellent curtain to hide what the theatre was actually performing. ¡°I see.¡± Mwai said. ¡°The other reason is I want to expand the Reclamation to other countries. Ausa wishes to start their own front.¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m am the Goddess of War, I don¡¯t mean to insult, but I don¡¯t trust that mortals will be able to manage a war better than me.¡± She said it coyly, as if joking and the table chuckled lightly. ¡°That is true.¡± One of the men said. ¡°We could force this through.¡± Mwai said slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t really see a reason to be against the formalization of an army for the Reclamation War.¡± He looked over to the table and they nodded. One man smoke up. ¡°I am glad to be honest.¡± He looked over to the two Divines. An old man with beady eyes. The hair gone from his dark head. ¡°Not to offend-¡° Arascus interrupted him. ¡°Do not worry, be as harsh as you wish to be, I¡¯ve heard worse.¡± The man nodded in thanks and continued. ¡°It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to have our problems be solved entirely by Divines.¡± He said. ¡°I¡¯d rather this, with Kassandora managing it, but with our own people saving our own country. Then at least there¡¯d be heroes to put in the history books that aren¡¯t¡­¡± He looked to Arascus and Kassandora. ¡°Well, you.¡± Arascus smiled and humbly waved the praise away. ¡°We¡¯d prefer sooner than later.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The earlier we do this, the fast we can get up to speed. Ausa is pressing on their front.¡± Ausa was not pressing anyone. ¡°It will take a few months at least.¡± Mwai said. ¡°What does it take to vote on legislature? Is it just a vote?¡± Kassandora asked, she talked fast now, sharp, like commanding troops. Arascus tapped her with his foot to cool her down. Politicians needed a gentler hand than troops. Mwai didn¡¯t seem to be offended though and both Arascus and Kassandora already knew exactly what it took, and that was a proposition. The reason the government took so long to do anything was due to how long they took to discuss discussing it. ¡°Just a vote.¡± Mwai scanned the report again. ¡°The High Court won¡¯t find anything here to quarrel with, there¡¯s no infringement of rights or anything like that, it¡¯d be the parliament that takes issue.¡± ¡°But a vote does not have to be discussed extensively?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Not in theory.¡± Mwai replied. ¡°Can non-government people take part in the debate?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Arascus contained his smile. They had taken the bait; hook, line and sinker. ¡°Then you can propose it and I will do the convincing, we can have this signed into law by the next week.¡± Chapter 114 – A Return To The Land of Magic Fer leaned down at smiled at the four cubs staring up at her. The lioness raised her head and closed her eyes to indicate she recognized Fer¡¯s authority. Fer scratched one cub behind the ear, and then looked back at the line of people. It was all children with their parents. She waved a girl over and whispered to the lioness that it was safe. The animal lazily put its head down. The child trotted over, patted the little lion cub and burst out in laughter. Then Fer and the little smiled at the camera, the mother took a picture and they went off. Then the next child came, and the next, and the next. Edmonton got off the train at Arcadia Central Station with Fleur holding his hand. They brought two light backpacks and easy clothes. The Sun here was always hot, always dry, he much preferred Karaina. Now they both wore shorts and t-shirts, things that wouldn¡¯t stand out, although they knew Arcadia as well as anyone, it wasn¡¯t especially hard to disappear in this pseudo-country of mages. ¡°Lyca and Eliza.¡± Fleur said. ¡°And avoid seeing people.¡± ¡°Do you think our dorm rooms are still ours?¡± Edmonton jingled his keys. ¡°I hope not.¡± Fleur said. ¡°But probably they are, we¡¯ve been away for what? Four months? School year hasn¡¯t ended yet.¡± Edmonton laughed as he thought about that and walked through the train station. Little here had changed, and by little, he meant nothing. It was almost odd to see. In Arascus¡¯ headquarters, there was always new faces, new designs for weaponry and battleplans, there were plenty of training fields in the forests. They had shooting lessons and sorcery practice. Maids cared for them. And now¡­ Edmonton had returned to mundane normalcy. It was almost odd. He had gotten used to being waited on. ¡°Exams are coming up.¡± ¡°They are.¡± Fleur said and sniffed the air haughtily. ¡°Even with the attendance lost, we should still be able to pass.¡± ¡°Do you want to take them?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Same.¡± They both laughed out loud as they walked past a news board: Arascus in Arika! Great War on the Horizon! The Jungle is being burned down! Doschian Stocks hit an all time low! Peace has returned to Rilia thanks to Goddess Maisara! Economic Downfall spreads to Rancais and Lubska! Invest in Allia Now! The First International Epan Archery Competition Announced! Lubska, Allia, Rilia & Rancais to join Doschia! Arcadia Not Invited! ¡°Same old, same old.¡± Fleur said as she scanned it. ¡°Same old, same old.¡± Edmonton agreed. Nothing interesting here, although they both had Iliyal to get their news from. Their phones had Gods in their contacts. What did they need papers for? The guardsman was the same as he was back then. An aged fellow with a tiny propensity for magic. He scanned their tickets with his hand and beckoned them through. And so they walked into Arcadia. Into the land of mages. Epa¡¯s gleaming institution, headed by Goddess Elassa herself, with over a thousand years of history here. Tall buildings, each dedicated to their own magical niche built hundreds of years ago and then expanded littered the rolling hills with their pale green grass. They had originally been single towers to easier catch the magical energies of the converging leylines here, then they were expanded with halls, more towers, parapets, dorms. Each one was an amalgamation of architectural styles, as if a child had taken a series of building parts and then smashed them together. The parks were the same. Brimming with life and students. ¡°Look at that.¡± Fleur said as she pointed left. Hydromancy novices were practicing raising water out of a lake. They each held a head-sized ball in their hands and were slowly lowering it into and out of the water. Some cracked, others quickly lost their form and collapsed. Edmonton rolled his eyes, to think six months ago he was doing these exercises. ¡°Brilliant.¡± Edmonton said flatly. Fleur looked up at him with gorgeous blue eyes. ¡°Can¡¯t you show them how it¡¯s done?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather let them suffer.¡± Edmonton said as he walked on past the training mage-aspirants. Now that he had sorcery¡­ It was like a rifle compared to a knife. They were simply in different leagues. It wasn¡¯t comparable. ¡°Oh please, even back then you could do that with one finger.¡± ¡°Do you want a detour past the aeromancy quarter then?¡± Edmonton asked and Fleur laughed. ¡°Let¡¯s have at it.¡± And so they turned and walked to the building were Fleur once trained. Students here had their dark robes tinged with ribbons of white to signify their element. Fleur knew the area better than Edmonton did, she led him off the path, through a bush, and to a short wooden fence that marked a field. ¡°Here we are.¡± She said. ¡°And they¡¯re doing what exactly?¡± A group of students were stood at one end of the field. A teacher in a white robe was watching them and every now and the sound of a whip cracking came from them. ¡°You see those sticks on the ground?¡± Fleur pointed to a series of sticks mid-way in the field. Some were on the ground. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°The goal is to get them out of the ground.¡± Edmonton looked flatly at the students. Their faces where bursting with sweat, a few were resting on the ground. The teacher looked unhappy. ¡°Wow.¡± He said flatly. ¡°Wow indeed.¡± Fleur said with glee. ¡°This is Class Two, I recognize Joseph and Kim from there. Class Two is supposed to be the second-best class on my course. After mine.¡± Edmonton and Fleur watched them. Eventually a girl Fleur did not know stepped forwards, postured with both her hands aimed at a stick. It wobbled, then launched out of the ground. The students cheered and the teacher clapped. ¡°Poor control.¡± Fleur said. ¡°It¡¯s easy to launch it like that, did you see it?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Not my element.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°She just made a big ball of air around the stick and forced it out.¡± Fleur turned and smiled to Edmonton. ¡°You want to see a professional?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡± Fleur turned to Edmonton and snapped her fingers. Five of the sticks slowly raised out of the ground, hovered just above the grass, made a spin, and then dropped as Fleur released her magic. ¡°That¡¯s what they should be doing.¡± Fleur burst out in laughter, grabbed Edmonton¡¯s hand as the teacher started shouting and the students looked around in shock. They disappeared into the woods and back onto the path before they were found. Two students were practicing hydromancy on their own by a fountain. The water-raising exercise again. Edmonton did not know these, they were young, maybe eleven, maybe ten. Only children. Fleur pointed at the fountain and spoke. ¡°Well I showed you how good I am.¡± ¡°I¡¯m better at sorcery than you.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°You wish.¡± Fleur said with a laugh. ¡°But we¡¯re in Arcadia, let¡¯s see how good you are at magic. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve lost your touch.¡± Edmonton shook his head as he walked to the two children. ¡°You¡¯re doing it wrong.¡± He said. ¡°Too forceful, don¡¯t keep the water still, let it flow around your magic.¡± The children backed away when they saw Edmonton, but they listened to his advice. Edmonton turned to Fleur and crossed his arms. A small pony made entirely of water and trotted around the edge of the fountain, it didn¡¯t even lose a drop, Edmonton did not even have to look to know it didn¡¯t, he could feel the element. Fleur made that sarcastic whistle of hers as the children burst out in laughter and clapped. One poked the pony and the pony jumped away. More laughter. ¡°Make it flow kids.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Don¡¯t keep it still.¡± He took Fleur¡¯s hand again and walked off before they started asking question. ¡°What a man.¡± Fleur said. ¡°Showing off and helping children. Whatever girl marries you will be a lucky lady.¡± ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Happier than whoever you marry no doubt.¡± Fleur haughtily laughed again. ¡°Who wouldn¡¯t want to marry me?¡± She guided her hands down her sides. ¡°All men need is something pretty to grab and a nice smile.¡± She gave Edmonton one of the most wonderful smiles he had ever seen. ¡°All girls want is a nice face and someone to show off.¡± Edmonton replied sourly and Fleur laughed again. ¡°Alright, Library or Eliza and Lyca first?¡± ¡°Eliza and Lyca.¡± Fleur replied. Good to see they were thinking the same. ¡°Lyca then?¡± ¡°Eli will probably be at his.¡± Fleur said. And so they set off to the pyromancer¡¯s quarters. It wasn¡¯t too far, and it was a path they had travelled many times before. You didn¡¯t want to walk the path around the park, you wanted to take a shortcut through it. They came across a fence that had been recently installed. A tall wooden one. ¡°I¡¯m not climbing this.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t or don¡¯t want to?¡± Edmonton asked as Fleur snapped her fingers and a section of the fence fell down, cut by invisible blades of air. ¡°Don¡¯t want to.¡± She replied flatly and walked through the gap. They went into the pyromancer¡¯s dorms. It was a grand building, a mismatched cathedral of different parts and bridges and towers that sprawled wide and high. Guards were never at these locations, nor was anything required to scan in. Arcadia tried to encourage inter-elemental relations by allowing anyone to enter and leave. No one would be stupid enough to try and steal from mages anyway. Fourth floor, room fifteen. Lyca¡¯s dorm-room. They travelled up the winding staircase. Past other younger than them. Here, they all wore dark robes with ribbons of red. Through a plain corridor with tiles. The other dorms all had carpets but obviously that would be a fire-hazard when you put carpets in a building of young pyromancers. The only wood was the doors. Edmonton came to a stop at room fifteen and knocked. Thud-Thud-Thud. He always gave three knocks. No sound came from inside. Edmonton crossed his arms and looked at Fleur. She smiled at him and leaned against the wall. ¡°Classic Lyca.¡± Edmonton knocked again. There was a crash from the inside. Edmonton gave three more knocks to hurry him up. A young boy opened the door. No older than thirteen or fourteen, with a messy head of ginger hair and dark bags under his eyes. He looked up at Edmonton and Fleur as they looked down on the lad. ¡°Who are you?¡± Edmonton asked quizzically. He leaned past the teenager to look into the room. There wasn¡¯t a mark of Lyca anywhere. ¡°I¡¯m Erin.¡± The boy said as he stepped back. ¡°Can I help you?¡± Fleur looked in and bumped Edmonton¡¯s elbow with hers. ¡°It was Four-fifteen.¡± She said, they both looked at the number in red on the door to make sure they had the correct door. It indeed was the correct room. ¡°How long have you been living here?¡± Edmonton asked idly, not even looking at the boy. ¡°Two months. Is there a problem?¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Just a routine inspection.¡± He turned and shut the door behind himself. ¡°Well, it¡¯s Eliza then.¡± ¡°Do you think he¡¯s moved out?¡± ¡°Lyca moved out?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°I mean, got a better room.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure he¡¯d want to do the paperwork for a new room.¡± Edmonton said as they walked down the staircase. Ten steps down, turn, ten more steps. ¡°Eliza then, let¡¯s check on her.¡± They walked to the Floromancy quarter. The Nature mages, Botanists as they were usually called. It was obvious when you passed into their area, the fields started to brim with flowers, the trees grew into odd shapes, the statues were all wooden sculptures that had flowers on them. The air was fresher, and it smelled of a thousand different sweet fruits and flowers. There were more waterways, more odd streams, it was close to the hydromancy quarter. Edmonton could see his old dorm room from here in a huge building. He had no plans to return there. They entered, once again, no guards. Fleur was on the sixth floor, room seventeen. Here, the staircases were all rounded, there were slides at the top to get down quickly. ¡°You knock or me?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°You do it.¡± Fleur replied as she looked around. Pictures of famous botanists from ages hung on the walls, along with diagrams of flowers and dates for the upcoming exams. A trip to Arika had been cancelled and written off, a polite apology was hanging on the wall about how recent events and embargoes have stopped the annual trip and that the teachers were trying to organize a new trip to somewhere else. Edmonton stopped at Eliza¡¯s room. Thud-Thud-Thud. She had a heavy wooden door, an old flower was on it, it had wilted and died. ¡°Who is it?¡± Eliza¡¯s tired voice called from inside. ¡°Whatever, I¡¯m coming.¡± There was a crash, a series of steps, and the door opened. Eliza blinked. She had always been shorter than Edmonton and Fleur, but her collapsed posture made her shrink even more. Her light brown fell past her shoulders, she had obviously lost weight, her cheeks were pale, her eyes were red. She had been crying. Those big brown eyes looked up at Edmonton and Fleur and blinked, readjusted, a spark flashed within them. They sharpened. Eliza¡¯s head popped into the corridor, then she pulled the two of them into her room and slammed it shut. It was dirty yet clean. The books were organised, but dust sat on them. Flowers were in vases, and they had no water and were wilting. The bed was made, but it looked grim with traces of dirt. Her shoes were in a row against the wall, and they were all slathered in mud. ¡°We¡¯ve come back.¡± Edmonton said as he took his usual spot. The floor next to the cabinet. Fleur crossed her arms as she stared Eliza down. ¡°What happened?¡± Fleur asked, she tried to make her voice soft, but Fleur had never been good at that. Eliza collapsed onto the bed and sighed. Her voice cracked, and she started to cry. ¡°Lyca lost control. He¡¯s been transferred to the containment-quarter.¡± Chapter 115 – Thunderstorms and Lightning Clouds Mikhail Alash lifted the rifle up. Much bigger calibre, with a trigger made for the large fingers of beastmen. Rapid fire, no scope, that was redundant. It was a good weapon, the barrel could be extended and it would make an excellent sniper. He turned and looked over at the heavy gun lying on the table, it had an empty belt of bullets sticking out the side. He could not wait for the beastmen to arrive for this baby to be tested out. Arascus walked down the red sandstone steps of Kirinyaa¡¯s parliament building. Kassandora close behind him. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that would go so smoothly.¡± Kassandora said quietly as they turned to walk on the pavement. ¡°You¡¯re a hero here.¡± Arascus said and Kassandora put her hands in her pockets. The uniform sat well on her, the coat fell past her knees and her black boots made a satisfying click with every step. Her crimson hair fell to her hips. Cars slowed down to look at the two Divines as they walked on. ¡°That I am.¡± Kassandora said, her tone grim and deep. ¡°Once we have this sorted, you¡¯ll be able to pull Ausa into the War.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Arascus said. ¡°They¡¯ve seen the success here and want a taste of their own. I¡¯ve recalled the Binturong mechanical designers to Kirinyaa, then they¡¯ll move to Igos.¡± ¡°Not stay here?¡± ¡°Igos is better for them. More workshops and a port to work from.¡± Kassandora nodded and she gave her own report. ¡°Iliyal confirmed to me in the morning he¡¯s sent reports of a new artillery vehicle, code-named lemur. The chassis is slightly different though.¡± ¡°Factories can be refitted.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°I said the same.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°We need an armour designer.¡± ¡°Alash didn¡¯t take the job?¡± ¡°Iliyal said there¡¯s no point giving it to someone like that. We¡¯ll have another Binturong situation. I was thinking about calling HAUPT here.¡± ¡°They make suits.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And rifles can penetrate steel.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We¡¯re not in the age of knights anymore. Armour¡­¡± She shrugged. ¡°On vehicles, yes, but we¡¯re not sticking inches of steel onto mortals, are we?¡± Arascus nodded, this was Kassandora¡¯s domain. There was little to say about it. ¡°What about new materials?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll think of something eventually, but I¡¯m putting armour on hold. If something comes along, then we go with it, but it won¡¯t be ready for Anassa¡¯s rescue.¡± ¡°Have you heard anything from Iliyal about that?¡± ¡°He sent the two sorcerers off.¡± ¡°I know that.¡± ¡°Then we both know the same.¡± Kassandora said as she pulled out her phone and unlocked it. ¡°Helenna rang, five times.¡± Arascus checked his own. It was a specialist model, more like a tablet for mortals, but then, he did stand twice the height of a man. Another car went past them and two people waved to them from the back. Arascus idly waved back. ¡°She rang me too.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I¡¯ll ring.¡± Kassandora replied as she clicked the phone and put it to her head. ¡°Yes, you called?¡± Arascus didn¡¯t hear what Helenna said, he didn¡¯t ask either. If it was important, Kass would tell him. Her tone changed to a fast one as her eyes started to shine. So it was important. ¡°Understood, have you rung Fer?¡± A second of reply. ¡°Then don¡¯t bother. Call Neneria and tell her to watch over Kavaa and Iniri. We can handle it here, anyone else?¡± Arascus turned to a road that led to the nature reserve in the centre of Nanbasa. ¡°Alright, are you coming here?¡± Kassandora shook her head. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s everything.¡± She clicked the phone off. Arascus did not say a word, he knew Kassandora would tell him from her expression. She sighed, put her phone away and looked up at the sky. ¡°Zerus is coming.¡± ¡°Is he now?¡± Arascus looked up too. It was a perfectly clear day, Nanbasa had seasonal weather. A month of monsoons, a month of nice sun, and then repeat. ¡°He¡¯s bringing Sceo and Alkom.¡± Kassandora said and pointed to a set of stairs. Arascus wasn¡¯t fond of the ring-city, but one thing he did like was the hill. Climbing up on any of the restaurants gave you a full view of the entire area. A man met them, all too happy to have his caf¨¦ be blessed by the presence of Divines. ¡°Is there anything I can serve? Free of charge of course!¡± ¡°Coffee, black.¡± Kassandora said then glanced at Arascus. ¡°Make it two.¡± ¡°At once. I apologize for the lack of seating-¡° ¡°We¡¯ll stand, make the coffee.¡± Arascus said and waved him away. The man went off as the two went to the caf¨¦ on the roof. Red-sandstone, a quiet place, hidden out of the way. A few people were sat here whispering in hushed tones. Business people from the looks of it. ¡°Can you take them?¡± Arascus asked.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°I¡¯ve taken them on once.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°How much of your magic have you recovered?¡± ¡°Enough.¡± Arascus said. He took out his phone and scrolled to Olephia. ¡°I¡¯m going to call Olephia here.¡± ¡°She¡¯ll make a mess.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We¡¯re not here for a fight.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°Just scare them?¡± Kassandora asked sourly. ¡°The two of us could take one down at least for good.¡± ¡°Without Kavaa to heal, I don¡¯t want to risk it. And any destruction of the city will be viewed badly for passing the army implementation. Chasing them away will be better in the long-run.¡± Kassandora nodded as the man reappeared with two white cups of coffee. ¡°How much time did Helenna give us?¡± ¡°An hour, maybe two, they set off in the morning and Sceo is fast.¡± ¡°She¡¯s got a good network if she found out on the same day.¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to be nice to her and get her to join us.¡± ¡°You¡¯re nice to everyone.¡± Arascus said as he sipped the coffee. They must have skipped the line or got someone else¡¯s. Kassandora drank hers and turned around to look at the customers. She smiled to herself. ¡°I know everyone here.¡± ¡°Do you now?¡± Arascus asked. He texted Olephia: Come here, don¡¯t fly, we have trouble coming. He saw the message got read within a few seconds. Olephia was by the docks, she wanted to paint something to give to Nanbasa¡¯s museums. That was a mark of Olephia, the Goddess of Chaos loved to immortalize the present in paintings. Kassandora nodded and waved to some of the customers, they too were wearing green armbands over their suits. Arascus paid them no attention. ¡°Oligarchs who helped fund the Reclamation War. Helenna knows them better.¡± She reclined and threw her head back, her red spilled down past the balustrade and waved in the gentle wind. ¡°I hate waiting.¡± ¡°I do too.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But what will you do?¡± ¡°Nothing I can do. Should we ring Fer?¡± ¡°She¡¯s busy.¡± Fer wanted to see the baby lions before she set of Karaina and from what Arascus had seen on the news, she was making a stir at the zoo with allowing children to walk up and stroke the animals. ¡°She¡¯s at the zoo.¡± ¡°Let her enjoy herself, she¡¯s been suffering at the front.¡± Arascus said in a hard tone. Now that he thought about it, it would be better to call, he pulled up his phone and rang Fer. It took her a good half-minute to answer. ¡°Hello hello?¡± She said. There was a child laughing through the speaker. ¡°I¡¯m just calling you to tell you we have trouble but we have under control, stay at the zoo if you want to.¡± Fer laughed. ¡°I¡¯m going soon. The babies are getting tired.¡± She said. ¡°Then come over here, you should smell us, we¡¯re close to the parliament. Olephia will be here.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, she smells good.¡± Fer said and the child laughed again. ¡°Say bye-bye to Mrs Lion now.¡± Fer said. Arascus heard a tiny bye-bye from some child and then Fer laughed. ¡°Thanks for ringing, I¡¯ll be there soon. Love you dad.¡± She shut off the phone call and Arascus put his tablet away. ¡°She¡¯ll come.¡± ¡°Well then we can take them all out.¡± Kassandora said with a sigh. ¡°I said we¡¯re not.¡± Arascus made his tone hard. ¡°And if they come at us?¡± ¡°Then we can, but we chase them away.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And how do you know they¡¯ll be chased away, you¡¯ve lost most of your magic.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t know that.¡± Arascus said. And so they waited. The shop keep brought them more coffees and wanted to take picture with Kassandora. She took one with him, but declined to have it be used in the marketing. Either way, their presence here had assured that the man would have a successful couple of months. People who walked past them on the street took photos and already the caf¨¦ owner had closed the doors to give the Divines privacy. A queue was forming outside. ¡°Are you thinking of leaving some money?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°It would set a bad precedent.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°I was thinking the same.¡± A minivan came to a stop in the middle of the street. Black, a taxi service. Nanbasa Premium Taxis. They had expanded recently to have large vehicles fit for Divines. The owner had fallen for Helenna, and he apparently did not mind the investment one bit. The door clicked and slid open. Olephia stepped out in a violet dress. She was smiling, as always, and waved up at them. Arascus waved down and at her shouted for her to come through. The crowd parted way for the Goddess who killed the Caretaker. Apparently, some studio in KTV was wanting to produce a documentary on that event. Helenna had been pestered by them several times. Arascus thought little of it, it was a risk, since they could always be painted in a bad light, he just had not figured out how Olephia annihilating the Caretaker could be yet. ¡°How much longer?¡± Kassandora whined again. ¡°I have plans for today.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was wanting to scout out opinions of army implementation in the parliament.¡± ¡°Have Helenna do it.¡± ¡°She¡¯s already on it.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I just don¡¯t like when I don¡¯t do it myself.¡± ¡°Not long now.¡± Arascus said. ¡°How do you know?¡± Kassandora¡¯s leaned over as she looked over to Arascus¡¯ phone. A news station had just reported Kirinyaa had closed it¡¯s northern airspace. Planes were being delayed in airports and people wanted to know the reason. He showed it to Kassandora. ¡°Sceo is fast.¡± ¡°Sceo with Zerus is faster.¡± ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll go to the Jungle?¡± ¡°Neneria will kill them then. Mere Forces can¡¯t harm the Legion.¡± Neneria¡¯s army of Ghosts. Allasaria could tear through them, Elassa could snap them away with a finger, but lightning and wind and heat? What could they do against the immaterial? ¡°So they¡¯ll be coming here.¡± ¡°Most likely they know about the army implementation.¡± Arascus said. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Kassandora laughed and waved her hand away. ¡°This is Elassa¡¯s doing. Allasaria may be dead.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve not seen her in public.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But Neneria and Fer both said she got away from Artica.¡± ¡°What do you think she¡¯s doing then?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see when we come to it, or do you want to plan for everything?¡± ¡°Do you think I can¡¯t?¡± ¡°I know you can, but is it a good use of your time?¡± Kassandora sighed a heavy breath in answer and shook her head as Olephia got up to them. She pulled out a notebook and started writing: What¡¯s the trouble? ¡°Zerus, Alkom and Sceo are coming here.¡± Olephia made a stupid face, her eyebrows raised, her violet eyes matching her dress quizzical. She wrote a reply. That¡¯s it? ¡°I don¡¯t want you to fight them unless they come at us first, only scare them.¡± Olephia smiled a wicked grin and showed off her reply. Oh I¡¯m very good at scaring people. Kassandora suddenly clapped her hands, her tone downright ecstatic. ¡°Right guys. Wait¡¯s over, look over there!¡± She was pointing to the north, past the commercial and residential districts of Nanbasa¡¯s ring. There it was, in the blue clear blue sky with the sun shining overheard. They saw it, then they heard the booms. Thunderstorms and lightning clouds. Chapter 116 – The Rage of Beast and Man Mwai looked over his reports again. His own party would be assured to vote it through, they were all loyalists. The issue existed in the fact he needed another fifteen percent of the parliament. How much could Kassandora possibly do? ¡°What happened?¡± Edmonton asked. Eliza shook her head as she pulled her knees up on the bed, seemingly unaware her shoes were dirty. The room smelled, Eliza looked as if she had no taken a bath in a few days. Maybe a week. Fleur sighed as she sat next to the girl. ¡°You have to tell us.¡± Fleur said gently as she put her arm around Eliza. ¡°We can¡¯t help without knowing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Eliza took a breath as she looked around her room. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the mess, I know what it looks like.¡± ¡°Clean as always.¡± Edmonton said quickly as he leaned forwards. He got a bottle of water and passed it to Eliza. She drank eagerly. ¡°But Eliza, really, it was always the four of us. We have to know.¡± Eliza shook her head and moved away from Fleur. She leaned against the wall and straightened her legs. ¡°I¡­¡± Eliza sighed. ¡°I saw it all.¡± ¡°And?¡± Fleur said. ¡°If you saw it, then tell us.¡± ¡°It was one of the finals for the competitions. You know, the ones they hold for pyromancers every semester.¡± Lyca walked into the ring as he scanned the crowd in his robe, quarter-coloured with red. He found Eliza immediately, sitting at the top, facing him. She waved with some flowers. She had grown them herself and threw them forwards into the arena. A teacher came over to tell her off. Lyca grinned to himself as he kicked the sand back. It was warm from the previous fights, but they were mere warm ups. He was here as the centre stage. The main show for the event. Eliza sniffled again as a tear appeared in her eyes. ¡°And you know how Lyca is.¡± ¡°Loud.¡± Fleur said. ¡°Annoying.¡± Edmonton added. Eliza laughed. ¡°Well, he¡¯s nice, but he¡¯s terrible.¡± Lyca grinned at whoever the teachers had sent out today. With him now undisputed champion for the seventh time running, he had argued that he should be used in team-building exercises. As in a team of ten students, against a team consisting of him alone. He had helped kill a God! He had been chosen by Anassa! What was a few mortals against him anyway? ¡°That¡¯s not enough of you!¡± Lyca taunted across the arena as the crowd fell silent. They always fell silent for him. ¡°So he riled them up.¡± Eliza continued. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a fight at first, he was just toying with them.¡± Lyca flipped and dodged a ball of fire. He could have extinguished it the moment the girl had started casting it, but where was the fun in that? That lacked theatrics! That wasn¡¯t a show! He rolled over again as two boys combined their powers. Fire burst around them and travelled outwards towards Lyca in a slow wave. About the span of a few seconds, so a slow wave. Lyca jumped through it. ¡°And you could see they were getting angry with him because he wasn¡¯t even casting magic, he was just showing off.¡± Eliza said. Lyca sidestepped one fireball. Ducked another, sidestepped the third again. He put his hands in his pockets and whistled as the three balls of flame impacted against the magical barrier safeguarding the students. This was everything? This was magic he had mastered in his first year! This was nothing when it was put up against the training Anassa was putting him through. There, he spilled blood and broke bones. What were these children even doing? ¡°So then one of boys, he told Lyca to fight like a man.¡± Eliza said. ¡°That, I still remember.¡± She burst out in tears. ¡°I actually wanted Lyca to show him what he was capable of!¡± Fleur put her arms around her friend and Edmonton drank from the water bottle and they waited for Eliza to calm down. Lyca kicked up some sand again as he looked at the team of ten. They were breathing heavily. A girl was leaning on her knees, sweat bursting from her forehead and dripping onto the sand. She had even dropped her wand. Two of the boys were lying on the ground, collapsed and defeated by their own exhaustion. Only a few still stood, and they all stood on shaky legs. One boy stepped forwards. A tall kid, maybe Lyca¡¯s age. Lyca never liked those much taller than him, if you had the height, you needed the strength to back it up. The kid shouted. ¡°Can all you do is dance around? Fight like a man.¡± Lyca sneered. Fight like a man? What this kid think he was talking about? Had he ever spilled blood? What credentials did he have to tell Lyca how to fight? The kid could barely light a candle! Lyca shouted back. ¡°Go on then! Land one hit on me!¡± He flicked his finger, and fire burst out around the kid. Not enough. ¡°LAND ONE HIT ON ME!¡± He flicked his finger again. Pillars of fire surrounded the rest of the students. One girl started to scream. Not enough. He had not been chosen by Anassa for show. ¡°LAND ONE HIT!¡± Lyca screamed and the pillars of fire rose into the air.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°So he lost control.¡± Eliza continued. ¡°And¡­ the overseer came in.¡± Lyca¡¯s pillars of flame were snuffed out from existence as the boy circled around to see a man descending from the air. The match overseer, a top-level mage, to watch the fight and make sure the students did not hurt themselves in any serious way; bruises were allowed, broken bones were not. ¡°Calm down Lyca.¡± He said as the ten students behind him collapsed, smoke rising from them. ¡°You¡¯ve won.¡± ¡°Why send children against me?¡± Lyca shouted back. He was in the heat of the moment now. Why did they have this useless show? What was the point of playing around with these children? He was a better mage than half of the staff here. They only called him to be a sideshow at the end. A challenge? A goal to reach to for. ¡®Keep on studying and one day you¡¯ll be as good as Lyca!¡¯ ¡°None one here can match me!¡± Lyca shouted to the audience. ¡°And then they started arguing.¡± Eliza continued her explanation. ¡°That is not true.¡± The overseer shouted back. He was an aged man. An old fool. A man who spent the entirety of his life in Arcadia studying legalism and books. He was wasted talent. A man who once could have been great and now was resigned to watching over children throw fire at each other! Lyca burst out in laughter. What did they practice for? What was the grand achievement? The best one could one day hope to replace this fool? What achievement! What prestige! What glory! ¡°That is true.¡± Lyca said. ¡°Ten against one! Is there anyone here who can achieve that?! Is there anyone who can even win a five versus one! I am wasted here!¡± Lyca shouted. He saw Eliza smile at him from the crowd. ¡°This pride of yours will be an undoing.¡± The overseer said. ¡°You cannot defeat me!¡± Lyca shouted at the man. ¡°I have no interest to fight you in the first place.¡± The man said calmly. Lyca prodded him some more. ¡°Are you scared? Do you not want to show everyone what they can aspire to be?¡± Lyca knew he hit the sore spot of the fellow when he saw the man¡¯s expression darken. It was obvious this was not a satisfying job. What sort of ant would be satisfied here? ¡°And¡­ the overseer accepted.¡± Eliza said as Fleur and Edmonton leaned in to listen to the story. The overseer looked to the judges. Lyca watched them exchange looks as more mages floated in to take the wounded children away. Lyca¡¯s smile became a vicious grin as he heard the wolf inside of him start to howl. It was hungry. He loved that wolf, it was one of the few things he did love now. It always agreed with him. He was hungry too. The overseer stepped lightly on the sand. He put his hand to the side and a staff materialized in his grip. The crowd made a sound of being impressed. Lyca thought nothing of it, sorcery could do much more than that. Anassa had just forbidden him from using it outside. ¡°And they fought¡­ it was¡­¡± Edmonton listened closely. Lyca¡¯s materialized in his hand. It was the exact same style of magic, binding an object and bringing it to you. Lyca wished for the day when he could unleash sorcery in the open and be done with this charade of magic. ¡°Your move old man.¡± The overseer smiled a condescending glare at Lyca as he stepped forward. The staff made a full circle in his hand, a column of fire leapt out of it into the air. A snake of flame hissed through the air at Lyca. He didn¡¯t even glance at it, magic like this was for show. It was how modern mages fought, more for show and as a performance than how Anassa taught him. He flicked his wand and the snake hit a barrier. It curled around the shield and singed the ground around Lyca. Lyca saw the overseer¡¯s eyebrows rise as they questioned how he did it. It was a little bit of sorcery sprinkled in with a show of magic. The sorcery did the work, the magic just the smokescreen. Lyca sidestepped another tongue of flame coming from the overseer. Where all of his attacks like this? Could he not fight? Did he not know how to? Why only play at theatre? Wasn¡¯t this man thrice his age? Why? Why was it so easy? The wolf within Lyca snarled, and Lyca snarled with it. He raised his wand showed the overseer what magical combat should be. There was no great snakes of flame. No howling winds. No tremendous waves of fire. It embarrassed Lyca he had fought like that once. No. The overseer stood where he stood, and in the next instant, the ground around him spouted a column of flame as if the Sun had decided to incinerate that particular spot. That was magical combat. No show. You fought to kill. There was no other point in fighting overwise. The overseer stepped out of the flame. Lyca knew he would from the moment the flame sprouted from the ground. The flame told him it didn¡¯t burn the skin, it only singed the clothes. The ground exploded in fire. That wasn¡¯t an attack, that was a feint. To steal attention and to disorientate, Anassa had taught him it. The overseer found Lyca quickly, but Lyca was faster than quick. He had closed the distance in a few seconds. Staffs were large and cumbersome. The old man only managed one spin, a shield of flame appeared before him. Lyca held his breath and ploughed through it. And now, he would show everyone why exercise was important. It was a taboo among mages, magical combat was supposed to be a battle of wills. Lyca did not fight like that, he fought like the wolf inside him did. Until either he or the opponent collapsed, with whatever means necessary and whatever he had at hand. His body was as dangerous as the magic and sorcery in his veins. His fist hit the overseer¡¯s chest and the man coughed at the physical impact. Flames burst from Lyca¡¯s arm and enveloped the man. The overseer took a step back, he spun his staff again. Why did mages fight like this? Lyca had always hated how they relied on words and movements to do magic, the break from that was another gift from Anassa. He saw the red ruby on the tip of that staff start to glow as the overseer began to unleash yet another spell. Lyca grabbed the staff, ripped it from the Overseer¡¯s hand, and broke it over his knee. He threw the two parts behind himself into the sand. Then Lyca snapped his fingers as people started shouting behind him. He looked down into the overseer¡¯s terrified gaze and ate up the fear leaking out of those eyes. He snapped his fingers and the overseer set alight. Lyca felt a poke on the back of his neck. He grabbed at it. Something had bit him. He pulled out a dart. It was obvious by smell, a sleeping poison. He increased the temperature around the overseer before the darkness took over. ¡°And Lyca killed him.¡± Eliza finished and burst out in tears. ¡°Lyca killed him and I cheered!¡± Chapter 117 – My Credentials? I am Me! Maisara sighed. Arika had moved away from the Pantheon and she still wasn¡¯t allowed to return Olympiada. Why even have a White Pantheon if it kept its strongest Divines away from the Mountain? The whole world was moving away from them, and she had been tasked to clean up Anarchians in Epa. She gripped her axe and walked into yet another warehouse that was supposedly a place of meeting for them. ¡°Keep your cool.¡± Arascus said to Kassandora. She wasn¡¯t one to lose control, but that didn¡¯t mean she never did. Olephia and Neneria could keep their cool, but Kassandora? It was rare, but it did happen. ¡°No killing until they move.¡± Especially if it was unplanned. Kassie always needed a plan, then she¡¯d stick to it better than anyone he knew, but if there was no plan¡­ He sighed as he looked as his daughter. Kassandora was grinning madly, her eyes burning up as she looked at those thunderstorms and lightning clouds approaching Nanbasa. It was a beautiful day over the ring city. Beautiful and tranquil, apart from that tiny and contained thunderstorm approaching from the north. Much too fast to be a natural storm, and much too small. Storms were contained, it was obviously Zerus, Sceo and Alkom approaching. Hopefully only them. Olephia tapped Arascus. He turned to the Goddess of Chaos, she stood her in her violet dress, with those big violet eyes staring up at him. A piece of paper in her hands with her pretty handwriting on it: If you throw me up, I can keep it contained to just the air, I won¡¯t damage anything down here. That was¡­ that was a good idea actually. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to speak though, if Alkom makes a Sun, then let it land before you do anything.¡± Olephia nodded as Arascus turned to Kassandora, he had just thought of a plan she could follow. ¡°If we chase them away, you can use this moment to pass the army-implementation law. Cite self-defence and reliance on us, and how Kirinyaa needs its own army for true independence.¡± Kassandora sneered like an angry wolf. ¡°Brilliant. So just humiliate them.¡± She leaned off the balustrade and clapped her hands. With her crimson hair and that military HAUPT suit, the long coat falling past her knees and shirt underneath, she looked exactly like the Goddess of War she had been a thousand years prior. ¡°That, I¡¯ll take great pleasure in.¡± Olephia quickly wrote down some more words on her paper. You¡¯re terrible Kassie. Kassandora laughed at the text as Olephia gave Arascus her hand. He spun, heaved, and sent her flying into the sky. The Goddess of Chaos disappeared into the sky. Sceo was fast, Sceo with her husband Zerus were faster. It took them less than a minute to cross from the horizon to the northern districts of the ring-city. Then it took that storm a few more seconds to close in on Arascus. It stopped a few hundred metres short of them, and then gradually calmed down. Cars stopped in the street as people raised their phones to record. This wasn¡¯t going to be a battle of power, it would be a battle of people¡¯s minds. ¡°Don¡¯t don your armour if they don¡¯t attack.¡± Arascus said again. ¡°Oh do not worry.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°This is a news interview, it¡¯s not a fight.¡± Arascus smiled to himself, it was good that they were on the same page, he always loved that about Kassandora. The storm slowly started to clear and three figures came into view as they descended from the clouds. Zerus, God of Lightning, old but muscled. With a great beard and crystal-clear blue eyes, like the sky above. His wife, Sceo, Goddess of the Sky, ever beautiful, ever charming, with long hair but a cold glare in her eyes. She looked at Arascus and Kassandora with all the pleasantries of a howling wind in the middle of the winter storm. And Alkom, God of the Sun, tall and thin, with golden hair that fell down his back. He had a narrow face. All three of them wore the white-gold robes of the white Pantheon, each with patterns bearing signs of their respective demesnes. Arascus took the initiative as they looked down on him in surprise. He rose into the air until he matched their altitude, then a little further so he looked down on them. ¡°I am back.¡± His voice boomed and he lay into the attack immediately. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°We have come to confirm your existence.¡± Zerus answered back. When it was these three, he always spoke for the other two. ¡°And now we have.¡± He said in a colder tone. ¡°You can watch the news to see if I¡¯m alive.¡± ¡°We had to see it to believe it.¡± Zerus answered back. Now that they were before him, Arascus wanted to extract as much information as he could. ¡°Could Allasaria not have come herself?¡± Arascus shouted at them. Was Allasaria dead? Or did she just flee? What Zerus said was true, some things you just had to see to believe. ¡°We have to come to check for the entire White Pantheon.¡± Zerus replied. ¡°Why are you here?¡± That was a good reply, it gave nothing away, with a follow-up question too. Zerus did have the looks of an old man, but his mind had always been sharp as lightning. ¡°Epa rejected me, I am in Arika now.¡± Arascus said. He made sure to claim the whole continent for himself. ¡°So? Your mission is done, return now, flee to the Divine Mountain and stay where you are wanted.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°We have come to investigate Kirinyaa for traces of your corruption.¡± Zerus replied. Arascus looked down to Kassandora below him. She was stood there, arms behind her back, waiting for a sign that the situation was going to take a turn for the worse. ¡°Kirinyaa does not want you.¡± Arascus¡¯ voice boomed across all of Nanbasa. He would say it like it is. ¡°The White Pantheon did not help Kirinyaa as the Jungle crossed its border. It did not help when the Jungle started to devour cities. It did not help when the Eastern half of the country was lost. What credentials do you have now to come and make demands?¡± He heard people below him cheer, so he lay it on a bit further. ¡°Where was the Pantheon when the Clerics arrived two hundred years ago? What help did you give Kavaa when she fighting against the Jungle? Kassandora is the first Divine to establish a plan on how to defeat it and now what? Have you come to tell us to stop?¡± Zerus opened his mouth and Arascus raised his tone, he was not finished yet. ¡°Traces of my corruption? Yes!¡± He shouted. ¡°There are traces of my corruption everywhere here! They¡¯re evident. They¡¯re evident on the news, where we reclaim lost land. They¡¯re evident in the future Kassandora has given to this land! My corruption is evident in the Caretaker defeated! That¡¯s my corruption Zerus! What is yours?¡± Zerus fell silent for a moment as the people of Nanbasa cheered underneath. It was an easy tactic, one he had mastered a millennia ago, to accept and flip and amplify. To declare the accusation correct, and then reframe it as a positive. Zerus finally mounted a reply. ¡°Kirinyaa is still bound by the rules of the Pantheon Doctrine!¡± He shouted, but his tone was weak. ¡°The Pantheon has preserved world peace for a thousand years! You will drag it into war Arascus! You will unleash the beast stood below you.¡± His hand moved to indicate towards Kassandora, Goddess of War. ¡°And you will once again bathe Arda in blood. The White Pantheon exists because of YOU! Because you are the greatest threat this world has ever faced!¡± ¡°I am the God of Pride Zerus. To get rid of me, you will have to wipe out every sentient being on this world. Even dogs have their pride.¡± Arascus smiled at the man as he saw news crews set up on rooftops. ¡°You are using these people!¡± Zerus shouted back. ¡°My use for them is to free them from you!¡± Arascus shouted back again. A cloud of dust suddenly burst from a skyscraper, Fer stood up, in her light clothes she had used to visit the zoo. Like Kassandora, she could not fly, but both of them could reach the three White Pantheon Divines that had travelled here from the ground. Arascus smiled as Sceo¡¯s face hardened and Alkom shook. Now they were even, three for three. With Arascus and Kassandora, it may have been a hard fight, with three of them here though, it wouldn¡¯t even be a battle. And Olephia was up in the sky still, most likely he had thrown her too high and now she was returning to the clouds. ¡°And what credentials do you have to free anyone? You want Kirinyaa to exchange the rules of the White Pantheon for your chains?¡± Arascus burst out in laughter. ¡°My credentials Zerus? My credentials are very simple! I AM ME!¡± He shouted back. ¡°What does a God of Lightning know of humanity? A Goddess of the Sky? A God of the Sun? What are you here for? To stand against Mankind¡¯s Pride with your overwhelming force? Mankind has a very simple reply for you! Mankind says NO!¡± The crowd below cheered. They didn¡¯t need much to agree with Arascus. The White Pantheon had put Kirinyaa under embargoes and sanctions. Epa had been forced to stop all trading with the country, the UNN had agreed with the White Pantheon, although from what Arascus knew of their history, they always followed along with the Divine Mountain and imposed a full embargo on everything. Why should the people of Kirinyaa have a single spot of softness in their hearts for the White Pantheon? Fer was loved as a kind-hearted whisperer of the fauna here. Kassandora was loved as the leader of the Reclamation War. Olephia was loved as the Goddess who felled the Caretaker. What did the White Pantheon have to offer? ¡°We have come to talk with the government.¡± Zerus shouted. Arascus thought up of a reply instantly, letting Zerus talk would be bad, he had to paint the man in a bad light. ¡°And Allasaria could not come herself? She could not even send the dog that is Elassa? She sent the three strongest forces the White Pantheon has? Have you come to talk, or have you come to intimidate?¡± There, that did it. Now no one would want to even to what Zerus had to say in Nanbasa. ¡°I will not ask for you permission to talk with the government of this land!¡± Zerus shouted. ¡°And I tell you, you will not intimidate people under my protection.¡± Arascus shouted and he saw Zerus¡¯ turn a bright blue. Arascus used his own power in return. He had wanted to test it out for a long time. One by one, a hundred golden spheres appeared behind, a blade, a spear, an axe or a hammer slid out of each, teetering on the edge of being launched. Alkom¡¯s face grew grim as he raised his hand. A ball of fire appeared in his grip and it started to expand. Winds began to howl around Sceo as she tapped into her own energies. Lightning burst around the clouds that formed above the three. Fer roared from the side lines as she took a step forward. A heavy thud sounded from below. Spiked, black armour appeared around Kassandora, Joyeuse, her greatsword materialized into her grip and she spun the heavy blade, as tall as two men, easily around her herself. The standoff lasted for a few seconds, and then Olephia ended it. Arascus heard her before he saw her. The Hum of Chaos sounded from above in Olephia¡¯s pleasant voice. Red lightning arced across the sky. Heat hotter than the Sun hit Arascus in the back, and the three White Pantheon stopped immediately. He saw it in their eyes, raw fear as dark clouds overtook Sceo¡¯s pale ones and then split to reveal Olephia. Arascus knew what she looked like, he had seen her many times before. She hovered there, her eyes red, her hair sprawled out into the sky as she hummed. There was nothing she had to say. The hum was enough. The three White Pantheon Gods turned and fled. Away from Nanbasa, away from Kirinyaa. Olephia¡¯s hum stopped and she fell from the sky. Arascus caught her as he descended. They had chased these three away, and they had just now assured that Kassandora would have her army by the end of the week. Chapter 118 – Twenty Vials Of Blood Divines to Mortals are Sorcerers to Mages. They are too powerful to remain in this world, a dozen sorcerers can pose a threat to a member of the White Pantheon. For the stability of Ardan Peace, sorcery has to be wiped from this world. - The Sorcery Ban Declaration by Goddess Fortia. Signed in Year 2 of the Post-Great-War Era. Fer hummed to herself as she walked near the frontlines of the Reclamation War. A few of the Binturongs from the Caretaker affair had been repaired, but most of them were scrapped. With the new deliveries from Ausa of the artillery, they now fielded thirty-three guns. Fer smiled to herself as she thought of how much that number annoyed Kassandora. They had been split five teams of six each, then one half-team of three, and worked around the clock. Hurling napalm rounds into the Jungle and burning it away. They had started to cut north now, the explosions cut through the hustle and bustle of the camp every few seconds as they worked. A trail of smoke reached rose from the Jungle, as if a celestial artist had taken a paintbrush of tar and spread it across the sky. Other teams of men were driving south to take monitoring information regarding the hole that had been left behind by Olephia. There were plans to divert a river into it and create a brand new lake in the area, but those were still theoretical talks. Kassandora didn¡¯t care whatsoever what happened to it, it was a civilian matter. Something to give the government something to do. Fer walked past Kassandora¡¯s camp, men were training here as always. Digging holes and trenches, they had all grown lean over the past few months. Kassandora valued endurance over raw strength, and shovelling the dirt was apparently a good way to train it. A team of sixty men were being led by a sergeant on a hike, all with heavy backpacks filled up with the dirt they had just shovelled. Fer continued on her way through Kavaa¡¯s camp. She could quite honestly she enjoyed her trip to Arika. It wasn¡¯t home, but there was plenty of wild animals here. The zoo in Nanbasa had been a pleasant way to end her journey here, the lion cubs were cute. Fer was glad Kassandora was here to burn the creeping Jungle away, those cubs deserved a home in the wild. She sighed and kicked up the dirt as she looked down at her suit. Her HAUPT uniform had finally arrived, it was all tanned leather, hardy yet flexible enough for her to stretch without tearing it. The boots were of good quality, the tall cap on her head was shaped to allow the ears on the top of her head to stick out past it. The trousers even had a little flap to stick her tail through. Fer marched to Raptor One. Arika had been a break, now it was time for work again. Kavaa and Iniri were stood by the black plane, it¡¯s front painted yellow to make a beak. The Goddess of Health was holding a small box. The back cargo-hold was already empty and ready for Fer, two assistants were stood there, waiting for Fer to board. ¡°I¡¯m going.¡± Fer said cheerfully. ¡°We know.¡± Kavaa said. She stood there in light clothes, the cloak Fer had given her was wrapped around her shoulders. Fer was glad she wore it, Iniri wore a pretty green dress with her own symbols stitched into it with magical wood. ¡°We just wanted to say our goodbyes.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see each other soon enough.¡± Fer said as she looked down on the two Goddesses. Kavaa reached her chest, Iniri even lower than that. Fer towered over them. ¡°I wanted to give you something.¡± Kavaa said and put the box towards Fer. ¡°For your assistance in rescuing Iniri. I had to think of something you¡¯d like¡­ so¡­ sorry it took so long.¡± Fer grinned at the two, she honestly had not expected anything. She took the box and opened it. There was twenty vials of blood in there. Kavaa¡¯s own blood, Fer could tell by sight alone. ¡°If you need healing or anything, one should be enough.¡± Kavaa said and Iniri nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for not getting you anything.¡± Iniri said and Fer laughed. ¡°This is enough! Too much in fact!¡± She made her tone polite and soft. ¡°But thank you.¡± With presents, it was the thought that counted. Fer would rather a farmer give her a bottle of his homebrew moonshine than a rich man buy her a palace. ¡°I hope you¡¯ll be safe.¡± Kavaa forced the words out and Fer quirked a smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t paint you as a sentimental type.¡± She cooed over the shorter Goddess. Who knew that Kavaa with, with those grey eyes as emotionless as concrete and that silver hair as cold as steel, was actually sweet? Well¡­ Fer knew, she could smell that sweetness radiate off Kavaa the moment she met her. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°But you did help, I wouldn¡¯t want you to die.¡± Fer laughed and ruffled her hair. That annoyed Kavaa. Iniri squeaked from the side. ¡°Is Neneria not here to see you off?¡± ¡°We said our goodbyes already.¡± Fer said. Neneria never liked to show off how warm she was in public.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Oh.¡± Iniri replied as Fer boarded the plane. ¡°I¡¯m not one for stretching goodbyes. See you!¡± She said and grabbed the little radio for communicating with the pilot. ¡°I¡¯m ready, who is it this time? Douglas or Erik?¡± ¡°Erik.¡± The pilot replied. ¡°Pleasure to have you on board.¡± ¡°We¡¯re ready to set off.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The engines turned on and the ramp in the back of the plane started to shut. ¡°I¡¯ll be going in low, you¡¯ll have to jump from the plane.¡± ¡°Do not worry about me, just fly however you want.¡± Fer felt plane start to start to move as she moved to a window. Iniri and Kavaa were waving for her. Neneria was stood on a hill of red Arikan soil on her pale ghostly horse and watching from a distance. Fer waved back as the plane tumbled on the runway. She always liked this part, it was like a rollercoaster. Anassa¡¯s Sorcery can only be awakened by herself. If we remove the progenitors of her bloodlines, then the minor sorcerers can be left alone or killed if they cause trouble. Their powers will fade overtime as they intermix with the mundane population. There will be no sorcerers left two centuries from now. The world will be free of this class of self-made aristocrat overman. - Sorcery Ban Declaration Fer walked through the underground tunnels that were back at Headquarters. Sara had come out to meet her after she jumped from the plane, a swarm of maids had attended them at first. Fer had handed off Kavaa¡¯s gift to them to take to her room, and she walked with her head held high as Sara guided her to the War Room. Iliyal no doubt had a plan ready, although Fer wanted to make her adjustments. Iliyal always made plans to Kassandora¡¯s precision¡­ Fer¡­ well, she had a different way of carrying out operations. Sara lead Fer to the War Room, opened the door and followed the Goddess in after she entered. Iliyal and Ilwin were already sitting there. In their suits, pouring over papers that had been sprawled out over the table. There were two maps of Arcadia, then another hung off the wall with a general area of the nearby landscape. A half-drunk bottle of whiskey stood on the table, a pair of empty bottle were next to the ground and both elves had cups of coffee next to them. Fer clapped her hands and took charge immediately. ¡°Right lads, pleasure to see you again, what have you cooked up for me?¡± Iliyal stood and saluted, Fer laughed and waved him down. She wasn¡¯t Kassandora for all this pretention. Sara quietly made her way to the table, obviously interested in what she was about to hear. She wore a modest black dress, the sort that could be used for funerals. Fer didn¡¯t know why there was such a tense atmosphere among them. ¡°Go on, get to it.¡± Fer waved the man forwards. ¡°From what I know, I¡¯m leaving today to check on my herd.¡± ¡°That is true.¡± Iliyal said as he stood up and pointed to the map. ¡°Arcadia has countless mages within it. The goal is to free Anassa and leave, a perfect entry would be in and out without anyone knowing you are there.¡± ¡°Continue.¡± Fer already saw the issue with their plan. When the blood started to flow, the beastmen would grow enraged, there would be no chance at sneakiness then. ¡°Naturally, that won¡¯t happen.¡± Iliyal said and Fer nodded as his fingers traced a line over the map. ¡°I¡¯ve sent Edmonton and Fleur to scout the location out, they know it, and they¡¯ve reported that the vast majority of the population is just children being taught in the ways of magic. There¡¯s maybe¡­¡± Iliyal shook his head from side to side. ¡°Well, I estimate for the population, we¡¯ll have about two-hundred thousand adult mages there.¡± ¡°Quite a lot.¡± Fer said. An army in the past would have fifty, maybe a hundred serving as auxiliaries and support troops. Anymore was overkill, and they were only there because Arascus¡¯ legions would have two dozen support sorcerers at the maximum. The final battle at Rhomaion only had two thousand sorcerers pulled in and they held out for months before the powers of Divines overwhelmed then. ¡°Indeed.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°There is no way to say to this will not be easy. We know Anassa is able to use sorcery, but she cannot leave the Divine Library, I¡¯ve received word from Edmonton and Fleur that today they¡¯ll investigate what is keeping her trapped.¡± ¡°Most likely some sort of antimagic.¡± Fer said and Iliyal nodded as his grandson, Ilwin, seemed to shrink. Neither he nor Sara had any experience in battlefield magic, so neither of them said anything. ¡°Likewise, we only have Raptor One, Two and the Pelican to drop troops in. You¡¯ll have maybe a hundred of your pack with you.¡± ¡°A hundred or a million wouldn¡¯t matter against mages.¡± Fer said and Iliyal nodded grimly. ¡°The smartest way is to have you ride on the Pelican, then two more supporting teams on Raptor One and Raptor Two.¡± Iliyal pointed to two crosses on the map. ¡°Our advantage is the lack of real combat experience among the mages. Simple tactics like diversionary attacks should work against them. My suggestion is to drop Raptor One¡¯s team here.¡± Iliyal pointed to a series of storehouses. ¡°And Two¡¯s here.¡± Near the dorm rooms of floromancers. ¡°You want to drop in the heart of it?¡± Fer asked. ¡°These will be children. Fleur reported that they¡¯re entirely unsuited to combat. From the description, they wouldn¡¯t even make the ranks of novices in the past. They¡¯re barely past the apprentice stage.¡± ¡°Then that clears things up. And guards?¡± ¡°Arcadia apparently doesn¡¯t have them.¡± Iliyal said in disbelief as he looked to Fer with those cold green eyes of his. ¡°I¡¯m not joking, I couldn¡¯t believe it either.¡± Fer quirked a smile. What sort of operation was Elassa running? What was the point of magicians if they couldn¡¯t fight? What? Was she training them to be farmers instead? Builders maybe? ¡°And me?¡± Fer asked. ¡°The Pelican will drop you and your team right by the Divine Library. We were thinking up North here.¡± Iliyal pointed to a location in the woods. ¡°But if you¡¯re going to enter loudly anyway, we might as well save you the trek. We have parachutes developed for the beastmen already. One for you too.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Fer said. ¡°I¡¯ll send the report about Anassa as soon as it gets delivered to me, how you want from there is your jurisdiction.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make some changes.¡± Fer said. ¡°But to my pack.¡± ¡°You should check them out first.¡± Iliyal said, his grin becoming animalistic. ¡°Mikhail has made some new toys for them to play with.¡± Chapter 119 – Sorceress Imprisoned Bloodthirsty. Arrogant. Condescending. Secretive. Pretentious. Manipulative. Selfish. Greedy. Dishonest. Arascus¡¯ other daughters are at least likable. I have nothing positive to say about Anassa. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, of Order: ¡®Documenting the Daughters.¡¯ Edmonton led Fleur and Eliza to the Divine Library. It was the middle of the night, they waited for Arcadia to go to sleep before visiting it again. They had visited several times before, Edmonton smirked as he remembered that first entry when he bickered with Lyca on testing the door. Now, after spending so much time with Arascus, after downing Leona¡¯s plane and training everyday¡­ Well, it much like entering any other library to him. The huge building was hidden by the trees of Elassa¡¯s Divine Gardens, further North and away from the main complex of Arcadia, people rarely frequented here unless it was for sightseeing or taking someone out on a date. The building suddenly rose out of the ground, its dark slate black against the blue and starry night¡¯s sky. All towers tall towers and sharp roofs as if it was a serious of spikes cast into the ground. They had agreed to rescue Lyca later. Edmonton and Fleur both preferred having their presence in Arcadia be unknown, they had stayed in Eliza¡¯s room the whole day. Edmonton had sent a report to Iliyal and informed him that tonight he¡¯d receive his information, and then that Edmonton and Fleur would be staying in Arcadia and to inform them of the time so they could free Lyca. Eliza said she visited him once a week still, when he had his visitor hours and that generally he was taking imprisonment well. Better than she would at least. Edmonton looked around, there was no one about, and quickly disappeared through the front door of the Divine Library. Fleur and Eliza followed him. They all wore the casual clothes of students simply going outside, somewhat darkly coloured as to not stand, but there was no reason to try and blend in. Looking as if you belonged perfectly was a far better disguise than playing at some childish dream at subterfuge. ¡°Goddess Anassa!¡± Edmonton shouted into the library. It was empty as always, with the grand bookcases stretching into what seemed like eternity. They were perfectly clean, without even a speck of dust. Nor a hint of shadow, the entire place was well lit by a series of magical lanterns that hovered in mid-air. A stair-case with a red carpet draped over was at the end of the grand hall, leading up to the second floor. Anassa had never allowed any of them to travel up there. ¡°I do not appreciate being called for like a dog.¡± Anassa¡¯s cold voice came from behind them. Edmonton hated how she did that, he had no clue how her sorcery worked, he could not even detect her appearing behind him. She circled around the group of three youths, brilliant black hair flowing down her back. Her long red dress trailed behind her, it was low-cut and revealed a healthy slice of pretty leg. And she was tall, easily twice the size of Eliza, Edmonton reached to just below those sizable mounds on her chest. Edmonton could not help but look, and he felt Fleur¡¯s elbow in his side when she caught him. ¡°You have returned.¡± Anassa said. ¡°And I sense you¡¯ve been training, not the most you could have been, but training nevertheless.¡± She turned to face them as the library shifted. Darkness cloud around them, and then they were in a different room. With large chairs and couches obviously sized for devices, Eliza sat on a couch, her legs dangled off the front unable to reach the floor. ¡°Sit, I did not bring you here to stand.¡± Anassa said as she sat down. The woman knew exactly what she was doing when she put one leg over the over. Edmonton tried to look away and felt Fleur¡¯s elbow in his side again. ¡°So? Has Arascus gotten bored of you yet?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°He has not.¡± Edmonton spoke up, his voice cracking as he tried to look away from the gap in her dress. Anassa smiled in self-satisfaction when she saw him looking. Fleur kicked Edmonton¡¯s leg and took over the speaking for the two of them. ¡°We¡¯ve come back for you, there¡¯s a plan to free you from here.¡± Fleur said and Anassa exhaled tiredly. ¡°So you have been productive then.¡± ¡°We need to know about whatever is holding you here.¡± Anassa sighed and leaned back. She put one long arm around the back of her chair. ¡°Who am I communicating this to?¡± Anassa asked and lazily flicked a finger. Her nails were painted red, like her lips. ¡°Obviously it¡¯s not just you.¡± Fleur looked to Edmonton, then back at Anassa. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t know what you mean?¡± She asked and Anassa rolled her eyes. ¡°Who¡¯s organising this? Is it just Iliyal Tremali?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Fleur said. ¡°No, we have Iliyal, Kassandora and Arascus helped make the plan.¡± Edmonton saw the Goddess¡¯ eyes widen and her mouth turn into a smile of pure delight. ¡°Fer is going to be running the operation. Neneria won¡¯t be attending.¡± Fleur finished and the woman leaned forwards. Now that Edmonton had to pull his eyes away from! It was simply scandalous! She was a Goddess! A Divine! ¡°So many have returned?¡± Anassa licked her lips. ¡°And Irinika? Olephia? Baalka?¡± ¡°Olephia is back, but I don¡¯t know about the other two.¡± Fleur said carefully, Edmonton tried to keep his gaze on Fleur, and he saw her own eyes sliding downwards. ¡°And¡­ Yeah. That¡¯s it.¡± Fleur finished, a blush developing in her cheeks. ¡°It¡¯s Irinika and Baalka for you.¡± Anassa hissed. ¡°Not other two.¡± She reclined again. ¡°So it¡¯s Fer, Iliyal, Kassie and Arascus I¡¯m talking to.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the plan. The others are away to draw Elassa away from here.¡± Fleur replied in an apologizing tone. ¡°I don¡¯t know how, that Iliyal didn¡¯t tell us.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Very well. They¡¯ll know so tell them this. I won¡¯t repeat myself, listen well.¡± Anassa said. Fleur and Edmonton both nodded. ¡°My soul is bound to a prison shard. There¡¯s ten-by-ten of Theosius¡¯ Sentinels, the Centurion models around it. They¡¯re all grafted with dwarven materialisation runes, crafted out of the same bronze-mithril alloy Allasaria¡¯s chosen used. It¡¯s the five styles of Sentinel-Centurions, twenty each. Their design has been altered, they don¡¯t have cores anymore, they¡¯re powered by Arcadia¡¯s leyline fluctuations. Did you catch that?¡± Anassa raised a black eyebrow. Fleur nodded and Edmonton replied. ¡°I did.¡± He knew precisely what half of those words meant. The rest may as well have been gibberish. ¡°The shard is on the third floor. I¡¯ve marked it already, if it¡¯s Fer though, she¡¯ll be able to smell it out. The upper levels of the library are flooded in mercury, the air is toxic there. The only entrances are the doors, the Library itself is reinforced with structural magic. Olephia would break it, but Irinika would not. I could if I was unconstrained, tell Iliyal that, he¡¯ll know what level of strength we¡¯re working with then.¡± Anassa crossed her arms. ¡°Understood?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Fleur half-said, half shouted. ¡°Great.¡± Anassa said. ¡°That is all they need then.¡± Edmonton blinked. That was it? Only that? He expected¡­ he didn¡¯t know what he expected. Something more¡­ Something he could understand at least. ¡°Make sure you don¡¯t forget.¡± Anassa cracked a smile. ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯ve returned.¡± ¡°We¡¯re happy too.¡± Edmonton said coyly. ¡°Oh I wouldn¡¯t be happy if I were you. But I am very happy.¡± Anassa smiled and the couch below them disappeared. The three youths fell to the floor. ¡°Who¡¯s been teaching you?¡± Anassa then raised a hand. ¡°Actually no, it was Arascus, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Fleur said as she stood up and rubbed her rear. ¡°How di-¡° ¡°I¡¯m the one asking questions here.¡± Anassa interrupted, she did not even change her voice from the purring leopard voice of hers. ¡°But it¡¯s obvious, you¡¯ve grown in strength but not awareness. If little Kassie taught you, it¡¯d be the opposite.¡± Edmonton had not met Kassandora ever, but from the way Iliyal talked about his favourite Goddess, little Kassie would be the precisely the last words he would ever use to associate with Of War. ¡°I¡¯ve been training little Eliza here too.¡± Anassa said. ¡°But Eliza is a team-player.¡± Darkness clouded over all of them. They stood in a pitch black space, there was no depth to the floor, no ceiling, no walls. If Anassa didn¡¯t stay there, still reclining on her chair, Edmonton would have no way to tell if him and Fleur and Eliza were falling or not. ¡°Go on then.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Show me how much you¡¯ve advanced. You have duties to attend to, so I¡¯ll give you thirty seconds to scratch me or my dress.¡± Edmonton wished he had the courage to scowl in front of Anassa. He had come to save her! And this was the thanks he got? Eliza stepped forwards immediately, her hands didn¡¯t move, nothing about her posture changed, and then a red beam appeared, as thin as a needle sparked from her chest and aimed at Anassa. It didn¡¯t even cover half the distance. Anassa smiled. ¡°Straight for the heart, very good.¡± She said. ¡°But I know what you¡¯re capable of Eliza, this isn¡¯t your examination. Let your two friends have a chance.¡± Eliza stepped backwards with a bow and Anassa angled her eyes to the two. ¡°You have twenty seconds left.¡± Edmonton raised his arms, Fleur flicked her fingers and Anassa spoke again. ¡°You¡¯ve both failed, but go on, try.¡± Edmonton poured all of his energy into the blast of energy. Red light burst from him. Stronger than anything he had used before, enough to fell at least five-dozen great oaks in a single beam. The planes he had downed in Artica would have had nothing but scraps remaining of them. Fleur¡¯s flick created blades of red light as Anassa rolled her eyes, obviously unimpressed. ¡°Very much Arascus¡¯ style.¡± She said. Edmonton¡¯s giant beam and Fleur¡¯s swords of sorcery ploughed through the darkness at Anassa, ready to destroy her, and then¡­ And then they weren¡¯t there. Anassa whistled as spun her finger in a circle and picked at her nail. ¡°Examination over, I¡¯ve revoked the twelve seconds you had, you¡¯ve shown enough.¡± Edmonton¡¯s beam appeared above him, hurled into him, and then it was below him. Fleur¡¯s blades changed directions and hurled into the two. Edmonton felt the blood drain from his face and Fleur let out a tiny squeak of fear as the blades reappeared above Anassa. Edmonton¡¯s beam split in the air. Was that even his beam of magic anymore? It was, he could feel himself from it. It was his, but it wasn¡¯t simultaneously. ¡°Let me give a little lesson. Eliza has heard this before, but repetition is never bad, is it?¡± Anassa asked. The show went on as Anassa began to stretch, her dress tightly hugging her. Edmonton¡¯s beam split again and made two pillars around Anassa. How did she hold his sorcery still? Fleur¡¯s blades made an archway among them. ¡°I¡¯ve talked with Eliza a great deal about this, since you were mages before you were sorcerers, and I know how magic works, it¡¯s changed somewhat since my days, but then again, it hasn¡¯t.¡± Anassa flicked a finger and the columns of red energy rolled over. ¡°Fundamentally, magic is one¡¯s will exerted over the elements. Somewhere, someone, some time in the past, found out how to move things with his mind, and thus magic was born. It is irrational to some extent, but perfectly understandable, we can run tests to measure potential, we can create theories, put them into practice, we can change and evolve magic as time goes on. There is a certain scientific and mathematical structure to it.¡± Anassa flicked her finger and the columns changed into people. They bowed to the Goddess. ¡°Sorcery was much the same. Somewhere, someone, some time in the past, found out how to move things with her mind. The only difference was that this was a broken mind. It was not sane.¡± Anassa looked at the construct of light next to her, tapped it, and it shattered into a thousand butterflies that burned away like flames. ¡°Where magic bends the laws of physics according to rational thought, sorcery bends them according to irrational thought. Do you understand?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°No.¡± Fleur replied as Edmonton shook his head. ¡°I thought you wouldn¡¯t.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Sorcery is ultimately delusional thought manifest into reality. You cannot defeat, nor at your current stage will you ever be able me, no matter how much you grow, because you cannot see yourself defeating me. In a contest of sorcery, can you stand you against me?¡± Edmonton tried to understand what the woman was even talking about. She was the Goddess of Sorcery! How could he defeat her in her own field? ¡°No.¡± Edmonton replied and Anassa nodded sadly. ¡°Honesty, at least I can appreciate.¡± The rest of the sorcery around disappeared, the darkness melted away, and they returned back to the room with the couches. Anassa flicked her finger, Edmonton and Fleur were sent crashing into the wall. ¡°You are still trapped by chains of logic and sanity. Arascus trains well, because he trains soldiers, step-by-step, you get better. It works for muscles, which you grow, it does not work for Sorcery. Sorcery, an insane man who¡¯s mind knows no limitations, could outdo you in a day. Lyca, your friend, is like that. He thinks himself top of the world, he comes at me with no limitations, and even he¡¯s still failed to touch my dress.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Edmonton did not see at all. He just hoped it would save him from another blast like that. ¡°I know you don¡¯t see whatsoever.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Simply said, you are not delusional enough to stand against Divines.¡± She smiled at him. A beautiful, deadly smile, a she-wolf inviting a child to her lair. ¡°Are you staying in Arcadia?¡± ¡°We are.¡± ¡°Go then, report to Iliyal. I expect to see the three of you here for another lesson tomorrow.¡± When Edmonton heard those words, he wanted to collapse onto his knees and cry. Chapter 120 – A Warherd For the Modern World Olephia is a walking storm. Neneria has a pocket army. Irinika is near-unstoppable. Baalka¡¯s diseases can destroy kingdoms. Fer¡¯s warherds ravage the countryside. But Anassa? I would prefer to parley with any of the aforementioned Goddesses than Anassa. It boggles the mind that Malam, Goddess of Hatred, is somehow more pleasant to deal with than her. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, of Order: ¡®Documenting the Daughters.¡¯ Fer walked through the secret compound her father had set up to give Mikhail Alash a space to make his tools. It was deep in Karaina B, in an area once forgotten and now teeming with life thanks to the sudden economic resurgence Alash¡¯s factories had brought. His recruited engineers and engineers were just as mad as him, and the fact half of them were transferred to Kirinyaa to design machines in the open there did not seem to put a single damper in their spirits. Fer¡¯s black boots clicked against the ground as she walked through the workshop. She tried to look like her sister Kassandora. Tried to. Kassandora would walk stiff-backed with barely a smile, and then give them an inspiring speech that would rally the spirits. Fer prowled, her hands behind her back, her yellow cat-eyes dancing over each and every invention these men had constructed. She knew she had a stupidly large grin on her face, but how could she not. The packmasters of her herd walked followed in step. Traius, the huge minotaur with two horns that made a crown over his head and his chest was covered in scars. Each step he took was a heavy drum, each breath as loud as mechanical pistons used to lift the cannons of the Binturongs. He towered half-again each human¡¯s height, and Fer towered half-again over him. Logar was next to him. A wolfman covered in fur, with a wolf¡¯s maw overflowing with teeth on his head. His steps were quiet and delicate, he always walked like he was on the hunt. Those two managed the day-to-day runnings of the pack when Fer was away. Then her three darkfur packmasters. Kanstantin, Naro and Traian, three darkfurs that managed everything Logar and Traius could not. Darkfurs blessed with Anassa¡¯s sorcery, beastmen capable of wielding a power only human hands should be able to hold. Some called their version of sorcery barbaric and an abhorrence in the magical world. Fer only considered it evolution. ¡°This is the parachute.¡± Mikhail guided the party through his workshop. He wore overalls, Fer had sent him a letter telling him not to dress up, she¡¯d didn¡¯t like the pretentious of official ceremonies. The workshop was quite now, with engineers standing by display pieces of things they had produced. They had worked enough with the beastmen that now the only looks of curiosity were given to Fer herself. That was good, Fer did not like people who were scared of her pack members. ¡°Put it on.¡± Fer pointed to Logar behind herself. He was just taller than a human, and this thing¡­ She looked it curiously. It looked like a big backpack. Supposedly this would let people jump from planes, but she had never seen it. ¡°How does it work?¡± She asked Mikhail. The man leaned into the wolfman to explain. ¡°Here is the main parachute. You pull that, and it releases-¡° Fer leaned forwards and pulled that white string with a plastic handle at the end. There was a hiss as Mikhail shouted. ¡°No!¡± Then Logar¡¯s backpack exploded with a giant white carpet. The force knocked Traian behind over and the darkfur had climbed under the parachute as if he had been trapped by a net. ¡°I see.¡± Fer said. She did not see whatsoever, how this was supposed to slow a fall down, she could not begin to fathom. ¡°And this red string.¡± Fer tapped the string on the over side. ¡°That¡¯s the backup parachute.¡± Mikhail said. Fer smiled at Logar and pulled it. Another hiss of air, another explosion and sound of tearing, and another gigantic piece of white fabric erupted from the backpack. ¡°So we have two?¡± Fer asked. That was the sort of question Kassie would ask. ¡°In case the first one fails.¡± Traian cursed from underneath first parachute as the second settled over him. The other beastmen all shared looks of mirth, Fer did too. When something was funny, it was funny, there was no reason not to laugh. ¡°We¡¯ll be landing in the night, can we paint the dark blue? Like the night sky?¡± ¡°Of course, of course. This was just the demonstration model but we have camouflaged ones available.¡± Fer nodded. ¡°And for him?¡± Fer tapped Traius¡¯ chest. The minotaur puffed it out. ¡°We have a larger model for the minotaurs.¡± Mikhail said. Fer nodded to herself. ¡°And it¡¯s not hard to use?¡± ¡°You just jump and pull.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± ¡°You think you can remember that?¡± Fer asked Traius. The minotaur¡¯s maw twisted into a smile.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Bit complicated, but I¡¯ll try.¡± He said sarcastically and Fer snorted with laughter. She stood up straight and clapped her hands. ¡°Alright, very good Mikhail. Very good indeed. But we did not come to see giant duvets stuffed into backpacks, did we?¡± The engineer, his smile revealing his teeth. ¡°No, we did not.¡± He walked to the first station. Two men were stood there. ¡°This is the first model. We¡¯ve called it the Sledge, like sledgehammer.¡± Fer looked at the gun. It was a barrel of metal, a wooden stock on the end, and some sort of grip underneath. ¡°And?¡± Fer asked. ¡°It shoots these rounds.¡± Mikhail picked up a red shell. Fer took it out of his hands. ¡°So where do we load it?¡± She asked. ¡°At the top.¡± She stuff the shell into the top, it disappeared into the gun with a satisfying click. Fer extended her arm, aimed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. ¡°You cock the gun first.¡± Mikhail said. Fer looked at him and he pointed to that piece of metal Fer had presumed was something to make holding it more comfortable. She grabbed it and pulled it. The gun made a satisfying click. She aimed it at the wall, the engineers all put their fingers in their ears and Fer pulled the trigger. The gun made a deafening explosion and Fer looked at the damage in the wall. There was a hundred or so tiny impact. She knew it from the past, but she never thought it could be condensed to be handheld. ¡°You¡¯ve made a grapeshot cannon!¡± Fer said as she inspected the Sledge again. ¡°But handheld! Amazing!¡± She honestly meant it. ¡°It¡¯s a shotgun.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°We have different rounds. Slugs for longer range, that¡¯s for clearing rooms.¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± Fer gave the gun to Logar who inspected it. ¡°Very good.¡± ¡°Iliyal said they should be hardy so there¡¯s almost no moving parts in it. You can use it as a club and it still works. It will fire even when wet.¡± ¡°Even better!¡± Fer patted the man on the head. ¡°Very good job.¡± She said. This was amazing! The man showed them something called the AA-Rifle. Automatic-Alash rifle, named after the engineer. ¡°This is¡­¡± Mikhail said. ¡°Well, it¡¯s better to just show you.¡± He took the gun, a magazine, shoved it inside and handed it to Fer. ¡°Please don¡¯t point it at anyone.¡± He said. ¡°I¡¯ve used muskets before.¡± Fer had never liked muskets. A crossbow was much better, much faster and easier to use. She aimed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened again. ¡°You pull the slide on the side.¡± Fer looked at the gun, it was small in her hands and saw a tiny piece of metal sticking out. She pointed to it. ¡°That?¡± ¡°That.¡± She pulled it. There was another satisfying click. She aimed at the wall, and pulled the trigger. Amazing. Beyond amazing. Game-changing. The gun unloaded it¡¯s magazine in two seconds. Thirty bullets went just like that. This was much better than a crossbow. ¡°This I want more of.¡± Fer said. She could see it already. Mikhail showed a long range sniper, it had a bigger calibre apparently and was able to penetrate steel. A smaller gun. A thing called a pistol that humans could use with one hand. And then they moved to the other side of the room. This was the toys she saw at the start. This is the thing she wanted to see. ¡°This is a flamethrower.¡± Mikhail said as he scratched his chin. ¡°Honestly¡­ Iliyal told us to make one and we made it along with the Binturong design but¡­¡± Fer looked at the flamethrower. It was shaped like a gun, with a pipe leading from it two heavy tanks. ¡°You stick those on the back I presume?¡± Fer said. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s like a backpack.¡± Fer tapped Traius again. ¡°Lift that.¡± Traius stepped forward. The minotaur was even wider than Fer. He moved slowly and deliberately. His massive furred hand curled around the tank, and he lifted it easily. ¡°And the gun part.¡± The minotaur hooked a finger through a steel notch and held the whole thing in the air with one hand. ¡°Alright.¡± Fer turned to Mikhail. ¡°This is excellent. I like it.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s¡­¡± Mikhail shook his head. ¡°You like it?¡± He asked incredulously. ¡°I do. Now stick this.¡± Fer tapped the tank. ¡°Onto this.¡± Fer tapped the gun piece and then tapped Traius. ¡°So that he can use it.¡± Mikhail smiled at the suggestion. ¡°It will be done.¡± He said and then moved onto the last thing. It was what Fer found most interesting, no one in the past had ever tried to design something like this, it was much too big to be used for humans. The gun had a belt attached to it too, which lead to a box. There was a handle on the front and in the back. Mikhail grabbed the two to demonstrate how to hold it. ¡°We call it the MG-1.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°Machine Gun One.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because it works like a well-oiled machine.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°And we originally planned to mount it on machines.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Fer said. She nodded for Traius to pick it up. It fit the minotaur perfectly. ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°It fires sixty rounds in two seconds, with the box having capacity for four hundred rounds before it has to be reloaded.¡± ¡°This is the sort of thing you have a backpack for.¡± Fer looked over to Traius. ¡°Those boxes, we could fit maybe?¡± She raised an eyebrow. ¡°Fourty of them on him? That¡¯s what? Sixteen thousand rounds?¡± Every beastman smiled. The engineers did too. ¡°Do that and make it so he doesn¡¯t have to reload.¡± Fer tapped Mikhail. ¡°We need melee weapons too.¡± Beastmen always needed melee weapons. Fist and hoof and claw and tooth was good, but it wasn¡¯t sword and spear and axe. Mikhail raised a finger, a smile spreading over his face as he led them back to the Alash model. ¡°We¡¯ve thought of this actually.¡± Mikhail said. ¡°And¡­ we don¡¯t produce them yet, but it¡¯s easy enough to make.¡± He signalled to the engineer and the man produced a long knife, somewhere between the length of a dagger and a short sword from the back of his belt. ¡°And that is?¡± Fer asked, terribly unimpressed. ¡°We stick this onto this.¡± Mikhail slid the knife onto the gun. Fer¡¯s eyes widened as she saw the dream. A gun which was a spear. Amazing! How did no one think of this in the past?! She actually felt her jaw drop. She clapped her hands, turned and spoke loudly to every engineer in the building. They all had grins on their faces, it was obvious she was impressed. ¡°You all did an excellent job! Amazing! I want everything!¡± She shouted. ¡°Amazing work!¡± She said again. She had never been good at speeches. It really was though. She spent another half hour just walking around and testing out all the guns again before time caught up to her and she realised she was stopping these men from working. Logar came close to her when they left the building. ¡°What do you think? I¡¯m impressed myself.¡± He said earnestly. ¡°I think we¡¯ve just created a warherd fit for the modern world.¡± Chapter 121 – The Nation That Stood Pantheon Peace has undoubtedly been a success through whatever way you want to measure its effective. The decree banned all tools used primarily for warfare. The Pantheon Court in Olympiada started to arbitrate all international disputes, this millennia has seen less open conflict than ten years did in the Pre-Great-War Era. What moralistic arguments against Pantheon Peace simply crumble under the results it has brought. - Excerpt from ¡®Modern Geopolitics¡¯, written by a team of UNN historians. Kassandora watched Mwai declare the start of the discussion period. It was a mere formality. Kassandora wanted to end that discussion already. She stood in Kirinyaa¡¯s parliament, it was a magnificent structure, although the tinges of Maisara everywhere. Divided into two sides, with red furniture cladding every structure. The Kirinyaan tricolour, blue, red then green was painted on the ceiling. An orator ran the discussions, and people would take the stand to argue. Mwai was stood in a suit with a series of cameras pointed towards him. KTV was reporting, as it always it. For once, the parliamentary channel may have some watchers on it. The only entertainment these politicians gave Kirinyaa were the few times they got into a shouting match with each other and the orator failed to calm down them. ¡°With all the reasons listed previously.¡± Mwai spoke in a slow tone. Kassandora didn¡¯t like that, there was no reason to extend what was already a boring meeting, but she said nothing, only sitting in the public stands and watching. ¡°I propose the creation of a National Kirinyaan Military Force under this Army Implementation Bill.¡± He held up the piece of paper as the crowd went quiet. And so, Kirinyaa became the first country of the modern age to discuss breaking Pantheon Peace. A concept so out of this world, it simply had to be seen to be believed. Kassandora flicked open her phone and checked her social media. And now, she got the reaction she was wanting. Post after post came in, telling people to switch to the parliamentary channel and watch what was going on. How they could not believe. How it was suddenly worth watching. How ground breaking, how terrifying, how inspiring, how hot-headed, how they were filled with awe and how disastrous it was. Mwai put the bill down and leaned down to the microphone. ¡°That is all.¡± He left the stand as his party stood up to clap for him. They had a mere thirty percent of the seats. The other side of the parliament grumbled, as Kassandora assumed they would, even though everyone wore a green armband to show off their support for the Reclamation War. How could they not? Kirinyaa was the frontline for it, standing against her campaign was the equivalent of a hanging for their careers. ¡°Order. Order!¡± The orator slammed a ceremonial gavel on a block of Kirinyaan hardwood. One of the last to in existence, the natural habitat of those trees had been taken over by the Jungle about a century ago. ¡°The orator invites a nominee of the opposition to speak.¡± That was custom here, the other side got to speak first. The public would be allowed near the end of the debate, although that was only custom. It wasn¡¯t a hard rule. Kassandora already knew she would not manage to sit here for another five hours until Parliament closed for the day. She smiled to herself and crossed her arms, what a farce. Parliament closing debates. Arascus worked everyday to manage his Empire in the past, she did too to manage his war. What? Was the country supposed to go on break for the next day? She wanted to laugh in the face of the it all. Kirinyaa needed a restructuring. A man was eventually nominated by the opposition. A tall fellow, with a fine cut jawline. He spoke slowly, as they all did. ¡°In regards to this, although I of course support the Reclamation War¡­¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes as the man gestured to the green band around his dark blue suit. She leaned back and she fell half-asleep, eyes open. Still aware, catching the words the words that were important and ignoring the rest. ¡°Diplomatic protests¡­¡± He continued on. ¡°The danger of this would set a precedent that would allow the Pantheon to intervene in Kirinyaa¡­¡± He came to a stop eventually. A man from Mwai¡¯s loyalists was chosen up. Kassandora could not believe what she was watching. Where was the passion? The fire? The righteous rage? These people were supposed to lead yet they would struggle to inspire a classroom. A man like this would be assigned to logistics and hauling dirt in her army, and even that would be too much for him. He¡¯d somehow managed to put the dirt to sleep. And again, from the other side. The first fellow at least was handsome. This one was balding and old, and he needed a cane to get up the stairs. Kassandora sighed as the charade went on. Round and round, one man putting others to sleep, then another. Eventually, the orator called a stop to the proceedings. He slammed the gavel on that block of hardwood as Kassandora pulled out her phone. She made a post: Parliamentary Channel. Fer¡¯s little show in EIE hadn¡¯t been only for fun, with Of Beasthood famous, all the personal accounts of the other Divines were dragged into the spotlight. ¡°If any member of the public wishes to speak.¡± How did even the orator manage six words into ten seconds? Kassandora eyed the people to her sides. No one had the courage to sit next to her, but several were looking giddy, their legs bouncing up and down as if they wanted their own five minutes of fame. ¡°Now is the time, otherwise-¡° Kassandora stood up before anyone else got the chance to. She raised her hand and the parliament¡¯s hushed whispers fled the room, only to be conquered by silence. Very good. They knew their place. Now was a time to let the Goddess of War speak. ¡°Goddess Kassandora of War, do you have something to say?¡± Kassandora ignored the orator. He was only here to keep order. She turned and walked down the steps of the public viewings. Her black boots clicked against the wood floor with every step as the government held their breath. Mwai was eyeing her, desperation and disbelief in his eyes. It had never been done after all, a law proposed and passed on the same day? It was impossible. But then Kassandora ever escaping from Olympiada was impossible. Rescuing a lost soul from the Jungle was impossible. Arascus returning was impossible. Leona dying was impossible. Olephia breaking free was impossible and then killing the Caretaker was also impossible. These people simply had no imagination.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She walked to the stand and turned the microphone off. There was no reason for little toys like this. The little bench reached up to everyone man¡¯s chest, now, it barely breached her thighs. Kassandora did not mind it, she preferred to have herself, in her black uniform, with the coat hanging down to her calves all on camera. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen of Kirinyaa.¡± Kassandora began, her voice boomed across the room. She took a heavy breath, it was a show after all. She took a step away from the stand. There was nothing that said the speaker had to remain sequestered there, mortals only did it because they needed a microphone to project their voice. This wasn¡¯t going to be a presentation on the economic benefits of reclaiming Western Kirinyaa, nor some speech about the logistical necessities of expanding her operations. Those were merely facts. If facts were everything to life, people wouldn¡¯t need laws to keep them under control. Arascus had taught her this, it was the ancient debate between facts and emotions; dialectic and rhetoric. If one side was correct about its position, the debate would have been ended the moment it began. Kassandora stared every member of the parliament down. ¡°The Reclamation War is my project.¡± She said. ¡°The Binturongs were designed by my engineers.¡± That wasn¡¯t even true, it was Arascus¡¯ man who built it. ¡°Napalm is my invention.¡± And that was Mikhail Alash too. ¡°The ground we¡¯ve reclaimed has been conquered by my men.¡± Kassandora took a step. Her heel clicked against the floor. ¡°But it is not my war.¡± ¡°Kirinyaa has been under siege for longer than anyone in this room but I have been alive. Kirinyaa will be under siege long after you die. And eventually, Kirinyaa will fall. We have reclaimed two thousand square kilometres of land in our sector, and the Jungle has grown two more everywhere else. It is currently within viewing distance of Lake Baningo. From there, it will be a stone¡¯s throw distance from the Nyiro Conservation Reserve.¡± She took a pause and eyed every member of the parliament. Then she turned to the cameras and spoke directly to them. ¡°This is not a dream, nor is it a nightmare. This is reality. You will not feel the effects of this Jungle. It will not reach Nanbasa in our lifetimes.¡± She kept the grin from coming onto her face when she heard someone catch their breath. ¡°But your descendants will. Your children¡¯s children will turn to their parents one day, and they will ask: Why are we building Firewalls like in Ausa? They will ask about the lions and rhinoceros, that once lived in noble Kirinyaa. They will ask about the fields of red soil, the pastures, they will ask to be told about your mountains. And then, they will ask could we have not stopped it?¡± Kassandora took a breath. It was emotional manipulation at its finest. Armies filled with disgruntled and hungry men were much harder to rally than populations eager and willing to do something. If she had rallied Legions of millions in the past, could she not rally a room? ¡°And what will your children tell them?¡± Kassandora asked and let the question hang as she turned and made her way down the aisle. Her boots clicking against the floor were the only sound in the brightly lit room. ¡°Especially now.¡± Kassandora turned and continued. ¡°This is the not the Kirinyaa of six months ago. This is the Kirinyaa that started the Reclamation War. What will your children say? How will they talk about their noble parents? I will not stay in Kirinyaa forever. There will come a time when I leave.¡± That was to force the decision, if they felt the pressure of time coming down on them, they¡¯d be more likely to act. ¡°What WILL they say? How will the Reclamation War be written about? Was it the last spasm of a nation¡¯s corpse, or was it the moment when Kirinyaa stood up for itself? When this proud nation cast off the shackles imposed on it by Pantheon Peace and Olympiada¡¯s Doctrines? How will your descendants read about you? As the men who bowed? Or the men who stood?¡± Kassandora smiled when she saw the faces the opposition started to make. It wasn¡¯t fear or disconcertion, nor anger or unwillingness. It was exactly what she had been aiming to achieve. It was shame. ¡°Because THIS.¡± Kassandora tapped the piece of paper on the stand. ¡°IS THE WAY!¡± She shouted. ¡°Let us not be half-hearted fools who snivel at what THIS is. This WILL break Pantheon Peace. This WILL create a military force for Kirinyaa. And this WILL make sure that everyone in this room will be written about as the one who stood, and not the spineless coward they want to be.¡± Kassandora began another slow walk down the aisle. ¡°This week, we saw noble Zerus, precious Sceo and heroic Alkom come to Nanbasa. They came to demand that you get rid of me. I do not listen to the wills of upstart Gods. I am the Goddess of War. I am a sword to wield, a gladiator to arm, a rifle to point. The only way you can get rid of me is by telling me you are not worthy to wield me. You are afraid of Zerus, Sceo and Alkom because you cannot match him.¡± Kassandora took a step. ¡°That is true. If I was not here. If Fer was not here. If Olephia was not here. If Arascus was not here, then Zerus would have waltzed into this building and barked his orders. And I know every single would have bowed their heads, would have thought how unfair it was, maybe you would even curse him silently. But at the end of the day, you would follow. You have no army to protect yourselves with. You have nothing to leverage against the might of Divines.¡± Kassandora tapped the paper as if that was the answer to all their worries. ¡°I do not ask you to follow me. I will tell you this. Every day, the Jungle takes two hundred people from across Kirinyaa.¡± That number was entirely made up, Kassandora did not even know if there was an official figure for it. But it sounded low enough to be reasonable, but large enough to be urgent. Tomorrow though, it would be written in the papers as a fact anyway. It was a fact because she said it. ¡°I am not talking to the puppets of the Pantheon right now, I am talking to the leaders of Kirinyaa. Every day you delay, everyone in this room has the blood of two hundred on their hands. These people are YOUR responsibility. Their deaths are your deaths! Their lives are yours to save!¡± ¡°You can debate this, but know that for every day you delay, you will see these people in the afterlife. And then when they ask you why they were separated from their families, why they had to die in the creeping Jungle, why they were abandoned by their leaders, what will you tell them?¡± Kassandora saw a man start to shake, another looked down into his hands. The gestures spread through the room like a burning flame. They were primed. ¡°Will you be remembered as the men who died on their knees? Or will you be remembered as the men who stood? Will Kirinyaa go down as another country that bowed into extinction? Or will it finally be the nation that stood?!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°All those for a favour of voting on expanding the Reclamation War, raise your hands!¡± And the entire building followed her command. Kassandora turned to the orator as the man looked down on her. He nodded and banged his gavel. The man stood up and raised his hands. ¡°The parliament has decided to vote on this bill.¡± There was some other things he should say about the legislature and things, Kassandora knew there was, but even the man himself had been caught up in the bonfire of flaming emotions of her army. ¡°All those in favour of passing the Army Implementation Bill, raise your hands!¡± The orator shouted and Kassandora turned to inspect the room. There wasn¡¯t even a need to count. Kassandora allowed herself a smile. She had her army. Chapter 122 – To Revolutionize Warfare Edmonton saw Anassa¡¯s beam, he ducked to the side. He rolled, another beam from the floor to hit him in the chest. ¡°NO!¡± He shouted and blasted it with his own magic. Anassa raised an eyebrow. Edmonton¡¯s beam cut into hers and he realised what he was doing. Sorcery should not be able to stop sorcery, especially not his against Anassa¡¯s. Anassa¡¯s beam disappeared and the Goddess stood up from her seat. ¡°That was good. For a moment there, you went crazy.¡± Kassandora and Arascus returned to the frontlines by plane. Cargo-plane, since they wouldn¡¯t fit in normal planes and Kirinyaa possessed nothing large enough to carry Divines, but plane nevertheless. Helenna stayed to organize back in Nanbasa but even then, it was only for a few days at the most. The two Divines only came back here because a guest had arrived. An important one, one of the few non-Divines Kassandora trusted enough to give him any semblance of responsibility and autonomy: Iliyal Tremali. Probably the only mortal still alive to have that gift. If any of the elves from the Great War were still alive, they had lost that privilege of trust the moment they did not appear in Arika to stand at attention when it became public knowledge Kassandora was back. Kassandora and Arascus made their way off the plane. Kassandora had finally changed into different clothes, the HAUPT uniform needed a wash frankly. She had simply gotten a pair of shorts and a green shirt, the same style that her men wore. A quick glance at her own camp, next to the huge clerical base said they were. Men were digging trenches, two teams were returning from a march. Buildings had been put up, warehouses and small shacks were being built to house the men. This was an army through and through, the tavern had been the first structure to be finished. The men even worked overtime to get it done. ¡°Iliyal is there.¡± Arascus said as he pointed to a group of elves approaching. Each one with a long suitcase for a backpack, as if they were a band carrying their instruments. Arascus had said Kassandora would have to see it to believe it. ¡°I see him.¡± Iliyal was impossible to miss. Kassandora had blessed him a millennia ago with her own power of will, even now the man was a shining beacon of her own magic. No matter how lacklustre that magic was compared to her sisters. Still though, it was her magic, however sad it may be, it was hers. That was the hand fate had dealt her, that¡¯s the hand she played with. Wishing for anything more was pure immaturity. ¡°I want him in charge here.¡± Kassandora said and Arascus nodded. ¡°Ilwin can handle the management of the Karainan base then.¡± Kassandora let out a breath. After dealing with the argumentations of mortals, after needing to ask in roundabout ways for Kavaa¡¯s troops, it was simply a pleasure to deal with someone who would say yes or no. ¡°I¡¯ll want Ilwin too eventually.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ll need to replace him with someone, Daganhoff won¡¯t be able to handle operations by herself up there.¡± Arascus said and Kassandora nodded. If Ilwin would not do, Sokolowski had the makings of a general about him. ¡°Why the elves?¡± ¡°Like I said, you have to see it to believe it.¡± Iliyal¡¯s quick steps devoured the red soil between them. He saluted, Kassandora returned it and a new artillery barrage began in the distance. The Binturongs were clearing more of the Jungle around them. ¡°General Tremali stands at attention!¡± Iliyal said and turned to Arascus. ¡°The Emperor has called.¡± ¡°I did.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Come, walk, we need somewhere without cameras.¡± A crowd was beginning to form. Kassandora¡¯s own men were still working, they knew exactly what it meant for them to stop exercises just because she arrived. With no humans to slow them down, elves moved quickly. In a mere half an hour, they circled around one of the rocks that the native Kirinyaans called mountains. Kassandora supposed it was, to an extent, but she just considered it an oversized rock that sprouted of the ground. The top had some vegetation, some thin tree and meandering bushes and when they circled around it, the orchestra of the camp died down: voices faded away, planes landing dulled, construction vehicles became faded, orders being shouted all became silent. Only the tremendous sound of the Binturongs became a light drum in the background. ¡°Iliyal, show Kassandora.¡± The man nodded. He put the suitcase down on the ground and opened it. There it was, the Automatic Alash Mark-One, Mikhail¡¯s newest gun. Arascus did not even care that the man named it after his own surname, and if he allowed that, then it must be impressive. Kassandora looked at it as the elf squatted down, picked up the gun, and one of the magazines. ¡°This is what we¡¯ve been working on. The AAM1.¡± Mikhail said proudly. ¡°Thirty round magazine, effective range up to three-hundred fifty metres, although we¡¯ve had hits up to seven-hundred.¡± He said and pointed to the top of the gun. ¡°These are the sights, but we¡¯re working on a design that can slide a scope in.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Kassandora nodded as the man explained. She had seen muskets in the past, they had proved as excellent weapons, but ironically not exceptionally deadly. Archers had a higher rate of fire, crossbows were more accurate. The strength of the musket lay in the fact that when two hundred men fired and disappeared into a cloud of white smoke, even the bravest soul would turn and flee. Maybe if the war lasted another century, they would have devised ways to improve the hand-cannons, but the war ended, and the hand-cannons had been resigned to history. Still though, already its range was better than a bow. ¡°This is the magazine.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°It has thirty rounds.¡± Kassandora raised an eyebrow. Guguoans had something called the Chu-Ko-Nu, although even a chainmail stopped that. A musket though¡­ ¡°It fires six rounds a second, the magazine is expended in five.¡± Iliyal stuck it in and pulled a slide on the side. ¡°CLEAR!¡± He shouted and the other elves moved out of the way. Iliyal pulled the trigger and Kassandora¡¯s eyes started to glow. Her mouth became a hungry sneer. The gun fired five bullets and Iliyal let go of the trigger. ¡°We can change it to semi-automatic.¡± He flicked something on the side and pulled the trigger. One shot sounded in the Kirinyaan outback. The elf demonstrated with three more shots. ¡°The magazine can be removed, changed, or reloaded with a bullet still in the gun.¡± He took the magazine out, showed it to Kassandora, and put it back into the gun. He pulled the trigger again and passed the gun to Kassandora. ¡°My personal opinion on it is that it completely changes warfare. There has never been anything like it.¡± Kassandora inspected the gun herself. ¡°Can it penetrate armour?¡± It was small in her hands, but that would be obvious, she was a Divine after all and this was a weapon for mortals to use. Her eyes would not get close enough to align to the sights. She gave up eventually, held it in one hand and let out a gunshot. Amazing. ¡°It can. Not the Binturong plate, but it¡¯s effectively made infantry armour redundant. We¡¯d have to stick an inch of steel onto a man at least.¡± Kassandora flicked the little switch on the side. She pulled the trigger and emptied the magazine. ¡°What do you think?¡± Arascus asked. Kassandora gave the gun back to Mikhail in awe. She remembered the advent of the catapult, the trebuchet. The birth of air-cavalry. This though¡­ This revolutionized warfare. A man trained for a day with that rifle could mow a whole team of nights who spent decades being mastering combat. A cavalry charge against twenty of these rifles would be suicide. The armies of the past¡­ They were simply inept. They paled in comparison. She would want a thousand men with this gun than a million with sword and shield. And logistically, the lack of smiths, the lowered amount of mouths to feed¡­ Kassandora sat down and looked up at the two men. ¡°No one is prepared for this.¡± Kassandora said. It was simply the truth. With Pantheon Peace, all developments of military technology had been stopped entirely. With this though¡­ ¡°It¡¯s that simple. This has changed everything.¡± She stood back up and brushed her rear off. ¡°You were correct, you had to see it to believe it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not all.¡± Arascus said and nodded to Iliyal. One of the elves with those large cases on their backs stepped forwards. He put the case gently on the ground and revealed the contents. A gun larger than the AAM1. Mikhail pulled a small telescope from it and handed it to Kassandora. ¡°This is the ADR Prototype. Anti-Divine Rifle.¡± He picked up a bullet. It was the length of his finger. ¡°We don¡¯t have a lot of this ammo with us, so excuse for the lack of presentation.¡± He said. ¡°Range of fifteen-hundred metres, it can pierce the Binturong.¡± Kassandora nodded as she looked through the device. It was like the telescopes of the past, but far stronger and far clear, with a dot in the middle and a series of lines, presumably for aiming the gun at different ranges. She handed it back to Iliyal as the man continued. ¡°This is the team of snipers I¡¯ve brought. They shoot¡­¡± He turned and sniffed the air in humour. ¡°Well, they shoot like elves.¡± He said. A few of the men smiled in pride. ¡°Kassandora.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Whatever assistance I can give, I will provide, but this is not my demesne.¡± He said slowly. ¡°But if you need to run tests or anything, then I am here.¡± ¡°What do you need done?¡± ¡°We obviously see that with this, the armies of the past are out-dated and irrelevant.¡± Arascus gestured to the case that was back in Iliyal¡¯s hand. ¡°With the passing of Kirinyaa¡¯s Army Implementation Bill, we have the men now. Now we need a structure for them. Based around this rifle.¡± ¡°Every soldier outfitted with this?¡± Kassandora almost could not believe what she was asking. An army like that? Even mages would not stand up against that. ¡°Guns can be manufactured in mass. Obviously at the start we use swords, but a full transition to firearms?¡± Arascus shrugged. ¡°Our Karainan site has to work in secret, and it can make a thousand every three days. If we worked openly in Kirinyaa, then I give it no longer than a year for production levels to rise enough to outfit the Clerics twice over in a month.¡± Kassandora nodded. So a new structure based around the gun the and radio, not around the sword and the flag. ¡°How long does it train to a men to proficiency with this?¡± Kassandora asked Iliyal. ¡°A day?¡± Mikhail sounded as if he questioned himself. ¡°A week? I give it no more than a month. I¡¯ve been training men in Karaina, it depends what level you want them at. Aiming itself isn¡¯t the difficulty. Endurance and everything else is.¡± Kassandora nodded. She saw it immediately, without the workouts given by sword practice, men would grow weak. She stared at that case. Even a child could hold a rifle like that and be a killer. Her smile revealed her teeth as her eyes blazed red. ¡°It¡¯s not particularly advanced technology when compared to what we have today. Once this is revealed, I give it two months before the White Pantheon develops their own. Their aware of muskets too, and this design was invented by a man of today¡¯s time.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°A madman, but a man nonetheless.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°So our technological will be short-lived.¡± ¡°It will be enough to secure fronts and allies.¡± Arascus said. ¡°That¡¯s my domain to work in.¡± Arascus pointed to the elves. ¡°And there¡¯s something else too.¡± ¡°What?¡± Arascus pointed to the elves. ¡°The reason I¡¯ve brought this team of ADM snipers for you to work with.¡± Kassandora raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°So that when Elassa comes here, we send her back to Olympiada in a bag.¡± Chapter 123 – The Music Stops When Heads Roll Edmonton got phone call from an unknown number. That was standard procedure when Iliyal messaged him, the man changed numbers as often as the Sun rose. ¡°Edmonton speaking.¡± He answered as Fleur looked up. It was Ilwin this time. ¡°Magic has left. Operation Sovereign has the green light.¡± Edmonton flicked the phone off. It was time to begin. Kassandora sat in her hotel room in Nanbasa. She had taken over the entire top-floor and the hotel had been more than happy to acquiesce hosting the Goddess leading the Reclamation War. It was spacious, it was large, and it was one of the few places that had been rich enough to order furniture specially made for the size of Divines. Outside was a wonderful day, with the Sun reaching its zenith in the brilliant blue sky above Nanbasa. She poured over her papers. Diagrams upon diagrams. Flowcharts, lines, boxes and circles, some crossed out, some in black pen, then marked over in red. A new system for military organization, made up of teams, then platoons. Those composed individual companies that would be assigned to regiments, which themselves would fall under brigades, then to divisions. Auxiliaries could be attached and moved around as the situation required. Quick communication destroyed the utter reliance on self-governing armies and generals with far too gracious amounts of autonomy. There would be no need to placate the leadership with expensive gifts and dreams of palaces. Disloyal generals could simply have the divisions and brigades under their command be transferred to other chains of command. It was a centralized system, with her at the top. Kassandora leaned back and made another note. Arascus talked about something called a machine gun, too heavy to be wielded standing, it had to be set to be used, but it could apparently put out firepower that dwarfed even the AAM1. The question was whether individual squads of infantry would support that, or whether that would support squads. Her buzzing phone broke the planning. It was Iliyal. Kassandora answered. ¡°What is it?¡± She asked. ¡°The Atny branch has confirmed Elassa has left the Pantheon with mage and Divine support. She¡¯s bringing a full cohort.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s started?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already given orders for the snipers to set up.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°But yes, it¡¯s started. Neneria will arrive in Nanbasa in thirty, Kavaa will take two hours more to arrive with her Clerics.¡± ¡°Do we have time?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a tight fit but they¡¯ll make it as long as there¡¯s no jams on the motorways. Arascus is going too. And Olephia.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯ll get to the Parliament in thirty minutes then.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve told Ilwin that today¡¯s the day for Operation Sovereign. He¡¯s been given the green light.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°That is.¡± Iliyal replied promptly. Kassandora shut the phone off and leaned back. She extended her arm and Joyeuse materialized into her grip. If only she better aim back in Olympiada, this trouble would have all been avoided. The Goddess of War smiled to herself as the blade disappeared. Honestly, she did think that the attack would have killed Elassa back then, Elassa had never been especially tough body-wise. Stronger than a mortal of course, but among the Divines? Well, she was downright delicate. Kassandora re-organized her papers and shut them in a safe. She stood up put her earpiece in. There was chatter on it from snipers who were setting up. Kassandora let them talk among themselves. A quiet tune started to play in her head. It always did when she enjoyed herself. Neneria made her way to a random attic. She herself would have chosen the parliament building, or maybe one of Nanbasa¡¯s clocktower but Iliyal said that the best location was one which blended in. Kassandora had then backed him up and Neneria wasn¡¯t in any mood to argue with her sister about battlefield tactics. Her own revolved largely around deploying as many ghosts and overwhelming forces in a flood of ethereal bodies. It was a simple building, not abandoned, but not well maintained either. Supposedly it was an old building marked for demolishing, to be replaced with a new school of Engineering. A kilometre away from Nanbasa¡¯s Parliament. Far away on one hand, but then Atis was the God of the Hunt, he would be able to down a fly at thrice that distance, and they were aiming for a full-on Divine. She tugged at her HAUPT uniform. The greatcoat hung to her calves, the boots were tight, the white shirt she didn¡¯t like, she would have much preferred a dress. Especially when going into combat, dresses provided mobility. Two of Iliyal¡¯s elves had been assigned with her. They lay down on the ground, found openings in the walls and pulled out their large rifles. Neneria put her earpiece in and listened to the random chatter. ¡°I have arrived.¡± Neneria said and the chatter went away. Someone laughed and Neneria narrowed her eyebrows. ¡°Neneria, they don¡¯t know you by voice.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Also, I, Kassandora, am also here. Have a pleasant day gentlemen.¡± Neneria shook her head.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I am here.¡± She said again. ¡°Should I set Atis up now?¡± Kassandora gave a reply quickly. ¡°How long can you hold him for?¡± ¡°Him alone is not tiring.¡± ¡°Then have it at it.¡± Neneria did not reply, she raised her hands and the ghost of a Divine stepped into air behind her. Atis took a step. Ghastly, his back pockmarked with the holes that had once slain him. His shoulder with tooth marked, Neneria had questioned him about. Apparently from a boy-sorcerer cursed with lycanthropy. He stood lightly opaque in clothes unaffected by the gentle draft in the old building. His bow in his hands, a quiver ever full of ethereal arrows on his hip. His longbow, once golden and now a pale green, in his hand. ¡°Your orders?¡± His voice was flat, his eyes clear as he spoke. ¡°When I give the signal. Kill Elassa.¡± Kassandora felt the fire in her eyes as she stood. She heard the drums in her head. They were roaring now, each one impacted like a hammer crushing steel plate underneath her. Mwai walked past her to the Parliament. He nodded to the Goddess and smiled. ¡°Pleasant day, are you here for anything?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve received news someone is coming.¡± Kassandora replied. Mwai raised an eyebrow. ¡°Should I do anything about it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Kassandora said as another chorus started to blare in her mind. A war-horn of a trumpet, an army of a choir, a sword drawing was a violin. Kassandora kept that orchestra playing as she looked to the skies. She hated waiting usually. She had always considered herself a woman of action. Waiting was simply letting time pass by, as others acted, you stood still and stagnant, rotting in whatever situation you were currently in. But sometimes, the wait was a tantalizing domino. Sometimes, the wait was the enjoyment all in itself. Never did a plan go fully to plan, there would always be hiccups to come across. A car always needed a driver because there was no such thing as a perfect road. But sometimes, the road was straight and damn smooth. Mwai looked up at her as blood wanted to flow into her cheeks, she kept the blush down. ¡°How¡¯s the situation with Army Implementation?¡± ¡°We¡¯re looking for a location to build your command quarters.¡± Mwai said and Kassandora nodded. ¡°Good, go on then.¡± Kassandora replied. For once, she did not care how she looked. Elassa was coming, and Elassa was going to die today. A countless years, before even the invention of the calendar, Elassa had existed. A hundred years they fought against each other in the Great War. A thousand years after when Kassandora was imprisoned. The Goddess of Magic was one of the immortal pillars of this world. And today, a series of dominos had been crafted large enough to finally topple that pillar. Kassandora, Goddess of War, licked her lips as all the instruments of battle crescendoed into an orchestra in her mind. Sometimes, the wait as tantalizing as a precious finger sliding up her thigh. Kavaa put her earpiece in as she jumped off the back of a truck. Two thousand Clerics had been brought with her. A thousand for combat, a thousand for support. Fifty trucks had convoyed a long snake all day and all night to reach Nanbasa from the frontline. She saw her men step disembark and start donning her armour as she clicked her earpiece. ¡°Goddess Kavaa reporting, Kassandora are you here?¡± Kassandora replied promptly, her voice was warm today. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°The Clerics have arrived.¡± ¡°As planned then, set them up in the designated spots near the parliament. Block off streets when you need to, keep the public away.¡± ¡°Understood, Kavaa out.¡± Kavaa replied as she turned to her men and started to bark orders. Kassandora looked up at that gorgeous blue sky. The Sun was starting to recline from its zenith. She licked her lips again as Arascus spoke into her earpiece. ¡°I am here, with Iniri and Olephia.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Hello!¡± Iniri¡¯s pleasant voice came over the headset. ¡°Olephia writes hello too.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Eyes to the sky, from our reports, Elassa has crossed the northern border.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Kassandora said. She heard walls topple in her mind, a castle fall, the population cry as they were cut down. She blinked the thoughts away. They were pleasant, but they were too pleasant if she wanted to command. ¡°Iliyal, are you in position?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Iliyal replied. Kassandora raised her voice. Arascus, Olephia and Neneria knew Iliyal from the War, but the other Divines? She doubted they had ever received orders from mortals. ¡°Kavaa, Iniri and all other troops.¡± She made sure to pick the two Divines out by name. ¡°Orders come from Iliyal, he is in charge of this operation until the end. Don¡¯t argue with him. An order from him is as good as an order from me.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Kavaa replied promptly in her cool voice. ¡°Got it.¡± Iniri said. Kassandora smiled to herself as she kept on waiting. She didn¡¯t know what it was, but today, the wait was pure bliss. Elassa slowed her soar through the air as she allowed her cohort to catch up. One hundred and twenty of Arcadia¡¯s top mages. Ones she had picked out herself and explained to what it meant when a country broke a Pantheon Directive. In two days, she had trained these men from casting the puppet-shows used in Arcadian combat to proper battlefield mages. It wasn¡¯t difficult, once you had the magical power, all you needed was a change in perspective. They all wore white and gold robes. Symbols of the Pantheon adorned onto them. She had brought Zerus, Sceo and Alkom. Just in case, whatever Arascus would throw at them, they would take. The only issue was Olephia, but even he would not be mad enough to allow Olephia to run rampage in a city. Frankly, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad call. She would gladly goad Olephia to destroy Nanbasa and leave. That may not kill Arascus, but it would destroy any image of the so-called humanitarianism he presented. You simply could not wield the Goddess of Chaos allowed like a heavy club. Olephia should have been put down millennia ago before she was allowed to grow into the monster she was nowadays. ¡°Today, we end this charade of Kassandora and Arascus. Once and for all!¡± Elassa shouted to her cohort. There was no need for speeches, they had received one back in Olympiada. Now was the time for action. Kassandora looked up at the specs of darkness in the sky. Tiny black specs that grew close. The percussion in her head tore down a fortress. The strings culled a country. The strings stormed across the world. The brass tore it apart. Elassa had arrived. Waltzed right in to take centre stage at Kassandora¡¯s theatre. Today, War was playing a tune with an orchestra behind her. The music would not stop until heads rolled. Chapter 124 – Arcadia, Silent and Standing Fer boarded the plane. Today, another sister would be freed. Ever since Ilwin¡¯s phone call came through, Arcadia had become silent. Edmonton sat on a dull chair in Eliza¡¯s room. She had cleaned it up since they were staying. It almost seemed like her room, but the little touches were missing. The flower vase was empty. The carpet was rolled up and stuffed under the bed. Her books weren¡¯t neatly sorted, instead just thrown onto a shelf. Empty water bottles lined one wall, clean, organized, but it wasn¡¯t a healthy Eliza living here. Edmonton looked at the girl. She saw him looking, nodded and said nothing, instead just bringing her knees up to her chest. Fleur was sitting on the other side of the bed. Eyes closed but obviously not asleep. Meditating most likely. They sat in that small dorm-room and looked at each other. The clock ticked. Outside, a bell started to sound. Six beats. Almost evening. Edmonton sighed heavily as he pulled himself up off the floor. ¡°Alright.¡± He broke the silence for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s time.¡± Eliza nodded as she slid off the bed. Fleur opened her blue eyes and sighed herself. What was there for them to say? How could they plan? What could they even say about the containment ward? The most interaction any of them had with that place was brief looks of curiosity at the outside of the building. ¡°So it is.¡± She said. There was nothing else to say. Edmonton hooped a leather belt around his trousers. Its shutting click was deafening. Eliza put on a coat and donned her backpack. Edmonton had never considered how loud the sound of cloth against cloth was. Each of Fleur¡¯s buttons clicked with tiny drumbeats. Edmonton fastened his shoes in silence. They left that room. Eliza stared at the door for a few moments. She smiled to herself, stroked the handle and shook her head. No one said anything, there was nothing to say. They left the Floromancy dormitory. A huge building, the outside was bathed in flowers. Grand statues of curled wood grown into shape. Edmonton had never considered how pretty it was, but he never considered he may never return here. They walked past laughing couples. They walked as the young children played silly games together, students of Arcadia who were still in their first year. They walked past a teacher explaining how to grow flowers in a pot to another pair of students. Edmonton sighed as he walked with Fleur and Eliza. Silence. They walked through a park. More dates. More students reading in the shade. A gaggle of boys were sharing what no doubt was a smuggled bottle of wine. A teacher pretended not to see them. Past benches as flowers moved in the gentle breeze, as birds sang in their nests, their songs playing to a background of people chatting and leaves brushing. And Edmonton kept walking. Fleur kept walking. Eliza kept walking. Silence. Fleur broke it eventually. Her tone careful, she fiddled with a lock of black hair. ¡°We go in and out.¡± She said. ¡°Just Lyca.¡± ¡°Just Lyca.¡± Edmonton replied. And so they returned to silence. Three pairs of footsteps on gravel as they left the main stage of Arcadia. Students didn¡¯t travel far out from the dorms, there was no need to when they had everything they needed under their noses. North, through a park. The tower tops of the Divine Library were visible in the distance, across the Divine Gardens. Not today. Edmonton sniffed in humour, to think how much his life changed because he entered that structure, and he still had not read even a single page of the works stored there. That sniff quickly dispersed into the air as Edmonton kept walking. Fleur kept walking. Eliza kept walking. Three pairs of footsteps, birds singing in the air, trees gently swaying, the sky becoming purple as the Sun fell. Three pairs of footsteps in an ocean of silence. Their walk felt like crossing the world, but it was no longer than a half-hour. The clocktowers had not even started ringing to mark the turnover of the next hour yet. The containment ward wasn¡¯t especially far away from the main complex of Arcadia. It was an old structure, one of the oldest in the faux-country, and one of the few that still lay untouched by modern architectural design. Edmonton looked up at the building. It was a building from a different era, when mages built for function rather than form. A moat of sand lay around to stop any flora from climbing the walls, and it was an ugly building. With small windows that were more like arrow slits, the door was heavy steel. There wasn¡¯t any towers, it was simply a block of stone that had been ripped out of the ground and then carved into shape. A pair of Arcadia¡¯s staff stood at the doors of the building. At least it had guards. The two were quietly chatting among themselves as Edmonton came to a stop on the edge of that sand-moat. He simply didn¡¯t want to speak with these people yet. Silence.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Fleur broke it again. She laughed nervously. ¡°When we went off last time, with Sara, it was different.¡± ¡°It was.¡± Edmonton said. Eliza played with her fingers. ¡°And when Anassa sent us off for Fer.¡± ¡°That was something else.¡± Fleur said as she let out a heavy breath. ¡°That we basically had to do.¡± ¡°We have to do this too.¡± Eliza said and Edmonton nodded. ¡°We do.¡± He said slowly. ¡°But no one is telling us we have to do it.¡± He was in disbelief at how much of a different the lack of a direct command made. He had always wanted prestige, but even that prestige came with a duty. The job of a leader was dictated by the wills of his subjects. But this though? This was purely him, Fleur and Eliza. There was no one else. Even Anassa had only said if they can, they should, but she didn¡¯t press them into rescuing Lyca. ¡°We¡¯re not going to leave Lyca here.¡± Eliza said. ¡°Of course we¡¯re not.¡± Fleur chimed in. Her voice quiet. The guards noticed they were being stared at and stopped talking. Edmonton ignored their looks, it was rare for people to visit but it wasn¡¯t unheard of. Arcadia had plenty of architecture clubs, another profession mages were common in. ¡°But¡­ I mean, it¡¯s on us.¡± ¡°No one to give us a smack if we fail.¡± Edmonton said and Fleur let out a mirthless sniff that pretended it carried humour. The conversation died down. It wasn¡¯t a conversation anyway, it was simply a way to pass the time. Silence. Birds singing, trees rustling, the guards returned to their quiet conversation, someone shouting in the distance, wind blow. The sun setting. And Silence. Edmonton broke it this time. ¡°I remember talking with Iliyal before Misfortune.¡± Fleur smiled to herself as Eliza looked at them. ¡°I still have the picture Doug took.¡± Fleur said. ¡°I¡¯ll show it to you and Lyca when this is over.¡± Edmonton returned the conversation to what he wanted to say. The thought had invaded his mind and now he had to say it to get it to leave. ¡°He said the wait¡¯s the worst part. And that you never get used to it, you just find ways to cope.¡± ¡°I believe that.¡± Fleur said as Eliza nodded. ¡°So that was the Iliyal Tremali we met back then? When we rescued Fer?¡± The shorter girl asked. She retied her brown her into a tail. Fifth time now. Fleur nodded. Silence returned. And so they stood. They drowned in the silent ocean. With its singing birds, with the swaying trees, with the sounds of students eventually disappearing as they returned into their dorms for their night. They drowned until it was almost hard to breath. They drowned until they couldn¡¯t stand. And so they stood. And then, three shooting stars above them broke the silence. Cruelly cut it apart. Like lightning devouring kindle. The silence was the stillness of an image, a moment captured in time. And then, the image started turned to film and started to move. Edmonton looked up. Raptor One and Raptor Two screeched overheard, they were massive planes, with a unique sound produced by the four engines strapped onto them. They flew straight, slowed, then circled. ¡°That¡¯s our sign.¡± Edmonton said as he cracked his neck. A mere minute ago, he felt as if the air had turned into custard. It had been hard to breath. His movements felt slow and lethargic. Now though? He cracked his fingers and stretched his spine. Fleur let out a deep sigh and took a breath. ¡°Wait¡¯s over.¡± Eliza said, her voice cold and sharp now. Edmonton took a step onto the moat of sand. The guards were looking up at the plane. They were expert mages, the robes revealed them. Full of colour and signs. They turned immediately from the sky and towards the three who had stepped towards them. ¡°Visitor hours are closed.¡± One of the men shouted in a strong voice. Edmonton felt them grab at magic. They started to light up like a campfire in the coolness of a mountain valley. One man grabbed at fire, the other at Edmonton¡¯s element, water. From their expressions, it was obvious that they knew Edmonton and the two behind him were up to no good. Edmonton came to a stop. There was a crash from the dormitories. Screams. A bestial roar. Gunshots. ¡°What¡¯s happening!?¡± One of the guards shouted. Edmonton snapped his fingers. Arascus had taught him how to train power. Anassa had taught him to use it. There was no need for theatrics. For great beams of red sorcery to incinerate the men from existence. Anassa called such things pedestrian, like a strongman who could not bring his fingers to his shoulder because of the size of his bicep. Sorcery was easy to use and it was easy to show off with. Edmonton snapped his fingers and the two men collapsed. Two tiny beams of sorcery shot at them from Edmonton, each one splitting right at the end to pierce the throat and the heart. That¡¯s how Anassa used sorcery. Fleur waved her hand. The door fell forward from its great steel hinges. Its crash louder than the roars and gunshots and explosions coming from Arcadia¡¯s central complex. There were ten men waiting inside. More guards, this was the only area that required it in Arcadia, they were after all holding mages who went out of control in here. They stood up, looked at the two corpses, at the doors, and at the three approaching them. Eliza stepped forwards. She sliced the air with her fist as if she was holding an invisible. A wave of red sorcery emerged from her. A sword that cut steel and concrete and flesh all with the efficiency of a hot knife slicing through warm butter. Ten men were split at the waist, just like that. Edmonton stopped at the entrance way. Alarms started to from the main complex. Then more sounded from within the containment ward. He took a breath and changed his mind. The wait had been a torture session as scalpels of anxiety tore his mind apart. He had wanted to turn and run, hide, even though he knew he would not be able to look himself in the mirror tomorrow if he did that. Questions and doubts had filled his mind with a depressive plague that corroded his sanity away. Now though? Why bother? Why did he fear the wait? What were the doubts even about? He couldn¡¯t recall them as sound started to flood back in. His own heartbeat chased the thoughts away. The stillness had been an unscalable mountain, and he scaled the mountain in one small step. He took another breath as sorcery spiralled madly through his veins. Magic simply did not compare. It was like showing fire to a child and then giving them a matchstick to play with. There was no need for a plan, no need for any discussion, he knew Fleur and Eliza as well as they knew him. Lyca was somewhere in here. Edmonton stepped into a puddle of blood as he made his way into the stone corridor. Now though, the wait was over. Chapter 125 – The Nation That Stands Arcadia tried to forget about the modern world, but the modern world remembered Arcadia. - Excerpt from the documentary ¡®Arcadia Burning¡¯, to be released a few months from today. It would cover the events that happened when Fer landed in Arcadia. Kassandora stood up and looked at Elassa. Elassa looked down on Kassandora from the air. The wind blew. People cleared out of the road leading to Kirinyaa¡¯s Parliament. The building stood behind Kassandora, a monument of Kirinyaa¡¯s will. Red sandstone pillars around Kassandora and a roof that cast shadow over the midday. Not anymore, the Sun was beginning to set, the sky was being tinged by stunning purples and vivid oranges. Its light raced through the pillars and lit up the Goddess of War as she stared up at Elassa¡¯s cohort in the air. Kassandora watched Elassa. Elassa watched Kassandora. The wind ruffled Of Magic¡¯s dress. Kassandora quickly scanned the cohort behind her. A hundred and twenty mages, a full company from the Great War. She didn¡¯t even have a question in her mind that they would split into twenty teams of five each with a central command squad of twenty. Zerus was there too, the God of Lightning, muscled and old, lean yet perpetually looking as if he was going to fall asleep. That was only the fa?ade he always wore though, those brilliant blue eyes scanned Nanbasa from under thick white eyebrows with all the precision of a hawk. Sceo, Goddess of the Sky, was there next to Zerus. Winds sprawling her hair in a line as she hovered in the air with her magic. She stared down at Kassandora with all the love a bitter wind in winter held. Alkom, God of the Sun, flanked Elassa from the other side. Tall and thin, a man who faded into the background but never truly disappeared into the crowd. Kassandora reached her arm up. Joyeuse materialized in her hands. A Greatsword twice the height of man, thicker than a grown man¡¯s arm. Kassandora made no fancy pirouettes, she stabbed the blade into the sandstone, her hands rested on the hilt. Her black armour materialized around her. Spiked, it shred her coat as metal took clothes place. A wind blew the scraps away. Kassandora¡¯s helmet appeared over her head. A simple helm, as War was a simple thing. Full plate, with slits for eyes, it covered her mouth entirely. That was the most important. Kassandora finally spoke. ¡°All units, respond¡± She whispered. A response came back into her earpiece. ¡°Iliyal reporting.¡± The elf answered first. Then Arascus, for himself and Olephia. Iniri, Kavaa. Neneria. The snipers. The team commanders of the Clerics. Kassandora heard the drums in her head fade away to quiet beat, the strings to a gentle cry. She smiled to herself as Elassa took centre-stage in her theatre. Welcome to the show. ¡°Sniper status.¡± Kassandora asked as Elassa turned to Zerus and whispered something. Kassandora wished Fer was here. The God of Lightning ascended further into the sky with his wife. Alkom made a large a gap between him and Elassa. The woman waved her finger and Kassandora smirked. To think they were still using the same hand-signals from the Great War. It was simply nostalgic. The elven snipers planted through Nanbasa all gave affirmations of being ready to fire. Kassandora and Iliyal had picked out their spots individually, from attics to residential buildings to abandoned buildings that were going to be replaced with new structures. Amateurs put snipers in obvious spots, tall towers and the like, places like that would be the first that would be checked. But you couldn¡¯t inspect behind every curtain in a city this large. ¡°Take down the mages, switch channels and organise between yourselves on who¡¯s taking what. Down one man from each group in the first volley. Send them into panic. Fire when I draw my sword from the ground.¡± Kassandora¡¯s fingers curled around Joyeuse¡¯ hilt. She was a single pull away from downing Elassa. ¡°Neneria?¡± ¡°I hear you.¡± Neneria¡¯s cold voice responded. ¡°Status on you?¡± ¡°Atis is ready to fire. Elassa, then Zerus, Alkom and then Sceo. He says one second to down them all.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Kassandora stood there and looked up at Elassa. Elassa hovered in the air as she looked down upon Kassandora. A minute went by in the standoff. A mage went to report something to Elassa. The Goddess of Magic nodded and raised herself in the air. She spread her arms out and a bubble of blue magic appeared around her. Kassandora felt the drums in her head beat along to her heart. It was rising now, her legs wanted to quiver, her cheeks were flushed. It was finally happening. Elassa had come. And Elassa would die. KTV came to the scene. They set up a camera on the roof of a nearby restaurant, the people there stood and started to record and take pictures with their phones. Kassandora had given them notice, today, not only would Elassa die, the White Pantheon¡¯s untouchable image and legacy of good would be ground into the dirt. Elassa finally spoke, her voice boomed throughout all of Nanbasa. ¡°The White Pantheon has come to enforce Pantheon Peace. Stand aside Kassandora.¡± Elassa¡¯s bubble faded for a moment as the woman moved her hands. The wind settled down, her white shawl stopped fluttering in the breeze as Elassa continued. ¡°For once, my conflict is not with you.¡± Her mages took up positions around the Parliament as Kassandora smiled. Her helmet disappeared and her red sprawled down her back. ¡°I have come to Kirinyaa, I have become their guardian. I will not stand aside for you to do as fit.¡± ¡°Kirinyaa has breached Pantheon Peace months ago with the advent of the Binturong Artillery. We did not act then because the Jungle is a threat.¡± Elassa said slowly. ¡°But the creation of an army is not required for the continuation of the Reclamation War.¡± Kassandora goaded the other Goddess some more. ¡°At least we can settle that it is a war.¡± Kassandora shouted back. ¡°But Kirinyaa has decided, I will not let you do as you see fit.¡± Elassa smiled as she looked on Kassandora. ¡°The White Pantheon has left Kirinyaa to fend for itself, so it has. You do not make demands here.¡± ¡°The White Pantheon is the courtroom of Arda. There is not a grain of sand on this world which we have left to fend for itself.¡± Kassandora¡¯s fingers curled around Joyeuse¡¯ cold hilt. Elassa would have to take the first shot. She had called KTV here to record the moment of the Goddess of Magic breaking the Peace she so enforced. They were to show that self-defence against the Pantheon wasn¡¯t just possible, it would be successful. ¡°Snipers ready on your command. Everyone has a target picked out.¡± Iliyal said over the earpiece. ¡°We are not here to engage in a shouting match Elassa.¡± Kassandora¡¯s voice boomed just as loudly as Elassa¡¯s did. The cameras would catch her. ¡°Kirinyaa has suffered under the Jungle for centuries, Kirinyaa has taken its matters into its own hands.¡± She thought of something that would force a confrontation. Getting Elassa to retreat peacefully was the last thing she wanted. ¡°Kirinyaa has created an army for this very reason. There will be no more demands.¡± Elassa took the bait. ¡°That is exactly why we have come. The Pantheon Directives have been a success, there is no more war. We have had a millennia of such a peace that all of history has never seen it! Kassandora, Goddess of War, you are no longer needed in this world.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°We are not the world Elassa. We are in Kirinyaa. Your peace will usher an extinction of this nation. A reduction to the city states of Ausa.¡± Elassa smiled. Her mages spread out further. Very good, separate them as much as you want. In the past, Kassandora would have thought the situation was spiralling out of her control. Now though, her guns possessed a range longer than any of them. Flee or stay, it did not matter what they did. ¡°Pantheon Peace is for the good of the world. Justice is blind Kassandora, if we make an exception here, others will demand exceptions too.¡± Elassa chastised with the slow explanation of a teacher. Kassandora knew of course, that was part of the plan with Kirinyaa¡¯s Army Implementation Bill. If the Jungle was threat enough for Kirinyaa to have an armed forces, it would free up all of Arika to have their own standing armies. ¡°So you sentence these people to die?¡± Kassandora asked. It was a question entirely in bad-faith, but now that the statement was made, it would be undoubtedly true. ¡°The Pantheon has not taken issue with the Binturongs. We had our casus belli to enforce Peace then, we let you play with your toys. The Jungle must indeed be stopped, but this is not the way to do it.¡± Kassandora sighed. This was going nowhere. Elassa must have worked out something was happening, Kassandora¡¯s reputation among the Pantheon was much like Leona¡¯s had been to her sisters. Maybe she overestimated Elassa¡¯s eagerness? It should have been Arascus who was put in the leading role. Kassandora cursed the war drums in her head as they started to beat once again. Her hands relaxed over Joyeuse. Elassa had always been a snake who jumped at openings, if she wanted to see weakness, then Kassandora would show it. She readjusted her posture to feign nervousness. Elassa smiled to herself from above. ¡°We do not want war Elassa.¡± Kassandora shouted. If Elassa wanted to chase a retreating force, then Kassandora would retreat. ¡°But Kirinyaa¡¯s Army stands. As I said before, Kirinyaa has decided for itself.¡± ¡°I will not allow that. Move Kassandora.¡± Elassa shouted with a newfound confidence. ¡°You will not enter this building.¡± ¡°You cannot stop me.¡± Kassandora kept the orchestra quiet as it spiralled out of control. It was over. Elassa had followed Kassandora into the dragon¡¯s maw, and now the dragon was about to snap shut. Kassandora took a deep breath. No doubt Elassa would see it as nervousness, but it was entirely to keep her own hands under control and stop them from ripping Joyeuse out of the ground already. So close. ¡°You will not enter.¡± ¡°Move.¡± ¡°No.¡± Kassandora shouted. She gripped Joyeuse and tested the blade. She only needed an instant. One instant then all chaos would break loose. ¡°I will move you.¡± Elassa warned. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare.¡± Kassandora shouted back. She didn¡¯t bother to keep the eagerness out of her voice now. Her legs wanted to quiver, her breathing got faster as she heard her orchestra reach a climax. Elassa let out a slow breath as Kassandora¡¯s eyes focused. They burned with red with the flames of war from within as the Goddess of magic slowly lifted her arms, her palms outstretched to Kassandora. ¡°Final warning Kassandora.¡± Elassa said. ¡°Try me.¡± Kassandora sneered. She licked her lips as Elassa started to build up power. Winds began to howl as they circled around Elassa. Blue light condensed in her hands, her shield faded away, Kassandora found her opening. The first shot could be deflected, even if she took a wound, Kavaa would be close by to heal, and Elassa would not live long enough to fire a second time. ¡°I¡¯m holding for your signal.¡± Neneria said through the earpiece. ¡°The shield is down, Atis has an open shot now.¡± Kassandora stretched fingers as she re-wrapped them around her blade. Go on Elassa, cease this teasing and pull the trigger. Pull the trigger and die. Power built up in Elassa¡¯s palms, they started to glow blue. Kassandora heard the brass restart in her orchestra. Loud trumpets signalling a new age. Brilliant sax joining along to usher the breaking of the Pantheon, a sad string in the background that cried in sorrow for the loss of the Arda¡¯s greatest challenge. Elassa charged up her magic¡­ and her magic never came. Kassandora blinked as she heard footsteps behind her. Mwai stepped out between her and Elassa. He spread his legs, spread his arms as if to serve as a shield. ¡°Elassa! You will not harm Kassandora!¡± Kassandora blinked. When? How? The man? She looked up at Elassa as the woman narrowed her eyes at the man. The orchestra in her mind spluttered out as the theatre collapsed into shambles. ¡°So you stop hiding behind your pet Goddess?¡± Elassa shouted down. ¡°Get behind me.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I will protect you.¡± She blinked again, it was the obvious thing to say to get him to step out of the way but her voice was cold and confused. Mwai had never been an imposing figure. She had to rally the parliament on his behalf to pass the implementation law. Arascus chuckled through the earpiece. ¡°That¡¯s one thing we got wrong.¡± He said. ¡°We can still continue if Elassa fires.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot Elassa out of the blue, it will look bad.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°On Goddess Kassandora¡¯s order, stick to the plan.¡± Iliyal confirmed. ¡°When you draw the sword Kass, and draw when she fires. If he¡¯s cut down, then so be it.¡± Arascus quickly added. Kassandora stared down at Mwai. He stood there, in his black suit, his dark skin almost fading into the fabric, with his close cut hair as he spread his arms out. ¡°This is not your fight Goddess Kassandora.¡± Mwai shouted. ¡°This is Kirinyaa¡¯s battle!¡± ¡°You will take down the Army Implementation Bill.¡± Elassa shouted from above. Kassandora felt her heart about to jump out of her mouth. She had been sidestepped! Did they organise this coup against her privately? She blinked down at the man. ¡°Kirinyaa will do nothing of the sort!¡± Kassandora blinked again as she closed her mouth. What? Did the man actually step out of pure courage? What was¡­ Kassandora blinked again. Impossible. How did he muster that? Elassa started charging her magic again. Mwai stood his ground. Kassandora gripped her sword. A delay then. She could handle that, and it would look even better for them if the president of Kirinyaa sacrificed himself in this battle. And then the beams stopped again. Another man stepped next to Mwai. A third. A fourth. Ten. Twenty. The entire parliament came out and lined the stairs. ¡°Elassa!¡± Mwai shouted. ¡°The Pantheon is evicted from Kirinyaa! Leave and do not return!¡± Kassandora fingers cracked as she gripped her blade. She took a deep breath to keep the anger from exploding in the pot it had boiled in. She looked up at Elassa¡¯s face twist, and she was sure they both carried the same amount of anger at the exact same man. ¡°Who are you to make demands of the Pantheon?¡± ¡°The representatives and leaders of Kirinyaa!¡± Mwai shouted. ¡°You are not leaders here!¡± Kassandora grit her teeth in rage. Elassa had been going to die today! The White Pantheon had come into the mousetrap and now? What was Mwai wanting to do? Scare them away! ¡°Kass, keep calm.¡± Arascus said over the earpiece. ¡°Change of plans. Kavaa, send your Clerics in to support them.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Send them in.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Kavaa switched channels with a beep as she started issuing orders to her men. ¡°The Pantheon has led the world for a thousand years!¡± Elassa began her speech over again as Kassandora fumed from behind the politicians. Each man stood, straight backed and staring the Divine in the air down. Zerus and Sceo returned from high above to hover next to Elassa. ¡°The Pantheon has not led Kirinyaa!¡± Mwai shouted back. A team of Clerics appeared. The KTV cameras panned to show them, then back to Mwai. Kassandora stood there, her face hard as she felt the stress harden her body to stone ¡°Kass. Stay calm.¡± Arascus said again and Kassandora took a heavy breath. ¡°Step down and I will appoint a new government, or I will send all of you to your afterlives.¡± Mwai did not move. He stood straight, the rest of the Parliament along with him. Every single one of them wore green armbands to show their support for the Reclamation War. Kassandora took another breath. Every plan had its unforeseen circumstances, but this one had been close to perfect. ¡°Cut us down!¡± Mwai shouted, his voice full of vigour. ¡°Cut us down, the Bill stands. We stand! Kirinyaa stands! We will not bow into extinction before the White Pantheon, this is the nation that stood! That nation that will keep standing!¡± Kassandora blinked as a chill ran down her spine. That was taken exactly from the speech she had given when she shepherded these people into giving her an army in the first place. Almost word-for-word. Sceo put her arm on Elassa¡¯s shoulder. Zerus leaned over and whispered something. Mwai raised his fist into the air, the parliament followed. Five hundred fists aimed to the sky. Elassa sneered, then shook her head. Kassandora looked at her, then felt the flames of war splutter out. The orchestra went silent as Elassa spoke. ¡°Very well. I will not dirty the White Pantheon with a massacre.¡± She turned. Elassa left. Zerus left. Sceo left. Alkom left. The cohort of a hundred and twenty mages they brought left. It was over. Mwai cheered. The Clerics in the square cheered. Nanbasa cheered. And Kassandora stood there, in disbelief. Her mouth twisted in rage. On that day, the sword in the ground was never drawn and not a single bullet was fired. Not in Kirinyaa, not in Nanbasa, but as Nanbasa stood, Arcadia fell. Chapter 126 – Operation Sovereign I¡¯ve met Fer a few times before the Great War began. She was easy-going and palatable, funny. There was little offensive about her. She liked little things, small gestures of kindness rather than the grandiose statements that nobility demand. It was a breath of fresh air, the Goddess of Beasthood pulled me in with the eyes of a kitten. And then I saw what she and her warherds were capable of when I faced her in the Great War. I¡¯ve never been one for game-hunting, but I realised why dangerous animals had to be put down. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, Of Light: ¡®Pride¡¯s Mad Lioness¡¯. Fer bent at the ankles as the Pelican arced downwards to maintain upright posture. The rear doors of the cargo bay had opened and pilot was bringing them close to the ground. She looked back at the pack she had brought to Arcadia. Traius stood there. Bare-chested, the minotaur reached up to her chest, and was twice as wide. He carried the heavy machine gun Mikhail had brought, the one had originally been designed to mount on vehicles, in his hands. A belt extended from the machination in his grip to his backpack. He stood there and smiled, the maw of his bull¡¯s head twisting into a terrifying sneer as the beastman tried to express a human emotion on it. On the top of his head, his horns burst out and twisted into a crown like deer wore. Logar was next to him, holding onto a steel beam as the plane turned. The wolf-man scowled as he looked out past the plane and into the purple sky above Olympiada. He carried a rifle in his hands, a sword on his belt, a bayonet stabbed onto the end the gun. Behind them were sixty more beastmen. Darkfurs, minotaurs, wolfmen, the largest and fiercest that Fer had in her herd. Anassa was going to get a royal procession when she was freed. Fer gave them a nod. She got one in return as she looked down at her armour. Heavy leather, still manoeuvrable though. That speed was more important against mages than whatever protection the clothes would give. Six of Kavaa¡¯s blood vials were strapped to her belt. She had estimated three, but then she remembered when Kassie had told her off once that she always underestimated. That was the general rule Kassie gave her, estimate, then double. ¡°We¡¯re above target in thirty seconds! Prepare to jump!¡± The pilot¡¯s voice came over the microphone. Fer looked at her men as eyes started to glow red. They smelled blood now, she did too. They could all feel the bloodlust in their veins. ¡°Today, we taste magician¡¯s blood!¡± Fer shouted. ¡°Hunt fast! Hunt quick!¡± She raised her arm and turned as the plane¡¯s cargo hold roared. Raptor One made its pass in the distance. Twenty beastmen, same composition as here, wolfmen, darkfurs and minotaurs rushed out of the plane¡¯s door. They fell, armed with gun and flamethrower, snarling and falling through the air, and then deployed their parachutes. Those had been painted dark blue as Fer had wished. Raptor Two made a similar drop further to the east. ¡°Ten seconds to jump!¡± The pilot¡¯s voice cut through the roars and the beasts settled down. ¡°Nine! Eight!¡± He readjusted the plane. ¡°Five! Four! Three!¡± ¡°Two!¡± Fer took a step. Her nails changed into claws. Her skin hardened to leather. Her fur grew thick and matted. Her teeth expanded into the huge canines of lions. Her eyesight sharpened, the evening became as clear as day. ¡°One!¡± Fer took another step, one foot off the air as she looked down. People were down there. Mages, students and teachers. All of them had stopped to look at the plane. Fer smelled their blood, their fear, their suspicions and confusions. She bathed in those emotions. ¡°JUMP!¡± The plane angled sharply up and Fer twisted as she jumped out. The others would have parachutes, but she was a Goddess. Not just any Goddess either, the Goddess of Beasthood. The Scourge of the Steppe. Manhunter. Civilization¡¯s antithesis. The Goddess of Beasthood tumbled through the air as time seemed to slow down for her. Here it was. Playing about in the forest was fun, helping Little Kassie was lovely, giving Kavaa her gift had been heart-warming but it did nothing for the monster she kept on a leash. Arascus had been the first one who had given that monster a master. A master, and a target to be pointed. Today, that target was Arcadia. Fer twisted in the air and landed in a cloud of dust as the little magicians started to move away. She smelled them through the dust, their confusions and fears as to what was happening. She found the closest target. Two mages still on the grass. Fer leapt forwards as the beastmen roared from above. She heard cloth tear and wind catch, parachutes deployed. Now she only needed to give her pack a landing zone. The two on the grass fell. Fer¡¯s hand tore through one, the other, some boy-mage in pale clothes, was launched forwards. He was dead before his body cascaded and snapped on a tree. Fer turned like lightning. Two down. Thirty-one still here.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. She launched again. An adult mage this time. He didn¡¯t have a chance to even raise his hands. Fer¡¯s arm pierced through his chest. Before his body hit the ground, Fer had moved onto the next group. Six mages in a circle who had been enjoying some picnic. Her jaw closed around one, her arms got two each, her tail snapped the last one¡¯s neck. And finally the mages realised what was going on. The screams began, Fer¡¯s ears dulled them out. Screams meant panic, but mages had been made of sterner stuff than that. Fer found it. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Draw wands.¡± From the other side of the field. Three older boys. Her eyes narrowed on them, she got down on all fours and launched herself like a cannonball at them. They didn¡¯t manage to utter even a single word. One of the boys had managed to put hands on his wand before his lifeless corpse fell to the ground. More screams, more people running. There was an explosion from the east. The Floromancer¡¯s dorms was lit up as a tongue of flame coated it in fire. Fer had no reaction as her eyes readjusted to the next threat, this was no time to marvel at Mikhail¡¯s creations. Gunfire began. Quick explosions as her forces started to cause chaos. Fer found her next target. Three fleeing people, running away from the gardens. She launched again. An older mage tried to block her this time. An old man slammed his staff against the ground and a thin wall of rock rose up to meet Fer. Not good enough to stop sorcerers. Not good enough to stop Kassandora. Not good enough to be considered a wizard by Great War standards. Nowhere near good enough to stop Fer. The Goddess of Beasthood slammed her first into that wall and it shattered as she roared and kept tumbling towards the three running away. The spray of rock hit them, one fell to the ground. Fer¡¯s slam across her back, the cracking of bone and the final gasp of air ensured she would not be standing up. The two others fell and Fer turned on the mage. Five rocks hovered in the air around him. ¡°Curse-¡° He tried to say something. Fer never understood that about humans. Why talk in battle? What was the point? You killed or you were killed. Those rocks fell harmlessly to the ground as Fer closed the distance in a second and pulled her claw out of the man¡¯s chest. She turned back to scan the area. Ten more souls were still fleeing. Logar and Traius were still a hundred metres above the ground, roaring and snarling as they fell slowly in their parachutes. Fer made a circle around the field. By the time her pack members touched the grass, Fer was the only moving person still moving. She licked the blood of her claws. Magician¡¯s blood entered her veins. Meagre, mortal magician¡¯s blood, but blood none the less. Her senses sharpened, her fur grew even thicker, her eyesight got sharper, her hearing clearer. She heard the screams and sounds of battle coming from the south. More fires had started, more screams. Shouts though too, the mages were beginning to organize, staff members of Arcadia were forming response teams to the unprecedented situation. They didn¡¯t have long before the millions of magicians that made Arcadia their home started to come down upon them. ¡°Ove-¡° Fer¡¯s voice was interrupted as an alarm started to blare. Then another. ¡°OVER THERE!¡± Fer shouted over the incessant alarms as she pointed to the slate building that was the Divine Library. Like an ugly hedgehog of black stones that had given up and lay flat on its stomach. The warherd followed Packmaster¡¯s command. They set off with all the speed of a pack in hunt. Hoof and boot tore up the grass as they smashed through a fence. There was a team of mages here, not organized, aware of the crisis but unaware of the details. Fer didn¡¯t kill these, there was no need. Traius took a heavy step forward as his hooves dug into the ground. A darkfur aimed its blackwood staff forwards. Logar brought the gun up to his eye. A dozen other beastmen aimed their rifles. One of the mages raised a wand and Fer¡¯s pack opened fire. Fer fell to floor as she smelled more approaching from the west. Other wolfmen smelled them too. She was fast, but bullets were faster. The trio that turned the corner fell before she could even jump. Fer got back up and pushed the thoughts away. Those could be told to Kassie later, Mikhail had done his job with his guns. A trigger was much faster to pull than it was to chant a spell. They crossed through a forest and left three corpses. They crossed another street. This time the mages had their spells ready. A rock hit one of the minotaurs in the chest and the huge bull-man shrugged it off. These mages died to gunfire as well. A pyromancer tried to set them alight. Fer narrowed her eyes at the magic, fire had always been one of the greatest enemies to her pack. Fire devoured and fire left not even bones. But this wasn¡¯t the fire of the Great War. This wasn¡¯t the pillars of flame that sprouted under feet, nor the sky being set alight. No walls of flame, no skin setting alight nor any boiling blood. This was a simple ball of fire. A child¡¯s spell for making little animals of fire. This wasn¡¯t a combat spell. A darkfur waved his staff and muttered a bestial growl. The ball of flame was wrapped in a cloak of red and then disappeared. Fer smelled the goat-man¡¯s reaction. He was as confused as Fer was. These were mages? Logar lifted his rifle and put five shots into them. Other pack members joined in with the gunfire. They fell before Fer could even react. The warherd covered the last patch of trees quickly. Their hooves tore through bush and they smashed through flimsy fence and circled around trees. ¡°Set up perimeter!¡± Fer shouted as they came to a stop. The Divine Library loomed over them, Anassa¡¯s prison. It was fitting for her sister to have such a large building all to herself. She stepped to the door and gave one final look to her beastmen. Traius had planted himself next to the wall. Machine gun aimed down the path. Two of the minotaurs armed with flame throwers had set fire to the forest to block it as an attack path. Logar took position behind a bush. The darkfurs started to pull vines out of the ground to create blockades, and then they rolled clouds of poison that turned the grass brown into the fields around them. Fer had thought they would be attacking the mages of the Great War. She smiled to herself, not anymore, against mere apprentices, she may have some forces still standing by the time she came back out with dreaded Anassa. ¡°Oh sister sister!¡± Fer shouted up at the building. ¡°Knock knock, ready or not, I¡¯m coming in!¡± Fer lifted her leg and kicked the heavy wooden doors of the Divine Library down. Chapter 127 – A Step into The Containment Ward Arascus watched the mage cohort leave as they followed Elassa back north. Fer had a few hours, it should be enough. The goal of this operation was simply to give her an opening. Killing Elassa would have only been a bonus that would have made the future easier. He sighed as he looked at Kassandora through the window. The politicians and clerics were cheering, the public had come out. The Kirinyaan anthem was starting to be sung. And Kassandora stood behind them, her sword still in the ground, completely shut down at the fact her plan had gone awry. He should get to her before she popped off. Edmonton kept up the pace as he walked past the corpses Eliza had made. He turned to the girl. She stood there, cold faced as lightning sparks of sorcery sparked between her fingers. Fleur took a step back as Eliza pulled the ribbon from her brown her and let it fall loose around her shoulders. Edmonton took looked down at the corpses. They had killed before during Fer¡¯s rescue attempt, but that was quick bouts of magic that had been unleashed in the heat of the moment. When he downed White Pantheon planes, that was just as cold and impersonal as the Artican snow that had surrounded them. And now? He looked at Eliza again as she took a step into the blood, hard-faced and straight backed. Those brown eyes that once reminded Edmonton of fertile soil now where as terrible as rot. ¡°We¡¯re here to save Lyca.¡± Eliza said. ¡°Keep moving, we don¡¯t have time.¡± They turned further into the containment ward as alarms started to blare. The noises chaos from Fer¡¯s forces, the screams and roars and explosions and gunshots, dulled when they turned the first corner in the stone structure. Three mages were here, all with full-coloured robes to mark their status as staff members of Arcadia, already prepared with magical barriers. They looked at the three youths that had turned. The tallest man held a staff, the woman and man either side to him held were armed with glowing wands. ¡°What is happening?¡± The tallest mage shouted. He didn¡¯t lower the barrier though. ¡°Are we under attack?¡± The woman shouted. ¡°You are.¡± Eliza took a step forwards as she drew her own wand, the emerald gemstone glowing along with the red heartstone necklace on her chest. ¡°By me.¡± The walls ripped apart as vines and roots and flowers tore through them. A beam of red reflected off the mage¡¯s red barrier. He started to move his staff and then a sharp branch pierced his leg. The man fell in a scream as Eliza weaved magic and sorcery together. A vine pierced the witch¡¯s chest, a flower sprouted from between her breasts. The final man managed to expel fire from his wand. Edmonton stepped forwards, his arms extended. A small red circle caught the fireball and both of them exploded. Eliza red beam pierced the tallest man, then twisted and turned like a lashing snake. The last of the trio fell as he was pierced by her red trident conjured by sorcery. Edmonton took a step back from Eliza. Fleur came close to him and they joined hands. ¡°Eliza, are you alright?¡± The girl did not even turn around to look at them, she simply kept walking forwards. ¡°We¡¯re going to save Lyca, that¡¯s all that matters.¡± They kept on walking until they came to a cross. The path split in two. Eliza said nothing, she simply looked both ways. It was bright in here, lighting crystals hung off the walls to illuminate the plain stone hallways. ¡°Which way are we going?¡± Fleur asked. Eliza closed her eyes and waved her wands. The cold grey stones underneath them rumbled and cracked as vines crept out of them. They started to sprout colourful flowers and Eliza waved her wand. Then the vines started to slither across the ground like snakes. They picked up speed as Eliza stood there, humming a tune, her wand making pirouettes in her hands. Edmonton heard shouting from the entrance. ¡°We¡¯ll cover you.¡± Edmonton said as he took a position. The alarm from outside was still blaring but this deep in, there was no sound of the battle from outside. No sign of the chaos, it could have just been another day here, were it not for the corpses lying on the ground. Fleur took up position next to Edmonton. A team of mages ran in, already clad in protective shields. Water spiralled around one man, another hand flames in his hands. The rest had their wands already glowing with mismatched colours. ¡°Who are you?!¡± They asked, obviously stunned at the three students being in here. Edmonton said nothing, he snapped his fingers and lances sprouted around him. Fleur started to hum and a barrier went up around them. It lasted less than a second, but a second was enough to gauge intentions. The mage with fire in his hands stepped forwards and took aim. A column of flame hurled down the corridor at Edmonton and Eliza. It hit Fleur¡¯s barriers as the girl drew her own wand. Winds howled and hurtled it back as Edmonton launched his lances. Two men fell, pierced and pockmarked by his assault. The water mage stepped forwards, his hand clad in sapphire rings that shone with dazzling light. Edmonton tested the man¡¯s strength. Stronger than him but of a different mindset, he had not come to kill. Edmonton drew his own wand and unleashed a flurry of his own magic. It was difficult to steal another man¡¯s water, as difficult as clawing a key out of another man¡¯s closed fist. A howling wind swept down the corridor as Fleur waved her wand again and knocked most of the men over. Edmonton felt his chance as his will probed the water. Surprise and shock gave him an opening, a relaxation of that closed fist, a single finger grew weak. Edmonton went from zero to a hundred in an instant. His will entered that water, pushed the over man out. By the time he recovered, Edmonton was already in control, the water hung still in mid-air as the man¡¯s brown eyes widened in fear. Sorcery was good, sorcery was powerful. But Edmonton had been training his magic for most of his life. Sorcery was strong but it was difficult. Magic was second nature to him, it was easy as breathing. Edmonton stabbed his wand into the air and showed the man what fighting required. The water shot backwards like lightning into the heart of that group. It tore through a man¡¯s side and downed as the magicians scrambled to put protective barriers. Too slow. The water burst like a porcupine, thin spikes piercing every beating heart and throat still there. They all collapsed as the water surged back down the corridor and spun around Edmonton. He finally let out a breath and wiped the sweat of his face. ¡°Eliza, are you done?¡± Training with Anassa was exhausting but he knew she wouldn¡¯t kill him. Now, it was difficult to pace just how much of his power he should expend. Anassa had been correct, he wasn¡¯t delusional enough to throw his life away and risk using the minimum amount of power. Eliza pointed down the corridor to the right. ¡°We¡¯re going that way, that¡¯s deeper in.¡± Fleur looked the other way. ¡°What¡¯s that way?¡± Eliza started walking as she replied.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Dead-end, barracks room for the guards.¡± She said coldly. ¡°Are there guards in there?¡± Edmonton asked as he caught up to Eliza, still looking backwards. ¡°There are.¡± Eliza said as they turned a corner. This one was empty luckily. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we prepare for them?¡± ¡°They¡¯re dead.¡± Eliza said flatly as they came to another junction. Eliza¡¯s vines, sprouting with flowers had made their way here too. Fleur gave a warning look to Edmonton and then pointed to Eliza behind her back, shaking her head. Edmonton nodded. How Eliza saw them, Edmonton did not know, but she replied. ¡°We¡¯re here to save Lyca. I will save Lyca.¡± She said flatly, almost without any emotion. ¡°I do not care about anything else, I will save him.¡± They followed the flowering vines through the corridors in silence. Eliza broke it. ¡°There¡¯s more coming in, they¡¯re slow.¡± She said. ¡°From the entrance?¡± Edmonton asked. The water around him settled into his hands as he finally calmed down enough to not waste his magic. His legs were getting heavier, his steps slower. Fleur grabbed his hand when she noticed and started to pull him forwards. ¡°From the entrance, we¡¯ll run into them on the way back.¡± Eliza said. ¡°There¡¯s a barrier up ahead.¡± ¡°Guarded?¡± ¡°No.¡± Eliza stopped and clicked her tongue. ¡°There¡¯s something here.¡± Edmonton sensed with his magic. There was indeed something here, but it wasn¡¯t of his element. They both turned to Fleur. She shook her head. Eliza took a heavy breath. ¡°Fleur, I¡¯m almost out. Cover us.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Fleur said. A barrier of opaque pale red sorcery appeared around them as Fleur waved her hand forwards. Eliza nodded and turned to look back down the corridor. She waved her wand, a vine burst from the wall and slowly thickened until it became a root. It started to creep over the floor, covering every tile. Something clicked. In the next moment, fire burst out from the walls. They scorched the stone black, Edmonton could feel the heat even as the flames roared against Fleur¡¯s barrier. Eliza kept pushing onwards. Another click, another column of fire. Ten in total. Fleur was breathing heavily by the time Eliza had finished. They both were, with beads of sweat running down their faces. ¡°That¡¯s slowed us down.¡± Eliza said flatly. ¡°We move on to save Lyca.¡± She took a step forwards as Edmonton half-carried Fleur. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder as they kept on moving. ¡°This is the way to the cells.¡± One narrow corridor further, there was another group of mages guarding. Ten men. Edmonton reached for sorcery with what he had remaining. Eliza stepped forwards, vines sprouting along the walls. Fleur¡¯s winds sung down the corridor. The guards had raised their shields and had readied spells already. A blast of fire hit a vine. The plant¡¯s outer coating incinerated from existence as Edmonton¡¯s water, amplified by sorcery raised through the fire. Someone caught the drop in a protective shield. The water harmlessly impacted against it like a steel hammer slamming into a soft cushion. Then the sorry hit. It cracked the barrier. Fleur¡¯s winds came in. The guard¡¯s multicoloured robes whipped in the wind as one of the men smashed the butt of his staff into the floor. Rocks started to shift form a barrier. Another raised a stone into the air, simply pulled it out of the wall and launched it at the three. It hit Edmonton¡¯s barrier and exploded into a thousand small shards. Eliza¡¯s vines ripped through the walls and burst out near the feet of the mages. Immediately blades of air sliced them down. Edmonton felt his reserves of sorcery start to fade. If he had to rely on just magic, then he could not stand against ten mages. Three against ten was simply not a match. Fleur pushed herself off Edmonton and took a step forwards. Edmonton felt all traces of magic and sorcery leave her as she walked through his barrier. Her arms held wide to either side. ¡°STOP!¡± She shouted. Eliza looked at her, Edmonton felt his eyes bulge, but the mages at the end put their wands down. They didn¡¯t let go of magic, but the streaming stones, the snake of fire crawling towards Edmonton along the floor and the icicles hovering in mid-air came to a pause. ¡°WHAT ARE YOU DOING?¡± Fleur shouted. Edmonton got it immediately. They could not defeat these mages in open combat. One of the guards shouted back. ¡°WE SHOULD ASK YOU THE SAME!¡± Fleur took a deep breath and replied. ¡°There¡¯s some madness going on outside! People are killing each other!¡± The guards all looked at themselves. The snake of fire on the ground faded away, the icicles dropped and shattered on the ground. ¡°Are you mad?¡± One of the guards shouted back and Fleur dropped her arms to her side. ¡°Do I look mad?¡± ¡°You did attack us out of the blue.¡± Someone else shouted back. ¡°We came here because we know you¡¯re trained.¡± Fleur slowly put her wand back into her belt and put her arms out to either side. Edmonton and Eliza followed along. ¡°So we thought it¡¯d be safe, the guards near the entrance all have killed each other.¡± She took a tentative step forwards and the mage¡¯s protective barriers stopped as Fleur indicated to Eliza. ¡°This is Eliza, she led us here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Anton.¡± One of the guards shouted back. ¡°Do you know what it is?¡± Fleur shook her head as she took another step. ¡°Can we stay here? At least until someone arrives?¡± Fleur made her tone weak and tired. It wasn¡¯t hard to fake, they had all exhausted themselves in the fights before. ¡°Alright.¡± Anton replied. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t attack people like that though.¡± He nodded to the other mages and they all relaxed. Some even put their wands away. ¡°What¡¯s happening outside?¡± ¡°People just started to go mad. I can¡¯t tell you.¡± Fleur said. ¡°I think it¡¯s some enchantment but¡­¡± She sighed heavily. ¡°On this scale? I¡¯ve never heard of it.¡± The guards all looked grimly at each other as they started to talk about madness enchantments and what could cause it. A few people mentioned Olephia, another said Kassandora but then that got dismissed as Kassandora was in Arika. Edmonton looked at the heavy steel door that separated them from the cells. Eliza nodded to it and gave him a tiny thumbs up hidden behind a stretch. Someone came to her. ¡°You¡¯re talented in Floromancy.¡± He said. ¡°I try.¡± Eliza replied flatly and the man gave her a confused look. Fleur could act but Eliza had never been good at subterfuge. Anton came back to them. ¡°What are your names?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Eliza.¡± Eliza replied. ¡°I know yours already.¡± Fleur gave hers. ¡°Fleur.¡± And Edmonton quickly acquiesced. ¡°Ed.¡± Anton¡¯s expression darkened as his eyebrows furrowed. ¡°Like Fleur Ambelee and Edmonton Weaver?¡± The man asked. ¡°Haven¡¯t you been missing for like three months? There was a search for you.¡± Edmonton did not respond. He snapped his fingers. Fleur waved her hand. Magic required catalysts to use but sorcery flowed straight from the body. Catalysts only amplified it. They could not defeat the mages in an open contest of strength but now? When all of them had lowered their barriers? Red lightning roared from Fleur and Edmonton as it cascaded through the guards. It pierced through throat and heart and head in the blink of an eye. The guards were magicians, but they fell to the ground as corpses nonetheless. ¡°They¡¯re close.¡± Eliza said as she pulled out her hand and channelled magic and sorcery again. Two red waves hit the steel door, blew it from its hinges and a vine tore out of the ground to push it over. ¡°LYCA!¡± Eliza shouted. The three crowded into the hallway before a reply even came. A burst of fire chased them in, Fleur turned on the spot, raised her hands and put up a barrier of red sorcery. ¡°Go! Quick!¡± She cried out as the fireball exploded over her shield. Edmonton took the left side without saying a word, Eliza took the right side. The first door, he got cut with sorcery. It fell to reveal a small windowless cell with nothing but a sink, a toilet and a bed. Eliza moved to her third as Edmonton took the second. He heard the girl shout Lyca¡¯s name and burst out into tears as Fleur screamed out. Fleur¡¯s barrier fell, shattered into pieces as the girl dived into one of the open cells. Edmonton quickly retreated into his own as flames came hurtling down the corridor. A stone propelled through the air cut his shoulder when he launched himself towards the nearest cell. He could just about see the inside of Lyca¡¯s cell from here. The man had grown, he was more muscled, his hair was darker. The pale grey prison garb he wore did little to make him less imposing and his hair was as shaggy as ever. He stood there looking at Eliza as the girl looked at him. They embraced each other and started whispering. Edmonton rolled his eyes at the sight as another fireball hurtled down the corridor passed the open cells. ¡°HEY LOVEBIRDS!¡± He shouted. Lyca looked up from Eliza¡¯s shoulder and Edmonton kept shouting. ¡°WE CAME HERE FOR YOU! SO GET US OUT!¡± Lyca¡¯s eyes sharped. Eliza wiped her face before she turned around. Lyca¡¯s face twisted into a wolf¡¯s snarl as he took a step into the corridor. Sorcery¡¯s red lightning crashed from his eyes. He waved his hand. The corridor was submerged in the red glow of sorcery. No more flames came. Chapter 128 – Great War Machinations ¡°SEND WORD TO OLYMPIADA! ARCADIA IS UNDER ATTACK! CALL THE DIVINES! WE NEED AID!¡± Fer sniffed the air within the Divine Library as she took another step forward. ¡°Oh sister sister!¡± She called out. Her beastmen from outside where barking orders at each other, and further on the two other teams were buying time causing chaos. ¡°Sister!¡± Fer shouted again. ¡°ANASSA! Show yourself.¡± She growled. Anassa appeared from behind a bookshelf. A false Anassa, Fer knew it immediately. There was nothing real about the woman. Her smell was off, too weak and too pleasant. Anassa had always smelled like death and delusion and pride, this one simply smelled wrong. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± Fer said as she looked at the vision of her sister. Imprisonment had not changed Anassa by even a hair, she still moved like an inviting spider, its venom hidden behind a lovely fa?ade. ¡°I see you¡¯ve not changed.¡± Anassa said as she smiled. She took a step, a pretty leg revealing itself from within that red dress of hers. ¡°Neither have you.¡± Fer replied. ¡°Where is your body? I got the instructions you gave your students.¡± ¡°Third floor.¡± Anassa replied. ¡°There¡¯s defences.¡± ¡°Just Sentinels I heard.¡± Fer replied as Anassa giggled. A soft chuckle. ¡°To you maybe.¡± The vision shook its head. ¡°It¡¯s like in the olden days.¡± Fer looked at the vision and both of the Goddesses shared a wicked smile. When compared to the other sisters, only Anassa understood Fer when it came to predator-instinct and bloodlust. Little Kassie sometimes awakened it within her, but she was far too serious to really let it loose. ¡°It is.¡± Fer said as turned away. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you, even if it¡¯s only a fake.¡± Anassa clicked her tongue. ¡°And here I thought I had mastered this.¡± She looked down at herself. ¡°There¡¯s little to do here.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Fer took the first step on the grand red staircase. The bookcases were mere delusions as well, the whole inside was practically overflowing with the smell of falseness. ¡°There¡¯s plenty to do outside.¡± ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure there.¡± ¡°Dad¡¯s returned.¡± Fer said as she crossed five steps of the staircase with merely a single stride. ¡°I know.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. Kassie, Nene and Olephia are back too. We have Baalka but she¡¯s been cursed.¡± ¡°Maybe I can help with that.¡± Another Anassa walked next to Fer appeared from besides Fer and kept the pace. The Goddess of Sorcery was shorter than Fer by a head. ¡°We were hoping you could. Dad and Kassie have a big thing going in Arika.¡± Fer came to a stop where the staircase split to the left and right. ¡°Which way?¡± ¡°Right.¡± Anassa said. Fer turned right as her ears quivered. The Library started to monitor her the moment she took that first step right. ¡°You said there¡¯s a hundred sentinels?¡± Fer confirmed. ¡°All five models, twenty of each.¡± Fake Anassa replied as she threw a lock of black hair behind herself. ¡°I can¡¯t do much against them in this state, they¡¯re reinforced with antimagic.¡± ¡°And if you¡¯re freed?¡± Fer asked and that Anassa smiled wickedly as she crossed her arms. That was answer enough. ¡°Are they the same?¡± ¡°The same as back then.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll go slow.¡± Fer replied. She patted the six vials of blood in her belt. ¡°Guess who these are from?¡± ¡°Kassie?¡± ¡°Kavaa.¡± Fer said and Anassa¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise. ¡°We have Kavaa?¡± ¡°And Iniri. And Helenna. Atis is dead. Leona is dead.¡± Fer listed the names off as Anassa¡¯s smile became a grin. Those red eyes would be shining right now, but this was a fake. A good fake, mortals would have never seen through it, even Kassie would need a minute to confirm. ¡°Leona?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Dead?¡± ¡°Neneria and me.¡± Fer said with the hint of grin. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you later, but she¡¯s gone. I saw it with my own eyes.¡± ¡°I would not believe it if Kass told me.¡± ¡°Neither would I.¡± Fer as the stairs became a corridor. There were windows here, tall enough for Fer to walk through with room for more. The sky outside was rapidly growing dark with stars. The ground had become a silhouette to the fires going on outside, orange flames that cracked and whipped into the night sky as they devoured century-old trees and buildings. ¡°That¡¯s my pack there.¡± Fer pointed to it proudly as she looked pointed for this fake Anassa. ¡°I can¡¯t see outside.¡± Anassa said flatly. ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Oh indeed.¡± Anassa said as she guided Fer to the door. ¡°This is the way up to the second floor, they¡¯re all in there.¡± ¡°All of them?¡± ¡°Elassa said they decided there was no point in making room after room and that a hundred sentinels were challenge enough to stop anyone.¡± Fer took a deep breath as she moved her fingers to the door handle. She stopped a moment from it. She hated this little part cowardly part of hers, it had been the same in Jungle, where the air suddenly became sour as it became hard to breath.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. She looked at Anassa who was simply watching her. Kassandora would have got her moving. Fer wished Little Kassie was here, she always knew what to say. ¡°Do the Sentinels keep you contained?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± So all of them didn¡¯t have to be defeated then. Fer drank a bottle of Kavaa¡¯s blood. It was for healing, but it strengthened far better than mortal blood did. She felt her fur mat even more, her clothes tore as her natural golden coat burst through them. Her hands felt lighter, she heard Kavaa¡¯s slow and careful voice in her head, every word weighed and measured. It wasn¡¯t Kavaa though, it was Fer. ¡°In we go.¡± Fer said as her voice cracked. The moment Fer opened the door was the moment her instincts kicked in. She heard it before she saw, the sharp twine of bowstrings and arrows being shot through the air. All thought and fear, all doubts and anxieties left her as the beast within took over. Fer fell to the ground with a roll, into the room. Outside would be bed, she had to get deeper in. Arrows raced past her head, one clipped and ear. The wound closed immediately, Kavaa¡¯s blood was to thank for that. Fer scanned the room in a single blink. It was a huge hall, with no windows, no decorations, no furniture, nothing, simply stone on stone. Lighting crystals hung suspended off the ceiling, plain and unadorned, simply being fixed by a steel ring and chain. And then the sentinels, massive hulking automatons hand-crafted by Theosius, God of the Forge. They stood on four thick legs each, with four arms pointed in each direction. With great bulbous bodies of bronze-mithril alloy. They had no heads, instead a little sensor made by interconnected lens made a ring around the body. Even if one part was damaged, it could still see, even if the automaton itself was blinded, others would relay signals to it. During the Great War, they were hurled by giants into opposing armies or onto walls. Fer had usually avoided them back then. She dived and along the ground to grab an A model by the legs. Armed with a greatsword, this was the beast-hunter model. That false vision of Anassa rose into the air and moved out of the way. The sentinels all ignored her. Another bowstring sounded as the machine above Fer started to move. Fer grabbed the legs, twisted the joint and brought it down. Five arrows penetrated through the core, stopping merely an inch from her face. One down. Ninety-Nine to go. Fer kicked the ball at another two machines. Two with swords, C-Models, for crowd control. Four arms, a spinning glaive in each one. One of the machines took a heavy step, glaive angled down and impaled the ruined construct to stop the hunk of metal in its path. Fer bit her tongue as she looked away and towards the target she was sliding that, she was sure that would have worked. An axe came swinging towards Fer, ready to split her like a log down the middle. Fer rolled, her knees slammed into the wall, she pushed back. Another sentinel took a step forwards, the sound of the impact lost in the din of the hundred other machines moving about. They had crowded around Fer now, the arrows had stopped coming, that was good. Being under constant ranged fire set off some animalistic instinct to flee and run within Fer. The stone tiles cracked as Fer searched for an opening, she gave a single to the hovering Anassa and then found it. Fer roared, her nails turned into claws, her hands grew in size, she jumped into the air and pushed off from the wall into a spinning glaive. Claw wrapped around the robot¡¯s wrist, she twisted like a snake in mid, using the single connection to the automaton as leverage and nimbly bent to avoid the flurry of blades coming down onto her. Her core bent, she kicked the machine right in its stomach. Good enough to stop magic. Good enough to stop artillery fire. Good enough to stop Kassandora. Almost good enough to stop Fer, almost. Bronze-mithril alloy screamed as Fer tore through it. Her legs were cut by the sharp metal but she found it. A soft cold crystal, beating and pulsing as if the machine had an artificial heart. She twisted, kicked and downed the machine. Up, down? Up, she would be open, in the air, it was harder to twist and the sentinels would down her with arrow fire. Fer rolled between two machines, axe and sword coming down just too slow to catch her. She twisted, rolled and found a battery of the B-models. The ranged ones, with two crossbows fastened onto each arm; eight in total. Those long arms, thick as a man¡¯s leg from the golden armour they were clad in twisted and curled like spider¡¯s legs. One kick to the left, two to the right. Fer grabbed another sentinel. Its blade slid along her arm, spraying blood but it didn¡¯t matter. When a boar charged a wolf, it didn¡¯t matter if the boar was bit back. Fer¡¯s arm pierced through the thick armour. The machine powered down as she spun to avoid another spinning glaive, hand still wrapped around the inside of whatever metallic entrails Theosius stuffed into his machination. Fer felt the muscles of her stomach give out, scream and tear and rupture as she twisted. Kavaa¡¯s blood ignited within her stomach as she devoured its energies. The Goddess of Beasthood roared and launched the machine at the battery of ten ranged models. Arrow and bolt penetrated alloy as Fer rushed after the machine for cover. Two sentinels were crushed by the impact of the first. Two more were crushed by Fer¡¯s herself as she crashed into the machine, steel twisted out of place as Fer kicked off the robot without a thought. A moment later, the place she had been standing was peppered in a hail of bronze arrows. Her arm tore through the core of one, her jaws ripped the legs of another and brought it down. Her tail broke a steel arm as she twisted and brought another machine to the ground. In a dozen seconds, Fer had brought down ten of the machines and she tore through them like a dancing dervish of claw and bloody matted fur and tooth. She stood, her foot cracking the last core under its weight as she looked at the machines surround her again. Sentinels were dangerous, they learned and adapted like people did, nothing like the simple dwarven automatons that could be fooled endlessly with the same simple trick. Fer counted her kills, about fifteen as she stood and watched. The automatons formed a line, spears extended. One took a step forwards. Fer preferred hunting people compared to robots as she pulled out a vial of blood from her belt and downed it. Humans had emotions, you could tell what they were thinking by smell, these things only smelled like metal and magic. Only fifteen down and already through a vial of blood. Anassa came close. ¡°If you just free me, I¡¯ll clean this mess up.¡± Fer nodded as she kept taking heavy breathes. The robots moved as one again. Blades started to whir and spin as her eyes scanned the door from the other side. E models back there, guardians, armed with spear and shield and making a tight barrier around, she would have to break that to get to Anassa. Fer roared again as Kavaa¡¯s blood started to burn up within her, wounds closed, her heart beat faster. She took a step forwards, fell to the ground and found the opening as one of the robots moved to slam down where it predicted she wound land. Fer twisted, grabbed and snapped a spear as she pirouetted through the air. A sword cut her calf, blood didn¡¯t even spray as Kavaa¡¯s blood kept burning inside her. She threw the broken spear like a javelin at the E-models. It dug deep into a shield but didn¡¯t go any deeper. Arrows penetrated into Fer¡¯s stomach as she landed next to the ten remaining sentinels armed with crossbows. A fit in one, her head through another. One she dug both her claws into and tore in half. Those halves sent two more to the ground in a wreckage. Fer downed another vial of Kavaa¡¯s blood. Good thing she had Kassie to tell her to double what she brought. The danger of being shot at disappeared as she crushed the core of the final-crossbow armed sentinel under her foot. These machines had served in the Great War. They were nothing like the middling modern mages outside, they were worthy of that title. Fer stood up and roared as the rest made another cordon around her. Half the blood had been drank and only thirty machines were there to show for it. It would be a hard fight. Chapter 129 – The Modern Herd Twisted by cursed magic, perfected by Anassa¡¯s sorceries in the ages leading up to the Great War. The beastmen are a vermin that should have never existed. Not a natural race of Arda but a construct, the most they can be likened to a plague of our making. A disease that has spiralled and evolved out of control in response to our medicines. It will be a day of celebration when they are finally made extinct. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, Of Order: ¡®Documenting the Inhabitants of Arda¡¯. Logar snarled as his eyes once again readjusted to the darkness of night. Fer had entered in an hour ago, he had laid still behind a piece of hard-wood pulled out the ground by the darkfurs since then. The two packs causing chaos had pulled back, they were only there to buy time anyway. Fer had assumed a loss-ratio of sixty percent for them two, Logar had put it as high as eighty. Traius had said none of them would return. But they did. Battered, burned, pierced by shards of ice or stones or trees pulled from the ground, but they came. Out of ammunition, beaten and blooded, but with wet swords and axes dripping with crimson, they came. They had dropped fourty each, the first pack that had landed next to the Floromancy dorm had seventeen return, the second had twelve. They had to face pyromancers, most of these members had been bitten by fire. It would be a good thing to show to the herd back home: plenty of pride in that. And so Logar readjusted his rifle as he leaned. The sights had been raised so that his wolf-jaw would not get into the way, the trigger guard had been removed so that his thick fingers could press it and a device had been fitted onto the front. It didn¡¯t silence the sound, it merely angled it away from the rifle so that he would not return deaf. Traius saw the first wave first. Six mages hovering in the air as they scouted what the pack was doing. He gave a raw, turned his machine and sprayed into the air before anyone could react. One put up a shield, five fell to the ground. The witch holding the shield wobbled as she caught bullet and bullet in grasps of air. Logar turned and aligned the sights to her head. He pulled the trigger as the rifle released a deafening boom. The woman reacted to late, only her eyes catching sight of the wolf-man once the bullet had left the barrel. She managed to move one finger before it pierced her head. Traius burst of firepower tore into her for a second before she too fell. Logar sniffed the air as he signalled to the minotaur. The bull-man shrugged as he took up position at the rear of the pack, close to the door of the Divine Library. Fer had talked about how mages were near-unstoppable, how a shield had to be overwhelmed with catapult fire in the past. How they would mow down horse and man with merely finger snaps. Logar had expected to step into a boiling cauldron and he had found himself in merely a warm bath with annoying flies circling him. He simply did not understand how they fell so easily. Even the Sect-Members of Great Guguo would be more aggressive in a hunt, these people merely acted out combat. He smiled to himself, yes, those were the words: These people did not fight, they merely played at fighting. Darkfurs were organizing the returning pack members to serve as scouts. A few of the beastmen handed off their sidearms, several of the over-eager wolf-men had brought two rifles each, and then a third strapped to their back. Logar had merely thought it funny back then but now he would report to Fer. Side-arms were needed. A minute passed of barking and orders and howling with rage into the air. Fire raged in the distance, the woods that had been set alight raged close to the pack of Beastmen. A high-pitched whistle from a nearby wolf-man indicated opponents. Logar angled his scope as he looked down the path. Eighteen of them, all in colourful robes fully coloured. With staff and wand were marching down the corridor. All the gemstones on them were glowing as if in response to the glittering red eyes of the beastmen. Logar heard it before he saw it, the howling winds cast by aeromancers to safeguard the mages from the hail of metal. ¡°WEST! PREY!¡± He barked and let off a shot. It got caught in the air. Traius and the over minotaurs changed directions. Hooves in the ground to account for recoil, each one the heavy beat of a drum. And then they opened fire. Bullets flew over Logar¡¯s head as the mages stopped moving. One of the aeromancer¡¯s raised their staves, the white gemstones glowing brighter. ¡°DARKFURS! OVERWHELM!¡± Logar shouted. Two of the beastmen magicians stepped forwards. Twisted by sorcery, a species that had been created in the Great War to give the herds the strength needed to counter magicians. Their broken teeth spilled out of their black maws as they started to chant spells. One unleashed a red blast of sorcery, the over called forth the grass. The wall in front of Logar expanded forwards with the speed of lightning, it rode the ground like a prancing dolphin, disappeared into the path and then reappearing in a burst of cobblestone as it tore forwards.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The blast of sorcery forced the mages back. A brown-robed geomancer smashed his staff into the ground and pulled up a wall of rocks to safeguard his comrades. The rock cracked under the fires of red sorcery, the path lit up, the grass setting alight as more of the darkfurs poured their power into that devil¡¯s beam. And then the racing vines burst out of the ground. They entered that rock like needles piercing cloth. A crack formed. Another. A third. A fourth. The rock ripped apart as a hydromancer launched a spike of ice into the mages. More gunfire came from the East. The minotaurs turned to suppress the new enemies as cobblestone landed around the mages like rain. One stone hit the lead aeromancer on the head and Logar found the opening again. He licked his lips as the shield cracked and pulled the trigger. One shot, like a wolf¡¯s bite to the jugular, and the mage fell, blood flowing in arc from his head as the man collapsed to the ground. The beastmen did not need an order. Two dozen wolf-men fired into the team of mages. One man managed to raise a wall of rocks that was quickly swept aside by the whipping vines. The devil¡¯s beam of red sorcery swept through them, simply removing skin and bone from existence as it tore through the men with fires as hot as the sun. And the team of mages fell. Logar turned to the other side. Five minotaurs were close to overwhelming a small pack of mages. Merely three, their blue barriers shone with pure magic as they waved their staffs, searching madly for a chance at a counterattack. That chance never came. Each bullet came an inch closer as their magics were expended. With the fire-rate of five machine guns, that came quickly. Blue energy cracked and faded, and then tore apart. The barrier blinked for a single instant, but a single instant was enough. A bullet tore into one man, he fell. The woman next to him took a step back as she cowered to him, and then she died. The final of the trio turned to free and his back was opened by bullet holes. And so the silence returned. Two minutes of respite for the beastmen to catch their and reload. The fire besides the beastmen opened up as Logar was launched into the air by the ground hurling the beastmen aside. Two of the minotaurs fell, one was pierced in the shoulder by a massive chunk of ice. A snake of water tore into the beastmen in the front. The darkfurs took up formation as bestial sorceries started to combat human magics. A vine caught a fireball, a blast of red wiped a blade of air heading towards Logar. A wave of dark noxious air tore into vines that ripped from the burning woods and into the pack. Logar turned, roared, clicked to full auto and sprayed whatever his gun had left into the forest. A man screamed out. A ball of light came. A bright light shone from within the woods as the magicians¡¯ glowing catalysts revealed them through the flames. Pyromancers were holding the fire back. A minotaur stepped forwards, blood streaming from his chest where he had been peppered and cut by the exploding pathway. He hefted his flamethrower towards a red-robed pyromancer and pulled the trigger. The man in red raised his wand, the jelly that made up napalm was cooled, the fire went out. Logar fired into a blue-robed witch five feet in the air, spheres of water circling around her. Her robe discoloured with purple as he dropped yet another magazine and fed the hungry gun, she fell to the ground, not even a scream escaping her lips. More pyromancers stepped forwards towards the bull-man spraying fire. They raised their wands as the bullman roared. Logar saw him squeeze the trigger and grin as the fire reflected off his eyes. The bull-man took a step forwards, heavy hoof cracking cobbling and severing a green snake of vines that tried to down him. He kept spraying, mid-way through the arc, the jelly would simply be put out to land and splash over the mages. Logar raised his gun, calmed his bloodlust with a breath and switch to semi-automatic once again. He aimed at the closest pyromancer. A bullet to the head downed him. Then the next. The third fell. Fire roared as the minotaur clicked. The flame thrower was out. The bullman let out a furious howl and tossed the piece of metal forwards. Something clicked, something made a spark, and twenty mages covered in the jelly set alight. Logar licked his lips as he listened to their screams and the smell the burning flush. It was tinged with that ugly smell of napalm, but it would have still made a fine meal. The mages fell as their muscle and skin melted off them. A pyromancer tried to put himself out but it wasn¡¯t fire burning him, it was the liquid jelly that had coated him. His hands blinked with flames, he put them out, they set alight again, and he put them out. Eventually he fell to his knees. Logar checked his belt with his hand, he had brought as many magazines as he could stuff into the vest around him, in places where they should go and tied on by strings and tape to places they shouldn¡¯t. Three left. ¡°COVER THE LIBRARY!¡± Logar shouted. ¡°HOLD THE DOOR! CLOSE THE CIRCLE!¡± He looked around. That offensive had left a good quarter of the back on the ground. One bullman had fallen, his head caved in by a lance of rock, Traius was bleeding from every limb, although he still stood and moved easily. One darkfur had fallen, cut in half by a clean blade of air. That was a bad loss. With Anassa though, they could replenish numbers. With Anassa and Fer freed, it would be safe. ¡°PREPARE BARRIERS!¡± Logar shouted as he kicked a bench from the ground and knocked it over. It would be a fine firing position. ¡°SPREAD POISON! BUY TIME!¡± The pack roared in answer as the rest of the minotaurs dug in. One darkfur pulled a rotting tree out of the ground for men to shoot from as Logar kept shouting orders. ¡°BUY TIME FOR PACKMASTER!¡± With Fer and Anassa, they may get out of this yet. Logar looked into the air as he a swarm of magicians in the distance. A hundred or so, moving in formation. They had brought the students too to act as support. A blue bubble rippled around them as if they were in a giant opaque whale. ¡°PREPARE FOR COMBAT! HOLD FOR PACKMASTER AND GODDESS ANASSA!¡± Logar shouted as he readied his rifle and prepared for the next spilling of blood. He just hoped it wouldn¡¯t be his. Chapter 130 – To the Last Drop Lyca stopped as he made the way out the containment wand. His fists were dripping with blood, fire crawled around his body as it warmed him. Eliza, Edmonton and Fleur caught up quickly. Thirty mages waited outside, staffs and wands already glowing as they waited for him to leave. Lyca snarled as sorcerous energies spiralled around him. They wanted a fight? Let them have one. A proper one. To the death. Fer roared as an axe pierced into her side. She roared again as she caught a spinning glaive with her hand. Half of the centurion-sentinels had fallen, and she was on one bottle left. Anassa stared up from the ceiling as she watched the brawl. This could not go on. She turned twisted, the blade of the glaive shattered beneath her claws as she increased the pressure. The axe was torn out of her body as she twisted with all the grace of a leopard. The sentinel was thrown away, it¡¯s bulbous body taking a step back as it stabilized it with one of its four legs. A drum beat from behind Fer, another automaton coming in from behind. Fer¡¯s ears twisted as she caught the sound of air being cut. She curled into a ball and pulled the machine with the glaives forward. An axe buried itself deep into the machine as Fer rolled and kicked it backwards into what just had tried to attack her. Fer launched herself into the air, slammed into the ceiling, her claws tore into the stone. She grabbed and held on with one hand as her eyes scanned the room. Kavaa¡¯s final vial of blood was quickly downed. This could not go on indeed. The healing would only last for a dozen or so hits. Fer growled as she felt her side close, veins rearranged themselves and the bleeding stopped as Kavaa essence once again started to burn up quickly. She had to end this quickly, she had to save Anassa here and now. Or else she would die. Fer¡¯s eyes scanned the room. The sentinels rearranged themselves as they ploughed over the wreckages she had left. Steel twisted and snapped under the heavy footsteps of the robots. The door to Anassa was still protected by a full team of twenty. Shields and spears raised and pointed in all directions. The rest had split into three teams of eight, seven and nine. They prowled to every corner as their machinery angrily hissed at Fer in the air. Something had to be done. She had to get through that door. Fer let go as Kavaa¡¯s essence closed her wounds the blood started to settle within her stomach. ¡°Anassa.¡± Fer said. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll need to borrow some of your strength.¡± Fer said as she licked her lips. ¡°Sharing is caring.¡± Anassa said flatly. ¡°And you know I¡¯m a caring soul.¡± The false vision of Anassa laughed in that haughty sarcastic mirth only nobles could pull off. ¡°Can you not damage these?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I can do this.¡± Anassa said as she turned around and clapped her hands. It was a grand display of sorcery, with red blades and beams erupting from around her. They launched into the closest automaton and then simply blinked out of existence. The robot did not even react, the attack did not even make a scratch. ¡°Trust me, I¡¯ve tried before.¡± Anassa said. Fer nodded grimly, so it was only her. Her against fifty. She had to get through that door. Fer growled as she let go of the ceiling. The sentinels started to move before she even touched the ground. They walked over broken steels and glass, over fragments of ancient crystals and crushed weaponry and circled around Fer again. The Goddess of Beasthood took the initiative before they closed the circle. She pounced at that group of seven. A sword bit into her leg, the remains of Kavaa¡¯s blood set alight. She grabbed a machine by the arms and spun in a circle. It launched high, straight into that barrier of twenty. Another was thrown by the leg as Fer felt a spear pierce her stomach. Fer merely twisted her chest as her muscles hardened with all the strength she could muster, the spear snapped as she pulled that shard of bronze alloy out of herself. It stabbed into the machine that had tried to down her. The glowing blue sensor array on it gave a few final sparks of life before it switched off for good. A third machine was grabbed, Fer¡¯s claws buried itself deep through the armour as she tore it apart. Bronze-mithril alloy screamed and tore in a cacophony of noise as Fer tore the machine in two. One half blocked an axe aiming to split her skull, the other became a shield as turned and threw it into that barrier. Fer saw the opening. A momentarily lull in the defender¡¯s as the reorganized themselves. One machine had been crushed by the first throw. The other had torn through the legs of two more. They were being pushed out of the semi-circle by shields. In the blink of an eye, Fer launched herself at the wall. The stone cracked as if it had been hit by a cannonball. Fer¡¯s legs hardened, the muscles straining to keep up with the damage she had just put them through and she launched herself into that group. Spear pierced her shoulder. Shield cracked her bones. Her jaws closed around an arm as she tore through metal and spat the shards out. The machines crowded around her. Shields slammed into the ground to force her still. Fer¡¯s claws found an opening as her foot tore up the floor and she kicked one up. The sentinel took a step back, it¡¯s rear leg hissing as the pistons within contained the pressure of the recoil. Fer slid through the gap and grabbed a spear. The machine had a strong grip, but it wasn¡¯t a Divine. Fer arms twisted the machine, the joint gave out and the arm tore at the connector to the machine¡¯s body. Fer rolled on the ground like a snake as she avoided two more spears. They buried deep into the stone and were pulled out just as quickly. A shield that would have decapitated her was caught, she threw it back. Mechanical hinges cracked and shattered as she grabbed that huge, terrifyingly heavy, piece of metal and slammed it forwards. The door. There it was, another opening. Two sentinels were already coming to block her way. Fer was faster, her legs tore stone as she readied her shoulder and crashed into that flimsy piece of wood. To think that it was so soft compared to the metal of the machines. Fer crashed into a staircase as Anassa appeared before her. The woman was about to stay something when Fer felt her hairs stand up. She rolled to one side as the stairs were pierced by spears. Then again as the machines started to follow her. The air was bitter and burning here. ¡°I¡¯m in the middle of a mercury pool.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Hold your breath.¡± Fer took a breath of the bitter air and held it as she kicked the spears back. One more pierced her arm. She roared, snapped the steel, took another breath and kicked stairs at the robots. One shard of stone got a sensor and the robot took a second to re-calibrate. That was enough, Fer¡¯s claws dug into the walls and she pulled herself up.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The machines were strong, but she was fast. Fer stood up as she looked down at the machines from the stairs and inspected her body. Her stomach was bleeding from a hole, one arm was torn to the bone, the other¡¯s palm was gaping forwards. Her legs were bleeding. Fer licked her own blood only for the taste. Her own blood had no effect on her, it merely sent her into a bloodlust again. Bloodlust was good, bloodlust made her think of other¡¯s blood and not her own. She turned as the machines formed a single-file line. A heavy step came onto the first stair, then another. Fer raced up the stairs before the machines would catch up to her. Each step felt heavier than before, and there was another door. Wood again. Fer slowly lifted an arm up, her muscles tearing in pain as they tried to stop the exertion and she cracked through the wood. There she was. Anassa. Held up by two chains bound to her wrists, in that red dress she had always worn in the Great War. Her black hair falling to her waist, her eyes closed. She hung two feet away from the liquid mercury. A final line of defence to stop any mortals from getting to her. The false Anassa stepped from behind Fer. ¡°Those are Elassa¡¯s crystals.¡± She said as her hand swept across the round room to the crystals that lined the wall. Each as tall as Fer, each glowing and pulsing as it absorbed the magic residue of Arcadia¡¯s leylines and fed them into containing Anassa. Fer¡¯s eyes scanned the room. Two hundred of them, two hundred to the dot. Anassa hovered into the air and sniffed in humour. ¡°I once told Elassa it would take a hundred of them to contain me, so she doubled it.¡± Fer heard the machines crawling up the staircase and wasted no time. Anassa laughed mirthlessly again. ¡°And you know, I¡¯m never wrong, so I can¡¯t get through two hundred. Ninety-nine is possible though.¡± Fer smashed into the first crystal with all the force her body could produce. It cracked and released one final pulse of energy as Anassa smiled from above. One down. A hundred to go. Fer¡¯s claws ripped into one. She splashed into the mercury, jumped at another as she worked cyclically. A punch into one. A leg into the other. Sweat burst out over her face, these stones were twice as hard as the bodies of the automatons. Another down. She worked her way, eventually simply stepping through the knee-deep mercury as it splashed and burned on her skin, her fist pressing into the crystal until they shattered. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. The Sentinels reached the room. They came, a party swarmed around the Fer, the rest took protective positions to safeguard the rest of the chamber from the rampaging Goddess. Fer launched, splashing mercury over an automaton as she kicked it back before the machine could slash at her with those spinning glaives. It still got her leg on its way out, and that wound in the mercury. The robot stumbled backwards and smashed onto three crystals. They shattered under the machine¡¯s weight as the rest of the magical array started to pulse faster. ¡°I feel it.¡± Anassa said from above. Fer did not stop to answer as an axe smashed into her shoulder. She grabbed it, tore the weapon off with the entire arm and flung it across the room. It bounced across the walls, smashing another five of the massive glowing gemstones. Fer jumped away, splashed mercury over two machines as she ploughed into more. Fourty crystals down. Sixty and one left. A sentinel armed with two shields and two spears came at Fer. She dived through the mercury and kicked it to the side. It lost control as liquid metal covered its sensors and blinded the machine, the smashed into another gem. A sword hit Fer¡¯s cheek. She twisted her neck as her body screamed, crushed it in her jaw and spat the shards into her arm. Her fist crushed the metal into a ball. That ball cracked yet another gemstone. It pulsed, then shattered in a spectacular explosion. Another crystal went off, Fer¡¯s hopes for a chain reaction died when it was only that pair that fell. She kicked off the floor, sidestepped two machines and dragged her claws across some more. Fifty. Half way there. Kavaa¡¯s blood burned up to its dregs until Fer¡¯s stomach was so empty she felt the pangs of starvation within her. She avoided the machines now, jumping away when they got close and simply smashing into the gemstones with the sheer force of her body. She ran her teeth across one, damaging the veins of the crystal until it started to glow warm and heat up. Fer closed her eyes, curled up into a ball and was launched by the explosion high over the sentinels to the other side of the room. Sixty. Fourty and one left. Her claws cracked and shattered on number sixty-five. Her fists would have to do at this point. Fer felt her golden coat start to shed as her power started to fade. She punched one gemstone, felt another spearpoint cut into her side and screamed as she pulled the machine close. Goddess and machine rolled through liquid mercury as Fer ripped shards of metal out and threw them across the room, maddened and uncaring where they went. She heard cracking and more shattering of gemstones as the machine was torn apart to give her ammunition. Her hand found the robot¡¯s core, she tore it out, stood up and hurled it towards a crystal. A brilliant explosion took out the two adjacent ones as well. Eighty. Twenty and one left. The hum of gemstones got louder, their beating got more frantic as they channelled more magic to contain the hanging Anassa. ¡°Behind you!¡± Anassa shouted from above and Fer rolled forwards. She hadn¡¯t heard the axe, it would have split her in half if it hit. Fer took another breath of bitter air as she forced her body to stand. There was nothing left. No more bloodlust to be chased, no power to be had. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Ana.¡± Fer said as she launched forwards at the one space unguarded in the room. Anassa. Her mouth settled on Anassa¡¯s shoulder and she gripped her sister. Her teeth broke the skin, her tongue lapped up the blood. It surged within her, her fur regrew then faded. Anassa was a strong Goddess, but not of Kassandora¡¯s physical prowess, nor did she have Baalka¡¯s innate strength. Anassa¡¯s magic had been self-taught, that could not be stolen. The vision of Anassa that hovered in mid air did not even look at her shoulder as it started bleeding. She merely turned and pointed to an empty crystal. Fer felt her bloodlust kick in one last time. She launched herself with a roar, her eyes going red as Anassa¡¯s blood raged within her. It cracked and fell. The rest started to glow brighter. To another gem that stood away from the sentinels. Her shattered claws dug into it, then snapped off when Fer tried to pull them out. Fer closed her eyes asa she fell to her knees, then picked herself back up. The sounds of splashing mercury were coming close. Fer launched into the air, splashed mercury over the machine¡¯s sensors, and then kicked it back. It lost control in the liquid metal, its legs slipped and it tumbled backwards as it ploughed into a row of crystals. Fer jumped to the other side of the room. Her head smashed into a crystal, she shook the dizziness off and jumped backwards as she grabbed a hunk of gemstone. Ninety. Ten and one left. That hunk of gemstone shattered another crystal. They were humming madly now, as if straining to contain Anassa. Fer side-stepped a glaive coming down on her and tore it off. Tried to. The machine wouldn¡¯t crack this time. She roared, pushed her foot into the ground and knocked the sentinel over. It crashed into a spot where a crystal had shattered. Fer¡¯s teeth tore through the handle of the weapon and she sent it flying to another. Eight and one left. The humming increased. Fer screamed once again as a glaive cut into her side. She hardened her core, grabbed the weapon with both hands and snapped it over her knee. The weapon was hurled into another man-sized glowing gemstone. It exploded into a hail of storm blue lights that flickered like snow in the sunlight. Four crystals followed. Three and one left. Fer¡¯s arm penetrated into the core of the machine and she felt the core. She had wanted to rip it out at first, but the moving arms just made her crush it. The whirling blades stopping moving a hair¡¯s width away from her neck. She heaved and a plate of armour away. It got thrown behind like a discus. A crystal exploded. Ninety-eight destroyed. Two and one left. Fer snarled as she tore the armour machines leg clean off. She cracked it in two, jumped into the, staying close to the wall and threw both pieces at exposed gemstones. Ninety-nine and a hundred blew up. The rest started to glow clear white as the temperature in the room increased. That fake Anassa smiled from above as she looked back to herself. One left. Fer found it, she pounced off the wall and launched herself, her entire body serving as the wrecking ball to free Anassa. Too slow. A sentinel stomped into position. Fer¡¯s shoulder smashed against it and the machine stumbled back. Four spears turned and penetrated into the wall to serve as a barricade. Fer roared and punched the machine. It an inch. She roared again and felt the back of the machine touch the crystal as joints and pistons hissed in anger. Fer took a step back and smashed into the automaton with all the strength she had left. The pressure cracked the gemstone and the two of them were thrown back. One hundred and one. Anassa was never wrong. She had wanted ninety-nine, Fer had given her ninety-nine. ¡°Sister, you take it from here.¡± Fer said as she collapsed onto her knees, her breathing heavy as her body struggled to keep with regenerating the damage. It was over. She had given Anassa all she could. She just hoped it was enough. Her vision faded as her kept herself standing. The closest sentinel took a step forwards, then took a step back. Chapter 131 – Sorcery Unleashed The Greatest Magician on Earth, brought low by insanity and delusion. How Anassa appeared, it is unknown. She is the only Divine to be older than her demesne. Perhaps there is a little bit of Anassa within everyone? After all, who wouldn¡¯t want the power to re-write reality? - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, Of Light: ¡®Untitled¡¯. Anassa opened her eyes and took a breath. The air here was noxious and bitter and stinging with the fumes of concentrated mercury underneath her, but she didn¡¯t mind. It was the first breath she had taken through her real nose for a thousand years. A hundred crystals she had told Elassa back then, two hundred she got. Fer had reduced them to ninety-nine. A hundred was what she demanded, and she was never wrong. Anassa¡¯s sorcery flowed through her as the crystals started to glow and whir. The tension in her wrists lowered as her feet found air to stand on. It was easy to stand on air, bees were fat little things and they managed to do it, all it required was a change in perspective. Theosius¡¯ centurion-sentinels took a step back as Anassa fed the crystals her energy. They started to glow and crack, unable to contain her. That was only natural of course, such small things wouldn¡¯t be able to contain a Goddess such as herself. No, ninety-nine was not a hundred, and that little number could be infinitely expanded. It had an infinite amount of decimals within it for Anassa to find her grip within them. It was all a matter of perspective after all. One crystal shattered. Another. That started a domino effect, they all fell one by one. Crystals lit up, started to glow a blindingly brilliant bright white, and then shattered. Anassa moved a finger, still bound by the chains hanging onto the ceiling as Fer laughed from below. ¡°I knew you could do it.¡± She said as she coughed up blood. And then, the rest of the crystals went as Anassa overloaded them with her energies. She didn¡¯t care for the sciences of it, magic was a domain she had long decided was a trite thing constrained by theory and thought. She lifted higher as the floor of air moved her and she looked at the two chains. Pure mithril, the strongest metal on Earth that could still be forged. Almost as strong as Godstone. But then bacteria considered a grain of sand a mountain. An ant would look up at a boulder and see an unsurmountable height. Trite little descriptors like hard, like strong, like unbreakable were simply a matter of perspective. The mithril gauntlets collapsed into shards and cascaded down like snowflakes. Anassa smiled as she stretched her arms above her head. She looked at the cowering automatons. These great centurion-sentinels crafted by Theosius to stop anyone from trying to enter her prison. Reinforced with antimagic and to be used as a last resort in case she managed to free herself. What was antimagic anyway? All magic had to be cast, all magic could be overwhelmed. There was no such as antimagic when put up against the Goddess of Sorcery, it all depended on that perspective. Anassa burst out into haughty laughter as she cast her arm forwards. An automaton lifted into the air as she played with her prey. A leg shattered, an arm cascaded off as swords of red light slowly crawled and made their way through the machine¡¯s entrails. She found the heart, a core drench with the stink of Elassa. And her red pins pierced that core. The machine screamed, the rest of its arms and legs falling powerless to the ground. Anassa raised an eyebrow, she never knew why Theosius liked his toys so much. Kassie had her armies, but those were extensions of herself. Armies were needed to hold ground and such, Fer had the same with her herds. But this? This was as impressive as when Elassa would summon a dancing fire to entertain troops! So not impressive at all! Anassa grinned as sorceries wrapped around the hulking piece of metal, she closed her fist, and the automaton was crushed into a ball by red energies cracking with lightning. It scorched walls and set blue fires alight on the mercury. Anassa waved her finger to the left as she turned. That metal ball became a mace she rolled through the automatons still standing. They were scratched, a few had torn arms and broken weapons, Fer had done a number on them. It was really quite impressive how much damage her sister could do considering she fought with her body. Unfortunately, Anassa fought with her mind. And from this high up, she could not tell a difference between Theosius¡¯ toys and tiny little ants to squash with a hammer. She made a full circle as she hovered in the air, or maybe the room simply twisted to make sure it she wouldn¡¯t exert herself. Goodbye little toys, when adults came back home, it was time to be cleaned up. Anassa dragged Fer up into the air. She was a little lion, and cats where held up by the scruff of their necks. A red claw of sorcery weighed Fer exactly like that as Anassa brought her sister to look eye-to-eye. ¡°I hate when you hold me like this.¡± Fer said, the claw wrapped itself under her shoulders and her legs dangled to the air. ¡°You have a tail now.¡± Anassa said as she inspected the Goddess. Fer was badly hurt, another soul would have panicked, but Fer knew her sister well. All the woman needed was some fresh blood to power up a round of regeneration.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I drank Baalka¡¯s blood.¡± Fer said, those golden cats eyes focused on Anassa¡¯s red crimsons. Fer stretched her arms forward. Anassa smiled and hugged her sister back. Fer was too cute to say no to. Nor was she annoying and argumentative like her other sisters. ¡°I guess that explains it.¡± Anassa said. Honestly, it explained nothing but questions demanded answers, and sometimes the answers were unsatisfying. Sorcery was filled simple and unsatisfying answers, why shouldn¡¯t Fer be allowed to have her own. ¡°I got blood on your dress.¡± Fer said and giggled as she pulled away from the squeeze. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Anassa snapped her fingers and a wave of red from her body cleaned her dress. How hard was it to isolate dirt from clean cloth anyway? Mages apparently struggled with it, Anassa had never known why. Dirt was dirt, cleanliness was cleanliness, there was a huge gap between them. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here, right Fer?¡± Fer smiled and nodded as she kicked her legs in the air, seemingly enjoying the ride. Anassa turned to a wall and snapped her fingers. Logar felt the momentarily lull in battle. The mage in front of him did too. They both stopped as they looked up at that great wave of red coming from the Divine Library. As if a giant had swung a crimson staff through the building in an effort to behead it. The towers toppled, the roof collapsed. The rest of the beastmen stopped moving too. The other mages, those in the air and those on the grounds ceased their fighting for a moment as they looked up at that giant building the pack had been holding the entrance to. ¡°What did you do?!¡± One of the mages screamed out in disbelief. Logar didn¡¯t have a chance to answer as the cloud of dust was blown away as if it were fog giving way to a crisp morning wind. A woman spoke, her voice terrible and commanding and cold as she hovered in the air. Packmaster hovered by her side, held up by a terrible red claw that cupped her, with three snake-like appendages extended away as they circled to protect her. And Logar saw the woman. He had never considered many humans to beautiful, they were all too soft and too pink for him, but he looked up at creature and felt his heart beat in terror at the picturesque perfection of her. ¡°What did I do?¡± That woman said. ¡°You do not have the credentials to ask me that question.¡± Anassa looked down at the mages. She looked down and sneered. Some hovered in the air, some had closed the distance around the pack of beastmen. Others were laying dead, felled by multiples holes in their bodies or by the cuts of sword and axe. She gestured to Fer and laid her down on the ground as the mages took a step back. One, an old witch, finally mustered up the strength to speak. ¡°And who are you?¡± Anassa turned to the woman. Old, haggard, terribly weathered by the trials of time. She had never liked mages in the Great War but now? She wondered what their ancestors thought of them. It was obvious from their essences already, the strongest reached maybe a quarter of the strength of what trained battlemages could do. To compare them to the great Archwizards of the past, who moved mountains and raised islands¡­ it was downright offensive. She had not lost a war to be questioned by ants like this. Anassa twisted her arm. Red lightning shot from her. Not Olephia¡¯s vicious diseased red, a noble crimson that could serve as a cape or a flag. The same crimson her dress was fashioned out of. A man died, his heart impaled by a red pin, so thin it was difficult to see. Then another. A third. ¡°WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!¡± A man shouted. ¡°STOP HER!¡± Anassa raised an eyebrow in surprise. Stop? Not Kill? She had never liked children or idealists, they wouldn¡¯t be able to kill her if they tried, but stop? What then? Imprison? Talk to her? That was a notion hilarious in its farce. A man flew a fireball. Anassa let it travel up to her, it had lost most of its energy by the time it got to her. Then she simply moved. From one space to another, a mere step. An ant would look at a dashing cheetah and be amazed at the speed, likewise here. It was simply a small step, a matter of perspective. Logar looked up into the sky as Anassa blinked from one point to another. She moved faster than the wind, even the trail of her smell disappeared and reappeared as she shifted position. Logar shook himself out of the confusion and cut the mage who had been trying to brawl him down. ¡°BRING PACKMASTER BLOOD! HEAL HER!¡± Anassa flicked a finger again as she watched that fireball ascend to the sky. A red spear caught it. This weak? She turned back to the mages. Did Arda lose its magical energy? She scanned the leylines, uncaring for the spells being flung to her. A red net caught them all anyway. No, the leylines over Arcadia were as strong as she remembered them, maybe even stronger. Then what? Where they just all children? Did they not know how to fight? Anassa kept position as she hovered over the mages. Even the sorcerers she had been training personally, children and unskilled as they were, were far more powerful than¡­ than this. A few had put up barriers. Her net of sorcery spread out and shot in all directions. And it was over. Logar looked at the corpses around him as mages fell to the ground. In a single instant, Anassa¡¯s spikes hand descended from the sky and annihilated every trace of life in the area save the beastmen and Packmaster. They had pounced as if they were leaping cobras, going for the jugular and hearts without a moment of hesitation. Anassa looked up to the night sky. South west, to the direction of Olympiada. So the Divine Mountain tried to stop her? She burst out into a laughter again as her sorceries cackled with her. Red lightning flowered from her position as she turned to face whoever these newcomers were. Finally! Someone she could test herself against! Godhood was a position given, it was a position earned. Godhood needed gatekeepers, else everyone would think they were a God! What a fools! Anassa turned, her smile wicked. Petty Divines were the worst of the lot! Only a hair more powerful than a trained sorcerer and thinking they should stand on the same stage as Anassa herself! It was time to gatekeep Godhood once again, as had been done in the past, so will be done now. Chapter 132 – Crimson Moon Irinika is overwhelming and mighty. The Goddess of Darkness, revered out of fear and out of greed. An overlord to her followers, but her position is deserved. If out of nothing but her sheer power. It is fitting that she completes the duality of the two of us. Olephia is destruction incarnate. Of Chaos, a Goddess to satisfy and feed sacrifices to, or to pray that she never comes close. Undefeatable, it is a mystery how she escaped the realms of overwhelming Divines, such as of Time or of Attraction and incarnated into the realm of mortals. We should have killed her before this mess even started, but the ease of turning a blind eye to Olephia and sequester her off to uninhabited lands than kill her let her live made sure the hum of Chaos was never silenced¡­ - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light: ¡®My thoughts on the Daughter-Goddesses.¡¯ Anassa took a step towards the dirty horde of measly claimants to Divinity flying in from the south-west. Logar looked up into the air as the fires of the forest where extinguished in a breeze. Anassa blinked from her position to one further down, and then again, and again. He felt his throat tighten as he looked at Fer drinking blood from the third corpse the darkfurs had brought her. Her wounds finally closed and her breathing was stabilizing. Anassa stopped as she realised how slowly the Divines were coming. Mages were rising from the air to meet them, but it would still take at least a few minutes for them to reach her. Why should she approach them? She stopped and scanned the area of Arcadia. Back then, it had been a magical place, downright fantastical. Elven magic had forced the leylines to expel magic, trees were wild and glowing, the first beastmen came from Arcadia, where magic and sorcery had forced man and beast to cohabit one soul. And now? She smiled to herself as she looked at the burning buildings with people scurrying around them. What a farce. Geomancers unable to smother fire, Hydromancers unable to drown it, Aeromancers unable to pull the oxygen away and kill it, Pyromancers unable to just snuff it out. This was what mighty Elassa had to deal with? These were her people? No wonder she was always in a bad mood in the few times she visited Anassa in the Divine Library. Anassa looked around. Edmonton took a step back as the remnants of his magic intertwined and buffered by sorcery stopped a ball of fire in his tracks. Eliza stopped too as her mouth fell open, her brown eyes widened and she looked up. The mages surrounding the containment quarter stopped too. Vines roaring along the ground retreated back into the earth. Lyca¡¯s fire simmered and disappeared in a final series of sparks as the man took a step in front of Eliza. The howling orchestra of winds Fleur had been casting disappeared as her magic started to wane and cool down. The mages they were fighting all pulled back, expressions of terrified awe as they looked up. Four young sorcerers and fifty mages put down their hands as they looked up into the starry sky of Arcadia. A woman was near the centre, a woman in a red dress held up behind her as if invisible maids were helping her carry it, with marvellous black hair that flew in the wind. A terrible crimson eye appeared in the air next to her. Cut out of thin lines red, as if someone had incarnated a picturesque drawing into the real world. Then another. A third. Ten. A hundred. They sprawled out around her, the woman took no notice to the powers around her, she merely to look at the four. Edmonton blinked as she disappeared, felt her sorceries above and behind and turned. In one instant, she had covered shut a distance. And then, Anassa spoke. ¡°Kneel.¡± Anassa said, her voice hard as stone as her red eyes stared down upon the mages that were trying to harm her students. She saw Lyca and Edmonton and Eliza and Fleur drop to their knees instantly and rolled her eyes. ¡°Not you.¡± Anassa raised her hard and showed who was to kneel. Fleur felt her mouth go dry as she looked up to Anassa. To the mages, above them, a giant hand of crimson sorcery appeared. Opaque, as if shaded, with the edges growing bright. As if someone had brought a drawing to life. Fleur could only stare up as she looked at that delicate hand stretch one giant finger out and point towards the magicians ahead of her. ¡°I do not repeat myself.¡± Anassa said, her voice boomed across the valley. The mages stood there, frozen with fear and with shaking legs. The Goddess rolled her eyes again. Well, she gave them a chance, didn¡¯t she? She clapped her hands, above her, two giant red hands of sorcery clapped in unison as her eyes moved to her students. ¡°Stand up, watch and learn, I will now demonstrate what Sorcery is capable of.¡± Her four students stood up, straight backed and watching with attention. She felt their sorceries and magics flow through them meagre as they were. When she had been locked in the Divine Library, she could only cast mere visions of herself. Now, there were no limiters, no more of Elassa¡¯s little crystals that tried to try and pretend that the two arts were matched. Sorcery was a temple for the elite and the best of the best, magic was shit for the plebeians to lie down and rot in. A thoroughly uncreative art, refined to be trained in mass. A hundred little mice where nothing for a man with a heavy boot. One of the mages turned and took a step. Anassa smiled as his head fell off his shoulders. It would have been too fast for anyone to catch, but it was a merely a small pinch. A man could crush a new-born¡¯s bones with a pinch, why shouldn¡¯t a Divine be able to do the same to adults? It was simply perspective, these people were staring up at a mountain they couldn¡¯t even fathom the heights of. That head rolled on the ground as the body took another step, realised what had happened and fell. Magicians neighbouring it screamed and jumped away. ¡°Who are you?¡± One woman shouted. A pyromancer, with a full-red cloak and a staff already trailing with fire as she made a wide circle with it. Anassa waved her hand again. The woman looked down at her chest, she coughed, blood spilled from the ground and she fell face down on the floor. She didn¡¯t have the right to even speak to Anassa, much less demand an answer. Dogs were put down when they barked too loudly, why should humans not be? What difference was there to a Divine between a dog and a man? Anassa trailed her finger through the air as she spoke to the four students before her. A copy of herself, a false-vision, appeared besides each of the four and leaned in to speak quietly. ¡°When you fight, there is no reason for grandiosities.¡± Anassa and her copies pointed to a geomancer raising stones out of the ground. ¡°That is called pressing a sword to someone¡¯s throat.¡± The earth-mage had the same fate as the pyromancer. His stones suddenly dropped, he coughed up blood, and he fell dead to the ground. ¡°Bandits and robbers press swords to men¡¯s throat to terrify them. We do not.¡± Another two magicians fell, a man and a woman who were working together to summon a beast of water. ¡°You can play at combat, or you can kill. Children play, adults kill.¡± Anassa flew closer to the men as she thought of what else to teach them. She shouted this time. ¡°The next to attack me can have a free shot. Have at it, as strong as you can.¡± A ball of fire flew up from the ground from a mage. Another two turned to run from the Goddess. Anassa dropped the first two, then extinguished the spark of life from the pyromancer as his fireball soared through the air. The ball of fire disappeared quickly as it lost the force guarding it. Anassa sneered. That was it? Where were the cones? Why was the air around her not alight? Where was the Sun¡¯s wrath? ¡°Again!¡± She shouted. ¡°STRONGER! KILL ME!¡± A group of geomancers took up position and hurled a stone the size of the ground out of the building. Anassa tapped her thumbs along her fingers as her mouth twisted in rage. Just that? Just a stone? What was a stone? A mere grain of sand beneath her! She waved her hand lethargically forwards. Lyca looked up, his mouth full of awe as Anassa moved her hand. The stone before stopped in mid-air, then cracked. It cracked again, and again, and again, the sound of tearing stone screamed through the air as stone shattered on stone. And then¡­ nothing. Anassa finished her hand stroke and the stone dropped. It wasn¡¯t a stone anymore, it was a pile of dust, it hit the ground with a heavy thud and sent a grey cloud up into the air. That was what she thought of such an attack. Where were the stone birds? The endless hails of metal? The rising mountains and cracking Earths? Did magic really fall so much. She kept looking at the mages before her, but her eyes saw the approaching Divines, too much time had been wasted here, she would end this faster. Frankly, she wanted to end it already. It was an insult to sorcery that this farce called itself magic. What would the hydromancers do? Wet themselves? Anassa snapped her fingers and sixty-three men and women collapsed to their knees. Each pierced by a thin vein of sorcery. It would be too small to see for mortals, too small to even produce a drop of blood through the piercing of skin, but once inside body, they¡¯d quickly slice the heart into a hundred little pieces. ¡°That, children, was a demonstration on how to fight mortals, killing is not theatre nor art, it is merely the claiming of lives. You kill, or you die. How you kill is unimportant. You simply do it.¡± Anassa said as she turned away from her students. The four false visions repeated the words to her students and disappeared.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Anassa hovered higher and higher as she looked at the oncoming Gods and Goddesses. Too short to be major players but there was a good deal of them. Anassa didn¡¯t bother to count, there was no reason to give that much worth to little flies. She outstretched her arms, sighed as she leaned back and cracked her fingers together. That felt good. The eyes around her scanned the crowd as they approached her, they could fly, but that meant little. Only fools cares about which Divines could fly or not. Fer could not, and these figures where not even fit to be the dirt she trod on. Some minor God was the first. A soft-faced repugnant fellow with hair trailing down to his shoulders, with green eyes and wearing the whites and golds of the Pantheon. He drew up his hand and the horde of Divines and mages stopped in mid-air. Anassa looked at them from below, then took a step above them before speaking. ¡°Know your place.¡± ¡°We are not here to fight you.¡± Anassa smiled down at the man. Behind her, a giant image of herself appeared, sculpted entirely of sorcery. A drawing in her mind cast onto the fabric of reality, that was sorcery in its truest form, something magic wished it could achieve. It sneered down at the crowd as they formed a tighter circle. The mortals put up defensive shields, spear and sword appeared in the hands of the Divines. Of course they weren¡¯t here to fight her, what hope did they have of stopping her? She was Anassa, Goddess of Sorcery. She was chosen by Arascus. She was a pillar of the Great War. She had books written about her. Of course they did not come to fight. They came to give up their lives and be the first atonement of the White Pantheon for their crime of imprisoning her. They came to be slaughtered. Anassa let those little mages put up their little blue shields. She felt their magic, it was a measly little thing. To think the best could only have been a mediocre battle-mage in the past. Elassa really let her domain slip. Anassa stood on the air in her red dress. ¡°You did not come to fight, so why come?¡± She felt her energy build up within her, it was time to let the world know that even if the world had regressed, she had not. ¡°We came because Arcadia was under attack!¡± That lead God shouted back as he looked at the ruins of some trite halls. The mages had finally put it out. They were starting to look at the confrontation in the skies. Good, Anassa always liked having an audience. She deserved one. ¡°And?¡± Anassa asked, the grand incarnation of herself behind said the words loud enough for the whole land to hear. The God looked around. ¡°And we¡¯ve come to ask you to stop!¡± Anassa raised an eyebrow. Did the man not realise who he was talking to? ¡°I did not attack Arcadia.¡± Anassa turned and pointed to Fer, the woman was stood as her beastmen finished off another team of mages. Fer grinned up at Anassa. ¡°It was her.¡± Fer put her hands on her hips and made a grand posture no one but her beastmen and Anassa could see. Anassa smiled at that silliness, that was Fer through and through. ¡°Then why¡­¡± The God slowed his speech as if at a loss for words. ¡°Then why did you¡­ kill those people?¡± Anassa cocked her head to one side in disbelief. Was that such a grand notion? What was Divinity if not the right to decide who should die and kill? A man with a sword was a God to the swordless, just as adults were Gods among children. ¡°Do you know who you are talking to?¡± Anassa asked, the Divines all shared wary glances, a few shook their heads. Anassa did not let them embarrass themselves or her anymore. ¡°This should help jog your slow little minds.¡± The giant Anassa behind her disappeared as the Goddess extended her hands and floated higher up. Her hair started to dance in the air, her dress lifted up to her knees as sorcery started to flow out of control. It shot out of her fingertips in arcs of bright crimson lightning, it spiralled around her and flew up into the night sky. Paintbrush and pencil painted the sky red, with thick dashes of crimson and thin lines arcing from star to star. Anassa smiled as she heard one of the terrified expressions of awe, she saw it in their faces and their eyes. That collapsing light of confidence, that slight tension in the neck as they held themselves in place even though they wanted to, the curling of fists around swords. The moon behind her turned crimson as Anassa¡¯s mad energy seared itself into reality. The pencil and the paintbrush were gone, someone had spilled the bucket directly onto the canvas. The Divines took a step back as the world became tinged with crimson. ¡°We are¡­¡± One of them began in a hurried and apologetic tone. Another turned immediately and started to fly away. Anassa snapped her finger. A sword erupted from the sky above and shot down as fast as lightning. It was the flick of a paint brush smearing the ground with crimson sorcery and red blood. That Divine, whoever he was, was not worthy to give himself that title. Anassa spread her arms out to either side as she felt the satisfaction of guarding her own. He lay, unmoving on the ground as the sword disappeared into butterflies, a gaping hole left in his chest. Godhood had to be earned, if you could not withstand even a single attack from her, you had no right to claim the same stage. It was that easy. Power was given to those who could use it, those who could not had their power revoked. The Divines took up defensive positions as Fer howled in the distance. Anassa¡¯s eyes of sorcery hovering in the air saw beastmen pull their wounded and support each other as they made their way back to their leader. ¡°Fight me!¡± Anassa shouted out. ¡°Prove your worth! Touch the hem of my dress you worthless wastes of space! Even once and I will accept your claim at Godhood!¡± Edmonton looked up at the sky as the crimson moon above Arcadia started to grow and expanded. It came close to Anassa, a perfect circle of sorcery still and glowing as its redness saturated the sky behind it. Anassa looked at the Divines and mages in the air before her. Not a single one of them moved. ¡°I will not repeat myself. Touch the hem of my dress and I will let you go.¡± She raised her hand. ¡°You have thirty seconds.¡± A Divine dashed forwards. Another God, with black hair and another soft face. He held his long blade awkwardly, too tightly and his muscles were stiff. Anassa merely took a step to the left. Lyca looked on in awe at Anassa as she blinked from one space to another. The God who tried to cut her looked around in confusion before he saw the Goddess of Sorcery thirty metres off to his left. Anassa made that patronizing of hers as she looked down at him. Lyca wished he could have that sort of power. A fireball came at Anassa. She did not even dodging it. What was fire anyway? Just hot air, just some chemical reaction. The ball of fire travelled through her and was swallowed by the crimson moon in the air. A shard of ice cast by several magicians came quickly. Anassa stepped over it. Another Goddess, this one with a spear and face full of fear. Anassa lifted her arm, the moon behind her pulsed with red light and the spear turned to dust in the Goddess¡¯ hands. It wafted away in the cool night breeze. ¡°Do you understand now?¡± Anassa spoke softly to them, but everyone in Arcadia heard her voice travel along the wind. ¡°You are not Divines.¡± Anassa turned around as two Gods came to her. She had given them too much time, five seconds had passed and she was already getting bored. They came at her, roaring winds and flames burning in the air. Shards of stone rising from the ground and flung towards her as if by slingshots. Gods and Goddesses with sword and spear. Man-sized icicles that shattered into a thousand fragments. Anassa stepped through them all. Ten seconds left. She took a deep breath and decided there was no point moving. The crimson moon behind her pulsed and an opaque sphere of red touched her. A sword touched it and was cut, where the metal tried to stab, the metal simply disappeared from existence. As if the red sorcery was an eraser rectifying an artist¡¯s mistake. A snake of water smashed into it. There was no splash, no explosion, no mists of steam. The snake merely dived into the sorcery and never returned. Anassa stood there, hands behind her back as she studied the Divines and mages attacking her. The White Pantheon really has fallen. This level of magic would not even warrant a true God being held in reserve, it was a simple joke. She would rather have mundane beastmen at her side than whatever this farce the mages tried to pretend magic was. This power of the minor Divines had nothing in common with the ancient battlefield heroes. Ten minor deities could hold back an army back then. Kassandora had needed to bless every individual one of her soldiers to even give them a fighting chance, and now? Now a few dozen men would be able to one of these frauds claiming the title of Divinity. ¡°Stop.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Thirty seconds have passed. You have all failed.¡± She lifted her hands into the air as her eyes saw the crowds of students and teachers throughout Arcadia. The beastmen, her young four sorcerers, they all looked up at that fruitless assault the White Pantheon had formed. ¡°To all the dirt in Arcadia, let me give you the most important lesson in your life. To you frauds in the air, let me show you what Divinity really is.¡± The Divines backed away, the mages kept up their assault, a few had raised defensive barriers as they prepared for Anassa¡¯s counterattack. ¡°Raise defensive barriers.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Commune for it.¡± She looked at the confused faces of the mages. Did they not even know what a communion was? What a joke. Anassa clicked her tongue in frustration. If they had waited a thousand years, then the Great War would have never happened, it would have been called the Great Cleansing instead. The mages raised barriers. A few worked together. Anassa¡¯s eyes scanned how they used magic, worthless. It wasn¡¯t a communion, it was simply a mutual spell. No conduits, no hierarchy, no efficiency. Others were under some notion that they could take on Anassa alone, they raised personal shields around themselves, faint bubbles of blue. No one tried to eat from the leyline, no one pulled in the stagnant energies from the air, not a single one of them made any attempt at multiple shields, not a single one of them put up a specialized barrier to deal with sorcery. Anassa took a deep breath. ¡°If you survive one shot, I will give you a minute to flee.¡± A trained mage could cover enough space in that. ¡°I will not give chase, but if I can reach you from here, you will have not fled enough.¡± She looked at the mages again, some where trying to conserve strength upon hearing that. Fools again, a mage who didn¡¯t push his body to frying should have stayed back home and toiled the fields. A child on the ground stepped forwards and raised his wand at Anassa. He was crying, his shirt was covered in blood. The wand started to glow red. Anassa did not even turn to recognize him as she whisked her hand through the air and his hand fell off. Sliced by a sorcery that buzzed through the air like a wasp. Anassa spread her arms out. The crimson moon around her pulsed. Eleven more appeared as if the hours of the on a clock. They surrounded that group of Divines and mages. The group tightened and shrank. Shields and armour appeared around the Divines. Blue barriers hardened and hummed with magical energies. Anassa put one arm into the air. Insects had to be crushed, fools had to be pushed into their place, vainglory had to be erased. Magic was for the elites and no one else. Godhood had to be gatekeep. As was done in the past, as shall be done now. Anassa twisted her arm and brought it down in a sharp swing. There was no build-up, no slow humming of sorcery, no great charging of power. The crimson moons simply opened up, each with a thick beam of sorcery the size of a great hall. Anassa closed her eyes as she felt her sorcery impact on magic. Sorcery touched magic and wiped it away. It incinerated skin. It vanished armour and blade. It tore through bone and organ. A single blink of an eye would have been enough to miss it. And it stopped. And there was no one in the air. And there was no one where the beams touched the ground. And Arcadia stood in tremendous, terrible, terrified silence. Chapter 133 – Arcadia, Sobbing and Shattered ¡­Fer. Wild and charming. A shame really, since the animal in her is so deadly yet so easily sways soft hearts and dulls the cautious mind. Yet the beast hidden with her heart forced her away from the order of the White Pantheon¡¯s Coalition. I sometimes think what Arascus plans to do with her? Does he actually believe he can civilize Beasthood? Neneria, a Goddess whose uneagerness is mistaken for hesitation. Almost slothful, with little drive to do anything. After all, Death is a certainty for us all in the end. Apolitical and not ideological in any fashion. In the past, she would visit graveyards and battlefields to send souls off. Cold, but very tender. Even Helenna is baffled at how it was possible that after ages of being an observer, undeciding death finally chose a side¡­ - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light: ¡®My thoughts on the Daughter-Goddesses.¡¯ Elassa¡¯s heart had sunk when she heard the news upon returning to Arcadia. It had plunged even deeper as she made her way back, the flight was short. It was only a few hours with her usual speed, today it had taken less than an hour. Her mind descended into the cold depths of worry and dread as the wind beat into her. The rising Sun over Arcadia did nothing to warm her up. When she saw what happened to her kingdom, she realised that no matter what she could have thought of, it didn¡¯t go far enough. That cold ocean spat her out into a howling, blinding blizzard. Arcadia centre was destroyed. There was no other way to say it. Elassa hovered in the air in the blue dress as her people worked underneath. Several of the fields had been converted to field-hospitals. Tents had been put up, yet people still lay on stretchers on the grass besides them. Burns and bullet-wounds, missing and broken limbs, faces and bodies covered in bandages. Elassa could only imagine what the inside of those tents looked like. Several of the gardens had been burned down. Noble, century-old trees had been turned to ash. Mages were working to clear the ash and fell trees that had no chance at being healed with floromancy. And then the dorms. The floromancer quarters had been reduced to rubble. Several mages were working on evacuations as others held up stones and vines to keep the structure in place. The pyromancer quarters had lost half the structure, the half that still stood had was being explored by small teams that were pulling students out. The aeromancer¡¯s building was charred. Two more homes of learnings needed to be cleared. The hydromancer¡¯s structured had collapsed. Almost every strand of green grass had been painted with grey ash or crimson blood. Elassa¡¯s skies travelled north. Uncleared corpses still lay on the grass, her eyes found a beastman laying dead on the ground. Elassa¡¯s fist curled in rage. Fer should have been put down millennia ago, she was a wild animal, not fit for inhabitation of this world. A beast whose capacity on massacre depended on her mood was a walking disaster. Elassa started to hover north as she travelled to her favourite area of Arcadia. Her Divine Gardens, that she maintained personally. More blood, more of her people torn apart. Fer¡¯s work, that much was obvious. No other creature killed in such a way, even pull bullmen slammed and crushed, only she would leave clear holes in chests as she grabbed and tore at hearts. And through the northern woods, reduced to ash entirely. There was no point to even try and save these trees, several had collapsed already. More mages lay dead here, this wasn¡¯t Fer¡¯s work although Elassa still recognised the wound pattern. Muskets had been invented in the Great War, one of Allasaria¡¯s greatest achievements had been that she wiped that weapon from existence. And now, seeing people with small holes in their chests. With heads torn open and the insides splattered on the ground. Muskets had returned, and it was obvious these weren¡¯t the primitive guns of the past. Elassa sighed as her eyes travelled further. Beastmen on the ground, dead and torn apart by magic. At least her mages put up a fight. And then¡­ Elassa felt herself plunge into the cold ice of an endless abyss. Her eyes travelled to the Divine Library. What remained of the Divine Library. Anassa¡¯s prison had been cracked open. And it had been cracked open by sorcery. The fragrance of that cursed magic still littered the place, and there was nothing in the world that would make such clean cuts. Elassa came close as she inspected the damage. Stones animated by magic moved out of her way as she came to the central tower were Anassa had been kept imprisoned. Fer. It was obvious from the damage the sentinels displayed. Claw and tooth marks littered the hard metal. Some machines had been ripped apart, others torn open. Theosius¡¯ magical machinery within their bodies strewn over the ground. And Anassa. One sentinel had been crushed into a perfect ball, Elassa scanned her crystals. Some had been cracked, others had signs of overloading. Anassa survived then. Anassa survived and was free. And the lack of Fer¡¯s essence anywhere meant that she also was taken. With treacherous Kavaa in Arika, Fer would be up and walking soon no matter how much damage she had sustained. Elassa took a deep breath as she wondered on what to do. Arcadia had never been attacked previously, not even in the Great War had it sustained such damage. Even Arascus and all his mad hubris had not tried to attack the country of mages. It was¡­ It was a first. That was certain. And now Anassa had been freed.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Sorcery would spring back up then. And if once again entered the world, the mages of nowadays would not be ready for it. Elassa turned back from the Divine Library as she slowly hovered back to the centre. Past those corpses, she silently blessed and thanked and pleaded for forgiveness with each of those souls. Her mages would come to her. People were already beginning to turn their heads, a few raised shields. That was no worry, Elassa expected them to. They had just had to suffer through Of Beasthood and Of Sorcery. The Goddess spotted a teacher she knew. Dominic Whitaker, an old fellow, bald and with a huge beard. His back crooked, his staff used as a cane to support himself with. Head of Hydromancy, one of the few people who had contact to her. Dominic was working his magic to stem bleeding, holding water around cuts and holes and broken arteries to create makeshift passages for blood to flow in until those specialized in healing could come to fix the wounds. Elassa¡¯s staff appeared in her hand, a long piece of pale wood, taller than her, with a white diamond nestled in a crown at the top. She effortlessly took over the man as people realised it was her and dropped their shields. A few bowed, others gave sighs of reliefs, several exploded into tears. ¡°What happened?¡± Elassa said softly as her shoes touched the ground. This had been a park when she last saw it, now it was dirt that had been cleared of ash. Dominic had been keeping two hundred souls alive, Elassa sewed the magical threads together as she started to slowly heal them. Not as powerful as Kavaa¡¯s mind-rending healing, far slower, but it could be done without inflicting the pain Kavaa always carried. Dominic bowed before responding. ¡°It is good to see you Goddess.¡± He spoke slowly, unsure of himself. ¡°I¡­¡± He wobbled on his staff, dark rings were under his eyes. ¡°Sit.¡± Elassa spoke softly. ¡°I am here now. The nightmare is over.¡± It wasn¡¯t, Elassa had been in enough battles to know the nightmare really only started once you started counting the dead. But the man needed to hear something good. ¡°You did a good job holding these alive, sit and rest, I can hold them.¡± Elassa expanded her magic, her staff started to glow brighter as she forced the other hydromancers nearby out. A thousand, two hundred and eighty-three people lay on the ground, two hundred had died already. Elassa¡¯s magic started to heal them all, she turned around to speak to her mages. A crowd had formed already, people collapsed onto tears, a few fainted of exhaustion once they realised their Goddess had come. ¡°You all did well, I will take over this group, heal the others, those you cannot leave for me.¡± She repeated herself twice, her voice soft. It was one thing to shout at stubborn Maisara and Fortia, she could not bring herself to be angry at these mages. They were purposefully not trained in combat arts, the fact Arcadia still had people alive, the fact they had managed to slay at least a few of the beastmen was a show of tenacity in itself. The responsibility of these deaths sat with her. Her alone. They should have been prepared to face what was happening. She would personally visit each home of the slain students to beg apologies from the families that had lost loved ones. Elassa turned back to Dominic, he was already on the ground, eyes closed and breathing heavily. That gnarled staff topped off with a blue sapphire across his knees. ¡°Dominic, hold yourself together, you can sleep later, what happened?¡± The man nodded and winced. Elassa scanned him with her own magic. Two ribs where shattered. That explained it. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Elassa said as she started healing him. It was slow, all she could was amplify natural regeneration, not heal by force as Kavaa, but it was enough. The man sighed after a few moments. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t move.¡± Elassa said. ¡°But tell me.¡± ¡°Last night, some hours after you took the peacekeeping enforcers.¡± The man sighed and shook his head. The aged man, wrinkled and dirty, looked up at Elassa with the dim eyes of a pleading child. ¡°Fer came first. Then her beastmen. They attacked with fire and with¡­ I don¡¯t know what.¡± He sighed again. ¡°An object they would point, it would explode, and then someone would drop dead. It wasn¡¯t magic, we thought it was at the start, but it wasn¡¯t.¡± Muskets definitely then. Elassa sighed. So new classes would have to be re-instated. She closed her eyes as her mind travelled back to her memories of peaceful Arcadia. A place of refuge for mages, too powerful to live in pure harmony with the mundane folk. That was an Arcadia gone. Not to return until Arascus was dead. She silently cursed herself that she did not massacre everyone in Nanbasa back then. The nation that stands? She looked around at the wounded around her. A few were starting to rise from the darkened dirt. A building in the distance started to lean, vines and trees and pillars of stone swiftly shot out of the ground to catch and support it from toppling entirely. A few people started flying out of the balconies, carrying wounded with them. Elassa took a sigh. Kirinyaa had stood, and Arcadia had fallen on the same night. She looked gave a final look at Dominic as the man slowly leaned from side to side, then looked to another a collection of students. She was about to wave them over, but something stopped her. No, she could not act out of rash action. There was damage to be fixed first. Dominic was in no state to take orders either. ¡°Sleep Dominic, you¡¯ll feel better when you¡¯re healed.¡± Elassa stepped away as she lifted into the air, the magical healing here could be tied off and left to operate on its own. There were more people to save, there were dead to count, there were meetings to make. Arcadia had to awake from this nightmare before she got her mages moving. Arcadia was strong. Mages had once shackled the world with their power. It was only by the graces of Allasaria and Elassa that they found such a perfect system to keep send that dragon of magic asleep. To isolate it from the rest of the world. Anassa and her sorceries were like that too, a dragon. A dragon to be imprisoned and captured and forgotten. To disappear from the world and leave Arda in peace. The world did not magic. Elassa looked at another field, filled with students lying on their backs. Healers were operating here, crouching over bodies missing limbs and with their stomachs torn open. With burns that had melted flesh to reveal bone. Elassa uncurled her trembling hands around her staff and got to healing. With each person that awoke, she saw the fear and the sadness overwhelm them. They broke into tears, they screamed out, they stood up and they ran off. And then she saw those who awoke in shock. With that little bit of humanity that was impossible to slay, that little of bit of humanity that gave Arcadia its entire purpose: Anger. A righteous anger, a call to destruction and devastation. That little bit of humanity that Maisara thought she could kill. That little bit Elassa always called beast within. But that was not true either. The mundane were beasts. They could lash out and kill one or two in anger like a roaring wolf. The best of humanity had prowling tigers or furious bears within them. Mages though, they were no mere animals. Arascus should have not awoken the sleeping dragons. Chapter 134 – To Make a Nation Kneel ¡­Kassandora. Once I would have called her my sister; Light and War, twin Goddesses of Victory. I have had many chances to kill her, and I hesitated every time. The other Pantheon respect her almost to the point of adoration but that is only because they see the glorious Kassandora on the surface. She is a Goddess I once thought I knew, yet now I realise I was staring out onto the ocean¡¯s surface and pretending I had mapped its deepest abysses. I can now confidently write that Kassandora¡¯s mind, with whatever machinations run deep inside, are simply inhuman. I know nothing of the ocean beneath the surface, but I know not to ever sail it again. And Anassa¡­ Anassa is simply a vile woman. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light: ¡®My thoughts on the Daughter-Goddesses.¡¯ Written during the Great War. ¡°We coup Kirinyaa with the army once war is declared.¡± Kassandora pressed her finger into Nanbasa as Arascus watched. ¡°It¡¯s that simple.¡± They sat alone on a cliff, far away from prying voices and near the camp. A day had passed since Mwai had accidently stopped the assassination of Elassa. Anassa and Fer should be returning soon, the lack of news from Iliyal meant they had succeeded, the elf would have contacted them immediately if there was any problem. The sun was overhead, it had only risen a few hours ago. Sending Fer to Arcadia would obviously result in casualties. There was no way to pretend it would not. Maybe Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri could pretend Fer had changed, but Fer had always been like this. So sweet you could forget the fact she drank blood and ate raw flesh to sustain herself. The casualties would be in the hundreds, if not thousands. With her beastmen equipped with modern rifles, Kassandora predicted anywhere from two to six thousand dead, depending on how well the mages faired. If the operation was a success, Anassa would act like¡­ well, she would act like herself. The Goddess of Sorcery singlehandedly added five thousand dead to that number. Ten thousand would be high, but it was well within the realm of possibility. Arascus readjusted himself on the log as he looked at Kassandora¡¯s finger. The map was of Kirinyaa, then another map of Arika as a whole. ¡°If we push the Reclamation War forwards now, push the men, we¡¯ll rally the populace.¡± Arascus said. ¡°They¡¯ll see success and they¡¯ll want to join to be part of that success.¡± Kassandora nodded as she looked over to a paper next to her. ¡°On the low end, since the bill passed we already had volunteers numbering fourty thousand once they saw we would be taking them. Wages at above median national rates would be a good incentive.¡± ¡°That would burn reserves too quickly.¡± Arascus replied as Kassandora shifted in her black uniform. Joyeuse had been slammed into the ground and the trees on the red rock had been cut. She needed twenty minutes before they started to get her anger out at the operation failing. ¡°Even Kavaa¡¯s treasury would be empty within the year and then we¡¯d see desertion if we hire them with the promise of money.¡± Kassandora sighed as she readjusted that red ponytail of hers. Arascus knew her well enough to know those constant readjustments were just pure rage. ¡°So?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t pay a lot in the first place. Don¡¯t lie to them, provide food and shelter, but keep the wages themselves low.¡± Arascus began. ¡°It will be easier to seek investiture from the government if we keep costs down, poverty will form a brotherhood among the men and it will make the coup easier.¡± Kassandora narrowed her red eyes as she leaned back from her squat and into a sitting position. A small wave of red Kirinyaan soil shot out in a cloud around her. ¡°Something along the lines of ¡®you¡¯re the unpaid heroes, where is your reward?¡¯ sort of talk?¡± Arascus nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll have journalists for operations but in private¡­¡± He smiled to himself. ¡°Helenna does not even have to know we¡¯re not trying. We¡¯ll just tell her what the government is giving us and she¡¯ll spread the talk around. The questions on why we so little will spring up naturally. Just sow the seeds of those seeds in a few discussions and leave it at that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m forming an audit branch to keep track of supplies and thievery.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Sokolowski and the men who joined under me will make up the bulk of those forces, I¡¯ll make sure they turn a blind eye to rumours like that.¡± Arascus nodded. ¡°Yesterday, before we left, I got confirmation of three more locations for factories being approved.¡± He said. ¡°These won¡¯t be Binturongs, we¡¯ll be making rifles out of them.¡± ¡°How long until production starts?¡± ¡°Three? Four months?¡± Arascus said and shrugged. ¡°The Binturong factories sprung up quickly. The building codes here are laxer than in Karaina.¡± ¡°What about government inspections?¡± ¡°My field, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Arascus said. It wasn¡¯t hard to get inspectors to not speak. Especially not when the country had been caught in a fervour against the White Pantheon. Helenna knew two weeks in advance which factories had been chosen, if worst came to worst, then a bribe here and a threat there could be used to choose new locations.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I won¡¯t then.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Then war-plan wise.¡± She pointed at Kirinyaa¡¯s northern border. ¡°They¡¯ll come from here most likely. Best case is the Guardians and Paladins come on the ground, absolute worst case is massive armies via the sea. With trouble in the Pantheon, I expect to see Elassa move first, us to repel her, then we see Maisara and Fortia join in.¡± ¡°On the sea front, artillery could sink ships.¡± Arascus said as he crossed his arms. ¡°Most likely, I¡¯m not worried too much about naval invasions and we didn¡¯t have many naval invasions in the past. Kirinyaa only has a few ports, you can¡¯t supply too many men without opening the northern rails and highways. I want to give up the border and Northern provinces.¡± She looked again. ¡°What I would do is build reserve ports as we land and siege the cities, but I doubt they will do that. Think of it yes, but we all know what sort of damage sieging cities does.¡± Arascus nodded. Morality had been exploited in the past, now he doubted they could sustain sieges like that. The Pantheon Gods themselves could, but their armies? A Divine, even Allasaria herself would not be able to fully siege a city as large as Nanbasa alone. He looked back to the north. ¡°Give up all the north?¡± Kassandora shook her head as she took a pencil and started to draw lines. ¡°Mount a defence here and there obviously. It will be good field testing for new weaponry but sacrifice the land for lives of troops. Kirinyaa has enough space to lure them in.¡± Arascus nodded as Kassandora started drawing line after line. ¡°The industrial areas themselves are conglomerated along the coast, the north is mountain, desert and flatlands. The Pantheon gain little in reality from seizing that and feeling as if they¡¯re losing will make it easier for the natives here to deal with hardships.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± The Goddess of War smiled terribly upon hearing the question. ¡°We do a Great War classic. Scorch the land and supply lines. The mountains especially, tunnels and bridges can be blown and then every man here.¡± Kassandora drew a circle in the centre of Kirinyaa, past it mountain ranges but still far from the coast. ¡°It¡¯s clean-up at that point. We deploy Anassa and Olephia. If Baalka is awoken by then¡­¡± Kassandora merely looked up at Arascus and grinned, her eyes burning. There was nothing to say, if the Goddess of Disease woke up, then stranded men would end their own lives to escape her plagues. ¡°Lure them in and seize the land back.¡± Arascus said and Kassandora nodded. ¡°Epa itself doesn¡¯t have armies, I doubt they¡¯ll be willing to form militaries, and I doubt even more they¡¯ll have men willing to die in Arika for the White Pantheon¡¯s War. If we push them to the border.¡± Kassandora pulled out a small map of the entire world of Arda. She drew a cross over the Divine Mountain. ¡°The loss of prestige can be abused, Doschia and Rancais especially, coups or civil wars, it¡¯s too early to tell yet but either can work to make sure we have a foothold.¡± ¡°And Karaina?¡± ¡°Civil War definitely. Karaina A and B are already split and hate each other. A coup would be impossible, whichever half of the country is responsible for it, the other side will leave.¡± Arascus pulled the pencil from Kassandora¡¯s hand and circled Arika. ¡°We expand here first, then embargo Epa.¡± Kassandora narrowed her eyes for a few moments as her eyes shone and then she nodded. ¡°That will be good, we¡¯ll pressure their economies. Epa is poor in rare metals.¡± She took the pencil back and made a small cross over each country directly bordering the Jungle. ¡°These will go easily.¡± Then she went to the south of the continent. ¡°Here, it will be either coups or conquest.¡± ¡°Give and take, I don¡¯t know which one.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We¡¯ll need to see how the situation develops.¡± He looked away from the map and at Kassandora. She sat there, her red eyes in complete focus as she studied that map, that red ponytail spiralled down her back as she sat in that black uniform. They had been at this for four hours already. ¡°Anassa and Fer are coming back.¡± Arascus switched topics. ¡°I know.¡± Kassandora said, still looking at the map. She drew another line. ¡°No reaction?¡± Arascus asked and Kassandora shrugged. She dropped her pen and leaned back, supporting herself with her arms. ¡°You know me.¡± She said. ¡°What reaction am I supposed to give?¡± Arascus shrugged, Kassandora merely sighed. ¡°Are you excited?¡± ¡°I suppose I am.¡± ¡°I am too.¡± Kassandora. ¡°But until she¡¯s here, there¡¯s nothing we can do, is there? They¡¯ll arrive either way and then Ana will test me.¡± Arascus sighed. ¡°I can make her not.¡± He said. ¡°I can handle it.¡± Kassandora said as she tapped her sword. She sighed again and shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just Anassa.¡± Arascus shrugged, not even Fer would say that sort of thing. He was about to interrupt when a stone landed between them. They both looked at the rock, then at each other. Arascus stood up and turned around to look down the cliff. Olephia was there, in her purple dress, smiling up and waving. Arascus waved back as Kassandora stepped close to him. Olephia waved with both hands. ¡°Acting cute doesn¡¯t suit her.¡± Kassandora said bitterly. ¡°I think it does.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve always been soft-hearted.¡± Arascus laughed as Olephia pointed back to the camps and north. The Sun was had risen and pushed back the darkness. Kassandora¡¯s own forces were training, Kavaa¡¯s Clerics were being assembled. Arascus found the Goddess of Healing in the crowd as she gave a speech. Olephia threw another stone past them to bring attention to herself. She pointed straight up, then to the camp. Simple enough, look up. And so, they looked up. Three planes in the air, from the north. Olephia waved for them to come down. Arascus lifted into the air and started to float as Kassandora started to float the hill. Joyeuse stabbing into the cliff to slow her fall. Olephia already had her note prepared, she held it up for Arascus and Kass to read. Is it them? It is them, isn¡¯t it? Ana¡¯s back, isn¡¯t she? Arascus looked away and towards one of the planes. Two figures jumped one. One fell towards the ground like a rock, the other slowly walked through the air along opaque crimson stairs that materialized before her. ¡°Look.¡± He pointed up at that figure in her red dress. The stairs behind her transformed into butterflies that burned away into red flames like flickering torches. Anassa knew how to make an entrance. Chapter 135 – What a Friendly Family Meeting Fortia and Maisara talked over the phone. ¡°Elassa recalled me, Arcadia was attacked.¡± Fortia said sourly. The months of managing Doschia¡¯s crumbling markets had done little to put her in a helpful mood. ¡°Mmh.¡± Maisara said over the phone. Ruffling papers came over the speaker. ¡°I got a letter too, from her.¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Only natural, children play around until they break something and then they have to call upon adults for help. I assume she doesn¡¯t want us, she wants the Paladins and the Guardians.¡± Maisara said coldly. ¡°I thought the same.¡± ¡°There¡¯s just one thing I don¡¯t like.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why is it Elassa¡¯s seal¡­ and not Allasaria¡¯s?¡± Kavaa turned to the sky as she saw Fer fall to the ground and Anassa walk those crimson stairs. It had to be Anassa, she had sauntered onto battlefields like that in the past too. On those magnificent stairs, opaque, as if an artist had brought a pencil drawing into life. They materialized before her, with railings pulled straight from a grand castle, each delicate step she took, the stair behind her disappeared. It fluttered into butterflies that gave a few flaps of their wings and then burned up. Fer hit the ground like a boulder. Kavaa took a step forwards on instinct, and then the Goddess of Beasthood walked from that cloud of dust. She was coming to Kavaa. The Goddess of Health turned back to her Clerics, she had just been trying to raise morale, Kassandora had instituted a brutal regimen and Kavaa was afraid it would drive her men to exhaustion. It was odd. In the Great War, her Clerics were pushed to the brink and signs of fatigue seemed to evade them. Now though? Kavaa looked across her men. ¡°Meeting over! You will see me later today!¡± The men saluted and went off, each one in dark green shirts and shorts. There was no reason to wear armour in this sweltering Sun. A few started to go off, more turned to look at Anassa. And that sour feeling hit Kavaa. It hit when she saw how Kass¡¯ soldiers looked at their Goddess, it hit when she saw how the Goddesses looked at Arascus, it had hit when she saw Paladins ponder Maisara, Guardians gaze at Fortia and when the Seekers saw Allasaria. Her soldiers never looked at her that way. The ones who did had left to join Kassandora. Kavaa turned as Fer approached. She walked in a wobbling manner, Kavaa didn¡¯t even need to use her magic to know the woman was injured. Cuts littered her body, her skin was gaunt and pale, her ribs exposed through the tears in her clothes. Her shaggy golden hair was a pale blonde and her tail didn¡¯t wag from side to side. Kavaa took a step forwards as Arascus, Kass and Olephia approached from that cliff the former had gone to. Arascus had stuck to his word, the only people who knew of the full plan was the former two of that group. Even after Helenna had wormed words out of Neneria¡¯s maids, they had little to talk about but her fondness for sweet cakes and red wines. Kassandora had no maids and her own guards that denied entry even to Divines, Arascus didn¡¯t even have a tent to spy in. The man was always moving and always on guard. ¡°I am back.¡± Fer¡¯s voice was tired and pained, but she still managed to sound cheerful. ¡°Thanks Kav.¡± The woman collapsed onto her knees. ¡°Your blood saved me, I used six vials.¡± Kavaa had expected her to use one, maybe two. From seeing the woman fight in the Jungle, a few drops of Kavaa¡¯s own blood was enough to bring Fer back from almost dead. ¡°Heal¡­ please.¡± Fer said tiredly as she rolled over onto her side, then collapsed onto her back. ¡°I held it, Ana said not to sleep.¡± Kavaa dropped to her knees instantly. Her hands touched Fer¡¯s cheeks and Kavaa¡¯s eyes bulged as she inspected the damage. There wasn¡¯t a single sinew of muscle that hadn¡¯t been torn. Most of Fer¡¯s veins were about to tear apart from the pressure of her own heart, every bone had at least half a dozen fractures in it. Fer smiled as Kavaa started to pour healing into her. She mumbled an ¡°owie¡± as Kavaa got to those ribs. Parts of them weren¡¯t even recognisable anymore, it was only bone dust. Kavaa¡¯s magic pulled re-stitched sinew, those bones reformed, they tore at the flesh as they reassembled, the woman¡¯s skull had two cracks, those were delicately put together and allowed to recast themselves like a helmet of steel. Her hair started to change, from the pale straw back to the vivid gold. ¡°Owie.¡± Fer mumbled again with more energy. ¡°That pinched.¡± Kavaa had just torn the inside of the woman¡¯s thigh as she stitched her broken leg. ¡°Does it not hurt?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Fer replied. ¡°Keep at it.¡± Her stomach rumbled, rumbling stomachs were always a good sign. If the body had enough energy to think of being hungry, then it meant the damage wasn¡¯t too bad. ¡°This will hurt.¡± Kavaa said as she probed the woman¡¯s hands with her magic. These were in an even worse situation than the ribs. Every finger had been thoroughly destroyed and her nails had fallen off. Fer merely giggled, smiled happily and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and put her into the air. Kavaa would doubt that even Kassandora would allow her nails to be regrown. Kavaa had only done it to herself once throughout her entire life, since then, she had spent over a thousand years making sure she would never have to do that again. Fer merely made a sour face and curled her toes as Kavaa forced skin rip and tear and allow new nail to form over her finger. And a quiet ¡®ow¡¯ this time. Kavaa wiped the sweat off her forehead as she looked at Fer¡¯s face. The Goddess of Beasthood pressed her head deeper onto Kavaa¡¯s lap as her stomach rumbled again. She stared up, a bright smile painted on her face, those yellow cat-eyes staring up at Kavaa. Even the ears on the top of her head wriggled against Kavaa¡¯s stomach. ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± Fer said. Kavaa looked down at the Goddess as she thought of what to do. Fer was Fer, Gods did have slight variations in themselves. Did she really need to be fed blood? Kavaa could see it. The Goddess of Health was about to cut her hand open to feed Fer when Arascus, Kassandora and Olephia finally reached them. Kavaa blinked as she realised how long it had taken, bones could be healed reforged in a mere few seconds when touching, and it had taken her almost a dozen minutes to fully heal Fer. And she blinked again when Kassandora kicked Fer with her black boot, Fer yelped as the Goddess of War, hands on hips, leaned over her like a teacher telling off a naughty child. ¡°Don¡¯t beg like that Fer!¡± Kassandora said angrily. Olephia came over to Kavaa and handed her a piece of paper. Please do not feed the cat just because she smiles at you. She is always hungry. Olephia smiled mischievously at Kavaa¡¯s expression then shook her head and wagged her finger at Fer. It was the first time Kavaa had seen Fer told off¡­ But then if anyone could it, it would be Olephia. ¡°Thank you for healing Fer, Kavaa.¡± Arascus said as he leaned down, grabbed Fer¡¯s hand and pulled her up. Fer stood like a new woman, that golden mane of her spiralled down her back, her tail wagged through the air, her ears jumped. ¡°It¡¯s good that you made it.¡± The two hugged each other. Kavaa stared up at that from the ground. Arascus in his black uniform, dark hair brushed back, and Fer, clothes torn and looking as if she had just walked out of a battlefield, on her toes as she rest her chin over his shoulder. God of Pride and Goddess of Beasthood, eyes closed and smiling as they hugged each other. And Kavaa tried to remember the last time she had been hugged like that. Did it ever happen? Even once? She blinked a tear away and composed herself as Kassandora pulled her up. Arascus eventually let go of Fer as the Goddess¡¯ stomach rumbled again. ¡°I am actually hungry.¡± ¡°We have fresh game.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°I expected you to be.¡± ¡°Little Kassie is always so thoughtful.¡± Fer turned to her sister and Kassandora merely shook her head. Kavaa stood there, little Kassie was still such an odd term. The top of Kavaa¡¯s head only reached up to Kassandora¡¯s shoulders, the woman was a mastermind in her own league, stronger than Kavaa five times over¡­ And she got called little Kassie. ¡°Lovely as always.¡± Kassandora said as she looked up to sky. ¡°Are you two going to greet each other?¡± Fer asked Kassandora and Olephia nodded rapidly. ¡°We are.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m not going to miss that.¡± Fer and Olephia started to distance themselves from the group. Arascus took a step, stopped and then put his hand on Kavaa¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Come, you don¡¯t want to be close.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I¡¯ll explain it.¡± Arascus said. Kassandora hissed in response. ¡°There is nothing to explain, Anassa needs to be slapped down every now and again to keep her in check.¡± Arascus sighed and walked off with Kavaa. Fer and Olephia were already sitting on the dirt with a good amount of ground in between them and Kassandora. ¡°So?¡± Kavaa asked. In the Great War, Arascus laying his hand on you was a death sentence. And now she felt¡­ she felt safe. Kavaa pushed that feeling away, it had to be one of the man¡¯s powers. There were Gods out there who could manipulate emotions. ¡°Anassa is vastly stronger than Kassandora.¡± Arascus said in a flat tone. He turned away to make a gap between Fer and Olephia. The Goddess of Chaos was scrawling something into her notebook as Fer nodded along, a smile on her face and ears jumping with every nod. Behind them, the vast camp of Clerics with its multitude of flags were and wooden homes was starting to brim with life more than it usually did. A crowd of men was coming to watch. ¡°If I had to rank them¡­¡± Arascus bobbed his head from side to side. ¡°They¡¯re all different of course, but raw power, one on one, classical duel. Anassa is third.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s first?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Olephia and Irinika.¡± Of Chaos and Of Darkness. There was no surprise in that. ¡°But Anassa has never bested Kassandora in a duel.¡± Kavaa looked up at Anassa still walking down her stairs. Did she actually intend to walk the whole distance? ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Anassa is the hardest to deal with.¡± Arascus said as he crossed his arms. ¡°Easily the hardest, every family has a problem child, Anassa is ours. If she gives you trouble, or if she gives it to Helenna or Iniri, then call me, if not, then one of my daughters.¡± Arascus spoke slowly. Kavaa nodded. The White Pantheon was filled with nothing but problem children. It had been surreal to stay with Arascus and the others so far, with all of them getting along. It almost put her heart at ease to know that they had their issues to deal with. Almost. They were still far too nice to each other. ¡°So she¡¯s like the Great War Anassa?¡± Kavaa asked as her eyes moved to Arascus. Incredible. The man chuckled for a moment. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°Well like with Fer, she¡¯s¡­ I mean, we fought each other back then. She isn¡¯t how I imagined her to be.¡± Arascus seemed to understand. ¡°Fer¡¯s bloodlust makes her into a different person.¡± He pointed to Olephia. The Goddess of Chaos saw him, smiled and waved back before going back to writing something. She handed a note to Fer and the woman howled in laughter, her tail beating the ground with mirth. ¡°Ironically, Olephia is the most stable. She¡¯s so overwhelming she¡¯s never had to practice battle.¡± He moved to Kassandora. ¡°Kass is¡­ Well¡­ you know her.¡± ¡°I think I do.¡± Arascus nodded grimly. ¡°Kassandora is rather hard to get to know, but she likes you.¡± Arascus said. ¡°She does?¡± ¡°She does.¡± Arascus said. He squinted and pointed towards a hill. Kavaa could just about make out a figure on it. ¡°There¡¯s Neneria. She¡¯s sweet, although admittedly she¡¯s hard to like.¡± Kavaa shook her head. This was nothing like the White Pantheon. There it was about the powers and domains that were useful. Kavaa always took a backseat because she ranked near the bottom of strength¡­ And here? The man just called the Goddess of Death sweet and hard to like!? That was it? What about her talents? Her power? She was the Goddess of Death! Surely he had something more to say about her than the fact she is sweet! ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± Kavaa asked and Arascus shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve dealt with Allasaria too so I know where you¡¯re coming from.¡± He said. ¡°But yes, that it is. Anassa is the only that has the White Pantheon mentality when it comes to power, and even then it¡¯s not so extreme as it is on the Mountain. The rest don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Kavaa sighed and looked up at the man again. Was it him? They all deferred to him, the God of Pride was strong, but even in the past Olephia had always been stronger than him. How had he crafted such a perfect Pantheon? ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I¡­¡± Kavaa struggled to get words out. ¡°How?¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Maybe it¡¯s Olephia?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°It¡¯s hard to compare strengths when you¡¯re all in Chaos¡¯ shadow.¡± Kavaa looked over to Fer and Olephia sitting on the ground again. Fer was drawing something in Olephia¡¯s notebook with a wobbly hand. ¡°But I don¡¯t think it is, we¡¯re family, we just like each other. Kassandora and Malam are the weakest, but they¡¯re the big decisions makers who are deferred to.¡± Kavaa took another deep breath. Incomprehensible. Every Divine worked alone, the White Pantheon was merely an amalgamation of kingdoms that worked together. That was as far as it went, it would have never appeared if a lone Divine could pose a threat to Arascus. The White Pantheon was simply a treaty of mutual benefit and mutual survival. Pantheon Peace¡¯s public goal was to stop wars between mortals, but it was actually to stop Divines from shattering the world. Kavaa¡¯s cheeks went red as she heard her own thoughts. Breaking from the Pantheon had been treacherous enough, but now there was a little voice in her head that wanted admittance into Arascus¡¯ orbit. ¡°I¡­¡± Kavaa took breath as she calmed her mind. ¡°That is certainly different.¡± ¡°That it is.¡± Arascus chuckled. ¡°But Fer living in civilization? Chaos walking around without anyone batting an eye? Kassandora being the hero of this country? Neneria being out in the open? I would not have it any other way.¡± Kavaa nodded as her eyes strained to Neneria. The woman was starting to move down the hill and approach the two Goddesses sitting on the ground. Arascus smiled proudly at her. ¡°And Fer helps keep everyone together too, she¡¯s easy to like.¡± ¡°She is.¡± Kavaa said. It wasn¡¯t a lie to say she had grown fond of the big cat and her antics since they had ventured into the Jungle. But then Helenna was as easy to like as Fer, and Helenna had never received that treatment in the Pantheon. Anassa interrupted them. Her stairs stopped and she laughed from above. ¡°They¡¯re beginning.¡± Arascus stared as he looked up at the sky. ¡°Beginning what?¡± ¡°This is how they always are. Kassie won¡¯t back down and Anassa¡­¡± Arascus chuckled. ¡°Well, Kassie hates it but Anassa loves her little sister a bit too much.¡± The man sighed and put his hands on the back of his head as Kavaa¡¯s eyes scanned the rest of the Divines. Helenna and Iniri had appeared from the camp, on the other side of Fer and Olephia. Those two were stood up now, Fer¡¯s eyes had sharpened and were blinking around. Olephia looked ready to speak. Neneria had deployed a few ghosts by her side. ¡°Are we safe?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°They make a mess when they play.¡± Arascus said apathetically. ¡°You get used to it.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re all at attention.¡± Arascus smiled as he looked at Kavaa, a spark in those blue eyes looked impressed with her perceptiveness. Kavaa hated the fact she felt happy with herself when he acknowledged her. Arascus merely smiled and looked back at the two. ¡°Sometimes, they have to be pulled off each other. But trust me, they¡¯re each other¡¯s favourites.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to see you¡¯ve managed to pull through this far!¡± Anassa shouted down from the air, her voice noble and haughty. The entire camp went quiet as Kassandora put her hands in her pockets. ¡°You¡¯ll kick the bucket long before I do.¡± Kassandora shouted back up. ¡°Oh I don¡¯t think so.¡± Anassa said, she must be using sorcery to amplify her voice, Kavaa somehow heard her condescending tutting. ¡°Are we still swinging a sword around?¡± ¡°Still are and still will.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Have we moved onto playing in the real world?¡± ¡°Never have and never will.¡± Anassa shouted back down as Arascus sighed. ¡°This isn¡¯t a good look for them.¡± He said slowly, his rumbling voice barely reaching Kavaa. Kavaa agreed. ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± ¡°Are you using a shield at least?¡± Anassa said from above. Her sorcery started to come to the ground. ¡°I¡¯ll use a shield when you start dressing properly.¡± Kassandora shouted as Kavaa looked over to Anassa. The amount of skin the Goddess of Sorcery showed would¡­ well, it¡¯d make Helenna blush. Her eyes travelled to the Goddess of Love. Actually, Helenna may be getting ideas. ¡°Same rules as always?¡± Anassa said and Kassandora burst out in laughter. ¡°Your rules, not mine.¡± ¡°I have to go easy on my little sister or I¡¯d feel dirty about myself.¡± Anassa shouted as the platform below her disappeared and her heels touched the ground. Kavaa didn¡¯t take her eyes away from the two, but she leaned into Arascus, her fingers brushed against his as she felt Anassa¡¯s power blast out in waves. Kassandora¡¯s armour appeared around her apart from the helmet and Joyeuse materialized in the air. It stabbed into the red dirt and Kassandora easily pulled it out. ¡°What are they talking about?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Anassa won¡¯t fly and Kassandora only has to get her once, Anassa won¡¯t go for the face.¡± Arascus said and shrugged. The movement made Kavaa remember to pull the back of her away from his. ¡°They agreed to it themselves, don¡¯t be scared.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Kavaa answered immediately. She wasn¡¯t, but it was Anassa. The Anassa. In the Great War, the two greatest fears were being conscripted into Neneria¡¯s Legion or being taken alive by Anassa. There had been an honest debate on whether to tell soldiers to end their lives instead of being captured by Of Sorcery. ¡°Ready when you are.¡± Anassa laughed haughtily. Kassandora did not wait for the laugh to end. Joyeuse spiralled from her hands and into the air. ¡°Too slow.¡± Anassa said. A claw of crimson appeared in the air and flicked the blade away. It reappeared in Kassandora¡¯s hands immediately, she threw it again and launched herself at Anassa. Kavaa tried to keep up, she had good eyesight, better than most Divines, but this? This was a blur of black armour flashing against crimson sorcery. She had never seen Kassandora fight like that, Joyeuse was thrown, hurled, swung, blocked, thrown, launched into the air, then it disappeared only to rematerialize in Kassandora¡¯s grip. And from Anassa¡¯s side, it was wave after wave of red light. It threw Kassandora into the air, the Goddess twisted, slithered out of it, roared and blocked another wave with her hand. ¡°When does it end?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°When Kass admits defeat or when she touches Ana¡¯s dress.¡± Arascus replied as he watched. ¡°Kassie needs sort of thing, she gets her anger out.¡± Kavaa did not see how. The woman was thrown into the air and slammed into the ground. Anassa started walking forwards, Kavaa wandered if she was purposefully making herself into the stereotype of a pretentious noblewoman with that haughty laugh. ¡°I¡¯ll have to heal them, won¡¯t I?¡± Kavaa asked sourly. This felt like when Maisara and Allasaria had a spat. ¡°If you want.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°They both recover quickly, they¡¯ll be walking tomorrow.¡± Kavaa did not understand how the man could be so calm! They looked as if they were ready to kill each other. Red lightning slithered out of Anassa¡¯s hands, her hair trailing in the air, her dress not touching the ground as if invisible servants behind her were carrying it. And Kassandora had that look about her, the same look Kavaa saw when they had escaped from the White Pantheon, when Kassandora had said that they¡¯d only win once they were all dead. And the man¡¯s words. If you want? What was that!? She was the Goddess of Health! Healing was her duty, of course she would heal them! Kavaa blinked as she realised her thoughts. Had she just been tricked into agreeing? She sighed and shook her head, the man spoke continued. ¡°Fer takes great pleasure in having dolls to play with.¡± Arascus said as Kassandora twisted along the ground, she swung Joyeuse at Anassa as a crimson fist hammered into her from above. Anassa blinked from in front to behind Kassandora. The swing went all the way around and Anassa blinked again, to the front of Kassandora this time. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Kavaa asked as Anassa raised her hands. A series of scarlet plates appeared around her and shot at Kassandora, the Goddess of War cut an opening with sword, threw the blade at Anassa and the pirouetted through them. ¡°She goes and spoon feeds them when they¡¯re both bed-bound and tells them off. Olephia likes doing it too.¡± Arascus said, he sighed as he watched the brawl. Kassandora closed the gap, then her hand was impaled by one of Anassa¡¯s red beams. Fer laughed from the side-lines and Arascus shook her his. ¡°And it¡¯s over.¡± ¡°Over?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°She¡¯s closed the gap. Kass has won.¡± Arascus said. Kassandora roared and slid her hand down the spike. Her fingers, palm still impaled on that red spear, almost closed around Anassa¡¯s fist. The Goddess of Sorcery took a step back, red lightning in a ball in her other hand and tried to slam on Kassandora. Kass twisted and punched through the ball of lightning into an explosion, her hand locked around Anassa¡¯s wrist and she flung the Goddess of Sorcery towards the ground. Kavaa heard Anassa grunt and then moan as her arm broke at the elbow, she didn¡¯t even to inspect to know she¡¯d be healing, arms should not bend that way. Kassandora slammed her knee on Anassa¡¯s back and pinned the Goddess to the ground. ¡°That enough for you!?¡± She shouted. ¡°You cannot-¡° Arascus clicked his tongue and Fer sprang forwards. Faster than that red lightning, faster than Kassandora and her sword. The God of Pride started to walk forwards and Fer slammed into Kassandora, grabbed her, and pinned both of the sparring women to the ground. ¡°Now now little sisters, don¡¯t fight now.¡± She cooed in a horribly sweet tone. ¡°Big sister Fer is here to make sure you don¡¯t hurt yourselves.¡± ¡°I hate you Fer.¡± Kassandora grumbled sourly as she gave up on trying to slither out of Beasthood¡¯s grasp. ¡°Get off me you big cat.¡± Fer looked extremely pleased with the reactions she got. But the real thing that interested Kavaa was when saw Anassa¡¯s arm return to shape. Impossible. Sorcery could not heal. Could it? Arascus stood over them and sighed. ¡°Are we happy now?¡± He said. ¡°Have we fought it out?¡± Kavaa looked up at the man¡¯s face, Arascus had never looked tired, but now¡­ it was as if he was simply going through the motions, as if this had happened a thousand times before. ¡°Yes.¡± Kassandora and Anassa said at the same time. ¡°Alright.¡± Arascus said. ¡°You two make a mess.¡± ¡°Not my fault Kassie is a little morsel.¡± Anassa purred. ¡°You¡¯ve done nothing but choke on me then.¡± Kassandora said as Fer let the two of them go. Olephia came over and stared down at Anassa. Kavaa caught a flash of the paper: You shouldn¡¯t bully Kassie so much, she¡¯s not a fighter. Kassandora saw the paper too. ¡°Excuse me Olephia?¡± The Goddess of Chaos merely put her hands on her hips and gave the woman a flat stare, terribly unimpressed. ¡°Fight me with a sword and then we¡¯ll see who...¡± Olephia merely pointed at her throat, then at Kassandora, and then downwards towards the ground. The meaning was obvious enough to get. She smiled, tilted her head up, and those violet eyes looked down her nose as Kassandora angrily clicked her tongue. Anassa stood, or rather floated up. It was an unnatural movement, as if the ground simply pulled her to her feet. Kavaa didn¡¯t like it. Kassandora over and waved the bleeding hand with a hole to the Goddess of Health. ¡°Can you heal me?¡± She asked, then took a second¡¯s pause. ¡°Please?¡± Anassa purred from the side as Kavaa took hold of Kassandora¡¯s hand. ¡°You¡¯ve torn your leg muscles too. And the bones in your other arm are cracked.¡± Kavaa said quickly. ¡°Sorry.¡± Kassandora said and kicked the dirt. Arascus and Anassa exchanged hugs behind them and whispered something quietly to each other, most likely greetings. ¡°You ready?¡± Kavaa raised an eyebrow. She had imagined feeling annoyance once this moment came, the same annoyance that came with cleaning up Fortia and Maisara. There was none of that though, it was an entirely different feeling entirely. Something warm and fuzzy within her stomach. Kavaa didn¡¯t know what it was. Kassandora nodded, Kavaa started and the Goddess of War grit her teeth as her knees started to shake. The damage was nothing compared to Fer¡¯s brutal state, it was over in a few seconds. Muscle and vein was pulled and stitched together, bone was recast and reformed, and it was over. Kassandora bent over and took heavy breathes. Kavaa held her to make sure she wouldn¡¯t collapse. ¡°Healing that hard for you Kassie?¡± Anassa said from behind. ¡°Unlike you, I rescued myself.¡± The Goddess of War sounded especially smug with herself. ¡°Excuse me.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°But I was there too.¡± She said as Kassandora looked up and laughed, waving her away. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about her.¡± Kassandora stood up and stretched, arms above her head as she twisted her stomach to either side. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you Ana, great to see you¡¯re as bitchy as ever.¡± ¡°Likewise to you Kass, I was scared you¡¯d get robbed by mortals when Fer told me you were out. Or that some stray dog would bite you.¡± They both looked at each other and burst out in laughter. They even hugged. Kavaa stared at it in wonder. They had just fought though¡­ In the Pantheon, this would have resulted in a year of seething from both parties at the very least. They split up and Olephia came to hug Anassa. They split up and Olephia pointed at Kassandora, looked angrily at Anassa and shook her head as she wagged her finger in front of Anassa¡¯s red eyes. Kassandora¡¯s were like crimson flames, these were deeper, like a dark red blood. Anassa laughed as she raised her own hands. ¡°I¡¯ll behave Olia, I¡¯ll behave.¡± Olephia smiled and nodded. ¡°So you¡¯ve been busy?¡± ¡°Very.¡± Kassandora replied as Anassa walked passed Kavaa. The Goddess of Health blinked. Impossible. She turned and looked at Anassa again. The woman had no wounds on her body. But¡­ ¡°We have an army, it will be good to bolster it with sorcerers. I¡¯ve found people I think have potential already but it¡¯s your demesne to decide.¡± ¡°Anassa¡­¡± Kavaa said and then wished she kept her mouth shut. The Goddess of Sorcery turned, her nose twisted up as she looked at Kavaa. Kassandora stopped and turned, Fer¡¯s ears sprung up. Even Arascus and Olephia stopped. Kavaa felt like a bee in a hornet¡¯s nest. She should have just kept silent. ¡°If we didn¡¯t face each other in the Great War, I woul-¡° Arascus cut Anassa off. ¡°Ana.¡± He merely said her name and she fell silent. ¡°What is it Kavaa?¡± Kavaa took a deep breath and steeled herself for a denial. What would be the worst that would happen? They¡¯d tell her off? Tell her to keep her nose out of family business? ¡°Are you injured?¡± Kavaa asked. Anassa raised an eyebrow as she swept her hands down her body. ¡°I appreciate the thought little Goddess, but do I look injured?¡± ¡°Ana.¡± Arascus said again. ¡°I sense you¡¯re injured.¡± Kavaa said, harder this time. Anassa clicked her tongue and looked at the arm Kassandora had obviously broken just moments before. She turned and twisted it and flexed her fingers. Kavaa took a tentative step forwards and used her own magic to find silently search the woman¡¯s body. ¡°I am not.¡± Anassa spoke like Allasaria did. As if she looked down on everything and everyone and they were nothing but dust. She didn¡¯t speak to her family like that though. Kavaa didn¡¯t want to be spoken to like that either. ¡°Your wrists and shoulders are dislocated.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Your arm is broken and you were bitten on your shoulder.¡± Kavaa pointed to Anassa¡¯s shoulder and Fer came in, cooing in that warm voice of hers. She leaned down to put her face next to her sorceress sister¡¯s. ¡°Well lookie here.¡± She said smugly. ¡°Seems my little sister isn¡¯t so good at healing as she thought, is she?¡± She chuckled mischievously. ¡°That¡¯s where I bit you.¡± Arascus stepped in and leaned to look at Anassa¡¯s wrists. ¡°They don¡¯t look dislocated.¡± He said. ¡°I am sure they are.¡± Kavaa said definitely. Kassandora leaned in around Anassa and looked up smugly at her, eyes low and voice rumbling with humour. ¡°Well well well.¡± She left it at that. ¡°Kavaa, I can heal myself, rather easily in fact.¡± Anassa spoke and then Arascus came in. ¡°Kavaa, you can heal her, Anassa give her your hand.¡± The Goddess of Sorcery rolled her eyes, slouched and reluctantly put her hand forwards. Kavaa gently took those pale fingers into her own and scanned the woman¡¯s body. She had been correct. She blinked then looked at Anassa. But she hadn¡¯t? There were two Anassas there. One injured and one perfect. As if they were overlaid onto each other, like two drawings, the perfect one hiding the damaged one. How? Kavaa pushed the question out of her mind and focused on the damage. ¡°It will hurt.¡± She said. ¡°Kavaa, I¡¯ve taken more pain than you can imagine.¡± Anassa said sourly. ¡°Just get it over with.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll hold her down if she goes rabid.¡± Fer said and Kassandora unleashed a terrible hehehe of a laugh from the other side. ¡°Here goes.¡± Kavaa said and started to heal Anassa. The Goddess of Sorcery¡¯s knees trembled, her cheeks went as crimson as her dress, she blushed and fell to her knees. Did she just¡­? Kavaa looked down at the woman as she knelt in the middle of the group. Kassandora and Fer and Olephia were all sharing smug looks and Arascus looked as if he wanted to pick up the bottle to drown himself in wine. Dislocations were easy to fix, and the wound in the shoulder was almost healed. Kavaa merely helped everything fit back together, she quickly let go of Anassa, took a step away and wiped her hands on the back of her dress to make sure none of¡­ None of that got on her. Anassa breathed heavily on the ground, her eyes practically swimming in bliss. Arascus grabbed her arm and pulled her onto her feet. ¡°Up you go. Compose yourself Ana.¡± And then¡­ Kavaa didn¡¯t know if this was a dream or a nightmare, but the Goddess of Sorcery bowed to her. ¡°My apologies Kavaa. You know, you¡¯re not half-bad at that.¡± Kavaa didn¡¯t understand whether Anassa¡¯s tone was supposed to be pleasant or terrifying or blissful or dreamy or pained. She fell behind as she looked at the Goddesses walk with Arascus and start to immediately discuss battle plans. Neneria caught up soon, she shared a few words with Anassa and then fell in besides Fer. Kavaa eventually stopped following them as Helenna and Iniri caught her. The three merely stared off at the tall figures, tall even for Divines. ¡°That was the Anassa?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°Did you see her?¡± Helenna said. ¡°What do you think?¡± Iniri followed up. Kavaa had no words. What a family. Chapter 136 – The War College of Arcadia Mages cannot be allowed to exercise their power. The tyrannical magocracies of the past are a natural result of their longevity and strength. Any country not dominated by them will reduce them to a workhorse slave class. We have seen in the past, any country that does neither will be eclipsed and collapsed by the nations that do. Co-existence between the mundane and the magical is as farcical as a Divine sharing a roof with a mortal. For the sake of peace and stability, magicians have to be removed from mundane society. Combat Arts will serve no purpose in the world we are building. Re-integration attempts will be made every fifty years, until then, Goddess Elassa will guide them... ¡­The War College of Arcadia will be expanded into their own nation which will serve as a refuge for the magically inclined¡­ The White Pantheon¡¯s Doctrines: Magicians and Magic Elassa sat in her headmaster¡¯s office. Through the open window, the grey ash of Arcadia was beginning to turn green, floromancers were working roots to bury the ash underground. Flowers were spring up, classes had not returned yet, instead students were being tasked with helping repair the ruined dorms. Logs were shattered into beams of woods, streams were being guided to forges. It reminded Elassa of her armies of magicians in the war. But then, it was nothing like that. Those mages would lose their own limbs and wake up wanting more. Back then, every family had lost a member here and there, death was commonplace. It was still a tragedy when someone died, but a common tragedy. Now, just looking at these weary faces, at them jump every time someone dropped a stone. At the way they peered around corners, at them sitting in silence, wrapped in cloaks and hands around hot cups of drink. Even back then, refugees who escaped the claws of Fer¡¯s hordes would seem happier with life. Elassa turned away, her chair spinning as she came to face the people she had called. Every school and elements had brought the five highest-ranking members of staff. Some were faces she knew, Dominic Whitaker was one of them. The man had gloom hang in the air around him, Elassa knew he had slept, but he still looked tired. The nature and fire mages were the worst hit. The massacre at the floromancy dorm rooms had wiped out every high-ranking mage there. The pyromancers had lost half. All in all, for every five people in the room, two were a face Elassa had only glanced at before. Elassa tapped her fingers as they took their seats around the huge table the Goddess of Magic had prepared. It was a simple stone thing, merely pulled out of the floor, something this large would have been impossible to fit through the doors. Around them hung the flags of Arcadia, white with a ring of blue in the middle. Elassa had designed that flag herself, a thousand years ago when Arcadia had grown into a nation. She had donned dark blue today, Great War battledress colours, it fit her mood. The dress itself ended below her shoulders, but then a shawl around her neck maintained modesty. Her staff hovered in the air to her side, the lamps did too. Elassa waved her finger, the white diamond that topped off her staff flashed and the window closed. Out went Arcadia¡¯s smell of ash, out went the winds and the quiet conversations. The orders being shouted and the dins of construction. And in came silence. Elassa looked to the magicians. Even sitting down, she towered over them. She was average in terms of Divine heights, but among mortals? The tallest man was lucky to reach her chest. She began in a slow tone. ¡°Arcadia has been attacked.¡± That much was obvious, but something had to set the mood. Elassa stared at their reactions. A few went pale as they reminisced that night Fer had appeared, one of the geomancy witches looked as if she was going to throw up. Several eyes went to the table. Elassa wished she had her old mages back. The men who would shrug when told Olephia had vaporized a city, who smiled when they heard Fer was approaching. Those were warriors. And these? Not even children. A different species of human entirely. She wished she knew how Kassandora managed to so quickly awaken that beast of violence within man. ¡°We have taken losses.¡± Elassa said again, from the disorganisation in the rebuilding, she doubted anyone but her had the full picture of the damage. ¡°Six thousand, two hundred and thirty eight are dead. Another eight thousand are wounded. Five hundred and eleven mages burned themselves out.¡± Fried their magical circuitry beyond repair. They had become mundane. ¡°Another two thousand are still missing. Of those figures, floromancy took the biggest hit with a third of all losses. Students make up the bulk of the figures.¡± Elassa took a heavy breath as she finished. Maisara and Fortia and Allasaria could give figures like this and then finish off with some heroic conclusion. Elassa merely gave the figures. She didn¡¯t know what to feel, the fact they were attacked brought anger, but the losses themselves were a statistic. She had seen too many wars through the ages. She had assumed that a thousand years of Peace would have re-sensitized her to violence. It did not. Losses were taken, and more would come, and the world would keep turning. It was nothing to be happy about, but it wasn¡¯t anything to beat herself over either. It happened. The real damage came from the fact she should have been prepared for this the moment she saw Kassandora and Fer and Arascus on the news. She hadn¡¯t been dulled to warfare, and neither have they. A thousand years of being kept sheathed did little to dull a blade after all. Maybe she had just assumed that they wouldn¡¯t modern machinery? That they would fight as a thousand years back then? Elassa sighed. It was too much to think about. ¡°Pyromancy and floromancy make up half total lost, the other departments were hit less.¡± Elassa looked at her supposed elites again, and they all made dire expressions. A table of pacifists, that was it. ¡°Additionally, Anassa of Sorcery has been freed. She was kept imprisoned in the Divine Library. The Library is no more and Anassa is most likely in Arika, along with Arascus.¡± Elassa stood up. That woman was a walking nightmare through and through, she had even tried to claim dominion over Elassa¡¯s name once. To think Elassa had once called her a sister. Elassa¡¯s staff moved into her hands and she slammed the butt into the floor. ¡°What does this mean?¡± It was a rhetorical question, she gave the answer immediately. ¡°We have confirmation of Anassa, Fer, Olephia and Neneria.¡± Four walking apocalypses. ¡°They are led by Kassandora and Arascus.¡± The plan was too clean to be anything but Kass¡¯ doing. ¡°We have a split Pantheon, with Helenna, Kavaa and Iniri for all intents and purposes allied with Arascus. That means the hundred thousand Clerics of Kavaa serve him now.¡± Tomorrow, Elassa would return to the mountain and formally take the Clerics off the list of sanctioned Orders. Freeing Kassandora was one thing, those three girls had always been weak. It was natural that they would cling onto a more powerful being to have leverage in discussions. But attacking her? Blood called for blood. ¡°The darkfurs that were present are creations of Anassa and Fer working in tandem. We have been culling their numbers over the years, but we can expect an uptick from today. Anassa also facilitates the forced mutation into beastmen.¡± Elassa moved her white-wood staff slightly and a pile of sand emerged from two jars in the corners. She always used this for demonstrations. It hovered through the air and settled onto the table. ¡°For all intents and purposes, Arda is heading into another war. Kassandora and Arascus alone would be enough to make sure of that, the other Divines simply make it even more certain.¡± Elassa scanned the reactions. Pale gaunt faces in shock, some of them trembled. These were supposedly the people who led the others. She silently changed her estimates from three months to six. Elassa tapped her staff against the floor and the sand formed a tiny model of Arcadia. All its buildings and all its hill and forests. Even the tiny little flags waved on the wind. The fact this was considered impressive was a shame. ¡°What does a return to war entail?¡± The buildings toppled as flames burst out over the sound. ¡°That.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. More sand flew into the air and made a giant paw, it smashed the rest of the standing buildings. ¡°As it is, Arcadia is not a fighting force.¡± A spike burst through that sand as Elassa tapped her fingers along the white-wood in her hand. ¡°I ask now, and I demand an answer, what is Arcadia?¡± Her magicians looked at each other. It took a good minute for one man to raise his hand. Elassa indicated to him with her staff. ¡°It is a place of learning an-¡° ¡°Wrong.¡± Elassa cut him off. This time the wait wasn¡¯t so long, a woman raised her hand. Dressed in blue, one of the hydromancers. ¡°A refuge for mag-¡° ¡°Wrong.¡± Elassa interrupted again. And again, another figure. ¡°A conglomeration of leylines in or-¡° ¡°Wrong.¡± ¡°The White Pantheon¡¯s place for magicians.¡± ¡°Wrong.¡± Elassa gave them a minute. They were out. No one knew, she withheld her tutting. She was a teacher, it was her job to teach. ¡°You are thinking too modern.¡± Another woman raised her hand. ¡°It was the White Pantheon¡¯s fortre-¡° ¡°Wrong.¡± Arcadia was no fortress, it had no walls and bastions. Extending the definition of fortress to Arcadia just because it was unassailable would extend it to Olephia and Neneria. They were mere pocket armies, not fortresses. ¡°Your school Goddess.¡± A man said. Close, but no. ¡°Wrong.¡± Elassa sighed. They would never get it, mages in the past would have got it on the first try. ¡°Arcadia is a war college.¡± Elassa gave a tiny flick of her staff and the sand made two figures in robes. ¡°Arcadia has always and will always be a war college. Pantheon Peace is irrelevant in this situation, mages have always and will always be the foremost defender of every mortal race on Arda. That is why we teach magic only one step away from combat arts.¡± The two figures threw balls of fire at each other. They collapsed then resurfaced. One of the figures merely waved a wand this time. The other set alight immediately. Elassa repeated the show with the other elements. Throwing water, then merely a spike made of water condensed from the air impale the other¡¯s head. Rocks being thrown, then the ground swallowing. Winds howling, then a slicing sword of air. The magicians looked on in horror. ¡°This has always been the purpose of Arcadia. We know of Paraideisius and Tartarus, we keep peace with them. If they ever invaded Arda, it would be up to Arcadia to stop them.¡± Anassa whisked the sand back into its jars. ¡°If anyone else but me told you this, then I would expect you not to believe them. But I am telling you this. I am the Goddess of Magic, I founded the War College of Arcadia. That is the true name of this land: Not Arcadia, the land of magical refuge, not Arcadia, chronicler of the world, not Arcadia, home of magic. This is The War College of Arcadia. It always has been, it always will be. It is the first, and it is the last War College of magic on this world.¡± The name came second on purpose. It had been designed that way. Elassa then pointed to the flag. ¡°That is our modern flag, who knows what it represents?¡± They had the answer immediately this time. A wizard spoke up without even raising his hand. ¡°White for piece and harmony in the world, blue for the magic within it.¡± Elassa nodded slowly. ¡°Correct. I designed that flag a thousand years ago. It has remained unchained, the ones here are still the ones weaved by my hand.¡± She tapped her staff and they fell from the walls. ¡°No more.¡± Elassa tapped the stand and a cabinet in the other corner opened. A purple piece of fabric opened. Elassa had seen it many times before, she would retreat to this room, unfurl it, and relive those fond memories of greatness before Allasaria brought order to the world. How many times had she done that? Too many for it be healthy. It spread out behind her, she didn¡¯t even need to look at it to know what it was. Purple background with five bolts of lightning cracking a red sphere. ¡°What is this?¡± Elassa asked. She knew they wouldn¡¯t know, but she hoped¡­ It was in vain, they stared blank faced at the flag. ¡°It is my banner. My banner during the Great War and during the ages before it.¡± It had been made during the chaos of Worldbreaking, when magic had ran rampant and created the continents of Arda as they stood. ¡°Royal purple for the majesty of magic, the red for blood spilled, the sphere is Arda, the lightning above it is magic cracking it. It is my war banner.¡± Elassa tied off the threads of magic holding her banner. It was freeing. She had never been like Fortia and Maisara, who would bark at Pantheon Peace for its inefficiency. Pantheon Peace was needed for the continued survival of Arda. But there were times when she missed the ages of the past. She imagined knights had the same feeling when they were finally allowed to draw their blades. She tapped the staff again. Another ancient relic floated from her cabinet and settled on the table. They wouldn¡¯t understand the ancient language of course, but that didn¡¯t matter. Copies for the magicians floated for them. ¡°Arascus will declare war on us, sooner than later. We have been caught out once. We will not be caught out again. Next time Fer appears at our gates, we will leave nothing but ashes of her.¡± It still disgusted her that a country full of mages could be so brazenly assault by beastmen. She looked at the expression as they read through the document. Nervous eyes and pale faces as blood drained from them. One witch finally spoke. ¡°This¡­ isn¡¯t this¡­?¡± She couldn¡¯t finish the question. Elassa knew the text off by heart. It had been written during the very first of Fer¡¯s brutal incursions, eight hundred years before the Great War, when Kassandora and Allasaria were still known as the twin Goddesses of Victory. Mortal armies could not fend off beastmen back then, the only reason humanity had survived that grand invasion was because Kassandora had drafted magicians into the military and developed war-magic into the beast it became. This document may very well have been part of the kindling used to start the fires of the Great War. ¡°Which part do you take issue with?¡± Elassa asked promptly. She tried not to sound like an angry teacher, but it was difficult. ¡°All of it.¡± The woman said. Old, withered, haggard. A waste of talent is what she was. A woman like that in the past should have been able to raise her own mountain, now this middling hydromancer could barely move a lake. Elassa looked at her own original copy and read the title. ¡°The Philosophy of Killing Magic. Co-written by Goddess Kassandora and Goddess Elassa.¡± Elassa smiled as she read the foreword, she still remembered that argument about how Kassandora was being too brutal on Elassa¡¯s magicians with such text. Kassandora had not known back then, but she was writing something for a millennia in advance. ¡°Foreword written by Goddess Kassandora alone. Elassa has rather grimly edited down my thoughts on magicians throughout the document, so I will put it here, much to her dismay. The issue with the mages of today is show-combat. I look at wizards and witches and see swords never drawn, bows never loaded and axes never sharpened. I see such potential wasted on such heaps of living garbage. Combat magic should be called theatre play because that is all it is, there is no intention of harm behind it, no want to kill. The whole point of warfare is to be the last man standing. If I wanted a show of force, I would rather recruit peasantry and dress them up in armour than hire a mage. There is a reason mages are absent from my armies, and that is because I know that even though a group of them have the potential to destroy a city, I will have better luck in recruiting the local town drunks to kill the king than I would if I tried to convince a lazy, pretentious, good-for-nothing, self-serving, arrogant, pestilent, gluttonous, pompous, most-likely-alcoholic, vice-indulging, gloating, smug, superior, moralistic magician to so much as rise before dawn in the morning.¡± ¡°There is a philosophical saying: ¡®I think, therefore I am¡¯. The existence of magicians proves this statement wrong. All mages do is think, and yet they are not.¡± Elassa remembered how adamant Kassandora was in not removing that foreword, and she was glad that Kassandora had convinced her not to. The Goddess of Magic looked up from her document and at the group. ¡°This is who we are fighting. This is what Kassandora thinks about you. This is not some vain caricature of Kassandora, these are her words. I want all of you to study this document, and to start teaching it once classes restart. This is who we are fighting, you will not like it, I do not expect you to like, but let me tell you this, whatever qualms you have with your morality will quickly fade away when you see how Kassandora wages wars.¡± Elassa slammed her staff again and more papers flew before the magicians. ¡°This is the new curriculum. It was designed for three months, but make it six.¡± Elassa didn¡¯t like it, every day given to Kassandora was a week the Goddess of War would demand paid back in blood, but Elassa would rather her army not be wiped out at the first encounter. ¡°I designed it myself. All classes, all tests, everything in the schedule will be removed from today. I will announce it in the evening to Arcadia at large.¡± Elassa monitored the expressions again. Nothing that she hadn¡¯t seen before. All shocked faces and the usual. ¡°Like I said, war is coming to Arda, we will not be caught off guard. You have six months. Any questions?¡± One man, a pyromancer in a red shawl, raised his hand. Elassa gave him permission to speak with a wave of her staff. He asked the question as if unsure of himself. Elassa smiled, pyromancers were always like that, always the first to be willing to let flames loose. There was a tiny hint of excitement in his voice, hidden and held back under shock. ¡°What then? In six months?¡± Elassa¡¯s staff brushed against war banner hovering behind her. ¡°Then, we take down the white and blue and fly the red and purple.¡± - - End of Arc 4: Goodbye, Pantheon Peace. Hello, Divine War - - Chapter 137 – A Letter From The Big Names Elassa watched her mages train. It was the first day of training, they were awkward, they were slow, and they couldn¡¯t quite bring themselves to truly try hurt one another. She remembered the training of the past, when live beastmen would be used for these purposes and was glad that she had doubled the time. Three months would not cut it. Frankly, six months seemed like too little. How did Kassandora build armies in times of peace? How did Maisara and Fortia do it? She should ask. She knew she should. But then Arcadia had always fended for itself, it would be beyond humiliating to bring Of Peace and Of Order here. ¡°A squad will be twelve men then.¡± Kavaa watched Kassandora circle Option F. It was the Goddess of War, Of Health and the God of Pride in the command tent. The military bill had passed and volunteers were starting to flow in. They had not been caught unawares, but there were still tiny little things to sort out. ¡°A platoon will be three squads. Regiment three platoons, into brigades, into regiments, into divisions, corps then army at the top. Twelve men to a squad, then grouping is a set of three making a pyramid.¡± Arascus and Kavaa nodded. It was a small tent, in the heart of Kassandora¡¯s camp. Plain, unadorned, Kassandora¡¯s bed was merely wooden struts with a flimsy mattress. The linen walls were lined with locked cabinets and chests, and the middle was dominated by a table. Today, that table was filled with training sheets. The past week since Anassa arrived had been brutal, classes replaced the training regimen and from what Helenna heard, Kassandora¡¯s soldiers wanted to go back to digging holes than being forced into another of her leadership seminars. Kavaa had sent a team of Clerics to make sure Kassandora wouldn¡¯t be killing her own soldiers with the punishments for wrong answers. ¡°And my Orders?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Are we agreed they will follow my commands then?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I don¡¯t want them on the battlefield if they don¡¯t.¡± Kavaa sighed. It was only natural she¡¯d be protective of men blessed by herself, but in the Great Wars, in the wars before it, it wasn¡¯t unheard of to follow another¡¯s command. Fortia had been the primary leader for the armies back then. ¡°No suicidal missions.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°But other than that¡­¡± She shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re sailing to war, if you sink the ship, it doesn¡¯t matter what I¡¯ve done, I¡¯m still on a sinking ship, aren¡¯t I?¡± Arascus nodded and Kassandora smiled as she brought out another paper. ¡°I¡¯m keeping the Orders as they are. They¡¯ll become either battalions through to brigades.¡± ¡°Why not Corps?¡± The largest blocks of the army. ¡°Because you have no single Order than can fill out a Corp by itself. Do you want inter-order rivalry in the army?¡± Kassandora raised an eyebrow and Kavaa shook her head. ¡°The plan for the Clerics is medical units. Back-liners. Is there an issue?¡± Kassandora saw the expression in Kavaa¡¯s head. Kavaa wished she could contain herself. Kassandora noticed now though, it was too late to take it back. ¡°It feels like I¡¯m support again.¡± Kassandora looked at Arascus and then at Kavaa. ¡°You are.¡± Arascus said as he leaned forwards. ¡°I and Kassandora have discussed this already. Frontline units with modern weaponry will be sent into a meatgrinder. We¡¯re expecting the first battles to be dealing with a mass air assault from Arcadia followed by a ground invasion lead by Fortia and Maisara. That¡¯s if we¡¯re on the defensive.¡± He looked at Kavaa and smiled. Kavaa still didn¡¯t know why he smiled at her like that, she wasn¡¯t worthy to be looked at in any fashion even resembling the fond gazes he gave his daughters. ¡°Anyone can be trained to shoot a gun, only your men can heal. Ten men and one healer is worth more than fifty men alone. It is as simple as that.¡± Kavaa nodded. She didn¡¯t know why that made her feel better. Kassandora came in with her encouragement. ¡°In regards to that, artillery will also be classified support companies. The Corps themselves are just boots on the ground. Even Fer¡¯s beastmen will be specialized auxiliary troops. You don¡¯t want to be the frontlines from now on.¡± Kavaa nodded. She¡¯d have to see it to believe it. ¡°And if we¡¯re on the offensive?¡± ¡°We head south then and claim all sub-Sassaran Arika. Then we turn north to Epa. Iliyal will command the southern theatre, I will take the northern.¡± Kassandora said as she brought out a piece of paper. ¡°From yesterday, we already have fourty thousand volunteers who have signed onto the Reclamation War from Nanbasa. The whole country has a hundred and fifty thousand in a week.¡± She looked at Arascus. ¡°You were right that they¡¯d sign up even on measly wages.¡± The God of Pride bowed his head and raised his hands, palms facing them. ¡°Everyone wants to help write history. It was obvious.¡± ¡°We also have thirty thousand signatures from abroad. Ausa is discussing its own armed forces after seeing Elassa back down from Kirinyaa.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve set a precedent for them now.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But Ausa is moving too fast, if we split our forces then we¡¯ll give Elassa the initiative. She¡¯ll be able to pick and choose where to strike. I want mass guns first.¡± ¡°In regards to that, we have confirmation of two old factories being retooled to produce Alash¡¯s M2.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°First shipment will arrive in a month on schedule, realistically in two months.¡± Kavaa blinked at that stark difference again. Even back during the Great War, the moment something wasn¡¯t on schedule was the moment arguments started to flare up and fingers were pointed. And here Kass was talking about the schedule as if it was best possible outcome. ¡°And if we¡¯re ahead of schedule?¡± She asked. ¡°That doesn¡¯t exist.¡± Kassandora said quickly as her finger made its way down the paper. ¡°Lemur?¡± She asked inquisitively. Arascus answered. ¡°Alash¡¯s medium artillery design. The Binturong I¡¯ve designated as siege artillery, this is for battles.¡± He leaned over the table and pulled a series of papers out of Kassandora¡¯s binder. ¡°These are the schematics, I¡¯ve withheld the green light until you saw it.¡± He said.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Kavaa circled the table and stood by Kassandora as the two of them looked down. ¡°Why the fuck does he like animals so much?¡± Kassandora stabbed the little photo of the lemur attached to the schematic with her thumb. ¡°Big gun, long tail.¡± Arascus said as she bit the cap of a red pen off and started making annotations. Kavaa looked at that pretty handwriting, the woman in the black suit making it, and the words themselves. That was certainly a mismatch in tone, the cursing prose did not fit such flowing calligraphy. ¡°Aren¡¯t you too harsh?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sending men out in garbage that reverses at walking speeds.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Good thing you didn¡¯t give the green light on this.¡± Arascus leaned to stare at her words and smirked. ¡°Isn¡¯t there a fix to this?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look too bad.¡± ¡°The gun looks fine but what is this shit?¡± Kassandora almost shouted as she started circling more or less everything that made up the chassis. ¡°You see a fix?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Can¡¯t it be mounted on a truck?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°If the speed and fuel range is too low then we should just remove the tra¡­¡± She saw Arascus and Kassandora both stare at her in half-shock, half-surprise. ¡°I mean, I jus-¡° ¡°Kavaa!¡± Kassandora grabbed the woman¡¯s shoulders and forcefully turned her so they were face to face. Face to neck, Kassandora was much taller. ¡°Why are you not the Goddess of Engineering?¡± Kavaa let out a mirthless giggle. ¡°It was just a suggestion.¡± She took a step back from Kassandora¡¯s grip. ¡°Excellent! Excellent! And we don¡¯t have to rely on Alash for vehicles! Take the gun, mount it on a truck.¡± Kassandora crossed out her suggestions. ¡°Skip Alash, have him stick to what he knows.¡± ¡°I was about to say the same thing. Kirinyaa already has some domestic heavy vehicle industry.¡± He smiled at Kavaa and the woman felt that silly little warm feeling in herself again. Pride? Was that it? Pride at the fact she got recognized? She wished it wasn¡¯t so uncommon. ¡°Good job Kavaa.¡± If Allasaria or Maisara or Fortia or Zerus or Elassa had said that, it would have been forced or filled with snark. Kavaa smiled back, Arascus honestly sounded as if he meant it. ¡°And don¡¯t call if a fucking Lemur. S-P-G-M-A dash W-V dash Zero-One.¡± Kassandora said the letter salad with too much satisfaction. ¡°We¡¯re not doing acronyms.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Self-Propelled-Gun-Medium-Artillery-Dash-Wheeled-Vehicle-Dash-Zero-One.¡± Kassandora explained it. ¡°Don¡¯t care, three letters at the most.¡± Arascus shut her down. ¡°We got rid of your acronyms six months into the war, we¡¯re not restarting them now.¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes. ¡°You choose a name then, or give it to-¡° Kassandora fell silent as the curtains that made up to the door to her tent started to bend. Flutter in some unnatural, soundless wind. Anassa appeared in between them, looked around the room and smiled at three inside. She stood in that ridiculous red crimson dress like a viper, it exposed enough skin to make a harlot blush. It was nothing like Fer¡¯s innocent lack of decorum, it was made to tantalize and be hard to look away from and¡­ Kavaa pulled her eyes away as Anassa spoke. ¡°I am here!¡± She sounded triumphant for no reason at all. ¡°You are here.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°What for?¡± ¡°Two things.¡± Anassa appeared on the other side of the table. ¡°Firstly, I saw the men you picked out. Out of three hundred, sixty have potential.¡± ¡°More than I expected.¡± Kassandora said sourly. ¡°When can you awaken them?¡± ¡°They¡¯re already awake.¡± Anassa said and Kassandora nodded. ¡°The rest?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about them.¡± Anassa chipped in as she looked at the maps. ¡°So they¡¯re dead.¡± It should have been a question, but Kassandora said it as a statement. ¡°Almost, they¡¯re not important though, tomorrow morning I start exercises, I want a beating field.¡± Kavaa¡¯s eyes bulged. A beating field? What in all the heavens was that? ¡°Excuse me?¡± She couldn¡¯t stop herself from asking. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Kassandora cut Kavaa off and went back to Anassa. ¡°You¡¯ll have your field.¡± ¡°By tomorrow?¡± Anassa quipped with a smile. ¡°By tonight.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And the other? Baalka I assume?¡± Anassa¡¯s nodded, her face going cold and serious. Those red eyes losing their sparkle of humour and her tone becoming cold. ¡°She¡¯s cursed. I¡¯ve done what I can, but I¡¯ll need to work on her more.¡± ¡°Cursed how?¡± Kassandora asked and Anassa snapped back, angry now. ¡°If I knew, she¡¯d be awake by now, wouldn¡¯t she?¡± Arascus stepped in just as Kassandora opened her mouth. ¡°Try harder then, Baalka can take damage.¡± ¡°If it was anyone but her, they¡¯d be dead by now.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Her body has shut down entirely, her soul has been enclosed in¡­¡± Anassa shrugged. ¡°I can honestly say I have no idea what in.¡± Arascus nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what Kavaa said too, she¡¯s alive but unresponsive.¡± Kavaa nodded. All want to speak had fled when Anassa stepped into the room. Kassandora and Arascus had some pull about them, they were wolves, but they were wolves that didn¡¯t bark at her. Anassa though¡­ After that fight between the two, that was exactly how Kavaa had imagined to be. The only surprise had been her reaction to healing¡­ Kavaa wiped her hands on the back of her dress as she recalled the memory. Even thinking about that made her feel dirty. Anassa was about to say something when they had another guest. Neneria this time. Kassandora tutted this time when she saw another person enter but remained polite. ¡°What is it?¡± Neneria stood there, in her black dress and looking at the four of them. She shrugged. ¡°I wanted to know the details of the plan and what¡¯s going to my Legion.¡± She spoke softly, she always did. In a cool tone that seemed to meander between apathy and indifference. Kassandora readjusted her skull cap and sighed. ¡°You¡¯re going to be held back for the Elassa part of the war until her non-magical reinforcements alive. Until then, you¡¯re going to be harvesting souls for the Legion.¡± Neneria nodded and then winced as Fer came in, the Goddess of Beasthood half pushed, half lifted the Goddess out of the way. ¡°I have news!¡± Fer shouted happily. She made a pose as Kavaa looked Of Beasthood up and down. Her uniform had arrived. She was wearing the same black, cut in a similar style as to Kassandora and Arascus and Kavaa. Longer, bigger too, with more room to move in. The most striking difference was the cut-outs in her cap for her ears and the goat¡¯s skull emblem on it. ¡°Does my tent say ¡¯Come in everyone!?¡¯¡± Kassandora said tiredly. ¡°What? Your uniform?¡± Fer nodded happily as she did a spin to show it off. ¡°Not that.¡± She began. ¡°Ilwin has found a way to get the Beastmen here, through an eastern port in cargo containers.¡± ¡°I know already.¡± Kassandora said dimly. ¡°Well I wanted to tell you I know now too.¡± Fer tutted and wagged her finger. ¡°You should have told me.¡± ¡°I got the news an hour ago.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Is that all?¡± Fer nodded as she took a step to look at the table. Kavaa once again took a step back as the huge Goddesses conglomerated around the table. It was nothing like the White Pantheon, not whatsoever. Kassandora managed to get through one paragraph of notes when the door opened again. ¡°This better be the most important fucking news I¡¯ve heard all year-¡° She cooled her tone when she it was Helenna. ¡°Enter, excuse my mood but what is it?¡± Kassandora said. Kavaa looked to Helenna as the Goddess looked to Fer, then Anassa and then Arascus. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have come if it wasn¡¯t important.¡± She put a letter on the table. There was a seal at the bottom, with a set of scales. Kavaa recognised it immediately, but none of the others did. ¡°Ciria of Civilization sent a letter, she wants to hold peace talks. Waeh will be there too.¡± Kassandora blinked and sighed. ¡°Oh.¡± Chapter 138 – Sorcerer Training Camp ¡°I don¡¯t want Kavaa there.¡± Arascus told Kassandora. ¡°Any of them actually.¡± She nodded. ¡°Neither do I.¡± The risk that Elassa would try and drag them back into the folds of the White Pantheon wasn¡¯t high, but it wasn¡¯t impossible. The easiest way to stop that was simply for them to never interact. Iniri sat with Kavaa in the middle of one of the camps. All the camps had expanded, wooden structures had gone up, the bases were looking more like small towns that military locations now. Only Kassandora¡¯s troops still slept in tents. There, the Goddess of War had not even made a shelter for herself. Some people were watching Anassa train her men from the distance, but no one dared to step close. Anassa had made a name for herself on the first week when people were inquisitive about what she was doing. Journalists were not allowed near the sorcerer¡¯s quarter. Not out of any secrecy, but for their own safety. Iniri and Kavaa watched Anassa throw her sorcerers around. It wasn¡¯t even a fight, it was an adult beating up small children. And that adult came in with a big stick. The four most experienced sat close to Kavaa as they watched: Edmonton, Fleur, Lyca and Eliza. They wore uniforms Anassa had enlisted Helenna¡¯s help to make, red undershirts with black coats. On the other side of the field was a team of a dozen Clerics Anassa had wanted for training, they sat in a semi-circle and talked to each other, in dark green shirts and shorts, as if they didn¡¯t even care about what was happening before them. Iniri knew of them, Kavaa had healed all of them several times over the past two months since Anassa had returned. They kept to themselves and to Anassa¡¯s sphere in the camp. Kassandora sometimes enlisted them for help with stuck vehicles when Fer was away on a hunt. If both groups were away, then Kassandora would come to Iniri with the request. Other than their names and the fact they were young and sometimes helped about, Iniri knew nothing of them. Anassa stood facing the fourty-nine sorcerers, all tired and weary, with dirty and torn clothes even though only an hour ago they had dressed themselves in fresh garb, and snapped her fingers. Fourty nine scarlet disks appeared behind her, as if drawn onto reality, and then shot into the line of men. Everyone managed to block successfully. Anassa clapped her hands. ¡°Warm up over!¡± Iniri leaned over to the four young children. ¡°This is how she trains you?¡± She whispered. The tallest of them, Edmonton, merely shrugged. ¡°She goes harder on us.¡± He said, there was some hint of pride in that. Why, Iniri had no clue. ¡°Defensive training!¡± Anassa shouted as she rose into the air. ¡°You have thirty seconds to get out of my grip!¡± The red chains wrapped around the fourty-nine being trained and lifted them to the height of Anassa as they started to struggle. Suddenly a red beam burst from Anassa and into the group of four. A crimson shield appeared before them and stopped the beam an inch from their faces. Iniri recoiled in fright a second after it disappeared. ¡°Awareness is key.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Pay attention at all times, even when you¡¯re talking to Divines.¡± The four nodded as the fourty-nine still struggled in the air. One man managed to free himself and fell to the ground. Another. Two dozen. Lyca gave Eliza, Fleur and Edmonton a high-five. Iniri saw Anassa watch them, her smile crept onto her face and a blade of red came from the air to slice at the high-fiving hands. And another shield blocked them. Then a spike came from the ground behind. And another blocked them. Anassa gave a slow sarcastic clap. ¡°Splitting attention is required. Not just on the battlefield, it helps with every facet of your life. Remember that. Even when you sleep you should be on guard.¡± Iniri and Kavaa shared a shake of their heads. Only five sorcerers were in the air now. The rest had ripped the chains apart and fallen, two had obviously injured themselves in the drop. ¡°Time¡¯s up!¡± Anassa shouted with too much glee, she moved her hands and the five slammed into the red soil. They went up, each with a cloud of dust. Kavaa tutted. ¡°This is worse than Maisara.¡± ¡°It is Anassa.¡± Iniri said. It was what she expected, but to see it in reality was still shocking. ¡°It¡¯s strength training.¡± Eliza said from next to them. ¡°It¡¯s the fastest way.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°You only really push yourself when your life is on the line.¡± Eliza said. ¡°So¡­¡± She shrugged. Kavaa and Iniri once again shared concerned looks. Of the sixty sorcerers who had awakened, Anassa had reduced the number to fourty nine. Eleven sorcerers, as Anassa so mildly put it, were ¡®simply not adequate¡¯. ¡°Stand!¡± Anassa shouted. Most were already stood up, a few got up onto shaky legs, a few could not stand. Anassa moved her finger into the air, seven sorcerers lifted off the ground and were thrown a hundred feet across the field. They landed a good distance from the Clerics who merely watched with grim faces. ¡°Crawl the rest of the distance! You have two minutes! Anyone who does not manage it will be number twelve!¡± Anassa shouted and turned back to sorcerers-in-training who stood. ¡°You have a break until they heal.¡± The moment she finished that, a crimson sword appeared and swept towards some of the men. They managed to raise their own barriers in time to block it as Anassa tutted. ¡°If I had used an inkling more strength, you would be dead by now. Do you think you¡¯ll have time for breaks on the battlefield?¡± Anassa started going on a speech as Kavaa leaned close to Iniri. Every two or three sentences, a surprise attack would come at the group of sorcerers from the ground, from above, from behind or in front. A disc or a chain or a sword of Anassa¡¯s cursed sorcery would try to cut them down. They managed somehow managed to look as if they were paying attention as they blocked. ¡°I now understand why we got so outmatched in the magical arms race back then.¡± Iniri nodded. If this was how sorcerers were trained, it was no wonder they fared so much better in battle than mages. ¡°Can you imagine Elassa training like this?¡± And it was no wonder that mages outnumbered sorcerers twenty-to-one. ¡°I cannot.¡± Kavaa replied and tilted her head forwards to look past Iniri. ¡°Yes?¡± She asked. Iniri turned to look at the four students who were looking at them inquisitively. ¡°You know Elassa?¡± Eliza asked. A short girl, with brown hair and large brown eyes. Iniri could imagine her as cute if she wasn¡¯t wearing sorcerer dress. ¡°We do.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°This method of training is better than Elassa¡¯s.¡± Eliza said. ¡°Is it?¡± Kavaa asked dismissively. ¡°We¡¯ve been training with Goddess Anassa for a year now and we¡¯ve made more progress than in ten years of being in Arcadia.¡± Iniri merely looked at the children, youth was such a precious thing. It was almost sad to see them wasted in such ways. Iniri would have argued with them if she was some thousand years younger. But she wasn¡¯t, and she had seen enough humans die in war and in peace to know to hold back. Every Divine got involved with mortals in the beginning, and every Divine eventually stopped getting involved with mortals. That was the simple nature of it, those who did not eventually went mad. ¡°It¡¯s not my field to debate.¡± Kavaa answered briskly. ¡°It¡¯s different than how I train my men.¡± ¡°It¡¯s effective.¡± Fleur spoke up this time. Kavaa merely smiled at them, silver hair falling past her face and she shook her head. ¡°It filters only the best of the best.¡± The girl added rather proudly. ¡°As effective as using explosives cut down a tree.¡± Kavaa said and tutted. Iniri moved her hand to try and stop the girl from answering. And the girl continued. ¡°I saw you were looking at it and shaking your head. And Goddess Anassa said that other Divines aren¡¯t willing to push their men as far as possible.¡± Iniri turned at Kavaa, who merely stared at the girl with all the detached eyes of a surgeon cutting into a wound. ¡°Girl, you do not know who you are talking to.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°You are not a Divine. Do not get ahead of yourself.¡± Fleur blinked in shock at the change in tone from the voice Kavaa had been using before to the cold and commanding words.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I¡­ I apologize, I didn¡¯t mean it in that way.¡± ¡°No, of course you didn¡¯t.¡± Kavaa said flatly. ¡°You¡¯ve not seen people slowly die, you¡¯ve never held a dying man, you¡¯ve never led anything. Your greatest responsibility is to you yourself.¡± Kavaa turned lifted her hand to Anassa and the sorcerers being thrown about, a few more had been thrown at the Clerics. ¡°Do you honestly think so mightily of yourself that you think this offends me? That I¡¯ve not seen worse? Who do you think you are?¡± ¡°Kavaa.¡± Iniri tried to calm her down. There was no reason to scare the youth out of children. And Kavaa continued. ¡°There isn¡¯t a single Divine in this camp who has not beaten their men. No, the flaws are obvious. This is not a scalable system. How many men can Anassa train at once? A thousand? And what then? When every other Divine has millions? Even Elassa has managed to mass-manufacture magicians. And how long does it take? Will Anassa be able to replenish men through war-time? Will she be on the battlefield, or will she be beating you here?¡± The four children went quiet without an answer. Anassa leaned from behind from behind the two groups. Iniri turned. One Anassa still stood beating her men, another perfect copy was here. ¡°The question then becomes how many men is one sorcerer worth?¡± ¡°A slit throat will kill us all the same.¡± Kavaa said flatly. ¡°True, but I¡¯ve not come to argue with you.¡± Anassa said and turned to her students. ¡°Do you know what you¡¯ve done wrong?¡± ¡°I insulted a Divine.¡± Fleur admitted immediately, she had no hesitation in her voice. Anassa shook her head. ¡°No. You are allowed to insult and besmirch Divines all you wish. Your first mistake was insulting this Divine.¡± Fleur blinked as her hand started to bleed, then she looked down. Iniri had not even seen the flash of sorcery. ¡°Secondly, you didn¡¯t come prepared with arguments. I expect the best from you, whether in battle or in a debate.¡± Anassa then turned to Kavaa. ¡°How I teach my students works for sorcery. It is a skill of the elite, to mass-manufacture sorcerers, as you so put it, would make them into magicians.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t complaining about how you teach, it¡¯s an ancient method.¡± ¡°Why change what isn¡¯t broken?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°Could you heal Fleur?¡± ¡°Could I?¡± Kavaa sounded shocked, her eyes went to the girls hands. ¡°Can she take it?¡± Anassa merely smiled. ¡°Of course she cannot.¡± She turned to the human girl. ¡°But this is another lesson, do not start what you are not prepared to finish. And respect Divinity when its in your presence. Some of us are worthy to have our titles. Every Divine in this camp falls into that banner.¡± Iniri¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Anassa sounded as thought she honestly meant it, but then¡­ ¡°Now stand.¡± Anassa hissed and Fleur stood up. ¡°Do you expect a Divine to walk to you?¡± Fleur moved before Kavaa as Iniri rubbed her elbow with Anassa. ¡°Even me?¡± She asked quietly. Anassa turned and smiled down to Iniri. Whether it was sarcastic or joyous or hungry, Iniri could not tell. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you weren¡¯t nature¡¯s tyrant back then.¡± Anassa licked her lips. ¡°Every battle had a contingency for what to do if the oaks started growing.¡± Iniri shook her head, she couldn¡¯t feel whether her smile was nostalgic or sad. What memories. Memories long cut down and buried, Iniri had changed since then, she wasn¡¯t the great Goddess of Nature that had been a wall to hold back Arascus. That Iniri had withered and died and been left to regrow when the Great War had ended. Fleur held out hand for Kavaa and the Goddess put her finger on the girl. ¡°You have bruises on you too.¡± ¡°Basic training.¡± Fleur said quickly, her voice flat as she looked down at the red soil between hers and Kavaa¡¯s feet. ¡°You can do them too.¡± Anassa said and Kavaa shook her head. ¡°Can she take it?¡± ¡°If she can¡¯t then she¡¯s not worthy.¡± Another voice interrupted them. ¡°That hurts even for me, even Fer feels it.¡± Cold, loud and commanding. Kassandora¡¯s voice. Iniri spun, Kassandora had snuck behind them, she stood, arms crossed and thoroughly unimpressed with the situation. Red hair cut straight flowed down past that dark coat she always wore now. ¡°And the reason we put up with this farce of training is because sorcerers are elite shock troops. They¡¯re not present in every battle, they¡¯re our special forces. That¡¯s the actual reason, whatever Ana will tell you is wrong, these troops simply aren¡¯t meant to be cannon-fodder magicians.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Kavaa said. Kassandora hardened her voice and turned to Anassa. ¡°Yes, and I¡¯d rather not waste sorcerers on garbage like this.¡± ¡°Sorcerers are my demesne sister.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Kavaa, heal her, if you would.¡± ¡°And why are you so polite with her and not me?¡± Kassandora asked, her annoyance not dropping one bit. ¡°Because you¡¯re you.¡± Anassa replied jokingly. The training ahead, from the other Anassa, whether that was the copy or the original at this point, Iniri did not know, got more brutal. The fourty nine men started being flung about like dolls in the air as that Anassa started throwing large waves of red sorcery at them. ¡°Wonderful.¡± Kassandora said and shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m in a good mood today though, so we¡¯re not testing each other.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t even help with training?¡± Anassa made a cute face and a silly pleading voice and Kassandora sighed. She looked over at the troops. ¡°Give them a one minute break then, and I¡¯ll help with training.¡± Anassa smiled like a little girl, clapped her hands and the display of sorcery stopped. ¡°You have one minute! Prepare! You have a special teacher today, don¡¯t embarrass me!¡± That Anassa disappeared, just blinked out of existence as the fourty nine men started to sigh and pick themselves up. ¡°Three, two, one, go.¡± Kavaa counted and began to heal Fleur. Iniri had been healed by Kavaa before, and she knew what it felt like. And the girl took it about as well as Iniri had imagined. It lasted a mere second to close the wound, and Fleur screamed out at the first moment she felt the energies. Her knees gave, she dropped to the ground, tears flowing her face. ¡°It¡¯s over Fleur, it will pass in a moment.¡± Anassa snapped her fingers and a claw lifted Fleur up to her feet. The girl was shaking, hugging herself, and the three young sorcerers looked at her and at Kavaa with newfound fear in their eyes. ¡°That was merely a small cut on your hand. Every Cleric you see out here has had their bones re-stitched.¡± Anassa said coldly. ¡°That was another lesson.¡± The claw holding Fleur up disappeared and the girl dropped to her knees, holding her stomach and wrapping her arms around herself as she tears streamed from her cheeks and mucus dripped from her nose. ¡°Don¡¯t talk about things you don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good lesson.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But it didn¡¯t have to be taught this way.¡± ¡°This is the fastest way to teach.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Now what do we say?¡± ¡°I-I-I¡¯m so-sorry.¡± Fleur said, she somehow managed to turn towards Kavaa. ¡°An-An-And I-I ap-apolo-logize fo-for i-i-insult-ting.¡± Kavaa merely shook her head. ¡°Nothing to apologize for Fleur. You got ahead of yourself.¡± The Goddess of Health spoke gently, then turned to Anassa, those silver eyes piercing Anassa. ¡°We¡¯re not doing this again, I take no satisfaction in causing pain.¡± ¡°Just once is enough.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Now you know what healing is. Don¡¯t put Kavaa in the same league as Elassa.¡± Fleur nodded, shook, and then passed out. Anassa clicked her tongue. ¡°Well, it was impressive enough she managed to hold herself for that long at least.¡± Kavaa leaned down and touched the girl¡¯s cheek. ¡°She¡¯ll wake up soon. I was gentle.¡± Iniri saw Lyca, Edmonton and Eliza exchange shocked looks. Kassandora took the initiative as the conversation died down. ¡°I actually came here because I have news.¡± ¡°Elassa?¡± Anassa asked excitedly. ¡°I wish.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°No, we¡¯ve finally come to a decision regarding Ciria.¡± ¡°Took long enough.¡± Anassa said bitterly. That much was true, they had spent too long going back and forth with Ciria about who could attend and who could not. Elassa had been adamant on the fact Olephia could not, that was only natural after-all, since bringing Olephia would be coming with swords drawn. Then Arascus had made his own demands, then more demands were made, then they argued about the location, and on and on it went for more than a month. ¡°And?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°Will we be there?¡± ¡°No.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°We¡¯ve agreed to an even three and three split. It will be Elassa, Fortia and Zerus from them and then Arascus, Fer and me from us. Neutral territory in Khmet.¡± The country directly north of Kirinyaa. ¡°But close to our border.¡± ¡°So not one of us?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°You are one of us at this point.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Arascus obviously has to be there, I have to be there, and Fer can read people like no other. This isn¡¯t a peace talk in any fashion, nothing will come of it.¡± ¡°So what is it then?¡± The Goddess of Health asked. ¡°It¡¯s a scouting run to see how powerful Ciria and Waeh actually are. I¡¯ll tell you about them when I come back, it¡¯s set a week from now.¡± ¡°A week?!¡± Anassa shouted. ¡°They¡¯re Divines of this age, we can¡¯t expect to be fast now, can we?¡± Kassandora chuckled as she looked at the fourty nine sorcerers. ¡°So what do you want to do? Just beat them up.¡± Anassa smirked. ¡°Honestly, I want you to kill one. I want to assign these four groups of twelve so I¡¯ve been working them down to fourty eight.¡± Anassa pointed to the four sorcerer children next to them, they looked at each other in shock. ¡°Easy enough.¡± Walked past them. ¡°You¡¯re not going to use your sword?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°They¡¯re not you, are they?¡± Kassandora took position as another copy of Anassa in mid-air and explained the situation to her group of trainees. ¡°You are to try and defeat Kassandora. You will not kill her, not because I don¡¯t allow it but because you don¡¯t even have the capacity to. You are to simply stop her.¡± ¡°I give them one minute.¡± Anassa said. ¡°She¡¯s fighting with her fists?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°Watch and learn, watch and learn. This is pure technique.¡± Anassa said with nothing but respect in her voice. Iniri wished people in the White Pantheon would speak about her like that when she wasn¡¯t there. She hadn¡¯t heard Kassandora say a single thing bad about Anassa when they were in private, nor did Anassa ever besmirch Kassandora, but together she got the impression they hated each other. And inside Iniri, she was ashamed she knew what the emotion was: pure jealousy. She wanted someone like that. The copy of Anassa shouted one command. ¡°You are ready to start.¡± And then she disappeared. And Kassandora got to work immediately. She kicked up a stone and hurled it at the men. It cracked one in the chest, bounced and hit another one in the leg. By the time they got a shield up, she was among them. Anassa was wrong, it took only half a minute. They didn¡¯t even get a scratch on her. Chapter 139 – The Three Peacekeepers Petty existential crises exist for all of us. Our purpose here? Are we even alive? Are we just figments of imagination? If humanity was to disappear, would we go with it? I assume every single one of us has come across these thoughts every now and then. We settle these qualms or we go mad. There is one crisis of confidence I cannot ignore whatsoever though. That is the question of today¡¯s Divines. Gods rarely change through the ages, this is most evident with Fortia and Maisara. Their ideas of Peace and Order are called barbaric and dystopian nowadays. Maisara¡¯s Order is work for unity, Fortia¡¯s Peace is even simpler: it simply means ¡®a lack of war¡¯. Yet they still hold to these beliefs, I presume they will hold to them until they die. And now, we have Divines incarnate in the Age of Pantheon Peace. They are completely different, almost alien, to us. If conflict were to ever return to Arda, if the fragile alliance between the three worlds was to be broken, who will rise to defend us? The Great War killed off most of the powerful Divines forged in ages of conflict. I cannot envision Ciria or Waeh or Halkus ever leading a conflict. Kassandora¡¯s imprisonment is a contingency for this, she will be dragged out of that cell and made to command because there is no one like her, I doubt there will ever be anyone like her again. There are not a lot of the old guard left. - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light: ¡®Untitled.¡¯ Ciria snapped her fingers and a table rose out of the sand. A grand, long table, with more than enough space between the two sides. She stood there, smiling and excited, that finally negotiations had been figured out. It had been a long month trying to reason with the two sides. First Elassa had vetoed any possibility of Olephia being present, then Arascus came in and said he wanted Allasaria. Elassa was wholly against that idea, but she did want Anassa present. Then Arascus had suggest Fer, then they had to go back and forth about why Fer should be there. Kassandora was no surprise of course, both sides wanted her there, as was Arascus. Fortia came in on Ciria¡¯s request, one they both had little qualms to. Ciria was happy about that, Fortia was the Goddess of Peace, of course she would be helpful in peace negotiations. Then Arascus simply suggested bringing everyone, Elassa shut that down immediately and the number was limited to three per side. And on and on it went until three representatives of each side were chosen: Elassa, Fortia and Zerus on one side, and then Arascus, Kassandora and Fer on the other. Ciria had no qualms with any of them. She merely smiled to herself as she smoothed out her dress. A pure-white shawl with a scarf of red. ¡°How do I look?¡± She turned to Halkus. Her husband stood in a pristine suit, he was as tall as her. With dark hair and orange eyes and a hard face that looked as if he was carved as stone. Some of the Divines she knew considered him hard-headed and uncompromising but he was actually lovely and sweet. ¡°Beautiful.¡± He replied and sat down as chairs made of sandstone rose out of the desert sand. They had chosen a location close to a nearby town. Elassa not once budged on bringing mages, but they would be staying nearby. In return, Arascus made sure the place would not be far off from Kirinyaa, the border was within sight. Ciria turned to Waeh and looked him up and down. A paragon of poverty, the God rejected every gift people brought him but their faith. He wore a grey shawl, one shoulder exposed. It was odd that he so tall, but Divines nowadays appeared shorter than they did in the past. Waeh was more than thrice Ciria¡¯s age and her head reached up only to his shoulders. He was thin but lean, like a young man who ploughed the farm. He looked over at Of Civilization and Of Industry and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s the first time I meet him.¡± He spoke softly, his voice with all the gentleness and sweetness of a breeze drifting through flowers. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m nervous and excited.¡± ¡°I am too.¡± Ciria said as she took her seat in the middle. Her scales appeared on the table. Scales to solve all problems and quandaries, they had never failed her before. No matter what two people wanted, that set of golden scales could bring compromise and satisfaction to both sides. ¡°As am I.¡± Halkus took his seat. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to think.¡± He leaned back and took a sigh. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have come so early.¡± ¡°It¡¯s never bad to be early.¡± Ciria said gently as she started to fiddle with her golden hair, it was straight and neat. She had made sure to look as good as possible for today. She giggled to herself. ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t think it will be too bad.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± Waeh said from her left. He moved the sandstone chair closer as a sliver of the Sun appeared in the distance. They had arranged for thirty minutes after dawn. ¡°I don¡¯t like that the three who left the Pantheon won¡¯t be here.¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t want to. I¡¯m not going to force them to attend.¡± Ciria said and the two Gods on either side nodded. Such was the way of the world after the Great War. Compromise and willingness. Ciria took a deep breath as they waited. They didn¡¯t have to wait long. ¡°Look!¡± Ciria said as she pointed north. Three Divines were moving to them. Elassa and Zerus in the air and Fortia on the ground. ¡°That¡¯s not a good look.¡± Halkus said. Elassa wore her dark blue. Ciria had read about it in history books, ancient magician¡¯s battledress. She hovered slowly, a white staff in her hands topped off with a large white diamond. Zerus was next to her in a white-gold shawl. And Fortia walked below them, in her golden armour and spear in hand. She knew of the White Pantheon, although she didn¡¯t know them personally. Allasaria had told her to stay away, so she did. ¡°They look like they¡¯ve come to fight.¡± Waeh said. ¡°There¡¯ll be no fighting here.¡± Ciria clicked her tongue as her heart started to beat faster. She looked south. ¡°They¡¯re here too.¡± And from the south. Three figures walking across the desert sands. In dark coats as they kept up a fast pace. Arascus, it had to be him, in the centre. Tall, taller than any Divine Ciria had ever met. With dark hair brushed back and a sword on his hip. His coat fell behind him to his knees. Then crimson-haired haired Kassandora. The books always wrote about Kassandora and her hair coloured like spilled blood. She wore a similar uniform, but with a greatsword strapped to her back. Ciria sighed again. Old Divines and their ways. She supposed it was fine if both sides brought weapons. Her eyes went to what had to be Fer. Smiling, arms behind her back as she strolled easily. It was too far to hear, but the woman looked to be whistling idly as took steps. It was odd, Of Beasthood was supposed to be civilization¡¯s antithesis and yet they had the same shade of hair. The only difference was that while Ciria¡¯s was straight, Fer¡¯s was unbrushed and fell down her back as if it was a cloak. Elassa¡¯s party got to the table first. Ciria had always assumed herself tall, but she was the shortest between them. Even Elassa had a good inch or two over her. They sat down silently and watch the three approach. ¡°It is good to see you.¡± Ciria introduced herself. ¡°I am Ciria, of Civilization.¡± ¡°We know.¡± Elassa said, not taking her eyes away from Arascus once. She sat there, dark-haired in between the other two. Her staff started to hover by itself and she crossed her arms. ¡°Zerus of Lightning.¡± Zerus said. He was reminiscent of Halkus, but taller, muscled more, with a weathered face and close cut stubble of grey. And he had perfect blue eyes that looked over at Ciria, Halkus and Waeh without so much as a single emotion. ¡°I am Fortia.¡± Fortia said as she stabbed her spear into the ground. Ciria merely smiled pleasantly. She had expected the White Pantheon members to be less¡­ rude. Old Divines, old ways, she supposed. But then, this was why she was going to show them a better way to move forwards together. Ciria had originally wanted to bring journalists here to record this moment for all history, but both parties had been against that. And so it would be a private meeting. She was no stranger to compromise, so there was nothing to do with it. ¡°They¡¯re taking their time.¡± Fortia said. Zerus looked up at the sky, his eyes glancing at the sun and the shadows on the ground. ¡°We¡¯re actually early, they¡¯ll be here on the dot.¡± Fortia rolled her eyes but said nothing. Fortia pulled out her phone to check. Zerus was right. The White Pantheon had come three minutes early. And Arascus arrived exactly as the clock turned to the half-hour. He stood and looked over them. He went to Ciria, to Waeh, and Halkus first. Cold calculating eyes that sent a shiver down Ciria¡¯s spine passed her by as he stood there. In that black uniform, with the greatcoat, the sword, the way he carried himself, the sheer size. That is what a God should look like. Ciria pushed the thought away, that is what old Gods looked like. That was a different time for mankind. Fer sniffed the air. These were the new Divines? This is what the world had come to? She looked over at Ciria again. She had expected Civilization to be monumental and towering. To come armed with sword and shield and heavy armour and... That was the Ciria? She bent her head to look at her from a different angle to make sure the woman wasn¡¯t hiding behind illusions. She smelled like small-fry, like the Divines that were city-mascots in the past. Was she just hiding her strength? She had to be, right? It was impossible for the Goddess of Civilization to be¡­ to be just that. Ciria saw Fer looking oddly at her and smiled. Fer was the one she was most worried of meeting. When Arascus had said he would be bringing her, Ciria didn¡¯t know how to respond. This was supposedly the Goddess of Beasthood, the antithesis to her. Irinika was to Allasaria, and yet¡­ Ciria¡¯s smile grew as she bowed her head. Fer looked rather lovely, with those cute ears and the tail whisking behind her. ¡°I am glad all you came.¡± Ciria said as Arascus¡¯ party took their seats. ¡°We¡¯ve come.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Although I do not see the point in this.¡± He looked at the scales in the middle on the table. Kassandora was next to him, the woman had almost disappeared. Shorter than Fer and Arascus, by a noticeable margin, but that only made her as tall as Zerus. Ciria wished she wasn¡¯t so short. That Halkus could tower like Of Lightning or Of Pride. That Waeh had more bulk to him. They had dressed up, and yet they were obviously the three weakest at the table. And she pushed those thoughts away. So what if they were weaker? The world wasn¡¯t built on war. The time when strength decided hierarchies ended eight hundred years before she was born. Ciria answered Arascus as she spoke softly to all of them. ¡°I do not want to see pointless bloodshed over millennia old feuds. We¡¯ve built a stable world, and I wish to conserve that stable world.¡± Kassandora leaned forwards as she listened to Ciria. This was Ciria and Halkus and Waeh? The three great peacekeepers of this age? The greatest Gods of the Pantheon Peace age? This was them? She looked at Fortia on the over side of the table and saw her own emotions spiral across that woman¡¯s face. The same confusion and borderline disgust. And only one question rose up in Kassandora¡¯s mind, one she could not answer in a satisfactory way. If this was Ciria, why did they plan so much? Ciria did not know what she said wrong, but something there apparently was wrong. Arascus raised an eyebrow as if humoured. Elassa rolled her eyes. Fer yawned and bent to lean down on the table. Zerus sighed and Fortia spoke. ¡°We built your world Ciria.¡± The Goddess of Peace said. Ciria smiled gently. This agreement would be her greatest achievement yet. She could make any mortal see reason, now was the time to move up into the leagues of Divines. ¡°I am not saying you did not. But what I see is that our peace will be shattered. And I don¡¯t want that.¡± ¡°Ciria.¡± Arascus said gently. ¡°It is good to meet you. You too Halkus.¡± The God of Pride said nothing to Waeh. ¡°But I would ask for you to stay out of our conflict.¡± Ciria smiled, that she could work with. All she had to do was show him reason, and then he¡¯d see they could work together on building something greater. ¡°I understand you have history together, but I merely ask that you do not let your hostilities burn down the home we all share.¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes at that. Fer smiled up at Ciria. What a cute little goddess. Downright adorable. Like a little mouse that tried to stop a bear from fighting a tiger. So sweet. What a heart of gold. Ciria smiled back at Fer as she finished. Kind words always helped. People simply needed to understand. Kassandora spoke up. ¡°Ciria, are you serious?¡± She asked coldly. ¡°We are all serious.¡± Waeh said gently, but his voice travelled far. The six Divines turned their heads and looked thunderstruck at the three. ¡°It is simple negotiations.¡± Halkus added. ¡°What does each side want?¡± Ciria spread out her arms with a smile to include all of them. ¡°Arascus wants world domination.¡± Elassa said quickly. ¡°And I will not serve under him, it is as simple as that.¡± Arascus leaned back and laughed. ¡°Is that not the dream of every Divine? To be known throughout the world?¡± He said loudly. Zerus came in. ¡°Very smooth, but you didn¡¯t deny her, did you?¡± Arascus answered before Ciria could get a word in. ¡°If people call me small, I do not bother to deny them either, do I?¡± ¡°Smooth once again, but that is the crux of the matter. You tried to conquer us once, we are still here.¡± Zerus said. Arascus responded once again in that jovial tone. ¡°It is grand to talk about dreams when you¡¯re living in your own Zerus. Do you not have world domination already? Tell me, what country is safe from your shadow¡¯s mountain?¡± ¡°The White Pantheon ensures stability and peace throughout the world.¡± Elassa said. ¡°So do I. Just look at Kirinyaa, finally standing up for itself.¡± Arascus finished as Elassa was about to say something again.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Wait!¡± Ciria shouted. This was going out of control. An emotional argument between them was the worst that could happen. ¡°There has to be some compromise to this.¡± Fortia and Kassandora both chuckled. Elassa turned, eyes squinted as she looked at Ciria, her mouth open. Fer¡¯s ears bounced up and down as those cat eyes narrowed at the Goddess of Civilization. She only smiled and purred. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°There has to be a compromise.¡± ¡°This is like asking two mountains to kneel to each other Ciria.¡± Arascus said. Elassa smiled at that. ¡°That at least you have correct.¡± She said. ¡°There simply will be no compromise, I will not serve under a tyrant.¡± She looked at Zerus and Fortia by her side. ¡°None of us will.¡± Zerus nodded and Fortia rolled her eyes. Ciria smiled at them, she had seen the opening. ¡°This is the way, see, you just agreed with each other.¡± She hoped they would not see. Zerus had known of Ciria throughout the years. It had been Allasaria¡¯s decree she would not be invited to the Pantheon. Back then, it had caused a scandal. How could the Goddess of Civilization not be part of the Pantheon? He understood it now though. A Goddess this dim, for her own good, should not be allowed near the levers of rulership. If she had to actually lead rather than help, the world would simply devour her. He shook his head and sighed. ¡°Ciria.¡± Arascus spoke slowly. ¡°Are you? Do you understand what is going here?¡± Fer chuckled from near him and Fortia slouched back on her chair. Halkus stepped in and grumbled. ¡°Don¡¯t insult her like that. It is obvious what is going on here.¡± The God of Pride merely looked Halkus up and down turned back to Ciria. ¡°I do!¡± Ciria said. ¡°And that is?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°You two hate each other, and you pretend you will never work together.¡± And the six Divines looked at her as if she stupid. Arascus and Zerus were the worst, they only gazed at her in pure confusion. Kassandora chuckled. Fer let out another humoured purr and Elassa looked up to the sky. Fortia shook her head and spoke up. ¡°We do not hate each other.¡± Fortia said flatly. ¡°That is just wrong. There are people I hate, but the three in front of me are not part that small club.¡± ¡°Why thank you Fortia.¡± Fer said sarcastically. Fortia gave the Goddess of Beasthood a flat glare and then continued. ¡°We¡¯ve worked together in the past.¡± Fortia said slowly. ¡°I think everyone at this table has fought each other at some point. Those two.¡± Fortia pointed to Kassandora and Elassa. ¡°Worked to stop her some sixteen hundred years ago.¡± Fortia¡¯s finger went to Fer. ¡°But times have changed. This isn¡¯t hatred Ciria. We¡¯ve all sat down and had our own private debates on this. This is simply the most rational choice of action.¡± Ciria blinked. How could it be? How could they honestly sit down and decide that bloodshed and violence and broken families and lives lost were the way forward? That burned homes and ruined nations somehow could be acceptable? They stared at her as if she was idiotic but what was this? This was pure idiocy in its truest form! ¡°So what do you both want?¡± Ciria asked slowly. Kassandora brought out a piece of paper and slid it across the table. Peace Demands. Dissolution of the White Pantheon. Fortia sniffed in humour at that. Elassa merely looked up flatly at three ahead of them. Zerus rolled his eyes. Ciria took the paper and put it on the scales, one side fell with a slam. ¡°And what does the White Pantheon propose?¡± ¡°Dissolution of Arascus¡¯ family.¡± Elassa said flatly in response. The scales moved and tipped to the other side. Ciria looked at her, and then at them. Her scales weighed everything, but it was interesting that the family was worth more than the Pantheon. Ciria had assumed them to be equal. When the scales balanced, they could agree and compromise. Now, it was just finding out how to balance them. Arascus leaned back. ¡°That¡¯s simply not going to happen.¡± He said. And Ciria sighed. She had just been making progress. ¡°Likewise, the Pantheon will not dissolve.¡± Elassa said. ¡°You¡¯ve already lost half your members.¡± Arascus said. ¡°You mean we¡¯ve had three turncoats and two losses.¡± Fortia said. ¡°The losses are bad true, but the turncoats you can take.¡± ¡°Is there nothing else you can have?¡± Kassandora sighed from the other side of Arascus. ¡°Ciria, you are wed to Halkus.¡± The Goddess of War said. ¡°I am.¡± Ciria replied proudly. She and Halkus were made for each other. They were the light and purpose of each other¡¯s life. Kassandora sat there and shook her head. Ciria, frankly, should just die. A title like Of Civilization should belong to someone worthy of it and not this na?ve little girl who thought everyone in the world could just forget their worries, hold hands and dance together. ¡°And does that ever cause you problems with the other Divines?¡± Kassandora asked it calmly, but the words sounded as if she knew the answer already. ¡°It does not.¡± Ciria answered and looked to her husband. They shared a look together and both shook their heads. ¡°Not here either.¡± Halkus reaffirmed. ¡°And if you had a larger family then?¡± ¡°I consider everyone my family.¡± Ciria meant it earnestly, but Kassandora still sighed. ¡°And here we have the crux of the issue. You simply do not understand what our bond means.¡± She extended her arm to Arascus and Fer. ¡°A White Pantheon dissolution is farcical because that is the only they feel safe against us.¡± She said it slowly. ¡°The only way this ends is through the eradication of one side. They will not join us because we do not want them, so they have to band together because they would not be able to fight us alone.¡± She finished with a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest. Elassa found issue with that. ¡°While you¡¯re factually correct, the way you¡¯ve phrased that is wrong. It makes it sound like we¡¯re the pro-active force here. You are the ones who started the Great War. We will not let you seek dominion over the world.¡± ¡°Why do you not want them?¡± Ciria asked. That could be a way of attack for her. If everyone joined under Arascus, then they wouldn¡¯t have trouble. The man had been correct at the start, the White Pantheon did have world domination. ¡°Which one do I start with?¡± Fer said lazily. ¡°Zerus is alright, but he¡¯s lazy and doesn¡¯t do anything. You have to work him up or drag him out of bed to move. Sceo is temperamental and has mood-swings. Alkom is too prideful for what he does. Fortia and Maisara have the same problem, which is that things need to go their way or no way, Elassa thinks she is much smarter than she actually is.¡± Fer raised an eyebrow. ¡°I think that¡¯s the main problems.¡± She dropped her chin onto the table, arms outstretched and smiled up at the three Divines on the other side. Her fangs showed themselves. Fortia rolled her eyes and spoke. ¡°You mean me and Maisara like having things done correctly?¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly the sort of attitude I was talking about.¡± Fer said from the table. ¡°Don¡¯t come to me with attitude.¡± Fortia snapped back. ¡°Oh? What will you do about it?¡± Fer was just as fast. ¡°Don¡¯t argue!¡± Ciria shouted to calm them down. ¡°What if you joined the White Pantheon then?¡± Arascus, Kassandora and Elassa all laughed as Fer yawned. ¡°You understand the issue is that we don¡¯t like them, and they don¡¯t like us?¡± Fortia said. ¡°So you do hate each other!¡± Ciria had been correct. ¡°We simply do not like spending time together. It would be a disaster.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Before you were around. Even you.¡± Arascus motioned to Waeh with a flick of his head. ¡°There were greater Pantheons about. With hundreds of Divines, all of those descended into civil war. The only reason Allasaria¡¯s has survived this long is because none of them can match the Goddess of Light herself.¡± Was the man lying? He didn¡¯t seem to be, but Ciria had never considered the White Pantheon to be anything but a force for good. And yet he described it as a tyrannical regime. Arascus looked at the three young Divines. Now that they had grown comfortable. It was time to scout and investigate what they were about. He simply refused to believe that Ciria was this weak and pathetic. The Goddess of Civilization had to have a hidden ace in her sleeve. He tapped Kassandora knee with his under the table. ¡°I have one thing to ask.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°What would those scales equalling out even do? There are certain things we simply will not compromise on, no matter how many incentives are given.¡± Ciria happily extended her hand to the scales. If it made them trust her, she would tell. ¡°They simply weigh and measure. I am a peacekeeper, they help people understand how much their problems are actually worth.¡± Kassandora, quite honestly, was thunderstruck. It was actually that pathetic? Arascus leaned forwards and took the piece of paper off the scales. ¡°So what if I offer myself?¡± He said and the scales slammed down towards him. ¡°How do we measure that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want you.¡± Elassa said and the scales tipped back to be balanced. ¡°That wasn¡¯t the question, who measures the value? Is it my opinion of myself? Or is it Elassa¡¯s?¡± Ciria answered earnestly as the six Divines stared inquisitively at her scales. ¡°It¡¯s just a visual aid, there¡¯s no magic or anything to bind people to it. We¡¯ve moved on from forcing our wills onto others.¡± Ciria said proudly. ¡°So what¡¯s the point of it?¡± Fer asked then giggled and scratched her head. ¡°Sorry for being stupid, but¡­ can¡¯t I just go back on my word?¡± ¡°You¡¯d love doing that.¡± Fortia said from the other side. ¡°Not my fault if you get tricked.¡± Fer snapped back. Ciria looked at Fer and smiled. She was cute, and she wanted to learn. Beasthood would be possible to civilize after all. ¡°There is nothing, it is for a new age, a better age, were we trust each other.¡± Ciria said and Elassa rolled her eyes. ¡°Oh please woman. Spare me with the grandiosities.¡± The Goddess of magic sounded exhausted. ¡°Just shut up. The only reason you appeared as you did is because we brought peace to the world. Frankly, there¡¯s more to debate about with them.¡± She inclined her head to the three on the other side. ¡°Than with you. Arascus should be down on his knees and apologizing to you for starting the Great War and making the events that lead up to your incarnation.¡± Arascus smiled in humour as he looked at Elassa. She merely raised her hands, her voice loud and accusing as she stared at the three across. ¡°Well, I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I? Look at her!¡± She extended an arm out to Ciria. Ciria sat there, thunderstruck. She never even dreamed about people liking her, much less demanded that. But to hear something like said from a Divine, and not just any Divine but a member of the White Pantheon. It did hurt. ¡°Now now, you shouldn¡¯t bully little girls Elassa.¡± Fer said. ¡°Shut up.¡± Elassa said as Arascus rolled his eyes. ¡°Make me.¡± Fer said from the table. ¡°You think I can¡¯t?¡± Elassa said. ¡°Oh I know you can¡¯t.¡± Fer straightened herself and returned to a sitting posture. The only person taller than her was Arascus. ¡°Otherwise you wouldn¡¯t have needed Kassie¡¯s help back then, would you?¡± ¡°Do you really need to fight that much?¡± Halkus asked. ¡°This war won¡¯t end until one side claims total victory.¡± Arascus said. Fortia nodded at that. ¡°Peace is enforced. War is let loose.¡± The Goddess of Peace said. ¡°It is as simple as that.¡± Ciria thought quickly on what to say. She had assumed Fortia would be on her side, but she had some entirely different idea of what peace was compared to Ciria¡¯s. Some incomprehensible sort, peace was enforced? Peace was bestowed. Peace was freedom from war. It wasn¡¯t¡­ They were old Gods though, maybe they did need a competition between each other? ¡°What if you fought between yourselves?¡± Ciria gave her compromise. If blood had to be spilled, then blood would be spilled. If they wanted to fight so badly, then why shouldn¡¯t they? If she had a thousand years, maybe she could reconcile, but Arcadia and Kirinyaa were in arms race now. War was rising on the horizon and Ciria wanted to push it back down before it scorched the world. Kassandora sighed. ¡°Ciria, what would that do?¡± ¡°Well, one of you would win?¡± Ciria asked. ¡°And?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°What does that change?¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯d have peace then.¡± Kassandora opened her mouth to answer and Fortia raised her hand to stall the Goddess of War. ¡°This is my demesne, let me speak Kassandora.¡± She said and turned to Ciria. ¡°What would that do? If let¡¯s say Elassa die, would her mages disappear? If Kavaa was assassinated, where would the Clerics go? It¡¯s the same situation with my Guardians or Maisara¡¯s Paladins. If Arascus was to die, would that extinguish war within Kassandora? Would Fer not seek revenge? That would not be Peace Ciria, that would be a ten-year ceasefire, twenty-year if we¡¯re lucky. And then we would go again. And again. Until only one of is left. And then the world would bow.¡± Fortia took a breath as Ciria felt walls close around her. All she had done in conversation was simply convince them that war should be done. If she had done nothing, maybe there was something to be rallied, but this? This was a band of mad Gods proclaiming how much they wanted to kill each other! And Fortia, Goddess of Peace, continued. ¡°Peace is enforced. We have Peace now because the White Pantheon enforces it. Because there is no to match us. The greatest threat to this world isn¡¯t a new weapon, it is a shield that will convince someone that they can stand against us. Arascus has become that shield for Kirinyaa, and he is on track to becoming that shield for all of Arika.¡± ¡°The Anarchia issue for example, in the past, it would have led to civil wars. Now, Maisara has gone and executed everyone with even a trace of that Goddess¡¯ stink on them. Peace has been enforced. Or what do you think happened? That we went for a nice chat with them? That we somehow convinced them of our lofty ideals and they decided to hold hands with us suddenly? No Ciria. No, Maisara went to enforce Peace and Order, and she did.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Ciria. ¡°It¡¯s just wrong though.¡± ¡°You are allowed to say that because you¡¯re made within this peace, so you cannot see it. We are outside of the peace, so we do see it. It is good you¡¯re this way and I don¡¯t look down on your for it, but this is not your demesne. Our hands are soiled so that yours are forever clean. Kassandora will agree with me on this, if she died, her army would come seek revenge. It is that simple. It does not end when we die, it ends with the total eradication of the other. Total war into total peace.¡± Kassandora smiled at that as Arascus nodded and turned to the Goddess of Civilization. ¡°Fortia is right, but there is another issue. Any sort of competition is worthless. We have a champion that is undefeatable.¡± ¡°Do you?¡± ¡°Olephia.¡± Fortia sighed and shrugged. ¡°I cannot argue with that.¡± She said. And Ciria stared at them. Why did they want to fight? For simple power-plays? Could they not agree? Why could they not? They sat here, talking to each other as if they knew each other, and yet all they did was agree why they should sacrifice millions of lives for each other! ¡°I just have one question though.¡± Arascus spoke to the three young Gods. ¡°To you three. What would have happened if we did bring Olephia? Or Anassa? Or Neneria? Or if Elassa had rolled in with an army of mages?¡± ¡°We trusted that you didn¡¯t.¡± Ciria said earnestly. Arascus smiled and shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± He asked. ¡°So if this table descended into a fight? What would protect you from the crossfire?¡± ¡°I am here.¡± Waeh spoke up, his voice cold. Arascus finally turned to the other God of Pride. ¡°You are.¡± He said, his voice grim. ¡°And?¡± ¡°Do you know what I am?¡± ¡°Allasaria¡¯s copy of me.¡± Arascus said coldly. ¡°You¡¯re evolution.¡± ¡°I¡¯d have to be dead for that to be true.¡± Arascus responded. ¡°I would have killed you already were this not peace talks.¡± Ciria collapsed into her chair. And now Waeh was in the crosshairs. It would have been better to just stay out of it. To not have to listen to Fortia¡¯s moralizing, to just leave them and clean up the mess. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be able to.¡± Arascus withheld the smile on his face. And so, Waeh had been baited. Now what was this false God¡¯s power? ¡°Would I not?¡± Arascus said. ¡°If Kassandora were to draw her sword right now and go for your head, would you be able to stop her?¡± ¡°I would.¡± Waeh replied coldly. Kassandora felt Arascus¡¯ knee brush against hers. That was the signal. The chair flew out from underneath her as she launched across the table, Joyeuse materializing in her hand, ready to take that man¡¯s head off. And then her body hit a cliff. As if the air had hardened to some unbreakable stone. She had been moving, and then she stopped. She tried moving her head, but couldn¡¯t. Only her eyes jumped about at her body, there was nothing holding her, she could feel the warm breeze on her fingers. But she couldn¡¯t move. No matter how she strained, it was as if her own body was rejecting her will. Ciria squeaked as Kassandora stopped mid-way through her lunge and Waeh let out a deep breath. He did not even look at the Goddess of War as he continued speaking to Arascus. ¡°I am not you Arascus, I do not hate you, even though I should. I am the God of Humility, of Pride that Serves. There is no Divine nor blessing I cannot touch. You cannot harm me even if you wish to.¡± ¡°This is the difference between us.¡± Arascus said. ¡°People wish to serve me, they are forced to serve you.¡± ¡°Phrase it how you wish, I am the check that stops divinity from overruling humanity at every turn, I am not so young as Ciria and Halkus here. I¡¯m not of their age of Pantheon Peace.¡± ¡°But you are Waeh.¡± Arascus said. ¡°You are of this new race of observer God. If you weren¡¯t, you would be sitting on a side now.¡± ¡°I am merely a Divine, a servant of the mortals. If I was omnipotent, then we wouldn¡¯t be having this conversation, would we?¡± Arascus smiled as Kassandora growled from the middle of the table. Fortia, Elassa and Zerus were staring up at her in shock. Fer had her eyes narrowed on Waeh, she sniffed the air every now and then. Eventually she growled. ¡°Can you release her now?¡± Arascus asked calmly. ¡°She¡¯s already released.¡± Waeh replied coldly. ¡°Do not test me again.¡± Kassandora stood up on the table and straightened as she inspected her body. She moved her arms, Joyeuse disappeared from her grip as she turned and jumped off. ¡°I apologize gravely.¡± She said. ¡°I am the Goddess of War, you can imagine I¡¯m always up for a challenge, I will restrain myself better from now on.¡± Kassandora finished lying through her teeth as she straightened and looked at that meagre figure. Ciria was nothing, she was little better than a taller elf. A set of scales that weighed decisions? What a worthless power wasted on such a grand title. But Waeh was the opposite. What a terrible power wasted on such a worthless soul. Chapter 140 – A Pot Slowly Boiling. Fortia stretched and cracked her fingers. She brushed her golden hair out of her face and leaned from side to side to relax her stomach. Ever since that meeting, it had been with fluttering butterflies that absolutely refused to quell their excitement. She looked over the map of Khmet and Kirinyaa and took out a red pen, marking a red X over the closest border city in Khmet, Ashkwan. A hundred kilometres north of the border, in the past, it would have been a reserve camp. Not with modern technology though. Fortia made another mark on the map and grinned. Frankly, she loved Kassandora. The Goddess of War was the only one who would test her like this. The world had grown stagnant for too long, it had forgotten why the Goddess of Peace was the commander of the White Pantheon armies. It was time to remind everyone of that fact. Arascus wanted a war? How quaint. Fortia had just the spent the past millennia longing for one. ¡°They¡¯re not as disunited as we thought.¡± Kassandora said as she looked over her map of Kirinyaa. Southern Khmet was also there, as were the other central Arikan nations. Aittyopios sat north-east of Kirinyaa, south-west of Khmet. ¡°Fortia was there too, we can assume that the peace-talks rallied them although I think that¡¯s just wishful thinking. Elassa is not stupid, Fortia would be put in command sooner or later.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Guardians are beginning to conglomerate around Ashkwan.¡± Iliyal said as he shuffled through his papers. Kassandora made a mark on the map as she looked at the rest of the people in the room. Arascus was there, obviously he would be. The other Divines were there too, Fer and Neneria and Anassa and Olephia. Each in their dark uniforms, each staring with full attention at Kassandora. Kavaa was there too, although Iniri and Helenna were missing. Those were simply not powerful enough to be part of planning, nor did they field armies. Kavaa did not know, but she had only been invited because of her Clerics. Every Divine had their own individual counters on the map. A wooden hexagon with the initial, Kassandora had enlisted the help of one of the native Kirinyaans. And then Douglas and Erik stood there too, Kassandora had promoted them both to captains of the air force. It wasn¡¯t much, but each man had a squad of seven under their command. Iliyal stood next to Kassandora. He was an excellent assistant. Sokolowski, Ekkerson and Zalewski had all been promoted to low-ranking generals. Iliyal was second in command of the forces, although that was because he was trusted enough to not make stupid mistakes or call for Divine help every other battle. The table in the middle of the wooden room was massive, Iniri had made the structure, it was soundproofed and without any windows. Anassa¡¯s magical balls of sorcery hung in the air to light it up though. ¡°The first defence line is going to be south of the border.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Minimally defended, they¡¯ll only be a scouting force to see what we are facing. I don¡¯t want to arm them with guns.¡± ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°You¡¯re sacrificing men just like that?¡± Kavaa added. Anassa and Fer both looked at her like a child. ¡°Knowing which Divines are where, if its Paladins or Guardians or the mage force coming is important.¡± Kassandora spoke quickly. ¡°If we locate Elassa, we have our N-cordon.¡± That was a term she had made up back in the Great War. The area where Neneria was not safe to go, Allasaria and Elassa were both moving N-cordons. As were large amounts of magicians. ¡°If we deploy men with rifles, we can expect the White Pantheon to copy the design. With Theosius on their side, we¡¯ll lose our advantage of superior weaponry.¡± ¡°So they are just a suicide force then?¡± Kavaa asked. Kassandora clicked her tongue. She much prefer when people shut up as she laid out the plans. ¡°They are.¡± Kassandora said coldly. ¡°They¡¯ll have off-road vehicles and helicopters, but I don¡¯t expect them to get out. Your Clerics will not be there, it¡¯s just the Kirinyaan volunteers.¡± She raised her hand to shut Kavaa up from speaking. ¡°Second and third lines are here.¡± Kassandora made two more dashed red marks on the mark, and then an arrow in blue going through them from the north. ¡°They will also be lost. The mountains are undefended, we pull them into the jungles south of the central mountain range.¡± Those were natural jungles, not the creeping jungle in the western half of Kirinyaa. ¡°Then we turn our Jungle Clearing forces from the north. They circle around the north of the mountain and cut them off.¡± ¡°Anassa and Fer will come in then.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Sorcerers and beastmen will raid the mountain supply lines. I want at least fifty thousand White Pantheon troops trapped south of them. We¡¯ll get into more details as the situation changes.¡± There was no reason to overload the rest with information. Kassandora already had backup contingency after backup contingency prepared, those could be deployed as necessary. Fer¡¯s eyes narrowed as she looked at that map. ¡°There¡¯s a problem.¡± ¡°What?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°What if they don¡¯t push south?¡± Kassandora nodded, the whole plan relied on the White Pantheon actually overextending south. If they didn¡¯t, then she was giving up land for nothing. ¡°This is the optimal.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°They outnumber us and have overwhelming magical advantage. If they don¡¯t.¡± She stretched her hand out and drew a red arrow north-east. ¡°We push into Aittyopios. Then we circle around.¡± ¡°That would remove our image of a defensive war.¡± Arascus said grimly. ¡°This is where I want to use Helenna.¡± Kassandora turned to Kavaa. ¡°She was your propagandist back then, wasn¡¯t she?¡± Kavaa nodded grimly. ¡°She preferred the term ¡®morale-builder¡¯.¡± ¡°Well she can call herself whatever she wants.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I want to force them to push south by opening a new war.¡± Kassandora pulled a paper out of her folder and threw it onto the table. ¡°Not a bloody conflict, informational warfare.¡± She let everyone read through the names. It was simply a list of the major news stations in Epa. ¡°I already have a team ready taken from my men, they¡¯re writing reports and articles we can feed into Epa directly. All about how they¡¯re winning and how they should press the advantage.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Kassandora watched the reactions. Arascus smiled proudly. Anassa grinned wickedly, Fer and Neneria both looked at it in awe. The humans merely nodded, Kavaa looked shocked. ¡°This is unprecedented.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°It is.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Fortia is apt in command, I wouldn¡¯t even consider she¡¯d make such a mistake if she wasn¡¯t pushed to it. But¡­¡± Kassandora pulled out the examples her men had made. She had touched them up already and she let five pieces sit on the table: The time to push is now! And Kirinyaa cannot keep this war up! And They are two weeks from surrender! And Why are we delaying? The last one, Kassandora wrote herself. Our Goddess of Peace is terrified of the Goddess of War! That one would make Fortia exceptionally seethe. ¡°What do you think?¡± It was a genius plan frankly, Kassandora was proud of herself for it. If Fortia let her emotions got better of her, she would lose her army, if she stayed cautious as she did back then, she would lose the support back home. It was a win-win situation. Either the army would be defeated, or Epa would grow disenchanted with the Pantheon. Frankly, there was something in Kassandora that hoped Fortia would not push, Arika was merely the appetizer, Epa was the main course. ¡°Excellent.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Good job Kass.¡± Kassandora withheld her blush, it was a war. It was simply obvious, there were no limits to her demesne, war would be held in the frontlines and it would be held on the dinner table between familial discussions. It was simply that they did not think as dirty as she did. The only rule to war was to be the last one standing. ¡°Classy.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Iliyal will be in charge of this.¡± Kassandra said and the elf stood up straighter upon hearing the words. ¡°He is most suited to this job.¡± It wasn¡¯t something a Divine could handle, maybe Fer had potential, but it was a waste to have her sit behind a desk. ¡°In addition, Iliyal will be assigned to the coasts.¡± Iliyal saluted. ¡°Of course Goddess!¡± He almost shouted it. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a waste?¡± Anassa asked as she extended her arm to Iliyal. ¡°He isn¡¯t the worst of men I¡¯ve met.¡± If any other God said that, Kassandora would have brushed them off. But it was fine praise if Anassa said it, she didn¡¯t consider most Divines to be even worthy of being talked to. ¡°It¡¯s an easy job, and the information war is his priority in the conflict. Helenna will be placed under him. I don¡¯t want any of you to request her assistance unless it¡¯s very urgent.¡± The table all gave various affirmations of agreement. ¡°Zalewski, Sokolowski and Ekkerson will be placed in charge of the three northern armies.¡± She turned to the three men, they all saluted her. ¡°If you need help, then you call on me or on Iliyal if I¡¯m not available. You¡¯re here so that you get a basic idea of the plan, don¡¯t expect to be invited to these meetings more often.¡± They all gave the same reply. ¡°Yes Goddess!¡± ¡°In regards to that, I want to discuss our code-one-colour protocol.¡± Kassandora made sure to catch Kavaa¡¯s silver eyes with hers. This was just as important for her to know as for the mortals. ¡°Arascus is gold. I am orange. Neneria is black. Anassa is red.¡± Anassa smiled smugly at that, both Kassandora and Anassa wanted red, but Kassandora was a damn adult. She didn¡¯t care what sort of colour was assigned to her, whereas Anassa found it very important. ¡°Fer is yellow. Olephia is purple. Kavaa, you have the choice of blue or white.¡± ¡°Blue.¡± Kavaa answered. It was a simple thing, frankly, it was nothing. But it would make Kavaa think as if she was being respected here. ¡°Kavaa is blue. Divines are under my command directly. You can call upon Divines yourself if the situation requires for it, but I will read up on all commands.¡± Kassandora crossed her arms and sighed. ¡°It depends on context, if there¡¯s an army of ten thousand pressing down on you and there¡¯s no mages, I expect you to call code-one-black for Neneria yourself. Don¡¯t run it by me, just call. If I see you calling for a Divine every other battle, then we¡¯ll have a problem. Understood?¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The three men replied and Kassandora turned to Kavaa. ¡°This is for you too.¡± ¡°For me?¡± ¡°Let us not beat around the bush. You are the weakest Divine here. You are weaker than most of the White Pantheon. If you see Zerus or Alkom on the horizon, or Maisara, any of them frankly, I do not want an engagement unless it¡¯s ordered. If it¡¯s unavoidable, then you call a code-one.¡± Kavaa nodded at that as Kassandora raised her hands defensively, maybe she been too harsh. ¡°I don¡¯t mean it badly Kavaa, but it is how it is. The three northern armies also are not to engage Divines without prior permission.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Kavaa said in a flat tone. ¡°I¡¯ll be very happy to help out.¡± Fer said as she crossed the table and leaned into Kavaa. ¡°You are very sweet.¡± The Goddess of Health blushed and leaned away. ¡°Likewise on this, Raptor One and Two are our personal transports. Erik, Douglas, you will be under my command entirely until we expand our air-force.¡± The two pilots saluted. ¡°Everyone but Anassa has access to the planes, run it by me, but just get on.¡± ¡°Why not me?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°Because you¡¯re fast enough to not need it.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°Fer and Anassa will be kept in the north-east of the country. Kavaa and Neneria will be in the central mountains at the start. Olephia takes the western deserts, between the mountains and the Jungle. Olephia.¡± Kassandora looked to her silent sister. The Goddess of Chaos made a small jump on toes to show she was paying attention. ¡°There are no checks on you. Nothing passes, total annihilation protocol.¡± Olephia smiled, jumped up onto her toes again and replied with two thumbs-up. That was good, that land was largely abandoned desert with only a few villages. The Reclamation War had given people enough hope to start moving back to the west, but even so, it was the sparsest region of Kirinyaa, one were friendly fire wouldn¡¯t be noticeable. Kassandora turned back to her the three men as she moved the carved hexagons marking the various Gods to their respective fronts. ¡°This is so you know who is where. I don¡¯t want Olephia crossing the whole country unless it¡¯s urgent.¡± Kassandora finished and took a breath. ¡°Tomorrow, I will go to the north to view the terrain myself, if there¡¯s any questions, then ask now. If not, then you¡¯ll have to next week. Fer and Neneria, you¡¯re coming with me.¡± Kassandora let them have their ten seconds. No one raised a hand, the old guard knew her too well to ask, the new blood would simply be overwhelmed by what they had to take in. Fer spoke up, she usually found something to point out, people always thought her stupid, but she really wasn¡¯t. ¡°The Waeh issue.¡± ¡°Me and Arascus are working on it.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Until then, avoid at all costs. Retreat if necessary.¡± Facing him in open battle would reveal his weaknesses, although Kassandora already had an inkling from what the man said back then: There is no Divine nor blessing I cannot touch. Ultimately, it was those small things that separated the Great War Divines from the new ones, no one who lived through that would gloat so much about their strength. No Divine nor blessing Waeh? Kassandora smiled to herself. What about a man unblessed? A pure a human as they came? What then Waeh? ¡°Any more?¡± Kassandora looked around. No. ¡°Thank you everyone, meeting over.¡± Kassandora turned and left. There were more things to plan. The pace of the Jungle burnings had to be increased, weaponry would have to sourced. There were a thousand and one things to do. Kassandora smiled, she would not have it any other way. This is what life was about, a thousand and one problems to solve. Anyone else would simply throw up their hands and cry how it was over. But then they weren¡¯t the Goddess of War. She hummed an old tune happily to herself as her boots picked up speed. Kavaa caught her wrist. Kassandora adopted a calm gaze and merely looked down into her silver eyes. What did she come for? Was Kassandora too harsh? She quickly thought up of a way to make Kavaa feel better about herself. Something that would be satisfying, but that would ultimately be entirely worthless. Kavaa spoke first though. ¡°I wanted to talk with you¡­ privately.¡± Kassandora raised an eyebrow. Well, that was certainly unexpected. She turned back around. ¡°Come, there¡¯s things to do. Let¡¯s walk and talk.¡± Chapter 141 – Ancient History An air assault by mages over the centre mountains. Then pull back. Establish and secure supply lines through that treacherous terrain with magicians, at the same time push west and south with Maisara¡¯s armies. Encircle Kirinyaa from that direction and drive them back. Attacking cities directly would bog them down, much easier to simply starve them out, Then Fortia¡¯s Guardians would land on the coast. Kassandora¡¯s armies were not to be faced, they would be starved in the central prairies of Kirinyaa. This wasn¡¯t a war of conquest, it was a war of humiliation. Kassandora¡¯s reputation would be destroyed totally. There would be no more heroic tales about the Goddess of War, she will return back to her little cage to sit out the rest of time. Fortia smiled to herself as she prepared to explain the plan to the White Pantheon. War-plan Peacekeeper, that sounded like a good name. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± Kavaa asked, Kassandora turned around and was already off, walking towards the central armoury Iniri had grown for the men. There were a few amount, trees that had been twisted out of the ground into unnatural shapes, expanded to make walls. A few had roofs of planks, the others merely thick canopies of hedges. ¡°Sure about my plan?¡± Kassandora asked. She turned a corner several Clerics stood up and saluted. Kassandora ignored them as her dark boots devoured the distance. ¡°I am never sure.¡± Kavaa rolled her eyes as she quickened her pace. That was a classic line from her. ¡°But I would have not proposed it if I could think of a better one. So it¡¯s what we have.¡± Kassandora made some wordless sound of mirth. ¡°It¡¯s worthless anyway, plans are indispensable, but the moment fighting starts they become worthless. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t get into more detail. The situation will change the moment we see how Fortia moves, but that¡¯s the general idea, we lure them south and then we cut off the supply routes.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that.¡± Kavaa said as she slowed her pace. Kassandora did too, Kavaa still had to take three for each of Kass¡¯ two. More men saluted past her. ¡°I meant¡­¡± Both Goddesses ignored them as they trailed through the tents. A plane landed from above, Fer roared in the distance, more beastmen coming in then. They had taken more a month sailing the ocean in container ships. Now in Kirinyaa, they could finally be revealed. ¡°Are you stupid?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I genuinely ask now, I¡¯m not trying to be offensive Kavaa.¡± What a question. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Have you not seen this is what we¡¯ve been preparing for since the start?¡± Kavaa sighed. It was obvious that they were heading for this, but it was¡­ It was almost surreal. It was one thing to actually forge a blade and a different entirely to see it cut a man down. ¡°I did.¡± ¡°I lie a lot.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°But in this, I have never lied once. We win once they are all dead.¡± She turned down a road. Tarmac that had been hastily poured out to be used by trucks. Two were in the distance unloading ammunition into the armoury. A great structure, Iniri had added her own little touch to it. A tree was sprouting from the side and giving shade to a team of Kassandora¡¯s soldiers sitting around a campfire and hand-loading magazines. ¡°Have you lied to me, ever?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°More than once.¡± Kassandora replied flatly. ¡°It¡¯s not an excuse, it is simply how I am.¡± Kavaa shook her head. Maisara was proud of never having told a fib but talking to her made you feel as if she was still somehow worming her sweet words into your mind. Kassandora admitted it frankly and Kavaa couldn¡¯t think of a single she had distrusted something the Goddess of War said. ¡°Like when?¡± Kavaa asked coldly. ¡°On the mountain, I said I had Maisara and Fortia in my grasp.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I didn¡¯t, I had them coming to me and asking me what to do but they were stubborn and argumentative, they wanted a method on how to kill Allasaria. Allasaria had come to me too for advice.¡± She shrugged. ¡°You all know me, I don¡¯t feel bad about it, I wouldn¡¯t have come to talk to myself.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s just luck that we ended up with you and not them?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Luck or fate, call it whatever you want. You three were better than those two, and I had no chance with Allasaria. So I got Maisara and Fortia out and gave you your opening.¡± Kassandora kept up the pace as they neared the armoury. The men looked up, one tried to hide his cigarette, the others simply stood up, saluted and then sat back down once Kassandora dismissed them. ¡°That simple?¡± Kavaa asked. It wasn¡¯t a satisfying reason whatsoever. ¡°Why must it be complicated?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°If a man kills another, then his brother comes for revenge, that is also simple. The simpler the reason the better it is. You can poke holes in elongated reasoning, you can¡¯t change the fact I prefer you to Maisara and Fortia.¡± Kassandora shrugged, and stopped and looked down at Kavaa. ¡°It is what it is.¡± Those red eyes had nothing in them, not a hint of warmth or annoyance or anger. ¡°Come, there¡¯s munitions to inspect.¡± There were more roars in the distance, from Fer then followed by other beastmen. Anassa appeared in the air, looked around and then disappeared. Kavaa sighed heavily as Kassandora turned. She liked the woman, she remembered when Arascus said Kassandora liked her back. But¡­ Arascus¡¯ words echoed in her mind again: ¡®She¡¯s hard to like.¡¯ Kavaa supposed that was true. She didn¡¯t knew of Kassandora, she knew the fables and tales from the Great War, and those before, she knew of Allasaria¡¯s history with her, but she didn¡¯t know the Kassandora. ¡°Are you always like this?¡± ¡°Like what?¡± Kassandora asked then tutted. ¡°I¡¯m always working if that¡¯s what you mean.¡± ¡°So cold?¡± ¡°Am I cold?¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°I am what I am. I think I¡¯m an open book myself, I can read myself easily.¡± Kavaa rolled her eyes as they stopped before the doors of the armoury. It was two solid chunks of wood that retracted for them. The wood simply moved and curled to let them in, no hinges and no mechanism. ¡°We all do Kass.¡± Kavaa tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice. ¡°I know myself.¡± ¡°I think I know you too.¡± Kassandora said as she stopped. The guards in side saluted. ¡°Get back to work, keep unloading, how much ammunition has come?¡± ¡°The warehouses are now at half a million rounds.¡± One man reported immediately. Kassandora only replied with a nod as they went deeper into the structure. Anassa¡¯s lamps hung, or rather floated, in the air. Simple balls of sorcery that cast a bright light somewhat tinted red.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Do you know me?¡± Kavaa asked. She was curious as to the impression she gave off. In the White Pantheon, she¡¯d be simply called weak or back-up or something along those lines. Kassandora would probably say the same, it was true. Kavaa wasn¡¯t particularly strong. Kassandora said nothing like that. ¡°You have an obvious inferiority complex. You pretend you¡¯re cold but it¡¯s because you don¡¯t trust easily. Iniri and Helenna both would give their lives up for you, so I assume you¡¯re quite friendly once people get to know you. You appreciate mortals more than other Divines, you¡¯re loyal and you crave respect. Not the Allasaria or Maisara type of people bowing to you, but the respect my sisters have for me.¡± Kavaa blinked in shock. She grabbed her silver hair and smoothed out her uniform. Kassandora wasn¡¯t wrong, but¡­ it would have been offensive if anyone else said. Kassandora merely phrased it as a doctor would tell patient they¡¯re about to die. Flatly, and without any emotion. Coming from her, it didn¡¯t seem like an opinion, it was a diagnosis. ¡°I¡­¡± Kavaa struggled to get a word out. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that.¡± And what she didn¡¯t expect the most was the lack of judgement in Kassandora¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯ve trained millions throughout my life. I have to know how to understand people.¡± Kassandora said flatly as she stared at the weaponry on the walls. She shouted to one of the mortals. ¡°How many rifles do we have now?¡± ¡°Fifty thousand Goddess!¡± A voice responded from behind a cabinet. ¡°All new small-arms factories are to produce ammunition from now on!¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And start cutting rifle production, retool half of the production sites for ammo.¡± Kassandora looked to Kavaa and raised an eyebrow as if Kavaa was supposed to question her decision. Kavaa merely shrugged, this wasn¡¯t her field. ¡°Anything else you want to ask?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask you to spill your heart out to me.¡± ¡°My heart exists to pump blood. I wouldn¡¯t do that because then I¡¯d die.¡± Kassandora said as she took one rifle off the wall. ¡°My troops will be equipped first, then your Clerics. The Kirinyaan military will be last.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t plan to outfit all of them?¡± Kavaa asked. Kassandora plucked a rifle from the stand and held it in one hand. It was comically small in her hands. She pulled the trigger: Click. And again. Click, Click, Click. ¡°Four bullets just like that.¡± Kassandora said, then flicked the safety to full auto. She held the trigger down for two seconds. ¡°Thirty bullets.¡± She took out the empty magazine and pushed it back in. Three seconds she held the trigger. ¡°Sixty.¡± And again. ¡°Ninety.¡± Then again. ¡°One-twenty. In less than a minute, we¡¯ve just used up a hundred and twenty rounds. There¡¯s fifty thousand of these and half a million rounds stocked up right now. That¡¯s only a ten rounds a man. When we run out.¡± She threw the gun in a spin and grabbed the barrel, then gave it a few swings through the air. ¡°It¡¯s barely a club.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa hadn¡¯t thought of that but when phrased like that, it was obvious. ¡°Oh indeed. We had the same problem in the past with arrows and cannonballs. Ammunition disappears faster than alcohol.¡± Kassandora put the gun back onto its stand, pulled out a piece of paper and started scrawling something quickly in her pretty hand-writing. Red pen, same as always. Kavaa watched her finish, then they found the store master. ¡°Written order. Wave it around when people ask, hassle Arascus if someone¡¯s not complying.¡± ¡°Understood Goddess!¡± The man took the slip and carefully put it into the inside of his coat pocket. And Kassandora turned to leave. Quick inspection. Kavaa always made sure to take an hour to talk to her men when she ran through her own storerooms, to see how they were feeling and what the morale situation looked like. ¡°Why did you join Arascus?¡± Kavaa asked quietly as they stepped out into sunlight. A pair of helicopters were landing in the distance. Engineers on the other side of the road were having an argument about Binturongs. Kassandora stopped and sighed as she looked down at her boots. ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± Kassandora said flatly as she turned to move. ¡°Airfield next, come.¡± ¡°Sorry if I¡¯m prying.¡± Kavaa replied, it was the first time she had seen Kassandora dodge a question like that. Well, it was good to see that the woman had her own secrets. She was the untouchable Goddess of War, but it was good to see a little humanity in tha¡­ ¡°It¡¯s simply a long story.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°You¡¯re not prying, the past is the past.¡± ¡°But you don¡¯t want to talk about it?¡± Kavaa asked. She hoped¡­ she didn¡¯t know. On one hand, she wanted to know, on the other, she hoped Kassandora wouldn¡¯t tell her. But Kassandora did. ¡°I formed a decade after Allasaria. In Sythia, during one of their wars.¡± Kavaa almost tripped over herself as Kassandora launched into it. ¡°There, we led them to survival, victory after victory, flowers and parades in the street for both of us. Women would ask me to touch their children to bless them.¡± Kavaa saw Kassandora smile to herself as she recounted the tale. ¡°But Sythia disappeared during worldbreaking, you incarnated at the end of that era, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Kavaa said. When the modern continents had been constructed. Worldbreaking wasn¡¯t a war so to say, it was merely mages running rampant led by countless mad Divines all vying for power. Kavaa suspected that was why her healing caused so much pain, it hadn¡¯t been a gentle age. ¡°Allasaria eventually settled down. She found a country to run, as most of us did back then.¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°And I could not. We walked down separate ways. I was merely a mercenary, respected, but¡­¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°Not loved I suppose, it was that simple. I¡¯d walk into towns, people would turn their heads, kings and queens would bow and beg, armies would march under me, but it wasn¡¯t the same.¡± Kavaa didn¡¯t know if she wanted Kassandora to stop or not. ¡°I was like that, fighting under banners for centuries.¡± Kassandora smiled. ¡°I repelled Fer¡¯s first incursion, and second, and third. The black and white war, when Allasaria and Irinika fought, I led Allasaria¡¯s armies then. I don¡¯t know, did I like it?¡± Kassandora asked the air as she kicked a stone. ¡°Sorry for prying.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°It is what it is.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°It¡¯s ancient history. Eventually, I became this.¡± Kassandora extended her arms out to either side. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°How I am now.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Arascus once called me a workaholic, I remember being proud of that. I do my job because no one else will do it. I became the best at it, back then, Fortia was a better general than me, Maisara too. But they slowed down and I did not. They formed started kingdoms, I merely kept rolling in the mud.¡± Kavaa took a breath. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if you do.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°The final century before the Great War, Arascus approached me. I¡¯m the last daughter, the newest one even though I¡¯m older than most of them. Do you know what he said to me?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Give War a chance.¡± Kavaa never saw Kassandora smile like that as she repeated those words. ¡°That¡¯s what he said to me. Since Worldbreaking, I had never sworn to a banner, but I swore to his. He gave War a chance, it¡¯s a debt I can¡¯t repay ever. It was the first time someone saw the Kassandora and not the Goddess of War.¡± Kassandora smiled to herself as she kicked another stone. ¡°So I serve, not out of obligation, but because I like it here. We¡¯re losing to be honest, I have little hope for winning this conflict. But I¡¯m still here, and I¡¯m going to give it everything I have.¡± ¡°Do you love him?¡± Kavaa asked. Kassandora shrugged. ¡°I suppose I do.¡± She replied. ¡°He has his faults, as all of us do, but it¡¯s easy to look past them.¡± Kassandora blinked, her cheeks going red. ¡°It¡¯s more a bond, not like Helenna¡¯s love, or how mortals-¡° Kavaa¡¯s laugh interrupted her. ¡°I understood Kass. I understood.¡± She said and took Kassandora¡¯s hand. The Goddess of War didn¡¯t pull it back as they walked to the airfield. ¡°Are the others like this?¡± ¡°Some.¡± Kassandora said with a sigh. ¡°They¡¯re not my stories to tell. Don¡¯t ask Anassa about hers though, she¡¯s prickly about it.¡± Kavaa nodded and smiled as she didn¡¯t know what it was, but the little talk quelled her thoughts. She hadn¡¯t expected it, but she was glad she had pestered Kassandora about them. That little flame inside her, wanting to attach itself to Arascus¡¯ blazing inferno, set alight inside her again. She didn¡¯t put it out this time. Fer smiled as she kept watched Kassandora and Kavaa walk towards the airfield, her ears jumping up and down, she had caught all of that conversation. Neneria absolutely needed to hear the good news: Little Kassie finally made a friend. Chapter 142 – And So Divinity Marches To War Once Again Anassa worked at Baalka¡¯s curse. Another strand of sorcery plucked at Baalka¡¯s soul, tried to get it moving, and was rejected once again. Why did the woman not respond to anything? No matter what Anassa did, it all seemed ineffective. Did Baalka not want to leave that little prison of hers? Three months had passed since Elassa had instituted her ancient Great War regimen into Arcadia. Fortia looked at the results of it before her. ¡°Nineteen hundred and fifty report Goddess Fortia!¡± A pyromancer in a red cloak shouted, he threw up Elassa¡¯s classic salute. An open palm raised next to the face. Fortia did the maths in her head, a hundred and fifty teams have arrived. Elassa had not been slacking off whatsoever. When the letter came through that Arcadia was sending troops, Fortia had expected a hundred, maybe two hundred. A thousand had been out of the question. Almost two thousand Fortia didn¡¯t even dream of. ¡°And Elassa herself?¡± Fortia asked. She stared down at the magician, he fiercely met her gaze. Three months could change a lot apparently. This man had the same violent shine in his eyes as the mages of old did. ¡°In three months she will arrive.¡± The pyromancer said. Fortia merely nodded down. Frankly, she wanted to go sooner than that. There was a saying to always do the unexpected, that was true to an extent. But when you had someone at knifepoint, it was expected to stab them. The longer Kassandora had to prepare, the more devious trickery she would concoct up that in that mind of hers and the longer this war would drag on. Frankly, they should have entered three months ago. The only thing that had stopped them was Neneria. Armies entering without magical support would simply result in Fortia sowing the fields and the Goddess of Death reaping them. Zerus, Alkom and Sceo would be called. As would Theosius. The mages were the much needed green light. ¡°Goddess Kassandora, I request an audience.¡± Kassandora stared down at the man in borderline confusion. Excuse me? She knew her men weren¡¯t exceptionally¡­ what was the word? Formal? But this? Honestly, she was impressed. People who stood up for themselves were always likable. ¡°Your audience is here and now.¡± Kassandora replied curtly. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s in regards to the excess Binturong ammunition. The HE-shells.¡± Kassandora raised an eyebrow. She had merely accepted that they had too many to ever be used. Production of Binturongs was slowing down to make way for the new Lemur artillery. These shells would eventually get a new vehicle to be shot by when a replacement for the Binturong appeared. ¡°Talk, I¡¯m not going to give you permission to speak every other sentence.¡± Kassandora replied. The man took a deep breath as he relaxed and his posture dropped. He hurriedly pulled out a small notebook from his jacket and passed it to Kassandora with a bow. ¡°My name is David Nell.¡± Kassandora barely registered the name as she took the notebook from his hands. She flipped over to the first page. It was merely a foreword written by this fellow, that didn¡¯t matter. Then to the second page. Her crimson eyes grew large when they landed on the diagram. This is why she let her troops talk to her. She had strategies, tactics and plans, but they had inventions. ¡°David Nell?¡± ¡°Yes Goddess.¡± ¡°Good, I¡¯ll remember you.¡± She put the notebook into her pocket. ¡°Start making them immediately. As many as you can do. What rank and army?¡± ¡°Private Goddess! Northern-Central, under General Sokolowski!¡± Kassandora turned around, her eyes landed on Sokolowski, he was issuing orders to a rank of a hundred men split into three platoons. ¡°Sokolowski! Come here!¡± Damian Sokolowski turned immediately from issuing orders and trotted a fast march to her. ¡°Yes Goddess-General! Sokolowski Reporting!¡± He made a perfect salute to Kassandora. ¡°Make sure Captain Nell here has a uniform to match his rank. He¡¯s assigned to engineering at headquarters from now on.¡± Kassandora passed the notebook back to him. ¡°Have a copy of this is ready at my tent by tonight.¡± She was so happy with that little invention she didn¡¯t even care about the stupid name: The Hedgehog. Fortia walked with Maisara. A week had passed since the first set arrived, Elassa had reported that the second set would have the same amount, and it would be ready next week. There was something in Fortia that wanted to wait, something that absolutely refused to cross that Kirinyaan border. It was an insidious part of her. ¡°We march tomorrow.¡± Fortia said the words out loud before her mind managed to finally convince her not to.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. And with those words, something within her started to move. Gears started to shift, ancient dams broke away, rivers started to flow. The words were said now, there was no going back now. Peace would be upheld, Arascus would not, could not, be allowed to drag Arda into global war again. If Fortia needed to cleanse an entire nation of his filth, she would. And she would do it happily. ¡°I agree.¡± Maisara said from her side. Both of the Goddesses walked in their armour. Plain and undecorated, simple silver on Maisara, simple gold on Fortia. Zerus, Alkom and Sceo were in the air, the rhythmic beat of Theosius¡¯ hammers was drumming in the distance. The automaton foundries had gone up, as had the smithies for fixing cracks in armour and reforging blades. Kassandora threw a piece of paper onto Arascus¡¯ table. She wouldn¡¯t have come to him if it wasn¡¯t¡­ monumental. The God of Pride read it in silence. ¡°Why do you think she¡¯ll attack?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I would do.¡± Kassandora replied promptly. ¡°But whether it¡¯s sooner or later, this¡­¡± She tapped the piece of paper. What a masterful play. She was downright proud of herself. Arascus tapped the piece of paper. Warplan Sandfire. ¡°Can we spin this?¡± Kassandora smiled that smile she always did when things worked out perfectly. Of course they could spin it. ¡°Maisara, you lead the eastern front.¡± Fortia assigned roles to the Gods. They themselves would assign generals however they wanted. There was no reason to change systems that weren¡¯t broken, they had won the Great War this way, they would win this small skirmish too. Maisara had not taken her armour for a week now, Zerus was in his shawls emblazoned with gold. Sceo in a dark blue, her eyes held all the calm of a storm. They dashed around at every detail, she had inspected the men several dozen times at this point. Alkom stood in silken clothes, light and almost opaque. No one but the God of the Sun would call that armour, but then when you burned with all the heat of the stars, you didn¡¯t want steel to cook yourself in. ¡°Alkom will support you.¡± The eastern front would circle around the central mountains, get close to the Aittyopios border, and then need to push through jungle. A God who could burn it away would do well there. And Maisara was a mighty general in her own right, not as good as Fortia, nor Kassandora, but then no one was. ¡°Zerus and Sceo, western front. Push as fast and as far as you can until you meet resistance, then take it at your own pace.¡± Zerus¡¯ lightning and Sceo¡¯s wind were perfectly suited for battle in the open prairies, deserts and dunes of western Kirinyaa. There wouldn¡¯t be any trouble unless they ran into a Divine, and even then, there was only one who would match them. ¡°I will take the central army and push south to the mountains.¡± It was the worst job, with no clear end. Depending on the situation, the mountains could be seized, or they would simply be sieged. They¡¯d have to wait until Elassa arrived anyway to do any larger movements into them but three months? Fortia thought about the distance in her head, there were cities in the way, and small towns. Some hills and open desert. Realistically, it would be a six-month slog. That is, as long as Kassandora was prepared. Fortia thought about what she would in Kass¡¯ position. She wouldn¡¯t try holding the north of the mountain range, that was for certain. Supplies would be stretched and vulnerable to hunting packs of mages. It would be terrible to push through, but it would be terrible to hold as well. Realistically, Kass would conserve her troops, amass on the east and west and try to push from both sides along with Fer¡¯s forces from the centre. Beastmen cared little for harsh terrain. So three months seemed suitable, Elassa would arrive then, and the push would continue. Zerus spoke up, he always did, that man had to be sure and certain of everything. ¡°And Olephia?¡± ¡°We follow Great War directive, disengage and avoid. Perfect would be if you can lead her on a wild goose chase. Whichever front she will be on will stall, the other two will push.¡± Perfect would be if Kassandora had assigned to defend the mountains, but Fortia was certain that the woman knew of Olephia¡¯s strength far too well to waste the Goddess of Chaos like that. ¡°Fer and Kassandora, we engage.¡± Fortia said. Those two were powerful, but amongst armies? There was only so much a melee fighter could do after the bodies reached critical mass. ¡°Anassa¡­¡± Fortia sighed. That was a big one. Not like Olephia, who was simply unassailable. Anassa could be killed, she had almost been killed on several occasions. But she was still the Goddess of Sorcery. ¡°Lance communions.¡± Maisara said. ¡°If we split the mages thirty-forty-thirty, we have enough for each front to have several.¡± Fortia nodded. Lance communions it was, as was done in the past, so will be done now. They were a simple spell, easy to teach but hard to use. But then if Elassa herself was training the magicians, it was certain they¡¯d be able to field such magic. ¡°Arascus?¡± Zerus asked. ¡°Same as always, call for help and overwhelm, he can be killed. He¡¯s weaker than in the past.¡± Fortia said. ¡°How do you know?¡± Maisara begged the question from the other side. ¡°Igos footage. He struggled pulling the Blue Grace out of the water.¡± Fortia said then realised only she and Maisara watched the news. ¡°It was a container ship, it took him a good few minutes to do it.¡± Zerus, Sceo and Alkom all voiced their agreement, that didn¡¯t sound like the Arascus of the past. ¡°And Neneria?¡± ¡°Standard anti-magic protocol. Don¡¯t change anything, keep the armies tight and protected by mages. The split will be five hundred each.¡± Armies in the Great War only had a hundred, maybe two. But then in the past, they didn¡¯t conglomerate into three mere frontlines. The past had been chaos, with conflict seeming springing up from all sides. ¡°If you can kill her, then do, but she¡¯s not a priority for now. None of them are, simply seize land. If you feel you can¡¯t push then ask-¡° Fortia managed to stop herself. She was about to say ¡®ask Leona¡¯. But there was no Leona. The great seeress was dead. They didn¡¯t have that advantage anymore. Battles didn¡¯t have their conflicts foreseen, there would be no helping hand to say whether something was a bad idea or an excellent one. ¡°Ask me.¡± Fortia said. Leona was not omnipotent though, sometimes she could not deliver information, sometimes she was too far away, sometimes she simply didn¡¯t get a feeling about a topic. Leona helped, but that was all she did. Fortia finished as she recalled the map of Kirinyaa she had looked at before. Melukal was the first city that would be seized. It was a mere fifty kilometres from the border, barely thirty miles. Her army could reach it in the span of a day¡¯s march. Melukal. Was that a good idea? Fortia wished Leona was here so that she could ask. Chapter 143 – Melukal Besieged

Chapter 143 ¨C Melukal Besieged

¡°Let us not pretend the situation is anything which it is not. The White Pantheon has invaded us!¡± Mwai looked around at the Kirinyaan politicians in their national assembly. All grim faces, all hard, all wearing the green armbands of the Reclamation War. ¡°We have stood, and we will stand. Kirinyaa will not kneel!¡± It was the first time he ever saw everything stand up before him. Every person gave Kassandora¡¯s salute. Damian Sokolowski looked through a series of binoculars from the inside of one of Melukal¡¯s towering blocks. It was an ugly city, existing only because of a trading route and nothing else. Not particularly large but neither small. Tight is how he¡¯d describe it. Tight and contained. To the north and south stretched two large highways, both large enough for four vehicles each, then towards the eastern front of the city lay its claim to fame. Five railways heading north into Khmet, and towards the south, four went straight and one split into two to veer west. All the buildings were a dull yellow, all flat topped. The cities¡¯ sole landmark was the Gates of Kirinyaa, a grand archway in the middle of the city. Supposedly built to symbolize entering the country, Damian had given it one glance, taken one image, and left it at that. In the east was the train station, the largest building by far in the entire city. Bigger even than the local hospital and the schools. This room had once been residential areas. One of the men had knocked down two of the walls with a sledgehammer to make it into an observation post. Damian walked past the couch were two men, Pawel and Mateusz, were smoking and inspecting the images they had taken as he circled to the southern windows. Another man stood here with a camera, Wiktor. Ex-Twin Heart Cleric, as all the men in Damian¡¯s inner circle were. Tall and once pale, now tanned by Arika into a shade of warm bronze. That tanning had happened to all of them though, it was nothing to comment about. ¡°You got a shot of that?¡± Damian asked. The southern road was the evacuation highway, cars and trucks were slowly trundling along it. Somewhere further down someone had crashed and there was a traffic jam. Some of the sorcerers had been sent to clear it. And the other road was the supply route. There, it was truck after truck coming in with supplies from the south. Kirinyaan volunteers, explosives, the new hedgehog landmines, napalm shells too. Although only four Binturongs had been sent as a cover for the ammunition. Wiktor didn¡¯t reply, he only pulled a series of images from his coat and handed them to Damian. One shot of the soldier¡¯s cordon as they organised people into trucks. Another was of trucks leaving, filled with people. Some had been taken earlier from the ground. Shots of people entering buses, their faces a mix of anger and fear. Women crying as they held onto babes. More of Melukal¡¯s mayor giving a speech to the population. ¡°This one¡¯s good.¡± Damian said as he picked an image. Two soldiers, swords sheathed on their belt, hoisting an old man on a wheelchair onto a bus. ¡°I know.¡± Wiktor said. He lifted the camera and snapped another photo. Kassandora had supplied them, apparently Helenna had been gifted too many to handle and now she was donating them away. An image was immediately printed out, of an unhappy sorceress in mid-air. Damian wished they had sent Anassa. Or Kassandora. Or anyone else but the sorcerers. And especially not all fifty-two of them. He looked from Wiktor¡¯s camera to the outside. Fleur was there, simply standing in mid-air as her red dress and black hair whipped about in the wind. Those cold blue eyes gazed at Damian, then she pointed to the window. ¡°Brace for wind!¡± Damian gave the warning to the rest of the team as he unfastened the window locks. Immediately the desert winds roared through the room as Fleur slowly hovered in through the window. Papers were sent flying, bottles and glasses were knocked over. Fine vodka was spilled, what a waste! Fleur snapped her fingers and the window shut closed while Wiktor held the camera close to his chest as if it was his own child. ¡°Traffic jam unblocked. Evacuations can go ahead at full speed again.¡± Did this sorceress girl think she was speaking to a crowd? There were five of them here, her included in that number. ¡°Lyca¡¯s and Eliza¡¯s team have also ran out of hedgehogs to plant.¡± She crossed her arms and stared at them angrily. ¡°What sort of name is that anyway?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t choose the names.¡± Damian tried to argue back. Anyone else, he would have met with a salute, but there was no reason to salute to her, she never saluted to him. And they weren¡¯t even in the same branch of the military. All Damian knew about her was that she took orders directly from Anassa. Nevertheless, he tried to maintain some level of hospitality to her. Kassandora could break an arm with a snap of her finger, Damian had seen her hold an execution for thievery too, but there had never been a moment where he ever thought Kassandora would turn on him. The sorcerers though, all of them were like rabid tigers on thin leashes. And Fleur was the worst of the lot, one wrong word with her and she made those eyes which simply told you she was thinking on how to kill you. Even Anassa wasn¡¯t so bad, she had only come round a few times during training, thoroughly thrashed them about, called them ants, and then left. ¡°Well I don¡¯t like it.¡± Fleur said. More sorcerers appeared outside. Fleur¡¯s team of twelve souls. Damian wondered what sort of crimes they had done to be assigned to her. They hovered there, breathing heavily with sweat dripping down their faces. One of them said something and Fleur turned immediately. ¡°I didn¡¯t come to shout at you this time.¡± Fleur said as she looked at the sorcerers, somewhat calmer this time. She turned back to face Damian again once her team went pale and straightened their postures. ¡°Fortia is approaching from the north, Edmonton is tracking her. She¡¯ll be here around sunset, what¡¯s your progress?¡± ¡°Station and the north is done. We¡¯re working our way through the city centre now.¡± Fleur crossed her arms as Damian tried to crack a smile. That smile withered away when he saw her face. ¡°You¡¯re slow.¡± Slow? Slow? Slow? They had planted twenty tons of explosives already. More than a thousand napalm shells were in the city sewers ready to blow! The sapper teams were working around the clock with four hours of sleep a day! Slow? It was made twice as bad by the fact the girl sounded her age, how old was she even? She couldn¡¯t be any more than pushing twenty! Damian was almost twice her age! And she had the gall to talk like this? ¡°I appreciate the compliment.¡± Damian said. ¡°But we¡¯re going as fast as we can.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll buy time, Eliza said the hedgehogs can be planted in city blocks. She can smother them with weakened asphalt, will that work or no?¡± Damian turned to his men. Obviously his own soldiers had not even thought of that, they weren¡¯t going to be pulling tarmac up anytime soon. But then, they weren¡¯t sorcerers were they? Wiktor shrugged. Pawel nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t see why not.¡± ¡°Alright, we¡¯re not going to risk our lives planting them on the front once the battle starts. They have heavy mage support.¡± She stepped to the window then stopped. ¡°Anassa gave me this, you may need it. I¡¯ve read it already.¡± She pulled out a little book, barely palm sized and thin, from the inside of her dress and threw it to Damian¡¯s feet. The man looked down at it and read the title: How to Kill Gods. And at the bottom was the author. Anassa, of Sorcery. Damian pulled out his version immediately, he finally saw an opening to build up some rapport with the girl. ¡°Then take this.¡± He said, he knew off it by heart at this point, and everyone in his forces had been given one anyway. The Strengths and Weaknesses of White Pantheon Divines: Tactics and Strategies to be used. In the corner was a little K. That was all Kassandora had signed herself with. Fleur turned, gave the booklet a quick glance and shook her head. ¡°We have that one too. Keep it. Ours is¡­¡± Fleur giggled to herself. ¡°It¡¯s different, that¡¯s how I¡¯d put it.¡± Damian picked up the book and opened a random page. Zerus: Trap and engage from behind, do not try to engage in a duel with Zerus. He may not look it, but the man is terribly smart... Fleur stepped at the window and turned back to Damian. ¡°We¡¯ll pull out if we take heavy losses. Anassa¡¯s orders.¡± Fleur said. ¡°When you launch the red flare, we¡¯ll retreat. Anything else we have to know?¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Remember to clean up the Binturongs on the way out.¡± Kassandora had given that order. To make sure the equipment would not fall into enemy hands, the sorcerers were to thoroughly destroy it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t forget.¡± Fleur said. And then she did something Damian had only dreamt of. She pulled a salute. A perfect one, two fingers outstretched to just above her head. ¡°Good luck General.¡± The window behind opened by itself, the wind howled in again as Fleur left. The window closed, Fleur approached the man who had been talking and he suddenly bent over and grabbed at his chest, then screamed out so loud he could be heard from inside of Damian¡¯s little lookout. It lasted a few seconds, then stopped. Fleur¡¯s team of twelve sullenly followed behind her through the air. ¡°Well look at that, she can be nice.¡± Pawel said, then scratched his stubbled chin as if in deep thought. ¡°You call that nice?¡± Damian made a mock-accusatory tone. ¡°She did leave us another manual. The others haven¡¯t.¡± Wiktor took a photo of the booklet in Damian¡¯s hand. Damian threw it at him. ¡°And she gave us good luck.¡± Mateusz added. The fourth man of the command team. In charge of radios, he had set up a station of laptops in one of the kitchens but was doing nothing with them so far. There was no point running inspections on people who already had orders. ¡°You know me, I¡¯m a cold man but I think I¡¯m in love.¡± He said in a swooning, sarcastic, mocking tone. ¡°Certification:¡± Pawel said slowly as a grin appeared on his mouth. Damian already knew what word was going to come out of it. ¡°Would.¡± They all burst out in laughter. ¡°Why did you want the cameras?¡± Helenna asked Kassandora. She had missed out on a lot of the planning with her frequent travelling to meet with Kirinyaa¡¯s richest. The munition needs, artillery, ammunition, guns, Kassandora got from the government directly. But then there were things she said she could never have enough of. Trucks were one, the woman already had enough heavy vehicles to mount the Clerics twice over, but it apparently was not enough. Another was good food. The government sent rations, and then the rich sent chocolates. Alcohol and cigarettes were two big ones, those went quickly and Kassandora said there was no easier way to raise morale in a bad situation. But cameras? Helenna had met three different film directors during her stint in Nanbasa. They were all rich, and they were more than happy to give her supplies, but cameras? What was the woman even planning? Kassandora sighed as she looked up from her desk. Three maps sat before her, all so interspersed with arrows that Helenna¡¯s eyes glazed over when she tried to figure out what was going on in them. It was as if the Goddess of War had drugged spiders and then let them run rampant as they drew cobwebs of different colours onto the diagrams. ¡°How do you build morale Helenna?¡± Kassandora asked. She chewed the end of her pen cap as she leaned back and put her hands behind her head. ¡°I¡¯m actually curious, how?¡± Helenna answered the question as honestly as she could. ¡°Create a cause. Something people love and would die for, then grow the idea. I mean, what¡¯s the question? The principal of it or the details of speeches?¡± Kassandora shook her head. ¡°No, you answered it very well. You create a cause to fight for. Now how do you pick it?¡± Helenna shrugged. With anybody else, it would have been an annoyance that questioned Helenna¡¯s authority, but it was a matter of tone with Kassandora. The Goddess of War somehow managed to sound as if she was actually curious and just respectfully asking. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that. Everything in context, something will come along and then you exploit the idea.¡± She had done it in the past. ¡°When you fought us, what did you pick?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Freedom.¡± Helenna answered immediately. Everyone loved freedom, and Arascus had not done himself any favours back then when he centralized his empire around him. It made his forces into a powerful foe on the battlefield, but in the propaganda war, it wasn¡¯t hard to defeat him. ¡°And now?¡± Helenna thought for a moment. What would do in this situation? ¡°Justice.¡± Helenna said and Kassandora slowly nodded. She took the pen out of her mouth, wiped it on her shirt and passed it to Helenna. ¡°Draw me freedom and justice if you would.¡± Helenna stared at the pen, then at Kassandora. ¡°We both know I can¡¯t do that, they¡¯re not material things.¡± Kassandora laughed as she threw her hands up into the air, the pen was launched somewhere into the tent and Kassandora took a new one out of her cup. ¡°That¡¯s the biggest difference between you and Malam.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You prefer having an ideal you craft into reality, Malam has reality she crafts into an ideal. You know, I asked her this once, she drew both for me. Shackles for freedom and a murder-scene for justice.¡± Kassandora started drawing, she made a quick figure of a man lying dead on the ground, a sword stabbed through him. ¡°What does this inspire?¡± ¡°Heroism.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Revenge? Righteous Anger? Sadness? I don¡¯t know, what¡¯s the context?¡± Helenna asked and Kassandora wrote the words down. She circled them, then the picture. ¡°Now which one is more effective? The words or the image?¡± ¡°The image obviously.¡± Helenna said annoyed. Of course it was the image, she wasn¡¯t a new player to this game. Frankly, she was better at it than Kassandora. The Goddess of War could give speeches and rally, but not like Helenna could. She could do armies, Helenna did nations. ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡± ¡°Very simple Helenna. Melukal is going to be sieged today. It will fall in about a week. Why do I need cameras? Because I¡¯m going to give you your pictures. So that your speeches will be filmed on a backdrop of our soldiers evacuating civilians, so you¡¯ll talk about justice as we see Fortia cut men down, so that you can talk about righteous anger with the image of a burning city behind you. How¡¯s that for inspiration?¡± Damian looked through his binoculars north as a line of men started to crest the sand-dunes in the distance. The highways and rails separated them, but on either side it was simply wasteland. They were marching down the main road, some men and women in long shawls and cloaks floated in the air above them. At least the men on the ground had a cohesive scheme. All in golden-bronze steel, the men of rank had cloaks. Damian wrote it down into his notebook as he glanced at the men in the room. Pawel, Mateusz and Wiktor were all dressed in green shorts and shirts. Wiktor was snapping pictures with his camera of the approaching army. Those in the air were horribly mismatched in colours. Kassandora had taken him, Zalewski and Ekkerson on a leadership course. Personally trained them, and now that he was aware of the things she had told him, it simply raised his opinion of her even more. It was the small things that separated the talented from the masters. Amateurs forced their soldiers to always be in full-armour and always combat-ready, Kassandora had made the three generals stand at attention in the midday Arikan sun in full battledress. They were supposed to last two hours, they managed forty minutes before Zalewski fainted from the heat. Damian could only imagine the fatigue of those men approaching him if they had just marched across that desert. ¡°I see her!¡± Pawel shouted. ¡°On the hill, left from the road.¡± Damian turned his gaze to look left of the road. Several ranks of men in their gold-bronze armour were there. With long spears and tower shields and casting long shadows in the sun. And then that giant amongst them. A woman, tall and beautiful, with golden hair. Not as vivid as Fer¡¯s, but straight and elegant. She wore gleaming golden armour and held a spear in her side. It had a tiny red ribbon tied just under the spearhead itself. ¡°Certification:¡± Pawel said as he looked at her. ¡°Would.¡± They shared a few chuckles among themselves, but it was hard to find mirth when you faced a Divine. ¡°That¡¯s Fortia, isn¡¯t it?¡± Mateusz said. ¡°Fits the description.¡± Damian said. Twice the height of a man, gold armour, spear, gold hair. He couldn¡¯t make out the eyes, but he was sure they were a dulled gold too. ¡°Radio the men, hold fire, keep the sappers working. We¡¯re just delaying her.¡± ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll move in right now?¡± Pawel asked as Mateusz disappeared through a hole in the wall. ¡°Kassandora said she prefers daytime fighting. I think she¡¯ll set up camp to start sieging us.¡± ¡°Aye aye.¡± Wiktor said as his camera clicked away. He printed off the picture after picture and stuffed them in his jacket. ¡°Kassandora expects those back.¡± Damian said. ¡°Don¡¯t crease them.¡± ¡°Kassandora gets them digitally when I send them.¡± Wiktor tapped the breast pocket stuffed with pictures. ¡°These are for me.¡± ¡°You starting an album or something?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t?¡± ¡°Not saying you can¡¯t, but should you?¡± Damian shook his head as he looked at the Guardians come to a stop before the city. ¡°Tomorrow morning, but prepare for battle right now.¡± ¡°Are we letting the men sleep?¡± ¡°We are, don¡¯t change the lookout regimen. Have the local police take over evacuations. Move the evacuation teams to the north of the city.¡± ¡°And if they launch a sneak attack in the night?¡± ¡°We have an alarm system, don¡¯t we?¡± ¡°We do?¡± ¡°What are the hedgehogs if not that?¡± Chapter 144 – The Defence of Melukal Mwai stared down at the letter from Kassandora: ¡®Melukal will fall in a week, schedule a United Ardan League meeting for eight days from now, or as soon as possible.¡¯ That was the official courtroom of the world. Where every nation would come to voice its qualms. It was to resolve issues before Divines needed to get involved, even though it had been started by the White Pantheon. ¡®I will have images for you to show the world. I¡¯ve sent Helenna for speechwriting advice, she already has some of the pictures with her.¡¯ Lyca awoke to an explosion. Then another. Then screams, then orders being shouted. He rose from the large bed and quickly dressed himself. ¡°I cannot believe we actually managed to sleep through that.¡± Edmonton said as he awoke from another bed that had been moved into the room. They were in one of the tall apartment blocks. Evacuated now and empty save for the fifty-two sorcerers that had claimed them as barracks. It was in the western areas of the city, the richer areas, although the building was chosen because every room had its own balcony. Useful when you were handling people who could fly. Lyca dressed himself as Edmonton stretched out. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you slept in your clothes.¡± They were sharing a room, Lyca and Eliza were in the one next to them, the fresh meat was sleeping on the floor below. Fresh-meat, as in the new blood among the sorcerers. Anassa absolutely refused to honour them with the official rank until they had been tested in battle. ¡®Even rats can be made to practice¡¯ she had said. Eliza slammed open the door with Fleur close behind her as Lyca was brewing the morning coffee. He had never considered himself a coffee person, but then those short months under Anassa pushed him further than the other twenty years of his life. ¡°You¡¯re making coffee NOW?!¡± Eliza screamed at him. Lyca smelled the cup, the indicated to the window with it. Outside, Fortia¡¯s army was approaching. Trying to at least, they had pushed down the hill towards Melukal and then come across the minefield. Now, there were two craters in the ground, some twenty bodies, and the rest of the men stood still in fright and shock. Fortia was on the hill, surveying the battlefield in what seemed to be confusion as to why her men were exploding. There was another file of men coming down the road. ¡°Here, I made one for you.¡± Lyca said as he pointed to the other three cups on the counter. Whoever had lived here before did like their coffee, it was an excellent taste. He turned back to the window and watched. Past the sign-post they went, then it would happen in three. Two. One. Another explosion. Asphalt and sand and blood and bodies sprayed in all directions. A gust of wind came to sweep the fog away. Magical winds, normal winds didn¡¯t throw dust up into the air, into a ball, and then deposit it to the side of the road. That column of troops, all in their golden armours, came to a stop. The men at the front didn¡¯t look so vibrant when they were coated with dust and slathered with blood. Two men turned and retreated immediately. Smart choice. Lyca sipped his coffee and snapped his fingers. There was a crash downstairs, a few curses, then one man shouted loudly through the floor. ¡°We¡¯re awake!¡± He snapped his fingers again. Another crash. The voice shouted again. ¡°Boss!¡± There we go. Lyca smiled to himself as he sipped the cup. ¡°I still don¡¯t know how you do that.¡± Eliza said as she came to stand by the window. Anassa had given them permission to wear their own clothes as long as they looked good. It was a simple rule, much better than Kassandora¡¯s mandated dress code. Lyca himself wore a white shirt and trousers, the belt had been swapped with an expensive leather one he found in this apartment. Edmonton wore the same, but with a jacket over it. Fleur, the ever diligent student rather predictably, wore a dress that emulated Anassa¡¯s, but without so much skin showing. Eliza had gone for the classic, white shirt, skirt, and jacket over it. Her hair was tied back into the ponytail Lyca had told her was cute. And then they were all given heartstone rings to wear. Anassa said they were a crutch, but that crutches were sometimes needed when legs didn¡¯t work. The fresh-meat didn¡¯t get crutches. ¡°You just feel it.¡± That was the most honest advice he could give. He simply knew he¡¯d hit the furniture and not his men, and he didn¡¯t think about it any further than that. Sorcery really was a simple thing. ¡°When are we moving out?¡± Edmonton said as a couch moved to the glass pane. He crashed down on it, the coffee in his hand didn¡¯t even spill a drop. Fleur clicked her tongue in annoyance, but she sat down too. ¡°When we see mages. We¡¯re not to push them to be fast. If they spend a week trying to figure out the minefield then we spend a week watching them.¡± Eliza shook her head and laughed to herself. ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°I just remembered when we helped Fer that first time.¡± She said quietly. ¡°I was nervous then. And now?¡± She moved her cup and spilled a few drops of coffee. Sorcery caught the brown liquid in the air and put it back. ¡°That¡¯s an army there and we¡¯re having our morning brew.¡± She laughed to herself. Lyca smiled at that thought, how times have changed. Eliza eventually took another sip of her drink. ¡°Also, more hedgehogs arrived yesterday in the evening. Sokolowski sent a note.¡± ¡°How many?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°He said fifty.¡± ¡°Then twenty minutes of work.¡± Lyca replied as he watched that army stand. Fortia finally decided to move. She slowly walked forwards until she met with the front ranks of her men. The right side had stopped their advance entirely upon seeing what happened to the front and left. She made some hand gestures and the frontline started to pull back. They were replaced by men and women in colourful robes. Anassa had told them: White, black or red. Nothing else. Now seeing an array of mages, Lyca understood why. It was a disgusting mismatch of colours, and it revealed exactly who was who. The pyromancers wore reds and oranges, the few geomancers among them wore browns, in various dull or vivid shades. Fires started to burst out over the sand as they waved their staves. ¡°That¡¯s our signal.¡± Lyca said, he quickly downed the rest of the cup. The heat set off five hedgehogs. The mages took a step forward and repeated. They weren¡¯t fast and at this rate, they¡¯d take a day or two to scour the area entirely, but Lyca didn¡¯t spend a day planting the landmines in order for mages to manually blow them up. Lyca was about to move when four explosions reverberated through the city. From the south. The mages stopped in confusion, one man raised a finger pointing up. Fortia started shouting, her spear blurring out of reality as she made motion after motion with her hands. A blue shield appeared above them. Four more explosions boomed across Melukal and Lyca heard whistling through the air. And then fire. More explosions and more fire that burned with a tar-like black smoke. Lyca had seen the Binturong artillery back in the main camp when it went to clear the Jungle in the west, and now he saw it being used on men. Tried to at least. Fortia¡¯s men started pulling back as more mages, interspersed throughout the crowds of men started to raise staffs. Winds started to blow, blue shields of pure energy built up layer of layer above the troops. And the second round of shells of hit. Like the first, they didn¡¯t touch the desert sands, they exploded on impact with shields the magicians raised and spewed flaming jelly into a flood of fire. Lyca listened for a third volley, there was none. Sokolowski had only ordered two then. He passed the cup to Eliza. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going out into that.¡± She said flatly. ¡°Who dares, wins.¡± Lyca took a step back and snapped his fingers. The large glass window opened up for him and the winds started blowing everyone¡¯s cloths. Fleur made an angry face as she made a wave of her hands and the wind stopped touching her hair. ¡°Kassandora did say to go with lots of lights assaults and avoid heavy engagements.¡± Edmonton said from the couch as he stood up, shook his arms and yawned. ¡°She also said not to deploy everyone at the same time.¡± Fleur replied. ¡°Then you two stay here, we¡¯re going out.¡± Lyca said to the girls as winds howled through the room. There was no reason to wait for Edmonton, Anassa trained them in combat arts but she didn¡¯t force a particular style on anyone. Killing was killing, there was little else to it, she had said. How the meal was prepared didn¡¯t matter as long as it was edible. Edmonton had a more methodical way of fighting. One reminiscent of the duels in Arcadia, but faster obviously. And with actual intention behind it. And Lyca? Lyca reached the wall as Eliza stepped out of the way. Those large brown eyes looked at him, she mouthed a quiet ¡®be careful¡¯ and Lyca kicked off. Across the room he sprinted and launched into the air. A kick off edge sent him spinning backwards and he snapped his fingers. The windows of the room his team was staying in exploded into fine mist of glass that fell onto the empty street below. His team started to jump out of the building immediately. Good, Fer had been correct when she shared with Lyca how to instil discipline. Edmonton was methodical, but Lyca had that wolf inside him. He had actually gone to Fer for advice on tactics. Fer had been absolutely delighted to share her thoughts on what constituted a battle. ¡°Wolves!¡± That was the name he had chosen for his team. ¡°Today we hunt!¡± And Lyca launched into the air.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Sokolowski turned left when he heard glass shatter. He thought it was counter-artillery for a moment but it was just the sorcerers. Wiktor¡¯s camera was snapping photos immediately. Twelve more cursed souls jumped out from the below as the leader shot up into the air. He stopped for a moment, mid-way between his tower and the frontlines as his men caught up to him. And then they dived down. And Sokolowski found a new term in his mind for that style of fighting: ¡®human artillery¡¯. Two red balls spiralled around Lyca as cascaded through the air, feet first. Anassa had taught them all how to break through magical barriers, it was a simple principle, as simple as popping a balloon with a needle. Concentrate your energies into as sharp a point as possible, and then stab it with everything you had. You just needed surety of yourself, and Lyca had more than enough of that. He had bit a God before after all, what was simply breaking through a shield? The two spheres arced down just before impact, elongated to become swords, then joined. They touched the shining blue barrier with its hundred men staring up at Lyca. Spears already pointed forwards, shields raised and ready, but eyes filled nothing but pure shock and disbelief. And Lyca felt the shock of that shield. It wasn¡¯t as strong as Anassa¡¯s, but with the amount of mages supporting it¡­ He¡­ No. Sorcery needed surety. He wasn¡¯t about to doubt himself. A second spike of sorcerous energies touched the shield from the first man in his team. And a second. And a third. And a fourth. And the shield popped. Disappeared like a balloon with the sound of shattering glass. Immediately the sounds from the other side came through. Orders being shouted, calls to retreat and pull back and reorganize. Calls from magicians who hadn¡¯t realized what was going on yet. Shouts and pained moans from men who had been injured by the hedgehogs. And then screams as the shield holding up the burning napalm disappeared. The jelly dropped onto armour and skin and sand and burned it all. Lyca¡¯s ring started blazing red as he smelled blood. The wolf inside him started to howl, his arm swept through the air and sorcery followed. Anassa would be damn proud of her student. A wolf¡¯s paw of red followed his motion before him, tearing through the men as Lyca¡¯s other hand burst out in his magical flames. One of Fortia¡¯s Guardians raised his shield, his feet dug into the sand and he braced for impact against that claw. It smashed into him, knocked him down, and then the man got up. Spear already in hand and thrusting towards Lyca. A red beam from the severed his hand, then a red blade split the man clean in two. The blade started to flow like a snake, jumping from man to man as the Guardians started to fall. Edmonton¡¯s work that. Lyca wouldn¡¯t let the man have the better of him. He turned to four mages who had formed a communion circle. Anassa had told them of it, but not trained them in sorcery¡¯s equivalent yet. Three souls poured their energies into the woman they surrounded. She was dressed in blue, her staff tipped off with a large blue sapphire. A tremendous spike of ice materialized above her as she pulled water from the air and froze it. It would have been a powerful attack if she managed to get it off. But she didn¡¯t. Lyca took a step and the gap was closed in an instant. Anassa had explained the principle behind it and they used it before, when they rescued Fer. And Lyca slammed his fist into that blue dress, the witch¡¯s eyes bulged, the blood drained from her face and then she coughed. Lyca pulled his hand away as his sorcery split the woman in half at the waist. The top part of her body slowly slid off. Lyca didn¡¯t let up, there were still three mages around him. Two were pyromancers dressed in vivid reds and warm oranges, shawls hanging down to their feet. And the last was an aeromancer in dull grey. Those were exceptionally dangerous, with blades of air that could split men in half with a mere flick of their staff. Three mages, who, if trained, would have reacted immediately and turned him to ash. But they didn¡¯t. They didn¡¯t and he did. Lyca snapped his fingers, a thin red band appeared around him. He snapped his fingers again. It shattered into shards, red dashes in the air that Anassa had taught them to make. In her words, sorcery was used to paint reality. How they wanted to paint was by up to them. Lyca snapped his fingers a third time as the mages started to realise what was going on. One of the men had a fireball in his hands, the other simply waved his staff forwards and fire exploded underneath Lyca. It would have been a good trick if Lyca had never been trained in pyromancy. Whether through sheer luck or the whims of fate though, he was. The flames exploded in a cone around him that he guided away with his own mind. This magician was simply generating them on the ground rather than controlling them. Anassa had much higher standards for her pupils than that. The red shards around Lyca burst outwards. They ravaged through the nearby guardians, slicing through armour and shield as if it was paper. The unprotected mages around fell as a pattern of holes and cuts and tears tore their bodies apart. Lyca took a breath and smelled the blood. He had to keep that wolf within him under control, if it came out, he¡¯d fight until they finally felled him. A drop of blood landed on his lips, his tongue greedily lapped it up, realised what he was doing and spat it out. No. Lyca sidestepped a guardian with a spear, raised his hands to counterattack, then spun when someone from Edmonton¡¯s team fired a red beam from above and burned a hole through the man¡¯s chest. Two more guardians fell, sliced open by another blast of sorcery. Lyca roared as he smelled mage-blood. He kicked off into the air and saw the target, a mage with charred clothes and burn marks over her body. He twisted in the air, kicked off nothing and slammed down into her. The life left her eyes as her head was buried in the sand. Lyca didn¡¯t take the time to savour his kill, he jumped into the air and put up a shield to block a hail of sand. The magician casting it was cut down by Edmonton. His team in the air was split half on defence, half on sniping targets of interest. Lyca looked at the burning napalm around him and pulled away, it bubbled and ruptured on the ground and spat little drops of fire in all directions. It would be time to pull back soon, Fortia wouldn¡¯t re-engage before the evening after this, hopefully not until next day. Lyca looked at the hill he had last seen the Goddess of Peace on. Where was she anyway? Fortia turned as she gazed on in stunned silence at the chaos that was engulfing her forces. Thirteen sorcerers, only one measly team on the ground, then only one supporting them from the air. And they brought so much damage. She raised her hand, her spear rematerialized within her grip. Children, the lot of them. ¡°LYCA!¡± Edmonton¡¯s voice boomed through the air. ¡°PULL OUT! SHE¡¯S APPROACHING!¡± Lyca heard the wolf inside him growl, the hairs stand up, he knew that meant to duck. It had saved him in training, it had saved him in Arcadia, it had been useful during Anassa¡¯s rescue. And it saved him again as he trusted his instincts, simply slackened his legs and fell onto the sand. A golden spear through the area where he had been standing. He rolled over and his eyes caught the figure immediately. A giant walking in gleaming golden armour, men rallying behind her. With each step, it seemed as if the sand was simply getting duller and retreating from the grandeur of that Divine. ¡°PULL BACK!¡± Lyca shouted to his team. A few disengaged immediately, a few launched into the air after finishing off whoever they had been fighting. He saw the woman raise her hand, the spear reappeared in her hand. She adopted a throwing posture once again. Lyca got to his feet and adopted a fighting stance, one ready to dodge. Those cold eyes of gold looked over to him and the woman smiled. She twisted her stomach, pulled her arm back, the golden gaze focused on Lyca, that smile dropped. The sand exploded in a wave as she launched that spear. Faster than magic, faster than mortal sorcery, the only time Lyca had ever seen that speed was when he faced Anassa herself. His body worked by itself, he twisted, he raised a barrier, he heard Kassandora¡¯s voice in his head. Don¡¯t try to block Fortia, she¡¯s too powerful in a frontal assault, move the spear, force it to the side. You may achieve that. He couldn¡¯t even see the spear in that instant, he merely forced another wave of sorcery to sweep to the side. A barrier appeared before him, Edmonton¡¯s and not his, like a curling wall that intended to divert the flight path rather than catch the spear. Lyca grunted and fell as he felt his sorcery make contact with Fortia¡¯s spear, it was stronger and faster than any of Anassa¡¯s attacks during training. And it had the full intention to kill. Lyca dropped to the ground again as Edmonton¡¯s shield shattered in the next instant. Several beams came from above and were reflected back into the cloudless blue desert sky above. Lyca jumped to his feet and glanced at his team. Four, four and four. Twelve. He lifted into the air as a hail of ice assaulted the location he had just been standing on. The sand pirouetted up to meet him. Just magic, a barrier blocked that. Fleur and Eliza rose with their teams behind Edmonton¡¯s as Lyca retreated back into the city. Fortia came to a stop just before the landmine field. ¡°She is strong.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°Kassandora said she can¡¯t fly.¡± Fleur raised her shield. ¡°She¡¯s looking at us.¡± Eliza said as her team formed a collective barrier. Lyca turned to look at his men, then at glanced at Fortia again. She stood there in silence as she watched them. The spear reappeared in her hand as she looked at Lyca¡¯s team. ¡°EVADE!¡± Lyca shouted to his men. Two men started to slalom immediately, others dropped, more raised altitude. And one man fell. The spear caught him, tore his chest and pulled him along into the sky. ¡°RAISE BARRIERS!¡± Eliza shouted. ¡°ALL TOGETHER!¡± Explosions rung from the south of the city. Sokolowski¡¯s artillery fired a volley. Fortia looked up at them, raised her hand, the golden spear rematerialized. Clean, as if it didn¡¯t just completely tear a man apart. Fifty one sorcerers joined together to raise a shield. A barrier of such thick red it almost matched Anassa¡¯s own magic, each man and woman poured in all their energies. Lyca could barely even see through that glinted red glass. ¡°HOLD IT!¡± Edmonton shouted. Fortia twisted and threw with her whole body. The sand arrow her went up in swirling winds. The sound barrier cracked. The spear tip touched the shield. Lyca poured everything he had into it. The barrier cracked immediately, the spear barely even slowed down. One man sorcerer went up into the air, dragged by the spear into only Divines-knew-where. A gaping hole through his chest, an arc of blood over the entirety of Melukal. Lyca stared down at Fortia in horror. She looked up, shook her head, and then jumped back. Moments later, Sokolowski¡¯s artillery scorched the sand where she had stood. ¡°Retreat, back to the barracks!¡± Edmonton shouted, his team hurriedly escaped low to behind the buildings. The others quickly followed. They had bought a day, they inflicted a few hundred casualties, and they lost 4% of their total strength. The smile disappeared from Lyca¡¯s mouth as he realised Anassa had only been trifling with them. She had only given them what they could take, and Lyca had thought he could match her. He looked back at Fortia. The Goddess of Peace was stood on the hill, spear already in her hand, sunlight reflecting off her golden armour as she surveyed the battlefield. Mages and Guardians lay dead on that sand. Burning napalm still raged and hissed as steel cracked and melted underneath the heat. A hedgehog randomly exploded from the searing flames. Another one followed. One day down, six days left. Sokolowski would have his week. Lyca¡¯s gaze trailed back to Fortia. She had turned around already and was disappearing behind that dune of sand. He thought of Anassa and then Fortia. He had faired much in training than in battle. He thought about the training again. Were they actually so overwhelming that even fifty of them couldn¡¯t even make them break a sweat? He silently swore to himself to one day match that sheer power. Chapter 145 – A Week-Long Siege Kassandora studied the images of the battle Wiktor had sent her. Digital technology was truly a blessing, in the past, she would learn about battles a month after they were done. Now, she could see exactly what was going on as it was happening. Fortia¡¯s army had come in expecting rifle-fire. Tight ranks like that with the heavy tower-shields were used in the past to block musket volleys. Kassandora wanted one of those shields for testing. They hadn¡¯t expected the landmines. Good, now they¡¯d take it slower. She crossed out one day on her calendar: Seven days left until Sandfire began. ¡°Police have taken over all evacuation measures. Everyone is at the frontlines now. Two teams of sorcerers are starting to lay hedgehogs under the roads and in buildings.¡± Pawel recounted what he just heard on the radio and then brought out a map of the city. Some of the structures and roads were shaded in red. ¡°This is the regions they¡¯re doing.¡± He took a breath. ¡°And Fortia sent an ambassador to us.¡± Pawel reported as he re-entered the room that had made up the observation outpost. Damian was stood there, in his green shorts and a t-shirt to match. His halberd lay propped up against the way, next to the weaponry of the other three men in the room. At first, Sokolowski had silently questioned the fact Kassandora had not sent them with rifles. He understood the reasoning of safeguarding the design, but that didn¡¯t mean he had to like it. Now, he had just watched that fight between Anassa¡¯s sorcerers and Fortia. This viewpoint had given him an excellent sight of the action, and it had quelled whatever ideas he had about shooting Fortia in some ambush. If those fifty sorcerers had descended upon his forces, then his forces would have been wiped out no matter how well armed they were. And those fifty sorcerers didn¡¯t even lay a scratch on Fortia¡¯s armour. Sokolowski turned to Pawel. ¡°She did?¡± Honestly, it was shocking. Why would she contact him? What was she wanting? Peace? ¡°What did she say?¡± ¡°She sent this for you.¡± Pawel pulled out a letter from his pocket. It had an uncracked seal on it of gold wax, a dove carrying a spear stamped across it. Damian read the letter immediately: Dear General Sokolowski. I know not what Kassandora¡¯s tactics has taught you but I will provide you a lesson from myself. At 15:00 today, stretcher-bearers will enter the frontlines, I declare a truce until tomorrow¡¯s dawn. These men will pick up our dead and leave. This is currently a clean and honourable war, I do not plan to raze your city, or this nation, nor will I harm the civilian population. Eventually, you will be sentenced but your actions now will decide whether the price you pay will be temporary or permanent. If you open fire upon them, or if the sorcerers make a move, then I will consider you a threat akin to Kassandora. The other White Pantheon Divines are not far off, I am sure you aware of their positions. This will no longer be a clean war. The dead demand their respect. Damian had to re-read it twice to actually believe it. Sometimes, fortune did smile upon him. ¡°What does it say?¡± Wiktor asked, he took a picture of the envelope with its broken seal on the floor using that bulky camera of his. ¡°She wants a truce.¡± Damian put the letter down on the table and the men got to reading it immediately. Wiktor took a picture of that too. ¡°Are we taking it?¡± Pawel asked. Damian stared at that hill. Teams of Guardians in their golden glinting armour were stood there, watching the city. Frankly, Sokolowski could not believe his luck. He even chuckled to himself, Kassandora¡¯s warplan Sandfire only needed time. What better way to get time than when people gave it away for free! ¡°Of course we¡¯re taking it! Radio the sorcerers, tell them not to even think about raising a finger against them.¡± Day One: Today, there was a big fight outside the city! I was told to stay away from the windows but I still snuck with Azizi to watch. There was lots of explosions and people flying the air. Then lots of fire. They made this big red plate that shattered. It was very loud!... ¡­I like writing. So I¡¯ll write what is going in my city everyday from now on! One day, I might even sell this diary, papa said that people buy diaries and to keep writing. He likes it when I write and he¡¯s very proud of me for writing so much, although he can¡¯t even read! Then I¡¯ll buy a house! :) And I¡¯ll get a cat too! I like cats! I¡¯ve been flo following Fer on YapYap, she sometimes writes about how to por properly raise animals! I¡¯ll raise the best cat ever! - Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya Lyca cut down ten more guardians as they filed onto the sand. It was a different tactic today. Mages in front, men armed with bows behind. Fortia herself was leading from the front but they could adapt just as well as she did. Well¡­ Sokolowski could at least. He had watched the first battle and sent a report of tactics to be used for when Fortia appeared. Fleur¡¯s team was currently the one closest to the Goddess, and they were hidden behind the buildings. Every few seconds, a chunk of building, scraps of someone¡¯s car, a hail of glass or whatever other makeshift projectile could be salvaged from the city, was sent in a high arc from Fleur¡¯s team and towards the frontline. Most of them missed, the ones that didn¡¯t were blocked by magical shields. But they forced Fortia to hold at the front lines, that was the important part. The Goddess was too powerful to engage, so they simply would not. Instead, Eliza¡¯s team had taken the far west, Edmonton¡¯s the far east. Lyca and Fleur were assigned to the middle sections of the city today, with a good mile of distance in between them. There were no more pushes into the open, none of that first-day action. Lyca snapped his fingers. The wall of the closest building collapsed and he disappeared into it, a storm of arrows quickly followed him but they were easy enough to dodge. Even the fresh-meat could avoid them. Only small attacks were to be done, to disrupt mages from pushing further onto the minefield and inflict safe casualties on the Guardians. Then they were to pull back and hold for another opening. A howling wind swept through Lyca¡¯s team and the ground split. A tower block started to collapse as the ground ruptured and swayed like waves on a coastline. Lyca stared at the building for a moment for a moment. It was an ugly tower of concrete painted yellow, flat topped with a mist of glass around it now that the windows had all simultaneously erupted. Why was it going forwards? He would have sent it to domino into another building and not into the minefield¡­ Oh. Lyca raised his hands and barked an order to his men. ¡°DESTROY THAT TOWER!¡± A slash of sorcery stabbed into in the building. The men realised quickly enough what they were targeting, and they were taught by Anassa not to ask questions. Eleven more beams slammed into that as it slowly leaned. Then again, and again. Stone cracked and exploded, glass shattered into mist, the abandoned furniture inside set alight from the heat. The foundations gave way and the building toppled downwards instead of forwards. They would not be building any bridges over his minefield today. Day Two: Today, there was big battle outside! I saw it with Azizi and Papa, we were watching through the window. On the other side of the city, the BIG towers were falling over. Papa was scared, he tried to hide it, but I knew he was scared. He didn¡¯t say anything and he usually talks a lot! Mama and Papa had a talk about leaving. Mama doesn¡¯t want to leave, they were shouting at each other all day. Papa says they should. I know there¡¯s more people here who have not gone either and the police came around today. They were all very grumpy that we were still here. They shouted at Papa too. I overheard them, someone said that they do not have enough trucks for everything here and that it is only one suitcase per person. I am a good girl and Papa said to be prepared for everything, so I already have my bag packed. Toothbrush, teddy, clothes. Is there anything I forgot? I don¡¯t think so. I am not scared though. We have lots of soldiers on the street. They are checking buildings for people and making sure that the water still flows. - Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya Damian lit up a cigarette as he stared outside. It was day three of Fortia¡¯s assaults. Day three was much the same as the days one and two. Fortia¡¯s army appeared in the morning. Mages were sent out to clear the minefield, Fortia¡¯s Guardians were sent in to support them with heavy shields. The Goddess must have been expecting to face gunfire, it was the only thing that made sense. But there were no guns, there were sorcerers instead. The second day. Eliza¡¯s team had lost a man and Edmonton¡¯s lost another. They had grumbled and complained to Damian over that. What was he supposed to do? How many men had died underneath him? When the Twin Hearts still existed as a Divine Order under Kavaa then every expedition into the Jungle had a casualty rate of one-in-five. He took a long drag and shook his head. Youth was a blessing, but there was a blessing that the young shouldn¡¯t be made into leaders. Passion was a beautiful thing, but for every part of it that was beautiful was a part that was dangerous and self-destructive. Although who was he to talk? His own soldiers were still merely camping a street deep into the city. They were the ones laying hedgehogs now. In buildings mainly. Against magicians, soldiers would need the advantage of surprise and ambush. Against Fortia herself¡­ Damian was merely glad that the woman could not fly or move about too quickly. She hadn¡¯t taken anything less than a scratch. So they sat, and so the sorcerers fought, the only support Damian could give them was the Binturong artillery, and even that not so much anymore. Two days, maybe eighty rounds apiece, and one of the vehicles was already experiencing failure. Something the engineers grumbled about, but apparently it could be fixed with what meagre equipment they had here. Kassandora had only told them that the Binturongs were to be destroyed and she wasn¡¯t going to send spare parts. Fortia¡¯s army came in differently this time. In small teams. A half-dozen mages each, supported by men with lighter shields. They moved quickly down the hill, approaching the landmines and deflecting or blocking the sorcerer¡¯s attacks as they went. ¡°Give the signal to open fire with the Binturongs.¡± Damian told Pawel, the man gave an aye-aye of affirmation and disappeared into the other room to radio the commands. The Binturongs hit, only three explosions this time. Fortia was adapting to this as well. Instead of trying to block the shells, the fires were contained by shields and then dropped onto the ground by the defending mages. The sorcerers kept up their assault. Two of Fortia¡¯s teams were overwhelmed in organized volleys, but that only put a dent into the offensive. ¡°Do we have high-explosive shells?¡± Damian asked as he watched holes open up in the ground. The burning napalm was simply swallowed up by the sand. The tar-like black smoke of it disappeared. Whether it burned underground or was put out¡­ Damian imagined neither he nor Fortia cared much. She had found a way to counter it. ¡°The sappers are using them.¡± Damian sighed. ¡°Using how?¡± ¡°Sets of four shells bundled together.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Replace one with a napalm shell then, have the HE be ready for tomorrow.¡± Another team was overwhelmed in the distance. Damian had told the sorcerers to spread out instead of conglomerating like at the start. It saved their lives and it one flank from clearing the minefield too quickly. Another team got overwhelmed on the other side. One of the sorcerers had conjured a gleaming red blade from the sky and brought it smashing down upon a team getting close the field. It pierced through the barrier, and then a dozen red beams erupted from various windows inside buildings to cut the attackers inside down. And a hedgehog exploded. Not from being stepped on. Fires burst out over the desert sands and raced down towards the city. They stopped just before reaching the buildings, but the goal was obvious. They were going to cook the mines to force them to explode. Sokolowski took his binoculars and inspected those teams, then he looked up at Fortia on the hill. She was staring down from her hill with a smile as her forces kept working. Two more of her teams got overwhelmed. Then another. A fourth and a fifth. It was all the sorcerer¡¯s work, the Binturongs were ineffective entirely, burning napalm was buried as soon as it set alight. And the four Binturongs didn¡¯t even matter at the end of the day, Fortia could afford these smaller losses, ten teams were less than a hundred and fifty people. The sorcerer that had been sent to track said she came in with more than a hundred thousand behind her. One magician dragged up the sand around him and conglomerated it into a ball of stone. He sent it forwards. It got hurled towards a building, a wave of sorcery burst through glass and shattered brick to meet that stone in mid-air. The crimson magic disappeared upon impact, the stone exploded into a hundred pieces. One. Two. Three. Damian lost count to the amount of hedgehogs that exploded in that moment. That team was cut down promptly by a counterattack. But he saw it immediately, and if he saw, then Fortia would see it too. He looked over to Fortia through his binoculars. The Goddess of Peace, in her gleaming armour, was staring at that location. She turned and talked to a magician next to her. Another stone was created from sand, and then launched in an arc at the ground. The sorcerers ignored it. It obviously wasn¡¯t going to hit the city and they had greater things to worry about. It impacted into the middle of the minefield, rolled a short distance and then hit a hedgehog. It went up in a great explosion of sand. Damian turned back to Fortia. The blue monocoloured flag was already up, he had figured that out as her retreat order. The teams slowly started pulling away. A few sorcerers shot off angry blasts against the attackers, but they largely stopped as soon as they noticed the retreat. The stretcher bearers started to come down immediately. Fortia, Damian had to give it to her, was honourable. She would watch the retreat, watch her men recover her wounded and lost, and she wouldn¡¯t attempt to push until tomorrow. But tomorrow, Damian already knew what would happen. She would be launching stones onto the field from a distance. With the minefield cleared, her army would be able to spill into the city. With her army there, she would enter. If she entered, there was no chance they would be able to even slow her down, much less stop her entirely. HE shells would not do. He started to think of a way to stall her as his sappers set Melukal to blow. Day Three: Today, there was another battle. There were less people outside and they came in small groups. There were some explosions too, and fire. Papa has rang the neighbour and we have a car now! I think we¡¯re only borrowing it though. Maybe he is a thief? I do not think so though. Papa always talks about how you should not steal. I think we are ready to go. Mama still does not want to. She says that everyone she knows was born here and she does not think we will ever return. Of course we will return though! We have so many people on our side. Ka¡­ Ka¡­ I do not know how to spell her name, but everyone knows her. I just call her Red-Hair because she has really pretty red hair and is on our side. She is supposed to be the best ever! - Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya Eliza stared at Lyca, Edmonton and Fleur as they all jumped up from the couch in shock. ¡°He wants us to play fight?¡± Fleur barked angrily. What was difficult to understand about that? ¡°Yes!¡± Eliza angrily slammed his fists against her hips as she stared at the three. ¡°We go high up into the air and hold a training session! That¡¯s what it is.¡± ¡°And why?¡± Edmonton asked. Only Lyca listened to her without questioning the words out loud, but it was obvious that he was just as doubtful as they were. ¡°Because, he said.¡± Eliza didn¡¯t bother to keep the lecturer out of her tone. Sometimes, she thought they were all far smarter than her and yet sometimes they had situations like this, were a solution was right in front of their noses and they simply went blind, deaf, smell-less and stupid. ¡°If she sees us fighting, she won¡¯t want to attack today. If we look like we¡¯re falling apart, she¡¯ll just let us fall apart because, he predicts that she will think, if she attacks when we mutiny that will rally us.¡± ¡°But we¡¯re not mutinying though.¡± Fleur said. Eliza exhaled a sigh. How was Fleur such an excellent student, and yet she could not grasp this? It was a marvellous plan. She looked over to Lyca. That questioning look had dropped from his eyes and he was nodding along. ¡°It may work if we put on a good show.¡± Edmonton said slowly as he thought about the idea. ¡°I have two men I don¡¯t like.¡± Lyca said as he stood up. ¡°We¡¯ll make it a good show.¡± Day Four: Today there was a battle again but it was up in the air! The sorcerers were fighting amongst themselves! It lasted a really long time! They knocked down some buildings and then finally one of the big sorcerers finally killed two others! I just couldn¡¯t believe it! - Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya Damian stared down at Fortia¡¯s letter. It had come not by ambassador, but by giant rock hurled into the city last night¡¯s evening. Very smart General. I honestly thought you were having a mutiny on your hands. Give Kassandora my compliments, she has indeed taught you well. Damian sighed and put the note into his pocket. He would in fact show it to Kassandora when he returned to report on this situation. ¡°Pawel! Send word to the sorcerers, no show today! Tell them to prepare against rocks!¡± ¡°Understood boss!¡± Day Five: Today was scary! I was watching with Azizi and Papa and Mama through the window. There was lots of rocks and explosions! I don¡¯t know what they were doing, but we had our sorcerer friends try to protect us! They would shoot with their red magic at the rocks and then explode them in the air, but there just so many! Azizi thought it was raining rocks at one point. Soldiers came round today too. They said we should leave but they were very nice, one of them gave me a chocolate! :) Then Papa and Mama had an argument again. Papa said he is going to take us, no matter what she says. Mama still wants to stay, she said that as long as we do not try to stop Fortia, we will be fine. I do not know who was right or not, I just do not want them to shout at each again. - Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya ¡°Sokolowski has told his troops to ready for battle. Fortia is moving in too.¡± Fleur said. The fact the General preferred meeting with Fleur and Eliza annoyed Lyca and Edmonton, but last time Lyca had gone to see him, they had an argument in which Lyca threatened to kill everyone under command. Edmonton was even worse apparently, the one meeting Ed had gone to, Sokolowski had sent a letter an official letter of complaint. Lyca didn¡¯t get that. Edmonton had only said he tried to scare the man. ¡°This is the final day, isn¡¯t it?¡± Ed asked. ¡°It is.¡± Fleur said. ¡°He told me already, they¡¯re pulling out soon, and we¡¯re going with them.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Binturong duty?¡± Edmonton asked. They all looked at each other, quirking smiles at the farce of it. ¡°Do those pieces of shit still work?¡± Lyca laughed out loud. They all did. The Binturongs were amazing for all of two days. Then from what Lyca had heard, there were oil leaks, engine malfunctions, one vehicle had somehow managed to lose its track during a turn. Another had pneumatic problems and wouldn¡¯t lift the barrel. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Eliza leaned in sweetly and cooed. ¡°But I wanted to.¡± ¡°We both can then. First come first serve.¡± Lyca leaned into her shoulder. ¡°Then I¡¯ll retreat with my team south west and Fleur do south east, split up so they can¡¯t give chase.¡± Day Six: Today was even scarier! Everything was chaos. Papa left for most of the day and came back with an injured arm. He said it was just something called¡­ I do not how to spell the word. Shrapnel <- Mama helped me spell it. Shrapnel. There were explosions in the streets. I saw people fight together with swords. Magicians and sorcerers were all flying in the air shooting at each other. And I saw Fortia too! She was huge! I think our Red-hair is better than her though, but she was really big! I saw people run from her, she did not even chase them. Just walked from place to place. I understand though, I would be scared of her too. She was SOOOO big! Bigger than Papa, I am sure of it. - Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya From Binturongs to explosives. What was worse? Filip, rather frankly, did not know. The Binturongs had fresh air, but they were an endless task. You fixed them and then they broke down immediately. These explosives were a dirty job, he had to wear heavy clothes and leaking waterproof boots in the sewers, with only a flashlight crudely strapped to his helmet for light, but at least these had an end. And that end came with this set of artillery shells. He plastered the explosive material around the shells that were sellotaped together. Honestly, it didn¡¯t even look like anything dangerous, a block of this could be mistaken for a block of some old cheese. But he handled it with care, careful not to spark a light or anything like that. The torch on his head did little to provide light down in these sewers, but it was finally over. With this last addition. He pulled out an old flip-phone. An abomination of a flip-phone actually, with its back exposed and two wires hanging loose. One end got stuck into the putty, then the other. It was done. He had been careful when he started, putting it in slowly and steadily but somewhere around the two-thousand mark, he simply wanted the job over with. Now, he handled the compound with about as much care as he would handle the cheese it was so reminiscent of. He put a black trash bag over the device and started walking away. From above, the sound of heavy vehicles riding away was coming through the ground. The fighting hadn¡¯t reached the south of the city yet. The General had been right in setting the bombs in the north and centre first. Time to report back to Sokolowski. The sewers were ready. Sandfire could be initiated whenever. Day Seven: Everyone is leaving. A soldier told mama that today is the last day and to pack up. Mama has packed us up FINALLY. I really don¡¯t know what to write right now. Mama has said not to be scared but I think she is crying in the over room. We¡¯re going to Auntie¡¯s. She lives near the seaside, it¡¯s a long journey. Last time, we went through a plane but this time, I think we¡¯ll go by car. One of the soldiers came in and took pictures of everything. He took a picture of me too, I showed off my diary to him. He photographed every page! I am going to be famous one day! Hahaha <- That¡¯s me laughing at the thought of it :) I have my list of things to take! I¡¯ve written it down. I am sure Auntie will be proud of me for how well I write! She always has chocolates at her house. I hope she gives me some. - The Last Recorded Entry from the Diary of Tisha Msuya. ¡°Sapper teams have finished. I just got the final report.¡± Pawel shouted from the other room. ¡°Issue a full retreat to the men.¡± Damian replied. ¡°Keep it orderly, pull them out squad by squad. Deadline to be out of the city is tomorrow noon. It¡¯s a hard cut off. Anyone who hasn¡¯t reported by then will be added to the casualty lists.¡± Fortia held out her spear to hold her men from chasing after Kassandora¡¯s soldiers. It wouldn¡¯t be a good look for them if they were recorded by the civilians chasing men down, and they didn¡¯t bring any cavalry here so it¡¯d be difficult to catch up anyway. In the desert sands, horses were only a hindrance anyway, you needed hard ground to field the heavy charges of the past and she had never much liked skirmish tactics. Not that they weren¡¯t effective. But the Goddess of Peace had always liked to use overwhelming force to win a battle quickly rather than drag battles out for weeks. Melukal was a perfect example of that. Kassandora was playing nice too, she didn¡¯t even blow the train station. No doubt they¡¯d have a public relation issue later when they arrested her, was she actually betting on fighting a clean war and getting a reward for that? Fortia laughed to herself. Let her think it. Fortia would fight cleanly in return. They¡¯d settle this like Divines and peace would return to Arda. Frankly, the woman should be pulled out once a century to lead a little uprising like this. Peace became dull when you didn¡¯t have to fight for it. Kassandora was putting up a good fight though! Those sorcerers were effective for what they were, the artillery had been dangerous until it broke down. The mines were a devious little invention. But devious little inventions did not stop an army. Fortia turned back to Melukal with a smile on her face. A week-long siege! That was one for the history books! And with only eighteen hundred losses! It was almost too easy, but the men deserved a rest today anyway. What a victory! Kassandora had been staring at her phone for past two hours. The call finally came through. ¡®2 Sokolowski¡¯ flashed across her phone. Finally. She answered immediately, the man didn¡¯t even get a chance to introduce himself. ¡°Kassandora, status report Sokolowski?¡± ¡°We¡¯re ready, they¡¯ve secured Melukal. Sandfire is ready to go, have we got the green light?¡± Kassandora leaned and closed her eyes, her chair leaned back and she almost fell over with nothing but pure glee. She tried to imagine Fortia right now. What was the woman thinking? Was she happy? She¡¯d be happy. Kassandora hoped Fortia was fucking ecstatic. She hoped that Fortia was just salivating like a damn dog at her victory right now. Because Fortia was skilled at battles and logistics, she thought herself skilled in warfare. Kassandora took a deep breath as she put her boots onto the table, her other arm fell loose as she relaxed. Her cheeks flushed as she stared at the cloth ceiling of her tent. It was time to remind the Goddess of Peace that there was a difference between just a series of battles and a war. Chapter 146 – Sands on Fire Iliyal opened his eyes in his office as he stopped remembering Malam¡¯s teachings. ¡®Conformity propaganda is a farce, we have blades for that. Propaganda is about cutting hearts our blades don¡¯t reach.¡¯ It had been a revolutionary idea in the past, propagandize not to raise morale, but to destroy your opponents. Knowing the White Pantheon, it would still be revolutionary here. He stared at the articles his men had written: ¡®Not Our War!¡¯ That was a perfect catchphrase to rally behind for the Epan Nations. There were more there too: ¡®Divine Grace: Invasion!¡¯ That was a good sarcastic title. ¡®Reclamation War? No Thank You! We Want Real War!¡± That was from the other side, a pretentious article filled with inaccuracies that would only make people angry at the writer. And then Iliyal stared at his own piece. His men were good, but they were new, they were modern. They didn¡¯t fight in the Great War. They didn¡¯t understand the depths conflicts descended to. ¡®Fortia visits Melukal.¡¯ A simple title, but it would fit excellently if what Kassandora told him was true. Now all Iliyal needed was the images. ¡°How many men are inside?¡± Kassandora asked over the phone. Damian raised his binoculars as he looked at Melukal in the distance. His team had taken an abandoned car, a rather fancy one, to leave the city. It had been too good to waste, and the owner wasn¡¯t going to see it anyway, with air-conditioning and tinted windows and leather seats. And some fines drinks too. Most of the soldiers had taken something, confectionary and booze were the popular choices. Cigarettes had been taken, although Damian assumed more than a few purses and jewels had been looted as well. They weren¡¯t going to be used anyway, as long as the men didn¡¯t show off the spoils, they could keep them. ¡°I would say? Twenty thousand? Maybe fourty? Sixty would be pushing it.¡± Damian replied. He was only estimating at this point from the battle. Guardians had flooded into the streets and overwhelmed barriers that had been put up, the only reason they didn¡¯t push further was because the sorcerers had separated into trios which then stalked the streets. That slowed Fortia¡¯s army down massively. As did the hedgehog landmines that had been put into every nook and crank in the entire northern part of the city. No one wanted to enter a building when you didn¡¯t know which door was about to explode, which cabinet would clear a room of life and which carpet actually hid a death trap underneath. Fortia herself had not gone far, she had ran deep into the city, then realised quickly that Damian would not send a single troop for a direct confrontation with her. After that she merely stayed with her troops and chased the odd team of sorcerers away. Apparently they had lost a dozen of the fifty two that had been sent. Granted, two of that dozen was friendly fire. Kassandora spoke through the phone again, she sounded more than pleased with the situation at hand. ¡°Have they raised flags?¡± Damian looked through his binoculars as he scanned the buildings. The Green-Red-Blue of Kirinyaa had indeed been taken down and the Pantheon¡¯s White-Gold was soaring in the wind. The Gates of Kirinyaa were barely visible, but it was obvious they had the White-Gold fixed to their sides too. ¡°They have.¡± A few mages were hovering around the buildings, several more were looking around. Multiple teams had landed on roofs. Civilians had stopped fleeing the city at this point. Those who had not left by now were considered lost. ¡°There¡¯s about two, three thousand people still left in the city.¡± Kassandora had said to give basic evacuation support, but not to push anyone who didn¡¯t want to go. Sandfire needed a sacrifice. ¡°Of ours?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Civilians.¡± Damian replied flatly. He had not pushed any of them. He gave them everything he could have given them, trucks and supplies and fuel and more than adequate warning. But not a single person had been forced out of the city at sword point. That was different than the past, when the Twin Hearts had said to evacuate an area, an area would be evacuated, whether the people wanted to or not. It was for their own good after all. ¡°Understood.¡± Kassandora said quickly. ¡°How many of ours?¡± ¡°Everyone¡¯s out.¡± Damian replied. ¡°And losses?¡± ¡°About two hundred, we¡¯re still counting the dead. Twelve sorcerers lost. There¡¯s about four-hundred wounded. I can have clear figures tomorrow.¡± ¡°Give them once you return here. I expected twice that. Good job General.¡± Kassandora said something. Damian heard the pop of something through the phone. Was it a bottle? He wanted to ask but then there was no reason to check up on the woman. She was a Goddess first and she was his boss second. That was already two reasons enough to contain his curiosity. He didn¡¯t ask his parents when they drank either. ¡°And the Binturongs?¡± ¡°Destroyed. The sorcerers crushed them into balls.¡± ¡°Perfect.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°The sun is setting here, how is it over there?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°It¡¯s almost dark.¡± Damian replied as he turned to the men. Pawel and Mateusz and Wiktor, in their light clothes. Mateusz had injured his arm but healing had fixed it quickly. Two hours ago, they were in bloody shirts, a quick stop at one of the clothing stores in the south of the city had changed that though. They were looking at him, Pawel was indicating to put Kassandora on loudspeaker. Damian returned a rude gesture with his free hand. Kassandora very obviously drank something and shouted a cheers! ¡°General?¡± She asked, her tone almost giddy and childish. ¡°Yes?¡± Damian replied. ¡°Send me the images immediately, you have the green light. Blow it.¡± And Kassandora disconnected the phone. Damian put it into his pocket and looked at the men. They knew, the sappers had to know, Kassandora knew. Damian imagined that Arascus knew as well, he spent too much time planning with Kassandora to not know, but no one else was made aware of Sandfire. Not even the sorcerers were told why they were truly holding the city for a week. Everyone had thought it was a mere scouting operation to test Fortia¡¯s forces. Well it was, Damian had to report on the combat capabilities of Fortia and the mages, how well she adapted to modern artillery and whether the Guardians were a fighting force or not. But that wasn¡¯t why they had to hold for a week. If they did, Kassandora would have probably assigned them a Divine. But she hadn¡¯t. A Divine would have made it suspicious. Who knew what Divines were even capable of? Fortia was the ultimate power in that city right now. If anything happened to Melukal¡­ Well, why didn¡¯t Fortia stop it? She was a Divine after all, who knew what Divines were even capable of? ¡°She gave the green light.¡± Damian said and sighed as he put away his phone. Pawel took out a cigarette and lit it. Wiktor prepared his camera. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± Wiktor said, he took a picture of the city as a test. Mateusz plucked a cigarette from Pawel¡¯s pack. He smoked half of it in one long drag. The man didn¡¯t even cough after. Pawel did the same. He laughed to himself for a moment, then shook his head and didn¡¯t share the joke. ¡°So it goes.¡± Damian said. He pulled out the flip-phone one of the sappers had given him. When they were holding the city, Damian had simply thought about doing the job. Guarding the sappers which set the explosives. But now? But now, he was going to pull the trigger. He took a deep breath and flipped it open. Kassandora had told him to. Kassandora had said to. Kassandora had ordered him to. He had killed men before, he had killed men in this battle right now. He sent soldiers to their deaths. He had men sacrifice themselves for him when the Twin Hearts still existed. He had buried the dead. He had told wives their husbands were not coming home. But he had never sentenced a city to die. Damian took a deep breath as he looked at the three men. ¡°First time for everything, huh?¡± He said mirthlessly. It wasn¡¯t funny. He scrolled to the contacts. There was only one. ¡®Sandy¡¯. At the end of the day, he was a soldier. Soldiers followed orders. He was only following orders. He selected that contact. Soldiers followed orders. He pressed down twice on the keyboard to get to call. Only following orders. And he pressed the green button. Fortia took a step and stopped. Something smelled off. Something clicked. She didn¡¯t know what. But she heard it. She turned around, her men were cheering in the city square. Some mages were entertaining them with a show of animals manifested out of the fountain¡¯s water. The Grand Arch of Kirinyaa cast it¡¯s dull shade over them. They didn¡¯t see it, but Fortia saw. Her armour re-appeared around her instantly. The marble tiles underneath them buckled and cracked in one moment. And in the next moment, it was as if Melukal had disappeared and was replaced with Hell. Fortia jumped as high as she could into the air, soaring above the skyscrapers and towers. It was an instinctive movement to protect herself, she knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to walk tomorrow with a jump like that. But she didn¡¯t care. The train station in the east had just unloaded a shipment of her troops from the north. And the train station then cracked like a nut hit by a hammer. The windows shattered, flames erupted out of them. The ceiling fell, walls collapsed. The screams and shouts began. And then one of the huge tower blocks fell. A car crashed in the middle of the street, the black asphalt underneath it flew upwards as the ground opened up. The entire road did. Then the next. Another tower block collapsed, the few remaining windows in it exploding into a mist of glass. Mages looked around in shock, one team reacted quickly and lifted off into the air. They were submerged in a fireball and torn apart by shrapnel. The Grand Arch of Kirinyaa collapsed as its foundations gave way. Where the proud city square had once stood, with all its abandoned stalls and shops, now lay the skeletal network of sewers and tunnels that had exploded. Napalm, Fortia knew the smell of that toxic substance. The cobweb of sewers, exploding in flame, started to expand across all of Melukal. It ploughed through housing districts like an avalanche, collapsing buildings and bathing all in fire. A chunk of rock came flying at Fortia. Her spear materialized in her hands, she stabbed that stone and sent it cascading in another direction. It sent her spinning wildly through the air. She looked north. Flames and falling buildings. She looked south. Death and devouring infernos. She looked east. Eradication and end of days. She looked west. Hell and Hellfire. Kassandora stared at her email in her laptop screen. An email came. It had no text, only an image attached. She clicked it open. Melukal, in the desert, perfectly picturesque, as if an artist had decided to capture the beauty of a modern city gleaming in the evening sand. The sky was all vivid purples and oranges and reds, with the dark blues and stars of night in the east. Another email came through. And another. Ten. Twenty. Fifty. One after the other. Kassandora opened the latest photo. Melukal, in the desert, perfectly picturesque, as if an artist had decided to capture the end times. A city submerged in fire. The orange and red and yellow flames contrasting the sky to make it a terrible dark black. She sent the images off and took another drink of her whiskey, straight from the bottle. This is why she was the Goddess of War, and this is why no else even came close. Chapter 147 – Not to the Jungle, Not to the Mountain Arascus came to Kassandora¡¯s tent. ¡°Olephia¡¯s set off with the western army.¡± He said, Kassandora smiled, nodded, and took another swig from the bottle. She was obviously tipsy, and if she was tipsy, that meant two things: Arascus would have to restock her cabinets, and she had a reason to celebrate. ¡°Sandfire?¡± He asked. Kassandora raised her bottle, giggled, and half-shouted, half-slurred some words. ¡°I am a genius!¡± Arascus sighed and poured himself a glass. So Sandfire had worked. Mwai Ruku straightened his shirt as he stared at the representatives in the United Ardan League. It was a huge building in central Epa. Some in the government had said it would be dangerous to go and to send an ambassador instead. But then Helenna had brought him those pictures. He had wanted to wear a suit for this speech. Instead, he had come in a tan shirt, it was creased. It didn¡¯t even have a sign. If anyone had appeared at the UAL assembly like this, it would have been a national humiliation for at least a year. But he didn¡¯t care. Not after he had seen what Helenna brought him. He looked out at the huge auditorium. With marvellous chandeliers and walls of marbles and multiple levels to make sure everyone could see the speaker. With individuals tables for each country of the world. Some countries had brought parties. The UNN and Guguo both had seven people sitting at their tables. Doschia had two. Rancais three. Ausa had sent only one person. Most of Arika did, the countries that neighboured the Jungle wouldn¡¯t have even arrived for a UAL meeting if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Kirinyaa didn¡¯t request it. On the top levels, there were camera crews from every station in the world. This was Kirinyaa¡¯s first international address on the war, it would be big news. Frankly, Mwai didn¡¯t care who arrived. He just needed to say what needed to be said. There was a speech prepared. He had written it with Helenna. They had spent half a day working on it and perfecting it. It was a masterclass of speechwriting, that tugged on heartstrings and would make everyone who supported the Pantheon¡¯s invasion ashamed of themselves. But it didn¡¯t fit. Mwai had lost all energy to give grand speeches when Helenna showed him the images. He sighed into the microphone. The judge behind him smacked the gavel. ¡°Mister Speaker, please do not stall the assembly.¡± He sat on a tall platform and was only here to enforce order in the assembly, but that little comment twisted something in Mwai. Some tiny spark of anger combusted into a blazing inferno of fury. ¡°I have no speech to give.¡± Mwai said into the microphone. He took the paper before him and scrunched it up into a ball. ¡°I have no speech to give.¡± He repeated again. He brought out the photo he had brought and clicked the on the stand that would turn on the camera. ¡°There is simply nothing to say.¡± Mwai took a deep breath and calmed himself. The UNN delegates were rolling their eyes, the Epans were leaning forwards. ¡°I came here.¡± Mwai said as he steeled himself together. ¡°I came here to announce that Kirinyaa did not want war. That this White Pantheon invasion is an overreach of power. I came to inform the world that Kirinyaa would rather stand with the members of the League together, that our military exists to continue the Reclamation War, to destroy the menace of the Jungle that spans over central Arika, and that it would be disbanded as soon as the project was completed.¡± Mwai looked out over auditorium with its white walls and blue carpets. At the suits looking at him. The Arikans all had grim faces, the Epans were starting to sweat. Guguo and the UNN did not seem to care. ¡°But I was wrong.¡± Mwai said. He threw the speech behind him. ¡°I have nothing to say at the actions of the White Pantheon. To denounce the invasion is a farce. To try and reason with the Divines is inane. To pretend there is anything to reason with is as if to pretend that the Jungle can be reasoned with.¡± Mwai took a pause, one woman from the UNN delegation shouted something. ¡°The White Pantheon safeguards the peace and stability of this world!¡± Mwai merely fixed her with a look. What did she know? He had stood up to Elassa. His country had built an army. Kirinyaa was the first nation in the history of this world to ever try something against the Jungle. And this woman had the gall to shout something like that? ¡°Thank you.¡± Mwai said. Of course the judge behind him did not issue a warning to her. No, of course not. The League was a Pantheon invention after-all. ¡°I will say none of that.¡± Mwai said. ¡°Because today, Kirinyaa has changed course.¡± Mwai brought out the photograph Helenna had printed. Melukal, with all its red and yellows and oranges, ablaze against the dark sky. He looked behind himself. The camera was indeed working, projecting a picture of the table right now. ¡°I have nothing to say, because the White Pantheon¡¯s actions speak for themselves.¡± Mwai slid the photograph into the camera. Immediately cameras started flashing. The Rancais delegation collapsed into the seats. The Doschian and Lubskan did too. The various individuals from Arika all widened their eyes with shock, a few slammed their hands with fury. The UNN and Guguo looked taken aback. Mwai continued. ¡°This is Melukal after Fortia, gracious Goddess of Peace, captured the city.¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. He stared the auditorium down. There was nothing to say. No words needed to be added to that image, the photograph said it all. Mwai merely took a step back as Helenna appeared from the back door. Divines, formally, were not allowed here. This room existed as the final chance for mortals to sort their quarrels before the White Pantheon would come in to make a decision. It was unprecedented for a Divine to speak here, but frankly, Mwai did not care. He spat on the White Pantheon the moment he saw that image of Melukal. The judge immediately started banging his gavel to restore order. The UNN delegation finally showed a reaction. ¡°Divines are not to intervene in these-¡° ¡°Thank you for your information.¡± Helenna said, she stood half again Mwai¡¯s height. Dressed in all black, she could have attended a funeral, her dress covered her from her neck to her boots. ¡°But I will speak, and no one here will stop me.¡± She stepped away from the microphone, there was no need to. Her voice projected over the entire room. Cold and sombre and pained, like the last twinge of a guitar finishing a melancholic ballad. ¡°I did not come to issue orders. I did not come to speak for Divines.¡± Helenna took a deep breath, her hair was pitch black today. It had not changed from that colour since Mwai saw her. ¡°I came to speak for a girl who cannot speak, who will never say anything again.¡± And Helenna brought out a photo. She slowly turned to the stand. The UNN delegation was about to say something again. The Ausa man stood up. ¡°SHUT UP!¡± He shouted at the UNN representatives in their blue suits. They fell silent as the other Arikans looked over in their direction. Helenna slid the first photo of the diary of Tisha Msuya into view. And she began. ¡°I like writing. So I¡¯ll write everyday from now on.¡± There was an excited exclamation mark at the end, drawn there as a thick box with a circle underneath rather than written as just a line with a dot. Helenna did not add the emotion though. And as Helenna read. The room fell silent. The Ausa man cooked in fury. The other Arikans did too. The Epans had the decency to look embarrassed with themselves at least. UNN and Guguo only made grim expressions. The Judge had tried to silence Helenna with his gavel at the start, but an uproar from the Arikan delegations shut him up. Helenna finished her reading. She looked up. Her hair turning red as she started to shout. ¡°I cannot bring Tisha Msuya back. Nor can I bring back anyone else who was in Melukal. All I have to say to you is to congratulate yourselves. The UNN and Epa especially, who raised not a single word of protest when the White Pantheon announced its invasion. I have to congratulate Rancais especially, who was so against the war that they started backchannelling funds into Epa instead of taking a stand. Where was the protest? Kirinyaa showed you how to stand against the Pantheon, and let¡¯s not joke about here. Kirinyaa is a poor nation, the entire country¡¯s industry is surpassed by one of your cities. But they stood. They stood and you kept kneeling. Congratulations.¡± The three men from Rancais collapsed further. Mwai cast them a dark look, he had appreciated the thought back then, he had even thanked President Artois personally. When Helenna said those words though, it put things into perspective. If they wanted to help, was the best they could do was set up a back channel supply of food and medicine? Cowardice. Helenna continued. ¡°Tisha wrote joked about wanting to be famous. I wish to apologize to everyone in her family right now, if you hate me for sharing her story, you are right to. No child should become famous in the manner she did.¡± Helenna took another breath. ¡°You have all created a world in which children write about shrapnel. Well done.¡± Helenna turned to look directly at the cameras. ¡°And this is to Elassa, to Fortia, Zerus and Sceo, Maisara, Theosius, Alkom and all the litany of minor Divines who sit upon the Mountain. I am glad I left. The White Pantheon is a disgrace. Pantheon Peace was established because we know what happens when Divines battle. You waged a clean war for all of seven days before you reverted to the people you were before the Great War.¡± Helenna finished. She spat on the blue carpet underneath. ¡°This is all I have to say you. I did not come to represent Kirinyaa today. I came to represent myself, because I could not do nothing when Fortia was running a cleansing.¡± And then Helenna turned and left. In quick steps, she slammed the door behind her. Mwai retook the stand. ¡°This Divine war, the White Pantheon declared on Arascus, Kassandra, Neneria, Olephia, Fer and Anassa.¡± He took a breath. ¡°We were promised that the war would be as clean. That it would be a battle between Divines on Kirinyaan soil. What we got was this.¡± He replaced the last excerpt of Tisha¡¯s diary with the image of Melukal ablaze. He looked over at the auditorium again. Helenna was going to be unprecedented, but he was about to do something even worse. It would revolutionize Kirinyaa, and it would change the world as a whole. He took a deep breath. ¡°Right now, the Kirinyaan assembly is heading to Kassandora, Goddess of War, Razer of the Jungle. We do not want anymore of the White Pantheon¡¯s empty platitudes or their vain promises.¡± He took another breath and looked around. The Arikans were looking at him eagerly. The Rancais delegation was looking as if they wanted to die, all the Epans were. Guguo and the UNN remained steadfast, as did the other minor nations from the other continents of Arda. Mwai let the sigh hang before he continued. ¡°Today, Kirinyaa swears allegiance to Goddess Kassandora and God Arascus. Their war is our war. We will not stand by as the White Pantheon burns our cities and kills our people. I, Mwai Ruku, President of Kirinyaa, declare a formal state of war against the White Pantheon for this grave injustice they have committed against us.¡± He put his arms before his back. ¡°I now address the people of Kirinyaa. We will stand, we will not bow before the Pantheon. Any soldier who deigns to step over the border will find that our nation will become their grave. Kirinyaa is in a state of war. I repeat. Kirinyaa is in a state of war right now. Kirinyaa will not fall to the Jungle, and Kirinyaa will not fall to the Mountain.¡± He finished off, he hadn¡¯t asked Kassandora yet, but somehow, he didn¡¯t think she would think badly of what he was about to say. ¡°Goddess Kassandora is granted full command of war proceedings.¡± Chapter 148 – The Nation That Knelt Fortia looked over at the ruins of Melukal. Her men and the mages who survived were scouring the city for any of the wounded. Her phone rang suddenly, it was Elassa. With an accusatory tone. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Fortia snapped back, she wasn¡¯t in the mood for that sort of talk right nw. Elassa fell silent for a moment. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°I have just lost some forty thousand soldiers Elassa, I¡¯m no-¡° Elassa interrupted her again. ¡°Check the news.¡± Fortia opened the news on her phone. The blood drained from her face as her eyes widened. Every station was reporting the same thing: an image of Melukal ablaze. Fortia read the first title: ¡®Peace comes to Melukal¡¯. Kassandora hummed a tune to herself as she moved pieces of wood representing her armies on sprawling map of Kirinyaa. The natives had finished crafting all the models for her, the understood the logic behind the hexagons bearing initials to represent Gods, they did not understand the logic of mere rectangles with a single line through them to represent armies though. Although they didn¡¯t ask questions, Kassandora had wanted the blocks and they felt thoroughly indebted. Arascus walked in. He sat down, formal dress, suit and cape, that meant someone would be coming. ¡°How are you feeling today?¡± ¡°As if I¡¯ve been reborn.¡± Kassandora replied quickly as she leaned back from the map. She hated breaks, but Arascus knew that. If he interrupted her, then it wouldn¡¯t be like Fer just coming around to annoy Kassandora just because Of Beasthood got bored. ¡°Did you watch the news?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°I was organising the send-offs.¡± Yesterday, Zalewski and the men under his command had been sent off with Fer, her beastmen and Anassa to the eastern front. Ekkerson, his troops, reinforced by Olephia were sent to the western Badlands. To secure a frontline between the mountains and creeping Jungle and stop any sort of White Pantheon push in that direction. Arascus looked Kassandora up and down and sighed. He pulled out his phone and quickly brought up a video. ¡°This is the important part.¡± He said as he played it to her. The very ending. Mwai at the United Ardan League: ¡®I now address the people of Kirinyaa. We will stand, we will not bow before the Pantheon. Any soldier who deigns to step over the border will find that our nation will become their grave. Kirinyaa is in a state of war. I repeat. Kirinyaa is in a state of war right now. Kirinyaa will not fall to the Jungle, and Kirinyaa will not fall to the Mountain.¡¯ Mwai took a pause. ¡®Goddess Kassandora is granted full command of war proceedings.¡¯ Kassandora blinked as she stared at that. She looked up at Arascus. She looked down at the phone. She looked up at Arascus again. ¡°Excuse me?¡± She asked slowly. This was¡­ This was far better than she even hoped for. Sandfire had been meant to rally Kirinyaa and cause chaos and riots and protests in Epa. ¡°It¡¯s not good.¡± Arascus said flatly. ¡°It sounds good, but it¡¯s not.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because before the responsibility was with them. Any of our failings could be attributed to the Kirinyaan government under the claims we were a semi-independent military force and didn¡¯t have enough support. This closes that route off.¡± Kassandora leaned back as Arascus¡¯ words washed over her like a cold shower. She leaned back and crossed her arms. ¡°So what are we going to do?¡± ¡°Change of plans.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We actually have to save Kirinyaa now, not just destroy the White Pantheon. Victory cannot be pyrrhic anymore.¡± Kassandora looked down at the map. Plans could be changed, and it was still so early in the war that it wouldn¡¯t be too hard to send new orders. ¡°I like the lure-them-in strategy though, we can stick with that.¡± Kassandora nodded quickly. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to change it anyway.¡± The White Pantheon could not be defeated in a grand engagement in the first place. Arascus nodded as he looked down at the map. ¡°This is your field, I know you won¡¯t throw it away. Today, the entire Kirinyaa parliament is coming here.¡± ¡°Are they?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°The plane is in the air already, thank Helenna for the warning.¡± Arascus said. He looked at Kassandora again. ¡°There might be a news crew, you should get changed.¡± Kassandora looked down at herself. She was sitting in a huge dark-green t-shirt looted from Fer¡¯s compound. Neneria and Anassa would be touchy about stealing their clothes, but Fer would only find it funny when she eventually found out. And Kassandora preferred to be comfortable when she was organizing a war. She stood up with a groan and went to her wardrobe. ¡°Uniform?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Uniform.¡± Arascus confirmed, he looked down to the map as Kassandora pulled the black HAUPT suit out of her wardrobe. The shirt came off. ¡°When they arrive, I want you to force a war economy.¡± Kassandora put some socks and undergarments on. ¡°Easy enough.¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯ll head to Nanbasa to manage it.¡± Arascus said as Kassandora turned around and started buttoning her white shirt. ¡°This could be good actually.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°We¡¯re facing the White Pantheon.¡± Kassandora said as she did the final button and started pulling her trousers up. ¡°Unemployment here is what? Eight percent? Ten now with the embargoes and bankruptcies? There¡¯s people to work factories.¡± ¡°I was planning on conscripting them.¡± Kassandora said, Arascus shook his head. ¡°Not anymore. I¡¯ll send you volunteers, but hold for another¡­¡± He shook his head from side to side and looked up from the map at Kassandora. She was looping her belt. Sword emblazoned on it. ¡°Four months?¡± ¡°That¡¯s possible.¡± ¡°There¡¯s one noticeable change here than there is from the past.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We¡¯ve never had such a technological gap between the nations. Even in the past with the dwarves, it was just extreme machinery to rival Theosius, but it couldn¡¯t be mass produced. The Epan countries, Rancais especially, will most likely share designs for engines and so on.¡± Kassandora nodded. This exited her domain at this point. ¡°I can have the first plan of forceful industrialisation in this country ready in four months, give me that. I¡¯ll want Iniri too.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take her off the battleplans.¡± ¡°If you need her, then call, but she¡¯s better used in economics than in fighting.¡± ¡°She¡¯s not a major player anyway. I only wanted her to support be a food source in sieges.¡± Kassandora said as she slid her arms through the greatcoat. ¡°We¡¯ll also need a victory under our belt.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Something to show we¡¯re actually capable of leading this, not another Melukal. Another Sandfire project is off the table, I¡¯m sure Fortia will be publicizing her army now to avoid it.¡± Kassandora nodded. Then one of the Divines would be deployed to the frontlines, she didn¡¯t want to this early. The Divines were powerful, but they were only Divines. Olephia was undefeatable, but Olephia was ultimately just Olephia. She could only be in one place at one time. ¡°I also expect Fortia to raise war efforts now and try to end it faster. Olympiada could potentially enlist a hundred thousand minor Divines of some sort. Be aware of that.¡± ¡°I am.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°If possible, prisoners would be excellent.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± Kassandora replied. Capturing armies was always harder than just wiping them out. Mages dressed in their funny ways, but there was nothing stopping a mage from donning armour and pretending to be mundane. And the last thing Kassandora wanted was to bring in a team of magicians into the centre of her camps. ¡°Stall the Reclamation War at this point.¡± Arascus said. ¡°It¡¯s not important compared to this, we can return to it after its done if they try to disband us.¡± Kassandora smiled as she finished dressing. She buttoned her coat up and gave Arascus a little spin. ¡°And after?¡± ¡°The Kirinyaan parliament will not exist once we are done.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Leave that to me. They gave us an inch.¡± Arascus said and Kassandora finished for him. ¡°We take a mile.¡± Arascus looked up at Kassandora and smiled. Those blue eyes of his burning a deep blue, his grin wolfish and hungry. ¡°You look excellent.¡± Kassandora made a snort of humour, but she knew she was blushing at the compliment. She tugged at her crimson hair, it was in a sorry state. ¡°Helenna¡¯s not here to do my hair.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, if you looked too clean they¡¯d be asking what you were doing.¡± Arascus said as he stood up. ¡°I¡¯ll tell Iliyal you send your regards.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Kassandora snapped and Arascus laughed. ¡°You have to raise morale somehow, don¡¯t you?¡± Kassandora merely shook her head as she returned to the map. Fortia was taking the centre, then¡­ what would she do? Alkom would be sent to the eastern front, that place was filled with naturals jungles that the other Gods would struggle to get through. Then Zerus would go west. To the desert where his lightning would have no cover to deal with. If Fortia had deigned to open that front up. She would have to though, if not then Ekkerson¡¯s army had a clear route to her supply lines. Zerus west, then Sceo west. Maisara, centre or east then. Most likely east, she would serve as the commander of that army. Melukal had revealed Fortia took the centre, so she was giving herself the hardest job of pushing through the mountains. Kassandora smiled to herself, Fortia was so predictable. A shout from outside somewhat soured her mood. Arascus turned, eyebrow raised. A soldier introduced himself through the plain cloth barrier that made up a door. ¡°The Kirinyaan Parliament has arrived!¡± He shouted. Arascus turned towards the door. ¡°They¡¯re fast when they want to be.¡± He said. ¡°Are we going?¡± Kassandora stood up with a groan and headed to the door. Some things didn¡¯t need formalities, this was one of them. She would have preferred just receiving a letter stating the request and asking for a command. Kassandora left the room and stopped, Arascus stopped besides her. She would not walk to meet people who were coming to greet her. They were in distance of the camp, now it was largely abandoned. The buildings that had gone up only had a few Clerics left behind, a skeleton crew to train the volunteer Kirinyaans. Kassandora¡¯s own forces had shrunk to fifty men, the rest had been sent off with Sokolowski to hold Melukal. But the vehicles still remained. Twenty Binturongs still remained here even after the three armies had taken their share. As did the new lemur models. With eight wheels and a similar gun, Kavaa¡¯s idea had been fantastic. Why did Kassandora not think to just mount the gun on a truck? They would be used for training new artillery crews, the supply lines had been smoothed out, a central depot was set up south of the Central Mountains, which every factory sent products to that would then be dispersed to the front lines. If Iliyal¡¯s job could be trusted with someone else, Iliyal would have been sent to take command of that. And in the distance, with Clerics and Kirinyaans marching out to inspect the new guests, was a horde of men walking to Kassandora down an unadorned black tarmac road. Almost four hundred people. So they must have voted on it. And if so many agreed, then¡­ Kassandora looked at their faces. Determined and hard, with eyes that bristled with rage and a hunger for revenge. Had she overdone herself with Sandfire? No matter. She waited until the politicians in their blue suits got to her. They stopped and saluted. Every single man had a green armband over their right arm. One man stepped forwards. ¡°Goddess Kassandora!¡± He shouted and launched into what must have been a speech that he had already practiced. The man spoke far too clearly for it to be off the top of his head. ¡°You came to us in our time of need. You extended an arm out when Kirinyaa was kneeling on its knees. You helped us regain our footing in a time of need with the Reclamation War.¡± The man paused as Kassandora started to smile, well, it wasn¡¯t half bad a speech. Although she supposed she was a rather easy woman to please. ¡°Now, Kirinyaa stands on its feet. We, as the leaders of nation.¡± He took a pause and got down on one knee. ¡°We kneel. We kneel, we ask for your support to drive the White Pantheon out of our lands, to make sure that another Melukal will never happen again. Kirinyaa is done with half measures. There is no Reclamation War anymore. Kirinyaa begs Goddess Kassandora.¡± He took another pause looked up. ¡°Kirinyaa begs for you to lead us on Total War against the entire White Pantheon.¡± Kassandora smiled as she raised her hands. This sort of speech did demand a reply. She would give them a war more total and more revolutionary than anything they could imagine. Chapter 149 – As If Its Luck! Anassa hovered over the empty campsite. Once again the White Pantheon army had left before she got to them. Kassandora had good information, and men obviously had been here. She clicked her tongue and stepped to return to Zalewski¡¯s north-east army. Half a dozen miles were cleared in one step. Nothing again. This was like facing Leona. In the distance, unseen by Anassa, was a pair of men with binoculars. They wrote down a message and sent it before burying themselves back under the desert sand. ¡®Anassa is growing irritated, Fortia¡¯s plan is working.¡¯ Olephia raised her head from her drawing as her two maids entered her tent. It was a small thing, Olephia did not demand much, she just wanted some privacy to be allowed to retreat into her own thoughts. There was no bed, but there was a table, a stack of plain paper. Pencils, both coloured and black granite, lay neatly organised there. And then a chest of clothes for Olephia, although she was wearing only a loose green shirt and skirt, standard colours to fit in with the rest of the troops. Olephia¡¯s maids, Adia and Nia, were both native Kirinyaan girls found by Helenna and assigned by Kassandora. Olephia didn¡¯t think much of them, they were rather quiet girls who didn¡¯t speak much. Both had volunteered for the military after the Melukal disaster, both had no work experience in the past, both were in their early twenties, both were intimidated to be such close contact to the Goddess who had taken down the Caretaker. Frankly, they would have been carbon copies of each other save not for the fact Adia was much taller than Nia. Nia was holding a note. Her dark cheeks flushed into a bright red as Olephia stood up. Both girls had received a drawing of themselves from her already. Now she was drawing the three of them together. Olephia pointed at the note. ¡°It says.¡± Nia began hurriedly, then she cleared her throat. ¡°It¡¯s battle orders.¡± Olephia let out a deep breath. These came through every other day. She took the note and scanned it herself. Line Three needs reinforcements. Zerus and Sceo have appeared. To be engaged immediately. Many thanks Olephia, General Ekkerson. Olephia smiled as read it and left her room, the two maids could reorganise her pencils. She always grew fond of Kassandora¡¯s generals, they were the sort of men who would write to Olephia as if she was just any other Divine. Olephia left her tent and looked out over Ekkerson¡¯s army. They had gotten to the front just in time to stop a push from Zerus and Sceo over the desert. One battle, Olephia had already ended. With her here though, the front had stopped entirely. Ekkerson could not push North because Zerus and Sceo were two, and Olephia was one. One attempt had been made, Ekkerson pushed ten miles into the empty Badlands in one location and was pushed ten miles in two other areas. After that, the battlelines settled down. Camps had been put up, all close enough to Olephia¡¯s place for her to assist in a matter of minutes. If they had a faster Divine, or multiple, then the lines would be spread out, but there was only one main route down western Kirinyaa. To the east, the mountains were in the distance, to the west was more Badlands, and then the creeping Jungle. Both armies avoided getting too close to that. Kassandora had given her own tactics to counter Sceo and Zerus. Huge steel hedgehogs had been delivered from CR, ¡®Central Requisitions¡¯, the name Kassandora had assigned to the huge supply depot south of the central mountain range. CR sent a pair of huge, ugly machines and several dozen trucks filled with steel beams taken from construction sites. The two machines would bend the beams into arches, engineers would weld them together, and they would be dropped off on the sides of bases to create barriers. It wouldn¡¯t stop troops passing, but it would break formations. More importantly, Sceo¡¯s winds wouldn¡¯t move them and Zerus¡¯ lightning had even less effect. Barbed wire had been tried for one day. Then Sceo had come in and killed a hundred troops with a hurricane of wires before Olephia got there to chase her away. A small amount of rifles had arrived too, although Ekkerson was very obviously on the bottom of the food chain, Sokolowski and Zalewski got the large meals from CR, Ekkerson got the scraps. It was enough guns to secure locations, to outfit a few dedicated teams of mage-hunters and to pester Zerus and Sceo enough as to stop them from wading into Ekkerson¡¯s camps untouched. But it wasn¡¯t enough for major assaults. Olephia¡¯s retinue organised themselves immediately. They were all Clerics from a north Epan order. An area where people lived a long time, they specialised in treating cancer. It was odd to have a retinue, she never had one in the past. The general rule Arascus had established for mortals was that a week in the company of Chaos equalled a decade lost in lifespan. Olephia looked around at the two hundred men in their silver armours. No one here had a gun, although no one needed to be armed when they were camping out within earshot of Olephia. They saluted as Olephia started to hum. Red lightning arced across the sky. Storms clouds formed overhead. Winds picked up. Not Sceo¡¯s organised blasts but crazed breezes that would snake and turn and whip clothes in all directions. Olephia hummed louder, she gave the men below her one final glance. They had started to march in the same direction as she did. In the past, she would have only been brought in to secure crucial battles, although those rarely took place because of Leona¡¯s foresight. Mainly her job had been to level cities. Now though, she fought on the front. Her retinue was only there to heal anyone on her own side that had been touched by her curse. The frontline was only twenty minutes away. Olephia¡¯s hum dimmed what was left of the battle. A few men still brawling, a rearguard. Fortia¡¯s Guardians in their gleaming gold-bronze armour, armed with tower shield and spear were brawling with Kavaa¡¯s Clerics. The Clerics obviously had the upper hand at this point, but from the bodies around the hedgehogs, the scene was reversed. For every man that had fallen in the gold, at least three lay in green and silver. Some cut, some stabbed, most charred black. Zerus¡¯ lightning then. Olephia looked around at situation. About two hundred Guardians were retreating back over the desert. She filled her lungs.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Die.¡± And the men died. The one word found a weak chain in the air, and it brought a particle to collapse. Two hundred men retreating in a column, and now two hundred men caught in an ball of bright, white light. When it finally dispersed into a relatively small mushroom cloud, there was no trace of life left. Not even the armour remained behind them, only sand that had been seared into dirty black glass. Olephia dimmed her hum as she came close to the frontline. The sound hit them then, then the winds. Men were knocked down. Tents flew away in the wind, some steel hedgehogs were moved about. And then silence as everyone turned to watch Olephia. The dark clouds gave way to the blue desert sky, the only blemish in the air was the remains of that explosion. The men would take iodine today, and her retinue would be kept busy for a few hours. The Clerics surrounding the Guardians that made up the rearguard gave them some distance, and the Guardians threw guard their weapons and raised their arms as they surrendered. Some people from her own side cheered. But it was obviously a forced cheer. They won nothing, even with Olephia here, they had at best taken equal casualties, most likely worse. She¡¯d know by the end of the day when one of the maids would bring her the captain¡¯s battle report. But now, she had to see the captain herself. Her boots touched the sand as the Clerics got to putting the surrendered Guardians in cuffs. Kassie would be happy at least, live Guardians were an excellent negotiation tool. She brought out the little notebook she always kept in her pocket and a pencil. A few soldiers knew sign-language, Olephia herself did, but it was simply unfeasible to teach everyone in Kassandora¡¯s army sign on the off-chance they may be on the same field as the Goddess of Chaos. Arascus had taught her to write, and she was proud of her own calligraphy. Immediately, men started running to her. Everyone in Ekkerson¡¯s army knew how to react to her. Most of them saluted, one man stepped forwards as Olephia handed him the note. Take me to the commander of this section. The man read the note quickly, then saluted. ¡°Captain Keitel, reporting. I am the commander of this section.¡± Olephia looked him up and down, she was slightly taller than Kassandora. That supposedly was tall among Divines but she only dealt with her own sisters, there she was only average height. If Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri had joined forces with them and brought the average down, she would have been on the lower end of things. The man before her reached to her stomach and no further. He stood in armour, obviously he had been injured in the battle, the silver was splattered with blood and had a piercing through in the chest. But the skin below it was pink and unblemished, untanned unlike the man¡¯s face, so he had just been healed. He had a bony face, lean and muscled and his head was shaved. Olephia supposed he would do, soldiers rarely looked as handsome in real life as they did in propaganda. She quickly wrote a message down for him. Zerus was here, yes? The man nodded, then saluted again. Olephia rolled her eyes and slapped the man¡¯s gesture away. She wrote more. When did he leave? ¡°About twenty to twenty-five minutes ago.¡± Olephia took a deep breath. There were times she wished she could speak without causing chaos, and this was one of them. Who gave the code-purple to fetch me? ¡°I did Goddess.¡± Keitel replied. Olephia had suspected that, she was already writing a note down. Arrange everyone who was in the room with you when you gave it. The man stared at the note, then looked up at Olephia, then looked at the note again. ¡°I apologize, but there were some thirty people there. Zerus caught us off guard, we weren¡¯t prepared for him. I wasn¡¯t keeping track of everyone...¡± His voice trailed off as he looked at Olephia¡¯s face. Olephia turned around and sighed. An atomic explosion went off in the distance. She felt better now, sighing really did help. She quickly scrawled more. Captain Keitel. Thank you for your time. Continue with your duties. Next time you call a code-purple. Make sure you keep an eye out for everyone who is in the room. Understood? ¡°Yes Goddess, I understand!¡± The man saluted again. Olephia rolled her eyes and held in a sigh, she took a step, then stopped. She turned around and looked at Keitel. The fellow was still saluting to her. Kassandora, Malam, Fer. Those three would be able to figure this out. Kassandora was busy. Malam was lost still. Fer was in the east. Wonderful. She took a step back to Keitel and looked over him. Arascus and Malam had both taught her wordplay. Arascus used to read to her in the past. She started writing: You may have a spy¡­ Her writing trailed off. If there was a spy, then alerting Keitel would most likely alert the spy. The man didn¡¯t even know who was in the room with him and he could be one for all intents and purposes. Olephia flipped a page. Are you an ex-Cleric? ¡°I am Goddess.¡± And what do you think of Kavaa joining Arascus? The man read the note, then looked up at Olephia. He took a deep breath, for once, his voice sounded normal. ¡°When I was a child, my mother fell ill. We petitioned the Pantheon, a Paladin and a Divine turned us away at the gates. Then, one day, a cleric appeared at our door. He just turned up out of nowhere. Every doctor had said it was impossible, he did the impossible.¡± He took a pause. Olephia quickly wrote him a message. Be blunt, do not worry, you will not offend me. The man read it and didn¡¯t take time to prepare a reply this time. ¡°To be blunt, the fact my brothers and sisters have parents is because of Goddess Kavaa. I would not question her even if she had exterminated the entire White Pantheon when she freed Goddess Kassandora.¡± Olephia nodded and patted the man¡¯s shoulder. That sort of bile was hard to fake. It didn¡¯t make him innocent entirely, but it certainly sent him to the bottom of the list of suspects. Thank you for telling me. Olephia replied with a note. I¡¯ll give Kavaa your thanks. The man stared at the message and it once. Twice. His eyes were entirely focused on the page as he re-read that final line, he sounded as if Olephia had just asked for his hand in marriage, beyond awed. ¡°Thank you. Goddess Olephia.¡± Olephia smiled down at him as she turned to her retinue. They had crossed the distance. Normal men would not have done it that fast, but these were blessed by Kavaa and by Kassandora. Inhuman health and inhuman willpower. A run like that in full armour was as easy for them as getting out of bed. Standard cleaning procedure. Olephia wrote back. My retinue will assist in healing. The captured Guardians are also to be cleansed. Kassandora wants them alive. Keitel nodded as Olephia turned and started to walk away. There was very obviously a spy about. Maybe multiple. Maybe on all the fronts. It was simply impossible, beyond impossible, for Zerus and Sceo to be this aware of where Olephia was at all times. It¡­ Olephia started to hum and raise into the air. There would be another battle somewhere else on the front today. And another code-purple would be sent out. And when Olephia got there, it would only be clean-up duty. Ekkerson¡¯s army was slowly being bled out. When she got her hands on whoever it was, they would not be cleansed with hellfire, they would learn exactly how slowly chaos could kill. And they would serve as a lesson for any other fool brave enough to toy with her like this. It was farcical. She was Olephia. She was the most feared of all Divines, there was no one even close to her. She was the Goddess of Chaos. And some damn mortal was spying on her! Frankly, it was as if Leona was alive! If Fer and Neneria didn¡¯t both vouch for her death, Olephia would assume that she still was alive! What a joke! Chapter 150 – A Truly Blessed Land Fer looked around as she walked through the convoy that had been destroyed. It got away from her beastmen, but she had come with them. Broken bodies and bloody corpses lay around her, flipped cars, destroyed trucks, several of the vehicles had been ignited in the fighting. A group of pyromancers had also been here, now their bodies lay scattered around on the ground. If she hadn¡¯t come, these people would have gotten away. That was odd. Kassie wouldn¡¯t have her given beastmen a task that was simply a waste of time. Something was up. She could just smell it. Kassandora stared at the doctors on the other side of her table. Hospital directors, some philanthropists, everyone and anyone. They had come, officially, to discuss the supply of medicine and first aid treatment shipments to her army. That had already been discussed, although it only served as a cover. There were eyes she didn¡¯t want about, she could simply feel them. As obvious as if they were Jungle, but even in her room. Kassandora pushed the feeling away, it always came about when she was talking with people. Of course they would be looking at her. She was a Goddess, she was organizer of the Reclamation War, and now she was the de-facto leader of Kirinyaa. She sighed to them and nodded. ¡°Very well, I am glad to receive your support.¡± Of course, this all had been mere formality, if she wanted supplies, she would have just sent a letter directly or asked Arascus to negotiate it for her. There was a real point behind the meeting. ¡°I¡¯d like to ask about the Virgin¡¯s Blood.¡± The Order of Virgin¡¯s Blood, one of Kavaa¡¯s. Whereas the Twin Hearts had been about combating landslides and feral beasts, the Virgin¡¯s Blood were the exact opposite. They never left hospitals, and they recruited from doctors who grew tired of bureaucracy. From what Kassandora had discovered, every hospital in Kirinyaa had a branch of theirs. One of the directors smiled and nodded quickly. A dark man, white coat over him. That was the general style among these people, either dark suits or white coats as if they had just walked out of their medical office. The man spoke: ¡°They¡¯re an excellent Order.¡± ¡°How many is there?¡± Kassandora asked. The men all shared looks. One man in a suit finally spoke up. ¡°Numerically, I cannot say. But there¡¯s enough for every hospital in Kirinyaa to have a branch.¡± Kassandora sighed. That was what she had been afraid of, but she knew it was coming. Another man raised his hand. Kassandora let him speak as she thought of a way to phrase her next question. ¡°Are you planning on pulling them to the front?¡± He sounded nervous but resigned. As if he expected she would. Kassandora found the line of attack, the breach in their lines to tell them what she was wanting to hear without asking directly. ¡°What do they do?¡± She asked. One man, bald, dark and in a white doctor¡¯s coat, spoke for the whole group. ¡°Diseases, cancer treatments, poisonings, births.¡± Another man added his own comment as the doctor finished. ¡°Easier to say what they don¡¯t do really.¡± A third spoke up. ¡°They don¡¯t handle broken bones.¡± A fourth decided now was the time to speak. Kassandora had already got her answer anyway. They did in fact do births. ¡°Mine do.¡± What a thing to add. Really important information there. ¡°It¡¯s things that are a threat to life, they don¡¯t handle minor issues.¡± ¡°They would if there was more of them!¡± One rather young man, he couldn¡¯t be in his thirties yet, added excitedly. ¡°I understand.¡± Kassandora said. All that was important was that they handled birthing. She didn¡¯t need to know more. Kavaa¡¯s Clerics would hold frequent charity-healings in the poorer regions. There wasn¡¯t a town in the country that didn¡¯t have at least an annual visit before Kavaa fled the Pantheon. The villages were much the same. And now the rumour that every hospital had a team of Clerics serving came out as true. Was there a single person not blessed by a Divine in this entire country? ¡°If the situation calls for it, I will recall the Virgin¡¯s Blood to the frontlines. As of right now, you have nothing to worry about. There is no immediate to move them, however I would advise preparing contingencies for their absence.¡± She clapped her hands. ¡°That is all, I wanted you to be aware of this issue, and it¡¯s bad news, so I wanted to tell you personally.¡± That even made her look downright benevolent! Kassandora stood up and left her meeting tent. She didn¡¯t take questions, there simply wasn¡¯t enough time. Sokolowski was stalling Fortia in the north. Ekkerson¡¯s front had descended into two unmoving lines. Olephia had stalled every attack so far from the reports she got. Anassa and Fer were still skirmishing with Maisara¡¯s force as Zalewski was formalizing his own front line. Neneria wasn¡¯t useful, so she was held in reserve. Kavaa had been sent to Central Requisitions to help manage the situation there. Apart from Baalka still sleeping in her tent, Kassandora was the only Divine in this area. Things changed little. She had never been too much of a social butterfly. It wasn¡¯t that she couldn¡¯t, but there was only a limited amount of time in a day. An hour wasted on dance and song was an hour lost on managing the war.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Kassandora kicked a stone into the distance with her black boot. And now Waeh. His powers were simply immense. When he had stopped her, he didn¡¯t bring her body to stillness through force, it was as if she had decided to stop for herself. She didn¡¯t, yet she did. What terrible strength. Frankly, that could be used to contain Olephia. If the man was close enough, then¡­ Kassandora shook her head. And yet he still let it slip. She didn¡¯t even know if that was a slip or not. He could be lying, maybe there were blessings untouchable by him. But it couldn¡¯t be many, and the more she thought about him, the more it made sense. Arascus had a pride to rule over humanity. Waeh was created as some twisted abomination God to counter Arascus, there wasn¡¯t a point looking into his philosophy or his teachings, but rather at his foundation. The complete opposite of Arascus, one who believes in divinity¡¯s right to rule. The opposite would be divinity forced to serve. And that was what his power felt like too. As if Kassandora had been brought into servitude. Kassandora sighed. So she needed a person completely untouched by divinity. And yet there was no one. No one in this country, she had sent out scouts to Ausa for untainted volunteers, and she had a questionnaire for the thousands pouring in from Arika. And there was no one. Kavaa was the main culprit of course. Maybe it was just the volunteers, all of them had some sappy story about their great death to some heroic Cleric who had waltzed in one day and healed their father or mother or dog. Waeh was up there too, funnily enough. Kassandora was simply not taking anyone who followed his cult of Esperanism. Iniri and her blessed crops. A few had contact with the others, Ciria for judgements. Halkus to fix some old tractor, or Theosius. Kassandora¡¯s own troops received her blessing of course, so they would be out as well. Divine war simply required Divine intervention. A man blessed was worth twice as those untouched. There simply wasn¡¯t anyone. Not a single soul she had come across who in some damn way wasn¡¯t touch by Divines. What was this?! In the past, Kassandora could waltz into any collection of farming hovels and get her men right there! And now? What was this! Kassandora sighed as she started walking. Arusei was stood on the hill, only in dark shorts, his chest riddled with scars, hair tied back. Kassandora caught up the village chieftain, his legs were covered with ash up to his knees. He turned to look at Kassandora, smiled, and went back to looking as the sea of ash behind that hill. This entire section had once been Jungle, and the Reclamation War had pushed it back deeply. Now the vehicles had been sent off to the frontlines. Kassandora thought Arusei understood why his war wasn¡¯t so pressing as hers. ¡°I took a walk.¡± Arusei said. He banged his spear against his dirty feet. ¡°You cannot hear it here anymore.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t.¡± Kassandora agreed. The Jungle had been pushed back behind the horizon. ¡°The tribe wishes to apologize.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t believe when you said it was possible.¡± Kassandora shook her head at that. ¡°I¡¯m a Divine, it¡¯s my job to make people believe.¡± ¡°We do now.¡± Arusei said. ¡°Today I walked through there with my family, my son promised me one day he would return to our first home. Not where I was born, but the first time our ancestors were pushed away.¡± ¡°There is nothing to promise, one day you¡¯ll see it too.¡± Kassandora said. Arusei didn¡¯t say anything, he just looked at the fields of ash. Close to them, the ash was starting to sprout tall Arikan grass and flowers. Iniri had tested them, they were of her demesne, not the Jungle¡¯s. Arusei finally broke the silence. ¡°I believe you.¡± Kassandora only nodded. Anyone else would have some nice speech to give, not her. She was believed because she brought results. That was simply how it was. And now she needed to bring more results. She looked at Arusei. The man was staring off into the horizon, stars in his eyes and lost in thought. The topic hadn¡¯t been broached with him previously because his entire tribe was blessed. Kassandora thought so at least, they frequently came to the Clerics for assistance with wounds. She¡¯d seen women even bring babes when they were ill. They were as contaminated as everyone else, maybe more. Kassandora turned and left. The issue would be solved eventually. She was searching for a needle in a haystack, but it was a moving needle. Eventually, it would come to her by itself. She simply did not have the time to be searching for an unblessed soul when there was a war to command. The armies had stalled out, Fortia had found out some method to predict her movements. Sokolowski¡¯s army in itself had to be attended to. The man was a talented general, he learned leadership in the Twin Hearts, and Kassandora had trained him along with Zalewski and Ekkerson herself, but he was no Iliyal Tremali. The original plan was to divide war command between Kassandora and Arascus, with Sokolowski only taking control of the northern army when Kassandora wasn¡¯t there, but the Kirinyaan fury at Melukal had spiralled out of control and given them too much to handle. Kassandora managed half an hour before she got interrupted. Her phone buzzed. Kassandora pulled it out of her pocket. ¡®1 Olephia¡¯ at the top. The numbers were simply to sort her contacts by importance. Generals got 2. Divines got 1. Arascus got 0. Kassandora opened the message. Did you get my letter? Kassandora replied immediately. No. A bubble appeared that Olephia was writing something. Then disappeared. Then appeared again. Then disappeared. Eventually Olephia replied with a short comment. I see. Was she mad? Kassandora sighed. If she was, then she deserved to be. Kassandora never wrote or called, but then, there was too many things to do. She replied quickly: ¡®???¡¯ Olephia¡¯s bubble appeared again. When? At you? Ye Sok then Zal then Ekk was plan Need faster Kassandora didn¡¯t think about a reply this time. If Olephia needed something, it was bad. Why? Urgent. How? Can be tomorrow. Not that urgent. Kassandora rolled her eyes. Another text barged in from Olephia. Sokolowski? What time? Kassandora stared at the text for a moment. Was Olephia stupid? What else would Sok stand for? Kassandora replied with her own text. Tomorrow, not sorted yet. Unless something happens here, then day after. Olephia¡¯s came in soon. Okay, it won¡¯t be trouble then. Kassandora sent her own. What is it? The reply took longer this time. Don¡¯t worry about it. I can handle it. Fortia looked up from her battleplans as several Guardians came in. They all looked pleased with themselves. ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡± Fortia asked. ¡°Purple team did it. We have a date for Warbreaker.¡± Chapter 151 – Foxes In the Henhouse ¡°DIE AND DIE!¡± Olephia shouted in anger at the hundred or so men who had not fled yet. They were devoured by a fiery explosion. This was maddening! How did Sceo know she was coming? Did Leona really die? Anassa roared with rage as she stared at yet another empty campsite in the arid plains of north-eastern Kirinyaa. Flat, dull, grey and disgustingly well-organised tents in blocks, Maisara¡¯s style very much, even Kassandora would give her troops some bit of leeway to personalize their abodes. The only sign of life was some prowling coyotes that were eating from the refuse pile. Anassa shouted again, and sent off a blast of sorcery at the tents and campfires, tore them up and out of the ground. And then that Anassa disappeared. Anassa slammed her copy of Old Guguoan Poems closed and rose out of the bed in her tent. Irritated and angry and furious and fuming. How did they know again? Kassandora¡¯s information was always correct, there was always a campsite there. It wasn¡¯t that her sister was sending off into the ass-end of nowhere. There was obviously an army on the march. And yet when she got there, there was nothing! Evacuated tents! That was all she had to claim! How?! Anassa took a calming breath. This was an issue that needed Divine intervention, frankly, Kassie would be disappointed in her if she couldn¡¯t sort it out herself. Two copies of Anassa appeared in the room. Both in the same red dress she wore, with the same neatly styled black hair, in the same black boots with the tall heels, both smelling of her own perfume. Both of them were her, she saw through their eyes, she smelled what they smelled, she heard what they heard and they all shared the same thoughts. It was a simple trick, the same that standing in a room mirrors would do. You see yourself, and yourself sees you. One Anassa took a step and disappeared. The other Anassa walked in a different direction, and disappeared. Anassa collapsed onto her bed and angrily flicked her poems open. And to top it all off, she had lost her page! Anassa appeared above Fer¡¯s part of Zalewski¡¯s eastern army. It wasn¡¯t official policy that the beastmen stay separated from the humans, but things always worked out that way. The beastmen were loud, they played games and they didn¡¯t keep rank, and the humans did none of that. Anassa much preferred them to humans, although it was hard not to when she had created them some eighteen centuries ago. Another Anassa appeared in a glade of orange trees she had found previously. There was no purpose in this, she was simply angry and liked oranges. Fresh-picked oranges were hard to find. Wolfman and minotaur, darkfur and satyr looked up from their campfires and at Anassa as she stared them at down, hands on hips. It was a mess of a camp, with beastmen sleeping or eating or drinking or doing whatever they wanted. Fer expected her troops to train themselves and would only prod them every now and then. Some pack of wolfmen were digging a hole. Whether for their own personal enjoyment or because they were copying Kassandora¡¯s method of training, Anassa did not care. She took a step. Anassa appeared before Fer. Her sister was sitting among the beastmen on a hide of panther skin, clad only in her hides and using her own golden hair as a pillow against the tree she was leaning on. Some darkfurs were sitting around her, a wolfman, two huge bullmen. They were all staring at the animal being roasted on the campfire. Some small thing, obviously not enough to satisfy two of them, it wouldn¡¯t put a dent in Fer¡¯s monstrous appetite even if she had the whole thing to herself. ¡°Ana!¡± Fer shouted. Why was she always so loud? ¡°Do you want to join us?¡± ¡°What is that?¡± Anassa asked incredulously as she pointed at the fire. The other Anassa, by the orange trees, looked up. Some stupid jungle animal had been eating her oranges. She scowled. What a day! ¡°Coyote.¡± Fer answered primly. She leaned and gave it a sniff. ¡°Smells good.¡± So dog on a stick. Lovely. Anassa clicked her tongue and held out her as if to catch something. The Anassa by the orange trees finally found an orange. She snapped her fingers, a flash of red light separated the fruit from the branch, and it fell into her hand. This was another simple trick, possibly the most simple of them all, although no one but Anassa could do it. The Anassa by the orange trees was her. The Anassa in Fer¡¯s camp was her. So if one of her held the orange, she held the orange. If she held it, then the Anassa in Fer¡¯s camp held it. Fer¡¯s yellow eyes widened at the orange. Anassa¡¯s red eyes looked down at it and looked back to Fer. The Anassa by the trees looked up, there were plenty more here too. ¡°Do you want one?¡± Anassa asked. Fer nodded happily. Anassa chucked her the orange and another one quickly appeared in her hand. She looked at the beastmen and held it out, eyebrow raised in question. None of them wanted an orange. Too bad. Anassa tore the skin and threw a piece into her mouth. Sweet fruit always calmed her down. Not sweets, those were for children and plebians. But fruit were a delicacy. She took a heavy breath, the Anassa in bed flipped a page, and the Anassa by the orange trees disappeared. ¡°I have a problem.¡± She said. Fer ate a chunk of orange. ¡°Do you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s your problem too.¡± Anassa said as Fer reclined back down. How the woman could wear nothing but beast hide, Anassa would never understand. ¡°Is it the fact we¡¯re getting nowhere?¡± Fer asked. Anassa nodded. ¡°I just went out to a camp, fifteen minutes ago, they knew I was coming. There was a camp, there was no one there.¡± Anassa said angrily as she gave up on tearing the rest of the orange skin with her fingers and a flash of sorcery cut the fruit into neat pieces, the skin fell off. ¡°I had the same happen to me.¡± Fer said. ¡°So we¡¯re getting spied on.¡± Anassa said. She smelled her fingers. There wasn¡¯t a perfume out there that beat the smell of citrus fruit. ¡°And it¡¯s from someone high up.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not Zalewski.¡± Fer said.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I never said it was.¡± Anassa replied as she ate a piece of the fruit. ¡°But a captain, a major? Who do we get orders from?¡± Fer narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. ¡°Do you not know?¡± Anassa hated that tone. It wasn¡¯t patronizing, it didn¡¯t question her intelligence. It was pure honesty, Fer had assumed she did. ¡°Do I look like I know?¡± Anassa barked back angrily. She ate another slice of orange. Fer finished hers. She even licked the juice off her fingers, the ears on her head jumped up and down with each lick. ¡°You don¡¯t.¡± Fer said and giggled as she leaned back. ¡°I thought you did.¡± ¡°Well I don¡¯t!¡± Anassa shouted and Fer tutted. ¡°How disappointing.¡± Fer practically bathed in her own smugness. ¡°You really don¡¯t know?¡± Anassa admitted defeat. With Kassandora, there may be a debate to have, but with Fer, the woman took great pleasure from lecturing others. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Can you tell me?¡± Fer raised an eyebrow and Anassa¡¯s posture collapsed. ¡°Big sister.¡± Anassa added sourly. She had may as well said they had won the war with the amount of happiness Fer beamed out in her smile. ¡°We get them from Kassie.¡± Fer said. ¡°Ours, mine and yours, are directly from her. The operations, Zalewski is informed about so he knows we won¡¯t be here, but not where we are going. He simply gets a time, like Fer noon to evening gone.¡± Anassa blinked. How? ¡°How do you know that?¡± Fer was obviously enjoying this. She chuckled so smugly, rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. ¡°I ask around.¡± Anassa sighed. No answer at all then. ¡°Well it¡¯s not Kass.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Well obviously.¡± Fer added. ¡°But it can¡¯t be Zalewski because he doesn¡¯t even know. The men under him don¡¯t even know we¡¯re out. So who?¡± ¡°CR?¡± Anassa asked. If the letters went through Central Requisitions, then the mole could be there. Although that would be bad, CR was far away. ¡°We skip CR, it¡¯s direct line from Kassie.¡± Fer said. ¡°They go straight to you.¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s not me!¡± Anassa shouted. ¡°Well I don¡¯t take letters, even mine go to you Ana!¡± Fer shouted back. ¡°And you¡¯re too lazy to even bring them to me, and last time it was your stupid maid that handed it off to one of my bea¡­¡± Fer¡¯s voice trailed off as she calmed down. Anassa calmed down too. They both looked at each other. Yellow cat eyes blinked. Red ones cooked in fury. Anassa would have never suspected civilians. Why didn¡¯t she? But now that it was said, how could she not? The only people who got access to her quarters were her maids. Even Zalewski would politely wait outside the few times he needed Anassa. She had told them that the urgency of the situation would need to be so great as the Sun not rising in the morning before they disturbed her privacy. There was no group of people who had permission to enter. No group save for her maids. ¡°It¡¯s them.¡± Anassa said definitely. ¡°It has to be.¡± Fer answered grimly, all the previous joy wiped away and replaced by a cold calculated hunter¡¯s growl. ¡°They¡¯re native Kirinyaan girls, I don¡¯t see how you¡¯d turn one of them to rat.¡± ¡°There¡¯s plenty of ways to do that Fer.¡± Anassa said and put her hands on hips. The Anassa back in her bed sighed as she put her book down and took a step. From her opulent tent to the outside of her maid¡¯s tent. A plain structure of pale red cloth to make it distinct. In the middle of Zalewski¡¯s army, in the thick natural jungles of Kirinyaa. The woods here had been cleared and men were working on the new Lemur vehicles. Wheeled artillery, Anassa would have to see them in action to believe they were any better than the ancient cannons of the past. ¡°Are you there?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I¡¯m there.¡± Anassa replied. The Anassa by the tent took a step inside. The air reeked of perfume and her three maids were sitting quietly, one was writing something. Another was reading some old book, a third was arranging Anassa¡¯s clothes after being cleaned. They had to look twice to see who had just come in and immediately put everything down and stood at attention. ¡°Ready to serve Goddess!¡± One girl said. Anassa had not even bothered to learn their names. This girl was tall, with curly hair that went to her shoulders. Anassa looked at her maids. They were all tall. Not suspicious in itself, but now that they were in her sights, it didn¡¯t sit right with her. Anassa took a step into the tent and looked around without answering. Three beds, three cabinets for their belongings. A shelf for books. Then a box filled with cleaning supplies. As average as she expected. She snapped her fingers. The cabinets opened and Anassa peered inside. Underwear, spare clothes, one of the girls had a bottle of wine. Another had chocolates. As average a find as she expected. ¡°I apologize profusely for drinking!¡± Presumably the wine-girl replied. Anassa didn¡¯t even look at her. Kassandora had once told her that the only war she had no hope of winning was the war with humanity¡¯s alcoholism. If Kassie wasn¡¯t going to try, then Anassa would not even bother. ¡°And?¡± Fer asked. The Anassa by her shrugged. ¡°It looks normal.¡± ¡°No letters or anything out of place?¡± ¡°Chocolates and wine.¡± Fer giggled at that. ¡°They¡¯re all tall.¡± Anassa said. ¡°We¡¯re tall too.¡± Fer replied. ¡°That we are.¡± Anassa said slowly. Back in the maid¡¯s tent. Anassa looked around at the women. They stood there primly, each one smiling and giving space to Anassa to inspect the tent. The Goddess of Sorcery sighed and shook her head. She took the book the maid had been writing and opened it to the latest page. ¡°Today, Goddess Anassa¡¯s clothes were cleaned by¡­¡± Anassa closed the book. It was a simple diary. She shook her head and sniffed the air. ¡°Very well.¡± Anassa said. ¡°This was a routine check-up, I¡¯ve been wondering how you were doing.¡± That was a complete lie of course, she had not even bother to learn their names. She was sure they knew that too, but she didn¡¯t want to be seen as delusional and paranoid, enough people already said that about her. Anassa looked at the three girls. One of them smiled gently at Anassa and bowed. Anassa supposed she was letting her paranoia get the best of her. These maids were native Kirinyaans, they had seen what happened at Melukal, that was why they had volunteered to fight. And they were young and pretty. That would mean they¡¯d be na?ve and optimistic and completely unaware of what a war entailed. Anassa shook her head. She wasn¡¯t going to apologize for disturbing them, and they were still on the list of suspects, no matter what Fer said. Things had to be confirmed, if she sent them away and suddenly Maisara¡¯s army stopped getting warnings about her movements¡­ ¡°You have today, tomorrow and the day after off.¡± Anassa said. The three girl¡¯s eyes widened in surprise as they looked at each other. ¡°Oh that won¡¯t¡­¡± One girl said and another elbowed her to shut her up. ¡°Thank you Goddess.¡± The girl who had hit the other said. Smart one, this one, when Divines gave gifts, you accepted them even if you didn¡¯t want to. ¡°So can we stay here or¡­?¡± Anassa looked at the girl. She actually hadn¡¯t thought of that. What did maids do when they had their days off? Anassa just stayed in bed and read a book or annoyed one of her sisters. Anassa clicked her tongue as she made up some mundane reason for them to be gone. ¡°I¡¯m going to be holding a ritual. You won¡¯t be safe here.¡± That was the sort of thing mortals generally believed in. The three girl¡¯s faces went pale and they nodded immediately. There we go! Anassa was so happy with herself at solving this situation she went and patted the girl who had been eager for a break on the head¡­ Fer¡¯s eyes sharpened immediately as she took a sniff of the air. She stood up and crossed between her and Anassa in two steps. Of Beasthood towered over Of Sorcery like only Arascus did. ¡°What is it?¡± Fer didn¡¯t reply, her face was cold now. Her eyes sharp, it was the gaze of a hunter who had just smelled prey. She took Anassa¡¯s hand and smelled her fingers. Then she yanked Anassa forwards. The Goddess of Sorcery yelped and fell over her feet as Fer held her hand out to a gnarled wolfman, his chest covered in scars and battle-wounds, his maw filled with sharp teeth. ¡°Logar, is this what I think it is?¡± Anassa¡¯s cheeks went red as the wolfman leaned in, wrinkled his nose, and sniffed Anassa¡¯s fingers. He blinked in confusion for a moment, then smelled again. ¡°It can¡¯t be...¡± He said slowly and smelled yet again. ¡°But I do smell it.¡± ¡°What animal?¡± Fer barked the words like a command. The wolfman gave a reply instantly. ¡°Fox.¡± Chapter 152 – The Vavel Meeting Fortia, Maisara and Waeh all shook hands. Kassandora would be killed tomorrow. This war would be over by the end of the week. Before Zawitz became the capital of Lubska, it was Kaczaw. Once an ancient capital, with a royal palace that housed royalty, now the city was a tourist hub, an educational powerhouse, Lubska¡¯s second largest industrial zone and a historical relic. Today though, Zawitz returned to its ancient roots: Epan nobles were being hosted in Vavel Castle, and people were out in the streets. If not for the cars and trams and trains, the planes in the air, the smoke from factories in the distance, the tarmac and concrete and tower blocks, it could have been a city of the past, with golden sandstone and cobblestone streets in the city¡¯s old town. President Jozef sat in one of the rooms of Vavel castle. High-ceilings, with royal ancient royal wallpaper, all brown and red. And paintings on the walls. And huge windows tall enough for Divines to fit through. They had a good view of Kaczaw as a whole, but today he wished that the windows could be removed. Another massive strike protest had taken form in Lubska, people were out in all the streets. Several highways to Kaczaw were blocked off, the airport had been shut down too. It¡¯s two train stations had the same fate. The city had been put to a complete and stop. ¡°Not Our War!¡± Posters were hung up on every building and someone was flying a small plane across the city with a banner trailing behind it: ¡°Back To The Mountain!¡± Jozef sighed. He could not do much with it, and it would look bad in front of the other leaders but there wasn¡¯t much he could do. The Doschian recession had spiralled even further out of control and now was spreading to Lubska. People had no work to occupy them and a news cycle that was difficult to tear their eyes away from. Jozef understood though, it was just as difficult for him to stop paying attention to the divine war in Kirinyaa as it was for them. Watching it, he got the feeling as if he was seeing history being made. The other Epan leaders arrived. It wasn¡¯t the whole continent, it was only those who were relevant to the continent¡¯s decision making. Aimone had taken to calling them the Gang of Five and the name stuck. King Wissel Ellenheim, first of his name, King of Doschia arrived first. He always did, in a dark uniform and a short cape fit for movement. Saksma followed in behind him, half again his height, Doschia¡¯s national Goddess. With long golden hair and blue eyes and a dark coat and a cold face that looked as if it was about to tell Jozef off for the sorry state of Kaczaw right now, she looked like all the stereotypes of hardworking industrious Doschia rolled into one. But then she saw Olonia, Lubska¡¯s own mascot Goddess, and warmed up with a cheery smile. The two Goddesses exchanged a hug. Olonia was just an inch shorter, with hair of pure white akin to Lubskan snows. In a green coat that hung low, ever-modest, and that hair done in a traditional braid that hung over her shoulder. Artois entered, Paida behind him. Both Rancais, so both dressed excellently. Artois in a dark coat and a scarf, Paida in a dark brown with a scarf of dark blue. It brought attention to the woman¡¯s eyes. She also hugged Olonia and Saksma. Aimone with Agrita, Rilia¡¯s king and Goddess. Homely, joyous, pleasant, but Aimone had been looking more tired recently. Maisara¡¯s putting down of Anarchian¡¯s in his land had brought a toll onto the man. And finally Richard VI. Unfortunately Aliana was missing again. Then again, it didn¡¯t matter. Divine Mascots were mere representatives. ¡°I pre-emptively apologize for the issue at the airport.¡± Artois and Richard had both come by plane. Their landings had to be delayed by an hour as the planes circled the city in the air and police cleared the runway of protestors. ¡°Do not.¡± Artois said immediately. ¡°The situation is better here than in Aris.¡± Jozef shook his head. There had been a time when he was fully aware of the news in other countries, now though, all he could do was keep up with the sad state of Lubska and keep track of Kassandora¡¯s war in Arika. ¡°The entire north of Rilia is shut down.¡± Aimone said. ¡°I saw you actually have police who aren¡¯t on strike.¡± ¡°Are yours?¡± Jozef asked incredulously. ¡°Striking and understaffed.¡± Aimone said as the mascot Goddesses took their positions, each one standing behind the leader of their respective nation. Agrita was especially hard to pull eyes off. ¡°We had a third quit outright when Maisara came in Wissel.¡± The Doschian king sighed as Jozef looked away from Agrita. ¡°I do not think it would do much anyway. In Doschia we can¡¯t even keep the protests contained.¡± He said. ¡°That¡¯s why I called the meeting. Epa is crumbling apart in our hands.¡± Richard crossed his arms and leaned back. ¡°If it was at least our issue, I¡¯d understand. But what are we supposed to do about a White Pantheon war?¡± The table fell silent. ¡°We¡¯ve stemmed them by launching an official complaint.¡± Jozef said. ¡°Send a letter to Elassa to explain the situation and then officially denounce the war.¡± ¡°Elassa?¡± Wissel asked. Jozef shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a White Pantheon War officially, but Fortia didn¡¯t do herself any favours with Melukal.¡± ¡°She did not.¡± Aimone said coldly. Agrita behind him broke procedure and leaned down, officially Divines were merely supposed to keep watch. ¡°Did not is an understatement, she massacred an entire city.¡± Jozef had forgotten how sweet Agrita¡¯s voice sounded, it was like verbal honey with the way she pronounced each word with that Rilian accent. ¡°Agrita.¡± Aimone shut her down and the Goddess straightened and blushed. ¡°Apologies, I did not mean to intervene but don¡¯t beat around the bush. She-¡° ¡°Agrita!¡± Saksma said loudly from behind Wissel, she softened her tone after a moment. ¡°Now¡¯s not the time.¡± ¡°But what Agrita says is true.¡± Wissel said as he put his elbows on the table and leaned forwards. ¡°Let us not beat around the bush, Fortia did massacre Melukal.¡± They had all brought their own documents with them. Jozef had just brought every piece of data he considered important, whether or not it would be used didn¡¯t matter. This meeting was something he hoped would happen, but he had more important things to manage. Wissel dropped his orange folder on the table and brought out a piece of paper. ¡°I¡¯ve sent diplomats to every Arikan country. Ausa actually allowed us to conduct a survey of White Pantheon opinion among the population.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°And?¡± Jozef asked. ¡°Less than one percent.¡± Wissel said. ¡°My men struggled to find even one person in favour of the Pantheon. The most supportive was that Kassandora had gone too far with the Military Implementation Bill but that were wasn¡¯t any need for a full on invasion of Kirinyaa.¡± He took a sigh. ¡°Granted, this is Ausa and they¡¯re about to start their own Reclamation War, but I assume the other Arikan nations are not too different.¡± ¡°The ones that border the Jungle are the same.¡± Richard said slowly as he brought out his paper. ¡°We have conducted our own surveys. I¡¯ve never seen such unanimity of opinion.¡± ¡°They let you?¡± Wissel asked. ¡°No.¡± Richard replied flatly. ¡°We sent school professors. What are the Arikans going to do? Arrest teachers for taking surveys?¡± Richard¡¯s question didn¡¯t need an answer. ¡°In Doschia, support is overwhelming to ending the war.¡± Wissel said. ¡°Well, to go even further and sanction the Pantheon. How we are supposed to sanction them, I¡¯m not sure about.¡± ¡°Internet conspiracies of course.¡± Richard said. ¡°But it¡¯s more that no one has really realised there¡¯s nothing to sanction. I don¡¯t blame them, but it¡¯s misdirected anger.¡± Artois made a grand gesture with his hands. ¡°Lovely Richard, lovely Wissel. I weep for your people that your people haven¡¯t got the message yet, mine have.¡± Wissel and Richard both turned to look sourly at President Artois. The Rancais man held his cool though, as did Paida behind him. She stared the two kings coldly. ¡°In Rancais, they¡¯ve got the notice you can¡¯t sanction the Pantheon, do you know what they¡¯re calling for?¡± ¡°What?¡± Wissel asked. ¡°A trial on Maisara and on Fortia and for Rancais to formally leave Pantheon Peace as a sign of protest.¡± The four other leader¡¯s faces went pale. Artois somehow made it even worse. ¡°And it¡¯s become an election issue. This isn¡¯t just a joke or theories or just demands made by a crowd anymore, we are actually discussing how to put White Pantheon Divines on trial in our parliament.¡± Aimone took a deep breath and added his own thoughts. ¡°Obviously it won¡¯t happen though.¡± Artois shrugged as Paida shook her head. ¡°Obviously, do you even to say anything about the farce of people talking about putting Fortia in cuffs?¡± ¡°But it¡¯s a real issue.¡± Wissel said. ¡°Misguided, but real, at this point you can safely assume the default for people is that they hate the Pantheon.¡± ¡°The Pantheon doesn¡¯t do itself any favours.¡± Richard added. He made a show of looking around the room. ¡°But it¡¯s the Gang of Five again.¡± ¡°It is.¡± Aimone said, happily rubbing his chin that the name had stuck. Richard nodded. ¡°So I think I know what that means.¡± Wissel nodded and leaned forwards. ¡°How to break Pantheon Peace.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not ready yet.¡± Richard said. Wissel scratched his chin and shook his head. ¡°You can¡¯t be ready for it, but Kirinyaa can be used as a lesson, we see what happens when a country breaks Pantheon Peace.¡± ¡°You get invaded.¡± Aimone said flatly. ¡°The question is how. I thought they would do a quick-takeover. A landing in the capital and a coup.¡± Wissel said, Jozef found his turn to speak. ¡°Not comparable, Kirinyaa is loaded with Divines at this point. And it¡¯s not weak Divines either.¡± The mascot Goddesses all made glum faces as they shared looks. They weren¡¯t weak either but¡­ Well, they weren¡¯t Kassandora or Fer, much less a Neneria, Anassa or Olephia. ¡°If we force them into a land-war, then there¡¯s a chance. The slower the front moves, the better our situation, but we can¡¯t stop a lightning strike on our capitals.¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± Wissel said. ¡°I don¡¯t see how ever.¡± Jozef said. ¡°Minor Divines, maybe, but Zerus? Elassa? Allasaria?¡± ¡°Allasaria has not been seen for months now.¡± Richard added and Jozef shrugged. ¡°Elassa and Zerus then. Alkom too. I don¡¯t want a Sun descending on Zawitz.¡± ¡°Maisara is untouchable.¡± Artois said. ¡°When she was clearing Rancais, every time she¡¯d enter a building, she¡¯d return without a scratch. Covered in blood, but not a scratch on her.¡± ¡°So unless you have a way to defend us¡­¡± Richard said. Wissel smiled and pulled out a piece of paper. ¡°After the Artica situation, I did some investigation. I believe it was Olephia¡¯s prison.¡± He pulled out a map of all Arda with a line drawn through it. The red marking started in Artica, entitled Point X, hit Igos perfectly and went into Rilia and then further through central Epa. ¡°She would have gone through Doschian territory too.¡± ¡°And?¡± Jozef asked, whenever the conversation strayed into these topics he was always disappointed in his own nation¡¯s lack of expertise in the matter. He had absolutely nothing to offer. ¡°This is a map of the White Pantheon territories in Epa we know about. You can thank the Ministerium fur historische Angelegenheiten for this news.¡± He brought out a ruler on the map and put it down to resemble Olephia¡¯s flight path. ¡°It hits the White Pantheon¡¯s Paladin Headquarters exactly. It¡¯s not even a stretch to say that is where Olephia was heading to.¡± ¡°So Olephia wanted to destroy the Paladin HQ, I¡­¡± Aimone trailed off and chuckled before pulling a sarcastic tone. ¡°Well why would one of the Daughter-Goddesses want to destroy the Paladin HQ? It really makes me think.¡± Agrita chuckled at the joke behind him as Richard leaned forwards and shook his head. ¡°Olephia was caught in the first century. The Paladins only returned to Epa in two-hundred twenty after Pantheon Peace enforcement was finished.¡± Wissel of Doschia smiled and motioned with his finger. ¡°Exactly.¡± He said. ¡°Unless Olephia found out in her imprisonment what had happened, there is no reason to head there.¡± Artois shrugged. ¡°Not much of a lead.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the only spark in the dark we had.¡± Wissel replied promptly. He brought out another report, it was photocopies of pictures of an ancient page. ¡°Written by General Eleyad Gallahan, commander of the fourth Legion of Arascus in the Great War. In elvish, we had to bring in translators to decipher it.¡± ¡°So what did you find?¡± Richard said. Wissel proudly brought out another report and hit the page with his fingers, then passed it around. There was one for everyone, but Wissel read it out loud anyway, just from the tone, Jozef could tell how happy the King was with this discovery. ¡°One-hundred-thirty-two miles east of Black Bear, slight tilt to the south. Two hundred seventy south from the coast, straight south. One hundred, sixty-six northwest of Four Crests. All directions are given straight as the crow flies and rounded to the nearest mile. For reference, I am using Goddess Kassandora¡¯s mileage system and not Maisara¡¯s.¡± The king finished, the five men shared looks. How very elven it was, the language didn¡¯t have a single word that didn¡¯t need to be said. ¡°Black Bear and Four Crests are obviously codewords.¡± Richard said. ¡°Are they?¡± Wissel asked. ¡°This is a report from his own writings.¡± Aimone chuckled. ¡°He gives Kassandora the Goddess title and not Maisara.¡± ¡°Fitting for one of hers.¡± Artois said. ¡°But it is though, what place has four crests?¡± Jozef blinked. It was so obvious he didn¡¯t even want to believe it at first. ¡°Vroczis does.¡± It had one crest split into four parts, the city had been under kingdoms in the past and in the age, to honour that, they incorporated the four ancients crests into one. Wissel leaned down with a smile. ¡°And Neustadt.¡± Jozef knew that was the capital of Doschia. Wissel lowered his tone as if about to spill a secret, the man was practically brimming with joy at this point. ¡°It¡¯s built on the ruins of Kollin.¡± He brought out another picture. ¡°This is its crest.¡± A black bear standing on its hind legs. ¡°I see.¡± Richard said. ¡°And you line those up.¡± Wissel nodded as he started drawing lines on the map. ¡°We don¡¯t know exactly what a Kassandora mile is, but¡­¡± Wissel said. ¡°When we checked with the maths, then the distances lined up perfectly. No matter which one you substituted for a variable, Eleyad Gallahan¡¯s distances lined up.¡± The three lines converged perfectly over the Paladin¡¯s Headquarters in Doschia. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t explain why Olephia was heading there.¡± Aimone said. Wissel shook his head as he started ruffling through his notes. ¡°But it does.¡± He said and brought a piece of paper. ¡°But it does.¡± He repeated and put it down. Jozef stood up to lean over the table. Another piece of Gallahan¡¯s work, translated: Directions to Arascus¡¯ Divine Armoury. Jozef blinked as he felt blood drain from his face. The other leaders shook their heads, eyes wide. Even the Goddesses in the room looked stunned. Wissel crossed his arms. ¡°And we all know which group of Divines was kept in the armoury, I¡¯m sure.¡± Iliyal leaned back. He drank some coffee for the energy, and some whiskey to wash out the taste. Another article was going up today, in Doschian this time: ¡®Why we need to trial Goddess Fortia.¡¯ Kassandora would truly proud be of him. Chapter 153 – Hunting Foxes Kassandora sighed and set off to Sokolowski¡¯s frontline in Raptor One. The Waeh problem could wait, the fact the front lines weren¡¯t moving was a bigger issue entirely. Fer let go of Anassa¡¯s hand and looked at her sister. Anassa straightened and rubbed her wrist, in any other situation, she would have made a sour face and some defensive comment. Not now, the Anassa standing before her was the Anassa written about in the history books: Cold red eyes that boiled in fury, black hair to make the night jealous of its darkness. A glare that sent men running for their lives. And Fer knew she stood in the same manner. A battle was one thing, there was honour in that, it was a test of wits and strength. A spy was another entirely. They all knew it, not a single member of her family claimed ownership over the rule, it was as obvious as saying grass was green or blood was red: Traitors died first. ¡°Logar, Traian, assemble a hunting pack.¡± Fer growled, her voice deep and slow. Kassandora wasn¡¯t the only one who could lead. ¡°Anassa, don¡¯t kill them yet.¡± Anassa nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve not touched them, I¡¯m just looking at them.¡± She replied. Fer nodded and walked past her sister, almost a head taller than Anassa, with the golden mane falling past her hips. ¡°Go to Zalewski.¡± Anassa didn¡¯t even take a second to reply, she said immediately, her eyes on Fer¡¯s. ¡°I¡¯m there.¡± ¡°Tell him to assemble the men, everyone in the camp, civilian or not. Everyone, tell him to line them up.¡± The Anassa in Zalewski¡¯s tent prodded the man¡¯s shoulder. He was listening to music on his headphones and didn¡¯t notice her appear behind him. Zalewski reacted as any of Kassandora¡¯s generals would, the man froze for a moment, looked around in front of himself, suddenly wary, and then turned to look up at Anassa. General Zalewski stood up instantly and saluted Anassa. In a dark green shirt and shorts, standard dress for when out of battle. ¡°General Zalewski at attention Goddess Anassa! How may I serve?¡± ¡°Assemble the troops, every man, woman, child, I don¡¯t care if you have talking dogs here. Anything that can speak, whether they¡¯re drunk or sleeping. Me and Fer are doing an inspection of the troops.¡± Anassa stared at the man and the clapped her hands. ¡°Well? Pronto! Do you know what that means?¡± Zalewski blinked and nodded hurriedly. ¡°It means fast.¡± He said, then realised what those words actually meant. ¡°I¡¯ll go right now!¡± He turned and ran out of the tent, already issuing orders. Fer walked back to Zalewski¡¯s part of the army with sixty beastmen that Logar and Traian had assembled. Officially, they were all part of Zalewski¡¯s army, but with Fer here, the man took great caution with the beastmen as to not overstep his authority into Fer¡¯s realm. Fer assumed Anassa faced the same problem when she was dealing with sorcerers. Anassa appeared in the air, floating next to Fer so that their faces were at equal heights. At this pace, the woman would have had to make some ridiculous jog to keep up with Fer¡¯s pace. The beastmen behind them could do it easily though, hoof and claw and paw tore up the jungle¡¯s dirt beneath them. The birds stopped singing and animals moved out of their way as Fer walked. She could hear them, forests had always been loud, and jungles were louder. Small beetles would scutter into their hiding holes and the red ants of this land would break their organized ranks to make space for the hunting pack. It was a short walk, it had never been too long for Fer. She could devour the distance in a matter of minutes if she tried, but usually it was a twenty minute traversal. Today, it was half the time. Circling a huge tree with a thick canopy, Fer finally emerged to gaze at Zalewski¡¯s camp. Sprawling, organized, with Kassandora¡¯s touches that every army of hers possessed. Campfires in front of every tent, some with pots hanging over them. The soldiers had been cooking meals. A few had tried to stash away their bottles of booze, Anassa would most likely not notice it, but the smell was obvious. They had tinned soup for food today, it smelled of duck and tomatoes. The Lemur artillery trucks were parked in several rows. Zalewski had been forty-eight of the vehicles. Fer wanted to meet her engineer friend clerics to get their opinion on the new vehicles. Unfortunately none of them had been assigned to this front. Eight helicopters sat there too, civilian models, but standardised. Kassandora sent a different model to each army to ease the sending of spare parts, Zalewski got the heaviest units, huge helicopters with massive sliding doors all painted black, the only marker to delineate them were two striped lines on either side, each helicopter had a different colour combination. They were ex-Cleric vehicles, not the ones donated by Kirinyaa¡¯s wealthy. Ekkerson got those. The tents were divided in Kassandora¡¯s usual style, she preferred sprawling encampments made for ease of movement over Maisara¡¯s tight box layout which stuffed as many men as possible in a tight an area as possible. Roads had been cleared by the engineering brigades, then smoothed down with bulldozers, although they were just dirt. Zalewski, being a man chosen for leadership by Kassandora, was fast. Very fast. Fer knew that even if she tried, it would have been a push to assemble the three thousand beastmen who had been sent to the frontline. Zalewski somehow managed to get the whole camp of ten thousand, with a quarter of that number again in civilians and logistical troops, assembled into formation by the time Fer got to the camp¡¯s northern edge, where a massive amount of jungle had been felled to create a gathering square. And more than ten thousand men had been assembled there. It wasn¡¯t his whole army, it was merely the eastern-armies command division. More men would be coming soon, and Zalewski had split the army up to cover the entire front. It would have been impossible in the past when battles were merely huge brawls of men swinging swords at each other. Numbers had been the deciding factor then. Now though, with Kassandora¡¯s guns, each division was close enough to support its neighbours, but far enough to project a sphere of influence around its position and stop Maisara from circling them. Fer sighed as she stared at the men, this would take longer than she imagined. Anassa set herself on the ground as another copy of Anassa brought over the three maids. Fer turned to her beastmen. ¡°Make a half-circle away from me, keep them inside.¡± The wolfmen all smiled with snarls that twisted the fur and skin over their faces in unnatural ways. The bullmen merely grunted. Three darkfurs had tagged along, that was usual whenever Fer left her camp, beastmen were naturally curious creatures. The beastmen made an arc and Anassa deposited the three maids into that half-circle. Three tall girls, it was the first time Fer saw them. She had admonished Anassa when the woman said they were tall, but these girls were in fact tall. Easily as tall most men, it did not sit right with her either now. They wore black dresses, standard wear for maids, and looked terrified¡­ Fer narrowed her eyes at them. But it wasn¡¯t the fear of confusion or terror, there was no anger at the injustice coming from their scent. It was merely fear and worry and resignation. Fer was sure they were spies through and through, only people who got in trouble and knew about it smelled like that. Zalewski approached the two Goddesses, brought about a salute and stood at attention. The sun reflected off his shaved head. ¡°General Zalewski reports Command Division has been assembled!¡± He said in a loud voice, the nine thousand soldiers stood at attention immediately, the banging of boot on boot as loud as an explosion. It echoed a few times against the trees before disappearing. ¡°I¡¯ll take it from here.¡± Fer said. ¡°If anyone runs, they¡¯re yours Ana.¡± Anassa made a terribly cruel show-smile. She rarely made it in private, it was more for her public image. It had the effect it always did, the soldiers and civilians who saw it grew pale. One logistics man started shaking. Fer walked to the middle of the crowd and roared. It silenced the few nervous whispers questioning what was happening. ¡°I am Fer!¡± Fer shouted loud enough for even those at the back to hear. ¡°Anyone who runs is considered a traitor, you cannot outrun me. I will catch you, and we will hold a summary execution on the spot.¡± Zalewski¡¯s eyes widened in shock, but he held his mouth shut. Good for him. Fer was in no mood to play games with spies. ¡°Understood?!¡± Fer shouted. ¡°Understood Goddess Fer!¡± The entire division responded. And Fer got to work. She walked to the first man of the first rank, leaned in and smelled him: Human, dirty, sweaty, but human. ¡°Sit.¡± Fer said. The man took a moment to react and then sat, his legs crossed. Fer already moved onto the second: human again. ¡°Sit.¡± And so he sat. And third sat. And the fourth. And the fifth. And the fiftieth. Fer sent a random man from the first rank into her pack. If they were shapeshifters, she didn¡¯t want them to run, so she sent one man wrongly on purpose to calm them down. One rank was done in ten minutes. The second in eight. Fer was starting to doubt herself when she got to the two-thousand mark. And then she came across a man. Tall again, taller than the men by his side, with an angular and handsome face. Fer didn¡¯t even bother leaning in now, the smell of man was obvious and using her nose so much made her more aware of it. But this man¡­ she smelled him: Dirty, absolutely slathered with cologne and cigarettes, so much as if he was trying to hide his scent. But there it was though, he didn¡¯t have the soft and sweet smell of humanity on him, he had the tang of fox. The same that had been on Anassa¡¯s fingers. ¡°Go.¡± Fer said. The man closed his eyes and nodded in resignation. The smell wafting from him said the same, it wasn¡¯t fear, it was simply the pathetic scent of a creature that had given up. Of easy prey that wouldn¡¯t fight back. He walked slowly past the sitting men and into the half-circle her beastmen had made, there were eight men there now. And two Anassas hovered above it, red dresses swaying in the day¡¯s light breeze, then another eight were spread out around the division and watching for any movement or sign that someone would run. And Fer smelled the next man. ¡°Sit.¡± She found another fox in the six thousands. It took her two hours, but the entirety of Zalewski¡¯s troops were sat down. And Fer moved onto the civilians. Two foxes were hidden here, but Fer picked out another half-dozen men. Zalewski himself stood still as he watched the proceedings. He didn¡¯t speak, he didn¡¯t ask a question, he merely stood and waited: Kassandora¡¯s man through and through. Fer returned to the half-circle. The bullmen had poor noses, better than humans, but poor. ¡°Wolfmen!¡± Fer shouted. ¡°Line up!¡± Fer walked into the group of soldiers and civilians she had picked out and smelled them. Fox and human, when the two scents were next to each other, it was so obvious even a child would catch it. The wolfmen lined up, a few had brought rifles, most had merely come. If they needed guns, Fer would have told them to bring guns. ¡°You and you, forwards.¡± Fer picked out a human and a fox. Both soldiers, the fox was noticeably taller though. And more handsome. Fer looked at the man¡¯s face, handsome in an almost artificial way. Handsome like a painting, without imperfections and with smooth skin that soldiers didn¡¯t normally have. Not a skilled shapeshifter then. They walked to the line of wolfmen. ¡°Smell until you can tell the difference.¡± The forty wolfmen circled around them and started to smell. Fer gave them a minute. They had to learn at their own pace, hurrying them up would only lead to mistakes later. Eventually Logar stepped away. Fer pointed to the group that had been captured. ¡°Count them, don¡¯t say it out loud.¡± The foxes must have realised what was going on, their postures were absolutely dismal. The humans were merely confused and afraid and unsure. Another wolfman finished, he got the same command. And another. And another. And they all did. They finished and lined up. ¡°How many?¡± Fer asked them. All forty replied at the same time. ¡°Seven and thirteen.¡± Fer smiled to herself, they were quick learners indeed. If any of them would have answered differently, her ears were sharp enough to catch it, but they all answered immediately as the pack had been trained to do. And all of them sounded absolutely confident in themselves. ¡°Good.¡± Fer said. ¡°Return.¡± They returned to the semi-circle as Fer walked over and smelled Zalewski. It was simply to make sure. He was human, as human as they came, with the distinct scent of Kassandora¡¯s blessing, something like a spicy mint. Very much like her sister, that smell. Fer walked into the centre of the group. She towered them all, almost twice their height again, and patted a soldier dressed in camouflage shorts and shirt. ¡°Return.¡± The man blinked at her, opened his mouth and blinked again.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°To the ranks?¡± He asked. ¡°To the ranks.¡± Fer confirmed, there was no reason to be brutal with people who simply had the misfortune of being picked out by her to teach her beastmen how to differentiate scents. She walked away from the man as he took a shaky step away from the semi. Another man returned. The third one almost seemed ready for it. Eventually, all thirteen humans left. The seven foxes looked at themselves, one of Anassa¡¯s maids shook her head. Resignation and defeat and acceptance and fox: that was their scent at this point. Fer crossed her arms and stared at the maids, at the two false-soldiers and the two false civilians. The question was, how did they get in? Fer pointed at one of the soldiers, the maids were easy enough to figure out. They had been kidnapped, killed and buried somewhere. But soldiers? The man stepped forwards and Fer turned to the sitting division, all on the ground, all in silence and fully concentrated on what was happening. They had grown easy now that they realised they weren¡¯t in trouble. ¡°This man¡¯s team, stand up!¡± Eleven men from the third rank stood up, all in dark green resting clothes. ¡°Come over here!¡± Fer shouted. And so they came. Slowly, unsurely, but they came. The Anassas in the air merely kept watch. Fer didn¡¯t even look at the fox pretending to be a man. The team formed a single rank and one man stepped forwards. Lean and muscled, all Kassandora¡¯s training had made them all. ¡°Corporal Skaski, Team two, first platoon, third brigade, second command division!¡± He half shouted. Fer looked over at Anassa, the woman merely rolled her eyes. Fer gave her a smug grin, she absolutely knew that Anassa had no clue what the man was talking about! Haha! ¡°Have you engaged in battle?¡± Fer asked. ¡°No Goddess!¡± Skaski replied. ¡°This man.¡± Fer pointed to the soldier. ¡°Who is this?¡± ¡°Private Samminth! Under my command!¡± Fer nodded and crossed her arms. ¡°Did Private Samminth disappear recently?¡± The corporal raised wriggled his eyebrows as he thought. ¡°There was a time two days ago when he was missing in the evening, but he had a reason.¡± Fer tilted her head to one side as she questioned the man. ¡°And that was?¡± ¡°He got lost in the jungle.¡± Skaski replied sheepishly. A few of the men from his team tried to contain a laugh. Fer nodded, that was a good reason indeed. If the man had said he needed to call his wife or other ridiculous lie, that could be investigated further. What was there to say about getting lost in the jungle? The man got lost and that was it. That would be fine, if this Private Samminth didn¡¯t smell like fox. Frankly, Fer was disappointed. If Fortia had sent shapeshifters in, she should at least have made sure they didn¡¯t smell of Ihon red fox and Kirinyaan moon-eared fox instead. ¡°Your Private Samminth is dead.¡± Fer responded. ¡°Return to the ranks and mark him down as a casualty, assassination.¡± Skaski looked at Samminth, then at Fer, his team fell silent. There was no laughter now, but no one would question a Goddess. Maybe Kavaa could be debated with, or Helenna. But not someone with the reputation of Fer. The team saluted Fer, and then returned. Fer spun back around in a theatrical fashion to the seven foxes standing in that semi-circle. ¡°The game is up!¡± She said loudly, she made sure to lay a fun tone on. It was over at this point. ¡°This is what will happen. You will reveal yourselves, or I will reveal you for me.¡± A tone like that was worse than a command, a command dignified. Fer granted them no dignity, this was no better than playing with dolls. ¡°You have ten seconds, unless you need more time, then do ask. I¡¯m in a rather good mood right now.¡± No one asked. ¡°Ten.¡± Fer raised her hands. ¡°Nine.¡± None of them made a move. ¡°Eight.¡± The three maids looked at each other. ¡°Seven.¡± Fer grew bored. ¡°Six-Five-Four-Three-Two-One.¡± Fer finished off quickly, each word curling into the next. ¡°You had your chance.¡± Fer said, she took large steps to this Private Samminth. The man smelled of resignation and depression. In an instant, her hand wrapped around Samminth¡¯s neck. It was a quick movement, Fer spun with him in her hand and slammed him into the ground. The beastmen sneered at the sight of the man getting injured. The humans all looked shocked, Zalewski obviously didn¡¯t like the show Fer was putting on. And Private Samminth. Private Samminth groaned with the sultry voice of a woman. Fer lifted her foot and put pressure on his¡­ hers? Its chest. A rib cracked. Then another. And Samminth screamed in a high-pitched tone only a terrified girl could do. And then, Samminth changed. Two tall ears burst out over his head, as tall as Fer¡¯s, but fluffier and red. A tail burst out from his rear. Then another. Four tails in total, all soft and thick and as large as a man¡¯s leg. Fer applied the pressure as Zalewski briskly walked over. All the disdain he had for Fer punishing his men had washed away as he stared at the transformation. Samminth¡¯s hair grew until it reached his waist, it was a vivid orange, the sort foxes usually had. Eyes turned a vulpine yellow, nails extended and grew, clothes became loose around the waist and tight around the chest. Fer kept her foot on the fox¡¯s stomach the whole time. ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me!¡± ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Ra-Raiko!¡± Fer turned her head as the copies of Anassa disappeared until only one was left. She appeared by Fer¡¯s side. ¡°Raiko.¡± Fer said and gave the fox a kick, the woman tumbled in the red dirt. ¡°Lovely Raiko, lovely indeed.¡± She changed gazes from the woman to Zalewski. ¡°This is why we needed a show, your men needed to see this.¡± Fer leaned down, picked up Raiko by her neck and showed her off for the whole division to see. ¡°No one is allowed to be alone outside of the camp from now on. If you want to leave to pick oranges, then take a friend with you. If not, you will end up like Private Samminth, wherever he is, most likely in this woman¡¯s stomach.¡± ¡°I-I don¡¯t eat people.¡± Raiko said as she grabbed her torso. Fer dropped her and lowered her tone to Zalewski as Raiko curled up into a ball between them, tails wrapped around her and ears brought close to her head as she nursed her broken ribs and burst into tears. ¡°Have a Cleric heal her. I want them alive.¡± ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Zalewski immediately ran off to fetch medical Clerics. Fer turned to the other six foxes and crossed her arms. The game was truly up now, if they thought they could get away before, then Raiko¡¯s defeat must have put them in their place. Fer took a step and started counting quickly. ¡°Ten-Nine-Eight-Sev-¡° All of them started to change. Tails appeared, ears burst out from the tops of heads. The tallest of them had five tails, she had been one of Anassa¡¯s maids, the shortest was still as tall as a woman, and that fox only had two. Fer smiled to herself, all most creatures needed was a little bit of fear and they would cooperate. ¡°That was easy.¡± Anassa said quietly from Fer¡¯s side. Fer ignored her sister and walked in between the fox-people. ¡°I could smell you.¡± Fer said as the fox-people fell silent. She had heard stories of these in the past, they didn¡¯t feature in the Great War as their island nation of Ihon was always in a state of chaotic war with itself. Not anymore apparently. ¡°Normally I put spies down.¡± Fer took a step and the fox-women took a step away. ¡°But today, I¡¯m feeling rather generous. You people hold no allegiance to the White Pantheon, why spy for them?¡± The fox-women all exchanged looks, rather, all of them looked at the one who had five thick red tails behind her. The woman sighed. ¡°It would break our contract.¡± She said. ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± Fer took a long step to come face to face with the woman. The fox was taller than a man, but she only reached to Fer¡¯s waist. ¡°You are Fer, Epan Goddess of Beasthood.¡± The fox said slowly, as if picking every word to make sure it was correct. She obviously smelled of fear, but the way the other foxes were looking at her made it obvious she was the leader here. Leaders got brave when they had to talk for others, that was only natural. ¡°And you?¡± ¡°My name is Asano.¡± The woman said glumly. ¡°And her?¡± Fer extended an arm out to her sister who was watching them. ¡°Anassa, Epan Goddess of Sorcery.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re aware of us.¡± Fer said and Asano nodded slowly, she had brilliant orange-yellow eyes. ¡°So I have to assume you know exactly what your contract means to me.¡± Asano replied with another slow nod. A few of the beastmen growled as Zalewski and two Clerics guided a healed Raiko back to the party. ¡°What does it mean, Miss Asano?¡± Fer regained control of the situation as she saw Asano¡¯s eyes stray to Raiko. ¡°Nothing.¡± Asano said slowly and Fer smiled. ¡°Exactly. Nothing, so if you please.¡± And Asano shook her head, mouth still, eyes of the verge of tears. Fer sighed. Sometimes, a little bit of fear was needed to get people talking. All animals needed it, animals respected strength, it was that simple. Fer stood up and turned to Anassa. If they knew of Fer and Anassa, they would know of their other sisters too. ¡°Ana, call Neneria.¡± Anassa raised her eyebrows in surprise as Fer monitored the fox-women. Every single one of them had the blood drain from their faces, they all shared looks. The smallest girl, the one with only two tails, tugged on Asano¡¯s arm. ¡°Please¡­¡± She whispered quietly. ¡°Neneria?¡± Asano asked slowly. ¡°My sister. I have four big sisters, Neneria is one of them.¡± Fer said happily. ¡°Asano, you will break eventually under me, it may take a week, it may take a month, or a year. You will break and then you will serve as a meal.¡± Some of the wolfmen chuckled at that. Fer was glad they knew her so well that they could improvise like this. ¡°But I do not have a week, a month or a year to waste. Neneria will arrive today, the dead do not bother telling lies.¡± Fer thought about how to further drive the point home. ¡°Neneria is, as you would call her, the Epan Goddess of Death, but I think Death gets us all, no matter what continent we¡¯re from.¡± She finished and smiled at the fox woman. Asano¡¯s hands were shaking. ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± Asano said quietly. ¡°Do you know what Neneria does?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I think you do, you were aware of us enough to hide from me and get under Ana¡¯s nose for four days.¡± Fer gently patted the woman¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Good job, most people wouldn¡¯t manage a day. I¡¯m proud of you.¡± It was the exact sort of sarcasm that crushed utterly. ¡°I have Neneria on the phone!¡± Anassa appeared close to them, holding her phone in a hand. Neneria¡¯s voice came through the speaker, as bored and flat as the Goddess of Death always what. ¡°What do you need me for Ana?¡± ¡°I need you actually.¡± Fer said, tears burst out from Asano¡¯s eyes. Her ears collapsed on her head and her knees started to shake. The girl with two tails was already crying, but trying to hide it. Her face was buried in her eyes and Raiko was gently holding her shoulders. ¡°We¡¯ve captured spies.¡± Fer said as she held Raiko¡¯s gaze. Neneria merely sighed over the phone. She wasn¡¯t even playing a character, that was as honest as Neneria got. ¡°And they¡¯re not talking?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°You¡¯ve read my mind.¡± Fer made sure her happy tone was completely incongruent with the cold expression on her face. ¡°Nothing to read, not our first time we had spies.¡± ¡°Please¡­¡± Asano said quietly. ¡°Don¡¯t, we have souls.¡± Neneria heard her. ¡°Charming.¡± Neneria said. ¡°I collect them. What are they?¡± ¡°Ihon fox-human hybrid.¡± Fer said and Neneria chuckled. ¡°You mean Kitsune?¡± Fer rolled her eyes but Neneria saved it. ¡°I don¡¯t have any of them, nice to add to the collection.¡± Asano collapsed to her knees and started crying. ¡°Please don¡¯t! We! I¡¯ll! Just me then! Let them go! They¡¯re children!¡± ¡°We all die in the end.¡± Neneria said over the phone. There was some emotion in that tone now, Neneria was enjoying herself. Although Fer was too. This feeling of complete victory almost compared to the sensation of a victorious battle. The girl with two tails broke free of Raiko¡¯s grasp and hugged Asano, they started speaking something in a language Fer did not understand. Anassa did though. She interrupted them. ¡°Don¡¯t bother with that. You can talk, or Neneria will make you talk.¡± The kitsune looked up in horror at Anassa after they realised she could understand them. Fer smelled the fear on them and decided they had been pushed enough, she gave them the lifeline out. ¡°You talk now, I¡¯ll send you to Arascus. He¡¯s much more merciful than I am.¡± Fer held out her hand to Anassa. ¡°Paper and pen Ana.¡± Anassa tutted at being used like a delivery girl, a copy of her appeared on the other side of Fer, then disappeared. A moment later, the Anassa here had a pen and paper in her hand. She passed both to Fer. Fer wrote in her scrawl of handwriting. It wasn¡¯t pretty, but it did the job, and she had never bothered to master it in the way her sisters did. These girls spied on us, but they helped too. Don¡¯t kill them, send them home. And then she drew three dashes, it was supposed to be a claw mark. Her signature. She showed the note to Asano to read and then held it out of reach. ¡°Information first, what are you spying for?¡± Asano took a deep breath. The scent of resignation poured from her as if she had just showered in it. The fox-woman had been crushed utterly. She wiped tears from her eyes and proceeded to speak. ¡°We were reporting on your locations and movements.¡± Fer whistled and crossed her arms. ¡°Truly phenomenal that, it really makes me think, could I ever work that out?¡± She looked up at the sky and put her finger on her chin. ¡°I think I could.¡± Asano resigned herself further, she swayed from side to side, and her tails stretched out to prop her torso up. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Asano slowly said. ¡°You promise not to send us to Neneria?¡± ¡°I promise.¡± Fer said easily. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°If this is trite, you will go, if this is important, you will be back in your temples by next week.¡± Anassa said coldly. ¡°Now speak, Fer is patient is but I am not.¡± Neneria chuckled over the phone. ¡°The objective was to enrage you and get you out of position. Waeh is hunting you. When you advanced far enough, he would capture you.¡± Fer nodded. That did sound like a plan, and she had seen what Waeh did to Kassandora back at the meeting. It was the sort of thing Fortia would come up with too, she didn¡¯t like battlefield deaths, much better to hold a public execution. ¡°And Fortia sent you to spy on us?¡± Fer adopted a more diplomatic tone, now that Asano had cracked, you needed to apply a little bit of pressure to crack her open. Push too hard and you destroyed the egg. ¡°On me?¡± Fer raised an eyebrow. ¡°Did she not tell you who I am?¡± Asano recovered some more at Fer¡¯s softer tone. ¡°She warned us to stay away from you so we did, and we were only supposed to be here until today.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Because Kassandora is heading to the middle army today.¡± Asano said slowly. ¡°Sokolowski¡¯s I think.¡± She mispronounced the name. Fer looked to Anassa. Anassa looked to Fer. ¡°Call.¡± Fer said immediately. Anassa dropped the call to Neneria and rang Kassandora instantly. They waited for that buzzing tone. Once. Asano hugged the little kitsune with the two pale tails. Twice. Raiko collapsed onto her knees. Thrice. The call dropped. Anassa rang again. Once. Another of the fox-women gave up and collapsed onto the ground. Twice. Zalewski shook his head. Thrice. Fer¡¯s heart started to beat faster. The call dropped. Anassa rang again. Once. Twice. Thrice. Anassa rang again. Once. Twice. Thrice. Anassa rang again. Once. Twice. Thrice. Zalewski spoke up. ¡°She¡¯ll be on the plane. There¡¯s no signal up there.¡± Fer thanked the entire world that the man had an answer which wasn¡¯t the worst situation she could imagine. ¡°When does she get there?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Today evening, she¡¯s supposed to be here tomorrow, but it could be delayed depending on Sokolowski¡¯s situation. That¡¯s what she told me.¡± Zalewski said. Fer looked from him to Anassa. Anassa looked from her phone to Fer. There was only question that Of Beasthood needed to ask. ¡°Can you make it before he does?¡± Anassa did not reply, she turned, took a step and disappeared. Fer saw appear above the treetops in the north-east. Then she took another step and disappeared. There she was, a black dot in the distance. And another step. And Anassa was gone from view. And Fer was left on the ground. Hopefully Little Kassie had a plan. There was no way to defeat Waeh in open battle, not when he had a power as terrible as what he displayed. Chapter 154 – Servitude on the Horizon Waeh lifted into the skies as a team of mages started to carry him. He was there to hold Kassandora, Fortia and Maisara would come in with their armies to capture her, imprison her, and hold a public execution of every one in charge. And then it would be Fer and Anassa. Then the other treacherous White Pantheon members. Neneria and Olephia were planned to be last. He smiled to himself, Pantheon Peace would be enforced once again, no matter how powerful the foe. After all, power was nothing if its wielder was made to serve. ¡°This is my report on the Lemurs, as they are now.¡± Sokolowski handed Kassandora a small collections of papers, all hand-written and stapled together. Kassandora flipped through them as her eyes scanned the text. They were in the man¡¯s command tent, of the central-northern army. It had a large table to sit a dozen men, then Sokolowski¡¯s own private desk for his works. A few cabinets of cheap wood, a few hastily assembled crates. A rifle was propped up against a crate. And it was clean, far too clean to be natural, the man most likely cleaned up for her arrival. ¡°You¡¯ve put no suggestions for improvements.¡± Kassandora said. She towered over Sokolowski, although she never chose men to lead that would be intimidated by such a minor fact. He wore a similar uniform to her HAUPT suit, but in pale-yellow rather than black. For desert fighting. ¡°I¡¯d rather avoid another Binturong situation.¡± Sokolowski replied immediately. Kassandora focused her eyes on him and moved the document in a circle, he obviously wanted to say more. Men had to be taught to speak freely to Divines. ¡°We¡¯re in a war, I¡¯d rather not change what isn¡¯t broken. The Lemurs work so I can work with that.¡± Kassandora nodded, she had the exact same thoughts on it, she just wanted to hear the man¡¯s reasoning. ¡°Indeed.¡± Kassandora replied, she dropped the papers on the table, turned around and walked out the tent into the camp. With modern vehicles, she had drawn up a new design for how camps should be laid out, and this inspection was as much to see how the theory worked as it was to inspect Sokolowski¡¯s situation. Sokolowski caught up to her immediately and she slowed her pace for him in the same way Fer would slow her pace for Kassandora. Sprawling and large, with roads making up central arteries in the base for easy truck access. Men not in battle were doing what they always did, sitting around campfires and grilling food. Some had gone to sleep, others were cleaning their rifles. ¡°How many times have you engaged?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve had skirmishes here and there.¡± Sokolowski replied. ¡°No large-scale battles yet.¡± ¡°How much ammunition have you gone through?¡± ¡°A third.¡± Sokolowski said grimly and Kassandora nodded, a third would be somewhere around sixty to seventy thousand, Sokolowski and Zalewski had been given the largest haul, Ekkerson had Olephia, so he didn¡¯t need the extra firepower. A third still wasn¡¯t good, but that was what she had been expecting too. These modern rifles were hungry little creatures. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Kassandora said, morale would have to be kept up. Soldiers would get speeches, leadership would get updates on how well logistics were going, there was no better way than that. ¡°We¡¯re working on an automated factory for bullets. All machines inside it, it just stamps them out, it¡¯ll be ready by the end of the month.¡± Arascus was working on it, but Sokolowski didn¡¯t have to know that. The man did sigh though, and his posture relaxed. Kassandora knew that would work. Soldiers looked up at Kassandora and immediately stood to salute. She returned her own every dozen steps to grant them rest. ¡°How are the sorcerers doing?¡± She asked. ¡°No casualties although a few were wounded. When it¡¯s just mages and not Divines, then they¡¯re¡­¡± Sokolowski thought of a word. ¡°Untouchable? Especially with how we use them.¡± Kassandora nodded. Eventually they would be split up into teams of four. Four could overwhelm a standard team of a dozen mages easily, teams of nine and ten were simply overkill, and Zalewski¡¯s front needed them. Anassa would have never been assigned to the front lines if they had enough sorcerers, she would have stayed behind in cities and found more souls that showed promise to ascend into the arts. But they didn¡¯t, and Zalewski needed something to counter mages, and Anassa could cover an entire frontline by herself, so Anassa had to go and waste her time in the jungles. That was how things went in war. Every single one of Kassandora¡¯s plans revolved around that small number of sorcerers they had and Anassa never leaving the frontlines, they revolved around fielding artillery with the reliability of the Binturong. Around Kirinyaa suddenly turning on them. On the White Pantheon bringing in the tens of thousands of minor Divines they had on the mountain. On a naval invasion from the east. Anything she could think of, however far-fetched, needed a plan. As did Waeh. ¡°I have an issue.¡± Kassandora said and Sokolowski nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I can do.¡± He said. ¡°You can hear me out.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°The Waeh situation.¡± ¡°He¡¯s been spotted on the frontlines every now and then, but he doesn¡¯t engage in battle.¡± Sokolowski replied and Kassandora almost missed a step. Why was she not informed? This sort of mistake, even amateurs wouldn¡¯t make. ¡°He¡¯s been spotted?¡± Kassandora asked and Sokolowski stopped. They came to a large square with soldiers unloading tinned cans of food from trucks. All men in a pale beige, in shorts and shirts. Standard dress, military fatigues were for battle. The human general looked up at her, eyes confused. ¡°I¡¯ve sent letters about it.¡± Sokolowski said and Kassandora looked down at him. If someone else said that, if the man had gone angry or if he had some emotion on his face that wasn¡¯t pure befuddlement. If this was just a child and not one of her generals, she had personally drilled into him how important it was to keep track of the locations of major Divines.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°You¡¯ve sent letters?¡± Kassandora slowly asked. ¡°I have!¡± The man saluted quickly as if to prove his point. And the gears started to turn in Kassandora¡¯s head. A sword hit a shield, a castle was stormed. She had no doubt that Sokolowski would send letters, he was far too smart to miss out such a crucial detail, especially when his letters were nothing but bullet-point lists of information that needed to be communicated. Especially when he made sure to include a specific section for Fortia and her sightings in every letter. How could the man remember Fortia and forget Waeh? ¡°So someone¡¯s been tampering with them then.¡± Kassandora said, Sokolowski made a sour face. ¡°I don¡¯t have maids, I send them off myself.¡± He said. ¡°Does anyone enter your tent?¡± Kassandora asked. The man shrugged. ¡°Meetings are held there, but¡­¡± He scratched his chin. ¡°It could happen when I¡¯m not there. I just don¡¯t¡­¡± His face suddenly grew pale. ¡°Actually, I do see the purpose of it.¡± Kassandora grimly made some sound of acquiescence. ¡°Mmh.¡± Fortia had not been removed from the letters, but all mentions of Waeh had been. And Waeh was spotted on the frontlines. If they were getting intercepted, that would explain immediately why frontlines weren¡¯t moving whatsoever. Why Fer had angrily complained about coming across empty camps. Kassandora nodded. Very obvious now that he said it. Waeh was a hidden element, not a sword to draw for battle but a dagger to plunge into a heart. Kassandora looked up at the blue sky stretching out over the desert as she realised her own position. And now the heart had been exposed. Absolutely dastardly. Fortia had made a good plan. Kassandora would clap if that dagger wasn¡¯t aimed at her. She took charge immediately, her tone growing cold and commanding, her eyes dancing across the horizon. ¡°Sokolowski, call the neighbouring divisions. Call them, don¡¯t send letters, bring them here immediately.¡± It was a break of procedure, phone calls could be intercepted, but speed mattered now, not secrecy. ¡°Yes Goddess!¡± He said with a salute and brought out his phone. Kassandora brought her own out, there were Divines to call and she doubted Sokolowski had their numbers. She blinked at her own notifications. Twelve missed calls from Anassa, five from Fer, six from Neneria. Kassandora she shouldn¡¯t have muted the notifications, but she was flying anywhere, there was no signal up there. And nothing annoyed her as much as her phone ringing because someone had some stupid question to ask. But that many calls, obviously they were panicking. Anassa had rang first, so Anassa came first. Kassandora rang her. Anassa picked up immediately. She was breathing heavily through the speaker, as if she had been pushing herself although she was barely audible over the wind rushing past her. Was she attacked? Could Waeh travel quickly? But then why did she answer? ¡°What happened?¡± Kassandora asked immediately. Anassa immediately recovered herself. ¡°Kassie? Are you alive?¡± Kassandora looked around Sokolowski¡¯s camp, then north. A few tents blocked the view, but a few steps in one direction brought her to a wide road with a view of the landscape. ¡°I¡¯m alive Ana.¡± Kassandora said slowly. A dot appeared over the horizon in the distance. Pure golden sand, blue skies, and a small black dot heading towards them. A small black dot heading through the air, more along with it. A dozen. Kassandora felt a lump appear in her throat. ¡°Where are you right now?¡± Anassa asked. Sokolowski came back and saluted. ¡°Orders are sent, fourth and fifth infantry divisions are coming to support. They¡¯re bringing artillery.¡± Good. ¡°At Sokolowski¡¯s camp. First Division.¡± Kassandora said slowly, the words being said were mere background noise by now, her mind was forming a plan. Waeh had to be defeated. ¡°GET OUT OF THERE!¡± Anassa screamed through the phone. ¡°WAEH IS COMING. WE FOUND SPIES! THEY-JUST GET OUT OF THE-¡° ¡°I know.¡± Kassandora said. The black dot on the horizon grew. Magical speeds, it would be on the camp by a minute. ¡°Anassa, listen to me, go to Kavaa, find me someone unblessed right now. Clean, as pure as they come, and bring him here.¡± Anassa fell silent for a second. Then she spoke, her voice cold. ¡°Is he there?¡± ¡°I hope it¡¯s not him.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯ll ring if not, but be fast.¡± Sokolowski seemed to realise the urgency of the situation and spoke quickly, it was half a shout. ¡°I know of one!¡± Kassandora blinked then shouted at the phone. ¡°DON¡¯T HANG UP!¡± She shouted at Anassa, then to Sokolowski. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Arusei¡¯s third son. His wife died in childbirth, he¡¯s never entered the Jungle.¡± Kassandora stared at the man blankly. ¡°Arusei is protective of him, he¡¯s never needed to be healed by us, I think at least.¡± Kassandora turned from him to the dot. It was people now, approaching quick, she wouldn¡¯t have made it back to the plane even if she tried. Why did she not ask Arusei? She had assumed that entire tribe was blessed. How did his son even get through life without a blessing? Would an unblessed human even work? Kassandora pushed the thoughts of out her mind. Assumptions had to be made sometimes. ¡°ANASSA, HEAD TO ARUSEI, BRING HIS THIRD SON HERE, RAPTOR TWO IS IN CR, THAT¡¯S YOUR TRANSPORT, DON¡¯T EVEN TOUCH HIM! CALL KAVAA, GET HER ON IT TOO! ANYTHING UNBLESSED, I DON¡¯T CARE WHO OR WHAT!¡± Kassandora shouted as she looked at those dots. They were within eyesight now, and she could make them out, a squad of a dozen mages and a God: Waeh, thin and lean and tall, in a simple shawl of dull grey that somehow brought attention to him, the mages around him were all clothed in their standard battledresses of various colours. ¡°DO NOT COME HERE ALONE ANA! DO NOT!¡± She dropped the call before Anassa could answer back. Whether Waeh¡¯s power could work through the telephone or whether it could not was unimportant. Frankly, now wasn¡¯t a time to find out. Kassandora ripped upon her power as alarms started to blare throughout the camp, commands entered the men to retrieve weapons and aim and fire. It had taken them less than half a minute to traverse the distance from the horizon. Kassandora could issue commands, but she couldn¡¯t make men into Gods. Soldiers secured positions, ran to their tents to pick up their arms, aimed at the skies. Kassandora¡¯s black armour appeared around her, it cut through the black coat, shreds of cloth and leather fell onto sand compacted by feet. Joyeuse materialized in her hand. It wasn¡¯t a plan, but if she was fast enough¡­ She swung the weapon without even thinking. Mage shields could be penetrated if she threw it hard enough. Waeh¡¯s voice boomed across the camp like the huge bell of a clocktower which told entire cities the time. ¡°Stop!¡± And everyone stopped. As if they had been turned to statues. As if their skin had hardened into stone. And Kassandora stopped mid-swing. Her eyes went to Waeh as he hovered in the air. He couldn¡¯t fly at least, that was an exploitable weakness, the mages around him were conjuring winds for him to stand on. It was obvious from the way his shawl fell around his feet. Kassandora grit her teeth as Waeh looked over the camp. Sokolowski held his hand over the pistol on his belt, unmoving. Every man Kassandora could see was caught off guard, the few that had guns were frozen like statues, some were drawing them, some were exiting a tent. Some were holding a cigarette. A few had been fast enough to aim, one man, Kassandora could see even had his finger over the trigger. But no one moved. Silence descended over the whole camp, the din of life had been silenced entirely, only the gentle breeze over the desert and the crackling of campfires could be heard. Waeh¡¯s voice boomed again. ¡°Kneel.¡± And Kassandora knelt. Chapter 155 – As Pure as They Come Kassandora stared up at Waeh, her eyes went to the horizon. Over the dunes in the distance, a line had appeared. A line of gold and silver glimmering in the Sun. An army. Anassa could not come here fast enough. ¡°I¡¯m sending Raptor Two to HQ then.¡± Kavaa said quickly. ¡°Do you want me there?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯ll get him, you get someone else. Kassandora said anything or anyone.¡± Anassa replied into her telephone. ¡°Understood? I won¡¯t be answer when I travel, if you find something then-¡° Anassa blinked as Kavaa¡¯s smooth voice actually interrupted her. ¡°I understand Anassa.¡± Kavaa said promptly. ¡°I¡¯ll go myself.¡± The Goddess of Health dropped the call. At any other time, it would have annoyed Anassa, not now. She put her phone into the pocket of her dress and took a step. The landscape flashed underneath her. The sandy mountain range of central Kirinyaa, with its odd tree and brambles and road. Skies above. A mile gone just like that. Anassa took another step. More mountains underneath, jagged cliffs between by winds of like coiling silken scarves that swept in from the east. And another step. Anassa flashed across the blue sky. Appearing for a mere instant, a blink. A tiny little dot in the blue sky as she took a step. A matter of perspective it was, a molehill was a mountain for the ant. But at the end of the day, Anassa was not larger than the world, there was no camera to make her realise its tiny scale. If the world was an ant, then she was a bacteria, she was of Arda, and Arda could not be reasoned into being small. And Anassa started to run. Not the light jog that dignified nobility but the ferocious sprint of a fleeing dog. She didn¡¯t look below herself as the landscape flashed with every step. From sandstone mountain to green jungle interspersed with rivers and streams. A splattered cobweb of blue water in a sea of green. Animals stopped as they looked up at the Goddess of Sorcery flash above them. Hunters blinked in confusion as they saw Anassa flash in the distance, then in the oasis of blue sky right above them, then disappear as she took yet another frantic step. Children in odd villages pointed curious fingers and talked about ghosts and spirits of folktales as they looked at the person up above cross the sky in the flash of an eye. And Anassa kept running. She kept running as sweat burst out over her dress, she kept running as her legs started to shake. She kept running as she felt the exertion of sorcery hit her. To cross a country in a day was a mere walk. To cross a country in an hour was a feat even she was barely capable. She pushed the tiredness away, she drew out ancient reserves of magic that had been untapped. Strength that was powered by adrenaline and panic instead of thought and will. And Anassa kept running. Cold air rushed past her as the grand jungles gave way to the prairies even further south. Farms started popping up over the ground. Signs of civilization became common. She passed over a highway filled with trucks heading north east. She passed over cars and small towns. A large city, a blemish of pale sandstone and concrete on the red dirt and the land around it, was cleared in five steps. Kassandora knelt unmoving as she looked up at Waeh. The man was looking around. Her neighbouring divisions would not come fast enough. They were miles away, to organize a unit like that, to outfit the men, to load them into trucks. An hour. An hour easily. She did not have an hour here. Waeh looked around curiously at Kassandora¡¯s troop, each man kneeling. Those with weapons had dropped or holstered them. And then he looked at Kassandora. He took a step towards her. ¡°You may speak.¡± ¡°I have nothing to say.¡± Kassandora bit back. Waeh looked almost disappointed in her. ¡°I cannot make people change their wills.¡± He said sadly. ¡°Maisara and Fortia are coming to capture you. Fortia has decided to be merciful, you will go back to your cell in the Mountain.¡± Kassandora laughed into his face. ¡°And? What will that do?¡± ¡°We won¡¯t have another situation like this. I exist now.¡± Waeh said. ¡°You will not break out again.¡± Kassandora only smiled up at him. ¡°They said the same about Leona.¡± Waeh nodded sadly. ¡°That they did.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Leona was a bright soul. I knew her.¡± ¡°I knew her more than you did.¡± Waeh accepted the statement without comment. ¡°And yet, your sisters still killed her.¡± Waeh replied. Kassandora¡¯s eyes beamed a challenge at the God. She didn¡¯t want to die, but now, with him about, there was an even better method at imprisonment. They could just put her in a room and Waeh could command her to never leave. ¡°That they did.¡± Kassandora repeated his words back at him and Waeh shrugged. ¡°I thought you would be more talkative.¡± ¡°There is nothing to discuss between us. You have bested me.¡± Kassandora forced an apologetic tone. This battle and this war had been lost then, so she needed to start planning for the future. She had wormed her way into Kavaa¡¯s and Helenna¡¯s and Iniri¡¯s, into Maisara¡¯s and Fortia¡¯s minds. How hard would it be to trick a God less than a quarter her age? ¡°I would like you to grant mercy to my men.¡± That was good, it would imbue an aura of loyalty to her. Loyalty, even to opposition, was a respectable trait. ¡°It is not my mercy to grant.¡± Waeh said. ¡°I have one question.¡± Kassandora asked as politely as she could. ¡°If you will answer it.¡± ¡°Ask away.¡± Waeh replied lazily. ¡°With your power, why do you not rule the world?¡± Waeh sighed and smiled.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°All of you have asked me this before.¡± ¡°You as in who?¡± If she got him talking, maybe he would slip, any scrap of information was important at this point. ¡°As in Divines of your era. You, Maisara, Fortia, Elassa, even Zerus asked it once.¡± Waeh said as he looked around. ¡°The answer is simple. I do not rule it, because it is not my world to own. We live in it, together, not alone. I already have a home, that is enough for me.¡± And Kassandora took a deep breath. Visions of power, delusions of grandiosity, fantasies of eminence could be exploited. A heart satisfied was a fortress impenetrable. This would be harder than she thought. ¡°ARUSEI!¡± Anassa screamed through the air as she circled over HQ. The tents of the Kirinyaan nomads were there in the distance, they would be able to hear her at this distance. Men came out to look at her in the sky. The Headquarters were Kassandora¡¯s doing, it was a camp that had all her tiny little touches: Wide roads, vehicles trundling along them. Campfires in front of every tent, those organised by block, with lots of room in between for easy movement between them. Airfields, those had been filled before this war started, now only a few jets sat there. Raptor Two, black, it¡¯s tip painted yellow with its four engines was being fuelled up on the runway. There was a small mound, and then a sea of ash, where the Jungle had once been. Now the edge was starting to sprout flowers and grass. Anassa took another step and appeared over the Kirinyaan camp, all round huts made out of sticks and dried grass weaved into walls. She fell from the sky, the sprint over the entire nation had almost exhausted her. The natives came out immediately as they watched the Goddess fall. Anassa grit her teeth and tugged on the final reserves of energy she had left, this run had been more exhausting than a battle with Allasaria, then anything else she had come across. A stitch had formed in her stomach some eight hundred miles away, but she had still pushed herself. She had to. Kassandora needed to be saved. Not because she was managing the war, the war could go to hell and be lost a thousand times over for all Anassa cared about it. Kassandora needed to be saved, because Kassandora was Kassie. Because Kassie was family. The men moved out of the way as Anassa plummeted further. She made one final step. From the air onto the ground, her foot slipped on the red soil and she tumbled onto the ground. A bruise was nothing, Anassa scrambled to her feet immediately. ¡°ARUSEI! ARUSEI!¡± She shouted. A tall Kirinyaan man came to meet. Dark and muscled, his chest bare and scarred. ¡°I am Arusei.¡± The man said. ¡°You are the Red Witch.¡± Anassa didn¡¯t care what title he gave her. It didn¡¯t matter at this point. They should be on the plane already. ¡°I NEED YOUR SON!¡± Anassa shouted then calmed herself. She would take his son with this entire group slaughtered if she had. ¡°Kassandora is captured. We need a person untouched by Divines. No blessings, not even Kavaa¡¯s healing, none of Iniri¡¯s food, nothing. Nothing. NOTHING!¡± Anassa shouted. The group of dark men around her fell silent. All eyes turned to Arusei as the man looked up at Anassa with dark eyes. He didn¡¯t even blink, there wasn¡¯t a shred of fear as he faced the Goddess of Sorcery. ¡°Goddess Kassandora is captured?¡± He asked slowly. ¡°YES!¡± Anassa screamed, throwing her arms up into the air. ¡°NOW! WE NEED TO GO! BY PLANE! NOW!¡± She calmed herself again, screaming never helped in these situations. ¡°She¡¯s been captured by-¡° Arusei interrupted her. Arusei actually interrupted her. Anassa could not remember the last time a Divine, much less a mortal interrupted her. ¡°Is he a sacrifice?¡± The man asked as if he didn¡¯t want to know the answer. He held his breath as those eyes stayed fixed on Anassa. ¡°What?¡± Anassa screamed. Did he not have a brain? Why would his son be a sacrifice? ¡°NO! He needs to kill Waeh! Only an unblessed soul can do it!¡± Arusei finally took a breath, his chest rising with it, his face losing the tension. The man looked as if he was about to collapse. ¡°Very well.¡± He said and closed his eyes to take another breath. He shook his head as his lips curled into a smile. ¡°I will get him, there is great pride in being chosen to help.¡± Kassandora thought of what to say to Waeh. Maybe there was a way to get information out of him. Maybe he would gloat in his victory. The man needed to have some innate humanity about him, people so flawless simply did not exist. ¡°You¡¯ve won.¡± Kassandora said. She tested her powers and Joyeuse disappeared. Had he stopped? She tried summoning the blade. She knew she called on it, but It simply would not appear. ¡°I know I have.¡± Waeh replied. ¡°It wasn¡¯t difficult.¡± ¡°Was there a chance?¡± Kassandora asked. She had to make herself seem weak and defeated now, as if she had given up. Waeh shrugged. ¡°Of what?¡± ¡°Of me defeating you?¡± Kassandora asked. The God merely looked her up and down as Fortia¡¯s and Maisara¡¯s armies approached in the distance. Two more hours, given their lax pace. Fortia was obviously enjoying this, and she obviously wanted to make the moment last. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Waeh replied. Kassandora sighed. What a perfect answer. What a downright perfect answer. It boiled her blood in anger. What was this man? Just the Paragon of pure good? ¡°Will you tell me how you do it?¡± Kassandora finally asked. She did not care at this point. Waeh was stood in the centre of her army, she had more than ten thousand soldiers around her. All armed, and no one could so much as lift a finger. The God raised an amused eyebrow. ¡°I make humanity serve.¡± He said. ¡°Divines are fundamentally constructs of humanity, so they serve too.¡± So she had been wrong. So Anassa bringing an unblessed man would do nothing. Kassandora sighed and shook her head. This is why information was the single most important element of wars. Ten men would defeat a thousand, a million even, if they had information. What a terrible power. Anassa boarded Raptor Two with Arusei and his son, Haki. Anassa had expected the son to be fifteen. Sixteen was optimistic. He was eleven. No wonder he had never needed to be healed if he wasn¡¯t at the age of being allowed to leave the camp yet. There were men already in the plane, a full squad, Kavaa had sent Raptor Two with a team of skydivers, with plenty of spare parachutes. It would be a hot drop. ¡°These men will explain how to jump.¡± Anassa said. ¡°You will use a gun. Just aim and pull the trigger. Don¡¯t think, just do it, understood?¡± Arusei patted Haki on the back and the boy nodded nervously. A tall child, like his father, with a face that would be handsome once he had matured. With close cut black hair like his father. ¡°I will need to sleep to regenerate my energy, these men will explain everything else that¡¯s needed.¡± Anassa pointed to the skydivers. They all pulled a clean salute for her. ¡°Understood?¡± The two didn¡¯t get a chance to answer. Anassa¡¯s ringtone interrupted them. A stupid tune Fer had set on her phone that Anassa could not work out how to change back and was too stubborn to beg for help. Anassa pulled it from her pocket. It was Kavaa. Anassa answered. ¡°I¡¯m heading back.¡± Anassa said quickly, Kavaa apparently wasn¡¯t calling to check up on her. ¡°Ana, Kass said anything or anyone, right?¡± Anassa let the fact Kavaa didn¡¯t use her full name slide. Frankly, there were more important things to worry about at this point. Today, she would write off as the day of embarrassments, from discovering her maids were spies to being interrupted by mortals to falling to the ground to having Kavaa not use her full name. And Kassie being captured. What a terrible day. ¡°Anything or anyone, as long as its unblessed.¡± Anassa confirmed. Kavaa made a sigh that sounded of success. ¡°Well I have something, as pure as they come, it probably doesn¡¯t even know what a Divine is. There¡¯s just one thing though.¡± Anassa stared at her phone in surprise. How did Kavaa find someone so quickly? Wasn¡¯t she in CR? Everyone located there was blessed. Was she hiding something? But then why reveal it now? ¡°What? How?¡± Anassa didn¡¯t care her voice was thoroughly undignified and bewildered at this point. ¡°What¡¯s the thing?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not human.¡± Chapter 156 – Man’s Best Friend Kavaa boarded her plane, a massive 77T transport. The crew was already. She wouldn¡¯t be too far behind Anassa¡¯s if they set off now. She couldn¡¯t find an unblessed man, but after a few minutes of discussion with her Clerics, one of them suggested an idea so out of the box she didn¡¯t know if it was genius or stupid. If man could not do, then man¡¯s best friend had to be enough. Fer would be proud. Kassandora gazed up at Waeh as she kept kneeling. Ten thousand men around him, two divisions incoming. There wasn¡¯t a single Divine she knew who would not be panicking in a situation like this. Maisara¡¯s and Fortia¡¯s armies were approaching in the distance at a lackadaisical pace. The Goddess of Peace never tried to show off that piece of cruelty in her heart, but Kassandora knew Fortia well enough to know this was how the Goddess would indulge in it. And so Waeh stood. In that plain grey shawl of his, looking around at Kassandora¡¯s camp with mere idle curiosity. With a bored gaze as he inspected the men, their rifles next to them. The tents, the campfires. He glanced at the food several times, the pots that were boiling and the meals that were steaming. The only sounds in the camp were the dimming fires, hungry after not being fed fuel, the desert breeze that rolled in from that blue sky, and the bubbling. ¡°You¡¯re hungry.¡± Kassandora said. Waeh refocused on her and smiled. ¡°I am.¡± He said. ¡°You¡¯re rather perceptive.¡± Kassandora grinned back. ¡°I try.¡± If Fortia was going at that pathetic pace, maybe there was a way out of this yet. There wasn¡¯t a God out there who had an infinite reserve of energy, even Olephia would get tired. ¡°How long can you manage?¡± She made her voice as polite as possible, as if it was simple curiosity. ¡°Long enough.¡± Waeh flatly replied. Is this why he wasn¡¯t moving? To conserve his energy? Kassandora tried to stand. Her muscles simply would not move, her legs were held by nothing, but she simply could not get off her knee. She tried summoning Joyeuse, the blade would simply not materialize. She knew she was calling it forth, that was as instinctual to her as breathing, but it simply would not happen. The magicians who had brought were more active. They had been on borderline panic at the start, as if afraid Kassandora would break free of his power at any moment. Eventually though, they had relaxed. Three of them were even talking in hushed tones. Another pair was inspecting a rifle found on the ground next to one of Kassandora¡¯s soldiers. The man was kneeling on one knee and staring up at the two magicians with nothing but raw rage. ¡°Can I change position?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°My knee hurts.¡± It did not, she merely wanted Waeh to use more of his power, it had to drain him faster if he was active with it. ¡°No.¡± Waeh replied. Kassandora raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Why should you?¡± ¡°Because I asked nicely.¡± ¡°The people you¡¯ve killed also asked nicely.¡± Waeh said coldly. ¡°Did you grant them mercy then?¡± Kassandora sighed. What a damn moralist. Always the hardest to negotiate with. ¡°I have.¡± Kassandora and Waeh merely gave her a flat look. ¡°I do not believe you.¡± He said and Kassandora shrugged. She tried to at least, her shoulders were fixed in place by an unbreakable unwillingness to move. And then, she heard the roar of jet engines. Waeh looked up at the sky and sighed. ¡°I will clear a path, you will go and kill him.¡± Anassa said. Arusei and Haki were both stood in the back of Raptor Two, as were the dozen Clerics Kavaa had sent for the mission. Each Kirinyaan had a man strapped to his back. She had stayed on the other side of the plane to Haki the whole ride, she didn¡¯t even touch the pistol one of the Clerics had given him to wield. ¡°If I can, I will kill him. But Kassandora said we needed you, so I expect you to do it, understood?¡± Anassa asked the boy. ¡°Yes!¡± The boy said, he straightened, hands by his sides as if he was going to salute. Anassa nodded and looked to Arusei. The few lights in the back of Raptor Two made the Kirinyaan look even darker than he usually did. ¡°Arusei.¡± Anassa said slowly. The man only turned his head away from his son to look at her. ¡°Thank you.¡± Kassandora¡¯s eyes became fierce as she saw the concern paint itself on Waeh¡¯s face. And they started burning when she saw one of Anassa¡¯s thin red beams of sorcery, as clear as a needle, impale itself through a magician¡¯s chest. The blue-robed wizard took a step, looked down at the small spot of dark red forming on his chest, then coughed up blood. He dropped on the next step. Anassa¡¯s death was swift and unhealable, a severance of all the major organs from their arteries. And another mage dropped. A third. In the blink of an eye. Waeh raised his hand and spoke. ¡°Stop!¡± His voice boomed across the sky as Raptor Two started to fly further. ¡°All of you, stop!¡± In the distance, beams of magic came from the army towards the plane that soared over the army. Raptor Two spun in the air, tilted hard to the side, turned up, and arced high into the light blue ocean to escape the magical anti-air fire. Anassa felt what Kassandora had told her after the meeting when she explained Waeh¡¯s power. It was as if her body had simply stopped responding. As if she was no longer in control of herself. Exhaustion had been a flood, but now it was instantly evaporated by scorching anger. A level of rage that burned out of control she rarely felt. This man thought he could command her? Perspective. That was all it was. The man was operating on such a level of sanity he could not even comprehend what Anassa¡¯s mind was capable of. She stopped, she let go. Another Anassa appeared, an Anassa free, an Anassa that was her but also not. An Anassa he had not commanded to stop. And the Anassa unmoving blinked out of existence. Gone. Anassa snapped her fingers and blades of sorcery descended upon the camp. Mages were worthless. They did not even react quickly enough as to draw upon magic before she descended on them. And then she descended on Waeh. Maybe a mortal was not needed after all. Kassandora saw the mages around Waeh collapse. The first set were split by Anassa¡¯s fine grace of targeted killing. The second were torn apart and impaled by a hail of swords that fell like lightning strikes. And then they aimed for Waeh. ¡°No.¡± The God said. The blades disappeared. Anassa blinked into Kassandora¡¯s view behind Waeh as the God turned to face her. A magnificent witch in a red dress flailing in the sky¡¯s winds, but her hair untouched. Red lightning conglomerated around her, a force that would have ripped apart even Fortia, that Kassandora knew she could only hope to dodge and not even block. Her sorceries shock forwards as if launched from ballista, spheres appeared around her and started to plough towards the God. And Waeh did not even take a step to dodge. ¡°Do not.¡± He said. All of Anassa¡¯s magics disappeared. As if they were televisions that had been switched off, as if they were paintings crumpled and discarded. They were there, and they were not. Another Anassa appeared next to the first, and the first vanished too. The Goddess of Sorcery raised her hands as Waeh tilted his head. He raised his arms forwards as more blades shot forward.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Stop duplicating yourself and stop using sorcery.¡± Waeh said and Kassandora sighed. She had thought of those words immediately, but it was a good note to make for the future if she ever had to fight the man again. He wasn¡¯t tactically skilled. Although did he even need to be? With a power like that? All of Anassa¡¯s crimson constructs of sorcerous imaginations vanished from the air. Anassa herself fell out of the sky. Her magic silenced, she could no longer fly. She screamed as she fell, then impacted against the ground with a thud and a cloud of dust. A moan of pain escaped her lips and she rolled onto her side as if to stand. ¡°Do not move.¡± Waeh said, his voice lazy and tired. And Anassa froze still. She stared with pure fury at the God. Kassandora sighed, that was it. Even Anassa, with her delusionary thoughts could be forced into chains if her magic was taken away. He sighed and shook his head, then looked up to the sky. His voice boomed across the entire campsite. ¡°Land safely and kneel, do not attempt to shoot me.¡± He said. And the paratroopers landed safely, just as Waeh had commanded. Kassandora saw Arusei, saw his son struggle to raise the pistol in his hand. She saw the paratroopers all test their own rifles. One man managed to raise his gun, and then it fell out of his hand. Kassandora made a note in her head, an accidental death was possible then. If that gun had gone off, it could have hit Waeh. Obviously she would need luck on the level of Leona for that, but how hard was luck to manufacture? Waeh looked at the child. ¡°Put your gun down and kneel, all of you.¡± Every man in the camp slowly put the guns down. A little bit of Kassandora crumbled away, that little shine of hope that maybe she had been right and an unblessed soul would be immune, but she saw Arusei kneel. And she saw his son kneel. The boy looked confused as his father put his hand on his shoulder. But then a little bit of Kassandora made a note. Waeh had obviously said it to the men who had just landed, but everyone had disarmed themselves. So he was like Olephia then, able to affect everything around himself no matter if he paid attention or not. Good to know, although she what she would do with that information was a challenge. Kassandora sighed. If Baalka was awake, it would have been easier. A man could be infected and sent to Waeh, and then the disease would have killed him. Diseases were not human, he would not be able to command them. She sighed and shook her head, then looked sadly to Anassa. Her sister only stared back at her, then her eyes travelled back. More jet engines. Slower this time, more thunderous, and getting louder as if they were coming closer directly. Waeh looked up to the sky too. ¡°Kassandora.¡± He said. ¡°I am disappointed you have even brought children into your war.¡± Kassandora only narrowed her eyes. The man was an idealistic moraliser. War was about total destruction of the enemy, if she had to use children, then she would. It had been done in the past, not just by her either. ¡°Stay in your lane.¡± ¡°Unfortunately for you.¡± Waeh said slowly. ¡°The road you travel ended a long time ago. It¡¯s time to turn the engine off.¡± He sighed then looked back up. That sound was getting louder and louder. ¡°What have you called this time? Men with bombs strapped to them?¡± Kassandora sniffed the air in humour. Any man willing to do that was far too good a soldier to waste so easily. The plane soared close to them, the current of wind ripped through the camp, tents flew into the air, men rolled over. One of the watchtowers fell down as Kassandora looked up. A 77T model, a huge plane, painted white and blue. Kavaa¡¯s colours. Why was she here? Kassandora sighed. The war could be fought on without her. It could be fought on without Anassa. Kavaa was more crucial for it than Olephia though. If Kassandora was stood in the spotlight then Kavaa was the stage, the whole war strategy relied on the minimal amount of casualties they would suffer because of her healing. The plane made a drifted, its wheels already extended and it crashed into the sand. Anything else would have crumbled and exploded, the white and blue four-engine behemoth only made a trench as it slid to a stop. Its rear door moved, then stopped. Kassandora tested Waeh¡¯s curse again, maybe this confusion would ease a bit of the pressure. The crushing power had not diminished an inch. Her body still refused to move. Pumps sounded from Kavaa¡¯s plane, air hissed, and the rear door flew off. Kassandora sighed to herself as she saw Kavaa proudly standing there. In her silver armour, sword on her belt, half again the height of the Clerics around her. Her silver-grey fell down her back as she stepped out onto the sand. ¡°WAEH!¡± She shouted. ¡°So you have come too.¡± Waeh said as he lifted his hand. ¡°Another Divine, I do not understand how Kassandora manages to trick you all.¡± ¡°There is no trickery required Waeh. I am here to strike you down and save my friend.¡± She walked briskly, two full of teams of Clerics behind her. All in silver armour and long green capes. A ceremonial unit, they could fight, but there was a reason men didn¡¯t fight in capes. They could be grabbed and got in the way. Kassandora only looked in confusion. What was the woman even doing? ¡°I have stopped Kassandora. I have stopped Anassa.¡± Waeh said. ¡°Do you think you can stop me?¡± ¡°Can I?¡± Kavaa¡¯s brisk crossed half the distance as more men exited the plane. How many had she brought? Kassandora couldn¡¯t even see past that wall of men. Kavaa shouted back, her men started to spread out to the sides. Where they planning on overwhelming him with pure numbers? What sort of tactic was that? Kavaa was experienced in battle, she should know Gods needed tens of thousands of men to be overwhelmed like that. ¡°Do you want me to force you to stop?¡± Waeh shouted back. He lifted his arms. Kavaa came to a stop. She drew her sword and held it to a side. Her Clerics, in their silver armours and green capes, made a wall of bodies her. ¡°Waeh! Free them or you will be struck down! You have lost!¡± Kavaa shouted back. Anassa¡¯s flickered in confusion to Kavaa. Kassandora¡¯s jaw fell loose at the Goddess¡¯ stupidity. Waeh only chuckled. ¡°Do you know who you are talking to?¡± Waeh said. ¡°I know perfectly.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Kneel!¡± Waeh shouted. Kavaa knelt. The men behind her knelt. ¡°What did you think was going to happen?¡± Kavaa did not reply. One man by her side raised his hand, finger extended at Waeh. And then that man shouted four words. ¡°Lia! Rie! Airi! Go!¡± Barking. The barking of dogs. Kassandora¡¯s eyes teared up. Genius. Incredible. Kavaa had outdone everyone here. What a brilliant idea. Three massive dogs jumped and soared over the front line of kneeling Clerics, one pure brown, one brown and black, one brown with patches of white. All shaggy and long-haired and huge, with bushy tails and pointed ears and rabid eyes only war-dogs had. They looked at the man pointing, then looked to Waeh. ¡°KILL!¡± The Cleric shouted. ¡°STOP!¡± Waeh shouted back. One moment too late. Kassandora stared in awe as she looked at the three animals. They didn¡¯t even take a moment to pause. Waeh¡¯s command was ignored immediately, the dogs raced forwards upon hearing the Cleric and Waeh took a step back. Kassandora smiled to herself, what a stupid tactic. Every Divine of the past knew that animals sensed fear, they would have only circled and growled if the Waeh had remained steadfast. But ultimately, no matter what he claimed, he was a Divine of this age. A Divine who was all talk and no action whatsoever. If she had his power, she would simply tell her enemies to end their own lives, not go on this grand display of power through kneeling. ¡°GET AWAY!¡± He shouted at them, his tone high pitched and panicking, then at the Clerics. ¡°TELL THEM TO STOP!¡± Kassandora looked to the Clerics. Kavaa had her hand on the man who issued the command, his eyes fell closed, he yawned, and collapsed onto the man next to him fast asleep. ¡°NO!¡± Waeh screamed and took another step back as the three circled him. ¡°NO! WAKE HI-¡° The command was not finished. The largest of the three dogs stopped before him, got low to the ground, growled and pounced forwards. Kassandora stared in awe as the animal soared as high as his chest and latched onto his side. Waeh screamed a scream no God of Kassandora¡¯s time would ever utter. The next one bit the calf on his leg. Waeh collapsed backwards onto the sandy desert ground. The smallest of the three, although to call any of those dogs small would be wrong, growled and went for the neck. The first animal tore the side. The second ripped off a chunk of the man¡¯s leg. The last rent open his throat. It bit and bit and bit, and then pulled away to howl, blood flowing from its mouth, its white patches a red as vivid as Kassandora¡¯s hair. The other two howled with it. Waeh thrashing stopped and he collapsed on the sand, his arms losing their strength. His face went pale as his heart pumped blood into the hole in his neck. A God brought down by dogs. Sokolowski stood up. Kavaa stood. Anassa groaned and collapsed onto her back. Kavaa¡¯s Clerics got to their feet and cheered. Arusei and Haki both stood up. The paratroopers that had sent them down. Kassandora¡¯s army stood up and the camp erupted into a cheer. They all chanted Kavaa¡¯s name. She deserved it. And Kassandora stood up. Her eyes went to the horizon. Fortia and Maisara were still coming, their armies behind them. Kassandora felt her smile crawl up as Joyeuse reappeared and cut into the desert sand. Fortia better have another trick up her sleeve, because all that showing with Waeh did was rile her up. Chapter 157 – Steel & Sorcery, Might & Magic The 1-15-300 Rule. Any serious frontline force should be composed of one invention-level Divine, fifteen mages, and three hundred soldiers. Losses taken should follow a 0-1-100 split. Casualties inflicted by our forces typically follow a 3-6-1 split (as in, for every 3 combatants the Divine fells, the 15 mages will defeat 15 and the 300 mundane men will kill 1). The strengths of major Divines are too variable to be estimated and should be taken on a case-by-case basis. Some Divines are amplified by their forces, others amplify their armies. Typically the latter are far less dangerous than the former. There is one exception I will specifically mention: Kassandora, Of War, is not particularly strong individually. When commanding an army, she should be avoided at all costs unless several major Divines are present. Excerpts from Goddess Fortia, Of Peace¡¯s, War Manual: The Doctrine of Might & Magic. Written before the Great War, but edited during it. Kassandora¡¯s orchestra slowly started to play as she analysed Fortia¡¯s and Maisara¡¯s approaching armies. A furious violin in her mind, that only she heard, whined as her eyes trailed over the minor Divines and mages in the distance. Fortia was there, it was obviously her. The tallest among them, in golden armour with her thick spear held high. Maisara on the other side, in silver and white. Her unnamed executioner¡¯s axe on her back. They led from the centre, as had been done in the past. In standard box-march formation, Kassandora couldn¡¯t believe they didn¡¯t change a single aspect of their armies from the Great War. From the sheer size of their formations, it¡¯d be some eighty-thousand men. The Pantheon¡¯s White-Gold banners, Fortia¡¯s own Gold and Maisara¡¯s own silver waved in the breeze to the march of feet. Kassandora¡¯s orchestra added its own drums, quietly beating away to the synchronised march of boot against hard ground. Nothing about that army¡¯s looks had changed from the last time Kassandora had seen Divine War, so it could be assumed that they would be following Fortia¡¯s Might & Magic Doctrine. The mages serving as glass cannons, the Divines as line-breakers, the mundane as shields for the former two. This is why Kassandora was needed in the world. Other Divines meandered and snapped, minds cracked and tore as they realised their own purposelessness. Kassandora had a purpose. Just as hated executioners removed society¡¯s guilty, she executed stagnation wherever she found it. A flute added its own tune to the orchestra, quiet, but obviously there. And Kassandora looked over to her army. Small and outnumbered. Sokolowski¡¯s division had ten thousand men. Eight to one. When the neighbouring divisions arrived, they would be sitting at eight to three. The strings got louder as Kassandora got to work. She stabbed Joyeuse into the sand and pulled on her blessing. The men who were hers, who had accepted her will to strengthens themselves stopped clapping immediately. A chorus of voices added itself to Kassandora¡¯s orchestra, every man under her command heard it as clearly as she did. She was a conduit for the ten thousand, a battery of power to store and give and exchange, the fingers wrapped around sword hilts and the spark that set fire to a fuse. Kassandora stood there, in her black armour, her eyes glowing, her hair more vivid as it started to tumble in its own winds. War began to conduct its orchestra. ¡°Kavaa. Accept me.¡± Kassandora spoke as a piano started to play a slow tune. Men in the rear were loading the lemur artillery in silence, no one needed to say a word. No need for a ¡®next¡¯ or a ¡®ready¡¯ or a ¡®loaded¡¯. They all played in War¡¯s orchestra. A ramping series of notes, repetitive and promising crescendo. Kassandora reached out to Kavaa and felt the woman¡¯s mental armour being lifted, the shield lowered, the helmet was taken off. She grabbed hold of Kavaa and heard a little grand cello add itself to her tune, in sync and perfectly adding to the rhythm. And Kassandora conducted the cello as she stood unmoving, the song playing in her head. Kavaa¡¯s blessing of perfect health, and Kassandora¡¯s blessing of her own will, flooded through Kassandora¡¯s army. Men sped up as Kavaa¡¯s power filled. All in silence, the only sound was of shuffling feet or men loading their rifles. Some had been sent off to unpack ammunition, others were dragging them to the frontlines. The teams manning the sixty Lemur artillery, and the dozen Binturongs that had been sent off to Sokolowski were preparing in silence. Engines started to rumble under the gentle instruments of Kassandora¡¯s music, pistons hissed and stabilizers extended to dig into the sand. Anassa¡¯s forty sorcerers were here too. And Kassandora had already blessed them back in the HQ. They separated into teams, rose into air as men climbed the watch towers. Barriers were put up as everyone danced in tune to War¡¯s orchestra. Kavaa turned to look through her blessed eyes, and Kassandora gazed through her. She gazed through every pair of eyes, smelled through every nose, heard through every ear, her thoughts worked through every mind in the camp. And she saw Fortia raise her spear and issue the command. If Fer was here, she would have heard what the Goddess said, but all she could do was watch. Sand started to swirl and make a wall, winds howled and clouds formed like a sudden fog. All the elements narrowed to make a barrier above the army. They had already marched in range, it would have been impossible for Fortia not to have heard Kassandora¡¯s army cheer. Kassandora saw through her men. They were running to the trenches that had been dug. More were working with shovels, digging out small foxholes. Others knelt in the sand pits, more lay down, rifle aimed. Not in range for guns yet, Fortia would no doubt raise a shield. Kassandora sent out a probing attack. One of the sorcerers, the one she sensed was the fastest, her name was Fleur. She suddenly raced forwards as Kassandora gave another command. A series of drums beat in her mind¡¯s orchestra, and the eighty four artillery fired. Five men, random guards who were stood in odd locations at the camp, turned to look up at the sky. Their strengthened vision followed the shells immediately as Fer stopped a safe distance away. She raised her arms. A red beam burst from her palms in an instant. Kassandora knew how to command the art, she simply wasn¡¯t capable of doing it herself. It flashed and roared and burned and devoured that shield, or it should have. Kassandora shook her head, she had assumed Anassa¡¯s favourite sorcerers were stronger. Not many to pick from in this time though. The shield stood, a thin layer of sand interwoven by water and air that didn¡¯t even react to Fleur¡¯s attack. The girl was sent flying before Fortia could command her mages to summon up a counter-attack. A few seconds after she left, the spot she had floated in had lightning strike down on it. Zerus wasn¡¯t about and lightning wasn¡¯t an easy art. So Elassa had sent mages of a higher calibre then. Arcadia¡¯s mobilization was a threat on the horizon though, Kassandora had at least another month before the flying swarms would descend on Kirinyaa. If Fortia was forced to pull back by then¡­ Well, there was a chance. The drums in her orchestra sounded again as her watchers saw the first volley impact on the shield. Sokolowski had received the newest shells, assembled here in Kirinyaa, a mixture of fragmentation and napalm. Shards of steel slid and stuck harmlessly against the barrier above that army. Napalm set alight for an instant, it was enveloped in bubbles of air, the oxygen it gorged on was burned up. The jelly put itself out as the water of that rolled out and chucked it to the sides of Fortia¡¯s army. Kassandora saw it through the eyes of men lying on sand or kneeling behind mounds of stand or standing in trenches reinforced by wooden beams, all watching with binoculars. She would have buried it, not simply thrown it on the ground. That had been a mistake to capitalize on for later. And Kavaa went off to heal Anassa¡¯s injuries from the fall as Kassandora watched the massive block approach her. If they raised shields like that towards the front, the rifles would be worthless. Kassandora changed her thinking, men still needed to be taught in the art of melee, if only for situations like this. They would need blades too. The Clerics who had come with Kavaa arranged themselves in front of Kassandora. ¡°We are ready to be led.¡± The ancient Divines all had worked with Kassandora, maybe they didn¡¯t know the perfect extremities of her blessing, but it wasn¡¯t a secret of this world. So Kassandora had put a little paragraph explaining it into the second page of the manual every soldier got. Men didn¡¯t read a lot, but they should be able to manage two pages at least.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Kassandora¡¯s blessing engulfed them too. It wasn¡¯t Waeh¡¯s forceful commands, it was leadership. Any man could choose to break her blessing at any time. She gave the basic information out, the fact they would follow her orders faster, the strengthening of willpower and the shared senses. The fact that War¡¯s Orchestra was an addictive tune was left out. That part, no one but Arascus knew. Kassandora hadn¡¯t even told him about it, the man had just realised it when he heard the drums play. The violin picked up as the ranks finished assembling, and then they died down to trumpets gloriously chanting a tune. Rifles were lowered, machines guns dug in. Ammunition boxes handed out. Helicopters lifted off into the skies. They would be vulnerable to magical fire, but hail of lead was a trade off she would take. They had taken Neneria¡¯s suggestion. The guns installed on them were the same that the minotaurs had tested in Arcadia. Kavaa¡¯s Clerics formed spread out into pairs and separated themselves among the front lines. Battlefield healers. In the Great War, every battle any wound inflicted was a mere temporary debility. Kassandora had never understood why Fortia never deployed them in greater numbers. Now though, they were in the hands of a woman who would squeeze until there wasn¡¯t a drop of power left. The only two men remained in the opening were Waeh¡¯s corpse lay. Airi, Lia and Rie were still feasting on the body, each one pulling off strands of muscle or tearing through fat or eating away. Fer would be able to regenerate from that damage, Kassandora wasn¡¯t prepared to take any chances chance. The three huge dogs would be allowed to eat until there was only bones of the body. Their handler remained with them, if Fer was here, then Kassandora could work through to get access to the animals, but Fer was not here so someone had to watch over them. Frankly, they were the heroes of today, Of Beasthood simply had to meet these animals. Sokolowski stood at Kassandora¡¯s side as he made phone calls to check up on the neighbouring divisions. Fifth infantry had set off just now. Sixth was about to, they were loading the final few men into trucks. Over this terrain¡­ Kassandora made as pessimistic a prediction that wasn¡¯t just unreasonable disagreement. Four hours. Probably less, but she only had to hold for four hours. War¡¯s Orchestra played another chorus, the artillery at the back of the camp fired again. Apocalyptic booms of gun and drum, followed by sweet whistle of shell and flute. Kassandora¡¯s hair scattered into the air as she felt the hopefulness of her men, and then it fell back down as they watched the shells harmlessly explode over the magical barrier of air, sand and water above Fortia¡¯s army of gold and silver. They took another step forwards, men in the front ranks made a shield-wall. The napalm went out. Caught in puddles of air, thrown off by bubbles of water. The shrapnel was wiped away too. More grey jelly was tossed onto the desert sands. Fortia simply had not realised then, the clearing of the first volley wasn¡¯t a mistake. Fortia simply didn¡¯t see the damage it could do. Kassandora saw though. Kavaa dropped to her knee over Anassa. ¡°I have you sister.¡± She said, then caught herself. ¡°I.. that was Kass speaking.¡± Anassa smirked as she patted her stomach. ¡°I know.¡± She said. Kavaa touched Anassa¡¯s cheek as Kassandora silently watched. What did healing feel like? Not being healed, but actually performing the healing? Kavaa merely poured her divine energy into Anassa. It felt like¡­ It felt like cool water in your hands, as if suddenly your fingers were tasting mint. Cold and clinical, there was no love or warmth in it. It was a mere operation Kavaa had done a thousand times before. Anassa had broken a leg and injured her spine as she landed. Kassandora sighed as Kavaa nervously looked at the Goddess of Sorcery and explained the situation. ¡°You don¡¯t have to excite me that much.¡± Anassa replied with a stupidly tantalizing smile only she could do. A cello in the orchestra proclaimed its annoyance with a high-pitched note, Kassandora and Kavaa both agreed with it. ¡°Just heal her.¡± Anassa was fundamentally delusional. Not in a stupid fashion, but rationally delusional. As a Goddess of Sorcery, she could conjure her imagination into the world. There had been a time where sorcery was much like magic, and then Anassa had appeared to revolutionize that little world and make it into the terrifying realm of magic it existed as nowadays. In a day, sorcerers who were unable to construct a house were suddenly painting drawings into reality. How reality was a canvas, Kassandora could not understand that thought process whatsoever. The basic premise was manageable but she simply came across a block in her process because the mind thought and the body moved. The mind did not move, nor did the body think yet sorcery espoused that. Kavaa finished healing. The woman made a moan no Goddess should ever make, her cheeks flushed red and she rose from the ground. ¡°I love when you do that.¡± Kassandora stared blankly through Kavaa¡¯s blank face at the woman. ¡°Never say that to me again.¡± Kavaa said coldly. ¡°Ana, you¡¯re actually disgusting.¡± That cello made a low note to agree with Kavaa. Anassa only smirked, licked her lips and stretched. ¡°I¡¯m in a good mood.¡± Anassa said. ¡°But you do not get to speak to me like that.¡± Kassandora stopped Kavaa from responding. No point in it, everyone in the family already beat Anassa over the head because of how she acted, and yet Anassa was still Anassa. ¡°Anassa.¡± Kassandora called out, still stood with her hands over Joyeuse. Attacks would have to be synchronised, the barrier would have to be broken, it was magical, there were obviously lesser Divines among that mass of men, there¡¯d be at least a thousand mages, if not two thousand. And that sort of barrier was nothing new, to mix sand and air and water was standard tactics to make battlefield concrete, barrier like that could be rebuilt in the blink of an eye, timing was everything to breaking through them. Kassandora sighed. And issuing orders through speech was slow, Anassa was perceptive and fast. Could she crack open the shield? Effortlessly. Could she do it while avoiding magical counter-attack? No doubt. But Fortia knew how to throw her spear, and Fortia would know to pick the moment Anassa gave even an inch of an opening. Anassa, very simply, would have to be micro-managed. Kassandora called out. ¡°Come here.¡± Anassa was the only person who Kassandora did not like being in the orchestra. The only person who ever gave her trouble to conduct. Kassandora sighed. But Anassa was Anassa, and even though Kassandora hated her sound, she would not change Anassa for anything else. Anassa was Anassa precisely because she was so argumentative and annoying. ¡°You want to embrace me?¡± Kassandora did not respond to the subtext of that. ¡°Accept me sister.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°You kno-¡° Kassandora stopped Anassa from finishing whatever she was about to say as she felt the Goddess¡¯ will give way to her. Anassa smiled, opened her mouth and shut it immediately. Kassandora raised a challenging eyebrow at her sister. ¡°If you say something terrible, I will shut you up.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think you ha-¡° Anassa shut up, she turned and laughed to herself as Kassandora heard her giggle in the orchestra. How was a mystery, it was a realm of delusions, the orchestra played in her mind. But then if anyone knew how to work delusions, Anassa did. No more words needed to be said. Kassandora¡¯s army merely felt each other as they moved like one giant organism. Anassa silently took a step and blinked from the ground to the air. She blinked again as Kassandora separated the sorcerers more. Kavaa took to the frontlines. Fortia and Maisara approached, not long now. In range of the artillery. The drums started to pick up. Artillery fired. The violins ripped at their own strings. Men took their time to line up a shot. Percussion shook the world. Shells whistled overheard through the air. Kassandora kept track of them through the watchers in the helicopters. Percussion slammed down again. Anassa blinked from her spot to just above Fortia¡¯s army. Her fingers snapped. The crescendo was reached. And silence descended as a blast of her energy pushed the shield away. Crimson waves raced through the mixture above Fortia¡¯s men that cast them into a pale shadow. Like a painter¡¯s brush smearing red over a canvas or a roaring sea serpent ploughing through ships. Anassa laughed and a terrible guitar, loud and obnoxious and playing its own dreaded tune joined the fray. The next moment, it all stopped. Silence. The bass in War¡¯s Orchestra flared as artillery shells whistled through the opening, that half-second Anassa gave them as mages were reforming the barrier. Smoke and fire and screams and blood. Men torn apart. Anassa blinked back to Kassandora¡¯s own lines before anyone could react. Kassandora finally managed to pick out Fortia in that chaos. She rallied her men. She waved her spear. Her mages put the fires out. Threw napalm away. Shields went back up. Not the single large barrier but thousands of individual tiny discs. Anassa could break one as easily as a thousand, but one broke in the snap of a finger. There wouldn¡¯t be time to hover over the army and keep snapping. A wave of sand suddenly erupted across the sand, it knocked Fortia¡¯s men over and carved out a trench across the desert. Fortia¡¯s spear ploughed through the air. A beam of crimson caught it from the heavens. The spear did not stop, but the trajectory changed and it slammed into the ground with a grand wave of sand. If Anassa was not here, then that spear would gone through Kassandora¡¯s chest. Kassandora had forgotten exactly how strong Fortia was. Waeh was dead, but she¡¯d rather fight Waeh twice over than one of Fortia. It would be a hard battle. Fortia¡¯s Might & Magic Doctrine relies too heavily on ancient Champion-Doctrine. I was correct back then, as were many who now I call family, that Champion-Doctrine would eventually come to a close as the great heroes of the past died, defeated by battle¡¯s swift close or by time¡¯s creeping crawl. I propose something new entirely. To relegate Divinity to the supporting role entirely, to have them serve as mere shock troopers and logisticians. Wars are fundamentally mortal affairs. Mortals should be the ones to wage them. This radical philosophy has served three decades in global warfare now, its success is undisputable. To have scored victories against Divine Leona, Of Luck is an already immeasurable achievement. Thus I formalize it. A war philosophy that removes dependence on Divinity. Wars will not be fought through the unreliable variability of might and the whims of magicians. Wars will be fought through the consistency of steel, supported by sorcery. Excerpt from Goddess Kassandora, Of War¡¯s, Art of Victory: The Steel & Sorcery War Doctrine. Written during the Great War. Chapter 158 – An Orchestra of Artillery Fortia¡¯s Might & Magic Doctrine relies too heavily on ancient Champion-Doctrine. I was correct back then, as were many who now I call family, that Champion-Doctrine would eventually come to a close as the great heroes of the past died, defeated by battle¡¯s swift close or by time¡¯s creeping crawl. I propose something new entirely. To relegate Divinity to the supporting role entirely, to have them serve as mere shock troopers and logisticians. Wars are fundamentally mortal affairs. Mortals should be the ones to wage them. This radical philosophy has served three decades in global warfare now, its success is undisputable. To have scored victories against Divine Leona, Of Luck is an already immeasurable achievement. Thus I formalize it. A war philosophy that removes dependence on Divinity. Wars will not be fought through the unreliable variability of might and the whims of magicians. Wars will be fought through the consistency of steel, supported by sorcery. Excerpt from Goddess Kassandora, Of War¡¯s, Art of Victory: The Steel & Sorcery War Doctrine. Written during the Great War. Kassandora watched Fortia¡¯s spear disappear from the beaten sand of the desert. Kavaa turned back around to face the oncoming appear as Anassa hovered above. Black helicopters made swathes of sand as they turned, tilted and flew to either side of the camp, their pilots hearing Kassandora¡¯s tune in their own heads. War¡¯s bombastic orchestra that had gone silent for the instant Fortia threw her spear, and now returned with a rhythmic beat, great drums beat in the background to trumpets and trombones that played each of Kassandora¡¯s plans. Tunes changed, came and went as Kassandora thought of something and discarded it. Those attacks could be completed. Fortia and Maisara were both strong, but nothing beat Anassa¡¯s delusions of speed that manifested into reality. Kassandora gave a silent command to Sokolowski, the order simply carrying itself through her blessing, the man turned on his heels immediately and ran off back to his command tent. Phone in hand, he checked up on the two neighbouring divisions that had been called when Waeh was still alive. ¡°Fifth infantry, we¡¯ve covered a tenth of the way. Over.¡± ¡°Sixth infantry, setting off. Over.¡± Kassandora heard the words through Sokolowski¡¯s ears. She saw his clean tent and watched through his eyes and he unfurled a topographic map of the terrain. Kassandora fed him what lines to draw as the man started working a red pen. Three platoons of men burst from their defensive positions and ran to the front. The drums started to beat as Kassandora fed orders for artillery to start firing. That shield could be broken through Anassa, but it could be beaten and broken through sheer force. Throw enough toothpicks, and you will eventually get through the brick wall. One hundred and eight men sprinted across yellow sand under bright blue sky, ahead of them Fortia¡¯s army took a step in the shadow of its shield, trails of napalm that had been extinguished made black smears across that picturesque sky. Anassa blinked in position as Kassandora tracked the flight of her shells through watchers. Men raised their binoculars to peer at Fortia. The woman stopped as her troops started to circle around, the Goddess of Peace raised her spear like a javelin again, aimed straight at Kassandora. So it would be like this, only Anassa could parry a swing like that. If Anassa destroyed the shield, she would a half second to recover, Fortia¡¯s spear would cover the distance in half that time. Anassa re-appeared hovering back over Kassandora¡¯s frontline. Kassandora saw Fortia¡¯s golden eyes go to her, then to Kassandora. She smiled and changed the spear throw to a stretch and a yawn. Artillery shells impacted harmlessly against that risen layer of air and water and sand weaved into each other. And same as last time, the caught in bubbles of water. Deprived of oxygen, the napalm jelly went out and was thrown off. This required a change of tactics. Engineers stood back as two dozen of the lemur artillery lowered their barrels, only a slight tilt downwards. The sand shook around them as their extended arms kept the guns from ripping apart the truck carriages. Tracked binturongs fired again, one slid as its arm snapped and a , the rest of the lemurs started firing in sequence. Their turrets carried the lessons of the binturongs, they could sustain the rate of fire. Shells started exploding over Fortia¡¯s shield every few seconds. One here, one there, another in the middle. Binturong shots whistled through the air and then engulfed the shield in flames. And another single shot from a lemur. And another. Like a man forced to stand under dripping water, eventually each drop would feel like an anvil dropped on the head. That was the plan at least, and Fortia¡¯s magicians struggled to keep with the constant removals. The lemurs that changed firing angle let out a volley of napalm shells. Then another. A third, a fourth. Kassandora held fire and let the guns cool down as the first volley landed in the sand in front of Fortia¡¯s army. A flood of fire submerged the ocean of sand before Fortia. Black smoke drifted up and Kassandora changed positions. A few steps to the side. Just in case. Anassa flicked into position above the army. Helicopters higher up to give Kassandora vision. The crewmembers couldn¡¯t see as well as the ground troops, nor could they see through that murky barrier of elements the mages had conjured up. Kassandora tracked the latest volley from the Binturongs, counted the seconds down, and Anassa got the order. Anassa clapped her hands, sorcery flashed around her. Crimson discs emerged around her, then expanded forwards as quickly as lightning. As if an artist had decided to flick red paint onto a moving canvas. They ploughed into the barrier. A hole opened. Another. A hundred. Two hundred. A second passed. Anassa blinked back as Kassandora heard a sonic boom that signified the breaking of the sound barrier. The black barrier of smoke from the napalm of ground was cleared by a perfect circle. Anassa reached out her hands, then stopped as Kassandora informed her she had moved. It had merely been a gut feeling, but the sheer force of the wind almost knocked her over as Fortia¡¯s spear pierced perfectly through the location she had stood. Several men in the trenches were knocked off their feet and shouted in panic as the wind threw them up. Kavaa¡¯s Clerics got to the duties of healing. Kassandora did not even turn, she moved again, a few steps in another direction as that hole in the barrier of black smoke cleared up. She watched through the eyes of the crew inside the helicopters as the mages tried to reform barriers. Not fast enough. The binturong volley made contact inside. Men were thrown in the air, bodies were broken, magician and gold-bronze guardian and silver-steel clad paladin perished in the explosions and the burning flames.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. And then, through the eyes of the crew, Kassandora saw the glint of gold. She heard another boom and her vision went dark. Kassandora watched one of the helicopters crumple up as if someone had caught it on a fishing line. It jerked awkwardly up and exploded. A beam of fire followed by rocks was shot at another of Kassandora¡¯s flying eyes. Anassa stopped this one. Her guitar roared through Kassandora¡¯s orchestra again, out of tune and terrible, as two of her appeared and Kassandora closed her eyes. Seeing through the gazes of her troops was like naturally switching cameras, as if flicking through a screen. Seeing through the eyes of Anassa was looking through one that was two. She always felt sick whenever Anassa did that. Anassa snapped her fingers, the fire was put out as if was never there. The rocks harmlessly dropped into the flames below and there was another sonic boom. Not the spear this time. Kassandora held her breath as she tracked Maisara through the air, heading straight to Anassa. And this is why she had to link with her sister. A word would have been too slow, a thought wouldn¡¯t cut it. Kassandora moved her body on instinct, simply twisted her chest. Anassa moved in the same way, Maisara¡¯s axe slid through the air. It would have severed Anassa in two if Kassandora hadn¡¯t been there to watch. Maisara flew through the air in her dull armour, she stopped her spin through manoeuvring her axe and Kassandora sighed. That was a good move, Order¡¯s Executioner would need to be assigned a Divine or else she would rampage unstopped through Kassandora¡¯s ranks. She flew over the camp as Kassandora gave an order. ¡°Anassa, break free, take care of her.¡± She only thought the words, but they appeared in the choir that played through War¡¯s Orchestra. ¡°With pleasure.¡± And a second choir came in to answer. Anassa¡¯s guitar faded away as the Goddess of Sorcery, in her red dress, gave chase to the line of silver. Maisara extended her axe to control the spin. Her eyes scanned through Kassandora¡¯s army beneath her. Fortia had just thrown her, it was a classic tactic. Kassandora should have predicted it, or maybe she simply had nothing up her sleeve. Her ears caught the deafening booms of cannons and her eyes turned. That was the target. If those drums were silenced, then the army could ramp up the speed. They didn¡¯t even have to be destroyed, Maisara would just need to slaughter the crews. She tilted her axe up, caught the wind, changed direction immediately, and slammed through a truck with a cannon mounted on its back. Anassa took a deep breath as she felt Kassandora¡¯s will leave her. Without little Kassie¡¯s music, the battlefield seemed almost quiet. The din of artillery in the distance, the lockstep march of boots nearing them, the burning flames. Kassandora¡¯s army biding their time, waiting to be given permission to fire. It was almost¡­ dull. She took a step. Kassie complained about managing her, but Anassa knew that Kassie actually loved it. Or at least, Anassa thought she did. She appeared in the middle of the camp, close to where Sokolowski had parked his artillery. Sixty lemurs apparently, Anassa had seen them shoot now. Certainly more impressive than the cannons of the past, but how much stronger were they really? They couldn¡¯t even break through a dismal shield like that. And she saw Maisara in the middle of them, her armour charred and scratched by flames. She stood on the wreckage of one vehicle that had been perfectly severed in two. The massive barrel now lay harmlessly in the sand. ¡°Oh Maisara!¡± Anassa cooed and took another step into the air. She enjoyed fighting, but she enjoyed trampling little insects far more. Discs and blades appeared around her. Maisara could not fly. Maisara had no magic. Maisara only had her Divine Might within her. Maisara was like Fer. But Maisara was nothing like Fer, because Anassa loved Fer, and Anassa did not love Maisara. It was as simple as that. Anassa snapped her fingers as Kassandora¡¯s soldiers received their commands. No doubt little Kassie was paying attention, and no doubt squads would be assigned. Already the crews were arming themselves with pistol and rifle. Disembarking from their vehicles, Kassandora always said that the men needed to be trained, the guns could simply be re-built. The drums in Kassandora¡¯s orchestra stopped, and so did the shield above Fortia¡¯s army. It moved to the front and they began to run. Very smart Fortia, very smart indeed. At this rate, it would only be a matter of minutes. No doubt Maisara had blessed them with her strength. Kassandora stood and waited as her troops rearranged themselves. Heavy guns were pulled back deeper into the camp, the front trenches were left with a mere skeleton crew, and men formed line over line instead of a single solid wall. Anassa snapped her fingers. The ground around Maisara disappeared, replaced by a drawing of crimson spikes. Maisara jumped into the air, her axe shattered the sorcery. Anassa snapped her fingers again. A sword came down, thin and opaque and aimed for Maisara¡¯s back. The Goddess of Order spun again, her axe hit a piece of the lemur and she let go of it, launching herself forwards and towards another vehicle. Anassa snapped her fingers again. What an annoying little Goddess Maisara was. Delicious to an extent, prey that fought back were always more fun than prey which did not, but annoying none-the-less. A disc appeared by Anassa, another and another and they all launched forwards. Maisara¡¯s axe rematerialized in her hands, she cut through another vehicle and dodged low to the ground. Anassa snapped her fingers again. What a fast little bug indeed. Another Anassa appeared. A third. A fourth. A dozen. Maisara wanted to play? Let her play. Every incarnation of Anassa focused their sorceries onto the Goddess of Order, blade and beam and spike and claw and wave of red drawings crashed down upon her. Maisara turned and twisted and parried all of them. One scratch on that silver armour. Such an attack, and all Anassa had achieved was one scratch. And Maisara swung her axe, let go of it, and sent it spinning towards one of the Anassas. The Goddess of Sorcery merely disappeared, blinked away as another Anassa tracked Maisara¡¯s movements. Under a vehicle, then through it. Anassa saw the opening. Going for a kill would be difficult, much better to simply injure. Maisara took a step and Anassa waved her palm. The ground where Maisara was about to step turned and twisted shot upwards as a sword of crimson shot from the sand. And somehow, beyond all belief, Maisara spun, her leg pulling up immediately as she pirouetted through the air. She actually had the gall to kick off the blade and into another vehicle. That huge executioner¡¯s axe re-appeared in her hands and she slammed into the vehicle. Cutting it into two. Anassa clicked her tongue. What a damn fly. She attacked and Maisara dodged. Maisara would throw her axe up, and Anassa would blink away, and so it went. For how long, Anassa lost track of as she focused everything on the Goddess of Order. Maisara heard Fortia¡¯s warhorn. Enough time had been bought. The charge began. Anassa could be defeated, but there was no point risking her life alone when she could do it easily with Fortia by her side. Kassandora cooked in rage as she signalled Sokolowski. Half an hour on fifth division, forty minutes on sixth. She looked back at Fortia¡¯s army as Anassa fought with Maisara in the rear of the camp. As they closed the distance, the shield ploughed through flame and pushed sand up. Mages lifted into the air, minor Divines took to the field. And the barrier shield, just before it slammed into Kassandora¡¯s army, disappeared. Anyone else would have hesitated. It was too fleeting a moment for words to even be said. But Kassandora¡¯s army moved to the tune of her music and they opened fire immediately. A hail of lead cut through the ranks of Guardians and Paladins. Kassandora pulled Joyeuse out of the sand and took to the field. Chapter 159 – Steel Skies, Iron Rain King Wissel of Doschia and President Jozef of Lubska looked over the green field. A hundred men stood there, all muscled, a few scarred. All stood in formation, a gap between them, encircled by a thick cordon of Lubska¡¯s riot police. ¡°Awful, the lot of them.¡± Jozef said. ¡°But if you want awful people who know how to fight, I couldn¡¯t think of a better option.¡± ¡°Where did you even get them?¡± ¡°Piotrkowa Prison.¡± Jozef replied. ¡°And yours?¡± ¡°Same thing, Schwalmstadel.¡± Doschia¡¯s maximum security prison. For those who were deemed to be worse than the worst. ¡°We need arms for them.¡± ¡°Artois is working on that one.¡± Kassandora pulled Joyeuse out of the sand and took to the field. The drums in her head issued an order, a single burst large pound. Fire. Fortia¡¯s army was repelled one step by the advent of gunfire from her lines. The strings came in as she organised her forces. Half of them held the fire. Trumpets played to signal for those who ran out of ammunition to reload. The side that held fire opened up. Constant hail of lead burst forth from her lines as the drums mercilessly overpowered every instrument in War¡¯s Orchestra. Fortia¡¯s first rank fell. Bullet penetrated heavy chest-plate and Guardian¡¯s dropped their heavy tower shield into a shield wall. Kassandora saw the dents appear through the eyes of her men. Only harsh indentions, not penetrations. Impressive still, those shields would shrug off swords and arrows and crossbow bolts like nothing. The violins roared as she started moving and ordered the heavier calibres to start firing. The heavy machine that had been pulled back, too large and cumbersome to be used by anything smaller than one of Fer¡¯s tremendous bullmen, opened fire. A round of trumpets went off in Kassandora¡¯s Orchestra and the bullet holes appeared through the first of rank of soldiers. They took another step, then stopped. Fortia¡¯s guardians uttered a drowning battle-cry as Kassandora spread her Clerics out even thinner. Kavaa¡¯s blessing of healing started to pour from them pre-emptively. And the Guardians kept charging forwards. One more step, and the first jumped into a trench. Kassandora took a deep breath as she made it to the front-lines. Sokolowski received a command into his mind and called the neighbouring divisions. Close enough now. Fifth Division was on the horizon. Sixth would be approaching soon. And Kassandora issued her orders. Some men were to be left behind, some would flee, those on the heavy guns would not survive. Her ranks collapsed as she watched a Guardian strike down a man with a spear. A paladin, in thick steel armour, clad in metal from foot to the top of his head, cleaved another of her soldiers in two. Then a hail of steel clipped through the man as one of the machines gunners swerved his rifle on its tripod. The Paladin fell, a mage in brown behind him put up a shield. The ground opened up and the soldier on the gun was impaled by a spike of sand that burst from the ground. Kassandora flicked through a hundred perspectives in an instant. She saw men flee from blade, she saw men aim, pull triggers as they aimed into the crowd. She saw gunners squeeze their guns as the barrels of their rifles started to glow red from the heat. She saw through the eyes on a man¡¯s who rifle jammed, saw him pull out his pistol and unload onto a mage. The bullets stopped in mid-air, caught by an invisible net of winds. She saw the witch, in her light-shawl, flick her staff forwards and mutter some spell. The bullets turned back around, launched forwards, and the man¡¯s vision went dark. She saw a minor God run rampant through one of the trenches, half again the size of a man. In heavy armour and moving like the wind as his sword slice man and man. She issued a command to her men, the music changed, the trumpets got louder as they all turned their guns in unison. She saw the God stop, look around, and panic flash across his face. And she saw fifty men from all sides unload into that massive body. And she saw whatever that invention Divine was drop to the ground bleeding, the light fleeing his eyes. Kassandora¡¯s vision flicked again as she looked through the eyes of her artillery crews. She saw them, carefully aim guns at Maisara. Maisara did not move, she danced and pirouetted through her vehicles. The few times someone managed to get a lucky shot on her, the bullet hit her armour and then bounced off her skin. Standard tactics from Maisara then, the unbreakable body that contained the world¡¯s Order merely danced and dodged as her axe hit the cabin of a lemur artillery. Maisara roared as she lifted that vehicle and slammed it on another. Then let go of her axe as Anassa¡¯s sorceries devastated the spot she had just been in. Some dozen or so copies of Kassandora¡¯s sister hovered in the air, they blinked around and moved independently, but every single copy of Anassa was focused on Maisara. A storm of sorcery uttered from the air as its Goddess painted the sky crimson, and blade and needle and ball and sphere began to rain down upon the Goddess of Order. Maisara turned and fled, deeper into the camp and towards the frontlines. Back to the safety of her support from Fortia. Kassandora issued an order to Kavaa and moved herself, her vision still flicking through the soldiers. The three platoons she had sent off previously opened fire onto an exposed flank of Fortia¡¯s army and men fell. Shields of sand were put up quickly, but that was about two hundred dead, most likely five times that wounded. These guns truly were the weapons of the modern age. But they did little when Fortia managed to close the distance. Kassandora looked through the eyes of another soldier. A man who struggled to put his magazine into the rifle in a panic. His fingers slipped, he dropped the bullet container, then shouted in fear and put up the rifle above his head as a Paladin closed the distance. A massive greatsword cut through the rifle effortlessly and Kassandora¡¯s vision flicked back.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Kavaa and Kassandora crossed through tents, Kavaa running around as Kassandora leaped over them to block Maisara¡¯s path of escape. The first division pulled out further into the camp, some men ran into Maisara as she fled back. The ground behind being torn up by Anassa¡¯s sorceries. The unlucky platoon raised guns and didn¡¯t even have a chance to pull their triggers as Maisara threw her axe at one section, then rolled into the other. The sheer weight of her armour and body crushed bone and tore muscle. Those she didn¡¯t kill, Anassa¡¯s magic did. Red swords, opaque as if they were shades drawings, fell from the sky as the Goddess of Sorcery angrily hissed behind Maisara. The Goddess of Order didn¡¯t even take a moment to think, her axe was recalled back into her hands and she smashed it upwards into the magical attack. Anassa¡¯s blades were crushed and shattered by the swing. Maisara the attack forwards, the axeblade smashed into the sand and catapulted her across the camp as ground underneath erupted into spikes of red sorcery. Kassandora watched through the eyes of her retreating army. Gods that couldn¡¯t fly didn¡¯t want to stay in the air, there was little you could do to alter your trajectory. It applied to Kassandora, and it applied to Maisara as well. Kassandora calculated Maisara¡¯s flight path, Joyeuse spun in her hands, she twisted her core, pulled the arm over her head, and threw the great blade forwards. Kassandora launched herself forwards to slam into that position from above. Maisara silver eye¡¯s saw the sword immediately, she twisted, extended silver gauntlets and slammed the back of her fist in Joyeuse. The black blade flew off into the air and then rematerialized into Kassandora¡¯s grip as she slammed the blade from overhead into Maisara. Sword smashed into silver armour and axe smashed into black. Maisara slammed into the ground, Kassandora was launched into the back of a random tent. Kavaa got the order immediately, she started to sprint, catching tent posts to spin around corners as Maisara and Kassandora stood up to face each other. Kassandora¡¯s side was split and bleeding, Maisara¡¯s armour straight and re-forged itself as it healed the damage from Joyeuse¡¯ attack. ¡°Pleasure to see you again Kass.¡± Maisara said as she twisted the arm holding the axe. She took a step forwards, Kassandora saw her eyes flicker open in panic and then Maisara immediately jumped back. A beam of red flashed in front of her, it severed through the camp. Cut through Kassandora¡¯s soldier and Fortia¡¯s magician and minor Divine and Guardian and Paladin as if they were nothing. Kassandora told Sokolowski to retreat and reorganized her troops into battle lines as she spun Joyeuse in front of her. ¡°I¡¯ve lost my touch.¡± Maisara chirped. ¡°Back then, you wouldn¡¯t have survived that.¡± It was obvious the Goddess of Order was enjoying this, but then Kassandora didn¡¯t fault her. She was too. A thousand years was a long time. ¡°Neither would have you.¡± Kassandora shouted back, she tried to swing Joyeuse but her arm couldn¡¯t raise it. Maisara opened her mouth to shout something back and Anassa shut her up. ¡°You will not touch my sister.¡± Anassa¡¯s voice boomed from above. Maisara straightened her back and slammed her axe into the ground she maintained her gaze on Anassa. Men started to run past them, Kassandora¡¯s soldiers, they turned to stop and shoot off a few rounds, then return in their retreat. Sokolowski finished his phone calls and reported the information to Kassandora through War¡¯s Orchestra. Fifth Division was set up on the hill, ready to fire, sixth needed a minute more, they were almost ready. Maisara clicked her tongue as she looked around. It was obvious what was happening, she was waiting for Fortia. But then Kassandora was waiting for Kavaa. ¡°You have lost this battle!¡± Kassandora shouted to keep Maisara talking. ¡°Have we?¡± Maisara shouted. A tent behind set alight as Fortia¡¯s mages demolished a team of Kassandora¡¯s who had dug in. ¡°You came in with eighty thousand, how many have you lost already?¡± To her left dropped, rolled over, aimed and squeezed their triggers. A group of Guardians fell to Kassandora¡¯s right. Blood streaming from holes in their bodies. Maisara raised her axe at Kassandora. Anassa tightened her fists from above. ¡°How many is the Goddess of War worth?¡± Kassandora smiled at that question, frankly, that was a good counter to her question. ¡°Bring a million next time.¡± Kassandora shouted back. ¡°I¡¯m not so cheap.¡± Maisara laughed as the fires behind her were extinguished by Anassa¡¯s sorcerers. Two of them flew threw the air and sent off wave after wave into a group of mages that were giving chase. Sokolowski asked through the bombastic music in Kassandora¡¯s mind whether he should start organising a retreat. Kassandora organised it for him. She took a step towards her lines. Anassa maintained position above her. Kavaa finally got to Kassandora and Maisara sighed. ¡°Where you waiting for Fortia?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I was.¡± Maisara said and clicked her tongue. She looked up to Anassa. ¡°We both know neither of us will defeat the other.¡± ¡°Eventually a fly will tire itself out.¡± Anassa¡¯s voice cut through the chaos of the battle. The explosions and screams and gunshots and roaring flames. The shifting ground and the howling winds. ¡°One slip up is all it takes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s for me?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°Or for yourself?¡± Too confident. Kassandora saw it immediately. Maisara was too confident. She felt Kavaa¡¯s hands touch her as the Goddess of Health started to heal and scanned through the eyes of her troops. A thousand burning needles stitched the wound in her eyes shut as she peered through the eyes of her men. Through a man shooting one of Maisara¡¯s Paladins. Through a man holding onto a spear that pierced through his chest. Through men that were hurled into the air by magical winds, their rifles escaping their hands as their bodies started to panic. Through the eyes of the sorcerers. She saw Fortia. Standing at the end of the road, spear aimed and pulled back to throw. Kassandora¡¯s arm grabbed Kavaa and the Goddess of War pulled both of them to the ground as Fortia¡¯s spear broke the sound barrier again. Maisara launched herself forwards Kassandora and Kavaa as the wind knocked them back. A blast of sorcery stopped Maisara in her tracks, coming down from Anassa. Kassandora looked up, the wind was strong, but its track felt wrong. It didn¡¯t feel like the spear had gone past them, it felt... Kassandora panicked as she looked at Maisara be thrown high in the air, the sorceries around her cracking and collapsing. Anassa¡¯s fingers snapped and a massive paw appeared behind her, the same Fer¡¯s most monstrous beastmen had. It glittered in the sunlight, opaque, constantly breaking apart and redrawing itself as two artists were battling. One drawing, one erasing. It swung towards Maisara, the Goddess of Order lifted her arms to block it but she couldn¡¯t fly. There was nothing she could rely on to use her enormous strength. The paw knocked her a league back in the direction Fortia¡¯s army had come from. Kassandora heard Maisara curse them all as she gave up trying to defend herself twisted her body in preparation for a hard landing. And then Kassandora saw Anassa again. The Goddess of Sorcery, in the brilliant red dress, looked down at herself, at the gaping hole in her chest that penetrated through her chest. The paw flickered away as Kassandora pushed away from Fortia and recalled Joyeuse into her grip again. Fortia walked towards them, smiling and secured in her victory as Anassa fell towards the ground. And Kassandora heard Sokolowski echo in her mind. ¡°Guns are ready, ready to fire on your position. Give the green light.¡± Chapter 160 – Thirty Seconds To Impact The grandest purpose of a battle, it¡¯s primary and most important reason to exist, is not measured on the level of grand strategy or tactical battles. It is measured in the opposition¡¯s willingness to support the war, a population united and proud would rather lay down the lives and burn their own cities than let an invader rape and pillage. The ultimate purpose of battles is to crush this mentality, to make resistance look futile and scars that burn eternal, to show that there are only two solutions: surrender or death. The enemy¡¯s prospect of victory should become a subject so far-fetched it is unimaginable, whereas ours becomes so secured it is simply a matter of time. In this way, any victory can be spun into a defeat, any defeat can be spun into a victory: ¡°Look at what you sacrificed for this, and look at us still here!¡± A willing man will raise a mountain, an unwilling man will not bother to raise his arm. - Excerpt from Kassandora¡¯s ¡°On War Philosophy¡± Kassandora ordered Kavaa to heal Anassa as the Goddess of Sorcery landed crashed into the sand between them with a heavy thud. The wound in her chest no longer existed, but Anassa only deluded herself into being healed, the damage Fortia had done was real. Kassandora¡¯s War Orchestra played as it issued an order to Kavaa to heal. And then the violins played notes to Sokolowski: Take over the full retreat. Pull the men out south, as fast as you can. And a set of smaller violins answered immediately. Copy Goddess, I will pull them out. Kassandora glanced once at Anassa. Her sister was breathing heavily as Kavaa put her knees on the woman¡¯s shoulders to force her not to stand. The Goddess of Sorcery had lost colour in her face, she was pale, the few wisps of sorcery she conjured up were mere lines that faded away into nothingness. ¡°I don¡¯t need healing.¡± She growled for a moment. Anassa wasn¡¯t strong physically, but she should have been able to throw Kavaa off herself. ¡°You do!¡± Kavaa shouted at her. ¡°I don-¡° Kassandora stopped as she turned back around in disbelief. Anassa had a red handprint over her cheek. Kavaa forcefully grabbed Anassa¡¯s face and dug her fingers tight into her skin. ¡°Hold still Ana! This will hurt!¡± ¡°I will make sureee¡­.¡± Anassa¡¯s voice gave way to a crazed moan as Kavaa started to heal her. Kassandora didn¡¯t even want to think about the pain the Anassa was going through. Healing a broken arm was bad enough, reforming organs and muscles and the spine? ¡°How long Kavaa?¡± Kassandora asked as she swung Joyeuse in Fortia¡¯s direction. The Goddess of Peace was sauntering towards them, her army had rallied behind her. Mages and minor Divines. Maisara¡¯s Paladins and Fortia¡¯s own Guardian Orders. A shield wall formed as Kassandora ordered her own men to fire back. Bullets flew past her and were caught by barriers of sand and air. Kavaa wasn¡¯t panicking, but her voice was far from calm. ¡°For a complete heal?¡± ¡°For her to move again.¡± Kassandora replied flatly as she extended her blessing to the neighbouring divisions. She saw the whole camp. The north where tents had been burned and knocked down by magics. Where fabrics had been cut, where men lay dead. The south were her own troops were starting to filter out slowly from the battle. ¡°A minute!¡± Kavaa shouted back. A minute was too long, this distance was close enough for what the lemurs to arc their shots high into the air and drop from above, even with that added time, it was much too long. The drums in War¡¯s Orchestra signalled for the neighbouring divisions to fire a creeping barrage from the north to the south. Guns roared as men re-organised themselves under Kassandora¡¯s will, soldiers dropped their guns to make long lines of bodies passing shell from truck to man to cannon. Thirty seconds to impact. ¡°You have half of one.¡± Kassandora said back as Anassa let out another disgusting moan. Sick! The woman was sick! ¡°I¡¯ll hold them off until then.¡± Kassandora took a step forwards as Fortia raised her spear to signify a stop to her army. Maybe she had missed the roaring artillery from the sides. It was loud here, with screams and orders and gunshots still echoing through what remained of Sokolowski¡¯s camp. Magical winds were the worst, they roared around like thunderous beasts. Twenty-Nine Seconds. ¡°So a duel?!¡± Fortia shouted. Kassandora raised Joyeuse ahead of her and shouted back. ¡°Like the olden days.¡± If she could keep Fortia talking, then she wouldn¡¯t have to risk her life. In strategy, Kassandora was a league above Fortia. In terms of raw strength, the Kassandora had always considered herself to never match up with the major Divines. And Fortia was not just any major Divine. ¡°Are you enjoying this?¡± ¡°You could say I am.¡± Fortia shouted and lunged forwards. The distance between them was covered in the blink of an eye. Fortia¡¯s spear aimed for Kassandora¡¯s chest, the Goddess of War swung Joyeuse to parry Peace¡¯s spear, and then the spear twisted and aimed for Kassandora¡¯s legs. Kassandora pulled on the strength of soldiers who were too deep into the camp to retreat. They fainted and collapsed as their energy entered their commander. Up was bad, the moment your feet left the ground, you no longer had any control over your body. Back was too slow. Kassandora¡¯s mind made the decision immediately. Her boots twisted and she launched herself forwards to close the gap. War¡¯s black armour slammed into Peace¡¯s golden-bronze and Fortia took a step back. The spear-shaft still hit Kassandora¡¯s thigh, but a bruise was better than a lost leg. Kassandora let go of Joyeuse and slammed one fist into Fortia¡¯s chest. The other went for the head. Fortia dodged as her body moved as quickly as a pouncing snake. She dropped the spear and backhanded Kassandora across the shoulder, it would have hit Kassandora¡¯s helm if Kassandora didn¡¯t bend to absorb the impact with her arm. The two Goddesses were thrown backwards. ¡°You¡¯re still good.¡± Fortia shouted. ¡°I try.¡± Kassandora moved her arm as she stared Fortia down. ¡°You¡¯ve not lost your touch Fortia.¡± Compliments to Peace were always good, Fortia liked to listen others sing her praises. Twenty-Five Seconds. The two Goddesses stared at each other. ¡°It¡¯s always impressed me you could bite off so much.¡± Fortia said as she raised her arm and her spear reappeared in her hand. Joyeuse rematerialized in Kassandora¡¯s grip too. ¡°Waeh for one.¡± Fortia said as the spear made a showy spin around her. ¡°How you got him, I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Dogs.¡± Kassandora shouted back. Fortia laughed out loud. It was a short laugh. ¡°Dogs?¡± Kassandora watched Fortia¡¯s eyes as they scanned her body. She held Joyeuse ahead of herself, ready to deflect that spear. ¡°I couldn¡¯t believe it when I saw it either.¡± Kassandora said. Anything to keep her talking a moment longer. Now that she had to walk, she was sure that her thigh had more damage than just a bruise. ¡°None of us would have fallen to dogs.¡± Fortia shouted. ¡°None of us would have.¡± Kassandora agreed. ¡°But they don¡¯t make Divines how they used to.¡± Fortia laughed again as she took a step forwards. That was the sign. Kassandora¡¯s grip tightened Joyeuse thick hilt. ¡°That is true, they don¡¯t.¡± Fortia finished the words already mid-lunge. Twenty Seconds. Black blade met a flurry of gold as Kassandora let the spear tip slide past Joyeuse and then swung at the spear¡¯s shaft. It was like hitting an anvil, Fortia¡¯s arm barely moved as it withstood Kassandora¡¯s strength, the tip of the spear caught onto Kassandora¡¯s armour and tore a piece of black metal off. Kassandora spun, the impact of the spear used to accelerate herself as she held onto Joyeuse with one hand and caught Fortia¡¯s spear with the other.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The blade made a full rotation around Kassandora¡¯s head and aimed directly at Fortia¡¯s neck. War¡¯s red eyes saw Peace¡¯s golden ones sharpen through the slits of that bronze helm. She heard Fortia¡¯s breath catch and then her own be expelled as Fortia jerked the spear to the side. Kassandora¡¯s arm jerked with it, she lost her foot, squeezed out more strength from her army and kept that Joyeuse heading towards Fortia¡¯s vitals. And then a fist hit Kassandora in the stomach. She was blown backwards into the sand as Fortia made another show of spinning her spear around her head. ¡°That was close Kass, I¡¯ll give you that.¡± Fortia shouted as Kassandora¡¯s eyes went to Joyeuse. It had been sent spinning towards the sky. Eighteen. Kassandora made a show of clambering to her feet. Onto her knees first, then she pushed off the ground with both hands as she brought herself up. It was for show on one hand, but it also bought another second. For the shells to get here and for Anassa¡¯s healing to continue. Fortia was all manner of things, but she did fight honourably. Kassandora held her arm out, Joyeuse reappeared in her grip as she rubbed her stomach. ¡°Stronger than before.¡± Another compliment, something else to make Fortia feel good about herself, hopefully she¡¯d indulge in the praise. ¡°You¡¯re just weaker than before.¡± Fortia replied. ¡°You¡¯ve lost a lot in the cell.¡± ¡°Not surprising is it, with Pantheon Peace?¡± Kassandora said as she lifted the blade to a parry stance again and took another step. Her leg really did hurt. A bone was fractured then. And a rib now. She pushed the pain away, the Kassandora of today had to survive so that the Kassandora of tomorrow could suffer through it. ¡°My plan.¡± Fortia said proudly. ¡°Allasaria claims it¡¯s hers, but it was my idea.¡± Kassandora saw the opening. If there was anything Fortia loved to hate, it was Allasaria. ¡°Let¡¯s not pretend Allasaria can organise something as impressive as Pantheon Peace.¡± Kassandora took another step and felt herself stumble. Fortia smiled, whether at Kassandora¡¯s weakness or the complaint about Allasaria, Kassandora did not care. Both would be best! ¡°Let us not.¡± Fortia said and raised her spear again. ¡°Where is she?¡± Kassandora asked. Fortia merely smirked. ¡°I do not know.¡± Fortia said, the spear spun again. ¡°That¡¯s my honest answer. We do not know, she disappeared when you killed Leona. Leona¡¯s body was confirmed, unless your sister ate her whole, we don¡¯t know.¡± Kassandora farcically dropped her sword in shock, then Joyeuse reappeared in her grip. That bought yet another second. ¡°Are you ready to surrender? Olympiada has a cell for you.¡± ¡°Over my dead body.¡± Fortia smiled. ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d say that.¡± And the Goddess of Peace lunged forwards once again, spear extended, aimed straight at Kassandora¡¯s core. Fourteen. Kassandora stepped towards the spear, then sidestepped at the last second. Joyeuse hefted in both hands only barely managed to force the spear away from her. The black blade slid down the length of Fortia¡¯s spear and towards her blade. Fortia dropped her spear, Kassandora moved the swing of the blade from being direction to her arm to her stomach. And Fortia stepped forwards, just as Kassandora had done, until chest-plate hit chest-plate and Kassandora stumbled backwards under the sheer bulk of Fortia. They weren¡¯t even different in height, Fortia was just naturally so much more powerful. Kassandora¡¯s forearm slammed into Fortia¡¯s side. Fortia¡¯s knee slammed into Kassandora¡¯s hip. The Goddess of Peace didn¡¯t even flinch at Kassandora¡¯s impact. The Goddess of War was thrown to the side as Fortia¡¯s spear re-appeared in her hand. Kassandora out of control in the air, she stabbed Joyeuse into the stand and spun around to dodge the spear blow, then jumped back. Fortia closed the distance again, spear coming down from above and being used like a club. Kassandora dodged to the side, ripped Joyeuse from the ground with a spray of sand and felt her calves absorb the impact of Fortia¡¯s blow again. Ten. Kassandora fell spun in the air again, her eyes concentrating on that spear as her hands lashed out to grab the shaft. Fortia¡¯s spear moved as easily as a snake, as if the Goddess wasn¡¯t handling something the length twice of herself and a nimble toothpick instead. It ducked down just out of Kassandora¡¯s reach, thrust forwards and the slammed upwards into Kassandora. Fortia continued the swing in a full semi-circle. Kassandora landed on her side, she heard the crack of an arm, another rib. Her leg felt loose. She pushed all the pain away. Future Kassandora¡¯s problem, not today¡¯s. One arm pushed her off away from Fortia and sent her rolling back. Fortia took a step back and let her spear tip make a line in the sand as she looked from Kassandora to Anassa and Kavaa. No. Not them. Kassandora pushed herself upwards. She recalled Joyeuse again and used it as stick to lean on. One leg was loose indeed, the bone had cracked at the thigh, she had broken limbs enough in her life to recognise the dulled pain of broken bone and the biting stings inside her leg as sharp shards caught and cut muscle. ¡°I¡¯m still standing.¡± Kassandora said. Fortia turned back to look at her. Eight. ¡°So you are.¡± Fortia said, her gaze flicked back to Anassa and Kavaa. ¡°I was just checking how much more time we have to play around.¡± Her lips made a smile that barely revealed itself through the slits in her helm. ¡°Fer would be standing already, that¡¯s all I have to say about her.¡± ¡°Fer wouldn¡¯t have been hit in the first place.¡± Kassandora shouted back. She wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand another battery by Fortia, all that had to be done was to keep her talking and to get Anassa angry. Anassa fed on fury like no one else. ¡°I¡¯m surprised honestly.¡± Fortia said. ¡°All of you have grown weaker.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve grown stronger.¡± Kassandora said. Frankly, she¡¯d bow and beg if that bought time. It didn¡¯t matter what it was at this point. Her hand started to slide down Joyeuse¡¯ hilt as strength left her fingers. Kassandora found more soldier who wouldn¡¯t make it out. She devoured their strength to keep herself standing. Six. ¡°I¡¯ve kept myself sharp.¡± Fortia said. ¡°A thousand years with Allasaria wasn¡¯t a waste.¡± She clicked her tongue and tilted her head to one side. ¡°Are you sure you want to stand?¡± ¡°I stand.¡± Kassandora said through a heavy breath. She coughed out some blood. ¡°You¡¯re a good sport.¡± Fortia said. ¡°But we both know this is the end of the line.¡± Kassandora smiled. Fortia had refocused all her attention back on Kassandora. Kavaa was still kneeling with Anassa¡¯s head in her hands as Anassa lay passed out between her legs. Five. ¡°I still stand, do I not?¡± ¡°Kass.¡± Fortia clicked her tongue. ¡°I have one to tell you.¡± ¡°What?¡± Kassandora¡¯s grip around Joyeuse tightened as Fortia lunged forwards again. Four. Kassandora lifted Joyeuse to try and intercept that attack. To deflect it away from herself, tried to at least. The blade touched the spear¡¯s shaft and then was ripped out of her hands as she lost control over herself. Fortia moved it from a killing blow to a pin in the last moment. The tip dropped from Kassandora¡¯s heart to just below her chest. Kassandora fell backwards with a scream of pain as the golden spear penetrated her armour. Metal cut flesh as Fortia drove the spear deeper, through Kassandora and into the sand. She gave it a twist and Kassandora only moaned in pain. ¡°I¡¯ll miss you when you¡¯re gone.¡± Fortia said and gave her spear another twist, Kassandora felt the strands of muscle in stomach twist and wrap themselves and the edges of that spear. ¡°That¡¯s for the trouble you¡¯ve given me.¡± Kassandora eyes flicked from Fortia to the sky. Her vision was going blurry, but she saw what she needed to see clearly. Hundreds of black dots filling up the sky, moving and closing the distance to them. ¡°I¡¯ll give you this honour Kassandora, Goddess of War.¡± Fortia made a magnanimous tone. ¡°Do you want to make sure your last words aren¡¯t just ¡®what¡¯?¡± Anassa started to stir in Kavaa¡¯s lap. Three. Kassandora bared her teeth at Fortia as she let go of the spear in her chest. Oh she did have words, but they weren¡¯t going to be her last. ¡°I win.¡± And if they were, it was words she wouldn¡¯t mind going out on. Fortia actually let go of the spear and blinked in surprise. Two. Anassa pulled herself back into consciousness and out of the blackout, swaying back and forth, her arms falling loose by her sides. Her mouth open as her eyes sharpened. Kavaa put her hands on Anassa¡¯s back as she kept on healing the woman. Kassandora heard the Goddess of Sorcery snap her fingers. A band of red sorcery appeared around her stomach, Anassa said nothing, she just pulled on whatever sorceries had managed to recover themselves within her soul. One. Two of Kassandora¡¯s ribs were ripped out as Anassa swung her arm backwards. Kassandora went with that swing, thrown like a ragdoll, ripped out of Fortia¡¯s pin and tumbling into the sky as if she was little more than a ball. Kavaa was thrown up just as carelessly, merely tossed as high and as fast as possible, with all the power Anassa could conjure up right now. Impact. Kassandora tumbled through the air as Anassa appeared by her side. Anassa caught her, and then pulled her towards Kavaa. The Goddess of Health was silently falling from the blue sky, a speck of silver and green in that amour of hers. Kassandora turned her head and managed to catch one final sight of Sokolowski¡¯s camp. Fortia was aiming her spear at them, and then the shells hit, she lost her footing and was thrown into the air with a roar of rage. The fires of napalm devoured man and cloth and tent as if all were paper. Fortia¡¯s army started to retreat back in a chaotic fashion. They ran through the jelly that had been extinguished earlier when they had marched into the camp. A single shell landed north of the camp. It exploded in a fireball, and the grey jelly on the ground set alight. Sands and metals. Bodies and bones. Weapons and armours. Mage and Man and Divine. It all burned. Kassandora closed her eyes as Anassa caught up to Kavaa and she felt Of Health¡¯s terrible healing enter her. Chapter 161 – To Bring About an End to Epa Kassandora sat down as she typed up a report for Arascus. A letter of request rather. The battle had forced Fortia¡¯s army into retreat, it had been a perfect opportunity for a swift follow-up attack on the western army that fielded Zerus and Sceo. But that opportunity had ended. Artillery was powerful, but it was slow. It needed time to set up and time to aim. It devastated ground instead of securing it. She needed new vehicles for this. Iliyal leaned back in his office as he sighed. It was a small room, but he had sat in smaller. The furniture was plain, but he had worked with worse, the TV wasn¡¯t the biggest, but he remembered a time when television was so far-fetched it wasn¡¯t even fantasy. The lights were bright, but he had fought in the shadow of Allasaria¡¯s burning powers. The chair was comfortable though, that, he couldn¡¯t complain about. Iliyal flicked the TV on as he finished today¡¯s pieces: ¡®With this leadership, can we even win?¡¯ was the star of the show, a scathing and emotional critique of Fortia¡¯s recent disaster of a battle although ¡®Divine right to die!¡¯ and ¡®Sixty thousand for what?¡¯ were also documents he was proud of. All catchy slogans, granted those it was his team came up with instead of him. One was being translated into Lubskan, another into Rancais, and then the third into Dosch. Scheduled release was tomorrow evening, it was the end of the work week and people would be settling down to catch up on the news that this week brought. Epa would not be happy, that much he was sure of. Iliyal leaned back and made himself another coffee, spruced up with whiskey. One to keep himself awake, the other to get the words flowing. The simple fact of the matter was that no piece mattered much, the goal was to inundate all of Epa with anti-war rhetoric. The populations were against the war, but populations needed an example to follow. In Lubska and in Rancais domestic partisans had already started following Iliyal¡¯s anti White-Pantheon script. Iliyal sipped the drink from his glass and listened to the television. ¡°third day of President Artois¡¯ illness, his party has confirmed that Artois is recovering and will be ab-¡° Iliyal switched the channel. Illnesses, he cared little about unless someone was going to die or unless it was himself. He switched over to KTV, the three hosts were celebrating, shamelessly waving small Green-Red-Blue tricolour flags of Kirinyaa as they recalled the battle that had taken place two days ago. Kassandora herself had leaked it, although it would have come out eventually. Fortia¡¯s casualties were simply too great to cover up. Already scandal being brewed in Doschia by the relatives of the lost. Fortia knew how to fight a military war, that both Kassandora and Iliyal would readily admit. The Waeh-plot had been insidious, the kitsune spies were unprecedented, it was only pure luck that Peace¡¯s war plan had failed. But a war was not just a series of skirmishes. That was what Kassandora had taught Iliyal, and now Rilia was loosening the Ausa embargo. The death of sixty thousand was a mere drop in the flood of precedent King Aimone had just set as he all but gave the middle finger to the White Pantheon and their policies. One of the Iliyal¡¯s men appeared in the open doorframe to his office. Kassandora had given him thirty at the start, now the number had more than tripled to almost a hundred. Clerics, most of them, although there were a few Kirinyaans who could be entrusted with working at WPW as Kassandora had called them: The War Propaganda Wing. Unofficially, they were Nanbasa¡¯s newest taxi company: The Grands. ¡°General.¡± The man saluted. No one here experienced direct combat but Iliyal maintained a level of discipline that he knew wouldn¡¯t even be seen on the frontlines. Men who sat in comfortable seats too long got soft and someone to come with a stick and wake them up. Iliyal looked away from the television and sipped his whiskey again. This was Thomas Rauld, from an ex-Allian Clerical Order. Iliyal knew the names and profiles of everyone who worked underneath him, it was part of the reason why expansion had been so slow. ¡°At ease.¡± Iliyal stood up to return the salute. He was a head taller than the man, although he was a head taller than everyone here. If there was anything he¡¯d change about this assignment, it would have been the cover. He enforced a dress code, white shirts and black trousers, but anything more professional than that would raise questions about what sort of taxi company they were if everyone was dressed up in suits. ¡°I¡¯m ready on the piece to be sent off to Allia. Translated and everything.¡± Iliyal nodded as he sat back down. ¡°You report to Malcolm, who reports to me.¡± Iliyal said as his fingers tapped his wooden desk. Kirinyaan redwood, expensive in Epa but cheap here, fragrant and eye-catching, if not particularly durable. But it didn¡¯t have to be too durable. A pistol was in one of the cabinets and Iliyal¡¯s sword was always next to his seat. ¡°Yes General!¡± Thomas responded. ¡°I do normally, but I got a¡­ a man wishes to see you.¡± Iliyal raised an eyebrow, his green eyes analysing Thomas as the young man trembled under his gaze. They were all young, the oldest amongst the men under his command was fifty. So not even a twentieth of Iliyal¡¯s age. ¡°And?¡± Iliyal asked. Soldiers always understood better when you let them reason their own way into a solution, even if that solution was the most obvious thing on Arda. Of course men wanted to see Iliyal, he was the Iliyal Tremali. But chains of command existed for a reason. ¡°Can Malcolm not handle it?¡± ¡°Malcolm is currently at KTV and the man said he cannot wait.¡± Thomas responded quickly, he somehow managed to stand even straighter. It was downright amateurish, no soldier should tense so much as to make their own veins pop. ¡°At ease.¡± Iliyal said slowly. If Malcolm was missing, and Thomas himself wasn¡¯t at the bottom of the ladder, then he wasn¡¯t breaking procedure. ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°He refuses to identify himself.¡± Thomas answered quickly. ¡°But he did present this.¡± Thomas pulled out a small badge Iliyal recognised instantly. Thomas should have too, but it was just a matter of the man¡¯s inexperience he did not: a medallion of gold, bearing a flowering lily. The badge all Rancais government officials when they entered office. ¡°But he has bodyguards.¡± Iliyal only smiled. How many assassins had held he felled? During the peak of the Great War, it was considered a slow year if there were only four attempts on his life. ¡°Are they mages?¡± Iliyal asked, if they were coming with Rancais government officials, he doubted it. ¡°I apologise, but I do not know.¡± Thomas replied and Iliyal nodded. He sighed and turned the TV off, there wouldn¡¯t be any news on KTV he didn¡¯t know of already. The entire country was celebrating Kassandora¡¯s victory, and they would celebrate for another week until the next one came. Fortia and Maisara had been defanged with the losses sustained. The Great War began in the same manner, armies of Divine Orders smashed into each other until both sides had bled themselves dry, then both sides started conscripting their peasantries to bolster their ranks. ¡°Do not apologise, if you don¡¯t know then you don¡¯t know.¡± Iliyal said as he thought about the situation. How was he even found? This needed to be reported. ¡°Who did they ask for?¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°The man asked for you, by name.¡± Iliyal nodded. So he had been found out. So there was a snake or a breach of procedure somewhere. Snakes were common enough, Fer had reported them already. Iliyal sighed again and waved his hand. ¡°Send him in, bodyguards too. I don¡¯t mind.¡± Frankly, if they weren¡¯t mages then they¡¯d be in for a surprise. ¡°Close the door on your way out and make sure everyone looks professional, hide the documents first, make him wait if you need to.¡± Thomas saluted, Iliyal returned the salute from his chair and the man turned and marched out of the small office, he pulled the door close as he left. Iliyal immediately tucked the pistol into his belt and narrowed his eyes. He finished his whiskey-coffee and put the bottle on the table with another glass. His documents were cleaned up, and Iliyal put a photo of himself and Kassandora onto the table, her arm around him and both of them smiling. It was taken just before he had been sent off here. If they knew who he was, they would know of Kassandora¡¯s favouritism of him, but it was better to have a reminder in case anyone did not. Clean up lasted half an hour. If a guest was unannounced, it was always good to make them wait. That set an immediate hierarchy. They were working around Iliyal¡¯s time. Eventually though, there was a knock on the door. It was Thomas again. ¡°General Tremali, you have guests.¡± ¡°Send them in.¡± Iliyal shouted back as he leaned back into his seat and spread his arms out over the table. The door opened and three men entered. Iliyal¡¯s eyes scanned the guards immediately, it was a force of habit, but it had saved him more times than he liked to admit. Lean men, obviously fighters. With short hair and hard faces and cold eyes. Mouths tight, that was always a good sign, it meant nervousness. A nervous man was an amateur killer at the most. Then he scanned the man in the middle, his face was hidden under the headwrap of traditional desert wear, but the slit for eyes revealed pale Epan skin. The clothes were obviously nothing excellent, a shirt and trousers as any common man wore, but common men had creases and signs of dirt. Their shoes had dirt, their shirts would be only loosely tucked in, their belts were rarely of real leather. If they had watches, they wouldn¡¯t be a simple silver design that simply reeked of wealth. Iliyal stood up, he said nothing, only took long steps towards the bodyguards. A head taller than either of them, he looked them up and down. Muscled, one man on his shoulder that his shirt failed to hide. The skin was still pink, so it wasn¡¯t any older than a month. Iliyal said nothing, he merely returned back to his seat and sat down with a word, then put his sheathed on the table. ¡°Just so we know we¡¯re we are standing, many men have tried to kill me.¡± All eyes went to that blade. One of the guards tightened his fists, then took a deep to calm himself. Iliyal smiled at them as he idly brushed the picture of himself next to Kassandora. ¡°You know who I am, I do not talk with people who don¡¯t reveal themselves.¡± The man in the headscarf nodded and took off the garb covering his face. A handsome face, but one that took on an onslaught of stress and time that came too quickly. Blue eyes, hair neatly styled and skin pale that had been lightly tanned. Iliyal made a terrible smile at the man. ¡°It is my pleasure, President Artois.¡± Iliyal had seen the man on the news more than a few times, he looked better in real life than he did on there, more real. ¡°Likewise, General Tremali.¡± Artois readjusted his posture and pointed to the chair in front of Iliyal¡¯s desk. ¡°May I?¡± Iliyal extended his arm towards the chair. ¡°Please do.¡± The elf poured them both a large glass of whiskey. ¡°How did you find me?¡± Artois did not have a calm demeanour in the first place, but whatever levity the man had, it faded away upon hearing Iliyal¡¯s cold tone. ¡°Well?¡± ¡°I asked Helenna.¡± He replied coyly. Iliyal leaned back and put his hand on the sheath of his sword. ¡°You asked Helenna?¡± ¡°I tried discussing the matter first with her. She told me it¡¯s not her department. I asked for Arascus. She said that won¡¯t happen but suggested you instead.¡± Iliyal¡¯s green eyes merely focused on the man¡¯s blue. That was a story he could believe in. Of course Helenna would know of him, and Helenna wasn¡¯t difficult to find whatsoever, everyone knew where she was staying. ¡°Understood.¡± Iliyal said as he pulled out his phone and searched for Helenna in his contacts. He pressed ring and put it on loudspeaker. The phone buzzed twice before Helenna answered. ¡°Hey Iliyal!¡± Helenna¡¯s voice chirped through the phone as the elf set it down on the table. ¡°What are you calling for?¡± ¡°I have a guest.¡± Iliyal didn¡¯t take his eyes off the bodyguards. One of them shifted under his gaze, the other took a step to the side as if in an effort to dodge it. Amateurs, not soldiers. Police maybe, faced with arresting drunks and not a man chosen by Kassandora. ¡°Is it a man?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°It is.¡± ¡°Rancais?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Iliyal leaned back. So the man¡¯s story was true. ¡°It¡¯s Artois, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It is, did you send him to me?¡± ¡°I did, that¡¯s all I¡¯ll say over the phone.¡± Helenna said. ¡°And Kass has told me to tell you there¡¯s a change of plans, you¡¯re to be in CR in two days.¡± ¡°Understood, that¡¯s all.¡± Iliyal switched the phone off. So Artois had not been lying, Iliyal hadn¡¯t supposed he did, but the after fighting Leona for a century, he didn¡¯t like to leave anything up to chance. What was not certain was left up to luck, and luck rarely favoured him. ¡°I double check everything, you must understand.¡± Iliyal said flatly as he sipped his whiskey. Artois had already tasted his. Another sign of amateurs. Iliyal would never drink from a bottle he didn¡¯t trust unless he saw someone else¡¯s lips touch it first. Artois nodded as if impressed. ¡°I understand perfectly.¡± The man took a sigh and waved his hand. One of the bodyguards pulled out a folder stuffed with papers from the inside of his shirt and handed it to the President of Rancais. ¡°I¡­ well¡­¡± Iliyal drank some more of his whiskey. The man obviously needed confidence, he sometimes forgot what sort of aura he had himself. It was like this in the past when he would enter cities and see people kneel in submission. ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill you. This meeting, I don¡¯t think either of us have to say is off the record.¡± Iliyal crossed his arms. ¡°But now that you¡¯ve come, Kassandora and Arascus will both know by the end of the day. I¡¯ll ring both of them the moment you step out of this room in fact. Kassandora is on the frontlines, Arascus is busy managing the war economy. Neither have time for you, if you wish to relay something, you¡¯re going through me.¡± Iliyal spread his arms out to either side. ¡°So here I am.¡± Iliyal smiled as he leaned back and stared down at the man. The differences in height, in age, in experience, the simple fact one was an elf and the other a human, that one wasn¡¯t simply blessed but chosen by a major Divine. Some people liked to reason and fiddle words out of others through a slow build of confidence. Iliyal preferred a swift backhand that got men into action. ¡°Right.¡± Artois said. ¡°Right, of course.¡± Iliyal sighed. A politician this was, not a soldier, not a general, not a man of action. A politician through and through, no doubt the man could endlessly scheme sophistry but now that he was placed in an environment unfamiliar, look how he crumbled. ¡°So?¡± ¡°This is not my plan.¡± Artois said. ¡°But I vouch for it. It is signed on by Wissel of Doschia, Jozef of Lubska, Aimone of Rilia, Edward of Allia and myself, representing Rancais.¡± Iliyal raised an eyebrow. ¡°And?¡± ¡°We need weapons.¡± Artois said then caught himself. ¡°We don¡¯t need weapons, we need your rifles. Now to manufacture but to use.¡± Iliyal raised an eyebrow. Was the man joking? Why should he ever give up the rifle design to an Epan nation? Even Kirinyaan engineers had to sign an NDA before they started work on the manufacturing lines. And this man just wanted them? ¡°Are you joking?¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Do I even need to explain why you¡¯re not going to receive anything?¡± ¡°This is the plan, you see, our stamps as heads of state. Only we have access to it, unforgeable, it¡¯s your copy to keep.¡± Artois said as he handed Iliyal a piece of paper. The white eagle of Lubska was there, the black eagle of Doschia, the Allian Lion, Rancais¡¯ flowering lily and Rilia¡¯s crown of towers. They did in fact look real. ¡°And this plan?¡± Iliyal did not even read, he merely tapped the piece of paper, eyes still on Artois. ¡°Sell me on it.¡± Iliyal doubted Artois would have another word of value to say, but Artois hardened his tone, took a deep breath and spoke quickly, as if he wanted to say everything because the voice of cowardice in his mind silenced him. ¡°We¡¯ve found the location of Arascus¡¯ Divine Armoury. We¡¯re certain it holds the Weapon Incarnation Divines. We want to free them and use them to have leverage if the White Pantheon treats us as they treat Kirinyaa.¡± And the man shut up. He took a deep breath and collapsed into the back of his chair, then finished the glass of whiskey. He poured himself another one, drank half of that too. Iliyal leaned back, speechless. There would be no phone calls tonight, this sort of information required a face-to-face meeting immediately. - - - End of Arc 5: Fires in the Desert - - - Chapter 162 – From Sands into Grass Elassa watched her army lift off into the air. All in ranks and in their colourful robes. Every staff glowing, cloudless thunder and lightning split the sky as magical energies began to run rampant. Arcadia felt its first earthquake in centuries. Two months more. Two months more and they would be ready. Arascus could use his fancy toys all he wished. Fortia¡¯s defeats were a blessing in disguise, she would lose the prestige she had claimed in the Great War. The red and purple waved behind Elassa as her mages returned to the ground. She had already won, now the war was just a mere formality. This sort of force had not existed since the start of Worldbreaking. Iliyal¡¯s small plane landed in Sokolowski¡¯s campsite. Whereas fields and rivers typically had names, the desert dunes were simply an unending ocean of rolling yellow sands. There was little to nothing to delineate one area from another. Campsites were given basic organisational names, and then another for the archives if anything important happened around it. Waeh¡¯s death and Fortia subsequent battle had taken place in what was simply referred to as ¡®Location One.¡¯ Now Sokolowski¡¯s headquarters had been pulled further south, closer to Kirinyaa¡¯s central mountain range. To replenish the wounded, after the battle, half of Division one had been wiped out in the battle. That was around five thousand men gone. For what was estimated to be sixty thousand of Fortia¡¯s, this was another battle that would go into the history. Another brick added to the impregnable fortress that made up Kassandora¡¯s fame. Iliyal left the small plane on the dirt. He came dressed in his suit, with a briefcase. Anassa¡¯s sorcerers were flying around in the blue sky. Clerics were still healing the wounded. Fer¡¯s beastmen were also prowling around the campsite, with men giving them wary looks or simply pretending they weren¡¯t there. Tents had been put up. Artillery wagons were being repaired, several teams were arranging stocks of ammunition. A truck filled with bottles of rum had made a crowd, some sergeants were pushing the men away and shouting about how the alcohol was to wait for tonight¡¯s celebrations. Iliyal walked through Kassandora¡¯s camp towards where the Divine¡¯s tents should be. If you walked through one of her camps, you walked through them all. Tents for soldiers facing the enemy lines, the supplies and medicine in the centre, the command quarters. Food and spaces for artillery in the back. The only change the modern age had brought was wider paths, large enough for trucks to pass each other by, and an airstrip, although that was placed as the terrain allowed it to be. A wolfman strode confidently to Iliyal. Hulking, although slightly shorter than him. Scars on his chest, fur matted with sweat, a jaw spilling over with long teeth. ¡°I remember you.¡± The wolfman said. Iliyal looked the beastman up and down and shrugged. ¡°A grand many people do.¡± Iliyal replied coldly, the wolfman¡¯s red eyes blinked under the weight of Iliyal¡¯s green gaze. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Spy checking.¡± The wolfman said and leaned in. He smelled Iliyal twice and nodded. ¡°You¡¯re not a spy.¡± Iliyal shrugged in reply. ¡°I¡¯m not, that¡¯s it?¡± The wolfman nodded and replied in his guttural tone that broke up words into their syllables. ¡°You were the one who led us to Packmaster during the Hunt.¡± He said. ¡°Not of the blood but trusted. Thank you.¡± He finished, made a slight bow and went off to the plane to inspect the rest of the crew. If they were operating by smell, it was most likely shape-shifters. Iliyal kept on moving with his briefcase through Kassandora¡¯s camp. Kavaa was healing men who had been injured. About two dozen were laying under a piece of fabric put up to give them shade. All of them had a limb that was amputated, some their arm, others their leg. Two were lying on the ground with only stumps. Kavaa¡¯s hands were on one man¡¯s bare chest as he lay asleep. His knee started to expanded, a bone pierced its way through burned skin which started to flake off as the man mumbled something in his sleep. What a power. If they had that against Leona back then¡­ Iliyal sighed. There was no reason to think about what could and what didn¡¯t. They had Kavaa now, that was enough. The Goddess of Health didn¡¯t look up from the injured man once as she worked on him. Iliyal did not stop to look how long it would take either, if that was information important enough to know, Kassandora would tell him. If it wasn¡¯t, then there was no reason for him to be aware of it. There were more beastmen here, prowling around and smelling men who looked as if they would rather be anything but under their suspicious noses. The civilians were obviously terrified, their knees shaking and their arms trembling as they stood under the watchful gaze of Fer¡¯s children. What they were doing, Iliyal did not ask. If it was important enough for him to know about, he would have been told already. Simple as that. And so Iliyal kept on walking until he saw a single solitary tent a short distance from the camp. A large round thing that had obviously been hastily built by Divines. The long logs were smashed into each other, the beam that held up the dull red cloth had nails sticking out of it in odd angles, as if they had been shot into the beam rather than hammered in. Damian Sokolowski was standing on guard, the only man in the area, shaved and with fresh pink skin on his head. Healed then after the battle. He looked around at Iliyal and saluted. Ultimately, they were at the same rank, there was no reason for Sokolowski to salute right now. But Iliyal would be lying if he didn¡¯t admit he appreciated the gesture. He had lived too long for the young blood to not be saluting him. Iliyal saluted him back and stopped. ¡°Are they busy?¡± He asked. Sokolowski nodded, speaking in that harsh Lubskan accent of his. ¡°They are.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Goddesses Kassandora and Anassa, God Arascus.¡± Iliyal sighed and turned around. Kassandora herself, he would knock and enter. Arascus and Kass, he would do the same. Anassa though? He¡¯d rather not a talking to later by the Goddess of Sorcery. They both looked over the camp, with it¡¯s roving men and trucks that were bring more. Kassandora would be holding a celebration, when wars were still easy like this, it was customary to build morale and rapport among the troops. When offensives started, they wouldn¡¯t have time for little more than a drink. ¡°How was the battle?¡± Iliyal asked.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Close.¡± Sokolowski replied. ¡°But we made it.¡± He took a deep breath and looked up at the clear cloudless sky above them. ¡°Honestly, I thought we would lose at one point, but we didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°It¡¯s always like that.¡± Iliyal replied. ¡°You get used to it.¡± ¡°Do you?¡± ¡°Trust me, you do.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Sooner or later, you¡¯ll realise how the battle is won before it even starts.¡± Sokolowski nodded to the empty to the empty air. ¡°And you? How¡¯s it¡¯s going on your front?¡± ¡°You watch the news?¡± ¡°No time.¡± ¡°Then turn on EIE clip and you¡¯ll see.¡± Iliyal said with a smile. ¡°I¡¯d say it¡¯s going well. Could be better, but good enough.¡± ¡°It could always be better.¡± Sokolowski said idly. That was Kassandora¡¯s line, she had ingrained it into both of them. Iliyal nodded as his eyes flicked across the camp. There was no need to ask about what they would be doing, although the elf was curious, and the report had given enough of the important information for him to get a general picture of what had happened. There was little to talk to about the man, he was obviously too nervous to say anything in front of Iliyal. He didn¡¯t have the familial bonds Ilwin had, nor that shamelessness Alee could bring out. Iliyal smiled as his mind went to memories of the maid back in Karaina. Eventually, their wait was interrupted by Fer appearing from within the camp. Neneria was stalking close behind her. Of Death¡¯s cold dark eyes merely glanced over the two generals as she kept walking towards the tent. Fer¡¯s lit up when she Iliyal, that golden mane of hair behind her waved from side to side as her swishing tail beat against it. ¡°Look.¡± Iliyal¡¯s elven heard her voice. ¡°My favourite elf is here.¡± Fer said cheekily to Neneria. The Goddess of Death sighed. ¡°He is.¡± Iliyal pretended not to hear, Fer was like that to everyone. ¡°Do you think he has something to report?¡± Fer asked in a tone that was obviously too loud for him to not hear. ¡°He can probably hear you, you know?¡± Neneria replied softly. Fer sighed, her golden eyes rolled and she shook her head. ¡°Well forgive me for indulging in my curiosity.¡± She said sarcastically. Neneria¡¯s lips made a tiny little smile of satisfaction. ¡°You are forgiven.¡± The Goddess of Death walked right past them into the tent, Fer stopped before Iliyal. Twice his height, a giant. He looked up at her as Sokolowski pulled a salute. Fer slapped the man¡¯s salute away. ¡°So what are we here for?¡± She asked and bent down. She smelled Iliyal twice, then Sokolowski. ¡°Not a shapeshifter either, so you¡¯re real.¡± ¡°I try to be.¡± Iliyal said as Sokolowski seemed to shrink in the presence of the Goddess of Beasthood. ¡°I have news for Goddess Kassandora.¡± Fer raised an eyebrow. ¡°You do?¡± She bent at the waist to put her face on the same level as Iliyal¡¯s. Some Divines were simply too large for their own good. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a military matter.¡± Iliyal responded flatly. Maybe Sokolowski would have been intimidated, but he had worked with Fer too many times before. It was important to be polite, but that didn¡¯t mean one should roll over and do everything she said. Frankly, once you got past her crude looks, Fer was rather easy to deal with. ¡°Am I not part of the military?¡± Fer asked slowly. ¡°You know what I meant, it¡¯s for Goddess Kassandora first.¡± Fer narrowed those cat eyes at him. ¡°So you¡¯re not going to tell me?¡± Iliyal sighed. Sometimes, he wished another Divine would just appear to whisk Fer away. ¡°It¡¯s important enough to where you¡¯ll find out soon, but not here.¡± Iliyal said, he gave no reaction under Fer¡¯s gaze as the woman thought of what to say, eventually nodding, and standing back up. The hardest part had been to keep his eyes on hers, and not have them drop down to look into her loose white shirt. He actually had to tighten his grip on the briefcase for that. ¡°Damian here is safe, just so you know.¡± Fer said. She patted the human on the head. ¡°Also, Kassie will tell you but I want to first. We found spies.¡± ¡°Shapeshifters I assume.¡± Iliyal said. Fer made a satisfied gaze at him as she smiled and almost closed her eyes. ¡°How did you work out?¡± ¡°I got smelled when I landed.¡± Iliyal said and Fer nodded. ¡°Kassie really knows how to pick her men, doesn¡¯t she?¡± Iliyal smiled back. He had lived too long for most compliments to have an effect on him, but one that had never failed to work was when he was reminded that Kassandora had chosen him out of the thousands of candidates suitable to lead a Legion. ¡°Alright.¡± Her ears bounced up and down and she looked at the tent. ¡°They¡¯re just laughing in there.¡± Iliyal said nothing, but it was annoying that he had been delayed for so long. But Divines were Divines, and mortals were mortals. This was par for the course. He wouldn¡¯t have made it so long if he let it show. ¡°How important is it?¡± Fer asked. ¡°It¡¯s quite important.¡± ¡°You sure about that?¡± Fer raised an eyebrow, Iliyal thought for a moment. ¡°I am sure.¡± ¡°Then come with me.¡± Fer said and Iliyal turned on the spot. Damian Sokolowski stared at both of them in awe. Iliyal trekked straight backed towards the tent as Fer threw the cloth back. ¡°I am here!¡± She proclaimed loudly to a series of sighs. Anassa was sat in her red dress, Neneria in her black. Kassandora and Arascus were both sat on the other side of the round table, everyone turned to look at the two who had just entered. ¡°Every time?¡± Anassa asked, then her eyes settled on the elf behind her. She made a terrible smile and turned to Kassandora. ¡°Oh Kassie! You¡¯re little elf is here!¡± Kassandora had already seen Iliyal. The man saluted. Kassandora returned the salute. ¡°Iliyal, what¡¯s the situation?¡± She asked sharply as Fer laughed and stepped in to take a seat. ¡°Ohohoho, he says it¡¯s very important.¡± She collapsed onto a chair that creaked under her weight. Kassandora looked at Fer, bit her tongue and turned back to Iliyal as the man marched up to the table. War plans and documents were littered around it. He made a show of not doing much more than glancing at them. ¡°Yesterday, I had a guest. I would have been here tomorrow if it wasn¡¯t for a flight delay.¡± Fer lay down on the table, as she always did. ¡°Don¡¯t worry you got here late.¡± She said. ¡°Kassie and Ana weren¡¯t in any state to do any work yesterday.¡± Iliyal shot her a confused look. Anassa smiled back at Fer. ¡°If you want, I can make sure you get the same treatment today.¡± She cooed, in that alluring tone of hers she always did. The two Goddesses chuckled between each other as Kassandora blushed. ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try Ana.¡± ¡°You think I can¡¯t?¡± ¡°I know you can¡¯t.¡± Kassandora shook her head and slapped the table to shut them up. ¡°We were getting healed.¡± Kassandora said quickly. ¡°The battle was harder than the report said. Anassa took a wound through the stomach, I had the same.¡± Anassa rolled her eyes as Arascus crossed his arms and leaned back. He looked at Iliyal, made those eyes which only spoke of tiredness and shook his head. ¡°Come now, Kassie, indulge a bit.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Teasing is fun.¡± Her eyes went over to Iliyal and Iliyal took a deep breath. Anassa was about to say something terrible. ¡°And I¡¯m sure Iliyal here can take it.¡± There it was. He looked to Arascus and Anassa for help as Fer chuckled from besides him. ¡°What have you brought?¡± Arascus shut them all up. ¡°The guest was President Artois.¡± To anyone else, Iliyal would have given a build up. But Arascus¡¯ questions demanded immediate answers. He put the briefcase onto the table and opened it up. Then brought out the piece of paper Artois had given him. There was the five stamps of office from Doschia, Lubska, Rilia, Allia and Rancais. ¡°I¡­¡± Iliyal said as every Divine in the room scanned the paper. ¡°Well, I think we should follow through this.¡± ¡°Follow through?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to follow through on here Iliyal, this is...¡± Fer trailed off as she kept reading. Even Neneria spoke up. ¡°Luck does favour us.¡± The Goddess of Death said in that quiet and calm voice of hers. Arascus and Kassandora finished reading the paper first as Iliyal brought more. Artois had left a fair few, detailing the plan and everything. He had, in a roundabout way, asked for Kassandora¡¯s advice on whether the Epans had formulated something that could work. Arascus looked to Kassandora, and Kassandora beamed a smile back at him. Kassandora spoke first. ¡°You follow through when you find an opening in someone¡¯s shield. This is whole damn city wall coming down.¡± Arascus smiled in a terribly satisfied manner and agreed. ¡°This is the opening we needed for Epa.¡± Chapter 163 – New Plan, New Friends King Richard VI of Allia read the letter again and again. His eyes flicked from the paper, to the EIE broadcast playing on his TV, his wife had taken to watching the news a lot lately: Fortia¡¯s Defeat in Kirinyaa. They were trying to lessen damage, but the simple fact of the matter was that it was impossible to frame sixty thousand casualties in any positive light. It was made even worse when Kassandora released a public list of names of her own fallen, honouring each and every one of them. Fortia¡¯s estimate sat at around sixty thousand, Kassandora¡¯s list had five-thousand eight hundred and forty three names. Sophistry could reframe a great many things, but this was a mountain too large to scale even for the best propagandists. And Richard looked at his letter again: ¡®The White Pantheon calls for support.¡¯ Wissel¡¯s plan could not happen soon enough. Arascus leaned back in satisfaction, he put his arms around his head as he looked up from Iliyal¡¯s letter and around the tent. Neneria, standing tall in her black dress, was reading Artois¡¯ plan with curiosity. That already meant a sign of affirmation if she didn¡¯t shut it down immediately. Anassa was bent over the table, almost stunned. Fer read it once and had collapsed back onto the table, arms outstretched as she moved her fingers, a satisfied smile on her lips. Kassandora, in a fresh HAUPT suit, was beaming, as was Iliyal. The elf stood there with pride as he tried to hide the fact he was monitoring everyone¡¯s reactions. ¡°My my.¡± Fer eventually broke the silence. ¡°You did indeed bring something good this time.¡± Iliyal nodded and bowed. ¡°If you wish to discuss, I will take my leave.¡± He said with another bow. There were a few mortals Arascus thought fondly of, Iliyal was one of them. That one sentence explained Iliyal perfectly, the level of discipline and courage to speak freely to Divines was great in the first place, but it was tempered by an inhuman level of self-control and denial of curiosity. Kassandora looked to Arascus and nodded to Iliyal, her face making a gesture of approval. The question was obvious, and the elf was the perfect candidate for helping organise this. Arascus already knew that the elf would be their man for Epa, there was simply no other candidate. The God of Pride returned a nod. ¡°Stay Iliyal, take a seat.¡± Kassandora said immediately. ¡°You will be needed in this.¡± ¡°You do play favourites.¡± Anassa said from the other side of the table. Kassandora gave Anassa a cool glare as she replied. ¡°I¡¯ve never pretended to do otherwise Ana.¡± Iliyal sat gingerly as he avoided looking at either of the two Goddesses. Fer leaned closer to him as patted his back. Neneria sighed and came to stand close by Arascus¡¯ side. ¡°So obviously, change of plans.¡± Arascus said. ¡°This has changed our situation if Epa is coming to us.¡± ¡°Not all of Epa.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Enough of them.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Doschia, Rancais and Allia are the three biggest economies of Epa, bigger than Karaina even, Lubska and Rilia are the next. It¡¯s enough.¡± Neneria said in a quiet voice. ¡°They have mascot Divines.¡± Fer said, her ears wriggling with every word. ¡°I¡¯d like to meet them.¡± Arascus let them speak as he formulated a plan. Fer and Anassa and Neneria went round in a circle, saying what they knew. It had always been like this, were the other Divines would give reminders while he and Kassandora formulated a plan to discuss. Kassandora reached over as she re-read the other documents. ¡°Obviously, the plan is terrible.¡± Kassandora said. She passed one paper to Iliyal. ¡°Do you have a pen?¡± ¡°I do.¡± The elf brought one out from his pocket. A red one, same style as Kassandora used. Arascus always found it amusing how much the man tried to imitate his idol. ¡°Then make corrections, this part isn¡¯t hard.¡± Kassandora passed him the piece of paper and then brushed her red hair back. ¡°Just tactical suggestions on the operation. Not for the grander picture.¡± She looked to Arascus and then her sisters. ¡°That¡¯s our job.¡± ¡°Elassa obviously.¡± Fer said. ¡°You can¡¯t touch anything in Epa while Elassa is there.¡± ¡°The others too.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Others are in Arika already.¡± Fer replied. ¡°Elassa needs to move out. She¡¯s in Arcadia now, isn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°We can assume she is.¡± Arascus said. ¡°If not there, then somewhere else in Epa.¡± Kassandora leaned forwards as she added her own point. ¡°Elassa is fast.¡± Fer nodded and asked a question. ¡°Do you remember Sara?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Neneria said with disgust. ¡°Daganhoff?¡± Kassandora asked and Fer nodded. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Once she complained to me about Elassa taking her off from Arcadia to Osheim in Norjesk. Six hours.¡± Fer said and Neneria shook her head. ¡°How do you even know that?¡± The Goddess of Death asked in annoyance. Fer sat up and spilled her hands on the table, palms up as she feigned a defensive tone. ¡°I talk to people!¡± Fer exclaimed. ¡°From the Great War, we already know Elassa and Sceo can both cross the continent in six hours.¡± Kassandora said. Fer¡¯s ears bounced as she explained herself with that tone she used for young cubs in her pack. ¡°My point was she hasn¡¯t gotten any slower.¡± She dropped back onto the table, arms outstretched as those yellow-gold eyes jumped from person to person. ¡°Elassa though.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°She¡¯ll come to us eventually.¡± Arascus finally made his addition. ¡°We wait for her to engage us then, we don¡¯t press the White Pantheon too heavily, let them dig in here.¡± Kassandora nodded as Anassa spoke up. ¡°Not too much though, you don¡¯t want to let them think defences are substitutes for Divines.¡± This is why Anassa was in the meetings, there always had to be a pessimist about to bring up the flaws in a plan. Kassandora¡¯s expression said that was a good point. ¡°We start making probing attacks to secure ground then.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Enough to keep the lines moving, but nothing to cause a mass retreat and send them back to Olympiada.¡± ¡°Olephia in the west, Fer and Anassa in the east, you Kass in the centre, don¡¯t alter major strategy too much.¡± Arascus said. Anything too large would scare the Pantheon into a reorganization of their forces. What was needed was to make Fortia think that they were on the brink. ¡°We focus on Divines leading battles, then they¡¯ll be forced to respond with their own Divines.¡± ¡°Stalemate.¡± Kassandora said as she crossed her arms and looked over to Iliyal. ¡°Do you have anything to add?¡± The elf looked up from the paper. ¡°I would still go with the western encirclement.¡± Kassandora shook her head. ¡°Simple issue is nothing can cross the desert. We¡¯d be a new frontline to defend our supply lines, Fortia will raid us there. Fortifying that¡­¡± She shrugged. ¡°We don¡¯t have enough manpower.¡± The elf nodded and went back to making corrections on the actual plan on how to raid the Divine Armoury, now the Paladin HQ. ¡°We¡­¡± Iliyal said slowly. ¡°Since it¡¯s the Paladin HQ, we can target Maisara¡¯s numbers. Ease this.¡± He tapped the paper. ¡°By forcing her to pull reserves out to Arika.¡± Kassandora beamed a smile around the table at the fact her little elf had managed to say something smart. ¡°This is why you¡¯re here.¡± She said. ¡°We concentrate on Maisara¡¯s forces, Paladin recruitment in Epa is already low, we drain her.¡± ¡°Oh I¡¯d love-¡° Anassa began in a stupid tone. Arascus interrupted her. ¡°Anassa.¡± He said and the Goddess rolled her eyes. ¡°Later.¡± Iliyal had heard all the jokes before, it was impossible not to when you had this close a relationship to the Divines, but it was still something that Arascus only tolerated in private.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Fer spoke up as she patted Anassa on the back to ease the woman¡¯s sulking. ¡°I think we all agree then. Kass can handle the tactical parts.¡± ¡°And on Elassa?¡± Neneria gently asked. ¡°How are we going to keep her here?¡± Every pair of eyes in the tent turned to her. Arascus looked around the room. Even Iliyal had looked up from the paper to question the Goddess¡¯ statement. ¡°Nene.¡± Fer said in a coy tone. She was the best of them when it came to tact. ¡°Who do you think?¡± Neneria stood there and blinked, and then pointed a pale finger at Anassa. The Goddess of Sorcery smiled and shook her head. ¡°Oh.¡± Neneria said, just as softly, with barely an emotion. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The Legion can only be dispelled through magic, it¡¯s obvious Elassa will be called where you are.¡± ¡°How many souls have you recovered from this battle by the way?¡± Kassandora asked and Neneria looked at her fingers. She counted them for a moment, a fairy ghastly fairy appeared to jump from finger to finger. ¡°Fifty eight thousand and eight.¡± The table shared impressed glances. Anassa broke the silence as she straightened her black hair. ¡°That many?¡± It was impressive how loud the woman¡¯s fingers could be when all they were doing was simply running through her locks. ¡°They¡­¡± Neneria¡¯s voice trailed off, she shrugged and began again. ¡°They¡¯re not prepared, not like real war. The souls weren¡¯t told to leave. Most of them didn¡¯t even know what was happening.¡± ¡°Have you?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Can you use them?¡± Neneria made a single nod. ¡°All of them, no one was prepared to stay.¡± She said flatly, then her voice finally took on some emotion, a certain satisfaction and joy. Not roaring fires of happiness, but rather small and reliable candles of contentment. ¡°They¡¯re very well behaved, I didn¡¯t even need to press them too hard.¡± She chuckled to herself. A low chuckle as Fer stretched. ¡°In that case, I¡¯m not going to deploy Neneria.¡± Kassandora said as she looked to Arascus. ¡°If we remind them she¡¯s here, they¡¯ll be forced to restart basic soul training. It would slow down how many men are sent to Arika, and I¡¯d rather we build her up.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I will set up a meeting with the Epan leaders under the guise of Peace Plans, I¡¯ll tell you the date when it¡¯s ready, but have a revised version of that.¡± Arascus pointed to Iliyal working on the paper. Already the sheet was filled with red highlights and notes. ¡°Ready, then I¡¯ll propose it to them.¡± ¡°I want Iliyal to lead that operation.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Of course, we¡¯re not giving the Epans their autonomy, are we?¡± Arascus said with a chuckle. If there was one thing he had to give to the White Pantheon, it was the fact they completely refused to hold any negotiations with him. That was a good move, he would not negotiate with someone like himself. It was a quick meeting, but the meetings were always fast when people got along. He sometimes wished he was a fly on the wall in Allasaria¡¯s quarters, simply so he could watch the troubles she faced. Anassa took a deep breath, as she always did whenever a meeting concluded, but Fer spoke up, still on the table. ¡°I have one more thing.¡± Anassa shook her head as she put her head in her arms, staring in exasperation at her sister. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°I¡¯m an honest girl.¡± Fer said smugly. ¡°We¡¯ve captured spies.¡± Kassandora raised an eyebrow. ¡°We know that.¡± Fer continued. ¡°I mean¡­ well, meeting isn¡¯t over yet. Don¡¯t go anywhere.¡± She stood up and left the tent. Arascus, Kassandora and Neneria all looked questioningly at Anassa. Those two were partnered up on Zalewski¡¯s front, so if anyone would know, it would be her. Iliyal flipped the page started scrawling more notes on the back. ¡°She feels indebted.¡± Anassa said flatly. ¡°Because it was of the fact they spilled that we got early warning of Waeh.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Arascus said, Kassandora made a face of disgust. ¡°They spilled?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Anassa said and looked to Neneria. ¡°They didn¡¯t really a choice.¡± ¡°I scared them.¡± Neneria said. ¡°You know how it is.¡± Arascus nodded. Everyone here knew how it was, a spy could be kept alive and sent to Neneria. Then they would join the Legion and there would be nothing that they wouldn¡¯t spill. ¡°But they did give us early warning, without that.¡± Anassa said and shrugged. ¡°Frankly, I would have killed them already simply because they are spies.¡± ¡°I would have too.¡± Kassandora said in agreement. War and Sorcery shared a smile. ¡°I don¡¯t care either way.¡± Arascus didn¡¯t even bother asking Iliyal, now that Kassandora had voiced her opinion, the elf would treat it as gospel. ¡°So what¡¯s the issue?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°They¡¯re¡­¡± Anassa trailed off. ¡°Well, you¡¯ll see why Fer likes them.¡± ¡°She likes them?¡± Kassandora asked in disbelief. ¡°Wrong choice of word, but she is predisposed to them.¡± Anassa admitted. And so they sat and waited. It wasn¡¯t a long wait, Fer must have prepared everything already. She came back with seven women in grey garbs in tow and Arascus understood why immediately. They were all tall, even the youngest among them, who looked to be a child, was just shorter a teenager. And they all had fox ears and fluffy red tails, one of the women had five, the tails topped off with tufts of white. They came in scared, but were obviously unhurt. Although with Clerical healing in Arascus¡¯ disposal, whether they had not been hurt was left up to question. ¡°I am back!¡± Fer exclaimed as she entered, the women looked to Anassa, hurriedly averted their eyes in fear. Then to Kassandora, she got the same response. Arascus, same thing. Then Neneria, the blood drained from their faces when they saw her, one of the kitsune started to tear up. The group¡¯s eyes settled on the ground of the tent. It was merely sand, Anassa had bothered to install flooring when she had smashed the structure together. Fer looked proudly at her the four Divines in the tent, then pulled the tallest fox-woman forwards by her shoulder. ¡°This is Asano, she¡¯s their pack-leader.¡± ¡°Hello.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I said I would be lenient if they helped and that I would send them to you, dad. So here you go.¡± Fer slapped Asano on the back and sat down back in her seat. Neneria walked around the table, several of the kitsune took tiny steps away from her, but not a single one had the courage to actually run. ¡°They are pretty.¡± Neneria said quietly as she stared at Asano¡¯s five tails. ¡°Very soft too.¡± Fer added. Arascus decided what to do. Fer obviously liked them, it was obvious from her smile and eyes and how she looked at them. And it wasn¡¯t too far-fetched, these were natural beastmen not created by Anassa¡¯s sorceries. That was unseen of in Epa. If he had captured them, or if Fer wasn¡¯t here. Then it wouldn¡¯t have even been a question, they would have received the same treatment all spies received. Shapeshifters were simply too dangerous to be left alone, human spies could be contained and fed false information, but a shapeshifter could hardly be contained. It placed everyone on watch. There was no quicker way to crush morale than through paranoia, that was part of the reason the men were kept in the dark on why the beastmen were running an investigation. But Fer was here. And not killing them would make Fer happy. And Arascus liked seeing Fer happy. It was as simple as that. Arascus leaned back and got a piece of paper. ¡°Fer here has informed me of what you¡¯ve done already.¡± Arascus said to Asano. ¡°Four days under Anassa¡¯s nose is impressive.¡± Anassa did not like that, Kassandora looked at her smugly, her facing that the same wouldn¡¯t happen to her. ¡°I just have one question.¡± Asano took a deep breath and forced the shakiness out of her voice. She tightened her fists, her tails flicking up into the air. Neneria watched them with full attention. ¡°Ask and I will answer to the best of my ability.¡± She spoke in an odd way, stretching certain syllables and shortening others seemingly at random points. One of the women started to cry, silently but uncontrollably. ¡°You are from Ihon, we have never had any qualms with your land. Why?¡± Arascus said. Fer made a satisfied smile at that question as the entire table, even Iliyal, looked and listened with full attention to how the woman answered. Asano shuffled in surprise as she fiddled with her brown locks of hair. Her tails moved with her. Neneria nodded in satisfaction at that and then reached out a hand to grab them. Asano squeaked at Neneria¡¯s touch. ¡°Neneria.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Don¡¯t scare her.¡± Neneria put her hand back and looked at her fingers. She made a smile of satisfaction. ¡°Very soft.¡± She said. ¡°Very nice indeed.¡± ¡°¡±So Asano, why?¡± Arascus asked. They were already going to be freed, but the largest difference between being a wise king and a merciful fool was the reasoning. ¡°We¡­¡± Asano sighed. ¡°We¡¯re not mercenaries.¡± She said harshly. ¡°But the Ihon economy has crashed five years ago and we¡¯re still going down.¡± She made a sniff of humour. ¡°There¡¯s a joke back home, Bank of Ihon loses stock value it didn¡¯t even know it had. That sums up the situation.¡± ¡°So you are mercenaries.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We¡¯re not.¡± Asano said with some pride. ¡°But we need the money.¡± Arascus smiled at her. So a mercenary who didn¡¯t want to admit it. Lovely that. He sighed and shook his head. ¡°I will not pay you, nor will I hire you. Are there more of you?¡± He asked. Fer practically beaming. Asano thought for a second, then answered quickly. ¡°I don¡¯t know, other temples maybe?¡± That was too long a thought, there were others. Arascus leaned back and spread his arms out. ¡°This is what will happen. You will be our prisoners until Fer has finished the inspection. You will stay in this camp, and if we find anyone else, they will be sent here. Then, when Fer has finished.¡± Arascus pointed a finger back at her. ¡°You will be sent home, someone will see you off onto the plane, I do not give second chances, this was your warning. If you return, you will be executed on the spot. Understood?¡± Asano blinked for a few moments, the little fox-girl next to started to laugh and cry at the same time. Another kitsune came and patted Asano on the shoulder. Asano couldn¡¯t contain her smile, it was a pretty smile though, with those vulpine eyes and the two tall fox ears on her head. ¡°Yes, of course.¡± She bowed. The rest of them did too, even the little one who was still crying tears of joy. ¡°I¡­¡± Arascus raised an eyebrow as Asano trailed off. Fer gave him two thumbs up and a grin. Anassa scowled and rolled her eyes. Kassandora had no reaction, Iliyal copied that lack of emotion and Neneria prodded the tails again. A different kitsune, this time the woman didn¡¯t flinch. She merely laughed and stroked Neneria¡¯s hand with her tail. ¡°Very soft indeed.¡± Neneria said quietly. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± Arascus said. ¡°You will be treated with dignity, but the food is going to be the same as what the soldiers receive. Do not try anything. If one of you disappears, it¡¯s everyone¡¯s heads on the line.¡± That was standard procedure when there was obvious loyalty between prisoners. No one wanted to carry survivor¡¯s guilt. ¡°Nothing.¡± Asano almost blabbered the word, she bowed even deeper. ¡°Thank you. Thank you. We¡¯ll never do this again. Never again, we thank you for your mercy.¡± Arascus smiled back. Fear was a weapon to be used as intimidation, but fear could be beaten: by love, by bravery, by sheer stupidity. Gratitude though. Gratitude and forgiveness was a debt people never repaid. Epa was next the house to be taken, but when he got to Ihon, he would already have a foot in the door. Chapter 164 – A Need for Tangerines Wissel looked down at his letter: Invitation to the Arikan International Congress. This was Arascus¡¯ meeting. Impressive, Wissel thought there would have been some sort of diplomatic incident if the God decided to come to Epa. Anassa looked down at the measly bowl of fruit in the mess hall. It was a travesty of a sight, with small tangerines and bananas and peaches. Nothing like the bright oranges that grew in the Jungle. She sighed and picked one up, then disappeared. Another Anassa, walking in between various storehouses that constituted workshops, hefted her palm up and caught a tangerine that appeared in her grasp. Kassandora had sent her here, Kassandora and Arascus, to inspect what was happening and to help with some mechanical project. And also that under Kassandora¡¯s new strategy, battles were rarer. Sokolowski¡¯s front had started to slowly trundle north against no resistance. The battle with Waeh had put a massive dent in Fortia¡¯s forces but the advantage was not to be pressed too much. Zalewski¡¯s front, which Anassa had spent two weeks in before she had been sent off to wherever here was, was more fluid. Fer pestered Maisara¡¯s Paladins every day, the removal of those kitsune also meant the removal of the White Pantheon¡¯s early warning system. The casualties were starting to slowly pile up, a dozen men here, another dozen there. With one side outfitted with modern rifles, the fights changed into hunts. Fer¡¯s beastmen and Zalewski¡¯s skirmishers would stalk and guide squads of Paladins into ambushes, from which no one returned. At first it was going well enough. Anassa only had to show up when a full team of mages was present. She would appear in the air, red dress and black hair and all, and shatter whatever magical defences they were trying to put up. Then Ekkerson managed to score a small victory without relying on Olephia. He had put snipers up, and the mages fell before they were even in seeing distance. Kassandora had received that report, then Zalewski got the instructions. And so, Iliyal¡¯s elves finally got a job to do. Assigned to Zalewski¡¯s front, and made to snipe mages from afar. They didn¡¯t have to kill entire teams, they simple had to pick one off as the magicians sat around a campfire. Another one when they were on a trek. A third when they were flying. And Maisara¡¯s tactics changed. Now her magicians always had a shield about them, they would rotate individuals to keep it up, but it effectively destroyed the largest advantage magic had; movement and speed. Now, Zalewski¡¯s rarely even saw mages, and if they did, it was simply a sign to leave the area for a day. And so the progress went from ¡®well enough¡¯ to ¡®good¡¯. And, presumably, Zalewski sent a report, Kassandora saw Anassa was doing nothing again, and the Goddess of War found something for her sister to do. Anassa scowled as she tore the tangerine skin off and threw it onto the dusty sandy ground of the industrial complex. It was near the coast, some two hours drive north-west of Nanbasa. An old bankrupt engine-parts factory, one that had relied on the mines that were now being opened back up after being reclaimed from the Jungle, now retooled into a garage for producing vehicles of war. And Anassa was supposed to inspect it. The Goddess of Sorcery scowled again and ate her tangerine. She took a deep breath as the engineer¡¯s voice returned to an audible volume, she had honestly blanked out as the man was talking about the specifications of some stupid artillery vehicle called the Lemur Mark Two. ¡°Goddess Kassandora has informed me to show you this.¡± Anassa spat a seed of the fruit out and stopped as they came to a stop before a huge warehouse. This compound had obviously been freshly built, only two of the buildings here looked as if they stood any longer than a few months. Two large red-brick structures with tall smokestacks and the sounds of steel being cut and forge-fires roaring from within them. The Kirinyaans working here all had dirty clothes plastered with soot and oil, but Anassa had not seen that face that revealed silent complaints yet. Instead, every man working here carried himself with a purpose. Flags of Kirinyaa hung on every building, and there were more than a few of Kassandora¡¯s banners too. A white blade on a red background, outlined with black. Most of the men wore green armbands too, something something Reclamation War. Anassa did not really care what they meant. Another Anassa appeared next to her and disappeared to fetch another tangerine. They weren¡¯t anything stellar, but they weren¡¯t terrible either. ¡°Well then?¡± Anassa waved her hand. The other Anassa once again made men freeze up as she appeared in the middle of the mess hall, lowered down to the ground, and grabbed another tangerine from the bowl. She disappeared again. ¡°It can output more than three thousand horsepower into-¡° Anassa¡¯s ears tuned the man¡¯s voice out. She should have listened to him when he had introduced himself by name. But she didn¡¯t think it important then and now she was too stubborn to admit a failing. Anassa started to pick the fruit¡¯s bright orange skin open as the engineer started to explain in his language of technical gibberish. ¡°Be quiet.¡± Anassa said as she threw a piece of the fruit into her mouth. ¡°Just show me, I¡¯m not here to give opinions on how powerful your horses are.¡± The man merely blinked in confusion, surprise and annoyance.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Of course Goddess. My apologies. I¡¯ll open the hangar doors right now.¡± He made his tone polite, but it was obvious he was insulted. Anassa merely smiled, spat another small seed out onto the red dirt and waited as the man disappeared through a human-scale door. She turned around and sighed. What was this inspection even about? She had seen the Lemur Mark Twos. They looked much like the original models, the only difference was a slight change in the main turret, and the addition of a machine gun for the driver¡¯s assistant. Then she had seen something Arascus had named and ordered himself: a tank prototype. That was only the official name though and some other engineer, Anassa had not listened to that man¡¯s introduction either, explained that it was just to fool anyone into thinking they weren¡¯t producing heavy armour. So an update for the Lemur and a tank that wasn¡¯t a water tank. Anassa had thought she was needed here at first, couldn¡¯t Kassie have just come herself? Couldn¡¯t these engineers have written a report? Maybe they didn¡¯t know how to write? But didn¡¯t a man have to be literate to be an engineer? Or, better yet, couldn¡¯t literally anything have changed for Anassa not to be here? She scowled at a group of men who were looking at her and they quickly disappeared to tinker beneath a truck. A pair of helicopters set off in the distance, towards the south. Anassa sighed. Couldn¡¯t have she been sent to help Arascus instead? At least he was fun to spend time with, and he could be teased. All the engineers were simply afraid of her, no one so much as wanted to say one word wrong when she was around. How did Fer do it? Frankly, Anassa didn¡¯t believe her that these men knew how to talk and tell jokes. The huge hangar doors started to slide open with a terrible racket. The sound was so great and annoying it practically forced Anassa to stuff the rest of the tangerine into her mouth and eat it. And it opened slowly too! Anassa waited, maybe Fer would have ducked to look underneath it. Kavaa was short enough to where she could squeeze through even if it was a mouse¡¯s hiding hole, but Anassa waited. She stood and waited. And waited. This would go into her report. What sort of machinery was Kassandora working with if it took an entire minute for the doors to open? What sort of¡­ Anassa¡¯s thoughts trailed off as she saw what had been built. Little Kassie was lovely, little Kassie was intelligent and brilliant, but little Kassie was a damn liar! If Anassa had known of the purpose of this trip, she wouldn¡¯t have turned up! In the middle of the room was a vehicle. Something that looked very much like the Binturong chassis, but without a cannon on its rear. Simply two treads with a small cabin that barely popped up out of the front. A gun was mounted on it, with space for whoever operated it to hide behind steel barriers. But that would been merely curious, or maybe disappointing, or just annoying. Frankly, Anassa would have not cared whatever the purpose of his vehicle was if it didn¡¯t have one prominent feature that dominated the spot where a turret should have been mounted. No, instead of a turret was a huge glass ball, perfectly clear but with the inside being filled with a labyrinthian mess of wires. A crystal was mounted inside, empty and quiet now, but Anassa knew exactly what it was. They had been used in the past, to generate huge barriers that covered thousands of men from artillery and magical fire. Two would be enough to cover one of Kassandora¡¯s divisions. And this type of shield was something created by Anassa herself. There was a magical equivalent, somewhat weaker in return for being easier to mass produce, but Arascus¡¯ armies only access to mages were Elassa¡¯s untrustworthy turn cloaks. Sorcerers though, they had easy access to through Anassa. But that was the past. Now, Arascus army had less than fifty sorcerers. And under Kassandora¡¯s guidance, it pained Anassa to admit the fact that fifty men were more effective than one of her. Even with creating copies of herself, she couldn¡¯t be in fifty battles at the same time. And Anassa stared up at that crystal. ¡°Goddess Kassandora said to give you this letter.¡± The engineer brought out a letter, the envelope smeared with a fingerprint of dirty oil from the man¡¯s hand. Anassa sighed, she waved her hand, the paper launched out of the man¡¯s hand. The envelope was shredded in the air by thin knives Anassa conjured up, and then hovered before her eyes: Anassa! Dear sister! Anassa already hated that tone. She could practically hear Kassandora through the handwriting, blocky and efficient, her sister sounded exceptionally smug. Most likely cackling at how she had managed to trick Anassa. We¡¯re developing bubbles again. I know you hate doing that. :) Why was there a stupid smile drawn on there? Why Kass? We both know I wouldn¡¯t send you off to do manual labour. Anassa¡¯s face darkened and the engineers who were working around the vehicle all seemed to shrink and hide. And I wouldn¡¯t send a princess such as you to dirty your fingers of course :^) And this smiley face had a stupid fucking nose drawn on. Why? Kassandora was definitely cackling in laughter right now, no doubt. But since you¡¯re there, charge it up. Classic Kass, such a smug tone followed up by a direct order. Where was the please? Where was the thank you? If it was Arascus who told her, Anassa would do it. If Kassandora had come herself, Anassa would do it. But neither told her, instead it was a letter she didn¡¯t even have the decency to send herself! What great crimes did Anassa even do to deserve a sister like this? She looked at the letter again and turned it to shreds. The engineer saw Anassa¡¯s face and stepped away. If she knew she was going to be expending energy, she would have put something thicker on. Silken dresses like the red one she wearing now stained with sweat easily. Anassa sighed and turned to the vehicle. ¡°This is to be charged up.¡± She said loudly to all the engineers in the building, but not to any of them in particular. No one answered so Anassa spoke again. ¡°Understood?¡± This time she got a choir of replies. ¡°Understood Goddess!¡± That engineer who led Anassa here came up to her. ¡°What do you want?¡± Anassa snapped. Now that there was work to be done, she wasn¡¯t in any mood for another session of the man¡¯s technical sophistries. ¡°There¡¯s nine more in the back.¡± Chapter 165 – A Need for Wine Fortia scrambled and threw a letter onto the ground. Who did these people think they were?! And to have the gall to underline it! What? Did they think she couldn¡¯t read now? ¡°The Arikan International Congress formally declares the results of White Pantheon attendance vote. Twenty six to eight. The AIC invokes the official Decree of Divine-Mortal Separation and formally asks the White Pantheon to not send Divines to the next meeting.¡± Fortia rang the UNN. It was obvious at this point, Kassandora had always been a better general. Even though Kirinyaa should have been overwhelmed in a month, it somehow managed to put up a fight for thrice that at this point. Did Kassandora think she was the only one with access to modern technology? ¡°In regards to military expansion. The volunteer program provides enough recruits already. I would rather acquire the excess planes KAL has in stockpile rather than push more into ground troops.¡± Arascus said as he gauged the expressions of everyone in the room. Outside, sunlight beamed over the ring-city of Nanbasa and this building was tall enough to give sight of the massive zoo in the centre. Lions prowled about as people on tall walkways took pictures of them from above. Planes were landing, helicopters too, in the cities north. That airport had been built recently, it wouldn¡¯t pass the safety standards for a civilian structure, but the military didn¡¯t need to abide by such needless bureaucracy. And inside the large room was Arascus with some twenty men. Everyone in a dark suit, with the green-red-blue tricolour of Kirinyaa hanging on every wall. Today was an easy negotiation indeed, one of the easiest Arascus has had yet, although everything had been prepared to make the Kirinyaan officials ready to be caught like fish from a barrel. Helenna had left a hint here, a note there, a word out of place in a conversation, a wink and a smile to someone of some importance. And suddenly Kirinyaa¡¯s upper echelons had grand ideas in their heads about Arascus wanting to introduce national conscription, to force every man into the army. They would have agreed to conscription, but no one would have been happy about it. The man most against national conscription in the room was Arascus himself. Kassandora¡¯s army had begun as mainly Kavaa¡¯s Clerics, now it had doubled in size and half was Kirinyaan nationals. They joined to fight, they joined to get revenge for Melukal, they joined because they had no other option, but largely, they joined for Kassandora herself. The Goddess which had given Kirinyaa a sprawling future across Arika, and not one locked behind the great firewalls of Ausa. And they joined for Kassandora, they would go where she pointed. Currently that finger pointed north, so no one had any issue. But when this war was finished¡­ if that finger turned south, towards Nanbasa. They would go too. That was another benefit of the slow-war strategy, although Arascus was the only one to see it. Expose a man to war long enough, and war became all he knew. If Kirinyaa¡¯s fight for survival dragged on for another year, another two, then Kassandora would be left with an army of fanatics who would scoff at the idea of beating their swords into ploughshares. And then, there wouldn¡¯t be any need for meetings like this anymore. But that was the future and this was the present. So Arascus had to sit and talk politely to men less than half his size. ¡°You don¡¯t want to introduce conscription?¡± One of the men asked. Dark, as all Kirinyaans were, with close cut hair and a white undershirt for the suit. Other than the glasses, he faded into the crowd of politicians. ¡°No.¡± Arascus said. ¡°There is no point, we don¡¯t have the industrial capacity to supply them.¡± These people had come in expecting to argue for conscription, and all Arascus had asked was to retool old planes. The God of Pride looked around the room, men started to smile, some let out heavy breathes, shoulders relaxed and people fell back into their seats. And it was done. And they had just agreed, no one had simply vocalized the agreement yet. But it was obvious from their reactions, they were all extremely happy with how things had turned out. Of course, they¡¯d have to maintain and pretend that there was some issue, something to make it seem like they weren¡¯t just giving up. One man raised a hand and spoke. ¡°In regards to the planes, they do belong to KAL.¡± Kirinyaan Air-Lines. ¡°It¡¯s a private company, we don¡¯t have the jurisdiction to force them¡­¡± He looked around the room and fell trailed. There it was, Arascus had expected a better counter than simply this. ¡°KAL doesn¡¯t get permission to scrap the planes. They¡¯re currently operating at a loss because of the upkeep costs for them.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I think they¡¯d be more than happy to get rid of them.¡± And if they weren¡¯t, then Helenna would spend some time convincing them. With how effective the Goddess was, Arascus would give them a week before the planes were under Kassandora¡¯s command. ¡°It¡¯s said most of them don¡¯t work.¡± Another man spoke up. ¡°We have our own engineers.¡± Arascus replied. The man nodded at that. Just as Arascus had expected, it¡¯s not that they didn¡¯t want to, it¡¯s that they simply wouldn¡¯t allow themselves to look as if they were giving the planes away. ¡°The only issue-¡° Arascus stopped as the entire room jumped. A eyes widened in shock, one man let out a funny little squeak. Anassa appeared next to Arascus. The God of Pride could feel her presence, although that wasn¡¯t impressive. At a step¡¯s distance, every Divine could feel the presence of another. But more than that, he could smell her. Roses and sweat, lavender and oil, perfume that failed at masking exertion. He turned and looked up at her from his seat. Her black hair was messy as if she had just gotten out of bed. Her eyes had dark rings underneath them. Her hands were dirty with what looked to be oil and soot. That red dress clung to her tightly as if it had been stuck on, the fabric was darker than usual, as if it was wet. ¡°I¡¯m in a meeting.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I know. I¡¯ve finished.¡± Anassa said coldly. ¡°Wait outside.¡± Arascus said. Anassa tightened her fists, took a heavy breath, and nodded. Then she disappeared. Men turned to look through the window behind Arascus. The God turned, Anassa was stood there silently hovering the air, arms crossed, obviously angry. From the movement, she was clicking her tongue. ¡°Family issues.¡± Arascus said as he turned back. ¡°If you have children, you¡¯ll know what it¡¯s like when they get rebellious.¡± The men all shared a chuckle. ¡°As I was saying, the issue of army expansion would be the creation of an air force.¡± One of the men stood up. ¡°No issue at all!¡± He shouted and got a series of cheers. ¡°It¡¯s the least we can do.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to formalize and bring it into Kassandora¡¯s command.¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Of course, of course.¡± Arascus brought out a piece of paper, he didn¡¯t bother to contain his smile. These men didn¡¯t realise what sort of power they were giving Kassandora, she had been pressing for the creation of an air force since the start, this was simply the best opportunity to get it. The title at the top read: K.A.F. These people would most likely read it as Kirinyaan Air Force, although it stood for Kassandora¡¯s Air Force. Why else would there be an entire section dedicated to standardized call signs and symbols to use in place of different languages? The men all looked at it. ¡°As fast as possible.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And we will be able to stem KAL¡¯s bleeding coffers as well.¡± And that comment was for the easiest type of man to bend, the self-interests. A few eyes lit up with greed and mouths twisted into smiles that obviously tried to hide the fact they were hungry for profit. Today, or tomorrow at the latest, KAL¡¯s shares will be bought up. ¡°Thank you, that¡¯s all.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Now if you could excuse me, I have¡­¡± Arascus feigned a heavy sigh. Seeing Anassa was rarely unpleasant, but if rumours started to spread about them disunity among the Gods, that could only lead to fuelling underestimation. ¡°Family business.¡± Arascus finished. ¡°I wish you luck.¡± One man said. ¡°They grow out of it.¡± Another man said and the room laughed as people started to shut up. Then they silent when Anassa knocked on the window and shook her finger at the man who spoke. Arascus let them think whatever they wanted, fear was a sword that needed to be sharpened every now and again, he simply could not pick up the whetstone when he had to maintain this charade of equality between him and the Kirinyaan parliament. The moment the last man left the room, Anassa once again appeared within. ¡°I am angry.¡± She said it so flatly Arascus could honestly believe she was furious. She looked around, found nowhere to sit on, so sat on the table. ¡°I am furious in fact.¡± More emotion this time. ¡°What happened?¡± Arascus asked as he leaned back and looked the Goddess up and down. Some Divines, Fer was the best example, did not¡­ what was the word? ¡®Embody¡¯ Divinity. They were crass, loud and put little thought into their looks. Kassie was another one, she¡¯d only dress up when there was a reason for it. Anassa was usually the opposite extreme. If the only other living in a room was a damn fly, then Anassa would make sure that fly would know exactly on what level of perfection and beauty Divines operated on. ¡°Frankly, you look terrible.¡± Arascus added before Anassa could start. ¡°Oh I know!¡± Anassa said as she kicked her legs in the air. ¡°Oh I know! Did you tell Kassie to do it?¡± ¡°To do what?¡± ¡°To charge bubbles?¡± Oh. So that was what happened. Anassa hated doing that. That was peasant¡¯s work. Arascus sighed, well that explained why she was so fatigued. Arascus shook his head and chuckled. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know we were building them.¡± ¡°Oh this you didn¡¯t know about?¡± Anassa said sarcastically. ¡°How fortunate for you! You know if I¡¯m reading a book but you don¡¯t know I¡¯m sent off to serve as a battery! Lovely!¡± Anassa¡¯s voice got louder and louder until she was practically shouting. This was usually how it went with Anassa. Arascus had gotten used to it before she had even been granted the title of being family. ¡°How many?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°TEN!¡± Anassa threw her hands up in the air, lost balance and fell backwards onto the table. ¡°OW!¡± She rubbed the back of her head. Goddess of Sorcery, Mistress of the Red Moon, and this is how she acted. Arascus sighed as he stood up and went to a cabinet. Vodka and Whiskey for Kassandora and Neneria. Sweets for Olephia. Flavoured drinks for Fer. Wine for Anassa. He pulled got two glasses and poured Anassa a full glass. ¡°Here, you need it.¡± Arascus slid the glass over to her. ¡°I don¡¯t want it!¡± Anassa said, still lying on the table, her legs kicking the empty air. Arascus rolled his eyes, she did want it, but this was how she was. ¡°I¡¯m not going to feed you.¡± Arascus said, keeping Anassa happy was a challenge in itself. She could sulk for months at a time, although all Divines could. ¡°I actually had something to tell you but I don¡¯t know if you want to hear it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Anassa growled and kept on kicking her legs. Arascus stood so that he could look down at her face. An upside-down Anassa stared up at him angrily as her stink invaded his nose, did the woman not even wash? He sipped the red wine from his glass, then continued to gaze down at her. A minute passed. Two minutes. Three. And Arascus ran out of patience. ¡°Do you want a drink?¡± He asked as he swirled the wine in his glass. Anassa didn¡¯t answer this time, she merely opened her mouth. ¡°You are a child.¡± The God of Pride rolled his eyes, he tipped his glass and splashed some wine between her lips. ¡°Child, Anassa. You know this?¡± Anassa swallowed the wine and laughed. ¡°That is good wine.¡± Anassa said. Immediately happier. Of course she was. Of damn course. ¡°Southern Rancais.¡± Arascus said. ¡°So, happy now?¡± ¡°No.¡± Anassa replied immediately, but her tone had changed to a light joking one now. Arascus rolled his eyes as Anassa parted her lips again. Arascus poured more wine into her mouth. She did it again. ¡°You¡¯re an adult Anassa. Drink it yourself.¡± Anassa rolled her eyes and sat up. She snapped her finger and the other glass flew into her hand without spilling a drop. ¡°I want an apology from Kass.¡± Anassa¡¯s voice was stern even after she had emptied the wine glass. ¡°A proper one.¡± Arascus shook his head. It was easier to ask Olephia to sing a song, and just as practical. ¡°We both know that¡¯s impossible.¡± And knowing Kass, her apology would go something along the lines of ¡®I apologize for your laziness.¡¯ ¡°Well then I¡¯m not happy.¡± Anassa snapped her fingers, another Anassa next to Arascus, grabbed the bottle and passed it to the one that was sitting with the empty glass. Arascus sighed and thought of what to say to the woman. Arascus quickly thought of what to do. ¡°Are you needed at the front?¡± Arascus asked. Anassa raised her arms and made a show of looking at herself. ¡°I¡¯m so needed there I¡¯m here.¡± Her voice was flooded with a storm of sarcasm. Arascus smelled her again, peasantry didn¡¯t smell so bad. Arascus circled the table and sat down next to her, it creaked under the combined weight of two Divines. ¡°When was the last time you washed?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t have running water at Zalewski¡¯s front.¡± Anassa said bounced closer to him. ¡°And I refuse to wash in reused water.¡± She put her head on his shoulder and poured herself a third glass of wine and giggled. ¡°So I don¡¯t know, a month ago?¡± She smelled fingers and shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t smell it.¡± ¡°You got used to it.¡± Arascus said and Anassa pulled a sour tone again. ¡°Well I¡¯m sorry but I was staying with Fer, you think she doesn¡¯t stink?! When was the last time she washed?! A thousand years ago?! Two?!¡± Arascus laughed at her retort and put his arm around her to pull her close. ¡°Do you know where I¡¯m staying?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Of course I do.¡± ¡°I have a bath, you can wash there.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Anassa said. A lightbulb lit up in Arascus¡¯ mind. Since Anassa was here already¡­ ¡°I¡¯d prefer if you washed today.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Do I stink that bad?¡± Anassa quietly from next to him. Half of the third glass had already gone. ¡°Tomorrow is the AIC meeting. Neneria and I will attend. Do you want to come?¡± Anassa¡¯s throat made a low chuckle. Iliyal was going too since the elf would be the actual negotiator. Arascus was simply turning up to make sure all eyes were on him and the elf would have free reign to talk to Artois and the other Epan leaders. Neneria was going to scout the Epan mascot Divines that would be turning up, inspect whether they were like Maisara or whether they were like Ciria. And Neneria had little to do. ¡°I¡¯m offended you¡¯re even asking me if I want to. Of course.¡± Anassa said as she kicked her legs in the air. ¡°There¡¯ll be Epan Divines there.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The national mascots.¡± ¡°Ahh.¡± Anassa cooed as she finished her glass. She tried pouring herself another, the bottle was empty, so she pulled the one still in Arascus¡¯ hand out of his grasp. ¡°So?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather you not make a scene.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Have I ever made a scene?¡± ¡°Do you want an answer to that?¡± ¡°The answer is I have never made a scene.¡± Anassa said. Arascus let the statement stand, this wasn¡¯t a hill worth dying on. He¡¯d lose the argument anyway. ¡°Call Helenna then, get a dress from her so you¡¯re not turning up in this.¡± Arascus poked her stomach where the red fabric was matted with dirt and sweat. ¡°Alright.¡± Anassa said, she put Arascus¡¯ empty glass down. ¡°Can we stay here for a minute more? Just like this?¡± Arascus had another meeting that was starting soon, but frankly, the meeting could wait. ¡°We can.¡± He replied and hugged her tighter. ¡°I love you.¡± ¡°I love you too.¡± Chapter 166 – One in a Million, a Million in One Fortia stood in her command centre. A small tent in Kirinyaa¡¯s northern desert. Maisara and Alkom were sent to the east and Kassandora wasn¡¯t overextending in a follow up. Smart that, Fortia would have done the same, pushing through the centre would open her up to a flanking assault by Zerus and Sceo on one side, and Maisara¡¯s army on the other. That didn¡¯t matter though. She stared in awe at the multitude of screens in the tent, a generator outside was whirling loudly as it powered them up. Technology truly was amazing. Four of UNN¡¯s satellites were monitoring the front line. They couldn¡¯t go as far as to see individual men, but now, there would be no surprise attacks. Leona was useful in the Great War, but this was like having a Leona that could see and look everywhere at the same time. Neneria hated parties. Neneria hated sociability. Neneria hated meeting people. Neneria, very simply, was not made for these sorts of things. It wasn¡¯t that she couldn¡¯t handle it, she didn¡¯t panic or say anything out of place, but she merely did not enjoy the company of people she didn¡¯t know. So naturally, she hated being in the AIC. It was held in a private resort. The sun had set and a starry night had taken its place, and now the throngs of politicians had filtered to the outside courtyard a full view over a lake. Tables had been arranged, and waiters were bringing food and drinks. Neneria readjusted her dress as she looked at Arascus and Anassa. Both of them were dressed nicely. Arascus in a black suit, Anassa in a red dress with a deep neckline, no frills though. Anassa always said frills were for little girls, but the red silk was long enough for it to trail along the ground behind her if she wasn¡¯t using her sorcery to hold it in the air as if a team of maids were carrying it. Even Iliyal had a good sense of fashion, with a military coat over his black clothes. Supposedly they were going to bring a whole team of sorcerers at the start to serve as the elf¡¯s bodyguards, but with Anassa here, the situation had changed. And then there was Neneria. Helenna had dressed her up in something fitting for the Goddess of Death. In a black dress, Neneria had wanted her shawl of raven feathers too, Helenna had tried to put bracelets and rings on her too, but Neneria hadn¡¯t accepted those. Death didn¡¯t need any emphasis to make an impact after all. The only compromise they had found was a set of small earrings that dangled with a single dark purple amethyst each. And now, they were in the Arikan International Congress. Neneria was supposed to stick to Iliyal for when he met the leaders of Epa, hopefully they brought their mascots. They had apparently been invited to, but the only people who stood out in the crowd in the sprawling courtyard was Iliyal, Arascus, Anassa and Neneria herself. Most of them didn¡¯t reach up to the Divines¡¯ stomachs and Iliyal¡¯s head popped out through the dark suits wherever he walked. The AIC was being held in southern Kirinyaa, to show Arikan unity against the White Pantheon invasion for one, but also because no other country but Ausa would actually take the diplomatic hit and invite Arascus to their lands. It was all nice while they talked and shook hands and sent supplies, but it was the difference between holding a gun and actually pulling the trigger. The gun could be holstered at any time, the bullet, once flying, could not be put back in. And so Neneria stood there and watched the people. Arascus had already ingratiated himself with the elites of other nations and had sat down to discuss something important no doubt. Anassa was in the centre, she had attracted a group of politicians and was loudly telling them about how great she was, and how her sorcerers were worth a hundred of Elassa¡¯s mages. Iliyal was stalking about, as Kassandora would do. And so Neneria was left standing by the edge of the lake, some distance from the crowd. No one was brave enough to try and talk with Death, and so no one did. Neneria sighed and looked out over the water¡¯s edge. She turned to look out over it, flies and mosquitoes were buzzing about, their wings almost inaudible over the talk of the crowd. She got bored, and turned around again. Iliyal had been looking at her. Why? She watched the elf talk to some waiter, and realised what was going on. The waiter came, back straight and eyes low, with a bottle of sparkling champagne and a glass. ¡°General Tremali says you ordered a drink.¡± Neneria smiled across the crowd to the elf, she could almost see Kassandora in him, always one to be aware of everyone and everything around them. ¡°Thank you.¡± Neneria took both and the waiter retreated. She popped open the cork and poured herself a glass. It was sweet and light, with a tinge of sourness, quiet good. Nothing like the fine wines of Rancais, but nothing she would turn her nose up at either. And so Neneria stood and watched from the edge. Anassa launched into tale of heroics from the Great War, about how she herself had managed to fell an entire army. That one wasn¡¯t true either, Olephia was the Divine Kassandora gave a green light on facing armies alone. But Neneria wasn¡¯t so petty as to go up and embarrass her sister right now. And she waited there. Until she saw another Divine. A new face, one she had only seen on the news before. Saksma. And Paida close by her side. Mascots of Doschia and Rancais. Saksma was colder, her face harder, the angles in her cheeks more prominent. With blue eyes and golden hair and dark dress, she¡­ Neneria drew a comparison in her head. Like Kassandora, the first thing her sister also would do when entering somewhere is stand by the entrance and give a full inspection. And Paida, both of them were undoubtedly beautiful, but Saksma was a common flower compared to Paida¡¯s refined grace. Hair slightly paler, eyes purple like the famed wines of Rancais. Just as tall, although Neneria had a head over each of them. They both inspected Arascus for a decent time, they tilted their heads at Anassa¡¯s twisting tales, and they eventually met their gazes with Neneria. Should Neneria call them over? Give a wave? Neneria didn¡¯t know what to do. She was here, they were there. Frankly, she hoped they would come over to talk, even if it was just to engage in gossip, but she stood there silently, watching them watch her. Paida leaned over to Saksma, said something and the over Goddess returned a whisper. And another walked out from the building. Olonia, Lubska¡¯s mascot. In a thick coat with lined with fur and pure white hair tied into a braid. Shorter by an inch either of the other two, but sterner. And the three Goddesses set off. Neneria watched them make their way around the crowd. That was another oddity, she did not know of a single Divine who would do that. Even she would simply stroll and expect people to make way for her, they usually did. Fer and Kassandora just had that aura about them, they didn¡¯t even need to walk, they¡¯d simply look and the sea of people would of part. But Neneria wasn¡¯t them, so Neneria felt her heartbeat quicken when she saw Paida, Saksma and Olonia approach her. She finished her glass of champagne and poured herself another as the three came closer. Who should introduce first? They were younger, so it should be them right? It should. Of course. Yes. She¡¯d let them speak, they were most likely to ask a question. The three stopped a step away from Neneria and Paida spoke for them. It was a sweet voice, although Neneria had always liked that accent, almost like a gentle tune, each word curling into the next. ¡°Greetings.¡± Paida said. ¡°We are honoured to meet you.¡± ¡°Paida, Saksma, Olonia.¡± Neneria said, her hand pointing to each Goddess as she said their names, then it finally settled on own chest. ¡°Neneria.¡± The three smiled and nodded. Saksma spoke up, more guttural with in her pronunciation, but still understandable. ¡°We¡¯ve been told to meet you and introduce ourselves.¡± Neneria raised an eyebrow. Kassandora would have something to say. Fer would have a joke. Anassa would boast. Olephia would scribble something down. What was Neneria supposed to say? Everyone knew her already, there wasn¡¯t much to explain. ¡°Hello.¡± Neneria replied. She hated that she said that, couldn¡¯t she have just asked a normal question? Couldn¡¯t she have said anything else? ¡°Hello.¡± Olonia said, she had a colder voice. High-pitched though, cute. ¡°So?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°What do you wish to discuss?¡± Neneria hated that she always spoke in a quiet monotone, but the only time she could rile herself up was when the Legion was about to be deployed. Other than that, it was difficult. Olonia though, luckily, didn¡¯t have such reservations. ¡°Are you Neneria?¡± She asked. ¡°Actually?¡± Neneria felt a flutter in her heart that the girl had chosen to lead the conversation. Thank everyone for that. ¡°I am.¡± Neneria said, harder this time. ¡°Actually Neneria.¡± Olonia, whether impressed or not, merely stared up at her. ¡°I thought you¡¯d be louder.¡± Olonia said and Saksma playfully slapped her arm. ¡°I apologise for the insult.¡± Paida said, Neneria merely watched without a reaction. What was there to even say? What Olonia said was true, people always assumed Neneria would be¡­ more than she was. ¡°But we¡¯re here to get to know you.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Neneria replied and the three Goddesses shut up for a moment. Paida spoke up again. ¡°Are you enjoying the lake?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Neneria replied. Olonia looked up at her again and leaned forwards. Neneria merely stared unmoving as the Goddess poked her arm. ¡°I thought you¡¯d be a ghost.¡± ¡°I can make ghosts.¡± Neneria said. Olonia blinked up at her with some satisfaction. ¡°Could you make a ghost out of me?¡± ¡°Easily.¡± Neneria replied. It wasn¡¯t difficult, and simply from the energy of the woman, she had a weaker soul than Atis. All of them did, although that was the fate of mascots. ¡°You¡¯d last about twenty days before I broke you.¡± Neneria added flatly. Olonia looked up her, her mouth half open in surprise. Saksma and Paida both answered with shocked gazes. ¡°Twenty days?¡± Olonia asked. ¡°Give or take.¡± Neneria replied. If Atis had taken fifty, and Atis was a stubborn God, then this girl would take half the time. Paida came in to cover for her friend. ¡°We don¡¯t¡­¡± She said quickly, then waved her hands. That was like Fer or Kassandora, both of them knew what to say immediately, but they¡¯d play dumb to add to the point. ¡°I mean, we don¡¯t really want to test you.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Do you not?¡± Neneria asked. Now that they were getting jumpy, she was starting to get some satisfaction out of the conversation and their discomfort. ¡°Are you not curious?¡± Olonia leaned back as Saksma¡¯s happy expression gave way to caution. Paida returned with her standard diplomatic tone. ¡°Curiosity killed the cat, as they say.¡± She made a giggle and Saksma shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re not a diplomat.¡± Saksma said coldly. Neneria merely smiled at the Goddess. ¡°I do very well in diplomacy.¡± ¡°I meant in conversation.¡± Saksma said and Neneria shrugged. ¡°It is what it is.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°What is there to say?¡± She extended her arm out to the lake. ¡°I assume you¡¯re smart enough to see the beauty in this that I see, I simply will not insult your intelligence by explaining it to you.¡± Saksma tilted her head, then looked over at Anassa who had somehow attracted an even bigger crowd. ¡°Do you not get jealous of her?¡± Saksma asked. Neneria¡¯s eyes lost their pleasant glow. ¡°You do not get to talk about my family.¡± Neneria said coldly. ¡°Otherwise I will actually test you.¡± Saksma smiled at the reaction. ¡°Now we¡¯re talking.¡± She said it like a snake. ¡°I knew there¡¯d be some life in you.¡± Neneria lost all her energy immediately and she returned to the dull tone. ¡°Saksma, I am merely old.¡± Neneria said. ¡°If you get to my age, you¡¯ll see what it¡¯s like.¡± Saksma, Paida and Olonia all shared a quick look. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you¡¯re just skin and bones.¡± Saksma said. ¡°You obviously have a heart.¡± ¡°I am alive, so obviously I do.¡± Neneria responded flatly. Did she like these three? Neneria supposed she did, although it was a meagre amount of fondness. The fact they hadn¡¯t left yet meant they were trying to get to know her, and that was already enough for Neneria to like someone. Saksma took a heavy breath and Paida came in again. ¡°What do you make of the champagne?¡± ¡°Rancais purple is better.¡± Neneria swirled her glass and drank the rest, Paida smiled proudly at that. She poured herself another. ¡°And it¡¯s not strong.¡± ¡°That!¡± Paida excitedly exclaimed. ¡°I can agree with.¡± ¡°Of course you can.¡± Saksma said. ¡°It is though.¡± Olonia said from Saksma¡¯s side. ¡°So?¡± Paida said. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a drink?¡± Neneria said. What else was she supposed to say? A drink was a drink, she liked some, she didn¡¯t like others, that was enough for her. ¡°What do you want me to say?¡± ¡°Well, an explanation?¡± Paida said and Neneria shrugged. ¡°I like it.¡± Neneria said. ¡°That¡¯s all the explanation I can give, I don¡¯t care why I like it or why I don¡¯t.¡± And Paida finally lost her posture as she leaned, sighed and shook her head. ¡°You are odd.¡± Olonia said. ¡°Am I?¡± Neneria asked and chuckled. ¡°I suppose I am.¡± ¡°I meant to talk to.¡± Olonia went on. ¡°Not odd, you¡¯re¡­ you¡¯re how I assumed you would be, but not at the same time. Detached, but not in a¡­¡± Olonia paused and searched for a word, she tugged that white braid of hers. ¡°Not in a Divine sort of way.¡± ¡°Do you know how old I am?¡± Neneria asked. The three exchanged looks. ¡°Three thousand?¡± Saksma asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know how old I am.¡± Neneria replied in her usual flat tone. ¡°I incarnated before the calendar was invented. You get to my age, if you do, and you¡¯ll see why explanations aren¡¯t important. Things just are.¡± Neneria shrugged. ¡°If?¡± Saksma asked and Neneria tilted her head. ¡°If?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°What do you mean, if?¡± ¡°I meant why add that?¡± Saksma said sharply. ¡°Are you confident you won¡¯t die?¡± Neneria asked. The three shared looks. ¡°I don¡¯t think about it.¡± Saksma admitted. ¡°I just live. I die when I die.¡± Olonia added. ¡°I¡¯m with Saksma here, it¡¯s depressing to think about.¡± Paida said as Neneria watched them. They were cute, like little children. She merely shrugged. ¡°So be it.¡± Neneria said. ¡°I¡¯m not here for a debate.¡± ¡°So what are you here for then?¡± Saksma asked. Neneria caught the woman¡¯s gaze with her eyes and stared her down. ¡°I was asked to come.¡± Neneria replied flatly. ¡°So I did.¡± ¡°Are you not needed in the war?¡± Saksma said, Neneria maintained her gaze and extended an arm out to Anassa and Arascus. ¡°We all are, this is war too.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Do you think war is just a series of battles?¡± That was Kassandora¡¯s line, but her sister didn¡¯t mind when her sayings were stolen. Saksma did not reply, but beating dead horses was Neneria¡¯s speciality. ¡°Besides, you¡¯re here for the same thing aren¡¯t I, there¡¯s a meeting to do with your countries¡¯ future, right?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t make the decisions.¡± Saksma crossed her arms and Neneria smiled back. ¡°That we can relate on, I also don¡¯t tend to make decisions.¡± Neneria said and Saksma clicked her tongue. ¡°I meant Wissel chooses the direction of the ship, I¡¯m just there to make sure it doesn¡¯t sink.¡± Neneria lazily shrugged. ¡°Kassandora and father do the thinking.¡± Neneria said. ¡°I just give ideas every now and then and make myself useful.¡± Useful usually meant following Kassandora¡¯s orders. But her plans worked, and they were better than whatever Neneria could think of, so it was as simple as that. There wasn¡¯t any need for ego. ¡°Arascus you mean?¡± Paida said as she looked to where Anassa stood. ¡°Father.¡± Neneria said again. ¡°But yes, it is that way, I assumed you know the history.¡± ¡°I have studied it.¡± Paida replied. ¡°What do you then, when you¡¯re not¡­¡± This wasn¡¯t a pause for effect, she simply didn¡¯t have a word. ¡°Working?¡± ¡°I find things to do.¡± Neneria said. ¡°I like baking now.¡± Olonia¡¯s jaw dropped, Saksma raised her eyebrows and Paida chuckled. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Is it wrong to have to a hobby?¡± Neneria said defensively. ¡°I raise animals too! I do all sorts of things!¡± She realised she had shouted and turned to the crowd that had started gazing at them. ¡°You¡­¡± Olonia shook her head. ¡°Are one in a million.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just normal!¡± Neneria said. ¡°You three are like Kass! She¡¯s always working too, never has time for anything fun!¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t mean to offend.¡± Paida said. ¡°And apologies, it¡¯s just unexpected from you.¡± Saksma shifted from one leg to another and crossed her arms across her chest. ¡°Can I ask you something?¡± Saksma asked. ¡°You just did.¡± Neneria replied dryly. ¡°How strong are you?¡± Neneria felt her jaw tighten. Her private life, she didn¡¯t mind people talking about, or rather, she was used to it. No one really expected much from the Goddess of Death, she knew they would assume she wasted her time in a dark cave to sit and meditate endlessly. So it was simply tiring rather than agitating when people questioned her on hobbies. She ignored the question. Saksma said it again. ¡°Are you really strong?¡± ¡°I pretended not to hear you the first time.¡± Neneria said. Paida realised who she was talking to, and poked Saksma. The Goddess of Doschia did not care. ¡°I would like to see your strength.¡± Saksma said. ¡°I am not a circus.¡± Neneria replied coldly. ¡°Neither am I, I am simply curious.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Neneria asked and Saksma smiled. ¡°Because everything written about you is the opposite of how you act.¡± To think she had the gall to still have that stupid grin! ¡°So I assume your power is too.¡± Neneria blinked in disbelief. Hobby annoyance, she was used to. But this wasn¡¯t that. This was¡­ this was some smarmy little upstart mascot asking her how strong she was. She was Neneria. Goddess of Death. Wasn¡¯t that enough? Death¡¯s gaze fell on Saksma. ¡°Mascot Goddess, you are not in any position to question my strength.¡± She found the opening that had been needed to fulfil Kassandora¡¯s objective of scouting these girls out. ¡°And besides, shouldn¡¯t the junior try and show off first?¡± Saksma froze under Neneria¡¯s eyes. ¡°We didn¡¯t mean to-¡° Paida¡¯s elbow rammed into Saksma¡¯s side, but Neneria interrupted her. ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking.¡± Neneria said. The blood drained from Paida¡¯s face. ¡°Have you ever faced Allasaria? Elassa? Zerus even?¡± ¡°No we¡¯ve not.¡± Paida replied and Neneria smiled. They were attracting a crowd now. Arascus had shut up and was watching from the table. Anassa was the closest to them, with all the mortals behind her. ¡°I see.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°So who have you faced?¡± Anassa appeared next to Neneria and put her hand on Death¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Sister.¡± Anassa said, her tone gentle but leaving no room for argument. ¡°Calm down.¡± ¡°I am perfectly calm.¡± Neneria replied. She shrugged Anassa¡¯s hand off herself and continued staring down at the three Goddesses. ¡°Well? Who are you to ask me how strong I am?¡± Anassa grabbed Neneria¡¯s shoulder again. ¡°This is a bad look.¡± She said, harder this time. Neneria ignored her, what did Anassa even know? Sometimes, when talking nicely didn¡¯t work, then a dose of discipline was needed. ¡°Go on.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Show me what you can do!¡± Paida took a step back, Olonia did too, but Saksma stood her ground. ¡°Should the elders not teach first?¡± Saksma said. ¡°You two Anassa, I heard your speeches.¡± Anassa let go of Neneria and turned to face the upstart newcomer. ¡°Bravery is an important trait, girl, but you have just crossed into the realm of stupidity.¡± She said coldly. ¡°I simply want to see what you can do.¡± Saksma said. ¡°You said you studied your history.¡± Neneria argued back. It was a matter of Pride at this point, she didn¡¯t demand newcomers kneel and avert their eyes but this was a farce. She hadn¡¯t survived through so many terrible ages to know how some mere mascot come and talk to her like this. ¡°I find it hard to believe such power exists.¡± Saksma said. ¡°I¡¯m not in this.¡± Paida raised her hands. ¡°I believe it.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯d like to see too.¡± Olonia said. So one of the three had a working brain. That was good information to know. ¡°You¡¯re not even at Kassandora¡¯s level.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°And Kassandora cannot touch me.¡± Anassa made a sour face at that. Saksma put up a valiant defence. ¡°I would say I am strong.¡± ¡°Go on then.¡± Neneria took a step away. ¡°Death or Sorcery, make your pick. Strike at us.¡± She raised her arms to either to expose her torso. This Saksma, she liked. Girls that had character were always likable, and this Saksma, whether stupid or insane or just egoistic, had the gall to ask her how strong she was as if there was any doubt. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Saksma asked. ¡°I won¡¯t repeat it. Go on Saksma, proud Goddess of Doschia, show me what your little nation can do against Death.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡± Saksma spread her arms out and an eagle cried from above. Neneria looked up to the huge bird that came out of clouds, all its feathers black with a beak so yellow it may as well have been solid gold. Each beat of its wings sent the clouds roaring back, easily as wide as two planes next to each other. It circled around them and cried again. So a large bird. Neneria turned her gaze back to Saksma. The woman stared up with pure pride at her humungous bird. Neneria simply had to wipe that expression off her. ¡°Is that it?¡± She asked dryly. And Saksma¡¯s expression did fade. To shock and surprise. ¡°What do you mean is that it?¡± She shouted back. Neneria spread her arm out over the lake as she called forth upon her army. A ghost appeared, in pale armour, opaque yet glowing with a green hue. And another. A dozen. A hundred. A thousand. Banners of Neneria¡¯s headless horseman hung still even though there was a slight breeze. And Neneria realised what she had just done. She didn¡¯t turn to look at the crowd, she could just imagine their shock and fear. The endless judging eyes upon seeing the living dead. Hopefully no one saw anyone they knew. Neneria wanted to run away right now and clamber into Arascus¡¯ arms. Or Fer¡¯s at least. She had come her here upon Arascus¡¯ and Kassandora¡¯s request to do diplomacy, and this was how she simply did diplomacy. It was all she knew. There had to be a way to handle it, to recover some of the damage at the minimum. If the house couldn¡¯t be rebuilt, at least she¡¯d repair the door. ¡°Saksma.¡± Neneria clicked her tongue as her Legion started to spread out like a sickness. More and more of the dead she had collected, giants and elves, dwarves and humans, even dead Divines she had captured the souls of, until the entire surface of the water was flooded entirely, and then they started to climb over the hill in the distance. ¡°You stood up to me, you dared question me, and then you managed to rile me up.¡± Neneria took a step closer. ¡°Whatever your reasoning, I find that admirable. Not many Divines have the character to do that. I can quite honestly say you¡¯re one in a million.¡± Neneria extended her hand for Saksma to shake. ¡°But the simple issue is that even though you¡¯re one in a million, I am a million in one.¡± Saksma turned from the Legion, the eagle above gave out one final cry and disappeared. ¡°I understand.¡± She said, her tone changed entirely. Now polite and careful, with that hesitation people always had when they talked to Neneria. She hated that tone, the only Divines who didn¡¯t have that curse upon them were her immediate family. Even Helenna was afraid of her. Saksma moved slowly and carefully, as if afraid that simply touching Neneria would conscript her into the Legion. Arascus stood up and started clapping wildly. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, what a show!¡± His voice boomed across the entire gala. Iliyal started to clap too. Another man joined in. One cheered. Neneria recalled her Legion. Paida started to clap. And the rest did too. Neneria shook Saksma¡¯s hand eagerly and turned to the crowd. Not a single man looked at her with fear or reservation in their eyes. It was all excitement and awe. Neneria smiled back and waved as Anassa disappeared from view and reappeared close to Arascus. Her sister was smiling too, and clapping slowly as she shook her head. Neneria knew what that face on Anassa meant, her sister always wore it when one of them messed something up. But even though she had, six of Arascus¡¯ words had fixed it. And this was why she loved Arascus, because no matter how many souls she collected, she would never be able to do that. Because he looked at her with those warm eyes, others did too. Chapter 167 – To A Fruitful Relationship Kavaa watched the latest delivery arrive to Central Requisitions. It had transformed from a camp to a sprawling woodland fortress. Iniri had raised buildings for the men to sleep in and they all came with her touches. Branches and thick leaves gave plenty of shade. Stairs curled around trees to lead to higher levels. Great oaks served as a watchtowers and thick hedges marked out zones for everything. Arascus and Kassandora had both told her she could do whatever she wanted to as long as it followed Kassandora¡¯s basic design, and the Goddess of Nature had ran crazy with the idea. And now, something primitive yet inventive came along. Something that had not seen the light of day since the days of the Great War. Four trucks had arrived and were being unloaded by men driving forklifts, tomorrow there¡¯d be twenty. Bombs. Iliyal shifted in his seat as Neneria and Anassa stood behind him. Across the small room, on chairs and long couch were sat the leaders of the five most important Epan countries. King Wissel Ellenheim of Doschia, King Aimone of Rilia, King Richard VII of Allia, and Presidents Artois and Jozef of Rancais and Lubska respectively. They came in suit and coat and cloak, the royalty having medals to mark their office. Richard had a band around his head to represent the crown. Behind the leather couch stood the five Divines. Olonia and Agrita were the shortest, Olonia with the white braid and that thick coat topped off with fur. She there, stood arms crossed as her eyes inspected Iliyal. Agrita was most the most alluring of the four Goddess who had come to attend. In a tight silken dress that hugged her frame tightly. And Paida and Saksma next to them. Taller, with golden hair. Rancais¡¯ Goddess with her purple eyes, Doschia¡¯s with her blue. Other men may have trembled under the gazes of five rulers and four Divines. Maybe they would ran, or hesitated, or become flustered. But Iliyal had commanded Olephia before, he was chosen by Kassandora. During the Reclamation War, he had talked with Fer almost everyday. He was only a mortal elf, but he didn¡¯t like that title. He had not survived for an entire millennia to be reduced simply to a mortal elf. Anassa and Neneria stood behind him. Neneria a step away, Anassa breathing heavily and tapping her foot as she waited impatiently. Iliyal did not even know why the woman was impatient, didn¡¯t she have a copy of herself outside she was entertaining herself with? ¡°Kassandora could not come.¡± Iliyal began. ¡°So I¡¯ve been sent.¡± He clapped his chest. ¡°I¡¯m sure you know who I am already.¡± ¡°Iliyal Tremali.¡± Artois said. ¡°General of Arascus Eighth Legion in the Great War.¡± Iliyal smiled proudly at them. Of course they¡¯d knew. He was more famous than any of them. ¡°I am Anassa.¡± Anassa said and the men blinked and gawked. The national mascot Goddesses shifted in their positions as Anassa circled around and sat on the arm of Iliyal¡¯s couch. She was tall enough that her feet still reached the floor. ¡°Goddess of Sorcery.¡± ¡°I am Wissel Ellenheim, I extend my greetings.¡± Wissel said. The other men introduced themselves and Neneria finished off. ¡°I am Neneria, Goddess of Death.¡± She said quietly. Iliyal waited for the other Goddesses to introduce themselves, as was custom. They didn¡¯t, merely standing and waiting for him. He clicked his tongue, hoping they would catch the hint. Wissel leaned forwards. ¡°Are we here to discuss the plan Artois has shown you?¡± He asked. They were still at the Gala, Neneria had found a way to sneak off, Anassa had no issue, she merely summoned a copy of herself to watch. Iliyal had been in enough battles to learn how to not attract attention. Hopefully the royalty could be secretive, Iliyal assumed they could. Men who revealed their secrets easily were not the type to run this sort of scheme. ¡°My apologies.¡± Iliyal said as he extended his arm to the four Divines behind the Epans. ¡°Are they not going to introduce themselves?¡± Wissel gave a wave of his hand. ¡°Saksma, of Doschia.¡± And Paida followed along, Olonia in that rough accent, Agrita in her sweet one. ¡°Do you girls not make decisions?¡± Anassa asked. Iliyal stopped his eyes from rolling. Neneria was good support in diplomacy since she stood there and kept quiet unless she saw something, and people were more prone to compromise when the Goddess of Death was in the room. Anassa was the opposite, Kassandora had once confided in Iliyal that she and Anassa were grown on the same tree, the one that liked to listen to itself talk. ¡°We represent the nation, not the politics.¡± Paida answered calmly and Anassa shrugged. ¡°So be it.¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen worse.¡± Paida only made an amused smile, but Saksma obviously had her ego hurt. ¡°That means what exactly?¡± Saksma said angrily. ¡°What do you think it means?¡± Anassa answered back smoothly. The humans looked up at the brewing storm. Iliyal stepped in to settle it down, just as Kassandora would do. ¡°Different age, different customs Saksma.¡± He made sure to direct the comment at her and not at Anassa, some mistakes did not have to be repeated. ¡°But yes.¡± He turned to Wissel. That man was obviously the leader among these five, the first to speak and sitting in the middle. With the most experience among them, Iliyal had done his research before meeting them. ¡°This is about your plan.¡± Iliyal pulled out a photocopy of Artois¡¯ paper and unfolded it. ¡°To be frank, it is terrible.¡± It wasn¡¯t terrible actually, Iliyal would have concocted something better, but for men who had no experience in the battlefield, they could have done a lot worse. Iliyal only wanted to see how they would react to something which was obviously an insult. Olonia¡¯s lips quirked up in humour, Saksma narrowed her brows in annoyance. Paida and Agrita gave no reaction. The men all sighed, Wissel leaned down and looked at the notes. ¡°I have made my own changes, you¡¯re welcome to take it and incorporate them.¡± Iliyal smiled as he leaned back. ¡°Goddess Kassandora looked over it.¡± They may have issues with him, but if the Goddess of War had looked over the changes, they would accept. But there was one thing not on the paper, for secrecy rather than anything else. ¡°And there is one more change to be done.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± Wissel asked, he handed the paper off to Jozef. Olonia leaned down to read it along with him. ¡°I should be the commander of the operation.¡± Iliyal said. This was the hardest part of the discussion, these men could potentially storm the Divine Armoury themselves, but it would be better if the weapon-invention Divines were used by their rightful owners and not by these pretenders to power. ¡°You?¡± Wissel said. Saksma behind was obviously not happy. Agrita smiled though, but Iliyal had seen that hungry smile on women before. She was trouble. ¡°Me.¡± Iliyal said with a nod. He leaned back as Anassa stood up. Iliyal had told her and Neneria what the point of the meeting was in the first place, and that they should back him up however they thought. Total independence was a rare order, but it was the only Anassa would receive, and Neneria would shut down thinking about the technicalities if she was given a list of instructions.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Iliyal is the best choice.¡± Anassa said. ¡°My sister has chosen him as a General, he is more skilled than anyone you could muster up.¡± Iliyal sighed, that sort of deliberate tone did not help in diplomacy. And Saksma¡¯s reaction was the exact reason why. She scowled, but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°We¡­¡± Wissel said slowly. ¡°We have our own commanders.¡± ¡°To sell myself.¡± Iliyal quickly scrambled, his tone apologetic but firm. ¡°I am better.¡± He let the statement hang for a few seconds, it was obvious no one would argue with someone who led one of Arascus¡¯ Legions. It was simply an appeal to his own fame and prestige, but if there was one thing Iliyal knew, it was that his prestige was deserved. Out of everyone, he was one of the few who had been personally chosen after all. ¡°It¡¯s not a case that I doubt your officers, but Maisara¡¯s head quarters won¡¯t be dealing with criminals. They will fight back and stand to the last man.¡± Anassa began, this time coming in with a gloating tone. ¡°Frankly, I-¡° ¡°Control yourself Anassa.¡± Neneria interrupted her from the back. ¡°Well if dear sister says so.¡± Anassa cooed. Fer would have had a retort, Olephia would too, but Neneria simply let the statement drop. Iliyal was glad she did. ¡°This¡­¡± Wissel leaned back and looked to the men by his side. ¡°It is a suggestion.¡± Artois admitted. ¡°We would have to discuss it.¡± Jozef added and King Aimone nodded. ¡°Discuss all you want, our offer won¡¯t change.¡± Anassa said, Iliyal wished Arascus had not brought her along, there was a reason she was usually kept away from diplomatic meetings. Neneria came in. ¡°To add to that.¡± She said slowly and took a pause. Saksma jumped on the chance to speak. ¡°General Tremali, do you have your Divines do that talking for you all the time?¡± She said. Anassa chuckled from the side as Neneria froze up. And the Goddess of Sorcery came in to defend her pride. ¡°I understood that the opinions of mascots are not worth much your highness.¡± She directed it to Wissel, the man grew pale as if he wanted to die simply from the terrible position he had been put into. ¡°But you should keep order in the court.¡± ¡°It is simply unprecedented.¡± Saksma said, Paida came in. Simply from the watching the show with Neneria outside, Iliyal knew this woman would say something that would try to alleviate the situation. He¡¯d agree with her as long as it wasn¡¯t stupid. ¡°Saksma, have some decency.¡± Paida said, Iliyal lifted his hand to catch Neneria¡¯s attention and made one of Kassandora¡¯s signals. The Goddess of Death remembered it from a thousand years past. ¡°Keep your cool Anassa.¡± Neneria said, colder this time. She stepped forwards to put herself on the other side of Iliyal. Arms crossed across her black dress. ¡°I will do the talking.¡± Iliyal wished Arascus or Kassandora or Fer were here, they could steer the rest of them easily. Whenever he captained the ship, the rudder would become like jelly. ¡°Of course, I aim for decorum and nothing else.¡± Anassa said sarcastically. ¡°But your highness, you-¡° ¡°Anassa.¡± Neneria interrupted her once again. ¡°This is the final warning.¡± Anassa finally shut up. Iliyal switched tactics and feigned a sigh. From the expressions of the mortals, it was obvious they didn¡¯t feel safe with Anassa and Neneria this close to them, but there was also a questioning doubt in their eyes. Kassandora had taught him this, when an opponent thought you weak and disorganised, let him believe what he wants. Overestimation of yourself could only lead to biting off more than you could chew, but underestimation was the opposite. Iliyal looked up at Anassa, she wasn¡¯t stupid, nor would she sink a meeting for satisfaction of her own ego¡­ usually. Two crimson eyes looked down at Iliyal, framed by a perfect face of black hair. No point, Anassa had always been impossible to get a read on. Whether she was doing on purpose or whether she was truly so petty was a question Iliyal had decided wasn¡¯t worth the effort of figuring out a long time ago. ¡°In regards to Iliyal.¡± Neneria said. ¡°You know his qualifications, he is Kassandora¡¯s man, so he won¡¯t boast of his actions but as of this moment, he is in the top five in the world when it comes to leadership.¡± Wissel turned to Neneria. ¡°And may I ask the others?¡± ¡°Arascus, Kassandora, Allasaria, Fortia, in that order. Iliyal fifth.¡± Neneria listed the names off slowly and Iliyal kept the grin off his face. It was high praise, and it felt good when it came from someone who knew everyone on that list. ¡°Is he?¡± Agrita, Rilia¡¯s mascot, cooed. Iliyal realised who she reminded him of. Alee the maid. That was a terrible woman who did terrible things to him, and this Agrita carried the exact same expression. Light brown hair, shorter, but making up for it with everything else. The orange dress did not help either. ¡®¡±Agrita.¡± Paida said sternly. ¡°I¡¯m only commenting.¡± Agrita said as she rubbed her chin. ¡°And they¡¯re allowed to talk.¡± ¡°That we are.¡± Anassa said smugly. ¡°I like you.¡± Agrita said. ¡°You¡¯re full of yourself, but you don¡¯t look too bad.¡± Anassa laughed. ¡°You are cute.¡± The Goddess of Sorcery replied. ¡°I will give you that.¡± Saksma rolled her eyes as the mortals once again became ingratiated in the conversation between Divines. Iliyal returned the topic back to what it should be. ¡°With the changes I¡¯ve made.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°You should be successful no matter who leads, but I will lead the operation.¡± He made his tone stern. ¡°That is one way to talk to a King.¡± Saksma said. ¡°When the man is older than your nation, he can talk however he wants.¡± Anassa bit back. ¡°Anassa is crass, but Iliyal¡¯s point stands.¡± Neneria said. Wissel leaned back and sighed, he crossed his arms. ¡°I assume you can understand why we aren¡¯t¡­¡± He stopped and thought for a second. ¡°So eager to let you lead?¡± Iliyal had his reply ready, a flanking offensive to the man¡¯s shieldwall. ¡°In regards to this, we initially wanted to send Goddess Kassandora.¡± That was a complete lie, Kassandora would not step foot in Epa before they had a large presence there. ¡°But that would look even worse, I will not be seen, I will not make a diplomatic incident.¡± Wissel nodded slowly, then launched his parry. ¡°But likewise, I think you understand we don¡¯t trust you entirely.¡± Arascus had already rehearsed this with Iliyal. ¡°There is a reason.¡± Iliyal said proudly. ¡°Then I¡¯d like to hear to it.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not this for ourselves.¡± Iliyal said. Now that the Divines had shut up, he could said what was needed to be said. Frankly, brining Anassa was good. One conversation with her made her look like an impossible-to-work-with maniac, and those people rarely made good plots. ¡°We¡¯re doing it for you.¡± Wissel raised an eyebrow. Artois stepped in. ¡°How?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen Neneria power already, Anassa is strong too.¡± ¡°The strongest.¡± Anassa said. There it was! They wouldn¡¯t catch it, but Iliyal knew when the woman was making a joke. Her voice always curled upwards when she started enjoying herself, and she was obviously enjoying picking on these weaker Divines. ¡°Fer, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard of the attack on Arcadia.¡± Iliyal said and the humans nodded. The Divines behind them made grim faces. ¡°Kassandora and Arascus, and Olephia. If we wanted to, could the White Pantheon stop us from destroying the Paladin Headquarters?¡± ¡°You raise a good point.¡± Wissel said. Iliyal made himself seem more reasonable. Anyone with a bone of pragmatism in their body would immediately distrust those who didn¡¯t reveal what they wanted. ¡°Our interests lie in the weakening of Maisara¡¯s forces. You come to us with a plan, it¡¯s rather good, it costs us little.¡± He tapped the paper on the table between them. ¡°Frankly, it was a pleasant surprise, so I have to thank you for that.¡± He had them being eating out of the palm of his hand now, he knew it. ¡°Thank you.¡± The elf continued. ¡°But we have two stipulations, the operation launches when Kassandora gives the green light, and I lead it. You agree, and we can smuggle rifles to you immediately.¡± Wissel looked to Richard and gave the man a nod. They weren¡¯t bad diplomats, especially since they didn¡¯t lose their cool when the Divines were picking a fight, but there was a reason Kassandora had created a list of hand signals for everyone. Richard spoke in his high Allian accent, every word pronounced as it should be properly. ¡°I will organise it, an Allian ship to Rilia, Rancais and Doschia are already in the Pantheon¡¯s bad books.¡± ¡°That is your domain, we won¡¯t interlude. We can have a hundred rifles ready with ammunition by dawn.¡± A call to Kavaa in CR would make it happen. ¡°What sort of time-scale are we working with?¡± Jozef asked. ¡°A year? A matter of months?¡± ¡°We are waiting for Elassa to leave Epa, upon confirmation she is in Arika, we will bog her down and stall her here.¡± That should be enough time. ¡°So about a month, fifty days at the most.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s just you?¡± Wissel asked. ¡°Not anyone¡­¡± ¡°I will bring a team of my own bodyguards of course.¡± They were already sold on him being there, he could see it in their expressions. Now, the frog was cooked, he could make more demands. ¡°Not Divines.¡± Wissel said quickly. ¡°Of course, only humans.¡± Iliyal already knew who¡¯d be going, it was the sorcerers. But these people didn¡¯t have to know that. Wissel sighed and looked to the men around. They nodded. The King of Doschia leaned forwards, his arm extended. ¡°Very well General Tremali, we graciously thank you for your help, and hope this will be the start of a long and fruitful relationship.¡± Iliyal shook the man¡¯s hand. Fruitful, the relationship would be. For his team at the very least. Maybe not for them. Chapter 168 – Do You See It? Iliyal watched the Allian ship, the ¡®Blue Rose¡¯ set off from Nanbasa¡¯s ports. A charity vessel, which had brought food through the Arikan Jungle Relief Fund into Kirinyaa. Now, on its return trip to Rilia, it would be smuggling weapons for what was to be referred to as Operation Speartip. Kassandora stalked around the Central Requisitions as she made her inspection. Yesterday had been the second time she had done her rounds around the frontline, Ekkerson was pulling through quite well, although he would be. Olephia was on his front, even if she didn¡¯t do anything, then simply the fact she was care would make Zerus and Sceo cautious to attack. Her maids had been disposed of, although Olephia was not at all happy with letting the kitsune shapeshifting spies leave untouched, she had wanted to burn them slowly at first. Sokolowski¡¯s front had advanced and then stopped. There was no point over-extending, and there was no ground or important locations to secure anyway. It was sand and deserts. Fortia had pulled back too, only keeping a basic skeleton crew of a frontline simply to mark where she had advanced to. It was the mountain range south of his front that was important, Iniri and Anassa were currently working there to clear out secret tunnels and caves, sappers were planting explosives in every tunnel and every bridge. Mountain tops were being rigged to blow, to make avalanches and landslides. Another week, and Sokolowski¡¯s front could be dismantled, the mountains were simply becoming unassailable. And Zalewski¡¯s front. Fer was there, and Zalewski was no Iliyal, but he wasn¡¯t a bad commander in his own right. It was more a fact that Kassandora¡¯s army had an age gap. Mortals from the age of twenty to sixty, and then Divines in the thousands. Iliyal had more in common with that latter group rather than the former, Zalewski was a good commander, it was simply the arena he had picked also had giants showing off their strength. His front was still on harassment duty, slowly wiping out Maisara¡¯s forces. He was to avoid large battles and the like, give Maisara nothing that would make her panic. And Fer was there too, few people expected much of Fer, her brutal reputation as the Goddess of Beasthood reached far. But Fer had led her beastmen for a thousand years with no support, she had been a good leader during the Great War too, twice now Zalewski had overextended and Fer was there to correct him. And so, Kassandora ended up in CR. The war was not going well, everyone said it was, but it wasn¡¯t. But then, every war in Kassandora¡¯s book went badly until the day of victory. Kassandora would treat every battle as the first, reinforcements could come at any moment, Allasaria was still missing and Kassandora did not like that woman¡¯s absence. Realistically, Allasaria was off getting the support of the UNN and Guguo, but then the news would have caught wind of her already. The worst case scenario was Great War Two, with Allasaria having disappeared to go off to get the support of Paraideisius and Tartarus to bring them into the war. That was what Kassandora was planning for. This little prelude of a campaign against the White Pantheon was only serious business for people not in the know. Elassa had not come yet, Arcadia was still holding its force back. The only real losses taken so far had been Melukal, and then the various of the Orders. That wasn¡¯t a war, that was only a disagreement between Divines. Orders had been created in the first place to settle minor quarrels like this. And now, Kassandora had come to Central Requisitions. It had been a camp, that had then been expanded into a fortress-glade by Iniri at the outbreak of the White Pantheon invasion. Trees grew out of the and curled into each to make buildings, thick canopies of leaves separated made up roofs, branches made bridges and hedges delineated which area was for what. And now CR was being expanded by the natural growth of urban areas again. Heavy vehicles were working on putting up even more warehouses around the base. Three of Anassa¡¯s shield-crystals had been installed, charged up but not turned on yet. Those were simply a precaution, a fall back in case Elassa¡¯s offensive was larger than what they prepared for. Kassandora was in a room with Kavaa. It was the inside of a gigantic great oak, grown by Iniri, it was the only structure in Kirinyaa that had been built for and by Divines. The doorway were a good size, large enough for Fer and Arascus to walk through, the steps of the stairs were knee height for normal men, although there was a smaller staircase here for the maids too. Fer had sniffed out spies in CR, she had found two more shapeshifters here. ¡°How do you feel?¡± Kassandora asked Kavaa. Frankly, she did not care how the Goddess of Health was feeling, work had to be regardless of what you thought about it. But the difference between being magnanimity and tyranny was a few words. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Kavaa said dryly. She wore her HAUPT suit, as she always did now. Black coat that contrasted against her silver hair and pale eyes. ¡°Thanks for asking.¡± ¡°I know it¡¯s not a heroic job.¡± Kassandora said. That had been one of Kavaa¡¯s qualms with the White Pantheon, the fact she was simply reserved to healing duty. That had been stupid, her Clerics were more than good to deal with the healing, but Kassandora didn¡¯t exactly blame Fortia for assigning Kavaa to the back lines. She was a Divine, so naturally she was stronger than a mortal, but against mages? Sorcerers? Other Divines? The simple fact of the matter was that Kavaa was indeed far too useful to lose, and far too weak to enter the frontlines. ¡°But mine isn¡¯t either.¡± ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s fine.¡± Kavaa said with a light laugh. ¡°Really, I don¡¯t mind it here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good because here is the heart of this army.¡± That was true, Kavaa wasn¡¯t wasted here. Iliyal would be better of course, as would Arascus, Kassandora could take over leading CR too, but Iliyal had more useful things to do, as did Arascus, as did Kassandora. It wasn¡¯t a hard job, it simply needed a trusted hand to make sure that thievery didn¡¯t set in. Neneria could do it, Fer could too. Not Anassa though, she would run it into the ground in three months. ¡°No really Kass.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I¡¯m fine here.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I just don¡¯t want to feel as if I¡¯m just putting you on the bench again.¡± Kassandora said. Kavaa had already proved herself as a traitor, she switched sides to Kassandora¡¯s side, true. But it was a switching of sides. Maisara would have never done it, nor would have Fortia. But Kavaa did. At the end of the day, if she did it once, she may do it again. So she had to be made to feel that she was being acknowledged here, even if Kassandora had just sequestered her to being a logistician. ¡°I see what you do Kass, that¡¯s not heroics either.¡± ¡°It never is.¡± Kassandora said dryly. ¡°But I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here.¡± Kavaa blushed and looked down at the maps. Kassandora smiled, there, Kavaa¡¯s weekly praise had been done. Another job to check off the list. A knock on the door fully wiped those rosy cheeks of Kavaa. Three heavy thuds, Kassandora did not even have to ask to know who it was. ¡°Come in Iliyal.¡± The elf entered. Dark military uniform over, even a little high-pointed cap with Kassandora¡¯s emblem of a sword piercing a skull on it. He saluted and spoke. ¡°General Tremali reports, the rifle shipment to Epa has been sent off.¡± Kassandora pulled her own salute to relieve him and motioned for him to come closer. ¡°Good, I wanted to discuss this with both of you.¡± ¡°We¡¯re sending rifles to Epa?¡± Kavaa asked. The woman didn¡¯t have many annoyances, she was certainly easier to deal with than Anassa, Olephia or Fer, but the one thing Kassandora had grown to hate was the questions about everything. ¡°We are. Operation Speartip.¡± Kassandora pulled a report from her coat and gave it to Kavaa. ¡°Read through it, but I¡¯m not leaving a copy. Standard procedure, no one but those relevant to it know.¡± Kavaa would be shut up for a few minutes by the paper, it was simply an outline of Iliyal¡¯s plan to enter the Paladin Headquarters. Kassandora went back to the table that had the map of Epa and a separate map of Arika on it, important locations like the frontlines and Olympiada marked with various symbols. ¡°In general, this will shift the war.¡± Kassandora drew a line south of Lubska, to Doschia and then Rilia. ¡°We can assume a new frontline opens up here. Maybe further south if we¡¯re lucky with the other minor Epan nations joining Wissel¡¯s revolt, but we¡¯re working with the worst cases, no one joins.¡± Iliyal nodded and looked over the map. ¡°I actually don¡¯t think this is the worst case scenario.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°We don¡¯t know what sort of doctrine they use.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°We know they¡¯ve studied history but steady fronts were only used in the Great War. Worst case would be if they used Hero-doctrine, or some mutation of it through fortifying cities.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good point.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But we¡¯re not going to be fighting the war for them. Hero-doctrine would be our best case scenario because Epa would lose.¡± ¡°You want them to lose?¡± Kavaa looked up from the copy of Operation Speartip. ¡°I want to get into a situation were when the sword and the skull is raised in Epa.¡± Iliyal readjusted the cap with that emblem on it. ¡°That we enter as saviours and liberators, and not as a conquering army.¡± Winning wars was an easy thing, the real trouble came in actually securing the land. That was something Arascus was better in than her. Kassandora would have not gone with the risks Speartip brought if he didn¡¯t convince her it was necessary. ¡°I see.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°In that case, we are here to discuss how to lure Elassa down south.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Two raptors are to always be stationed by Olephia so that she can move around the country, if Elassa enters from any side but Sokolowski¡¯s or Zalewski¡¯s front, we pull Olephia to wipe them.¡± ¡°Why not those two?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°We bog her down in ground warfare.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°With surgical strikes by the KAF to drain them slowly.¡± Kavaa nodded. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to just¡­¡± Kavaa trailed off. ¡°Just kill them? With Olephia?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve not read my On War Philosophy, have you?¡± Kassandora asked and Kavaa shook her head. Kassandora turned to Iliyal. ¡°I think you¡¯ll know why we¡¯re not killing them outright, right?¡± Iliyal began immediately, he started reciting in a cold tone as if he was reading directly from her book: ¡°To kill enemy soldiers is to make them into martyrs: instead, it is much better to send them all back home instead. Send them back home. The handsome disfigured. The able crippled. The strong weak. Those who can talk mute, those who can see blind. Send them all back. Martyrdom is a seductive temptress only your own side should enjoy the company of. A heroic death makes legend. A survivor serves warning.¡± ¡°That¡¯s basically it.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It¡¯s much better to send them back crippled and to have the White Pantheon need to take care of them, rather than to kill them here. A graveyard can be tended by a few gardeners, wounded men need doctors and food, they need places to sleep, they still need to be taken care of.¡± Kassandora said shrugging as she started making marks on the map. ¡°The goal should be to drag her here, pull her into the jungles and the mountains, and drain her men there. Slowly, each day she¡¯s here, the better our situation gets at large, and the worse it gets for them.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Kavaa said as Kassandora arranged hexagons marked with symbols and letters. Olephia, Zerus and Sceo on the west. Maisara in the north. Fer, Maisara and Alkom in the east. Elassa was set around the mountains, past the lines. That still left Kassandora, Arascus, Kavaa, Iniri, Neneria, Helenna and Anassa on the edge of the table. A marker for Iliyal was placed where the Divine Armoury had once been built and Kassandora stared at the map. ¡°In the jungle¡¯s it would be best to use Fer¡¯s beastmen. They move faster across that terrain than humans.¡± Fer was moved away from the frontlines. ¡°Anassa should take Neneria¡¯s place as rapid-support if its Elassa we¡¯re facing.¡± Iliyal said and Kassandora nodded. ¡°Yes, and then Elassa could potentially be eliminated if we manage to drag her into a fight with Fer and Anassa.¡± Anassa was deployed near Elassa. ¡°Anassa can make good on cutting her numbers down too.¡± Kavaa¡¯s hexagon was moved to the jungles. ¡°And she will require healing if she¡¯s facing mages.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Iniri could replace Fer on Zalewski¡¯s front. It¡¯s in the woods and Iniri could secure that region, slow them down at least.¡± Kassandora nodded. That still left herself, Neneria and Arascus in reserve. Helenna too, but she wasn¡¯t a fighter. It was good to have a reserve, but it still felt like she was wasting her sister¡¯s power, if there was a way¡­ Wait. Kassandora stared at the map again. Allasaria was missing. Elassa would be in Arika. Zerus and Sceo were in the west. Maisara was there too. Fortia was in charge of the command, so she would most likely be close to the frontlines too. Her eyes went upwards. Iliyal would be in Lubska over there, Operation Speartip would only proceed if he had a clean route with confirmation of all White Pantheon Divines in Kirinyaa. But if all White Pantheon Divines were in Kirinyaa¡­ Who was left at the Divine Mountain? ¡°Do you see it? Where Neneria can be deployed?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°See what?¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything Goddess.¡± Iliyal said. Kassandora¡¯s finger touched the little mountain on the map that marked Olympiada. She looked up at Kavaa and Iliyal. Two expressions stared up at her in awe at the sheer recklessness of the idea. Iliyal spoke first. ¡°I see it now.¡± Chapter 169 – A Need for Work Jozef read the letter he just received from Nanbasa, it was short, and it didn¡¯t have an author, but he recognised the traces of elven calligraphy on it. The curls in the letters, to make them look like waves on a gentle ocean flowing into each other: ¡°Arcadia is rallying. I will be there soon. Get ready.¡± Fer stepped over curling jungle roots as she returned to Zalewski¡¯s camp after yet another hunt. Third of the week, the war was ramping up. Maisara was no doubt losing her mind with the constant losses she was taking. Today had been a good hunt, a large platoon of sixty Paladins had been lured into the Jungle. Zalewski¡¯s troops had escaped from them, and they followed into the impassable jungles that inhabited this area. Fer had gotten her Code-One-Yellow alert, the signal that she and her forces were needed. Zalewski already had ambush locations scouted out, by that point, it had merely gotten to just getting there before the Paladins did. They had two mages as support. Elassa must be hurting too with her losses. Paladins took a matter of months to replace, or they did in the Great War. Mages, even with the most brutal of trainings, were an expensive investment. It took years to replace even one of them. And so, the Maisara¡¯s armies had been reorganised. From the teams of a dozen to simply a pair. It didn¡¯t matter much if a mage faced ten or a hundred men, and a dozen per platoon was simply overkill for what they were needed for. Likewise, just as it didn¡¯t matter how many mundane men a mage faced, it didn¡¯t matter how mages a Divine such as Fer or Anassa faced. The greatest hunt of this war so far had been Anassa¡¯s attack on fifty mages. It had lasted all of a minute, and Anassa was the only one who had left that battlefield. So Fer had assembled the fastest blood she had. And she had ran across the jungles with her pack behind her. Fifty beastmen waited on a cliff, all armed with rifle and grenade and machine gun for Zalewski¡¯s retreating forces. They had passed by, and then the chasing Paladins had come into the clearing. The beastmen opened fire, the mages put up barriers, and Fer had jumped down from the cliff. Fer flicked her hand in attempt to get the dried blood off. It didn¡¯t work, so she merely started to lick her fingers and get the redness off. That worked at least. She circled around a tree and decided she wouldn¡¯t be heading back to Logar to give him a report. She wouldn¡¯t be doing it if little Kassie didn¡¯t want them, and if she hadn¡¯t be told to why she should. Kassandora demanded to know the exact numbers of the dead, hers and theirs. ¡°Logar.¡± Fer growled, her throat rumbled across the jungle and the nearby birds went quiet. ¡°Here Packmaster!¡± Logar shouted from close behind her. The wolfman always kept close. ¡°Losses and casualties.¡± Fer knew them, she was just checking if the man had them correct. ¡°Sixty-four Paladins, two magicians, seventeen of Zalewski¡¯s men, none of the pack.¡± Logar shouted back immediately. ¡°Good.¡± Fer said. ¡°Go report to Zalewski in my place.¡± ¡°Yes Packmaster!¡± Logar shouted back, Fer didn¡¯t even turn to look at him. ¡°The rest of you, return.¡± She shouted and turned directions. There was a stream nearby and she didn¡¯t particularly like the taste of blood tainted by Maisara. It was a mix of bitter vegetable and cold mint, two flavours that really did not complement each other. Kassie¡¯s was much better, Kavaa¡¯s too. Maisara¡¯s had always been disgusting and Fer suspected it always will be. ¡°Yes Packmaster!¡± The rest of the beastmen shouted back. The din clicking rifles, roots and twigs being snapped, bushes being ploughed through was drowned out for a moment with their cry, but then it returned. Fer immediately set off and made a turn North. When it came to directions, she liked to think of herself being as good as Kassie. The only difference was that Kassie knew how she was sure, she would look at moss on trees, feel the breeze through her hair and calculate based off the Sun¡¯s position. Fer on the other hand simply felt what direction to go. She trekked alone through the jungle as the blood stuck to her, until she came to a clearing. It was rough ground this far north, although here the jungle intersected with part of the central Kirinyaan mountains. Plenty of ravines and cliffs, some hidden by bushes and trees, others out in the open as the woods got sparser. It was impassable land for a large army, although maybe that was why Maisara had such issue with conquering the area. Even Alkom¡¯s Sun, the few times he had been deployed onto the field, would only scorch an area and then the God had to leave to recover. Fer stopped at the edge of a cliff and looked down. She had found it again, a small pool of cool clear water. There was a waterfall close by, a small one, coming from the melting snow-caps of the mountains in the distance. Fer threw all her clothes off. It was a simple shirt of hard leather and a battle skirt. Heavy too, although it would be considering the shirt had enough leather to make a whole coat for a mortal man. It was also covered in blood, with a few scratches where she had been callous and allowed herself to be touched.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Fer scrunched everything into a ball and threw it into the water at the bottom of the cliff, and then dived in herself. The clothes slowly made a splash, and Fer¡¯s hands cut into the water like a splash. She burst forth from the water¡¯s surface, floated on it, and slowly drifted to the edge. Eyes closed, this was perfect. Fer felt the cool water run past her as it picked and scrubbed flakes of blood off her body. She smiled to herself and started humming a tune, an old marching one. This was perfect, she drank the water and submerged into it to scrub her legs clean. And then Fer jumped up again, hair flinging a stream of water away. She saw black boots with a tall heel in the air, they burst out from red silk. Her eyes travelled further up to meet a sour face, two crimson eyes framed by black hair. ¡°I see I¡¯m the only one working.¡± Anassa¡¯s said, she was as sour as a lemon today. ¡°I just finished for today.¡± Fer said and let herself fall backwards to sit on the rocks. A human wouldn¡¯t be able to do it, but she was tall enough for the water to only go up to her shoulders. Her ears bounced and she shook her head quickly from side to side to get the water out of them. ¡°Lovely to see you Ana.¡± Fer said happily, then splashed her sister with water. Anassa did not even react, the water simply stopped in mid-air, then fell back into the lake. ¡°You finished?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Fer said earnestly. Anassa shook her head and sighed. ¡°And Kass didn¡¯t give you anything to do?¡± Anassa said from above. Fer flicked a drop of water at her. It got caught again. ¡°Why would she give me anything to do?¡± Fer gave up trying to splash Anassa and just leaned back in water, staring up at the cloudless blue sky above them. The view was only slightly disturbed by the cliff, the running water and the canopies of tall trees. ¡°WELL THEN WHY I DO HAVE WORK?¡± Fer rolled her eyes at Anassa¡¯s shout. Anassa was always like this. She hated not working, that was an insult to her because it meant she wasn¡¯t important enough to be useful, and she hated working, because whatever people thought, Divines could not do everything. ¡°Do you not want to?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I DO!¡± Anassa shouted back. ¡°So what¡¯s the problem?¡± Fer said and Anassa stammered out some odd sounds that struggled to form a word. ¡°What are you doing anyway?¡± ¡°I¡¯m searching for candidates.¡± Anassa replied and Fer watched a cloud appear from behind the cliff. That meant Anassa was recruiting sorcerers again. ¡°Have you found any?¡± ¡°Two-hundred and thirty.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Twenty-eight made it.¡± Anassa said it flatly. Fer smiled up and splashed Anassa again. Once again, Anassa merely moved her hand and the water stopped in mid-air, then dropped back down. ¡°Fer¡­¡± She said slowly. ¡°That¡¯s not a good ratio.¡± Fer said. ¡°In the best it was one in five.¡± Anassa said. ¡°One in ten isn¡¯t much worse.¡± ¡°That¡¯s twice as bad.¡± Fer said and Anassa made a sarcastic clap. ¡°I¡¯m so happy you can double numbers.¡± Anassa said dryly and Fer burst out in laughter. She splashed Anassa again. The hand wave was a swing this time, and it came faster. ¡°Will you stop that?!¡± Anassa scowled the words out. ¡°You¡¯re disturbing me.¡± Fer made her tone as sweet and as annoying as she could. ¡°So? Why did you come to visit me? Do you want me to scrub you back?¡± Fer got up, turned around and pulled her hair over front. ¡°Or scrub mine since you¡¯re here.¡± Fer bounced when she felt something smack her rear. She jumped up and turned back around, Anassa was still there, arms crossed, staring down at her. Glare on her face and eyes brimming with fury. ¡°Are you serious?¡± Anassa said flatly. Fer shrugged and collapsed into the cool water again. Once again, the water did not touch Anassa. ¡°I tried, so what are you here for? You know I love you but¡­¡± Fer trailed off and made a stupid grin. ¡°You¡¯re annoying.¡± ¡°Kass told me to tell you to start moving the herds back to CR. Trek, not fly. You¡¯re to stop near some location on the map, Zalewski has it. Don¡¯t even ask me, I don¡¯t know where.¡± Fer smiled up as she closed her eyes and let herself float in the water. The currents slowly started to carry her around the lake. She thought on what it meant, there was only one thing that made sense. ¡°So Elassa is finally making her move?¡± Anassa stared at Fer from the air. ¡°Do you think I know that?¡± Fer rolled her eyes. Of course Anassa wouldn¡¯t know. ¡°This is why you get sent off on the terrible jobs, you know.¡± Fer said. She saw the chance to get Anassa wet, and let the currents carry her further, towards Anassa. ¡°I don¡¯t know actually, thanks for telling me!¡± Anassa once again moaned from above. ¡°Are you brining something to eat at least?¡± Fer said sarcastically. ¡°Honestly, imagine coming to the Goddess of Beasthood without food.¡± ¡°Imagine coming before the Goddess of Sorcery and not dressing.¡± Fer saw Anassa slowly lose her cool. There it was. ¡°Excuse me.¡± Fer said. ¡°But the Goddess of Sorcery appeared before me. That¡¯s not my fault.¡± ¡°At least cover yourself up!¡± Fer grinned up, now she had caught Anassa in her trap. ¡°Scared that Beasthood outcompetes you?¡± Fer snickered from below as she dragged her hands along her torso. The current carried her to below Anassa. ¡°Not another word.¡± ¡°Men grow tired of noble queens, don¡¯t you think they prefer something more¡­¡± Fer made a purpose pause to add effect. Anassa was already cooking with rage, and when she got mad, her reactions became slower. ¡°Feral?¡± Fer made the word as alluring as she could manage. ¡°I actually, utterly, wholeheartedly despise-¡° Anassa began slowly, then realised Fer had caught hold of her leg. The expression immediately changed, from the one that was bursting in anger to one of panic. Anassa was fast, she could teleport, but Fer had long worked out how the woman¡¯s insane powers worked. Or she thought she did anyway. Or rather, she simply that Anassa could not escape once she was grabbed, however that happened. ¡°If you do this Fer.¡± Anassa said slowly. Sorcerous energies crackled around her. ¡°Do what?¡± Fer said, her feet barely touched the floor in this deep pool. ¡°Pull me in.¡± ¡°Oh sister, you know me.¡± Fer cooed from below. ¡°You know I love you. And you know I know you hate ruining your hair. Would I ever pull you in?¡± Anassa raised an eyebrow and wiggled her boots. Fer gripped tighter, she would not slip out. ¡°You would.¡± Anassa said after a second of silence. And Fer did. Chapter 170 – Overwatch Elassa stepped onto the yellow desert sands. Fortia¡¯s camp lay south. Arcadia¡¯s airfleet was landing now onto the runways prepared by magicians who had been sent off earlier. Ten planes. Twenty. Forty. Their doors opened, men spilled out without the engines even being switched off, and then plane picked up speed immediately to free up the runway for the next. They would return fly back to Arcadia, and then fly back with another hundred men. Elassa raised into the air as Fortia appeared at the edge of her camp. Fortia had been suffering in the war, Kassandora¡¯s modern weaponry had proven simply too effective, her manoeuvring and stalling too easily managed to stall the armies the White Pantheon had brought. They had been overeager with Kirinyaa¡¯s peace-keeping mission. Kassandora, very simply, was too skilled at warfare to be defeated in strategy or tactics. Elassa rose higher as she turned to look at how many of her magicians had arrived already. They spread out and formed teams. Kassandora was good, but that didn¡¯t mean Kassandora was unstoppable. As had been done in the past, so shall be done now. Kassandora will be defeated, with the overwhelming force of Arcadia and the unending treasuries of the White Pantheon. Elassa could only smile as two planes set off after releasing their cargo of a hundred men, and then they took off. Half a minute later, their runways already had new planes depositing men. It was over for Kassandora, she simply didn¡¯t know it yet. ¡°Lyca here.¡± Edmonton turned the little knob on his radio to make Lyca¡¯s voice louder in his ear. The amount of sorcerers had been whittled down over the past month and a half, since the battle with Waeh, but reinforcements were coming in. Untrained and barely awakened men Anassa had managed to find Kassandora¡¯s armies, but the numbers made for good bodies. Simply to serve as shields if nothing else. ¡°I copy you.¡± Edmonton replied. They had been tasked on monitoring the advance of Elassa, if Elassa was even coming. As of now though, they had barely any communication with Sokolowski, the man was busy organising a retreat from the desert and into the mountains, even less with Kassandora, and Anassa had become an elusive mirage. She would appear in the camp every few days, another team of fresh meat behind her, dump them on the ground, and then tell Edmonton, Lyca, Fleur and Eliza to sort it out amongst themselves. So they did, no one wanted the fresh meat, but when foisted upon you by Anassa, there was little one could do to argue back. ¡°Same, same.¡± Eliza said, there was a tap on her end. ¡°Does this thing work? Hello?¡± Eliza repeated the question a few more times, then swore and gave up. Lyca¡¯s voice immediately filled the silence. ¡°Only one person can broadcast at a time.¡± He said. ¡°You have to let go of the button and then we can answer.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Eliza said. ¡°I see, thanks!¡± She added cheerfully. Edmonton raised higher into the air and looked out over the desert. They hadn¡¯t brought their teams with them today, it was merely Edmonton, Eliza, Fleur and Lyca in the empty cloudless desert. Some fifty miles north of Sokolowski¡¯s camp, far enough to give warning, but close enough to make it back within the range of Sokolowski¡¯s Lemur artillery in case someone approached. Nothing but the breeze did, it rolled in from the west like a silken shawl being lazily dragged through the air. ¡°I hate this thing.¡± Fleur¡¯s voice came in. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°Couldn¡¯t work it out.¡± Fleur replied. ¡°I¡¯m too old for this.¡± Edmonton smiled to himself. ¡°You¡¯re twenty!¡± Lyca¡¯s voice ripped through the gentle breeze. ¡°Yeah well I¡¯m too old still!¡± Fleur shouted back. Edmonton tried to speak, but the line was still taken. He merely sighed and looked to the sides. His friends were visible in the air, they were also simply standing and watching. ¡°What? No reply?¡± Fleur asked. ¡°I hate this thi-¡° Her voice cut off, she must have clicked the button. Most likely everyone seized the chance to hog the radio signal, Lyca managed it first. ¡°There we go!¡± It was an art how Lyca managed to sound smug even over the crackling radio. ¡°See, you can work it out!¡± ¡°I hate you.¡± Fleur said dryly. This time, she remembered to switch her line off. ¡°You get used to it.¡± Edmonton said. ¡°You can just flick it with sorcery, it¡¯s pretty good.¡± Lyca said. Eliza¡¯s voice barked through the radio. ¡°You can?¡± She sounded honestly astounded. Edmonton shook his head and continued staring north. The sea of yellow sand ended and the cloudless ocean of light blue began. The Sun was behind them, it most likely would have been deadly hot if they didn¡¯t spend a month getting acclimated to the desert. Everyone had found their method, Fleur always had a little parasol above her, casting her into the shade. Eliza would conjure up a solid square barrier of crimson, as did Edmonton. Lyca merely toughed it out. Eliza cut off, then she cut on again. ¡°Oh! You can!¡± Edmonton tried doing it the moment Eliza cut off. He pressed the button with sorcery, it was done as easily as moving his fingers. He didn¡¯t even bother to try and comprehend the logistics behind it anymore, all he knew was that he could do it, and so he would do it. ¡°Well that¡¯s helpful.¡± Edmonton said as he kept watching. Honestly, this wasn¡¯t a bad job. They didn¡¯t like it at first, they moaned and complained, but eventually the conversation and chatter had started to flow. ¡°I have a question.¡± Lyca said. From the tone of his voice, it was obvious it was going to be a stupid question. ¡°Hello? Anyone? Oh right, I¡¯m online still.¡± Lyca switched off.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Whoever made it push-to-talk should just honestly end themselves.¡± Eliza groaned. ¡°But yeah, what¡¯s your question?¡± Fleur managed to get on the line before Lyca did this time. ¡°If it¡¯s something stupid, I¡¯m not answering it.¡± She said dryly. ¡°It¡¯s not, which one is your favourite Divine?¡± Lyca said. Fleur came back on the moment he switched off. ¡°I¡¯m not answering that.¡± Lyca clicked on, not annoyed, simply smug with himself. ¡°You don¡¯t have to answer that, we know yours is Anassa anyway.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not even going to bother.¡± Fleur said dryly. It was a horrid tone, but there was that curl of enjoyment in it. ¡°Mine is Kavaa or Kassandora probably. I like Fer too.¡± Eliza said, she then groaned. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I like all of them.¡± ¡°Mm.¡± Lyca said when he took over the line. ¡°I like Fer. She¡¯s my favourite.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this question even about?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°I¡¯m just passing the time.¡± Lyca replied innocently. ¡°So Ed, who?¡± Edmonton thought for a moment. He supposed he liked all of them, some more than others, but there wasn¡¯t one he could point to and say they were his favourite. Fer was the most enjoyable to be around, although she was like that to everyone. Kassandora was competent, but the only time Edmonton had actually talked to her was when she was either receiving a report or giving orders. Anassa? Edmonton thought about Anassa. She was¡­ well, she was Anassa. He didn¡¯t know if he was afraid of her, or if he idolized her, or what. Anassa was simply Anassa, his teacher, but she had never given an explanation that was satisfying. Her explanations of sorcery¡¯s inner workings answered what he wanted to know, and then followed up by asking two more questions. And Anassa was loud. And annoying. And frankly, whenever Anassa appeared Edmonton would silently pray she attending to Kassandora¡¯s orders and not her own whims. So it wasn¡¯t Anassa. ¡°Neneria.¡± Edmonton finally gave a reply. ¡°What!?¡± Fleur shouted over the line. She cut off, and Lyca cut on mid-laughter. Lyca had to finish his cackling before he managed to get a word out. ¡°You know, I bet that you¡¯d pick her!¡± Fleur cut on again. ¡°Why Neneria?¡± Edmonton rolled his eyes. Why did the others not need an explanation? ¡°She¡¯s nice?¡± Edmonton asked. Lyca cut in only to laugh, and then cut off. Fleur came in. ¡°Nice? We¡¯ve met her! On Operation Misfortune, remember?¡± ¡°I do!¡± Edmonton shouted into his earpiece once Fleur left the line. ¡°She was very nice and polite to us!¡± ¡°WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?¡± Fleur shouted. ¡°She said all of five words to us!¡± Edmonton was about to reply, but Lyca managed to hog the line again. He was a chortling pig with all his laughter. ¡°Listen here Fleur, let me explain it to you.¡± He said after managing to calm himself down. ¡°You¡¯re thinking too deeply on it, Ed¡¯s not that deep.¡± There was a moment of silence as Lyca built up the tension. ¡°Ed likes pale girls with dark hair, simple as.¡± He burst out in laughter in as Edmonton saw Fleur, a mile in the air to his right burst out in anger. Why was she even getting mad? Nevertheless, Fleur did get mad. A red blast of sorcerous energies soared over Edmonton¡¯s head and towards Lyca. The man a mile to Edmonton¡¯s left put up a barrier and dispelled Fleur¡¯s sorceries, then summoned glowing letters above himself: ¡®Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.¡¯ It was amazing how the man managed to make his own text seem smug, with the light flicks on the end of every letter. Eliza¡¯s voice came in to scold them. ¡°You lot are so immature.¡± ¡°You like it though.¡± Lyca came in the moment she freed up the airwaves. ¡°I do.¡± Eliza admitted coyly. She, Edmonton had to admit it was rather smart, changed the topic. ¡°Do you have any plans for after?¡± ¡°After the war?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°Mmh.¡± Eliza came in for a second. Fleur was the first to answer. ¡°I honestly do not know.¡± She said dryly, obviously unhappy with the answer. ¡°Too much to think about realistically, too many things can happen so I can¡¯t say.¡± ¡°I thought you would say you¡¯d stay with Anassa.¡± Lyca came in. Fleur cut into the airwaves with a laugh. ¡°Never, Kassandora I wouldn¡¯t mind, but not Anassa.¡± Edmonton laughed out loud at that. They really did get the short end of the stick when it came to Goddesses. Kassandora was practically a Saint in her army, Fer was fun and liked by everyone. Kavaa was loved by Clerics and others alike for her abilities, Olephia was supposedly quiet pleasant from what Edmonton had come to hear. Arascus was a natural leader who inspired. Even Neneria, who was terrifying in her silences, generally left everyone alone. And they got Anassa. Anassa, who was moody and brutal and feared and cruel. ¡°I want to settle down.¡± Eliza said earnestly. ¡°After everything I mean, after the war is finished.¡± ¡°Already?!¡± Fleur said through the speaker, she honestly sounded shocked. ¡°Why not?¡± Eliza said. ¡°I¡¯ve gotten enough excitement to last me a lifetime already.¡± Lyca cut in, snickering as he spoke. ¡°Watch out Fleur, baby fever¡¯s going to get you too.¡± ¡°I HATE YOU!¡± Fleur shouted back, not through the speaker, she simply used sorcery to amplify her voice. Another wave of crimson energy spiralled past Edmonton¡¯s head, it was faster and hotter this time. And once again, Lyca hit it with a swing of his, and once again set up a taunting message in the sky: ¡®Nice try! Better luck next time!¡¯ ¡°It¡¯s not baby fever.¡± Eliza cut in through the speaker. ¡°But I just don¡¯t like putting my life on the line.¡± She fell silent for a moment, but stayed on the airwaves. After a few long seconds, Eliza spoke again. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I mean, I just want to settle down and not have to worry if I¡¯m going to wake up to Anassa shouting at me or an alarm.¡± ¡°How many?¡± Lyca asked, his voice dead serious. ¡°How many what?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°Kids.¡± Lyca answered flatly. Eliza was chuckling when she came back online. ¡°I suppose the more the merrier. I have four siblings at home, it¡¯s nice.¡± ¡°So we¡¯re going for six?¡± Lyca replied. Edmonton sighed. Supposedly they were here to serve as early-warning systems, and here they were discussing future families. ¡°I understand young love is beautiful but can you have this conversation some other time?¡± Fleur interrupted them. ¡°We are?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°Young love? What are you, a hag?¡± Fleur was about to reply, Edmonton knew she was, but he cut her off, something moved on the horizon towards the north. ¡°North! I see something!¡± Edmonton shouted as he watched that dark dot glow against the cloudless desert sky. Lyca came in, his mood immediately changed. The jovial tone had been replaced by that hungry voice he always had when battle was on the horizon ¡°If it¡¯s just one or two, we take them, right?¡± Lyca asked. ¡°Slow them down at least.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s one or two.¡± Eliza¡¯s voice was shaky as she radioed back. Edmonton watched that single spot grow larger and larger as it came from the horizon. Men marching on the ground in Fortia¡¯s classical golden-bronze armour, armed with heavy tower shield and spear. They were led by minor Divines that towered over them. Those, Edmonton did not worry about. What worried him was the flock of people circling above them like a murder of hungry crows. Everyone in a coloured robe, from dark blues to light pale yellows, all hovering in a formation as they matched the pace of the army below them. ¡°That is not one or two.¡± Eliza said again. ¡°Fall back and inform Sokolowski.¡± Edmonton was already turning, he gave one last glance at the amount of mages. It was as if all Arcadia had decided to descend on them. More than a thousand, easily. Probably more than two thousand. Kassandora better have some plan ready. Chapter 171 – A Taste of Magic Elassa watched more black dots in blue sky pass over her army. Too fast and too high to bring down, she could probably give chase and catch one, but the chance of being lured into a trap was something she was not willing to risk. They weren¡¯t doing anything aggressive anyway, instead Fortia said they were simply scouts. They would fly over roughly ever two hours, make a circle around her and then fly back south to report. Damian Sokolowski peeked out from behind a rock, binoculars close to his eyes as he lay close to the with his command team. They had managed to pull three quarters of First Division back into the cover of the mountains already, a tenth was still retreating, and the rest had been left as a rearguard. It was a suicide mission, of course, but the sorcerers had only given an hour of advance warning. That past hour had been chaos as Sokolowski reorganised his men. Platoons were hastily loaded into trucks, what ammunition could be taken was. What arms fit onto the trucks were. Two Binturongs were still being repaired, the sorcerers had been given instruction to crush them into tiny metal balls to stop the technology from falling into enemy hands. The guns that didn¡¯t fit though, Kassandora already given her permission for those to be left behind. The soldiers themselves were more important than mass produced small arms. The only thing that Kassandora to not leave behind, besides the artillery, were the trucks. Those which could still drive she driven, those which were being repaired should be destroyed to irreparability. Sappers had made short work of those. And then Kassandora gave Sokolowski total freedom. She told him exactly what was happening. Elassa was incoming, she would have mages number in the thousands, if not tens of thousands, and he would not get Divine support whilst the retreat was ongoing. Elassa was to be lured south, towards CR if impossible, but her flying corps had to be separated from Fortia¡¯s ground army. And Sokolowski was bait. He unfurled her letter and read the last line again: ¡®I am sure you¡¯re aware we have never had the best relationship with Lady Luck. I have never wished for Luck, nor can I see myself ever doing it. I wish you a cool head and that your skill may prevail. You have my blessing, General Damian Sokolowski. It calmed Sokolowski as he lay there on his stomach. He had her blessing, maybe this was why Iliyal was so fanatical about Kassandora, it was an addicting feeling, for Kassandora herself to say she needed you. Damian couldn¡¯t even explain why he liked it so much, he simply did. And so he kept watching, Pawel, Mateusz and Wiktor were close by. Pawel also looking through binoculars, Mateusz and Wiktor were simply sat with guns. The team had hidden themselves near the entrance of a tunnel that had been carved out just weeks before. Kassandora didn¡¯t even order it, Sokolowski had told the sorcerers to clear turn the mountains near the edge of the desert into a labyrinthian network of mazes. If Fortia found them, she would spend a week at least scouting everything out, if she didn¡¯t, then Sokolowski had a place to retreat to when Elassa passed over. They were all wearing heavy rugged clothes, the nights here got cold, the winds would roar when night set, and further south the mountains got taller until they were snow-capped. And they were camouflaged, mixtures of browns and reds and yellows to fit in with the stony mountains of red rock that separated the desert from the jungle. ¡°You see that?¡± Pawel asked. Of course Sokolowski saw it, it was impossible to miss. On the horizon was a black spot was appearing, Damian didn¡¯t even need his binoculars to see it. Hovering high and practically devouring the desert sands below it as it soared higher and higher, until it was just a mass of bodies against the light-blue sky. Damian grabbed the radio that hung off a wire fixed to his coat. ¡°This is General Sokolowski, speaking to all lieutenants still in base camp.¡± He took a breath and let them all respond. A half dozen names reported that they were still there. ¡°Elassa is approaching. Hold her off for as long as possible.¡± Sokolowski thought of what else to say, the men would need some morale. ¡°Gentlemen.¡± He made his tone softer. ¡°It¡¯s been a pleasure serving with you. You have Kassandora¡¯s blessing. May we meet again.¡± And Sokolowski put his radio down. He grabbed his binoculars and peered through them, at the camp this time, not the mass of approaching mages. Behind him, Mateusz and Wiktor both pulled their rifles off their backs and checked if they were loaded. They weren¡¯t planning to shoot, but sometimes it was better to prepare for the worst. Damian saw his lieutenants start to scramble as they issued order after order. Men started to run, they dived into trenches with arms full of magazines and rifles from storehouses. Other separated into pairs and claimed the heavy machine guns that were mounted on tripods, others climbed towers, a few dashes to fire from under the cover of sheets that had been leftover. Back when Damian was the leader of the Twin Hearts, it was only in his dreams that men responded so quickly to orders. There was fear, there was self-interested need for survival, there was worry and there were regrets. Men would push them down of course, but to spring into action so quickly was simply unheard of.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. But then, Damian knew he had changed too since receiving Kassandora¡¯s blessing, it made him calmer, he had stopped having the flashes of fear about what happened if they failed, he knew he was changing. But he didn¡¯t worry about it, the changes simply made perfect sense. Kassandora would not hurt her own soldiers without purpose, she wasn¡¯t Anassa. So Damian accepted her blessing, and all the changes it brought. One man rose into the air, Sokolowski narrowed his eyebrow and radioed base camp again. ¡°Why is there a sorcerer still in the camp? Over.¡± The reply came swiftly. A man with a hard voice speaking clearly, as if Elassa¡¯s horde wasn¡¯t about to descend on him. ¡°We asked about too, apparently he pissed off the Ambelee girl and was told to stay behind.¡± He took a breath, then spoke again. ¡°Apologies for the language, General. Over.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Over and out.¡± It was Kassandora¡¯s order that the sorcerers stay alive for as long as possible, but that was something he could do nothing about. He¡¯d put it into a report and explain the situation if he survived this. Kassandora should understand what dealing with sorcerers was like. And the four men, high atop a mountain path, a mere few steps away from the entrance of a tunnel, watched Elassa¡¯s army move through the air. Sokolowski called for an artillery strike from the retreating Lemurs. They were behind him, on the mountain roads, but they should still be able to fire. Artillery from Fifth and Sixth Division too. The cannons pounded like war drums, each gun unleashing one volley before restarting its escape. Sokolowski wondered how many of them would make it. A minute passed. In that one minute, Elassa¡¯s army had crossed from the horizon to the base camp, and the shells flew from their barrels to just above it. Sokolowski watched the reactions of the men as his soldiers opened fire. Gunshots rang out in a crazed fashion, a thousand percussion sets entirely out of tune and playing their own rhythm. And Damian moved his binoculars to the group of mages. Now that they were close, he saw that it wasn¡¯t merely a collection of men. There was structure to their formation. They made up pyramid after pyramid, tightly clumped together, the magicians at the bottom held their staves aimed at the man above them, who in turned aimed his higher, and higher and higher it went. Other mages made circular rings about the formation, holding the staves as if ready to intercept something. Damian watched the air harden, they wizards became blurry, as if they were stood behind a dirty pane of glass. Bullets crushed themselves on impact against that barrier, a stream of machine gun rounds made a line as the man operating it swerved his turret in the general direction. Bullets started falling into the desert sands below them. ¡°There she is.¡± Mateusz said dryly. Damian put the binoculars down and looked at the camp below them. The swarm of magicians was easily two thousand strong, maybe even more. And high above, in a dark blue dress, arms crossed with a staff floating by her side, was Elassa. She watched over the¡­ Damian thought what to call it, it wasn¡¯t a battle, it was a show of power. Even if he had left a million men, he doubted he could overwhelm the shield the mages put up. And then the artillery shells hit. Elassa moved away from the blast, and then stopped when she realised the explosion would not travel further. Napalm blew up brilliantly, into a colourful explosions of oranges and reds and yellows, the flames roaring and scarring the sky with a wound of tar-black smoke. And then Elassa moved her staff. The napalm extinguished itself. The shield moved and curved, and the jelly started to slowly drip off. ¡°Certification.¡± Pawel said slowly. Damian rolled his eyes, he already knew what was coming. ¡°Would.¡± Pawel finished. The men shared a few chuckles amongst themselves, but this was worse than facing Fortia. At least that monster could not fly. They had not even defeated her yet and already the White Pantheon was sending a stronger foe. Elassa shouted something Damian did not catch, her voice boomed across the desert, then echoed back. And the shield expanded. The gems on the edges of staves started to glow bright, as if they were torches that had been dipped into the napalm they had just put out. All of them did, the men on the bottom of the pyramids raised their staves. Gems started to glow bright, the men stood at the top of their pyramids aimed their staves forwards and down, at the Sokolowski¡¯s camp. In one instant, the shield dropped. Some twenty mages were hit by the guns still firing. They fell to the ground, blood spurting from lifeless bodies in long trails. And then, the magicians returned the favour. Beams burst forth from the men at the top of each pyramid. They sliced through the camp without pause, devouring tent and man and clothe alike, and turning the sand it touched into a dirty black-brown glass. Damian¡¯s eyes across the damage, the shield returned, the men he had left behind managed to down some thirty of the magicians. Sokolowski had left a thousand men in that camp, a thousand lives given for forty. That wasn¡¯t an exchange rate he would ever feel proud of. His eyes travelled up to Elassa, the Goddess lowered herself back towards the mass of mages. Whatever bullets flew towards her simply hit a barrier in the air. They dropped to the ground as Damian watched Elassa chant some spell. And then Elassa swung her staff. And the ground opened up, the camp split as a ravine suddenly segmented it. And the winds started blowing, pulling the sands up in tiny tornadoes. And the tents and remains of the camp set alight as if they were doused in petrol. And the air condensed into water to wash everything into that ravine. Damian and his team retreated into the cave. They had joked of being able to snipe Elassa. Those jokes would never be heard by human ears again. That thing in the sky wasn¡¯t just some Divine, it was a monster incarnate. What separates children from adults is that children destroy, adults build. I am a Divine of course, so I cannot be childish. But magic needs a certain childish curiosity to be used at its full potential. I would say that I am very much in touch with my inner child. - Excerpt from Elassa¡¯s Diary. Chapter 172 – Magic Unstoppable, War Unbeaten Iliyal took long steps as he marched in front of the line of men, his eyes flicking over them as they stood in silence. There was a line of police officers them, and each of the prisoners looked on with hard eyes as they met his gaze. No one backed away, no one said so much as a whisper. A few were scarred, every man was either huge like a bear or lean like a jaguar. A few had bruises on their knuckles, no one seemed to mind the fact they were in dirty clothes either, nor did they react to the bite of the night¡¯s cold winds. He was impressed. Honestly, they weren¡¯t half-bad. He could make use of people like this. Kassandora walked around her map of Kirinyaa once again, in her black uniform, coat trailing behind her as she made long strides akin to military marches, each footstep a slam of her boot against the wooden floor. Was it bad? She supposed it was. Maybe other people would panic about the situation and throw in the towel, maybe they would wave the white flag and surrender in some vain hope for mercy or maybe they would simply panic and be brought to paralysis by the thousands of things to do and manage. In fact, it wasn¡¯t bad. It was beyond terrible. Elassa¡¯s mages destroyed what remained of Sokolowski¡¯s army-centre. It wasn¡¯t so much a counter-attack after Fortia¡¯s failed assault with Waeh but a total and crushing push, army-centre had effectively ceased to exist. They were looking at a solid average of a third across all of Sokolowski¡¯s twelve divisions, with the Ninth and Eleventh Infantry reporting total losses. Ninth Infantry had lost all of its officers and staff, the reports had been submitted by some Clerical auxiliaries to Kavaa and then passed on to Kassandora. That was another thing to fix, troopers needed to know that if the chain of command broken, they should report to the Goddess of War directly. ¡°So it¡¯s gone.¡± Kavaa said. She was the chief logistician, so she was practically always at Central Requisition. Iniri had been recalled too, Kassandora was preparing for a siege. The first thing to fail in sieges was the food, then it¡¯d be the morale. The two Goddesses stood there as Kassandora stalked around the table, both in their black HAUPT uniforms. Long coats and leather boots that curled around the calf, Kavaa had her emblem in silver stamped onto her tall black cap and belt, a winged staff with a snake coiling around it. Iniri had a tree with roots flaring out to tall sides. ¡°Properly gone, there is no Army Centre anymore.¡± Kassandora stalked around the table again. She didn¡¯t even need these two here, she just wanted to share her joy with someone. She felt it honestly this time, it wasn¡¯t the sweltering heat of battle, where instinct dominated long reasoning and actions had to be instant. No, this was the searing joyous heat of a war. The orchestra was playing constantly in her mind now, it never turned off. No matter if she was planning or looking through her men to perform inspections, this feeling¡­ This feeling, put very simply, is what she needed. ¡°Army Centre has successfully pulled back to the mountains.¡± Kassandora¡¯s voice boomed throughout the wooden room. It was inside of one Helenna¡¯s massive oak trees she grew to quickly grow CR. Arascus had said the trees could be turned into a tourist location once the war was over. ¡°Currently, we have around eighty thousand men garrisoning the Central Mountain Range. Sokolowski¡¯s artillery has been hidden, we¡¯ve lost roughly half the guns. None were reclaimed.¡± Kassandora wagged her finger at Kavaa and Iniri. ¡°That¡¯s the important part.¡± Kavaa flicked her pale grey hair away, those eyes of the same colour didn¡¯t look impressed. Iniri smiled, giggled nervously, and nodded. ¡°So?¡± The Goddess of Nature managed to squeak out the one word. ¡°So I had been aiming for fourty thousand to make it in the retreat.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°We have double that. Sokolowski can command, Iliyal would have pulled out maybe ninety thousand, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do better either.¡± ¡°You could not?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°If I was there, Elassa would hunt me down and give chase.¡± For once, Kassandora did not mind the questions. The drums in her head began another chorus, men began to train outside. Practice with the new artillery rounds that had timed fuses. There was no sound though, the tree insulated them from the outside¡¯s prying eyes and ears. ¡°So we¡¯d be down me, and most likely some fifty thousand.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Kavaa said. Kassandora did not care one bit if Kavaa saw or not, right now, she was enjoying the sound of her own voice. ¡°Elassa won¡¯t be able to push to us immediately. Even given that her entire army flies.¡± That, Kassandora did not expect. It had been planned for, of course, as everything was, but the better move was to advance in a sweeping line with Guardians and Paladins serving as meat shields for the mages. ¡°Elassa herself won¡¯t come here alone.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Because we have Anassa, Fer, Olephia, you two and me.¡± Kassandora raised her arms, stood before the map, on the other side of the table to the two Goddesses, and slammed her palms down. It was one solid chunk of wood, simply grown out of the floor through Iniri¡¯s magic, but it still somehow gave a shake underneath her weight. ¡°Even if it was just Anassa and Olephia, would you risk an engagement like that?¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Mmh.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°So we¡¯re letting her come to us?¡± ¡°Indeed!¡± Kassandora shouted excitedly. ¡°I give them one week, they crossed a third of the mountain range today, so three days for the mountains, four days for the Jungle.¡± ¡°And if they don¡¯t?¡± Kavaa asked, her eyes narrowing as she put her finger down onto the map of Kirinyaa. The mountains curled around towards the west. Below it was a massive natural jungle, one of the last ones remaining in Arika that weren¡¯t tainted by the creeping woods that Kassandora had initiated the Reclamation War on. ¡°They could circle east and cut off Zalewski¡¯s front from supplies. Then Maisara comes down to smash them, the coast is open and it¡¯s¡­¡± She looked up. ¡°Well, it¡¯s over.¡± ¡°But they will.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Because we¡¯ll make them.¡± ¡°How?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°If they do stop, which I doubt in the first place, Fer is already somewhere here.¡± Kassandora used her finger to draw a circle close to Kavaa¡¯s. ¡°Can you afford to stay in a Jungle when the trees have eyes? When every leaf could have a gun behind it?¡± Kassandora didn¡¯t let Kavaa answer, frankly, she wanted to listen to her own ideas out loud. ¡°And if she does go towards the coast and cut Zalewski off.¡± Kassandora pointed to Nanbasa. ¡°Arascus raises a home-guard and marches out to meet her, we force them to siege every city along the coast. As they¡¯re wasting time on that.¡± Kassandora pointed to Ekkerson¡¯s front. ¡°Olephia moves north, we let one city fall, be burned, that¡¯s the Olephia justification done, we let her run rampant. Then it really is over.¡± At the end of the day, this war had been won before they started. The entire White Pantheon ignored the most important of warfare, which was to set the battlefield. They had to come in, claim a country, and then somehow maintain a level of legitimacy in the future. Great-War tactics of razing cities, of purges and land-cracking simply could not be done. Kassandora¡¯s only victory was the demolition of the White Pantheon. All of Kirinyaa could burn, and she would still win. Fortia simply chose the wrong battlefield. There was nothing else to say about that. Kassandora had noticed it in the silent reaction to Melukal, as that city burned, the White Pantheon said nothing. As Epa rioted, it stayed silent. And it had stayed so absent and so silent that Wissel Ellenheim had decided to take matters into his own hands. If that was not a failure in leadership, then Kassandora did not know what to call it. Every soldier in her army knew of her, they all saw her, Kassandora was an omnipresent spectre in their lives. ¡°So we¡¯re just going to what?¡± Iniri said. ¡°Hole up and siege?¡± ¡°If Elassa moves on us, which is the best decision for her to do.¡± Kassandora pointed at the dot underlined CR on the map. ¡°Because that would cut off the central and western armies, and the supplies for the eastern one would have to be re-routed through the civilian infrastructure across the coast.¡± Kassandora¡¯s red eyes met Iniri¡¯s and Kavaa¡¯s. ¡°If I see it, Fortia sees it. And if Fortia sees it, Elassa knows about it. So we do prepare for a long siege.¡± ¡°And then what?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Fer is already moving back here, Anassa can cover the distance in a few hours even if she¡¯s on a frontline.¡± Kassandora replied flatly. ¡°So we¡¯re the bait?¡± Kavaa asked and Kassandora raised an eyebrow. That was bad, if Kavaa were to start doubting now, if she started get moments of fear. She had to be rallied, or at least kept strong enough to stay here until Elassa forced Anassa¡¯s barriers to be activated. ¡°I am betting my life on it.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°So I will stay here.¡± She smiled at the two girls. The orchestra playing in Kassandora¡¯s head let out a chorus of drums again, so another volley had been fired outside. ¡°Elassa is bringing a lot of Arcadia¡¯s strength.¡± Iniri said. ¡°I¡¯m sure you have numbers of how many mages we¡¯re facing.¡± ¡°Sokolowski¡¯s front reports an estimate of forty to fifty thousand.¡± Kassandora answered, just as quickly and flatly as before. ¡°Or rather, I¡¯ve had reports of thirty formations of mages. Take a sixth away for men reporting the same one twice. They have somewhere between fifteen hundred to two thousand each, forty to fifty thousand seems like a safe bet, and it¡¯s like Fortia to use nice round numbers.¡± Kassandora didn¡¯t even know if Kavaa or Iniri were even listening, her finger trailed off to Zalewski¡¯s front and Army East, here, we¡¯ve had reports that mages now make up half the teams.¡± Then she moved to Ekkerson¡¯s front and Army West. ¡°Here, there¡¯s been some bolstering of numbers but not as big, I think they¡¯re scared of Olephia personally. In total, it¡¯s a safe bet we¡¯re facing some hundred-thousand mages, reserves are usually double, so it¡¯s three-hundred-thousand altogether.¡± Kassandora looked up to Kavaa and Iniri. They were both staring at her blank faced, eyes wide, their cheeks pale. ¡°How do you stay so calm?¡± Iniri asked quietly. ¡°When you talk about something like¡­ this?¡± The Goddess of War answered as honestly as she could. ¡°I just find all my worries and fears, and then I ignore them.¡± That answer obviously wasn¡¯t satisfying, but she had talked to them about this before. Kavaa raised her own question. ¡°And we plan to stall them somehow, right? At least get their numbers down?¡± Kassandora retreated across her room to her desk, then pulled out two pictures. Each one of a plane, with four jets strapped to them, painted black. Their fronts were topped off with yellow, and a pair of hunting red eyes had been painted on behind the cockpit, as if to resemble two birds of prey. But these birds of prey were different than they had been a mere week ago. Their beaks were open, and each one had a tongue of iron barrels, all mounted together and ready to spit lead at whoever came close. Kassandora brought the pictures back to Kavaa and Iniri. ¡°Raptor One and Raptor Two have finished. We test them out now, if these work¡­¡± Kassandora could not even believe it. She remembered the great air-cavalry of the past, the winged horses and the demonic ones that left trails of fire in the sky. She remembered how they felled men, and then she remembered how the long pike and hedgehog tactics adapted to it. But now, without the White Pantheon having dedicated weaponry to deal with aircraft that breached the sound barrier, how were they to adapt? Even mages, what could they do against a vehicle that didn¡¯t have to get close to attack, and was already a mile away by the time they finished chanting a spell? Kassandora smiled. ¡°We have secured twenty-six small engine aircraft from KAL, they¡¯ll be ready to fly in two days. Elassa may not get tired, but her mages do. By the time they arrive here, you¡¯ll see why I give my soldiers eight hours of sleep a day.¡± Chapter 173 – Birds with Tongues of Steel Premier-General Abakwa on a podium at the port of Igos. Camera crews were all around him, with a cheering crowd of people. Behind them was the floodwall that protected Igos from storms, further than that, the two lighthouses that marked the start and end of Igos¡¯ Firewall stood tall, fireworks were being launched from them, their explosions dulling the sounds of waves crashing onto the beach and into the walls. Planes flew above them, the flag of Ausa trailing from their rears. A huge ship¡¯s horn silenced the crowd and Abakwa leaned into the microphone. It was hard to contain the excitement. He knew he shouldn¡¯t be smiling so much when he was in the official uniform of the newly created Ausan Military Forces, but frankly, he didn¡¯t care. Kirinyaa had proven to be a disaster for the White Pantheon, their progress had been entirely stalled in the North and the nation was putting up a fight. If that was all the White Pantheon had, then there was nothing fear! The ship¡¯s horn blew again and Abakwa started to talk. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, friends and family, my comrades¡­ but most importantly, people of Ausa. It has been three centuries since Ausa was split in half. It has been two centuries since the Firewalls have been built! Two hundred years we¡¯ve spent, living in the shadows of our guardians until they¡¯ve become our prison! No more!¡± Abakwa turned to gaze at the steel colossus behind him. A civilian ship that was being built in Igos when Olephia had first descended on the city. Then converted to a bombardment vessel when Arascus had given plans for the Binturong. Now it floated there, its crew at full attention making a line of the side of the ship, each man giving Kassandora¡¯s salute, each man with a green armband over his arm. The centre of the ship bore a steel mountain, a concoction of steel beams with arms for radar and platforms to navigate from, and on either side were two turrets, each one double-barrelled, eight guns in total. A floating battery of Arascus¡¯ napalm artillery. Underneath it, on the bow, was a painting of a woman with burning hair and a sword of flame: Ausan Navy Ship Reclaimer was written in huge letters next to it. Abakwa turned back to the microphone and leaned in. ¡°Today! Ausa joins the Reclamation War! We will reconnect our cities! We will reclaim the lands of our ancestors! The Jungle will be razed! We will not stop until you can walk from Igos to Nanbasa!¡± The crowd turned the final four words into a chant: ¡®From Igos to Nanbasa!¡¯ The ANS Reclaimer blew its horn again, its turbines started to spin, ropes were cut. A bottle of champagne was smashed on the ship¡¯s bow, and it began to leave port. And Ausa entered the war. ¡°This is Ground Command speaking, this is Ground Command speaking. I repeat, this is Ground Command speaking, Raptor One, Raptor Two, do you copy? Over.¡± Captain Douglas sat in his plane as the jungles of Kirinyaa became a blur underneath him. The plane was slower than before, heavier too, its turns weren¡¯t as quick, its acceleration wasn¡¯t as powerful, the air brake was just slightly sharper too. The engineers hadn¡¯t noticed it, or maybe they did and simply decided it was a worthy sacrifice in the name of mounting a cannon onto the plane. ¡°Raptor One copies. Over.¡± Doug replied into his microphone. This had changed too, before, the helmet was mere goggles with a button for the microphone attached on the side. Now, it was properly armour for the pilot of a fighter-jet. A heads-up-display flashed with signals, the gun had a tiny laser attached to it, which checked the range and firing arc, and a pair of crosshairs appeared on the screen. ¡°Raptor Two copies as well, over.¡± Erik¡¯s voice came through the speakers in the helmet. ¡°Good, this is Ground Command, both of you have the green light to open fire, do not bother asking for permission. Over.¡± Douglas wasn¡¯t going to ask in the first place, they were in a war, he would rather not die just because permission for fire wasn¡¯t given. ¡°Copy that GC. Over.¡± Erik said and Douglas gave his own reply of affirmation. The two planes soared over a river, a crocodile bathing in the swamps of Kirinyaa looked up at the curious sight. Then it dived deep into the water to run away from the sonic boom as Raptor One and Two broke the sound barrier. ¡°From General Sokolowski¡¯s report, it says to turn east. The transports should be below you in two minutes.¡± Douglas turned his central stick to the right and the plane made a swerve as it rolled over Kirinyaa¡¯s jungle. A sea of green, interrupted every now and then by a seemingly random spiderweb of rivers bending and curving as they trailed their way through the jungle. Erik¡¯s voice came over the comms. ¡°Doug, gave you tested it yet?¡± He asked. ¡°I saw it fire on the ground.¡± Douglas responded. ¡°But not in the air?¡± Douglas shook his head, then realised Erik was in the plane next to his and couldn¡¯t see the action. ¡°Not in the air. You?¡± ¡°Same, I was just asking¡­¡± Erik trailed. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t want my bird to blow up.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t.¡± Douglas replied. It wouldn¡¯t, the engineer corps knew what they were doing. They should at least. Shouldn¡¯t day? Douglas pushed the thoughts away, frankly, those were questions he didn¡¯t need answers to. If the plane exploded, at least it was a quick death.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. They flew in silence as a flock of birds moved out of way for the two planes. They squawked in fear, then rushed to the safety that the jungle¡¯s canopy brought. Once, things like that had infatuated Douglas. Now though, he had been flying almost everyday and scouting out the progress Fortia was making. Even the rarest sights became common and mundane after a while. And his favourite sight was in the cabin, in the cupholder for his thermos sat the picture that had been taken at the end of Operation Misfortune, the original, still with Fer¡¯s scrawl of a signature on the back. He smiled at the memory, that had been a good trip, even if he had only been a high-class taxi driver back then. ¡°This is Ground Control, do you see the targets? Over.¡± Douglas turned his control stick to rock the plane to either side and look below himself. It was a sea of green and brown, he saw nothing. He turned the plane to the other side. Nothing. ¡°I have something on radar.¡± Erik commented. ¡°South of us.¡± ¡°They¡¯re fast.¡± Douglas answered as he made a sharp turn to the right and increased the acceleration. He felt his entire body slide deeper into the deep seat in the cabin as the cornucopia of lights in his cabin kept up their routine blaring. Below them, one of Fer¡¯s beastmen stopped his trek back to CR and looked up when he heard the planes above his head. By the time he found a clearing, they were already two black spots in the distance. ¡°Not fast enough.¡± Erik replied as the prey came into view. Three White Pantheon planes, huge transport aircraft that were air-dropping supplies for Elassa¡¯s mages. Magicians were powerful, but they still needed food, they still needed water, shoes needed to be replaced when the thorns of jungle roots stabbed through and clothes could only be stitched so much before they needed the same treatment. Elassa¡¯s swarm, as everyone referred to it now, had conglomerated into one after they crossed the Central Mountain Range. Kassandora had to inspect Raptor One and Two herself before they set off. She had said, if it was groups of a hundred, maybe even two hundred, they could live off the land. But an army that large needed supplies, no matter if it was all magical. There was only so much that supporting Floromancers could grow before the dreaded supply lines needed to start forming. And there was no such thing as a supply line that could not be raided. It didn¡¯t matter whether it swam, walked or flew. An unknown voice came over the comms. ¡°Unidentified aircraft, identify yourself. I repeat, unidentified aircraft, identify yourself.¡± Sometimes this happened. There had been a few times Doug had actually joked about with the White Pantheon pilots as he was scouting them. It was all fine and dandy when planes weren¡¯t armed. But not anymore, raptors were birds of prey. And today, they were finally go hunt. Douglas said nothing as he pushed the acceleration further and arced the up. The three aircraft did the usual action they usually did when meeting Arascus¡¯ forces: Nothing. ¡°You¡¯re KAF, right?¡± The voice asked. ¡°Kassandora¡¯s Air Force, damn right.¡± Erik¡¯s voice came through the open channel. All of the pilots had taken to calling it Kassandora¡¯s Air Force and not Kirinyaa¡¯s. Supposedly, the three-letter acronym was the official name, so was it even really a mistake? ¡°White Person transport plane here. Scouting again?¡± The voice asked. ¡°Scouting again.¡± Douglas came in this time. It would be harder to hit them if they started performing evasive manoeuvres. He might as well keep them calm. ¡°Well you probably know what we¡¯re doing then.¡± The voice responded jokingly. Raptor Two, piloted by Erik, pulled up sharply, Douglas followed with his own bird soaring through the air. The two planes spun upside down so the two pilots could keep monitoring the three transport planes. ¡°Erik, look at me.¡± Douglas said, over these open comms, he didn¡¯t want to give anything away by saying it out loud. The White Pantheon pilot chuckled when he heard it, the pilots of the other two planes joined, but Douglas did not care on bit. He looked out his cockpit, matched Raptor Two¡¯s speed and came close until he could see Erik through the glass. The man was deep in his seat, control stick between his legs and wearing the same things Doug wore, heavy dark overalls with straps for a parachute across his chest. On his head was a bulbous helmet, the front dark glass, a tube running from the mouth to the man¡¯s seat. Douglas gave a thumbs up. Erik returned it. Good, so they both saw each other. Douglas beat his chest with a closed fist and pointed left, then he pointed at Erik and right. The message should be obvious, and they had established the hand signs for Operation Misfortune. Erik returned a thumbs up. Douglas pulled Raptor One away and raised three fingers. He bounced the arm in the air. Two fingers. Bounce. One finger. Bounce. Fist. Go. Raptor One veered left, Raptor two veered right. Flames burst out of the jets of the two planes as they made a sharp turn towards. The two jets dived down like the mighty eagle. Although weren¡¯t they? Eagles were kings of the sky, second only to Divines. And Douglas was riding that steel beast, his hands on the stick between his legs clutched tightly until his knuckles turned white. The plane started to shake from the G-Forces around him, the engines¡¯ flames dimmed and once again turned blue. A prowling lion looked up at the sky as he heard the sound¡¯s barrier thunder. A snake let go of a mouse and slithered away back to its below. A pair of monkeys dropped the banana they were fighting over. A dozen beastmen stopped and watched what was happening above. One of Elassa¡¯s mages turned as he heard an explosion in the distance. They were kings of the sky, the birds of prey built out of steel, designed to hunt other steel abominations. Douglas flicked the plastic cap safeguarding the red button on his control stick. He slammed both thumbs down on it. The birds hurled themselves towards their prey, and the birds started to scream. And lead poured from their beaks. Captain Douglas swerved his control stick right as he saw his cannon rip up the wings of the transport plane underneath him. One engine exploded, then another. The other wing was hit in the critical superstructure, and started to tear, crack and bend. It cried a metallic scream, then flung over. And the cabin was hit too, a fire began within the plane, and Douglas pulled stick sharply towards him. Raptor One swerved upwards, he travelled past the wreckage twice, once on the way down, once on the way up. Flames and dark smoke trailed in the light blue sky about him. Douglas¡¯ eyes went to Erik¡¯s kills. One of the planes had only been hit in a wing, its was leaving a dark trail of tarry smoke in the sky, but it managed to maintain a clear flight path. And a hail of lead came upwards at it. Erik¡¯s black plane shot past it like a sword slicing through the air. The wing exploded, the plane tilted sharply to the final one White Pantheon transport. The two planes went up in a huge explosion of orange and red flames. Douglas watched them fall to the green ocean underneath, then burst in a burst of fire even more brilliant than before. ¡°That¡¯s two for me.¡± Chapter 174 – Red Mountain Trails Damian Sokolowski looked over at the silent men in the cave. Survivors from Elassa¡¯s assault on them, as she swept through their lines and to the south. Kassandora had commended Sokolowski on how successful the retreat had been, but he didn¡¯t feel it frankly. A retreat was a retreat, no matter how it was framed at the end of the day. His eyes went down to the report he was about to send. He had finished writing already, but was simply checking for mistakes. Better not to misspell a word when you were writing to a Goddess and all that: ¡®We have confirmed at least thirty thousand of Fortia¡¯s Ground Army have begun to cross the Central Mountain Range. I am activating the Red Trail Contingency.¡¯ Lyca focused his eyes on today¡¯s prey. A snake of a hundred men walking around a narrow mountain trail. It was barely large enough for two side-by-side men to fit. On one side, the mountain¡¯s red rocks jutted upwards to make an unscalable wall, on the other, the path¡¯s precipice gave way to a sheer cliff. Two dozen magicians floated in the air, each one in a differently coloured robe. Some had glowing runes stitches onto their clothes, others were merely a solid block of colour and each magician held onto a war staff. Lyca remembered when he still had to resort to wands and catalysts to be able to use magic. Not anymore. Lyca made a hand sign to the eight sorcerers who still made up his pack. When he had arrived to Melukal with the original twelve, he had not been impressed whatsoever by the meat shields, now though, after everyone had a taste of real warfare, they were far better. There wasn¡¯t talking or gossip among them, they responded to commands immediately, they stayed silent when he talked. The execution in Melukal really did help to maintain order, he could see why Anassa was so brutal if this was brutalities¡¯ effects. Lyca dived down towards that trail. There were a hundred or so Guardians there, men in thick bronze-gold plate, each man carrying a heavy shield on his back and a long spear in his hands. A hundred them snaked in a single file line merely looking tired and bored from the trek. Lyca¡¯s team followed immediately behind him, not a single hint of hesitation on their faces. Lyca snapped his fingers as flames burst out around him. A dozen crimson spears flashed into existence next to him and tore through four of the mages. Bodies were scattered, limbs thrown about, trails of blood cascading down below. Lyca turned in the air to another mage, a woman in a red cloak, Arcadia¡¯s runes of pyromancy imprinted on the fabric set alight as she waved her ruby-capped staff. Lyca¡¯s made a sweeping motion with his hand, a terrible claw of opaque red materialized besides her and slammed her into the cliff. The broken body fell down into the dark ravine below as Lyca saw a mage in light blue aim his staff at him. Water already coiled around the wooden stick, and then the man screamed out as a dash of red swept before him. His arms fell from his body, the man lost control and fell with them. A sorcerer in Lyca¡¯s team took the man¡¯s position and put up a barrier to guard against the searing flame that was advancing upon the two of them. And the searing flame stopped, another sorcerer¡¯s conjured sword shot from above like a perfect shot, pierced the mages¡¯ chest and ceased his counterattack. Lyca pulled away from the Guardians as they set up a shield wall, a few were trying to down him with bows, another man threw his spear, others started hurling a stone. One man tripped in the panic and confusion and fell off the path. With the magician¡¯s down, there was no support. Lyca snapped his finger and men were pulled to the edge. They fell like a domino, one by one, until there was no trace that Fortia¡¯s forces had ever passed through here apart from a few streaks of blood left on the rocks. Another day, another hunt. Kassandora agrees me, Fer agrees with me, Neneria and Olephia do. The simple most important thing you can learn is not to hold back. You are not musicians or artisans, you are sorcerers. There is no such thing as slow escalation, strike fast, strike hard, suddenly overwhelm them with a sudden hail of violence. Do not go from zero to a hundred in a second, go from zero to a thousand in an instant. - Excerpt from Anassa¡¯s Booklet for New Sorcerers. Pawel and Mateusz watched through a pair of binoculars as Fortia¡¯s men were coming. The sorcerers were used to pick off the smaller teams that were snaking into the mountains and trying to seize tactical positions, whereas the remains of Sokolowski¡¯s First Division were tasked with slowing the main advance. ¡°She¡¯s cute.¡± Pawel said as he pointed out one of the mages. A woman in blue, with striking black hair and sharp eyes, she floated in the air and yawned. ¡°The one at the front, you see her?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Mateusz replied. He turned his binoculars away from Fortia¡¯s slowly advancing forces. They had taken one of the roads that led through the mountains, a grand highway that once led to Melukal, although now was a supply line. A supply line, and a trap. This section may have had some five hundred men, all in gold and bronze, a hundred or so mages, and twenty heavy trucks, each a six-wheeled compact box painted in the White Pantheon¡¯s white and gold colouring. They slowly trundled along the road as Pawel and Mateusz kept watch. Mateusz got his radio as he watched put his binoculars down, personally, he would never travel through that valley. Tight, with a cliff of red rock on either side, on either side of the tarmac, grass and small trees sprouted from it. Mateusz waited until they got to the tree that had been marked with one of Sokolowski¡¯s spare flags. That pretty woman Pawel pointed out went to investigate it, a blade of water materialized next to her, and the flag fell. Mateusz clicked the button on his radio and spoke. ¡°They¡¯re at the tree, blow it.¡± On the other side of the valley, Platoons Three and Four got the order. Sappers pressed their own buttons, and the cliff gave way with a burst of stone hail and flames. The sound drowned out the march of boots from within the valley and the rumbling of engines as it echoed back and forth. Rocks started to tumble downwards, huge sections of stone started to slide as the men below scattered. Only the hundred mages kept order, they raised their staves, water collected around them, then started to spiral upwards in a coiling snakish fashion. It smashed a massive rock shelf into two, then four, then eight. Geomancers raised their weapons, crystals glowing bright, and held the landslide in place. Falling rocks started to slow down, then stop entirely in mid-air as the hydromancers started to tear stones apart. ¡°Time to get to work then.¡± Pawel said. ¡°That pretty one is mine.¡± He unslung his rifle and took aim. Mateusz gave the order. ¡°All platoons, you are free to fire. Magicians first.¡± Mateusz pulled his trigger first, mages were usually impossible to shoot down, the magical shields they had were simple reflexes, they could summon them before the bullet even left the barrel. But mages concentrating0 on a landslide did not have the luxury of awareness, not when they were mere seconds from being crushed to death. Mateusz¡¯ gunshot echoed against the valley walls, and the pretty woman in blue collapsed, blood spurting from a hole in the back of her head. And more gunshots came, more mages fell one by one. One man turned in shock, raised a barrier, and then was crushed by falling stones above him. And with that first crush, the strength of the others gave out. Rocks held by magical energies tumbled down. Whether a skeleton of man¡¯s bone or vehicle¡¯s metal, the landslide flattened all. I give Fortia two weeks before she declares the mountains uncrossable and sends her army to Zalewski¡¯s front. Send all the divisions Arascus is raising right now to the Eastern Front. - Kassandora¡¯s Letter to Kavaa. Edmonton crossed his arms as he stood next to one of Sokolowski¡¯s men. A Sergeant named Janek Lynowski, a short man with long hair tied back, they watched Fortia¡¯s convoy advance over a bridge that lunged over a valley, the cliffs on either side practically diving towards the rocky ground at the bottom. Janek pulled out a packet of cigarettes, some cheap Kirinyaan brand. ¡°Want one?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t smoke.¡± ¡°More for me then.¡± Janek lit up his cigarette and took a long drag. Edmonton had been around the soldiers long enough to not care about it, and the harsh mountainous winds blew the smoke in the other direction anyway. They raced and howled through the valley below them. Fortia¡¯s convoy was maybe four hundred men, maybe five hundred, whatever, it didn¡¯t matter too much. Edmonton and his team of ten were only called here because there was an estimated eighty mages with them. Trucks trundled down the middle of the road as Guardians kept pace on either side, mages hovered here and there. The convoy managed to cross three quarters of the way. Janek finished his cigarette in one long drag and flicked the butt off the edge of the cliff. ¡°You sure they didn¡¯t see you?¡± Edmonton asked. ¡°See what?¡± Janek asked. ¡°Spark of the cigarette.¡± Edmonton answered. Janek shrugged, laughed, then pulled out a detonator switch. He flicked the cap off as he talked. ¡°I would not care if they saw me ploughing their mothers.¡± And his grizzled thumb slammed down on the red button. Edmonton turned to the bridge as an explosion came from below. The bridge¡¯s superstructure gave way, it tilted and creaked, metal screamed and cried, asphalt wept and crumbled and the cliffs on either side roared as blasts tore them apart. Men started to scream as they fell with the bridge, wheels on trucks started to spin madly. The mages managed to catch two of the vehicles and suspend three dozen men in the air in their shock, they floated there for a few seconds, magical catalysts flaring with bright lights as they used all their energies to keep what they managed to save from tumbling to the abyss below. ¡°Those are yours sorcerer. Clean them up.¡± Edmonton did not have to be told twice. His feet left the ground as he lifted off into the air, he put his fingers in his mouth and gave out a whistle. His team of sorcerers shot from the cliff towards the magicians in the air. Magic was good, magic was strong, Edmonton had used magic before too after all, he knew what it could do. It was overwhelming and powerful, but if there was one thing magic failed at, it was multitasking.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Holding up vehicles and men like that gave little space for self-defence. Half the magicians were ripped apart by sorcerous energies before they even managed to turn, the rest fell just as quickly, as they battled with themselves on whether to drop who they were holding or try to escape with them. By the time Edmonton and his team were finished, the river at the bottom of the valley started to flow red with blood. Kassandora read through the letter that had managed to work its way up the chain of command. ¡°To Goddess Kassandora, the engineering core is happy to announce that the first wave of KAL planes have been successfully refitted to serve in combat.¡± ¡°Apologies for being late.¡± Eliza said as her feet touched the ground. Her team of sorcerers came back, exhausted and bloodied from another battle. Information had been wrong, she was only supposed to face a dozen mages, she had faced fifty. It cost shrunk her team from nine to seven. Those losses weren¡¯t easily replaceable, not when Sokolowski¡¯s Central Army had been all but cut off by Elassa¡¯s sweeping charge through the mountains. The main highways had been blockaded by encampments of several hundred mages each and only the side roads were accessible. Eliza indicated towards her bare legs, splattered with blood, the skirt that had once been plait, now dark with crimson blood, and her shirt, that had been ruined too. None of the blood was hers though. ¡°I think you see I ran into trouble.¡± ¡°Do not worry, we have a plan B.¡± The soldier responded, a tall man in a tan shirt and shorts. The shorts were torn at the knee, the shirt was missing a button, and he had his rifle slung over his shoulder. ¡°And plan A failed anyway.¡± ¡°What?¡± Eliza asked as she looked around the platoon. Twenty or so men who were talking quietly around two campfires. They sat on a road leading to one of the large tunnels that cut through the heart of one the mountain¡¯s ranges mountains. Her own team of sorcerers finally caught up to her, only one man managed to stay on his feet, the rest collapsed to sit and catch a breath on the ground. Each man was covered in blood, some their own. ¡°And do you have medics, some of my men are injured.¡± The soldier only gave a whistle and three men with first aid kits stood up. ¡°The explosives in the tunnel were cut.¡± The soldier replied. ¡°We were just waiting for you to make sure.¡± He looked over at the sorry state of Eliza¡¯s sorcerers. ¡°Are they ready or not?¡± Eliza turned to her team, her brown eyes locked with theirs, men straightened and sat up. The one still on his feet saluted and shivered. She didn¡¯t keep too tight a leash on them, but then the only comparisons she had were Lyca, Edmonton and Fleur. And Anassa she supposed. Frankly, Eliza considered herself saint compared to who they could have ended up with. She only needed to give lashings twice so far! ¡°Attention!¡± Eliza shouted and the men stood up quickly. She turned to the soldier with a smug smile on her face. ¡°They¡¯re ready.¡± The man gave her a doubtful look, but the sorcerers had gained enough reputation among Sokolowski¡¯s troops at this point for their methods not to be questioned. ¡°Very well.¡± He said. ¡°They can sit back down.¡± None of the sorcerers moved, once, they had listened to a soldier¡¯s command instead of waiting for Eliza to give her own. Only once, they learned not to do that again. ¡°Sit! Rest!¡± Eliza shouted without even turning to them as the man started to walk off. The tunnel entrance was blasted with craters, a pile of loose rubble from the nearby cliff was there, and there lights inside the tunnel. Magical ones, Eliza could feel their energies and taste the elements. Pyromancers primarily. ¡°We¡¯ve forced them in with artillery fire. They¡¯re not coming out, and they¡¯ve cut the wires we had on the explosives.¡± ¡°And?¡± Eliza asked. She wasn¡¯t going to tell her team to go into that, that was practically suicide. ¡°We wanted you here just in case they start coming out. Other than that, you¡¯re welcome to take a break. Alright?¡± The man was taller than her by more than a head, but he didn¡¯t meet her gaze once. ¡°Understood.¡± Eliza replied. The man turned, Eliza followed his gaze. A large fuel truck was on the road. The soldier pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Eliza wrinkled her nose at the smell. Her own team wasn¡¯t allowed to smoke, but Kassandora had once told them this was a war they shouldn¡¯t bother to fight. ¡°SEND IT!¡± The soldier shouted. A man opened the door to the truck and climbed the three steps into the cabin. Eliza saw the steering wheel had been secured with a stick and rope. The man started the engine, another soldier came and heaved a large rock into the cabin. The man put the truck into first gear, pressed the gas pedal to the metal, and nudged the rock over it. The vehicle started to pick up speed as it raced down the road, towards the tunnel. The driver jumped out, tumbled and rolled on the ground, his clothes tore and his skin scratched, but he sat up to a chorus of cheers from the soldiers around the campfire. Eliza watched the truck hurtle into the darkness of the tunnel. It was leaking fuel from the back, and its engine roared and growled and echoed in that impenetrable blackness. And then the truck crashed, wheels spun out of control, metal twisted and bent, it must have fallen over. Although if there were mages inside, that wasn¡¯t surprising. A single vehicle wasn¡¯t difficult to stop. The soldier Eliza had been talking with took a long drag of his cigarette, pulled it out of his mouth, and flicked it into the thin stream of fuel the truck had left. It ignited immediately, the fire spread like a vicious plague as it raced down the stream into the tunnel. It reached the truck, it reached the fuel tank, and it blew up. The heat detonated the explosives planted in the walls, the mountain came down. ¡°You¡¯re one of the ex-mages, right?¡± The man asked as the tunnel collapsed, the screams from within were immediately by a landslide burying the entrance. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°Is it possible to hold up a mountain?¡± Eliza had to think about it for a moment. She couldn¡¯t do it, could Elassa? Maybe. Probably. Anassa most likely could, but Anassa most likely could do anything. Eliza shook her head, her brown hair felt disgusting with how matted it was from blood. ¡°Not at their level.¡± ¡°Then apologies for wasting your time.¡± Fortia looked over the reports she was receiving from the force she had sent to cross the Central Mountains. There wasn¡¯t a single one that said of victory, the best thing she found was that a trap had been detected in advance and deactivated. She looked at yesterday¡¯s pile and saw it immediately. This one was a good two dozen papers smaller. She looked at the day¡¯s before. That was one was even larger. What a disaster. Anassa stopped in the air as she looked down upon the encampment. It was a series of tents and huts, either wooden ones grown by floromancers or stone ones pulled out of the rocky terrain by the geomancers. In between it ran a highway, one of Kassandora¡¯s vital supply lines to Sokolowski¡¯s front. There was this one, and then there were three more to clear today, she had just done two yesterday. The travel time, she minded. In fact, she didn¡¯t just mind it, it infuriated her. Zalewski¡¯s front was an entire four hours away at a reasonable pace. That was eight hours in a day she was waiting simply on moving about. But¡­ She stared down at the mages below her, they hadn¡¯t spotted her yet. Her eyes fell over them as four more Anassa¡¯s appeared in the air. Each one counted separately, then compared the numbers. Three hundred and sixty to the dot. Elassa had left quite the garrison here. This many magicians conglomerated into such a small area would prove trouble even for Fer. Her own sorcerers weren¡¯t up to the job yet. Neneria obviously wasn¡¯t. Kassandora could not face that, no chance. Cute little Kassie would be swept up by a hail of magic and most likely killed if she tried. But there was someone who could. Anassa¡¯s mouth became a sneering smile of joy as she took a step forwards, into the middle of the camp. Only she and Olephia could do this, no one else. Frankly, the travel time suddenly she didn¡¯t mind whatsoever. Zalewski¡¯s front didn¡¯t see much action anyway. Both armies were sending reinforcements to his lines now, and both armies had come to a standstill. Maisara could not dislodge his artillery, he could not dislodge Maisara¡¯s mages. Anassa looked around the camp as men and women froze in their steps. They were totally unprepared for her. Confused faces turned drained of blood as they finally ascribed a name to who had just entered. Anassa snapped her finger as a pillar was conjured under her feet. She took a step into the air and dodged it, then looked down as a whirlwind of crimson tore through the encampment. Another Anassa appeared, and another, until a dozen copies of the Goddess made a full circle around the mages who were still left alive. They tried to strike back at first, but whether it was a blade of wind, a hail of flame, a spear of water or a shot of stone, it harmlessly bounced off Anassa¡¯s barrier. And then they tried to raise a barrier. The twelve Anassa¡¯s raised their hands. The landscape became tinted with a crimson glow, and then a bright column of red sorcery descended from the heavens. Anassa looked at the damage with a satisfied smile, her stomach growled, and she sent off her copies to find jungle fruit to pick. Anassa raised her hand, a juicy orange appeared in her palm and she started to pick at the skin. One camp down, two more to go. Too easy. She threw a piece of the fruit into her mouth and her eyes widened. This was good! She¡¯d pick more on the way back! Fortia read through Maisara¡¯s report. Anassa was appearing in here and there, both in reports from the eastern flank and from the centre push, but that was to be expected. Anassa was far too fast to only be contained to one front. There! No. That one was a week old at this point. Fortia shook her head, let out a heavy sigh, and threw the papers down onto the table. Anassa moving out was nothing unique, it was a challenge, but it was an obvious challenge. But where was Fer? Damian Sokolowski looked through binoculars as he looked at the largest of Fortia¡¯s armies he had seen so far. They were travelling down the main highway, reinforced with mages and travelling slowly. There was at least a hundred trucks there, maybe some two thousand of Fortia¡¯s Guardians too, it was a force too large to ambush, and they had managed to get past all the bridges before one of Sokolowski¡¯s scouts had come across them. But Kassandora had sent a note, and Damian Sokolowski was no longer limited to ground ambushes. He thumbed his radio. ¡°This is General Sokolowski, how long until the birds are here? Over.¡± The reply came immediately. ¡°Ground Control speaking. Give them two minutes General. Over.¡± It was a short two minutes. Damian, Wiktor, Pawel and Mateusz all watched the army slowly pass underneath them through their binoculars. They were far away, and at this distance, it was safe even if the rocky cliffs gave little obscurity to hide them. Sokolowski tuned back into the conversation his team was having. ¡°There¡¯s a cute one, would.¡± Pawel said. ¡°Which one are you talking about?¡± Wiktor asked. ¡°The one in a red cloak, in the middle.¡± Pawel answered. ¡°Half of them are wearing red.¡± Now it was Mateusz complaining. ¡°Yeah well this one is too.¡± Pawel said. ¡°Put the binoculars away.¡± Damian said and men stopped arguing over which witch was the prettiest. ¡°And look at that.¡± The General pointed up in his tattered shirt towards the sky. From the south, barrelling through the air perfectly in line with the highway was five dots in the sky. They shot forwards like giant arrows through the air, and passed over the approaching army before swerving upwards and disappearing into the clouds. Damian heard the whistles before he saw the several dozen black dots make a slow fall. He saw mages raise barriers above them as the bombs cascaded downwards, their whistles becoming sharp screams as they descended down. They were heavier than artillery shells apparently, although that¡¯s why Damian had come to watch the performance. He wanted to see what the engineers had cooked up this time. And the engineers did not disappoint. A blast went off, the cloud of dust immediately as large as a barn, it only proceeded to grow as more bombs hit their targets. And napalm too, those came second, spitting flaming jelly in all directions. Black smoke mixed with dust to make a horrendous concoction as the firestorm dragged air upwards. Winds started to pick up in the valley, Guardians in their golden armour started to fall and tumble under the furious beating of the winds, and then so did the mages. And once one mage fell, his barrier fell down. Napalm fell upon truck and man, and a reaction started. Most magicians were disturbed by scolding flames or biting winds, and more barriers fell. By the time the fire had burned out, all that remained was a few hundred disorganized men running away in fear. He heard Kassandora¡¯s tune in his head, that slow orchestra. When this war had started, he saw no way of winning it. When Melukal fell, he understood the principal, but he didn¡¯t see what effect it would have. But not anymore. He finally grew to understand why Iliyal treated the Goddess as a Divine among Divines. Chapter 175 – The Storm Approaches Wissel took the microphone as he looked into the cameras. Iliyal had told him that Operation Speartip would be initiated soon, and that he should prime the population of Doschia for it. Jozef had already given a speech in Lubska about it. That one hadn¡¯t even been too radical, and the White Pantheon remained silent, all that happened was they got an official statement that the war was in fact going well, and that KTV should not be believed to be a reliable source. Wissel sighed, he had a script prepared already, but as the words started to flow, he made a show of crumpling the paper and throwing it behind him. It was as if a dam had burst within him, finally a decision was being made without Divine consultation. ¡°¡­And so, the people of Doschia wish for an end to the war. Doschia takes a hard stand against the invasion of Kirinyaa. All tithe shall be stopped whilst the war goes on and the Kingdom of Doschia announces an end to the embargo over Arika.¡± He took a deep breath and smiled. He had been the ruler of this for more than half his life, and yet this felt like the first time he made a real decision. ¡°We pray that the Divine Mountain will listen to us, because there will be consequences to this relentless massacre.¡± The screen behind him changed to a picture of Melukal ablaze. Wissel left the stage and let the cameras focus on that tragic image. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe you¡¯re healing her.¡± Iniri sat down into a comfortable chair that had just grown out of the wall. A bulbous round thing, hanging on by a thick branch, as Iniri touched it, it started to lift, so that she could kick her into the air. ¡°Not in my thousands, would I ever believe you would.¡± ¡°Neither did I.¡± Kavaa said as she wiped sweat off her forehead. The amount of times Iniri saw Kavaa exert herself like that, she could count on one hand. And half of those times had been since they met Kassandora, Lady Health¡¯s well of ever-life seemingly did have a bottom. Kavaa leaned back down, dull grey hair falling past her as she placed her hand on Baalka¡¯s chest once again. The little Goddess of Disease had been asleep ever since they got out of the Jungle, she had not moved, not even stirred once. She lay there on her back, half hidden by the covers. Her hair was a terrible colouring, a green so dark it was almost black, the colour could only be seen when the light flashed against it. And Kavaa, Goddess of Health, was over her in the usual black uniform. Iniri sat in her own, it was almost¡­ Well actually, it was nothing like the White Pantheon. The hierarchy here was stricter in aspects, but looser in others. There wasn¡¯t a single Allasaria who commanded everything, but no one would talk back to Kassandora¡¯s Order, no one questioned Anassa on what she was doing to her sorcerers. Fer¡¯s beastmen were untouchable by anyone but their Goddess, Olephia was the most powerful of them all, and she was merely being used as a brick wall to stall out Zerus and Sceo. And then Kassandora had told Iniri to build them a fortress. She had phrased it rather nicely, but it was still an order, Allasaria could also phrase orders nicely. But then when Iniri had finished and Kassandora had gone to inspect there, there was no complaining. No argument about how a certain wall was too high, or how the stairs were the wrong way, or anything trite. Kassandora had returned with a list of platforms she wanted for heavy artillery, and then told Iniri she did a good job. And that was it. Iniri smiled to herself as her mind replayed that memory. When was the last time she had been told she did a good job by another Divine? There had been that time when they won the Great War, but that had been a general pat on the back for everyone, no for her specifically. ¡°Did Kass ask you to?¡± Iniri said to Kavaa, who was still breathing heavily. Her eyes and hands were glowing as they poured more magic into Baalka. ¡°No.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°Oh I guess she did.¡± She pulled away, her legs collapsed and she tumbled forwards onto Baalka¡¯s legs. The Goddess of Health rolled onto her back and sighed as she looked up at the ceiling of the room. It was a small thing, in the grand oak Iniri had grown specifically to house Divines. All the furniture was part of the room, the only thing not fixed was the sole chair in the corner. That had been grown on a branch, then snapped off. ¡°She said I can try, but if she was me, she wouldn¡¯t bother.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re bothering?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°I want to.¡± Kavaa said and Iniri nodded as she kicked her legs again through the air. ¡°Why?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡­¡± Kavaa looked over at Baalka by her side and tried sitting up. ¡°At one point, I was coping and telling myself it¡¯s for training but¡­¡± She trailed off. ¡°But you don¡¯t need training.¡± Iniri laughed and Kavaa laughed. ¡°I suppose not.¡± She said. ¡°But I think it¡¯s because I want to do it for Kass?¡± Her voice sounded as if she was questioning herself. ¡°Or maybe for myself? I¡¯ve never had a disease I couldn¡¯t heal. This is the first one.¡± ¡°It could just be because it is her.¡± Iniri said. She didn¡¯t know if she liked Baalka or not. There was that sense of respect she had from the Great War, and she had met Baalka a few times before it started, they even had one minor war against each other. That one ended when other Divines came in and told Baalka to stay down and not poison the world. But¡­ well, Baalka simply did not sit right with her. Iniri was the Goddess of Nature, there was no reason for her to find the Goddess of Disease friendly.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s her.¡± Kavaa said as she stretched her arms above her head. ¡°There¡¯s just something odd I can¡¯t touch.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t touch?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°Not at all.¡± Kavaa answered. ¡°It¡¯s as if her soul is cut off from the rest of the world. As if¡­¡± Kavaa stopped. ¡°I can reach in, then there¡¯s just nothing, then she is there behind that, but I can¡¯t get through the nothing.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Iniri said. She knew Kavaa well enough to understand more or less how the woman¡¯s powers worked. The touch needed to be there. ¡°So you need to get across the nothing?¡± Iniri said. ¡°Mmh.¡± Kavaa answered. ¡°But I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Kavaa replied, her voice still that cool speech Iniri wished she could have. Kassandora had it too, she and Kavaa never let their emotions get into their voice. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°So you need help.¡± Iniri said, she leaned forwards and put her face into her arms. ¡°Someone who can get across that.¡± ¡°Someone to get into that in the first place.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I can¡¯t drag people into that, I¡¯m not Elassa.¡± A root turned and twisted in Iniri¡¯s mind. A flower jumped out of the ground, and she stared at Kavaa. Wasn¡¯t the answer simply obvious? Wasn¡¯t there a person they had access to with the power to enter soul realms? In fact, didn¡¯t they have two? ¡°Kavaa.¡± Iniri said slowly. ¡°Hmm?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°What about the two here?¡± ¡°Two what?¡± ¡°Neneria and Anassa.¡± Kavaa¡¯s arms fell as she sat up in a smooth motion, grey eyes met Iniri¡¯s large brown ones as Kavaa¡¯s mouth dropped open in shock. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡± She asked and Iniri shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re not in the Pantheon anymore, we can ask.¡± Iniri¡¯s eyes travelled to the window as one of her trees called out in the distance. She jumped off her chair and called upon the tree around on instinct. The floor curled and moved, it caught Iniri and then moved with her to get to the circular window. Those had been simply panes of glass that were buried at the roots and then dragged upwards by the wood itself. There was still enough in the ground for this tree to have another few dozen rooms installed. ¡°Kavaa.¡± Iniri said. ¡°What?¡± Kavaa stood up immediately, she took slow steps and shook the exhaustion off herself. ¡°Do I see that?¡± Iniri said. ¡°I see trees and the clouds.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°You¡¯re looking over the horizon.¡± Iniri grabbed onto her power, her hair started to swirl in the air and her hand touched the wall. The bark immediately wrapped around her fingers, they pierced her skin and Iniri felt her blood seep into the fortress. Her senses joined the tree, her nerves sent lightning into the roots, the roots carried it to the roots of the other buildings, the tall towers outside, the four protective walls Iniri had grown from the ground, into the wild roots of the trees, through bushes and grass and ferns and trees, until she came to a river wide enough for nothing to grow under it. And Iniri looked as far as she could. She saw men rise into the air. She heard the thunderous boom of sound barriers being broken. Steel birds, painted black, with the white and red emblem of the KAL painted over them, shot overheard. Their bombs started to drop, whining with a high pitched scream. A blue beam erupted from behind trees. It caught one bomb, simply incinerated the explosive without even blowing it up, then the blue light curled into a ball. It hovered for a second, then exploded with spikes in all directions. Every other bomb the planes had dropped disappeared just like that. More explosions sounded from above. The single thunderous clap of sound as the sound barrier gave way. And more bombs dropped. They screamed, another blue beam caught about half of them, and the rest managed to reach the ground. They exploded with a breath brighter than dragonfire, and made that vicious black smoke that drew a black across the cloudy sky. The winds started to pick up, tearing leaves off branches and branches off trees. It spun and spun until a tornado formed, then the tornado grew higher and higher, until it started to push the clouds away. Planes immediately turned to retreat back into the safety of their smokescreens, and then a blast of blue light once again erupted from the ground. It managed to touch the back of one black plane. The engines exploded with a colour of flame the same as the napalm, and it too left a black scar across the now-clear blue sky. But this was aimed down, the plane fell until it disappeared behind a tree, and Iniri heard the boom. Maybe ancient archmages were capable of such power, but they had long died out in the era of Pantheon Peace. Now, there was precisely one being in existence who could make those blue beams of pure mana. Iniri¡¯s gaze immediately retreated back to CR as she searched for Kassandora. The woman was sitting in her office reading through papers. Iniri had to stop and blink for a moment. She had never considered herself a prying type, but Kassandora was Kassandora, and Kassandora was interesting. And yet there had not been a single time Iniri had managed to catch Kassandora doing something... something which wasn¡¯t work. The most she got to indulgence was when she poured herself a glass of whiskey. ¡°Kass!¡± Iniri said. The wood carried her voice, a sunflower sprouted in the middle of Kassandora¡¯s office and spoke for Iniri. Kassandora looked up, saw the sunflower, and then scanned the rest of the room. ¡°Iniri.¡± She said. ¡°It¡¯s like Anassa this.¡± She said and tutted. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Elassa is fifty miles north west.¡± Kassandora gently put the paper back down. Iniri couldn¡¯t contain herself, and looked from the ceiling. It was merely a bunch of statistics from Zalewski¡¯s frontline. Kassandora sighed and nodded. ¡°I know.¡± She said eventually. ¡°You do!?¡± Iniri asked. Kassandora smiled at the sunflower and made a humoured face. ¡°Do you know who I am? Of course I know.¡± She said. ¡°Orders are already out, lemurs are firing in fifteen minutes, we¡¯re raising shields in an hour from now, or if she comes close then immediately.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Iniri said. She was glad the sunflower did not have a face so Kassandora couldn¡¯t see the stupid expression she knew she was making. They were under attack. The Goddess of Magic was that close! She was coming with a force unheard of, even in the Great War, mages could number up to a thousand per army, not this¡­ How did Kassandora remain so calm? And she wasn¡¯t raising shields immediately? She was planning to shell them first? What?! ¡°Is everything fine?¡± Kavaa asked. Oh. Kavaa was here too. Iniri had forgotten. ¡°Yes.¡± Iniri replied, her voice dazed and flat. ¡°We¡¯re about to be attacked by thirty thousand mages led by the Goddess of Magic, but yes. Everything is fine, Kass has it under control.¡± Chapter 176 – The Tremali Brigade Elassa raised her staff. A flash of blue light burst out from it and cleared out another dozen of the shells falling on her forces. Another bombing run came, she couldn¡¯t turn to try downing one of Kassandora¡¯s planes this time, defending her forces required that attention. Kassandora¡¯s main supply base was over the horizon now, the tallest of its towers peaking over. All wooden, with thick canopies that obscured view. Iniri¡¯s work. And Anassa¡¯s too, as a red bubble of a shield started to form around it. Iliyal once again walked through Golden Lake Forest Camp. That was the translated name for it, the native Lubskan amalgamation for a name was a horrendous sounding: ¡®Obuz Lesny Zlotego Jeziora.¡¯ It was a small series of wooden buildings hidden within an old forest, with a pier venturing into the pristine lake. Flies and mosquitos were buzzing about, a few men tried swatting them down. The trees were beginning to show signs of autumn, with the forest changing into a colourful piece of art, all browns and reds and oranges and yellows. Iliyal inspected his troops, it was the first time without Lubskan riot police, without Jozef, without Wissel, without anyone around him to keep order. A drone pair of drones were hovering in the air, and the police had made a cordon around the entire area to keep the prisoners in, Iliyal had tried to get rid of them entirely, but this was as far as Jozef could be pushed. ¡°Gentlemen.¡± He shouted as he walked in his black uniform. It fit for the mood, the long coat fell to his calves and his ancient sword hung underneath it on the belt. On the other side was a holstered pistol. Some fifty miles north of Golden Lake lay the Epan Paladin Headquarters, and below it was Arascus¡¯ Divine Armoury. Iliyal made a final marching step, stopped and turned to the hundred men in a loose attempt at a formation. They self-segregated themselves, the Doschians on the left and the Lubskans on the left. All hard men, although tough prisons would do that to anyone, everyone was muscled in some fashion, from lean wolves to ferocious bears. No one was taller than Iliyal, nor did anyone have the pointed ears of an elf, but a good quarter were bigger than him in mass. ¡°You have come here.¡± Iliyal took a breath as his words trailed off. He had managed this sort of man before, and supportive language was one way to lose your leadership position with them. ¡°LINE!¡± He shouted. The men assembled into a line, slowly at first, but they got to it. Iliyal stood there, hands behind his back as he stared them down. He looked around at them, and then picked out the largest man who was close to him. Tall and muscled, but with bruises and scars over his arms. He wore a tight black t-shirt, as Iliyal had requested for the men to be supplied with, and black shorts. With a square face and a jaw that looked as if he chewed on stones for enjoyment, and a set of beady eyes too sharp to be unintelligent. ¡°You.¡± Iliyal gave him a nod. ¡°Step forwards.¡± The man, rather smartly, did take a step out of the rank. ¡°Name?¡± Iliyal said as he made a show of looking the man up and down. He was wider than the elf, but a head shorter. ¡°Feliks Adamowski.¡± The man replied. ¡°What are you in for?¡± Iliyal asked. Feliks made a grin that revealed his teeth. ¡°Long list.¡± The prisoner replied. Iliyal knew the man would try to be smart, it was obvious from the way he was standing at ease, a slight lean in posture, his arms resting carelessly by his sides. Iliyal took a step towards him. Another, a third. Until they were as face to face as the height difference would allow. ¡°I asked what you were in for.¡± The man had already lost, but he could salvage a beating if he answered now. Feliks, rather predictably, did not answer. ¡°I said already, long list.¡± He replied, unfazed and bored. Iliyal moved almost silently, his shin caught the man¡¯s calf, his palm pressed onto his chest, and Feliks slammed into the ground. Iliyal took a step way as Feliks groaned and moved onto the next. ¡°You. Name.¡± This time was a scrawnier fellow, still lean and muscled, but not so full of himself. The sort that would bend after seeing sudden violence. ¡°Adam Holobek.¡± The man replied quickly, Feliks made another groan from the ground. ¡°Charges?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Murder four times, arson.¡± Adam said. ¡°Twenty-one of minor robbery, eight of grand. All armed.¡± Iliyal nodded and patted Adam¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Very good.¡± He said and moved onto the next. Another large man, with close cut blonde hair that almost made him look bald. A stomach almost fat, but it was obvious from the way he stood that it was mostly muscle underneath that. This one was in for five murder charges and two assaults. And the next. Iliyal took his time, letting Feliks stand up. He cut the questions short and returned to the middle of the line of men. ¡°Gentlemen. Look at me.¡± He spread his arms out to either side. ¡°I will not bore you with a speech. Any man who feels I am unable to lead, who thinks he can best me, who has any ideas of running can step forwards. Look around, there are no police officers here.¡± Feliks rubbed the back of his head, met Iliyal¡¯s eyes and remained in position. Iliyal saw fear in them, that was good, the rest of the men may have only seen him through the hulk of a man to the ground, but Feliks would have heard the utter silence of Iliyal¡¯s movements and the ease with which he moved. Iliyal looked down the line. A few men stepped out. A few of the large ones, and a few of the skinny ones. ¡°Come here!¡± He shouted. And they did. This was another basic rule of getting people adjusted to following orders. All of these men had seen prison, and there wasn¡¯t a tougher place than that on Arda in Pantheon Peace. Iliyal chuckled to himself, maybe being one of Anassa¡¯s sorcerers was a worse deal actually. They would be used to hierarchy, it was simply a case of getting them used to the fact they now stood at the bottom of the hierarchy. ¡°Line up!¡± The seven men made a line and Iliyal smiled. Even though they said they doubted his leadership, they still followed the order. It was as simple as that. ¡°Why am I incapable of leading?¡± Iliyal asked.Stolen story; please report. The men shared looks, but they weren¡¯t the types to hold back an answer. ¡°You look soft.¡± One of the muscled men replied. The rest nodded. ¡°Very well.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Then test me.¡± The men looked at themselves, then at Iliyal. One of them spoke up. ¡°We¡¯re not stupid here, we¡¯re not going to get anything from beating you into the ground.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Frankly, who are you anyway?¡± Iliyal smiled and made a note of the person who spoke in his head, a lean fellow with a scar running down his arm. Bald, although most of them were. Iliyal pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his coat. He quickly wrote down a few words on it: This man is pardoned, official orders. At the end ¡®I.Tre.¡¯ served as a signature. He waved it in front of the men. ¡°One at a time or all at once, I do not care how.¡± Iliyal said and took a few steps back from them. The men looked at each other, one motioned for them to move forwards. The line expanded and curled around Iliyal. That was another good sign, these sorts of examinations served to test how competent they were at fighting in the first place. One man lunged forwards, his fist ready to slam into Iliyal head. Too slow, the elf had not survived the Great War to get touched by something that measly, he leaned into the blow, his face not even brushing against the man¡¯s arm as his elbow slammed into the man¡¯s chest, low down, just where the ribs started to part. In one swing, Iliyal drove all the air out of the fellow, he collapsed in a wheeze and Iliyal took a step away. The next swing was already coming. Iliyal ducked, in a real fight, he would have gone for the groin, but this was to drive in his skill over them, not to serve as a humiliation. His leg swept the man off his feet, his elbow sped up the fellow¡¯s fall towards the ground. Another one down. Five left. Two came at the same time. One from the left, one from the right. Iliyal took a step towards one, grabbed his arm and spun on one leg. The two were hurled to the ground and rolled in the dirt. One of the larger, muscled prisoners stepped forwards. He lunged and roared in some attempt to grapple and shock through terror. Iliyal merely took a step to the side, let the man pass him by, and the slammed his boot into the back of the huge man¡¯s knee. He collapsed with a shout of pain. Two men left. Iliyal turned towards them. They weren¡¯t looking so confident anymore. Iliyal merely smiled. ¡°You stepped forwards.¡± He said. ¡°You cannot back out now, can you?¡± Maybe if they were alone, or if the crowd wasn¡¯t fellow prisoners, they would have ran. But not under the gaze of men like that, you didn¡¯t show weakness or fear in front of crowds like this. There was strength in victory, there was honour in defeat. The only thing retreat brought was shame. For them, and for Iliyal, they could not step back, because Iliyal would not let them. ¡°Come at me.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Or I will come at you.¡± The men hurled themselves forwards, frantic and fast and operating on instinct. Iliyal let them throw a few punches simply to inspect what they were capable of. It was all street-fight moves, everything going for the chest or the head. Classic survivalist fighting style, in the past, lone warriors would fight in the same way, simply hurling attack after attack in an effort to overwhelm the other¡¯s defences. A more careful style of combat would have to be drilled, but Iliyal did not mind it. The hardest part of training was teaching men to abandon morality and fight to kill rather than simply fight. Everyone here would already have that part completed if these seven were anything to go by. Iliyal decided to end it, he grabbed a punch and threw the man down. A kick to the side made sure the man wouldn¡¯t be standing back up. The last one was thrown over the shoulder on top of the first man. ¡°There we go Gentlemen.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Return to the rank.¡± All Iliyal got was a series of moans in return as the group of seven rolled in pain on the ground. Iliyal sighed and gave one of them a kick. ¡°Orders are to be followed, get up and get back into formation.¡± And another kick, lighter this time. He didn¡¯t want to immobilize them or break ribs, but a little discipline was required. ¡°UP!¡± Iliyal shouted, his voice echoed against the tree line. The men managed to stand and return back to the group. Iliyal smiled to himself and took a deep breath. ¡°Well done Gentlemen, that was a good show.¡± He made a show of throwing his coat back so everyone could see he had a sword on him, enough of them would catch the fact he didn¡¯t even move to grab it during the brawl. ¡°But now, let me explain the situation to you.¡± Iliyal took a breath. ¡°I am Iliyal Tremali.¡± He let the name hang in the air. ¡°Who knows about me?¡± A good two thirds of the men raised their arms and Iliyal smiled. ¡°General of Arascus¡¯ Eighth Legion during the Great War, General in the Kirinyaan War now. Welcome to the Army Gentlemen!¡± He shouted, he got a few chuckles out of it. ¡°You have been selected.¡± Iliyal chose his words carefully, these men weren¡¯t going to be returning to jail, but they were native Epans. Lubskan and Doschian both, once the conflict in Kirinyaa ended, it would be good to have men who would be able to infiltrate and not have affiliations to any Divine Orders. ¡°To serve in a new unit.¡± Iliyal pulled out a little passport, dark red, with the insignia being a white blade. ¡°You have a choice now.¡± Iliyal let them all see the passport. ¡°You may either refuse my offer, and return back to wherever you were dragged out of.¡± Iliyal raised the passport into the air. ¡°Or you will join under new identities, your past crimes will not be investigated, your names are not important, you will become new men.¡± He threw the passport to the man closest to him, and started walking along the line. ¡°That¡¯s merely demonstration copy, it¡¯s not the real thing.¡± Iliyal stopped and turned back around. ¡°I will treat you as dogs, I will kick you into the ground, I will make sure that every ounce of the weakness you are now plagued with is killed. If you are strong enough, you will stand with me, if you are not...¡± He stopped at the centre of the line again and turned back to the men. He got their attention, every pair of eyes was looking at him with interest. That was how you got men who believed in themselves to believe in you. ¡°Any man who wishes to return to the prison can step forwards now. This is the one and only chance.¡± Iliyal looked at the line of people, he saw a few smiles. ¡°Anyone who does not will be subject to Goddess Kassandora¡¯s military law, you do not have the death penalty in your nations, but I do. I will not treat you like your police treats you, you will receive beatings, you will not have courts or appeals, I am not an elected representative you can recall, I am a man appointed by Kassandora to lead. I answer to her directly, no one else. You will answer to me directly, no one else. That is one privilege this job does offer. I do my work very well, but if I deem you incapable, you will not stay to slow down the rest of the group.¡± He looked at them, some smiles dropped, some rose. ¡°Our first order of business will be to attack a White Pantheon stronghold.¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°Any man who thinks he is not capable of this, or who will not put their life on the line, or who thinks they are too weak, to do it, step forwards now.¡± No one did. Iliyal let his smile grow. This was the sort of thing he liked to see. ¡°Well then, Gentlemen, welcome to the Tremali Brigade.¡± The smiles that had grown on the men, those smiles that said they thought they were getting a free ticket out of prison, disappeared within the first ten minutes. Chapter 177 – Kirinyaan War, Eastern Front With everything said and done, there is absolutely nothing I can say positive about this Kirinyaan conflict. The White Pantheon has already been humbled after sending more than two hundred thousand soldiers into Arika. Then with the overhaul of Arcadia after the attack seven months ago, it all begs one simple question. If Kassandora is so weak, if Fer is so trivial, if Anassa cannot compare to Elassa, if Fortia can singlehandedly defeat Arascus in combat, if Olephia is the only who is worth any headache, why go through all this? It simply does not add up, if Arascus is so powerless and weak, why go to such an effort? If he is such a threat, why treat him as a joke? - Excerpt from a modern geopolitical analyst on the Invasion of Kirinyaa, broadcast by Everything In Epa. How Kassandora managed to predict the increase of Fortia¡¯s and Maisara¡¯s armies on the eastern front, Zalewski did not know. How she managed to calculate almost to the exact day when reinforcements would start arriving, Zalewski did not know. How she managed to keep up with the pressure of Elassa¡¯s attack, Zalewski did not know. He would have crumbled under that terrible pressure already, but Kassandora did not, and if she did not, he would not. It was as simple as that. Zalewski on a small foldable steel stool, under a camouflaged net in a small dugout near the base of some hill. On the maps, it was labelled as Hill 23, but that was as unique as the hill got, a mere mound in the Jungle. Kassandora had said that relying on direct vision from hilltops was the mark of an amateur, that professionals would see no difference between being underground and in a plane if presented with a map. So Zalewski made sure to stare at his maps until his eyes hurt, and then he stared some more. Maybe it was the fact that Kassandora had no flashy powers, or maybe she did and merely did not show them off. There was none of Fer¡¯s lightning fast speed and terrible strength, no Anassa¡¯s crimson drawings brought from imagination into existence, nor was she Olephia. Zalewski silently seethed that it was Ekkerson who had ended up with the Goddess of Chaos on his front, and not him. He had witnessed that woman destroy the Caretaker, and now could only dream of how easy the war would be if she was here. Frankly, the situation was dire on the Eastern Front. Reinforcements were coming, but it was simply divisions freshly raised by Arascus, equipped with rifles and supported by artillery companies, but that was it. The KAL had no planes to spare with Elassa¡¯s thrust, and the sorcerers were needed on Sokolowski¡¯s front more than they were needed on Zalewski¡¯s. And so, Zalewski ended up with the largest army of the three fronts, yet arguably the weakest one. The only Divine support he had was Anassa¡­ And that was Anassa. Every single damn time he called a Code-One-Red alert, he ended up receiving another verbal lashing from the Goddess of Sorcery about how she is not some janitor to call and clean up a dozen mages. Worse still was the fact she came and went however and whenever she went, at least Fer would always turn up and announce her presence. He turned and looked behind himself, it was just mud and two soldiers working the radio, another man was stood watching the skies, his rifle slung over his arm and a pair of binoculars hanging around his neck. It was just humans in the trench, thank the Divines for that, thinking about Anassa simply made Zalewski paranoid. Zalewski walked around the table as he looked at the collection of counters on the map of the local region. Divisions Eighteen was holding the edge of the Central Mountain, Fifteen was next to it, then Division Sixteen. Seventeen was missing, they had taken thirty percent casualties on top of another eight percent dead. Right now, they had been pulled back to the jungle to be healed by one of the Cleric support companies. Twenty through to Twenty Nine made a wall of guns and bodies along the rest of the Jungle. Thirty through to Thirty Six made a wall to the coast. Then Thirty Seven through to the Fortieth Infantry Division served as Zalewski¡¯s skirmishing troops. And now, Arascus had sent him the Forty-First, Forty-Second and Forty-Third Infantry Divisions. He had well over a hundred thousand men under his command. Looking at it like that, maybe someone else would have cracked. But Zalewski had been chosen by Kassandora. In the same way that Iliyal had that fanatical dash of madness within him, so did the man. It simply started to grow as he thought about his situation. Of everyone Kassandora had picked, it was him and Ekkerson and Sokolowski to be made into Generals. How could he disappoint her now? ¡°Send word to Three-Eight and Three-Nine. Have them move into sector nine.¡± One of the scouting companies had seen Maisara¡¯s Paladins there. ¡°Permission to fire on sight is granted. Twenty-Two is to pull south further into the jungle, Twenty-One and Twenty-Three are to fire on Twenty-Two¡¯s current location once they¡¯ve pulled out. Send orders.¡± Zalewski said and the radio operator got to work. Twenty-Two was going to be attacked, Zalewski simply sensed it. Whether it was part of Kassandora¡¯s blessing or his own intuition, he didn¡¯t know but he would attack Division Twenty Two right now, the jungle pulled north there, and that location could be flanked from three sides. ¡°Actually.¡± Zalewski held up his hand. ¡°Twenty-Two is to pull to the edge of its sector, leave a rear guard in its current position, don¡¯t disassemble the camp but take the ammunition away. Twenty-One and Twenty-Three are to prepare to shell the entire sector, from north to south. Send a sniper company to provide overwatch on the rear-guard, tell them to hold fire.¡± The radio operator saluted and started to transmit the new orders. Zalewski could see it now, when the Paladins would descend on the camp, napalm would cut off their escape route and the amount of men he had to manage right now was getting too high. Apparently, Arascus had successfully managed to find enough volunteers to fill another twenty new Divisions. ¡°Transmit to Division Twenty Two, tell the rear guard to retreat as soon as they see signs of opposition.¡±Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Understood!¡± The radio operator called back and Zalewski leaned back. That was sorted. Now was the main issue of his forces, the jungle made an impenetrable wall, but it was that slice of plains that was dangerous. Already two defence lines had been breached. Anassa had been permanently assigned to that front, but with Alkom, Maisara and the difference in magic, the guns and artillery did little to counter that power. He leaned back and sighed, he waited for the radio operator to finish. ¡°Kassandora is in lockdown, right?¡± ¡°She is Sir.¡± The radio operator replied. ¡°She said not to call unless it¡¯s dire.¡± Zalewski looked down at the map again. It was bad, but it wasn¡¯t dire. ¡°The line to N¡­¡± Zalewski trailed off. That was his old self coming through now, he couldn¡¯t be asking men to confirm information now, he was supposed to be their leader. The leader was supposed to know everything at all times, and if he didn¡¯t, then he should act as if though he did. The line to Nanbasa was secure, the engineers hadn¡¯t dragged over a thousand miles of wire for no reason. ¡°Call Arascus.¡± The radio operator looked at Zalewski, then at the phone. ¡°I¡¯m not going to repeat an order soldier.¡± ¡°At once sir.¡± The man dialled the military number. It was channel zero-zero-zero-zero. Kassandora was zero-zero-zero-one. And he held the phone for Zalewski. Arascus did not pick up. Zalewski would not call again. He simply stood and waited. Fifty miles north of him, Division Twenty-Two pulled out of their camp. A rear guard was left, a few dozen healer clerics from the support company and a thousand men to cover the camp. They set up campfires, made lots of smoke and noise, and waited. And as Zalewski had predicted, Division Twenty-Two¡¯s camp came under attack. From three sides, with support from two minor Divines and several hundred mages. Trees burst from the ground, the soil split to form ravines. Clouds condensed into rain, which then formed into a hail of icicles that pierced and stabbed and tore men apart. The Paladins advanced as they always did, in a turtle formation, heavy shields overlapping against each other, reinforced by magical barrier to stop the fire of machine guns. And a lieutenant phoned a captain, and the captain called a major, a major called the colonel, and the colonel called Zalewski. ¡°They¡¯ve come.¡± ¡°Two-Two, shell the camp. Two-One and Two-Three, cut off the retreat.¡± ¡°Understood General.¡± Seventy-Two artillery pieces deployed dug their ploughs into jungle dirt. Pistons groaned and sighed as stabilizers pierced the dirt. Men input co-ordinates into computers, lines of loaders formed, from munitions trucks to guns. Barrels raised high into the air, men ran away and plugged their ears. Kassandora¡¯s mighty organs started to play. One shell was easy to stop. Zalewski had learned that the hard way. Two shells, just as easy. A hundred were a slightly bit harder. Combined with burning napalm, it was possible to simply overpower mages. Mages were still men, and men got tired, no matter how much power they had. But that was a waste of shells. ¡°Send word to the sniper company, standard procedure.¡± Zalewski said as he stared at the map. He didn¡¯t know how it happened, but he could see it. He saw men move on the map, he saw where his artillery was positioned, he saw the flames and he saw where Maisara had ordered her Paladins to surge forth. He heard the snipers open fire, each one a tiny pluck of a violin compared to the overpowering organ of the artillery. But he saw the mages fall. He saw their heads pop. Maisara would adapt eventually, but she still hadn¡¯t informed the mages to set up side barriers as they defended against artillery. One man in a blue robe fell. Another. A barrage of artillery shells fell, explosions flowing splashes of napalm and setting fire to the jungle trees around them. And the shield cracked. Sand and water started to leak, the Paladins raised their shields. It was too late to run anyway. Another set of sniper rounds came in, another dozen mages fell, and with them, so did the shield. The Lemurs let out another volley. And another. And a third. The first landed, men were thrown about. One of the minor Divines was set alight, another escaped into the air, a sniper got him in the stomach, he stopped for a moment. Another bullet ended his life when it pierced his head. And the second volley landed. Whoever remained standing with the strength of Maisara¡¯s blessing now fell. The third volley turned them into pieces, the flames devoured what was left. Zalewski took a heavy breath as he heard Kassandora¡¯s orchestra come to a stop. The drums finished. He gave an order for the guns to stop firing. What was that? Five thousand paladins? For a thousand men? He stared at the map and felt¡­ there was nothing there. A thousand men had just been lost. And there was only satisfaction. Was it Kassandora¡¯s blessing? Or was it just himself? Maybe Kassandora had sensed it within him? Zalewski pushed the question to the side. Frankly, it didn¡¯t need an answer. ¡°Arascus is calling!¡± The radio operator suddenly shouted. Zalewski blinked and looked at the man. Now? The operator had already answered it. If it was from anyone else, Zalewski would have given the man a punishment, but it was Arascus. The man passed him the wired phone. ¡°General Zalewski speaking.¡± Zalewski said. Arascus replied immediately. ¡°I was busy, you called.¡± Zalewski held in the sigh that the God didn¡¯t sound annoyed. ¡°Goddess Kassandora is currently under siege, she told me to not call unless the situation is dire.¡± Arascus chuckled through the phone. ¡°And is it dire?¡± He asked. ¡°Not yet. But the defences in the planes won¡¯t hold.¡± Zalewski said. ¡°We need either air support or sorcerers.¡± Zalewski took a sigh. ¡°Or Fer to return, otherwise we¡¯re going to be overwhelmed within a week, maybe two if luck favours us.¡± ¡°Luck doesn¡¯t favour us.¡± Arascus replied immediately. ¡°The KAL and Fer is busy with Elassa, the sorcerers need to be at Front-Centre.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Zalewski replied. ¡°I will aim to hold for as long as possible, but ground will be lost.¡± ¡°Ground can be lost.¡± Arascus replied immediately. ¡°And you¡¯re getting something else instead.¡± Zalewski narrowed his eyes. He didn¡¯t want to be rude but from what Iliyal had told him of Arascus, the man preferred talking straight. ¡°Is it secret?¡± ¡°It will arrive tomorrow. You¡¯ll hold when they get there.¡± ¡°And may I ask what they are?¡± Arascus merely chuckled. ¡°First and Second Kirinyaan Armoured.¡± Chapter 178 – Delusional Erasers Olephia rolled out of bed with a heavy sigh. Another Code-One-Purple came through, another alert with either Zerus or Sceo going on rampage. With the spies removed, they would only appear for a few minutes at a time, Zerus would destroy a few bunkers, Sceo would tear up a trench with her winds. A man would be thrown into the air, another would be fried by lightning. And then Olephia would arrive, and Zerus and Sceo would be long gone by then. She knew the script by now, it was boring and unexciting, and she would annihilate another band of Guardians, and that would be that! What a bore! Elassa stood high up, on an invisible platform of hardened air as she looked at Iniri¡¯s great oaks. Each one was wide as a small fort, and as tall as a city block, with great canopies. Platforms and bridges interconnected them as if Iniri had gotten crazed spiders drunk and told them to build a huge web. The platforms turned and twisted to provide cover from her mages. The bridges became sky-tunnels, then crenulations, then lead into bunkers that sat on top of trees. Behind every wooden barrier was a man, and in that man¡¯s hands was a rifle. Each one wearing brown or green in some attempt at stealth. Honestly, it matched Kassandora perfectly. Naturally, the men wouldn¡¯t be able to hide or blend in like chameleons, but a swift eye may need a second look to spot all of them. And a second look was more than enough time to pull the trigger. Those modern guns were exactly what Theosius had predicted a thousand years ago, fully automatic rifles that could bring down even a Divine in a few seconds. Concentrated fire would overwhelm the shields of magicians under lead, that wasn¡¯t even a question. Elassa had personally seen it happen. Worse though, were the thick cannons that hid behind tall walls. Those were Kassandora¡¯s dreaded artillery. The Goddess of War¡¯s loudest instrument, when they started to play, it was as if she was bringing a little bit of Hell onto Arda. Maybe Kassandora had not realised it yet, but that artillery was far more destructive than simply being able to hurl explosives through the air. Already, Elassa had seen more than two hundred of her mages be brought to insanity by constant shelling. Fortia¡¯s Guardians had it worse though. Tales of men being unable to sleep or sit still, of men who jumped when the door opened, or who went crazy and had to be subdued when someone dropped a fork, were more than commonplace. Every single of Fortia¡¯s frontline battalions had a few like that. A sonic boom sounded from above and Elassa spun in the air, her eyes going up. She had missed it again. Once, it was just her and Anassa who the Queens of movement. And Anassa did not move but rather blink from location to location, Elassa was the fastest the White Pantheon had to offer. By the time she spotted those black spots in the sky, they were already out of range and she would not leave her army to fight without Divine support. Well, there were a few minor Divines, those who had the power to fly or float through the air, but they weren¡¯t real Divines. A God of Breezes and a Goddess of Windmills were stronger than a man, but when facing real Divine war, Elassa would bet on two dozen men led by Kassandora than two dozen minor Divines. Elassa turned in the air, her whitewood staff floating into her grip by itself, her dark blue battledress spinning around her in the wind as she caught sight of the bombs that had just been dropped. A hundred of them, she already knew she couldn¡¯t handle that many, maybe Allasaria would be able to, but Allasaria was not here. The army of mages on the ground raised a shield without orders needing to be given. Winds hardened, dirt was pulled from the ground and water coalesced into the usual barrier against napalm as Elassa charged her power into her staff. A brilliant blue beam of mana, the purest essence of magic, fire from the large white diamond that served as a catalyst. It destroyed one bomb, then formed an orb in the air, Elassa charged it for a second and the ignited the centre. The mana exploded into spikes, each one incinerating a bomb or two. Out of the hundred, she had managed to destroy sixty. The rest landed on the shield and Elassa let her mages deal with it as she waved her sky. Kirinyaa¡¯s monsoon season would not come for another two months at least, but the Central Mountain Range acted as a funnel that ensured the jungles in the middle almost never had a clear sky. A tornado appeared behind her mages, Elassa set up a barrier to protect her men from the vicious winds as it started to pick up speeds. It pulled up dirt at first, becoming an ugly shade of red-brown, then rocks. Leaves were pulled off branches, branches pulled off trees, trees pulled off roots and roots were whisked out of the ground. It all got sucked up into the whirling winds. Elassa pointed her glowing staff at it, and then motioned upwards. The tornado spiralled higher past Elassa and into the sky. The clouds around it started to swirl and Elassa started to chant a spell. The bottom of the tornado started to curl upwards, the whirling winds fell onto their side like a snake and then followed Elassa¡¯s staff as she waved it through the air. White clouds turned dark and were sucked in, or on the other side were blown away until the sky was a brilliant bright blue again.Stolen story; please report. Kassandora¡¯s planes had already seen this tactic before, and they were far too high in the air for Elassa to reach. They circled high above and began to fly away, tiny black blips in that light blue ocean above. A moment later, sonic booms shook the trees as they broke the sound barrier. Elassa didn¡¯t know why they tried to escape to urgently, she wasn¡¯t going to waste her energy and time tracking lost birds. She had thought about it when she saw one the first time, but then she remembered it was Kassandora commanding them. No doubt they¡¯d have orders to split up, no doubt the pilots would be suicidal in their fanaticism and would rather dive into the ground than lead Elassa back to whatever secret airport they were being housed in. Elassa took a heavy breath as she looked at the thirty-six thousand men she had come with. There had been a full forty thousand when Elassa had first pushed into the mountains. Then a man. Another man was shot. Someone failed to block an artillery round and a dozen lives were lost. Someone was ambushed, someone grew sick and needed to be sent back. The mountains had only cost them five hundred souls. The jungle should have been easier, and then the constant bombings started. Most of the losses weren¡¯t even fatalities, men simply grew tired, then grew restless, then paranoid, and then they snapped. Kassandora would no doubt have a solution to this crisis. Fortia already had a pipeline set up were men were recovered with advanced Divine magics. Maisara¡¯s Paladins were blessed with her boldness and perseverance, they fared the best under artillery fire of all the White Pantheon troops. But Elassa had mages and herself. She wasn¡¯t a leader, she never had been. She was a teacher, a warrior and a scholar, never had she wanted to lead a war. And now, all she could think to do was simply send them back to Arcadia to be healed. The worst part was the pace of it. During the second day, two men snapped. Then four. Then ten. Yesterday had been the worst, eight hundred men had simply given up and sat on the ground. And that was that. No matter how Elassa tried to heal them, she couldn¡¯t find any wounds in their bodies or their souls. It was as if the mind itself had cracked. And Elassa turned back to Kassandora¡¯s fortress. That concoction of trees and guns and artillery. That wasn¡¯t the challenge in itself. It was that red opaque bubble around. Magic and Sorcery were similar arts, sorcery had come around as a delusion form of magic in the first place. So they could do similar things. Just as Elassa could form a shield of mana, so could Anassa. And Elassa had come across this disgusting shield sorcery before. There was going to be a glass catalyst crystal somewhere in the base that needed to be destroyed or overpowered. Anything that touched that opaque red sphere would simply be sucked into the barrier. Sending pure mana into that bubble was the equivalent of giving your soul to one of Anassa¡¯s traps. There was no way to get in, there was no way to get out. In the past, one of the tactics had been to simply wait them out for the air within to be used up and for men inside to suffocate. Elassa¡¯s eyes went to the green leaves of Iniri¡¯s trees. Fat chance of them running out of oxygen with that much vegetation within. Starving them out was just as farcical, Iniri had changed her title to Of Food and Bounty precisely because the woman was woman was an endless walking granary. And with Kassandora in there, Elassa doubted that morale and will would run out anytime soon. The crystal could be destroyed, but to destroy it, one would have to cross the shield in the first place. So it could not be waited out. It could not be destroyed from within. It would have to be overpowered. Elassa waved her staff and the platform of solid air that carried her lowered to the ground. High-ranking battlemages were already arranged, the captains she had picked out to give out orders. She didn¡¯t bother learning names at this point, snipers had picked off the first round of captains, and artillery-madness had sent the second round back home. Unlike the other Divines, she simply did not have a good eye for men. ¡°We are preparing for a full siege.¡± Elassa said. ¡°Surround the bubble, no one is to come within fifty steps of the shield itself, no one is to touch it with magic, no one is to even think about touching it. Understood?¡± Elassa said. She got a series of confused nods. This, she could pick up on, men needed explanations, and it was far better to show than to explain with words. Elassa turned and waved her staff. A blade of air made a clean cut through one of the large jungle trees. Elassa¡¯s staff started to shine bright, and she lifted the wood up, then threw it into the bubble. Where the tree made contact with the shield, it simply disappeared. Before the Great War, Anassa had once explained the principle of the barrier to Elassa. It¡¯s an eraser, everything is a drawing. How can a drawing break through an eraser? At first, Elassa thought Anassa spoke in metaphors and flowery language as most Divines did. She thought she understood it through that lens, but then she realised Anassa always spoke literally. The barrier was in fact an eraser. And everything was a drawing. And the fact it confused Elassa only terrified her. ¡°Understand now?¡± Elassa said. ¡°Yes Goddess!¡± The mages replied. ¡°Have floromancers remove the trees around this area. The rest are to¡­¡± Elassa saw the faces of the floromancer captains. ¡°Is there an issue?¡± ¡°The flora here does not listen to us but we¡­¡± They looked at each other, each one in a green cloak and shrugging, faces obviously confused. ¡°I really don¡¯t know what to say. It¡¯s as if they¡¯re not flora.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Iniri.¡± Elassa said with a sigh. ¡°Have pyromancers burn the forest around us down then. Geomancers are to bury the deep and pull up rocks. Make this ground stone.¡± That would a day of delay. That meant a day of constant bombings, the clouds were already returning. ¡°Then start forming a ritual circle. I will guide it.¡± Elassa said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the details for now, I¡¯ll draw everything.¡± Anassa made a giant eraser, but there was one issue with erasers. No matter how delusional you were, you had to admit that there was no such thing as an infinite eraser. All of them ran out eventually. The shield simply needed to be dirtied with so much mana that it would crack. Chapter 179 – The Siege of Central Requisitions Sieges are to be avoided. Divines should be brought in to wipe forces away. Olephia, Anassa, Baalka and Irinika are all capable of causing enough devastation to breach castle walls and raze them to the ground. Without Divines, fortresses should not be sieged. Cities can be starved out through the raiding and obstruction of supply routes. It is a radical change in warfare, but there is a simple reason. An army sieging faces inwards, to turn a city into a prison merely galvanizes the local population. They see directly who the enemy is, they can peer over the castle walls and immediately see who is responsible for turning their holds into a prison. Most importantly. An army sieging can be counter-attacked from the rear. There is little to be done in a situation like that, there is nowhere to retreat when the rear becomes a frontline, and the castle walls that once trapped the local population now trap you. Principles of Siegecraft, written by Goddess Kassandora, Of War, during the Great War. Kassandora stared up at the red bubble that protected Central Requisitions and the twenty thousand men within. The slight worry of being outnumbered was not a worry, but the last time an army of more than twenty thousand mages had been fielded was during Worldbreaking. Now, that slight tinge of worry had become a slight tinge of dread. The numbers had been wrong, simply from looking at the army through Anassa¡¯s shield, it was more than thirty thousand, maybe more than forty. Kassandora sighed and ignored that slight tinge of dread. Shield two was already prepared and ready. Her orchestra always played in her head, simple violins pulling quiet notes and a piano that idly played a tune of boredom. No bombastic trumpets, no grand organs, no drums, sieges only had those in books. In reality, a siege was merely a test of patience. And so, Elassa caught Kassandora¡¯s eye as she flew over the edge of the bubble and to inspect another of her ritual circles. The woman was smart, Kassandora had to give her that. The first day had been spent simply preparing the terrain around Central Requisitions. For ten hours, a firestorm had raged around them, devouring tree and bush and grass and leaving only ash. It had been guided by pyromancers, although the heat did not penetrate Anassa¡¯s barriers, nor did the winds that swirled around them. Eventually, the firestorm had left nothing but grey ash around them. And then Elassa¡¯s mages started to terraform the ground. Veins of metals were pulled up from the ground, hard stones churned the dirt, and then flattened over it. A simple thing, but Iniri would not be able to cause any disruptions quickly if she had tear through a mile of underground stone first. Elassa stopped in the very centre of the shield as Kassandora watched her. The Goddess of Magic was obviously not enjoying herself, her locks were unbrushed, with hairs sticking out in all directions and her blue battledress was now almost black. Napalm¡¯s smoke was to thank for that. She raised her white staff, spun it, and a tornado appeared again. This ritual happened six times a day now, whenever the clouds started to return. The tornado, with nothing to feed it, was a mere swirl of grey dust. It lunged up into the sky like a striking snake and beat the white clouds away, blowing the miles back with each slow wave it did. Eventually, Elassa¡¯s staff ceased to glow and the tornado ripped itself apart. The winds settled down and Arda¡¯s Sun once again shone over the wooden fortress of Central Requisitions. That was a good way to destroy the cloud cover of the KAL, but Kassandora wondered what it was like from the outside. Anassa¡¯s shield only allowed light to enter so the tornado had been silent, but from outside¡­ She doubted any of the mages got more than a few hours sleep at a time. That was good. An army exhausted was worse than an army starving. Men could calm the pangs of starvation for a while, the drunkenness of tiredness was much harder to wash away. The twisting of bark and wood pulled Kassandora out of her thoughts. The inside of the base was usually silent, although there was little to produce noise here. Everyone held a gun, artillery was already in position, engines cycling idly as they kept the barrels pointed upwards and ready to fire. Every now and then, there would be a song or a chant, a man would cough, someone would drop something from the platforms high up in the trees, but that was it. Kassandora looked down from her platform. Iniri had grown this one on special request, the tallest branch of the tallest tree had expanded into a disk. A few other platforms were pulled out from the tree in order facilitate Kassandora getting up to her perch. She did have to jump from one to the other, but it wasn¡¯t too difficult. Divines who were scared of heights had died out long ago. There were more trees forming a tight circle, a thick green canopy of bushy leaves and interwoven branches protected three of Anassa¡¯s gemstones and blocked them from view. Honestly, Kassandora could have gotten away with only bringing two, another could have been sent to Zalewski¡¯s front and the newly formed armoured brigades, but it was too late now. And there was no such thing as having too many backups anyway. Iniri was down on the red dirt, she waved up at Kassandora and Kassandora replied with a nod. Kavaa was standing on a branch that culminated in a circular disk, she stood in her full silver armour and her blade hung from a sheathe on a belt. Silver hair poured out from underneath of the woman¡¯s helmet. ¡°You called.¡± Kavaa said and Kassandora nodded.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I did.¡± She said as Kavaa jumped from her branch to Kassandora¡¯s platform. The branch then curled back and retreated to the ground. Kassandora peered over the edge at Iniri, the woman was already returning back to the safety of one the great oaks. Guards were about, everyone was preparing. ¡°Did you bring the radio?¡± Kavaa unclipped a radio from the back of her belt and handed it to Kassandora. ¡°What is it about? We can¡¯t get signals out.¡± ¡°Do you see the runes?¡± Kassandora asked. Joyeuse appeared in her hand and she pointed it at the smooth rock that made up the ground around CR. ¡°Or not?¡± ¡°I see them.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°Will they break through? They couldn¡¯t in the past.¡± ¡°In the past, we didn¡¯t have armies purely of mages.¡± Kassandora said. She called upon her blessing and the men within Central Requisitions. They started to rise and stand up. Loaders prepared ammunition, drinks were put away, cigarettes snuffed out. Men hovered their fingers over triggers. ¡°But this is enough to break through one of Anassa¡¯s barriers.¡± ¡°We have a backup though.¡± Kavaa said and Kassandora nodded. ¡°It will most likely be today, or tomorrow, I want you to stay with me here.¡± Kavaa shrugged and looked around. ¡°We¡¯re exposed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I don¡¯t want Elassa to cut through Iniri¡¯s trees with mana, if she sees us, sees me, she¡¯ll focus an attack on me.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa replied flatly. ¡°And you¡¯re here because I know I can¡¯t withstand more than one, maybe two, blasts from her.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°Elassa is not Alkom, if she incinerates you, I can¡¯t heal that.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve blocked Elassa attack¡¯s before.¡± Kassandora replied, Kavaa only sighed as her armoured palm ran over the hilt of her sword. ¡°If you say so¡­¡± She said. ¡°So? How long?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but soon.¡± Soon was a day from now. Kassandora and Kavaa stood on their wooden podium. Kassandora silently cycled her troops with her blessing. Men would leave their positions without saying anything, and be replaced by other troops pulled from the barracks at the base of the trees. They¡¯d walk down stairs and climb down ladders then go to cantinas to refuel their stomachs. Meals were entirely supplied through Iniri, she a small orchard of trees and an even smaller field of vegetables were set up near the edges of the barrier, where the Goddess of Nature would work tirelessly to speed up the growth of the various plants. Large apples were picked by soldiers, or the trees would simply lower their branches and give them a shake to drop them into wheelbarrows which would be pushed straight into the kitchens. Then men would be sent to their beds. Others would wake up, their own minds adding yet more tiny violins to replace the ones that drifted off into sleep. It was a tiny choir. A tiny choir that became a grand orchestra when Kassandora saw the first signs of movement from the outside. Elassa finished with another tornado to once again push away crowds and reveal the sky. It was turning a brilliant purple, in the west, warm oranges and vivid reds were still in the far reaches of the west, and stars were starting to come out. Elassa¡¯s mages started to chant, each magician joining hands with another, forming small groups that surrounded each circular rune. Kassandora bothered to learn them a long time ago, this was a simple mining array. Nothing out of the ordinary, no terrible breakthrough magic that had been discovered since after the Great War. Nothing like that. What had Elassa been doing for the past millennia? Had she actually just been teaching her mages? Shouldn¡¯t they have been stronger? Or was it actually just all a millennia of White Pantheon politics? Kassandora smiled to herself as she took a deep breath. This would be even easier than she thought. The various ritual circles started to glow a bright blue. Kassandora stared at it in awe. It was really a simple mining array, a spell to quickly dig a hole. That was it, naturally it was powerful. It could reach even the dwarven tunnels that penetrated deep to the centre of Arda. But there was a reason it was never used in combat. The spell stole too much power, and once it was started, it couldn¡¯t be aimed or moved, only stopped. But then, forty thousand mages eliminated the first problem and being in a siege eliminated the second. Kassandora looked up as beams of pure mana exploded upwards, then arced into the night sky and intertwined together, spiralling into the sky and culminating into a ball. It shot downwards, pure blue light that burned and incinerated and simply disappeared anything it touched. It should have at least. The beam reached Anassa¡¯s shield. Blue magic spiralled out of control and darkened with flashes of lightning coming out of it. Elassa immediately flew close and cast her own beam into the mining spell. The lightning stopped, the mining spell started to glow bright again, the mages in the ritual circles stopping panicking. And Elassa¡¯s shield started to fill up. Slowly and slowly and slowly, a patch of pure crimson that expanded from the point where outside magic touched it. It filled and filled and filled over the course of an entire day. Honestly, Kassandora had only brought Kavaa up here because she thought there would be more powerful magics involved, things she hadn¡¯t seen before. She waited until Elassa¡¯s drill started to create cracks in the clear red sphere of Anassa¡¯s purest sorceries. She grabbed the radio as the cracks like currents of electricity running through a nervous system. Anassa¡¯s shield cracked. The drill cut through immediately, making a small hole through a tree and further down into the surface of Arda. Kassandora saw Elassa¡¯s mages put up barriers as Anassa¡¯s bubble simply shattered out of existence. Elassa spun in the air, panting and sweating, but still obviously with enough energy to start a fight. Kassandora did not care, she thought of letting her men shoot, but then realised the sound would obscure her voice as she reached for the radio. For a moment, the only sound was the humming of Elassa¡¯s spell and Kavaa unsheathing her blade. Then a click. Kassandora flicked the switch of her radio. ¡°Goddess Kassandora speaking.¡± Kassandora said. She waited for a reply. There were small radios set up all the base. With the loss of Anassa¡¯s shield, Kassandora¡¯s signal sniff out it prey. A reply came through almost immediately. ¡°This is Headquarters, speaking. Over.¡± Kassandora commanded men through her blessing. A group of ten broke apart limiters attached to the first back up gemstone that powered Anassa¡¯s shield. ¡°Initiate Operation Speartip.¡± Kassandora said. It was over. Kassandora smiled at Elassa as the woman looked at the newly raised barrier in pure rage. Victory in Kirinyaa was only a matter of time now. She added yet another instruction. ¡°And give word to the Second Spear, the heart is exposed.¡± Chapter 180 – Tip of the Spear Arascus¡¯ Divine Armoury, located in Central Epa, built preceding the Great War. It is a dangerous place, filled with traps and defences. Every Divine bound to Arascus helped during its construction, even Olephia, of Chaos. After the Great War, we had a great debate on what to do with it. Helenna was for the Armoury¡¯s destruction, as was Iniri and Kavaa. Alkom, Atis and Zerus remained neutral, as did I. It was one of the rare moments when Allasaria, Elassa, Fortia and Maisara agreed on something without an argument. The foundries and forges, the armouries and technologies, the access to Kassandora¡¯s private writings, the direct connection to the tremendous dwarven underground kingdom all were too tempting prizes to give up. I can see it, but I see Iniri¡¯s perspective too. Not demolishing the armoury would leave a permanent blister that would always have to be maintained. The treasure within is great, and it can serve as a prison for the weapon incarnates, but it is a mere half measure. I simply do not see it. Are we building a new world? Or are we holding the old one together? - Excerpt from one of Leona¡¯s scarce writings. ¡®The Armoury Debate¡¯. Kept within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library. ¡®Initiate Operation Speartip.¡¯ Iliyal poured himself a small shot of whiskey and tipped his head back as he drank it. He rarely drank before battles anymore, but it was a good return to tradition. And a shot wouldn¡¯t slow him down too much. The whiskey burned on the way down as he looked at his team. It had been one week since he met them. In one week, he normally assumed a drop-out rate of one in five. Anything lower than that would allow for the weak to sneak through into his army. He tried, he had honestly tried to get to that figure, but these men really were something else. Teaching them was like teaching the old warrior families of the past, whatever he threw at them, no matter how sadistic, they at first accept with cold gazes. Now they were practically smiling. He looked over at the men, each one standing at attention fully suited up now. Armed with a large knife on the leg, a pistol strapped to the other, a rifle on their back. Black shirts and rugged black trousers, with heavy carrier vests for ammunition and grenades and a few bandages for stemming bleeding. That last one was only a morale measure, anyone who got injured in the Divine Armoury would most likely not be coming back out. A team of Clerics had been imported from Arika. They wouldn¡¯t be participating in the actual assault, but Clerical healing easily sped up the rate of training by at least a factor of five. Clerics stalked around Iliyal with their green cloaks and silver armour. They had changed too since the last time Iliyal had seen them, they arrived with rifles and pistols, only two still carried a sword. And the rifles were new. A K-1 model. Kafka-One, named after the lead designer¡¯s daughter. With a shorter barrel for close combat and a thicker magazine for more bullets. Even a red-dot sight. When Iliyal saw it, he couldn¡¯t believe how easy it was to use. ¡°Smoke yourselves a million.¡± Iliyal shouted and the unit dropped immediately. It was the last time they would go for an exercise, he saw a few men chuckle and laugh at the language. The command meant to do a million press-ups, but in actually, it was a simple test of doing it until they dropped. ¡°One. Two. Steady.¡± Iliyal shouted. Some of the smaller men were pulling away compared to the brutes. ¡°Sing me a tune too.¡± Anything to make it harder. ¡°A lullaby lads! Put a babe to sleep right now!¡± And so, they began. ¡®Mama said I¡¯d end up here.¡¯ Iliyal smiled at the words as he started taking long marching steps, his black coat trailing behind him and his boots making a satisfying click in time to the beat of the song. They were still pumping as if they had just started, even though they were at least twenty presses in. ¡®Laughing at Divinity, smiling ear to ear.¡¯ One of the men had made it up one day, and now the song had stuck. They were a creative bunch. ¡®Hush now little baby, don¡¯t cry here.¡¯ A few of the men started to slow down, the larger of the lot, with more muscle on them. Those always tired out first, it was why Iliyal always preferred having wolves to bears. ¡®Daddy¡¯s got a knife and a fire in the rear.¡¯ Iliyal smiled when he saw the largest of men struggle to push himself up. He was called Baker, originally he had chosen Jan, and his first name was Tomek, but when the men saw him start baking bread in his free time, Baker had stuck. Iliyal bent down to shout into the man¡¯s ear. ¡°ARE YOU OUT BAKER? DO YOU NEED A BREAK? ARE THESE ARMS JUST FOR SHOW? GIVE ME FIVE MORE!¡± ¡°YES!¡± Baker screamed as he pushed out another press up. ¡°SIR!¡± And two. Iliyal watched him completed the five, then hold himself in a planking position. ¡°That¡¯s what I want to see, good job Baker.¡± Iliyal said, he turned and moved down the line. Baker was always the first to go, but the others weren¡¯t far behind him. He bullied another man and demanded five more, he saw another collapse. It wasn¡¯t a feign, the man¡¯s fingers and arms were trembling. One man threw up. The bears came to a stop, the wolves were still smoking through the million. Iliyal knew they could go for another hundred or two, and frankly, he didn¡¯t have patience for it. ¡°ARE WE TIRED?¡± ¡°No Sir!¡± Everyone shouted back in answer, even the men who had collapsed. ¡°THEN WITH CLAPS NOW!¡± Iliyal shouted. He returned to the team of Clerics. ¡°Heal them up.¡± This was a hard exercise, and he didn¡¯t want his men having muscle pains in a fight. ¡°At once Sir.¡± The Clerics replied with a salute and went off to heal those who had collapsed. The lean men started to push themselves off the ground, make a clap, and then fall back down. One man managed twenty three. A short fellow, muscled but not overly so, bald, and in black. The rifle on his back bounced every time he did a clap. He was called Stalker, another one that had a joke become his name. He tried pushing himself up on the twenty-fourth, his barely managed a clap, and then his face planted into the cold hard dirt. Iliyal allowed himself a little smile at the humour of it.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Good job ladies! Everyone stand!¡± Everyone did stand, even stalker, he didn¡¯t even bother to rub his bleeding nose, only licking the blood off his top lip. ¡°Good job.¡± Iliyal said as he turned around and went to a box that had been prepared. It was the final part of turning this rabble of prisoners into trained soldiers, something to hold them together, something to bind them to Iliyal. Wissel and Jozef had thought they were getting a crack team of soldiers, in fact, they had given one to Iliyal. He took a step, honestly, they deserved a speech. He gave the Clerics time to finish healing them. That was another mark of strength, most men would collapse when touched by Kavaa¡¯s magic. These men groaned, grit their teeth, and kept standing. ¡°Ladies no more!¡± Iliyal shouted once the final Cleric finished up. ¡°Men!¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°I am not one for speeches.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°What are speeches anyway? Words on wind? What does that matter?¡± He got a few chuckles from the men. He knew he would. ¡°But you, you deserve a speech. You have spent one week with me. One week!¡± Iliyal held up his hand with a single finger pointed up. He lowered his arm, and his tone with it. ¡°When I first saw you, I thought you were walking trash.¡± He said. ¡°I saw people like you Baker.¡± Iliyal nodded to Baker and the man smiled in pride for being named directly. He would be a team leader. Iliyal made a wide posture, his arms hanging low as he spread them out and walked like a caveman. ¡°All muscle, I thought you had exchanged it for you brain.¡± That got a series of laughs. ¡°Or you Stalker!¡± That was another team leader, the man was smart. ¡°A little raccoon, I¡¯m surprised we didn¡¯t give you that name. Did your mother not give you milk to grow up?¡± Stalker grinned and the men shared another chuckle, Iliyal shook his head in exaggerated disappointment. ¡°You could have been like Nathan here!¡± Iliyal extended to another of the larger men. ¡°But I¡¯m not your mother, so I can¡¯t make you grow any taller, my apologies.¡± Laughs again. ¡°But you all came here.¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°As sad sacks of shit! I thought by day one, I¡¯d have half of you leave!¡± There was no chance of that, day one had been rough, but it was the easiest by far, Iliyal knew how to ease men into the military life. ¡°I expected to call Wissel and Jozef by day three!¡± Iliyal mimed putting a phone to his ear and pulled a silly voice. ¡°Hello, this is Iliyal, is that the best you had?¡± The men all grinned as Iliyal spread his arms out. ¡°But you are!¡± He shouted. ¡°The best Lubska and Doschia had to offer.¡± That was the thing with prisoners, when given proper discipline and a chance to atone, they¡¯d make the most loyal soldiers. ¡°Today, we are finished!¡± Iliyal shouted. He saw some of the men lose their smiles. It was heart-warming to see they¡¯d miss him. Honestly, it was. Iliyal had grown to like this rabble over the past week. ¡°Done! Training is over!¡± Iliyal let the silence hold for a few seconds. ¡°Let me give you a little behind the scenes, I¡¯m sure we¡¯d all that that, yes?¡± ¡°YES SIR!¡± Iliyal let the cheers die down for a moment. ¡°The deal was this. Epa had a problem. Five major sponsors have come to me to fix this problem. King Wissel of Doschia and Jozef, President of Lubska were among them.¡± Iliyal stopped for a minute, these men deserved to know more. ¡°The others were Rilia, Allia and Rancais. They wanted Arascus¡¯ weaponry.¡± Iliyal pulled the pistol out of his holster and held it in the air, and then put it back. ¡°And they wanted a man in charge.¡± That was a lie entirely, Iliyal had forced it on them. But that didn¡¯t matter. Kassandora had once said something was the truth because she said it, now this was the truth because he said it. ¡°Not a Divine, although we wouldn¡¯t send a Divine here, of course.¡± Iliyal maintained a light tone. ¡°So I was picked. I don¡¯t know if you believed me at first, but I¡¯m sure you do now. I am Iliyal Tremali. General of Arascus¡¯ Eighth Legion during the Great War, one of the greatest mortal minds to walk the surface of Arda, if I can boast.¡± Iliyal knew he could, he was in enough history books and essays to claim that title. ¡°So I will lead you. I have never, nor will I never lead men to their deaths.¡± That was a lie, every single battle had losses, every single battle Iliyal led men to their deaths. ¡°But some of you will die!¡± He shouted. ¡°Some of you will not return! For some of you, today is the final day you will spend before falling asleep, forever.¡± He inspected the men¡¯s faces. The words had the effect he wanted, they didn¡¯t terrify or concern, they galvanized and hardened. ¡°Originally, the deal would have you return to prisons.¡± Iliyal said as he watched the men. This was the final thing soldiers needed to fight. They needed a cause. For some it could be a larger thing, like one¡¯s country. For others, it was love. But for these men, he already knew there was something they wanted: Freedom. ¡°I look at you now, and I can think of only one thing; what a waste!¡± He got a series of cheers for that. ¡°I WILL NOT give you up. I WILL NOT abandon you. YOU WILL NOT set foot in a prison again.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°After all, a general does not abandon his men, I will be there with you, on the front lines.¡± And another series of cheers. ¡°Anyone who survives tonight, you will be given a choice. You may stay here, I am sure that your conditions will improve, but you will most likely end up back in prison. Politics is a dirty game.¡± Iliyal only made it even dirtier. ¡°But for those who wish to, you will return with me to Kirinyaa! The war will be won and you will serve!¡± ¡°Not as prisoners, not even as soldiers. You will serve as the founders! The founders of Iliyal Tremali¡¯s New Legion! I will personally make sure of it!¡± He already Kassandora would agree, she had an eye for talent and these men where absolutely brimming with it. The men cheered again. ¡°But now, we have a job to do! As was done in the past, so it will be done now! I will not call you soldiers anymore but Legionnaires!¡± He stopped for a second. ¡°Legionnaires! We have a job to do!¡± He pointed north. ¡°In that direction lies the Divine Armoury. It is buried deep, above it is Paladin¡¯s Headquarters of Epa! We are going to storm that Headquarters tonight!¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°Suicidal, is it not?¡± He asked and the men laughed. ¡°You are the tip of the spear that will strike at Maisara¡¯s heart. Who could ever do that?¡± Iliyal smiled as he saw the men smile. They were excited, and they were ready. ¡°We can! Why? Because you are here! And because I am here! Maisara made one fatal flaw in her construction of the Headquarters, the entire White Pantheon did! Do you know what that is?¡± ¡°No Sir!¡± ¡°The Divine Armoury is filled with tunnels and traps. With defences and artefacts meant to kill and destroy. There are moving statues. There are flying swords, there is traps of Baalka¡¯s diseases and Anassa¡¯s sorceries. Irinika¡¯s darkness clouds the tunnels, I will say that is one of the most fortified fortresses in all Arda.¡± He threw up his hands. ¡°And I served in its construction! Legionnaires, we are not storming an enemy castle, we are kicking them out of our own!¡± For once, Iliyal told the truth. Chapter 181 – Operation Speartip Fer ran. The pack followed. Through the jungles, they tore through shrub and bush, they forded rivers, they crossed ravines. They leapt around trees, they raced up hills and sprinted down them. Anassa disappeared from the arid plains of eastern Kirinyaa. She took a single step and crossed the horizon. There was no reason to race, she¡¯d make it at the same as Fer. And besides, she could enjoy tonight. The war would end tomorrow. ¡°Sir, there¡¯s a barrier!¡± Iliyal leaned out past seat to look through the front window. They were in a ten van convoy, each vehicle requisitioned from the Rancais police force. Lubska had wanted to use their own vehicles at first, but Rancais, which had been dealing with Anarchian riots for the past year, simply had better vans at their disposal. Iliyal wasn¡¯t going to give his men anything but the best of the best. The two trucks in the back weren¡¯t even ferrying men, but instead were packed with explosives. Iliyal looked through the glass as his eyes readjusted to the night. The stars were out, although they would be. Lubska was a modern Epan country, but it wasn¡¯t a Doschia or Rancais where every mile of land had a village at least. There wasn¡¯t a town around for twenty miles at least, the closest village was an hour drive through winding forest roads. It was more than enough time to give Jozef a credible excuse as to why he would not respond to the call for aid immediately. ¡°Stop Ricard.¡± That wasn¡¯t the driver¡¯s birth name, but it was his name now. Made official with the gift of the black and white passport Iliyal had handed out before the operation started. ¡°Aye Aye Boss.¡± Ricard replied. Another muscled man, with knife scars ruining his face. Apparently he was a Lubskan gangster before this chance. Those past crimes didn¡¯t matter now though. Those crimes belonged to the man who came before Ricard. This Ricard was a legionnaire. Iliyal looked past the forests as they slowly thinned out and gave way to a grassy meadow, stars shining above and a brilliant full moon providing plenty of light. That moon lit up their target. The Paladin¡¯s Headquarters of Epa. An ancient fortress, built just after the Great War, and it showed. Iliyal had seen the newer castles of this age, the fanciful palaces like Aldanstein that had been built for comfort and prestige and magnanimity rather than the workhorses of the past. But this was nothing like that, built with a Great War mindset and by Maisara of all people. Fortress Drayim stood before them, with rounded towers and cold walls of grey bricks. Crenulations lined the top, a second wall made another barrier, then a circular keep in the middle loomed over the whole structure. The White-Gold flags of the Pantheon hung low in the stillness of the night air, below them, nailed to the walls were the silver banners of Maisara. A simple silver-white-silver design. Iliyal looked at the approaching castle and had to hold back a tear forming in his eye. Riding towards an enemy fortress, ready to spill blood. This feeling was such sweet nostalgia he may as well have lost a thousand years of age. And then his eyes travelled downwards, past the castle¡¯s moat, past the green meadow, and towards barrier Ricard had mentioned. A simple traffic stop, next to it was a small building. Iliyal¡¯s eyes saw the Paladins in their silver armour, holding heavy shields and strapped with greatswords on their back, but he merely skimmed over them. He had read reports of them from Zalewski¡¯s front, Maisara¡¯s tactics had not changed a single bit from what she used in the Great War. And there were only three of them, Kassandora¡¯s culling of Maisara¡¯s warriors had taken a hit on the Goddess of Order¡¯s Orders. Iliyal would have told Ricard to simply ran through the barrier, but iron spikes popped out of the steel slits in the ground to stop anyone from doing that. Ricard let go of the gas and the black armoured riot van started to slow down. Iliyal turned back to the ten eleven men in the rear. Everyone was dressed in black, with t-shirt and rugged trousers and plate-carriers strapped with ammunition and spare magazines. Everyone had a large knife on the leg, a pistol on the other, and the K-1 rifles in their hands. ¡°Let¡¯s get to work gentlemen.¡± Iliyal¡¯s grin revealed his teeth. The grins in response revealed more sets of teeth that agreed with the sentiment. ¡°Jonathan, send word to the cars, the bomb trucks are to be ready, the rest of the men are to stay in.¡± ¡°Understood Sir!¡± Jonathan replied from the passenger¡¯s seat next to Ricard. He immediately started to transmit the orders through his radio to the other cars as the rear doors opened. Iliyal let his men be the first ones out. He considered himself at least somewhat proficient in combat, but the Great War and the thousand years after hadn¡¯t been survived through charging head first into battle. Iliyal¡¯s men arranged themselves besides the wagon as the elf stepped forwards. In his black coat and the tall boots clicking on the ground. In the past, he wore steel armour. Not anymore, rifles destroyed any reason for medieval to exist and moving without the weight was more important. The three Paladins made a line, six more came out of that small building. It was an ugly thing of red brick and concrete, with a sloped roof. ¡°Identify yourselves! This is Pantheon territory!¡± The lead Paladin shouted. The Paladin looked as they all did, in heavy grey armour. A veritable hulk of a man, he would be strong enough to flip a car over by himself. Three of them would most likely be able to flip the armoured vans. Iliyal took a breath and felt the calmness of Kassandora wash over him. He gave them a moment longer for the rest of the men to filter out. The Paladin calmed his tone and started speaking in a monotone. Iliyal would have not taken that tactic personally, but Maisara¡¯s Paladins were an odd lot. Seemingly quick to judge and yet always trying to avert violence from happening. ¡°Under the Pantheon Directive, this area is legal territory of the White Pantheon, Lubska has no jurisdiction over this area. If you¡¯re lost.¡± The man looked over at the over vehicles, he obviously doubted his own words. ¡°Then I advise for you to turn around. Otherwise you will be imprisoned and judged.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Iliyal wondered if these men had killed others before. Most likely not, the White Pantheon so stupid as to cause diplomatic incidents because of simple trespass. But even if they did not, they carried Maisara¡¯s blessing. Like Kassandora¡¯s, it affected the mind. It made one cold and pragmatic, life became a series of logical conclusions as emotions plateaued into mere constant calmness. Iliyal thought about arguing with the man, but ultimately, words were wind. It didn¡¯t matter if he crushed this man in argument. He merely raised his hand. The line of men behind raised their rifles. The Paladins must have known what was happening. This was no longer the era of Pantheon Peace. Every news station would report about the technological advantage Kassandora¡¯s army held. Even the most pro-Pantheon sources would not try to hide the fact that rifles were being used. The Paladin placed his heavy shield on the ground. Iliyal dropped his hand. The men behind him opened fire. The Paladins took a step back and dug their heels as they faced the hail of lead. Iliyal wanted to see how they fared personally, he had read Zalewski¡¯s report but there were only two people he would trust to really be certain: Kassandora and himself. A few bullets bounced off the shields, they made dents and ricochetted off into the dirt and grass. A few more bullets bounced off the Paladin¡¯s thick steel plate, simply making another a dent and helplessly trailing off behind them. But for every bullet that didn¡¯t penetrate, five did. The Paladin¡¯s armour started to flow red, one man dropped his heavy tower shield. It dropped forwards and plummeted onto the ground with a clatter of metal. Iliyal raised his hand again and signalled the men to stop. He thought he would have to run in and duel them with a blade and pistol. The leader of the men looked down at the wounds in his chest, he looked up, and faced Iliyal¡¯s pistol aimed for the slit in his steel helm. Iliyal pulled the trigger and the man fell backwards. The others did too. Iliyal looked at the Drayim Fortress proper. An alarm wasn¡¯t blaring yet, it would soon enough though. The castle stood silently in the night, the moon shining above it. It was too late to turn back now, the only way out was to keep going until they made it all the way through. ¡°Open the barriers, lower the spikes.¡± Iliyal said as he turned back and re-entered the armoured van. ¡°Yes Sir!¡± Two men immediately ran off into the structure, there was another burst of gunfire for a few seconds, then silence. Iliyal waited for a few seconds, then a few seconds more. He started tapping his foot impatiently as men started to file back in and take their seats. The sound of metal shifting made him lean over Ricard¡¯s seat again. The barrier was raising, the spikes in the ground shifted and submerged into the steel slits in the ground. It had taken a minute, but they had worked it out. Ricard switched the engine of the van back on and gave it some gas. It jerked forwards, then stopped as the two men who had ran in to open the blockade jumped back in and slammed the door. ¡°Sorry for the wait Boss.¡± One of them shouted. ¡°I was beginning question if you can read.¡± Iliyal said flatly and the men shared a few laughs amongst themselves. Iliyal smiled to himself, he let them have it. They wouldn¡¯t be laughing soon enough. Or maybe they would, you never knew with prisoners and psychopaths. Some of them did actually enjoy it. He leaned back over to Jonathan. ¡°Launch the battering rams, we¡¯re going in.¡± ¡°Aye Aye Sir.¡± Jonathan replied and started speaking orders into the radio. They moved quickly, Ricard drove the van to the side of the road. Iliyal looked through the window behind him, all the other vans followed in tow. All but the last two, the ones that were filled with explosives. He saw those two pull forwards slowly. The first one began to accelerate, the driver aimed his vehicle, locked the steering wheel, flung open the door and flung himself out of the vehicle and into the grass. And the van kept roaring forwards. It only picked up speeds as lights turned on from the walls of Drayim Fortress. Large spotlights, effective to blind, but Iliyal had seen them used in the past. It was new technology, but it merely replaced the blinding lights of Seekers. His legionnaires were already told what to do. From each car, a man opened a hatch in the top of the structure. Eight men popped out of the roofs of eight cars, each one drew his rifle, aimed at a spotlight and pulled the trigger. One by one, they started to shatter. One even set on fire, that was good. Alarms started to blare from behind the castle walls. It didn¡¯t matter though, the first van slammed into the gate. It crashed, the front crumpled and the back lifted into the air. Iliyal hadn¡¯t gone for a radio explosives, they were simply set and prepped in such a way that any sort of impact would make them go off. And go off they did. A brilliant fireball submerged the gates in flames and the pressure blew them open. Nothing but a few scraps remained of the vehicle, and those scraps of metal had been launched into the moat on either side of the structure. The fireball devoured itself leaving only smoking rubble. It revealed the second wall. With a gate that was much the same. A squad of Paladins had already formed a shieldwall in front of it. Iliyal smiled to himself as the second van set off in the same manner, the driver aimed it, then jumped out into the grass before walls. The Paladins took a step back, then quickly scattered to the sides. That was smart, only Fer¡¯s beastmen were aggressive enough to think they could stop cars hurtling towards them. The vehicle hurtled past them at a tremendous speed, and slammed into the second gate. Like the first gate, it went up in a fireball, throwing debris marvellously high into the air and scattering flames around it. Iliyal leaned over to Ricard. ¡°Drive.¡± The speartip had breached the armour, now it was time to drive the entire shaft in. Chapter 182 – Into Drayim Jozef and his ministers, those who were aware of Operation Speartip, watched Olonia stop at the door to his office. It was huge, although all governmental buildings were constructed with the knowledge mascots Divines would visit them. She wore the traditional shawls of white and red, snowy-white hair spilled down her back. ¡°I saw how Iliyal treats Anassa and Neneria Jozef.¡± She spoke without turning around. ¡°That¡¯s a different thing entirely Olonia.¡± Jozef replied. ¡°Is it? Are they not Divines? They get to speak.¡± ¡°You are Lubska¡¯s Divine Olonia. You have responsibilities.¡± Olonia shook her head, still not even deigning to look at the president. ¡°I do have responsibilities.¡± Olonia said coldly. ¡°And this is my nation. I will not go if you give me an order. Will you bear that responsibility Jozef? What if they fail? Do you really think the Pantheon will just bat an eye? That there won¡¯t be an investigation? I¡¯m not going to see my Lubska become Epa¡¯s Kirinyaa.¡± Jozef opened his mouth, but said nothing. It was Olonia¡¯s responsibility, but it was his too. They both served the nation. She stood for a minute in the silence before answering for Jozef. ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a no.¡± ¡°If you go, you have to succeed.¡± Jozef shouted suddenly. Olonia merely raised her hand and flicked them all a wave as she walked down the corridor. There was nothing else to say. Iliyal turned his head and braced for impact as Ricard turned the steering wheel to smash the hurtling van into a team of Paladins. Grey steel plate was rent out of shape as the massive vehicle forced men over and the crushed them under heavy tires. Ricard slammed the breaks, rubber lost traction and the machine started to slide on the cobbled square within the second wall of Drayim fortress. The side of the van slammed into the keep in the centre and Iliyal held onto his belt to not slam into the man ahead of him. ¡°LEGIONNAIRES!¡± Iliyal shouted, he was the first to recover from the stunning concussion of the car crash, but the others were far behind. The sound of shouts, of fire and of more screeching brakes and crying tires came in from outside. A thunderous beat of a drum meant another vehicle had gone in too fast. ¡°TO BATTLE!¡± Iliyal shouted as he stood up in the van, he still needed to bend his back, but it was a mere two quick steps to the rear door. Iliyal pressed it to open, and then kicked the door open with his black boot. Unlike the rest of the men, he had chosen a long coat, his ears were plugged to protect them from the gunshots, and his black cap sat over his long blonde hair. A Paladin with his greatsword in his hands already stumbled backwards as the black steel hit him across the entire body. Other men would have jumped into battle immediately, but Iliyal took an instant to survey the situation. Two squads of Paladins were straight ahead. More were spilling out of castle walls, all armed with tower shields as they formed ranks. Greatswords were strapped to their back, and smaller longswords hung off their hips. Maisara¡¯s armour revealed almost nothing, a slit for eyes was the only visible weakness. Iliyal¡¯s eyes scanned the walls. The men up there were the problem, Maisara favoured the crossbow over the bow, she had back then, she did now. Easier to aim, slower rate of fire. Iliyal saw the Paladins already winching heavy bolts back. ¡°UP THERE! FIRE!¡± He drew his sword into one hand and pulled out the pistol in the other as the hundred started to spill out the armoured vans. Men knelt and aimed there weapons, a few ran around the vans to lean over the hood and steady their aims. Those who had firing positions in the roof hatches stayed were they were as a wave of lead rolled into the top of the wall. Guns blared with a chorus of harsh and fast beats like a series of drums, each one beating its own frantic melody, and shards of lead danced their way through into steel plate. A few Paladins fell immediately, stumbling backwards and toppling over the wall or just falling flat. A few more had armour strong enough to resist the initial barrage. Concentrated bursts of fire on the survivors wiped those out. But a few managed to loose their crossbow bolts. They shrieked through the air as arrows always did, the feathers whistling as they hurtled towards Iliyal¡¯s men. Bolts suddenly sprouted out of chests as Iliyal narrowed his eyes and stepped to the side. There was a saying in the past that elves could block arrows with a sword, that wasn¡¯t true, but they were faster than men. A bolt flew past his head and slammed into the castle wall behind him. The chaotic gunshots continued until the wall was empty. There were still arrow slits through which they could be fired at, but the mass volleys would not happen. That was the important part. ¡°BREACH THE DOOR!¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°SET CHARGES AND BREACH THE DOOR! ENTER THE KEEP!¡± Inside, with hallways and tunnels, two men with guns were worth a hundred with swords. Iliyal turned as he saw one of the teams of Paladins break rank and initiate a charge into his forces. He spun on his feet, sword raised and pistol drawn and took aim. The trigger clicked, he kept his arm straight, and saw the helmet of a dent into his forehead. It was only a glancing hit, the armour may have saved his life, but the simple dent would still be as powerful as a hammer slamming into his forehead. The man collapsed backwards onto the ground as another Paladin stepped other his body, greatsword already in his hands.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. A burst from a rifle dropped the man. His chest-plate opened up with bullet souls and the front of his suit was painted red as he toppled forwards, sword hit cobblestone and bounced on the ground. Iliyal took aim at another man¡¯s chest and pulled the three times. The man didn¡¯t even stop, although the attack had been a test. One shot, it could have been a glancing hit, but four? The calibre of the weapon was simply not strong enough to penetrate the steel plate. Iliyal gripped his sword as he aimed for the head. He managed to drop another fellow, the bullet hit the side of the man¡¯s and bounced off, but the dent was large enough to crush the man¡¯s ear. On the next man, Iliyal¡¯s gunshot simply glanced off the top of the man¡¯s helmet as the fellow started to lift his sword in an effort to decapitate Iliyal. The elf ducked and stepped into the blow, that was the easiest to deal with great swords, the moment they passed you, they were too heavy to stop unlike with shorter blades. The swing grazed the man¡¯s hair as Iliyal¡¯s eyes silently scanned the man¡¯s armours. He saw it, underneath the shoulder, were a white shirt was being worn underneath the heavy plating. The decision came instantly, he stabbed his pistol into piece of cloth and pulled the trigger twice. There wasn¡¯t even too much blood, the bullet holes were small, and the man fell to his side as the inside of his chest was ripped apart. Iliyal didn¡¯t watch the man fall, he turned, blade raised just in time to see another sword coming directly towards him. Iliyal swung upwards, his hilt catching the tip of that massive grey great sword and he threw the swing to his side. The distance was closed once again, Iliyal slammed the butt of his pistol into the man¡¯s helmet. The Paladin took a step back as he shook his head to recover from the stunning blow. Gunfire echoed from around them as Iliyal¡¯s Legionnaires started to mow the Paladins down. Iliyal sidestepped, hit the front of the man¡¯s helmet with his pistol again and took a lunge as the fellow¡¯s head jumped backwards. The tip of his sword found the weakness in his armour immediately, and the Paladin collapsed as Iliyal drove the blade further in. ¡°GET DOWN!¡± One of the men shouted from behind Iliyal and the elf immediately kicked his feet back as he lunged behind himself. Amateurs would do somersaults but there was no need for being flashy, Iliyal merely released the tension from his legs to fall and then pushed himself off a corpse to slide along the cobbles. Immediately, gunfire raged from his rear and the Paladins started to drop. Same as before, a few fell immediately, a few were knocked back, and some remained standing. Those that still managed to retain themselves on their feet wobbled. Iliyal¡¯s men focused their fire. A hail from three from rifles toppled one Paladin kneeling behind his shield, five others gunned down another man. Iliyal took a breath as he looked the entrance square to the keep. His men were starting to re-arrange themselves. Forming lines and covering all the major entrances to the square. Maisara¡¯s grey Paladins retreated from the square after they saw how quickly the first teams were gunned down. A Paladin stepped out a door from one of the towers and loosed a crossbow bolt. Immediately, the figure was met with gunfire and collapsed, still in the doorway. The crossbow had been shot too hastily, before he could take aim and the bolt stuck itself into the heavy armour of one of the vans behind which men were taking cover. Iliyal looked over the dead. He didn¡¯t even bother counting the Paladins, but it was some thirty or forty, and eight of his. Two had been cut down by blades, the others had arrows sticking out of their chests. He inspected the faces of his men, no one even looked at the dead bodies. That was good enough, the survivors could suffer later, but now there was a job to be done. Iliyal turned on the spot, his coat spinning around him in the wind as he looked up at the huge keep of Drayim. Someone in that grey block of stone, with its arrow slits and its high windows, past its crenulations and underneath its tower, was hidden the entrance to the Divine Armoury. Iliyal clicked his tongue as he started shouting orders. ¡°SECURE THE ENTRANCE! SAPPERS STATUS REPORT!¡± ¡°Explosives are almost ready Sir!¡± One man shouted from the door. It was classic Maisara-design, simple heavy oak beams, unadorned other than with a thin layer of polish to stop the weather¡¯s rot, and reinforced with heavy beams of a dark steel. Iliyal watched the team of sappers crouch as they hooked up small explosives on the doors hinges, one, in the very middle, was already stuck on with heavy-duty tape. It was just a block of pale putty with wires stuck into it, Kassandora had said it had been field-tested in Melukal. ¡°MAKE SPACE!¡± One of the sappers shouted, the entire team retreated from the door and hid behind vans. The guards who had been providing overwatch for the sappers quickly ran too as the rest of the men spread out. Gunfire echoed through the square whenever a solitary Paladin was found hiding behind a wall, but the rest of them were outside the inner wall. Two men were keeping them suppressed with short round bursts through the destroyed gate. ¡°BLOWING IN THREE!¡± Iliyal took cover behind one of the vans as the sapper captain kept shouting. ¡°TWO!¡± Iliyal put his fingers over his long ears. He already wore earplugs, but elven ears weren¡¯t made for explosions. ¡°ONE!¡± And the doors went up in a glorious fireball of flame and dust and wooden splinters and rending metal. Iliyal waited for the smoke to clear. When he had the ranged advantage and was facing melee opponents, charging in could only be hasty at best, and disastrous at worst. He checked his pistol instead, the magazine was empty. He threw it on the ground and slid in another, it gave off a satisfying click that bounced and echoed slightly off the stone walls. And as the smoke cleared, he was glad he did. Past the unadorned stone corridors, the suits of armour and weapons hanging off wall. There were two machines. With three legs and four arms, each of those metal appendages holding a glaive that was directly welded into what should have been an arm. A blue ring of crystals made up a sensor array to allow the machination to see. One was bad enough. During the Great War, one would have required Divine or Sorcerer support to take down, or heavy weaponry. But two? Iliyal lifted up his pistol and took aim. It was a good thing he had been brought here. Jozef and Wissel would have not done it alone. Chapter 183 – The Spear Shifts The capture of Arascus marked a sharp decline in our study of Divinity. There were more like him in the past, but Arascus was the last one with enough boldness to fully test the strength of Gods and Goddesses. Fer¡¯s experiments with drinking the essence of other Divines, Anassa¡¯s weaving of delicate strands to push sorcery further, Baalka¡¯s experimentations on minor Divines, Irinika¡¯s madness generators, even Olephia¡¯s curse was put to the study table. Now though, I look at the Pantheon and I see the most precious knowledge and studies of ourselves have plateaued. The explanation is rather simple of course, maybe it could have been averted if we started sooner, but no tradition of testing was ever constructed as we rebuilt the world in those first two centuries. By the time we were done, I would not trust Maisara or Fortia to test their strengths on me, likewise they would not trust me to test mine on them. Kavaa is the only candidate, but her allegiance to the Pantheon has already weakened and needless healing offends her. Elassa may be the biggest victim of this most of all, magic requires testing subjects yet there are none. - Excerpt from the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library: ¡®A World Slowing Down¡¯, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light. Iliyal pulled the trigger as he aimed directly at that glowing blue sensor array of the Centurion-Sentinel. The gemstones cracked, the sensor array spun to an undamaged part and the automaton lowered its glaive to protect its vision with the blade. His mind quickly started to work as he thought of how to get past them, disabling them without artillery was a pipedream, there was no chance of that happening whatsoever. So men would have to be sacrificed. Iliyal turned on the spot, his black coat spinning around him as he silently picked out the weakest to be left behind. Those would be the lure, the others would enter with him. ¡°CLEAR THE ENTRANCE!¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°TEAMS ONE AND TWO, ON ME! TEAM THREE, HOLD THE MAIN GATE, TEAM FOUR, AIM AT THE CENTURIONS!¡± He waved his swords towards the two massive round balls on three legs, with four arms each. They took a step forwards as his eyes scanned further into the corridor. A squad of Paladins was already behind the giant bulk of the machines, shields were lowered, spears were pointed forwards and men stood at the ready with crossbows. Sorcerers would have been good to have right now, although Elassa¡¯s invasion had come too fast and plans had changed. Iliyal took a deep breath as men in black re-arranged themselves around him. More Paladins were starting to appear at the top of the crenulations. Some were armed with greatswords, others held crossbows, if they started to fire... ¡°TEAM TWO! ABOVE!¡± Iliyal raised his pistol and took a shot at one of the men looking through the sights of his crossbow right at the elf. But Iliyal was faster, his bullet crunched into the bottom of the maps helmet and managed to sneak in through the man¡¯s visor. He fell backwards leaving a trail of blood in the air as Iliyal ran to take cover behind one of the vans. Team Two opened fire on the men at the top of the keep, dust and stone from where they impacted into the crenulations started to fall down, but a few more men fell were the rifle¡¯s larger calibre managed to penetrate through steel plate and it was enough to get the Paladins at the top of the fortress to take cover. Team Three opened fire once again to suppress the men trying to encircle from behind, and the Paladins stuck between the inner and outer wall stayed in their positions. Iliyal quickly thought of a way to deal with the automatons. ¡°SAPPERS!¡± He shouted. ¡°EXPLOSIVE COUNT!¡±. The sapper team quickly got to counting, it took them four rounds of bursts. ¡°TWENTY-THREE remaining sir!¡± One of the sappers shouted back from behind one of the other black vans, he started to run over, past crossbow fire, then dropping himself and diving under Iliyal¡¯s vehicle, he crawled under the safety of that black armour. Iliyal knelt down to speak to the man who had his bald head sticking out from underneath the vehicle to speak over the incessant blaring of gunfire. ¡°Can they be thrown?¡± Iliyal asked and the man made a sour face, his eyes thought for a second. Iliyal had talked with enough to know when they were thinking of a feasible solution to an unfeasible question. The answer would be no. He clicked his fingers next to the man¡¯s ears and hurried him along. ¡°No sir.¡± The sapper replied. ¡°The wires have to be stuck in, they¡¯ll break off mid-flight.¡± Iliyal nodded and closed his eyes. This would have to be reported to Kassandora, he would not accept that artillery shells could not be shrunk down to fit into human hands. ¡°Understood.¡± Iliyal said, he looked into the inside of Drayim Keep. Neat square stone tiles were being cracked under the thunderous footsteps of the centurion-sentinels as they slowly made their way forwards. They had made it half way through the corridor, and the Paladins behind them were slowly advancing onwards behind the cover. A few men opened fire on the machines, bullets harmlessly bounced off their weapons and embedded themselves into the stones around them, or just bounced off the heavy tower shields the Paladins were holding. One lucky shot managed to penetrate the shield, the man faltered, fell back and was quickly replaced by another of Maisara¡¯s soldiers in their thick grey plate armour. Iliyal looked where to set the explosives. The centurions were only moving slowly because they were protecting the men behind with their massive bulk, but they could be almost as fast as Fer if pushed to it, and just as durable. Iliyal turned and spun, the keep had to have more than one entrance. He refused to believe that there wouldn¡¯t be a side door, a back entrance, even a window they could smash and get in. Plans changed immediately and quickly. ¡°AROUND THE KEEP! TEAM ONE, THAT WAY!¡± Iliyal swung his blade behind himself and around the fort. There were more buildings here, storehouses from the looks of it. They didn¡¯t have the time to investigate it now though, and Iliyal was never one to bet on his own luck. A hundred years with Leona had trained that out of him, if there was any secret tunnels leading from those homes and into the keep, they would remain secret.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. They would lure the automatons around them, make a single full rotation around the keep and then race in. The corridor that made up the entrance was huge, but there had to be smaller staircases where the centurion-sentinels would not be able to fit. The fortress was simply too small to be built entirely for beings larger than most Divines. Iliyal shouted out order after order. ¡°SAPPERS! AROUND THAT CORNER! LAY A TRAP, BLOW THEM UP!¡± More than twenty men answered in their own way. Some roared, some shouted a loud ¡®yes sir!¡¯ Some just started pacing forwards. They took cover behind doorways and lunged into the long shadows cast by the moon. Under the cover of the night, the black shirts and trousers melted into the darkness. Iliyal should have gotten them to wear long-sleeves and balaclavas too, that would be for next time. A squad of Paladins was caught out of positions as the thunderous footsteps of the centurions started to speed up, they were accelerating out. ¡°GET THE CHARGES PREPPED!¡± Iliyal shouted as he retreated from the van and ran forwards, sword drawn and pistol ready. Three men with automatic rifles ensured that no Paladin was left standing as they neared the corner of that small storehouse. Sappers immediately dived behind it and started laying the blocks of pale explosive putty on the ground. Further on, Team One, led by Stalker, dived out from the building and sprinted behind crates. Two men were dropped by crossbow bolts, their dark clothes changing discolouring into an even blacker black as they bled out. Iliyal stopped the near sappers and waved his swords to signal the men to move faster around the keep. One of those who had taken a crossbow hit to the chest managed to lift his head off the ground, he held his rifle in shaky hands, he took aim, and he emptied his magazine. The clatter of steel shields and swords bounced off the walls as Iliyal caught sight of them. ¡°FURTHER ON!¡± Iliyal shouted. Team Two, peaked from behind the storehouse, their team leader shouted. ¡°We¡¯ll supress! You move on!¡± He shouted and patted two of his men on the back. They dived out of cover and onto the ground, then started emptying the magazines. Two more men peeked out from behind the building, one kneeling, one standing over him, and lay down their own hail of lead. ¡°THERE¡¯S A DOOR!¡± Stalker shouted suddenly over the din of Paladins shouting to each other, the cacophony of gunfire, the clattering of metal and the thunder of the centurion-sentinels marching forwards. They had left the keep now. Iliyal thought for an instant about trying to race past them, if he could make into the Divine Armoury, the entire situation would be flipped, but where its entrance even lay would take at least an hour to find with all his men. By himself, he could spend an entire walking around in there. ¡°SECURE AND BREACH!¡± Iliyal shouted back. ¡°THEY¡¯RE COMING!¡± The sappers shouted from next to Iliyal and the elf just in time to get a chance to duck underneath the blow of a glaive. It slammed into the storehouse and tore through the stone wall, sending bricks and shards of stone flying into the shields of the Paladins behind it. The other centurion was just as close. ¡°GO!¡± The sapper shouted as he stuck more wires into the putty and pulled out a detonator. ¡°CLEAR FOR BLA-¡° The man¡¯s shout was suddenly cut off as another glaive pierced through his chest. Iliyal took a step back and retreated to the numbers of team two. In this courtyard, there were already over fifty Paladin¡¯s lying on the ground, a small puddle of dark crimson blood. Stalker¡¯s Team One pushed further onwards, men letting out blasts of gunfire as they took down Paladins behind the keeps crenulations or on the walls. The wall of men with shields retreated once again as they realised they wouldn¡¯t be able to close the gap. Most likely they had orders to let the Centurions deal with the invaders, that is what Iliyal would do. Better to draw the fight out and let the unstoppable automatons be the main fist. Iliyal turned back around to get one glance at the centurions. He never believed in luck, but for once, all he could say was that luck saved him. He saw the sapper lift a shaky hand and stare up at the automaton as it took a step past him. The thing crushed stone cobbles into pulp as it trod. Iliyal dived backwards as the sapper pushed the button with whatever strength he had left. Explosive set off explosive, several men were caught in the blast, both Paladin and Legionnaire, fire engulfed them, shards of metal blew off the automaton and it started to topple to one side. And then it stopped toppling as the dust began to clear. Two of its arms were being used as replacements for the damaged leg, the other two were charred but unscathed. Iliyal took a heavy breath as the machine took one step forwards, glaive anchored into the ground as a walking stick. And then the machine started to speed up one again. Iliyal clambered backwards on the ground, the heavy coat saved him from tearing his skin apart on the sharp fragments of stone that fell from the air. The centurion took a step forwards. Cobblestone cracked underneath its weight. Another thunderous step echoed off the castle walls as Iliyal¡¯s men fell further back. The elf grabbed his pistol and opened fire into the machine¡¯s blue sensor array. A few of the crystal cracked, one shattered into delicate mist. The sensor array rotated around the spherical body, the damaged part retreating to the rear as Iliyal clicked the trigger on his gun. Another bullet bounced off gold-bronze plating and the pistol clicked. Iliyal rolled to the side as the machine¡¯s glaive slammed down from overhead and cut the stones around him. He rolled again, grabbed a windowsill and threw himself backwards. The machine took another step to close the distance as Iliyal¡¯s men raced around the entire keep. Any Paladins towards the front were still mowed down by the leading Team One, but it was obvious they were taking return fire from crossbows. The gunfire was getting sparser and sparser. The plan in Iliyal¡¯s head changed once again. This was merely a failed assault, and if it pushed the White Pantheon onto Lubska, so be it. That didn¡¯t matter at this point, he had to save his own life. It would be a retreat, into the walls, over them, then run back to the vans. Risky, and most of his men would no doubt die, but there was no other way. And then his plan stopped when a shadow engulfed them all. The moon was eclipsed for a moment by a bird with a huge wingspan. An eagle cried from overhead. Chapter 184 – The White Eagle of Lubska Raptor One, Raptor Two, Olympiada is open. You have the green light. I repeat, you have the green light. Send the Second Spear. The sound came first, then the sight of it, then Iliyal realised what he was looking at. A massive white eagle, pure as snow, the moonlight brilliantly reflected off it as if it was lit up by spotlights. The eagle cried again as Iliyal jumped out of its shadow to avoid another swing of the centurion. Every man in Drayim Fortress stood still and looked up at the great winged beast. Paladins lowered their greatswords, his own Legionnaires looked up in surprise and awe. Iliyal had seen enough Divines to not be impressed with such grandiose shows any longer, whereas Theosius¡¯ automatons were set on completing their task. The front one, with its leg that had been damaged by explosives still swung two glaives around in an attempt to reach Iliyal. There was a sweet spot with these robots, too far and they would lunge forwards, too close and they would cut a man down as easily as a hot knife slicing through butter. Iliyal¡¯s eyes flicked upwards just in time to see that snow-white eagle dive down onto the ground. It was as large as a house, its beak as bright as yellow gold, and with talons easily the size of a man. Those huge curling claws opened up as the bird arcs its feet forwards, the eagle let out another shriek as it fell through the sky like a cannonball. A figure jumped from it. A tall figure, taller than Iliyal. In a chest-piece of clattering scale armour that sounded like jingling chains and a skirt that was even more cacophonous in its loudness, underneath it garments of pure bright red. A curved sabre held in one hand and hair as white as the eagle¡¯s feathers that was blown by the wind as it picked up speed. At the last moment, the figure crouched, she spun in the air, made a fall, and kicked into the ground. Cobblestone cracked and turned to dust, before being kicked up into the air and blown away by the night-time breeze. The automaton didn¡¯t even miss a heartbeat, its glaive swung immediately to behead the figure. Blade rose to meet blade and the Divine was knocked back slightly, her knees bending as she groaned to throw the blow black. Iliyal could only stare awestruck. It had to be Kassandora¡¯s plan, some negotiations that came through at the last moment, when he met the Mascot Divines during the meeting in Arika, they were a sorry lot who wouldn¡¯t even speak unless given permission to open their mouths. And Iliyal stared at his saviour, what strings were pulled, he did not care. Plans changed once again, with a Divine under his command, there would be no retreat, there would be no pulling back of forces. The original goal returned, the Divine Armoury would once again be opened. Brilliant white hair blew again as the Goddess raised her sabre and pointed it at the sentinel. Blue sensors spun on the machine, it raised its two free hands, the other two glaives were still used as balancing sticks as they cut dark grey cobblestones. ¡°I am Olonia, Goddess of Lubska. This is my nation.¡± Her voice boomed across the entire fortress, rife with a dreadfully cold anger that gave no room for any misconception about who she was targeting. ¡°I veto your right to remain to this land.¡± The white eagle above her cried and finished its dive. Talons, each one as large as Iliyal himself, wrapped around the sentinel, the sheer weight of the beast crushed gold-bronze alloy. Cogs and gears fell out of place as the bird closed its grasp around the sentinel, the blue collection of gemstones that made up the automaton¡¯s vision array burst out. The eagle lifted its head into the air, spread it wings out and screamed. Even with the earplugs to dull gunfire, Iliyal grabbed his ears to try and shield them from the sound. Glass windows in the keep and the vans that the assault had been used to breach this deep in shattered into a faint mist and shards fell onto the ground as men fell. Iliyal¡¯s own Legionnaires in black covered the ears, whereas the Paladins, in their steel helmets had no luxury, they collapsed to the ground as Iliyal saw the beast move again. He had seen enough flying in the Great War to realise what was about to happen, and the elf dived onto the ground, his fingers found gaps in the cobbles that made up the courtyard and he poured all his strength into those muscles. The eagle slammed its wings down and lifted into the air. Men blew backwards, Paladins in their heavy armour were slammed into walls, shields and swords were scattered into the air, and even the heavily armoured black vans rocked from side to side under the terrible winds caused by those massive wings. The eagle lifted off the ground, beat its wings again, and dropped the carcass of the sentinels as if it was a rabbit to kill. The hunk of gold-bronze alloy slammed down onto the ground and crushed several of Maisara¡¯s soldiers underneath it. Only Olonia remained standing, her scale armour jingling in the winds as her curved sabre moved to point to the second automaton. Her eagle turned in the air, its wings closed around its body, it flew in an arc upwards, stalled its flights and dived down. Huge talons rended metal into shreds. One huge claw tore the sentinel¡¯s arm off. A glaive twisted and stabbed upwards into the eagle, it screamed another ear-piercing cry, more glass shattered, and then its head shot downwards. A huge yellow beak pierced through armour, its hooked talons tightened, and the sentinel was torn apart. Olonia took a step forwards, sabre swinging from side to side as blood leaked from the bird above. ¡°Can you take them?¡± She said quietly as Iliyal jumped up to his feet. ¡°RALLY!¡± Iliyal lifted his sword. ¡°RALLY! THE DIVINES ARE WITH US!¡± Sometimes rallying cries needed to be long, they had to carefully meld words into shields that wound guard the hearts and minds of men. And sometimes, a rallying cry only needed to say what was happening. Right now, it was the latter. Iliyal¡¯s men got to his feet, a few had their rifles blown out of their hands. ¡°Out of the way Olonia.¡± Iliyal said, a human, he would simply push over, but the woman was a Goddess. ¡°MEN READY!¡± Iliyal lifted his arm, his sword shining in the reflection of the moon. He turned to the side. His Legionnaires were lying on the ground, hiding behind crates, kneeling, a few in the rear stood and some four dozen barrels were ready to unleash hell. Iliyal turned back to the Goddess, she was stood there, looking at the carnage, her blade still in the air. Iliyal narrowed his eyes as he inspected her reaction. Was¡­ was this the first time she had seen what a battle looked like? ¡°OLONIA! MOVE!¡± The Goddess jumped to one side, her scale-mail jingling again as she turned to look in shock at the elf. Iliyal didn¡¯t give her a chance to reply or be angry, he swung his blade down. ¡°FIRE!¡± And every rifle opened from his forces opened fire into Maisara¡¯s men. Without the centurions to serve as walking shields, there was no nothing to stop that crushing hail of lead. A few Paladins dashed forwards, they were the first to fall. Bullets streaked into them and pierced their heavy plate armour. They fell flat on the ground, Iliyal¡¯s eyes watched the enemy squad. A few managed to run back into the keep, several others raced through the broken gate of the inner wall. They jumped over rubble and splintered woods. And those who were in the centre of the square, too far from any cover whatsoever, simply fell. Blood started to flow the holes in their armour in thin streams that discoloured even more of the cobblestone. And Iliyal¡¯s plans changed again, with a Divine on their side, then the main gate would be the best route. Side doors were simply too small for beings of that size. ¡°STEADY!¡± Iliyal called out. ¡°STEADY! HOLD!¡± He waved his sword and his men stopped firing. ¡°TEAMS ONE AND TWO, THE REST SUPPORT!¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. He sheathed his blade, holstered his pistol and picked up the rifle and a few magazines that the sappers had brought, then looked up at the eagle crying out above them. ¡°Is it hurt?¡± He asked Olonia. ¡°Slightly, it regenerates.¡± Iliyal nodded, like Fer then. Nothing too unusual about that. He thought of what to say, at first, he was going to question why she was here. There was no reason for that line of talk though, it would lead to either finding out some trite information he¡¯d learn later, or expand into an argument. Whether she knew that was following Iliyal¡¯s orders already or not wasn¡¯t important. When Iliyal had shouted to move, she moved. That set a precedent, and a precedent set a hierarchy, whether Olonia was conscious of it or not. ¡°Can you fight?¡± He asked the Goddess and Olonia looked down at herself. She made a wide stance to off her armour, curved sabre still in hand. Those swords were used in the past by cavalry men, but curved sabres had begun to fall out of fashion as the Great War was coming to a close. Swords could stab and poke and faired far better in the dirty brawls between hundreds of men. ¡°Can I?¡± Olonia asked. ¡°Look at me.¡± It looked like traditional eastern-Epan armour. Scales of steel overlapping one another and the battle-skirt was common enough among Divines. When beings were that fast, then movement was preferred. ¡°Very well.¡± Iliyal said as he put a fresh magazine into the rifle, chucked the empty onto the ground and started stalking around the edge of bodies. It was common enough for soldiers to play dead, he would have put a bullet into each of their heads himself if he had the time and the ammo. ¡°Do you know what we are here for?¡± ¡°To free the weapon-Divines and assure the safety of Lubska against the White Pantheon.¡± Olonia said it as if from a script and Iliyal tilted his head as he looked at her. Fer would have merely laughed, Kassandora would have given a natural answer, Neneria¡¯s would have been shorter, Anassa¡¯s¡­ He¡¯d rather not think about what Anassa would do if she was questioned. ¡°Very well.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I don¡¯t care how you deal with your politicians, speak freely here.¡± He remembered how odd it was to have silent Divines in the meeting back during the Arikan Congress. He let the men take the vanguard position as they leaned past the broken gate that had been blown up. This corridor was tall enough for centurions, so it would be tall enough for Olonia. Iliyal¡¯s suspicion was that the tall corridors would lead directly to the Armoury since the Divines of the White Pantheon would want to access it. One of the men in black fired off a short burst and the clatter of steel was heard from inside. Team Three took the rearguard, they also fired off intermittent burst. The battle had died down, the Paladins would be fine to let the men exhaust their weaponries, and they would not come close now that a Divine was present. Iliyal watched Olonia move. It was confident steps, but her eyes deliberately avoided the dead on the ground. Her steps were definite, but also deliberate, as if she had to force herself to move. He had seen it too many times in mortals, but now a Divine? First time for everything he supposed. ¡°Are you nervous?¡± He asked the Goddess, it was obvious that in this situation she had lost most of that glorious bravado as to when her friends were present in the AIC. ¡°No.¡± Olonia replied and Iliyal smiled. What a lie. ¡°Don¡¯t be.¡± He said calmly as he lifted the rifle up and turned to look inside the corridor. A few of the armour stands had been knocked over, one of the swords that hung on the wall had toppled to the floor, but it was still as clean as before. Apart from a small trail of blood leading to a smaller corridor and a body lying in the centre of the ground. ¡°You¡¯ve never been in a real battle, have you?¡± Iliyal asked. He gave a hand signal, palm and fingers flat, and Team One entered as Team Two provided cover from the door. ¡°I¡¯ve sparred with the others.¡± Olonia said. ¡°The other nationals?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Mm.¡± Olonia confirmed. Team One carefully crept through the centre of the corridor in a narrow line. They made sure to keep distance to any of the doors, rifles pointed towards each side of the corridor. They made it to the door at the end and Iliyal walked forwards, Olonia came in close behind him. ¡°Now that I am here, we have to succeed.¡± ¡°Kassandora wouldn¡¯t have sent me if the plan was to fail.¡± Iliyal replied, better to build up rapport now. This could be exploited later, nothing made friends as quickly as fighting together. ¡°It¡¯s my operation though.¡± Iliyal said, he glanced at the Goddess and blue eyes framed by a pale face and snow-white hair stared back at him. And Olonia said something Iliyal had only dreamed of a Divine saying to him. ¡°Of course.¡± He almost missed a step. He was so stunned for words he didn¡¯t even have anything to say. Of course it was the sensible decision to be made, of course it could be explained as to why she would listen to him, but that was simply not the way Divines worked. He sighed and finished walking through that grey corridor. The lights were electric, they hung off the walls and there were enough to chase even the smallest inkling of shade away. Iliyal took a deep breath and turned. Team Three was starting to retreat, ammunition issues most likely, the men had been trained to shoot, but every soldier would be either too cautious or too sharing with his ammunition the first time round. He waved for everyone still outside to follow, there was more than enough space here for all of them, and the number of men had shrunk to a mere sixty compared to the hundred of what he had originally. ¡°If there¡¯s anything big, I want you to fight it.¡± Iliyal said to Olonia. ¡°We¡¯ll provide support.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Olonia said as she looked around, then stopped. ¡°Before though¡­¡± Iliyal placed his arms on the wooden door at the end of the corridor and stopped. It was a huge thing, more than wide enough for a centurion, so easily large enough for Olonia. ¡°Yes?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°I thought¡­¡± Olonia trailed off. ¡°There¡¯d be¡­ I don¡¯t know really. More¡­¡± ¡°Battles are always like this.¡± Iliyal said flatly. ¡°You know what the most important skill of a soldier is?¡± ¡°What?¡± Olonia asked, her fist was clenched tightly around her blade. ¡°Patience.¡± Iliyal replied and pushed the door open. Frankly, he wouldn¡¯t mind having a sit-down chat with the Goddess, but now was simply not the time. The doors swung open and Iliyal felt his heart drop. He expected the massive open hall, supported by pillar. He expected the grey banners. He expected the hundred or so Paladins at the end of the hall. He did not expect the man sitting on a chair the size of a throne in the middle. In Maisara¡¯s grey Paladin plate, but larger and fashioned for Divines. The fact he was smiling and tapping his fingers on the arm rest was a terrible sign. ¡°Iliyal Tremali.¡± The God said. ¡°My my, what a surprise. Maisara warned about you, both long ago and recently. I¡¯ve always wanted to meet the mortal who survived the Great War.¡± His eyes passed over Olonia and the smile dropped. ¡°And the Lubskan mascot, lovely.¡± Iliyal spoke before Olonia could say anything. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°I am Waramunt.¡± He stretched out and a silver greatsword appeared into his hand. ¡°Divine of Drayim Keep, but I prefer to call myself the Spirit of this Fortress.¡± Iliyal saw the way he moved, it was nothing like Olonia. His steps were light yet definite, as if he was always ready to pounce, his fingers weren¡¯t wrapped tightly around the hilt of his blade and his arm was loose and relaxed with its swings. His eyes flicked over Iliyal¡¯s soldiers in the same manner Iliyal¡¯s scanned the Paladins behind Waramunt. Iliyal turned back to Olonia. ¡°Have you ever killed a man before today?¡± His head barely reached her bosom, but she looked at him with the expression of a newborn babe looking at her father. ¡°No.¡± Olonia replied quietly. ¡°Then today you will learn.¡± Chapter 185 – Mascot No More The difference between the White Pantheon and Arascus is that Arascus would kill them in our position. We are not bloodthirsty monsters though, a sword without a wielder is merely a sharpened piece of metal. It is one thing to have an ideal, but it is another entirely to let that ideal turn into farce. We are not going to remove cliff on Arda because someone could fall off, we will not drain the oceans because they have storms, we will not destroy the air because it has winds. The weapon Divines are harmless without a soul to wield them, and without Arascus, there is no one who would dare to claim them. And there is another factor, the White Pantheon has secured Arda from internal destruction, but external threats may yet exist. It is stupidity to throw a useful tool away in the name of an ideal. They may be needed yet. - Excerpt from the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library: ¡°The Principles of Pantheon Peace.¡± Written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light. Iliyal¡¯s eyes scanned the grand hall as Waramunt took a step towards them. He looked at the hundred or so Paladins, tower shields already forming a line, a line of pikes held at the ready. And that God, a defensive one, almost every fortress in the past had its own guardian Divine, there was no reason for Drayim to not. It was Maisara¡¯s fortress too, so that meant the era of Pantheon Peace would have little effect on the man, if he turned out weak, Maisara would be sure to train him until he was strong. Iliyal recalled how other fortress spirits were killed, usually they were overwhelmed with sorcerers, if not that, then Divines would be brought in. They had nothing like that now. Iliyal¡¯s eyes went to his rifle, he took a few steps forward, to be ahead of all of his forces and aimed at Waramunt. A plan had to be crafted quickly, and that was exactly why Kassandora had sent him instead of anyone else. Waramunt swung his sword as his armour grew. A helm covered his face with a tiny slit for a visor. Each step he took was as loud as one of the centurion-sentinel¡¯s. The only saving grace was that the man had no shield but with armour like that, was a shield even necessary? A Divine should have been brought, Fer or Anassa to smite him down. But a Divine had not been brought, so it was up to the elf. Iliyal pulled the trigger once, the gunshot echoed throughout the hall and the bullet merely clinked off Waramunt¡¯s steel plate. Iliyal had assumed that would happen, but he did have to check. The God stopped his walk, looked down at himself and brushed his steel gauntlet against the silver chest-plate. He started to chuckle. ¡°Is this the famous rifle I¡¯ve been hearing about?¡± He asked. ¡°I simply had to check.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°How old are you?¡± ¡°Seven hundred and eighty-three.¡± Waramunt replied flatly. ¡°It is rare for me to be junior to someone.¡± Iliyal lowered his rifle and took a step back to Olonia. ¡°There are things far older than either of us Waramunt.¡± Iliyal shouted back as he turned to the Goddess of Lubska. A national Divine against a mere fortress spirit would have not even been a fight in the past, but Iliyal had seen how Olonia handled herself outside. She was not a warrior, not at all. The armour and the curved sabre were mere attempts at playing dress-up, even now, as her blue eyes passed over Waramunt, they were practically overflowing with fear and uncertainty. Team three stayed in the corridor but split into two. Half the men covered the corridor leading into the hallway, the other half watched the inside of the hall, guns drawn. That didn¡¯t need to be said, every man holding a rifle had it pointed upwards and forwards at one of the Paladins on the other side of the hall. Tall pillars held up the ceiling, and there was a steel door on the other side of the room. Large enough for Divines, that had to be the correct way. ¡°Waramunt!¡± Iliyal shouted and stepped forwards. That God was slow. That, or he was dragging the moment out¡­ Iliyal thought for a second. Dragging it out on purpose definitely, there was a hundred and one reasons for him to end it quickly, but there was a thousand reasons for him to drag it out. Reinforcements would be coming, the troops outside would need a few minutes to recover and re-organize themselves, or maybe he just needed time to charge up power. The elf turned to Olonia, she stood there, slightly shorter than Waramunt. That was never a good sign, height was a good indicator of strength. Those who broke that rule were the exception. ¡°Can you summon your bird in here?¡± Olonia shook her head without even looking around as watched Waramunt swing his blade, two cold grey watched them from within the God¡¯s helmet. ¡°It needs clouds, not here.¡± Iliyal nodded heavily. What a useless Goddess. ¡°Hold your sabre.¡± Iliyal said quickly then turned to Waramunt. The only difference between war and diplomacy was the armaments: weapons for one and words for the other. There wasn¡¯t an aspect of war he did not excel in, the thousand years without Divine support proved it. If the Paladins charged, it would be a bloodbath for them, but his own soldiers would have to avoid shooting at Olonia too. A brawl with the Goddess in the middle was a recipe for friendly fire and disaster, and he wasn¡¯t prepared to test her durability in a situation like this. ¡°Waramunt!¡± Iliyal shouted and drew his open weapon. If Waramunt had his armour cracked, if an opening could be found, then he could be slain. But as he was now¡­ The God stopped when Iliyal shouted his name.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°What?¡± Iliyal took a heavy breath as he turned to Olonia. He saw those blue eyes of her concentrate entirely on the God¡¯s sword, that was another sign of an amateur. A professional would keep the entire person in his gaze to track whether a hidden blade would suddenly be pulled out of nowhere, or a hand would turn into a grapple or a fist. ¡°I challenge you to a duel.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Olonia versus you, leave the men out of this.¡± The men would not be left out of this. But Waramunt had to be removed, and the only he could be removed was if he managed to concentrate firepower on him. The God laughed. ¡°That is good.¡± He said stopping, then swung his sword around himself in a theatrical fashion. Iliyal wished Kassandora was here to truly show the man what being a master of the blade meant. ¡°Just me versus the mascot?¡± He laughed again. ¡°That won¡¯t be a fight.¡± Iliyal stepped close to Olonia and lowered his voice. ¡°You¡¯re a national Divine, you are stronger than him.¡± Waramunt laughed. ¡°I can hear you.¡± He said. Iliyal contained his smirk, he merely made his voice loud. If he had been Waramunt, he would have not said that. There was nothing to gain from telling your opponent he was making a mistake. ¡°What I said is true!¡± Iliyal said so loudly his voice echoed around the tall pillars. ¡°Olonia is your better.¡± Waramunt swung his sword again and pointed it at Olonia. ¡°In theory, that is true.¡± He said. ¡°But everyone here knows who would win a duel.¡± That was true too. Waramunt was no doubt the better in combat, Iliyal would bet on it. But Iliyal did not have Waramunt behind him, he had Olonia, so he would make her work. There was nothing else to be done about it. Iliyal drew his sword and pointed it at Waramunt. ¡°Olonia!¡± He shouted. ¡°Goddess of Lubska. This is your nation.¡± Now that he couldn¡¯t tell her what he wanted discreetly and directly, he would simply make sure she fought in a way that would have the same effect. ¡°And before you stands this pretender.¡± He put spit and bile into his voice as he talked, as much as he could. ¡°This is not Allasaria. This is not Fortia. This is not Maisara. This is not Zerus. This is not even Sceo.¡± He saw Waramunt chuckle. ¡°What stands before you, Olonia, is a creature so useless it was not even brought to Arika.¡± ¡°Watch your mouth, elf.¡± Waramunt said coldly. Iliyal lay it on further. Olonia needed to be worked up, she needed to be angry. No. Not angry. Anger was a small flame that would devour a bush, she needed to be a volcano about to annihilate a city. ¡°NOT EVEN IN ARIKA OLONIA! This is the God who claims he will defeat you. This fool that was left behind, as Maisara¡¯s Paladins are fighting and dying in those desert sands, he was tasked to watch over this castle.¡± That wasn¡¯t true, spirits like this got weaker the further they got from what they were protecting. Even if Maisara wanted him in Arika, he would die before he got there. Anyone with half a brain would see through his words immediately, but someone in fear would find them a lifeline. ¡°NOT EVEN IN ARIKA!¡± Iliyal turned his back to Waramunt so that he could look and measure Olonia¡¯s expression. She was still terrified, her eyes flicked between Iliyal and Waramunt, and she gripped her sabre until her knuckles were white. ¡°OLONIA!¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°What will you tell Saksma? What will you tell Paida? What will you tell Agrita? When this is over, what will they do? Will you go? Will you cry to them? Will you tell them you made it right to the end, but just there, you weren¡¯t strong enough?¡± Iliyal took rapid steps towards the Goddess. Those blue eyes were still full of fear, but Iliyal saw something else in them too. A sense of shame as she answered the questions in her head, they cast themselves down as she looked at her own hands. ¡°OLONIA!¡± He shouted again, he changed how he would assault her mind, the shame obviously wasn¡¯t working, time to build her up. ¡°A national Divine! The Goddess of this entire land! How many Divines do you think envy your innate strength? Do you think a Goddess of a precious little tree does not seethe at you? Do you think that the God of Cologne is not jealous at your demesne? I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve seen the Fer EIE interview, what did she say about the Gods of Windows and of Wires? ARE YOU A DIVINE OLONIA? OR ARE YOU A MASCOT?¡± And Iliyal saw it. A flame of raw rage that burned and burned until it melted stone and became a volcano erupting. There it was, this was the way to get her fired up. He let himself have the smile, it would only add to what he was about to say. ¡°A national Divine which makes no decisions. A national Divine which commands no respect, a national Divine which cannot even speak if allowed to!¡± Iliyal saw Olonia¡¯s eyes start to simmer as she grew angry. There it was. He lay it on further. ¡°Did you ask Jozef for permission before coming here?¡± He shouted at her. ¡°Or did he give you the order? What are you even Olonia? The Divine of Lubska? Or Lubksa¡¯s Mascot?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± Olonia said quietly. ¡°And yet everyone does Olonia!¡± He swung his sword around the entire hall. ¡°All of my Legionnaires see you like this. All of those Paladins see you like that! Waramunt sees you like that!¡± He spun back to Olonia. ¡°He knew me, he called me by name. He called you Lubksa¡¯s Mascot.¡± Olonia took a deep breath as she started to shake again, not of fear, of anger this time. ¡°A thousand years ago, when a National Divine said to jump, people were already in the air. Now, a mortal elf will get more recognition than you.¡± ¡°I am not a mascot Iliyal.¡± Olonia said, her voice was calm. It didn¡¯t even have the tremble. Iliyal saw her eyes, looking at Waramunt. Not at the God¡¯s blade in fear, but at the God himself. And those blue eyes burned with nothing but pure hatred. Malam could have not done a better job herself. ¡°A National Divine stands in the same leagues as the Pantheon Olonia. Does a country give up because Zerus¡¯ lightning strikes it? Because Alkom¡¯s Sun is hot? Do Sceo¡¯s winds cause eternal chaos?¡± He turned, blade aimed directly at Waramunt. That God was good too, he had already adopted a defensive stance, his blade held low and forwards, ready to make distance and parry a blow from whatever direction it came. ¡°And this God is so leagues below the Pantheon that I am older than him. Respect is not given, it is earned. If you want respect, you have to grab it and pound it into the dirt until there¡¯s nothing left.¡± Iliyal smiled at Waramunt, he could not turn back to Olonia with this face. He had dreamed of killing Gods, but then he killed Atis. Tearing a Goddess down with just his words was far more satisfying. He tilted his head up, and stared down his nose at the spirit of this fortress. ¡°If you are not a mascot, then prove it.¡± And Olonia shot past him. Chapter 186 – Not the First Time ¡°We have a situation.¡± One of Fortia¡¯s Guardians came before his Goddess. A man in a simple shirt, she wasn¡¯t so tyrannical as to make them wear the heavy bronze-gold plate when they were mere radio operators. ¡°What is it?¡± Fortia asked. ¡°Look at these images.¡± He spilled his folder out onto the table. It was satellite photos of the Kirinyaan jungle, the one just south of the Central Mountain range. ¡°Let me arrange them, we are taking pictures every few minutes.¡± Fortia saw the man arrange the photos, they were all dark, but there was a pattern. ¡°Here.¡± The man said, he pointed to the furthest one on the left. ¡°At night, we caught lights. Analysis suggests it campfires.¡± He moved his hand over to the next one. ¡°And here again, campfires for cooking. They crossed some forty kilometres over the span of a day.¡± He extended his finger to each one. ¡°And the pattern sticks, there¡¯s been a slow recently, but we were looking at forty a day, now they¡¯re close to Kassandora¡¯s main base.¡± ¡°Elassa is there.¡± She thought for a moment. ¡°It will just be beastmen, most likely led by Fer.¡± Against Elassa, Fer wasn¡¯t a threat. The former could fly, the latter could not. That skewed the odds too far in the favour of Elassa, even if she had to Fer and Kassandora together, she would win. ¡°But that¡¯s not all.¡± He brought out more images. ¡°Here.¡± There were only three. Once again, it was the jungle at night, a black ocean on the ground, but the three photos had red flashes of light on them. ¡°This is why we¡¯re taking lots of images, these sights appear for only a few seconds, it¡¯s pure luck we managed to catch these three.¡± ¡°How long did that take?¡± Fortia asked. This was an issue. Fer and Kassandora, not a threat whatsoever. But red flashes? There was only one answer. ¡°These were all taken last night. We don¡¯t know where it is.¡± The man brought out a map from his folder, already marked with x¡¯s of yellows and reds. ¡°The yellows are the campfires, the three red x¡¯s are the red flashes. I¡­ well, it¡¯s needless to say that there¡¯s a pattern.¡± Fortia slammed her hands down and shot out of her chair. Fer and Kassandora, add Iniri and Kavaa into it, it made no difference for Elassa. But if those red flashes were what she thought they were, Elassa needed to retreat immediately. She wished Leona was here to confirm. Iliyal took a step backwards as Olonia shot past him. The first exchange of blows, he watched. Olonia said nothing, she didn¡¯t scream, she didn¡¯t shout, she didn¡¯t roar, she didn¡¯t so much as take a breath. Instead, her sabre raised, slammed from the side into Waramunt. The God merely tilted his sword upwards, he caught Olonia¡¯s sabre and pressed forwards, until the hilt of his greatsword clicked against Olonia¡¯s blade. With two hands on that massive blade, he pushed back, or tried to at least. Olonia¡¯s blow bounced off, she stepped around the God and swiped at him from the side again. He parried it faster this time, even managing to throw her sabre back from whence it came. She struck again, another blow, impossibly fast, from high up and cutting downwards as if to separate Waramunt into two perfect symmetrical pieces. He moved to the side, that heavy plate of his did nothing to slow him down and instead of parrying the blow, he merely twisted his own sword and swung towards Olonia¡¯s chest. Scale mail screamed as it stopped the blow, a cacophony of steel ripping apart steel as the Goddess was thrown a few steps to the side. She recovered quickly, he sabre once again taking to the air, slashing into Waramunt. The God held up his greatsword in a riposte as Iliyal turned from the scene and to his soldiers ¡°Move!¡± He shouted. ¡°Spread out, line the wall, don¡¯t shoot.¡± Not yet, Olonia needed to crack that armour. The men in black shirts and trousers started to spread out like the Paladins on the other side of the hall. Guns weren¡¯t lowered, but some men knelt down, others leaned on the wall, the force that held the rear tunnel still let off small cascades of bullets to stop Iliyal¡¯s force from being charged at from behind, but not a single drop of blood was spilled. Not yet. The Paladins started to rest too as they watched the fight, Maisara¡¯s men through and through. Skilled in combat, but far too honourable. Far too bound by rules of their own morality to ever excel beyond simply overwhelming an opponent with strength or skill. Kassandora had only one rule to war, and that was that the winner took all. Iliyal had long since accepted that rule. There was victory or defeat, nothing else mattered. ¡°HOLD!¡± He shouted to his men as the Gods started to exchange blows again. Olonia jumped away to from Waramunt¡¯s and slashed at the air. She was obviously faster and stronger, else she would be dead by now. But that strength and speed was merely a foundation, a man who could not kill would never win a duel no matter how many times he fought. ¡°Olonia!¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°BREAK HIS SWORD!¡± She needed to be made aware of her own strength. ¡°HOW?¡± Olonia screamed back. White hair flew to the side as she made another dodge, those eyes were focusing on Waramunt¡¯s blade again. That wasn¡¯t good. It got even worse when Waramunt took a step forwards, his blade coming in a wide swing again, Iliyal saw it immediately. He was simply pushing the Goddess back, anyone versed in combat would closed the distance after that swing and stabbed from the other side. Olonia merely jumped back and Waramunt stepped forwards. She would not break his blade, she would not crack his armour. She was, for all intents and purposes, useless. The only thing she could do was attract attention. Iliyal took a deep breath and stalked just in front of his men as he inspected Waramunt¡¯s armour. Relatively, he was no Maisara, no Fortia or Kassandora. A comparison to Fer would be a comparison between a single brick and a fortress. Waramunt spun the blade in his hand and repeated the swing, from one side to the other. Olonia was in full retreat now, her skirt bounced about as if it was a jingling chain of steel, her scale-mail was just as loud. White hair fled as Iliyal watched the blow. Waramunt wasn¡¯t especially fast either. He was a Divine of course, so there was no comparison in mortals, but the Divines Iliyal was used to were simply a class above. Waramunt was the level of a regional-champion, he was not world-class. And yet, Waramunt swung that blade again. Each time, Olonia dodged, the few times she managed to swing back, the God parried her blows with his sword. He threw her attacks away as if they were mere annoyances. Olonia was not putting enough strength into her blows, she simply did not the mentality to make a warrior, the ability to let oneself go and think in the heat of the moment rather than carefully thinking through the thousands of possibilities that the next instant could deviate in. ¡°Olonia!¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°Do you have a blessing?¡± Waramunt laughed as he eased up on the attacks. ¡°Are you planning to fight me yourself?¡± He swung his blade theatrically, it swished through the air as the Paladins remained grim-faced. ¡°You¡¯re not Lubskan!¡± Olonia shouted back. She gingerly took another step back to put even more distance in between them. ¡°But you do!¡± Iliyal shouted back. ¡°I do!¡± Waramunt chuckled. ¡°Are you going to abandon Kassandora Iliyal?¡± He said mockingly. Iliyal silently made sure that the God would die with the elf¡¯s hand. He had no right to even say the Goddess of War¡¯s name. ¡°Take mine then!¡± Iliyal shouted and Olonia tilted her head at him. Blue eyes framed by snow-white hair blinked at him in confusion.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°What?¡± Iliyal wanted to give up and die. How was she so useless? Could she not even bless? Kassandora¡¯s blessing simply had to be grabbed. It was the essence of War for Divine¡¯s sake! Everyone had a little bit of War within them. Waramunt laughed until his wheezing echoed around the hall. A man, one of Iliyal¡¯s soldiers patted the elf on the shoulder and leaned in. ¡°Sir, there¡¯s more coming from outside, we¡¯re running out of ammunition.¡± Iliyal grimaced. A useless Goddess and now guns quickly becoming useless metal clubs. ¡°Understood.¡± He replied, he simply stood there, unmoving, rifle in his hands. ¡°OLONIA!¡± He shouted. ¡°YOU HAVE FAILED!¡± His voice boomed across the hall and into the hallway, the failed echoed several times. ¡°WELL DONE!¡± He said sarcastically, she needed to get mad. She needed to put more of herself into the blows. ¡°What?!¡± Olonia shouted. Waramunt threw his sword up into the air, it made a little spin and he caught it. ¡°The battle was won before we even started Iliyal.¡± He said, then held to blade to the Goddess of Lubska. ¡°She is simply not up to par to be on a battlefield.¡± Iliyal didn¡¯t care for the words. He had seen it. The man¡¯s gloves were unarmoured on the inside. And there was a sliver under the shoulder which revealed thick leather. ¡°OLONIA!¡± Iliyal shouted again, he didn¡¯t bother keeping the anger out of his voice. ¡°IF YOU DO NOT GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU HAVE, YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER COME HERE!¡± He took a step forwards. ¡°YOU HAVE ALREADY DECLARED WAR ON THE PANTHEON, END IT.¡± Waramunt said nothing, he merely turned to the Goddess as she stood there. Her fingers curled around the sabre and she threw herself at him again. It was a bad move against a long weapon like a greatsword, better to bait out a swing first and then close the gap. But what did she know? Iliyal merely sighed as he closed the gap between himself and Waramunt, the God didn¡¯t even turn to look behind himself as he slammed his greatsword into Olonia¡¯s side. She was thrown against the wall and Waramunt closed the gap quickly as Olonia pushed herself off. A blow from above was blocked by the sabre. Iliyal saw red blood appear from where the God had struck her scale-mail, a few shards of the metal had fallen off as she scrambled underneath blow. That one she managed to block, but the fist slamming into her chest wasn¡¯t dodged. Iliyal did not even bother to watch or listen to her scream of pain as she slid down the wall. He had heard tunes like that play more than enough to simply ignore them at this point. ¡°Olonia.¡± Waramunt said. ¡°Your death here will cause an issue for everyone involved.¡± He spoke slowly and even took a step back. Iliyal saw the inside of the man¡¯s thigh. It too had a gap were the man¡¯s steel ended and give him some space to move. A train warrior would have taken advantage of the inflexibility of his armour already. ¡°I am not here to kill you.¡± Divines and their speeches. Iliyal had little to say about that, at least a tenth of his would be dedicated to merely listening to final words if he didn¡¯t cut them short. He found a better angle, closer to his men and further from the Paladins. It would be a tough shot. ¡°But what you did today cannot be simply wiped away.¡± Waramunt continued. ¡°I came for the good of my country.¡± Olonia said. She managed to pick herself up and swung the at Waramunt¡¯s chest. Out of energy, her sabre harmlessly bounced off. Waramunt chuckled again as Iliyal stared at that gap in his thigh. Even for him, it would be a tight shot. But they were talking to each other now, it was another failure in Divinity. The Greatest of them wouldn¡¯t make it, but the lower Gods would forget about the mortals around them. Iliyal had seen it happen too many times. ¡°You¡¯ve won Waramunt.¡± Iliyal shouted from the side. If he could get theatrics now¡­ The God laughed and then¡­ and then he did the stupidest thing Iliyal could imagine. He threw his greatsword aside, spread his arms out, tilted his head back and laughed. ¡°I know Iliyal! A fortress-spirit defeating a national God?! Maisara would be prou-¡° Iliyal did not let him finish. He saw the opening immediately. Underneath the arm, a small gap for the shoulder, where metal could not be placed else it would lock movement entirely. He pulled his rifle up, the red-dot set on that position, and he pulled the trigger. ¡°FIRE!¡± Iliyal shouted as he dived down to the ground. Behind him, the Legionnaires in black all hefted their rifles. Bullets passed over Iliyal¡¯s head, and the hundred Paladins at the end of the corridor fell as lead tore steel apart. What hit Waramunt merely clinked off and harmlessly bounced into the ground. ¡°HOLD!¡± Iliyal shouted and the bullets died down. He got to his feet just in time to avoid Waramunt¡¯s greatsword slamming down on him. ¡°SPREAD OUT! TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM! SECURE THAT DOOR!¡± Iliyal shouted out order after order. ¡°OLONIA! ON YOUR FEET!¡± Waramunt¡¯s greatsword brushed his hair as he ducked and rolled to the side to put more distance between them. ¡°OLONIA! UP!¡± Iliyal¡¯s eyes managed one glance at Olonia, she pulled her knees up to her chest and was silently crying to herself. ¡°OLONIA! GET A HOLD!¡± He shouted and ducked through Waramunt¡¯s blow again. His right arm swung to the side as the Legionnaires ran around the sides of the hall. He saw awed faces staring at him and the way he managed to keep dodging the Divine¡¯s blows. ¡°OF YOURSELF!¡± Iliyal finished. He was too slow, and the greatsword clipped the end of the rifle. It ripped out of Iliyal¡¯s grip. A finger went with it. If Kavaa was not back in Arika, maybe Iliyal would have regretted it. But the amount of scars he had on his chest had more than prepared him for losing half a finger. He rolled again, his arm flying up and spraying blood at the God¡¯s helmet. He missed the visor, tough. ¡°OLONIA!¡± Iliyal shouted as he dodged again and rolled to the side. Too close and Waramunt would grab him, too far and Waramunt would lunge with an undodgeable blow. This was the sweet spot. ¡°MOVE YOU USELESS BITCH!¡± It was the first time he had ever talked to a Divine like that. Something for the history books. Waramunt was recovering, the fingers on his right arm were starting flex as they tested their own strength again. Iliyal rolled to the side, then again, a third blow came, from above. One Iliyal would not be able to block, he dropped as low as possible and slid to the side. An arm given for survival was a fair trade. But the trade never came. A sabre blocked Waramunt¡¯s blow. It slid down to the hilt of the sword and threw it away. Iliyal rolled to the side, pulled his pistol out of its holster and took aim as Waramunt blocked another blow from Olonia. He lifted his arm. There! He pulled the trigger twice and Waramunt stopped. He coughed. Blood came out from the lip of helmet. Iliyal pulled the trigger again. Another bullet entered Waramunt. And another. Iliyal kept squeezing. Waramunt took a step back and fell backwards. He looked lifted an armoured arm in disbelief. ¡°No mortal can kill a God. Never happened. Never will.¡± He said to himself. It was feigned shock, or maybe the God was actually delusional. Iliyal did not care, he expected the former, that was the smart move in a situation like this. ¡°Not the first time Waramunt. It¡¯s not the first time.¡± Iliyal said dryly, he winced as he pulled out a magazine from his belt and let the spent one drop to the ground. It clattered about on the cold tiles of the ground. ¡°GODSLAYER!¡± The Legionnaires shouted from behind. They erupted into a cheer as Iliyal walked around the God. He would not come close, too many times had he seen someone play dead. He bent down saw the opening. From above, the man had room to move his neck, his armour extended outwards to protect from downwards blows. But that did not matter when he was lying on the ground. ¡°I thought this was a duel.¡± ¡°The only in war is victory.¡± Iliyal said replied. ¡°At the end of the day, you¡¯re on the ground, I¡¯m standing. I won Waramunt.¡± He pulled the trigger and shot into the man¡¯s chest. The bullet penetrated through his neck and Iliyal heard it bounce off the inside of the God¡¯s armour. He pulled the trigger again. And again. And he emptied the entire magazine into the Divine. Iliyal looked to the entrance. There was a line of Paladins there, some had dropped their shields. Swords clattered on the ground as they took a step back. Their faces were covered by metal helmets, but Iliyal could see what they were thinking simply through the eyes: it was the strongest emotion of them all. Fear. Iliyal turned to his Legionnaires and took a step forwards. The Paladins would take a minute or two to recover, they could put space in-between themselves by then. If they managed to get into the Armoury, then Maisara could send a thousand Divines as reinforcements and it wouldn¡¯t matter. Olonia¡¯s hand caught his shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding.¡± Her tone was filled with sorrow and hesitation. ¡°I¡¯ll survive.¡± Iliyal said dryly as cut off a piece of his own shirt with his sword and wrapped it around the finger. He turned to the Goddess. She was a wreck. There was no other way to describe her. Scale mail was painted red with blood, her hair white hair was messed up, locks were missing were the Waramunt¡¯s blade had given her a cut. Her legs were dirty too, and the scales over her chest were bent and disfigured. ¡°Are you still bleeding?¡± She touched her side and shook her head. Iliyal finally let out a breath. ¡°Olonia, you fought brilliantly.¡± The Goddess wiped a tear away and shook her head. ¡°I did nothing.¡± She admitted quietly. Iliyal grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the door, his men assembled as they prepared to breach. Several took positions facing backwards, but the lack of footsteps meant the Paladins weren¡¯t coming close. The Legionnaires eyes flicked to Waramunt, dead on the ground, and to Iliyal. Faces were painted with wide smiles and eyes shone with pride. ¡°Olonia, you are not a little girl. You are a Goddess of a nation. Theatrics got Waramunt killed, save yours for when you¡¯re with Paida and Saksma.¡± Iliyal said flatly. ¡°PREPARE TO BREACH!¡± He shouted. ¡°WE¡¯RE NOT DONE HERE! ON MY MARK! WE¡¯RE HEADING INTO THE ARMOURY!¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Olonia said timidly. Iliyal scowled as he watched the men assemble. This was no time for spillage of emotional baggage. ¡°Out with it.¡± But Olonia did not spill her heart out. In fact, she said the only thing that Iliyal would have surprised Iliyal. ¡°I wish to join.¡± Chapter 187 – The Second Spear ¡°ELASSA! GET OUT OF THERE!¡± Fortia screamed into the phone. Elassa¡¯s reply took a few seconds to reply, the magical reverberations of the spell she was using to break through Kassandora¡¯s barrier slowly rumbled in the distance. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°GET OUT OF THERE ELASSA! RETREAT! I¡¯M ORDERING A FULL RETREAT!¡± Fortia screamed again. ¡°Why?¡± Elassa said slowly. ¡°FER AND ANASSA ARE COMING FROM THE EAST! GET OUT OF THERE!¡± ¡°Are they?¡± Elassa said slowly. ¡°I¡¯m almost done with breaking through the second barrier, it¡¯ll be over.¡± Fortia simply could not believe how stubborn the woman was. It would be different if Leona were here, all the Goddess of Luck would have to do is wave a finger and Divines would move. ¡°AND IF SHE HAS A THIRD? A FOURTH? IT IS KASSANDORA ELASSA! SHE¡¯LL HAVE SOME TRICK UP HER SLEEVE!¡± Fortia screamed into the phone. ¡°MOVE ELASSA! NOW!¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine For¡­¡± Elassa¡¯s voice trailed off. The roar of a lioness came through the speaker. ¡®What makes a fortress unassailable? Castle walls? Impassable terrain? Vantage points and sheer size? I have never believed in such a thing as an unassailable fortress. Olephia would make a hamlet invincible, and a million children would not be able to hold the most advanced of dwarven holds. It all matters on the quality of the defenders.¡¯ Leywin recalled Kassandora¡¯s words as the rear doors of Raptor-Two lowered. He turned back to his men as wind rushed past them for an instant when the pressure dropped. All elves, the best Kassandora¡¯s army had to offer, all had served with Iliyal for at least a century, most of them were well onto the fourth or fifth. A man in Atny¡¯s airport leaned back and turned to his compatriot. ¡°Are you picking that up?¡± ¡°I am.¡± The other fellow replied quickly. ¡°But they¡¯ve not replied to any messages. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re picking us up or not.¡± ¡°Still though, four planes?¡± ¡°Not heading to us either way, it¡¯s towards Olympiada¡¯s direction.¡± ¡°Probably to Lubska then.¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking it¡¯s Pantheon planes, you know what they¡¯re like.¡± ¡°I do.¡± They shared a chuckle and got back to monitoring the air traffic around Atny airport. Every man was dressed in full black, long sleeves, long trousers, and full face-masks. Leywin remembered how Iliyal once talked about the great heavy plate armours of the past, when he heard about a war in Kirinyaa, he had hoped to get his own suit. Then he saw a Paladin be dropped by a rifle, a Guardian¡¯s head blow straight through by a sniper, a mage dropping from the air by hail of targeted fire. And he understood why there was no need for armour anymore, not when a weapon that could be even used by a child was so devastating. The entire team of forty elves were armed with rifles they held in their arms. Swords on their hips, pistols on the other side. Parachutes strapped over backpacks, goggles to cover the night. Leywin checked his own rifle, he pulled the bolt back and slid a bullet into the chamber. The safety came off with a satisfying click. Captain Erik¡¯s voice came over the speaker. ¡°Vanguard squad, we¡¯re nearing Olympiada. Firestorm in twenty, dropping in twenty-five. Prepare.¡± Leywin looked through his men again, these were the men who had been tasked in the Elassa ambush above Nanbasa some time ago. From snipers to a vanguard squad. He didn¡¯t know whether the glory was worth the danger, but the order came from Kassandora directly, so there was nothing to do about it. Whiright looked up at the sky. No one else felt it, but he did. There were planes approaching. Four of them. They should have been notified already. He looked up and left Olympiada¡¯s skyport. ¡°Firestorm has started, dropping in five.¡± Erik¡¯s voice came through the speakers. ¡°Four.¡± Leywin checked his rifle again. ¡°Three.¡± he unhooked the cable holding him to the ceiling of the plane¡¯s holds. ¡°Two.¡± Leywin took a deep breath and readjusted his mask. ¡°One.¡± Leywin lifted his hand as the team behind him got ready. ¡°GO!¡± And Leywin ran out of Raptor-Two¡¯s cargo holds. He jumped into the open air above Olympiada. The mountain sat above the clouds and the full-moon illuminated it beautifully. It was a huge mountain, flattened at the top and separated by large roads and pathways into sectors. Iliyal or Kassandora would most likely to be able to tell who¡¯s sector belonged to who immediately. A massive gate stood at the end of the stairs leading up to Olympiada, although it was empty for the night, and then the pathways spilled out in all directions through a salad of structures. Some were blocky structures, every angle a perfect turn of ninety-degrees. The roof flat, with the buildings themselves making patterns of rectangles and squares all nicely arranged as if they were lined up in the rank of a military formation. Then there were temples and grand manors, with high towers and windows glowing with bright orange lights. Steep roofs that pointed into the sky, or others that were flowing as if it was water that had been frozen in place. A massively tall tower was off to the side, platforms and balconies hanging off it. An in every space without a path or a building lay a garden, as if the designers had simply used the greenery to fill in whatever space they could find. A set of buildings had been demolished, the ground was smoothed out, fresh brick had been laid out and structures were starting to appear again.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Leywin dropped to the air as his eyes passed over the people. There weren¡¯t crowds so to say, but every path had servants running about or soldiers taking leisurely strolls. It was a mix of all them, Fortia¡¯s Guardians in their gold-bronze, Maisara¡¯s Paladins with grand shields and heavy greatswords on their backs, or the shield-less Seekers that followed Allasaria. They were all carrying tall spears. And Leywin turned as he heard the whistling of bombs pass him by. The assault on Olympiada had consisted of two transports, those carried the main package, and two bombers. They were simply here to support and cause chaos and confusion. Two massive planes that had been domestically built in Kirinyaa, with bomb bays and floors that slid open to reveal their terrible weaponry. The planes were in the distance now, the two bombers turned higher and escaped south, back to Kirinyaa. Raptor-Two and Raptor-One still circled Olympiada. Leywin¡¯s team was a probing attack to find out if this was a suicide mission or not. Whether it was actually correct information that all of the major Divines were present in Arika, and that Olympiada had indeed been left open. He spread out his arms and legs to slow his fall, the forty elves behind copied the motion, and the bombs by their sides shot downwards. Leywin watched those two long trails stream downwards, and then the first bomb hit a building with a swirling roof as if it was a fine cake decorated with icing. It exploded into a marvellous flame, throwing stone and roof tiles all around itself. And the second bomb hit. The third. The fourth. Two long lines of fire started to scar Olympiada¡¯s marble with a terrible sickly blackness, as the smoke of those flames even wounded the magnificent dark blue ocean of a sky. The stars themselves seemed to retreat and dull against the rage of those of flames. And so, the screaming started. Soldiers started running towards the fires, maids and servants away from them. A few mages lifted into the air and quickly flew to try and contain the flames. And Leywin pulled the strap to his parachute. SEND WORD TO ALL NEARBY BASES! OLYMPIADA HAS JUST BEEN BOMBED! CALL FOR ARCADIA! WE NEED SUPPORT! Leywin pulled his legs up as he landed on his rear and slid on the ground. The dark fabric of the parachute settled behind him and he quickly pulled the straps off. Another man landed by his side, Leywin was already on his feet by the time the third man touched down. They were landing in one of the larger gardens. A place filled with trees and trays, although the latter had only thin grass and no flowers, and the former were weak and dull and looking as if they had been planted in a desert. Leywin lifted his rifle, brought the red-dot sight close to his eye, and immediately stalked close to a tree. The plan had three phases. Phase one¡¯s Firestorm had already been completed, he was in charge of phase two: Shield-Crack. Phase three was called Spearthrust, but a landing site for a Divine had to be secured first. That landing site was here, but it had to be secured for a whole minute. He clicked the earpiece underneath his black balaclava. ¡°Team members, this is Vanguard One, secure this garden. Over.¡± A flurry of affirmations came through the earpiece as men responded with their answer. Leywin pulled up his rifle, hunched down, kept the barrel up, and made a careful run to the nearby tree, his eyes constantly jumping from window to door to shadow to tree to box to one of the long roads. Kassandora had been correct with the bombing run serving as a smoke screen, most of the soldiers were rushing towards the flames to try and contain them. A pair of mages quickly flew over Leywin¡¯s team as the man aimed his rifle at them. They disappeared behind a high-arched roof and Leywin almost turned back. He suddenly saw a head appear from behind the golden roof tiles, with a pair of eyes that scanned the garden and what was happening within. Leywin had expected them to have a minute or two at least. A fire appeared in the man¡¯s hands, and then a pillar of flame shot from him and into the air above the garden. The flames lit up the garden as if it was a spotlight and Leywin pulled the trigger. The man¡¯s eyes had time to widen at the shock, but whether it was surprise that stunned him or whether it was trained battlemages that were sent to Arika, he didn¡¯t put a shield in time. His head was flung back, a thin stream of blood following it as if a tap had been installed into the top of his head. Leywin¡¯s long ears quivered under the balaclava, the earplugs dulled the sound of the rifle but they still hurt. He shouted at his men, no point for stealth after a bullet had been fire. ¡°COVER THAT ROOF! Team two! That building! Three, four and five, clockwise from them!¡± Immediately his elves started to move. They started moving like prowling jaguars, footsteps not even making a sound as they trod through dried grass and into the shadows. One elf kicked open a door and swerved his rifle inside. ¡°CLEAR!¡± He shouted and disappeared in. His team silently followed in under the cover of moonlight. Leywin kept watch over the roof. The mage¡¯s partner appeared, a bubble of water around the woman already in the air. He took a sigh and gave a quick glance over the gardens again. His own team one had hidden themselves away already. The others had raced into buildings, all that remained were just the parachutes that had been left on the ground. Leywin ducked behind an empty flowerbed and lay close to the ground as she came close. He signalled with his hands to other elves to copy him. The witch came close, her feet did not touch the ground, but she lowered herself to inspect what the parachutes were. Leywin rolled out of cover and put a bullet into the shield. It moved instantly, water caught lead, stopped it in mid-air as the woman¡¯s eyes were overtaken with shock. She didn¡¯t drop the barrier, instead, it shot forwards right at Leywin¡¯s heart. Too slow, an elf from the side got her when she lowered her defences to attack. ¡°GUNSHOTS!¡± Someone shouted from around the building. Leywin clicked his earpiece as he took position behind the flowerbed. He saw his soldiers dressed entirely in black stalk through the buildings. They appeared through the well-lit windows as dark spectres armed with rifles, a few bursts of gunfire sporadically came from the buildings as they cleared out rooms. A team of Guardians in gold-bronze plate appeared at the end of a pathway. Guns were already drawn to meet them. They managed three careful steps before the elves opened fire. And they collapsed, red blood leaking from their bodies in thin streams as if someone had merely spilled a glass of water. It was simply a cold operation, Leywin took no pleasure in it, no discomfort. It was merely another job that had to be done. And then came another band of soldiers, Seekers this time. In full gold with dashing red capes and long spears. They fell too. Iliyal had said they could fight at range, Leywin wasn¡¯t willing to find out whether the ancient elf was correct or not. A response came from team two. ¡°This building secured.¡± And three. ¡°Building clear, holding. There¡¯s a troop moving towards us, fifty men or so.¡± And team four. ¡°This building is secured. We¡¯re ready.¡± Leywin was glad his men worked fast. The bombs no doubt helped spread confusion, and Olympiada itself was too large for huge masses of men to sweep through it. They would have a few minutes more before the defenders realised that attackers were on the mountain itself. A few minutes was all Leywin needed. He radioed Captain Douglas, pilot of Raptor One, through the earpiece. ¡°Landing site is hot but secure.¡± Douglas replied instantly, in an easy joking tone. ¡°No major Divines I take it?¡± ¡°Not in the immediate area.¡± ¡°Understood Vanguard. Hold for a minute and await the Second Spear.¡± Neneria held onto one of the tall steel beams that had been installed in the holds of Raptor One. The jet made a sharp turn and its rear-doors began to slide open. Chapter 187 – Pocket Army Iliyal ran further through the holds of Drayim Fortress, Olonia to his side, a vanguard ahead, a rear guard behind. The corridor split into two, one low down and human sized, even Iliyal would have had to crane his neck. The other was so grand that Allasaria could fly right straight through it. That was the way, definitely. ¡°LEFT! KEEP MARCHING!¡± He shouted to his men. Some gunfire came from the rear guard as they pushed onwards. Some gunfire came from the vanguard as they advanced. Iliyal stepped over the bodies of Paladins in their steel armour as they kept pushing. Neneria¡¯s eyes took in Olympiada as the plane left her behind. Once, it had been a mere holy cave on a mountain, then it was a temple. Then a castle. A fortress. It had grown into a city. The Great War saw it become a stronghold-town, with tall walls and gates, spikes lining the edges of the mountain, and pots that once had boiling oil were always ready. There had been a tall wall ringing the city once, there had been a keep, there had been a stable for flying horses, a nest for eagles, a square for marshalling men, there had been colourful banners of every Divine that served in the war against Arascus. And as Neneria took that city in, she was almost¡­ disappointed. Gone were the grand temples, gone were the tremendous statues, gone the keeps, gone the huge walls, gone nests, gone the towers, gone the marching squares, the endless forges of Theosius, the Light rays of Allasaria, the magicians of Elassa, the beasts of Atis, the cathedral of Leona. It was all gone¡­ To be replaced by mismatched buildings, by temples with flowing roofs, by small statuettes and tiny gardens of greenery. The squares for assembling men had been filled with buildings for housing thousands. Where was the glory of Olympiada? The seat of the White Pantheon? Where was the fear? The adoration? The respect? It was a mere city, purposelessly built on the peak of the world and for what? Maybe Kassandora would be angry, Arascus would be insulted, maybe Fer would see it as the way it should be¡­ but Neneria¡­ Neneria was merely disappointed. The mountain pierced the clouds, but that was all it did. Neneria floated down towards that mountain-top city, her arms outstretched, a black dress cladding her with a raven-feather shawl. Tiny ghastly fairies were frantically flapping their wings as the pinched her skin from above, or let her weight spread over them from below, as they turned a fatal fall into a gentle glide. Neneria looked down at the flames making two long columns of flame over Olympiada. It was a depressing sight, simple mortal weaponry should not be able to inflict such damage on the parliament of Divinity. It didn¡¯t matter if she was fighting that parliament, it was simply¡­ it was simply wrong. And yet it still happened. Neneria¡¯s eyes found the elves that made up the Vanguard team. They had chosen one of the small gardens to conglomerate in. A miserable little square of dried grass and trees that had barely any leaves. With flower-boxes that were empty and only displayed dried dirt. She wondered if the people of this place missed Iniri or not. On that dark dirt were the elves. Their dark parachutes faded into that dirt, but her eyes still managed to pick the glint of metal from their rifles. And they weren¡¯t hard to find, gunshots came from that every few seconds. She saw a team five of Allasaria¡¯s Seekers round a corner, spears held at the ready, red-capes blowing the mountainous winds, and then be gunned down. She saw a mage erupt from behind a building and unleash a firestorm that burned up the parachutes, and then be gunned down from multiple windows. She saw a team of Paladins arrange, a full squad of thirty soldiers. They lowered their shields, they marched onto the road, and they retreated when the first rank fell to a hail of lead. And Neneria saw a team of a dozen mages appear from the flames. The napalm fires were being put out now. Huge clouds had condensed above the mountain, dragged in by surging winds, and they were unleashing a torrent of water to unleash the flames. Dusts and sands in massive piles were being thrown to drown the flames. Minor Gods were shouting orders at the ground, and some were arguing with each other about who should lead. Neneria merely rolled her eyes, that would never happen in Kassandora¡¯s Legions. Nor her own. She hurried her fairies up, they were getting close now and she had been spotted, it was obvious. Mages were circling her location, unwilling to come close but obviously aware that she was a Divine. And that was another thing, every soldier in Kassandora¡¯s force knew how Elassa, Fortia, Maisara, how all the White Pantheon looked. Why was she not known? Did humanity suddenly think it could forget about Death? Was her name really reduced to being a simple footnote in history? Today, she would remind them. As she neared the ground, she saw a larger force assemble. Three minor Divines in heavy plate chainmail, a line of gold-bronze Guardians behind them in bronze. A shield of magic winds ahead of them stopped any bullets that were being launched at them from the windows and from behind the various trees and garden boxes the elves were taking cover behind. Archers took the rear, the stopped, the archers unleashed a volley of arrows, and the elves took cover. Even this display, Neneria was stunned by. She had seen the fist be replaced by the rock. The rock beaten out by a spear. A sword came to replace the spear, a slingshot came to replace throwing. A shield came to replace dodging, then armour entered to work with the shield. The mace came about to counter heavy plate, the horse was subdued to give man an advantage, and the lance came to outfit the horse. She had thought it would carry on like for all eternity¡­ And then the Great War came. And what happened? These men were still using arrows? They had planes that could traverse the world, and they still used swords? She didn¡¯t know whether it was noble or idealistic, but it was stupidity in either case. The fairies around her disappeared, and she dropped the final two feet. Her heels dug into the dirt and she took a step to dig them out. Kassandora had told her not to wear them, yet Neneria still did. ¡°Hold fire.¡± She said quietly, the elves would catch the words with their enhanced hearing, and she looked at the men who were approaching. The three Gods looked at each other, the middle held up his arm. The battalion behind him stopped. He stepped forwards, through the magical barrier and bowed. At least he had the decency to do that. ¡°We thank you for subduing the invaders Divine!¡± He was a full two heads shorter than Neneria. That sort of difference in height was akin to comparing a dog to a human in the ranks of Divinity. Neneria quirked a smile, her dark eyes settled on the man and he shivered. Heavy plate, Maisara-style, with a helm covering his face.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°I did nothing.¡± Neneria said gently, her voice carried far, to the ranks of men. ¡°They are armed with Kassandora¡¯s rifles, I would advise-¡° He stopped and Neneria cut him off. ¡°I did nothing.¡± She said again, harder this time. She thought of what to do with the man, the Legion would need a moment to deploy, but if she gave them a moment, they would blast her with every magic known to man. Much better to attack and clear the area for herself first, then drag the army from her pockets. ¡°We¡­¡± He looked back at his force and nodded. They started marching forwards again. Neneria saw the elves looking curiously at her. They were in full black, ski-masks covering their faces and only leaving a thin sliver of pale skin uncovered in between the eyes. Fingers were wrapped around triggers, but they were elves, Neneria assumed none of them would panic if she could be given a moment to talk to this God. ¡°We are grateful, Goddess.¡± He said. ¡°But may I inquire your name?¡± Neneria blinked down. She looked down at her pale hands. At the black cloth of her dress, she felt the raven feathers tickle her neck, and she looked up at that maggot who had just asked who she was? He didn¡¯t know? How did he not know? Saksma was one thing, that was some sick curiosity of a little girl who had never been taught the lesson of what power was. But this? To not know her name? ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Neneria¡¯s voice was a low rumble. The God shook his head, the steel helm moved from side to side. ¡°A millennia is all it takes?¡± Neneria rumbled like the beginnings of an avalanche The God tightened his fingers around his sword. ¡°And I¡¯ve been forgotten?¡± Neneria growled. Her hand shot forwards. There is no spear to keep them at bay. No shield to hold them. No blade to parry their blows. No armour strong enough. Without overwhelming magical superiority, it is a simple impossibility. Do not, under any circumstances, try to engage the Goddess of Death. - Excerpt from ¡®The Divines of Arascus¡¯, written by Goddesses Allasaria and Fortia. Intended to serve as a Great War manual akin to Kassandora¡¯s booklets. Neneria twisted her hand into a fast and slammed it down. A ghastly green arrow shot through the God¡¯s chest. A peasant, his chest carved open by the blow of a hammer, with a spear appeared by his side and stabbed his ethereal weapon into the God¡¯s leg. A knight on a horse of bone rode from the wall and swung a sabre. The God¡¯s arm fell off. Another arrow penetrated him. A crossbow bolt followed. A dwarf with an axe severed his leg. A giant, glowing pale stepped forwards and swung a scythe intended to cut grass at the God. His chest was flung backwards, and the legs collapsed. And as quickly as the charge of apparitions came, they disappeared. The Gods body tumbled into pieces and Neneria saw a soul leave the body, a small pale blue thing trying to resemble a human, it flew upwards in some vain effort to escape her. Her hand twisted, it got pulled close to her chest, resting between her bosom. And her heart devoured that soul. And the Legion grew by one more. The one possible scenario is a quick kill. Neneria deployment saps her of strength momentarily. That is the chance we have to strike. Once the Legion is fielded, there is no ¡®best¡¯ manoeuvre to perform. The only hope of survival and stopping its growth is a total retreat. For this reason, every fortress, every hold and every keep, needs a full team of trained mages to counter her. - Excerpt from ¡®The Divines of Arascus¡¯, written by Goddesses Allasaria and Fortia. Neneria looked at the shock, at the fear, at the confusion in the ranks behind the God. She saw the Guardians in the bronze start to shake. She saw a few take a step back. Several spears were dropped. A mage that hovered in the air lost focus and dropped out of the sky. She found her chance. ¡°Give me time.¡± Neneria said quietly as she spread her arms around her. A banner dropped to the ground, carrying the headless horseman of her legion. It settled on the stone, untouched by the wind. A ghost grabbed her, the elves opened fire. A shield dropped. Several Guardians fell. They backed away. Ranks broke as a tsunami of fear crashed over morale¡¯s floodwall. A team of ancient knights, each one still carrying the unbleeding wounds that felled him, appeared before Neneria. Elven blademasters stepped into existence, swords already drawn, and they disappeared as they ran into walls. Archers joined them. More knights. Kassandora¡¯s ancient heavy cataphract cavalry, man and beast armoured in full scale-mail raced away from Neneria. Neneria felt her shiver incoming and lowered her arms. This was enough, for now. More could be brought in later. It was like drinking, she couldn¡¯t slam an entire bottle down like Fer, but bit-by-bit, she could get through one. A few minutes of rest, and she¡¯d bring in another thousand conscripted souls. She looked towards the men that were running away. What Guardian of her age would flee? What mage? What Divine? She disagreed with Anassa on a great many things, but there was one thing her sister said that Neneria could not argue with. They did not make Divines like they used to. Neneria reached forwards, and her knights charged. The elves stopped firing, there was no point to. Heavy cavalry silently lowered their lances as silent horse hooves raced along the ground, not a sound being made. And then, the silent mountain started to scream. Whatever is done, every soldier should be aware of how to escape. Mages especially, it is crucial Neneria¡¯s Legion is not allowed to grow. The only reasonable way we have to defeat is to empty her reserves entirely through attrition, then kill her directly. - Excerpt from ¡®The Divines of Arascus¡¯, written by Goddesses Allasaria and Fortia. Neneria deployed more troops. More foot-soldiers, each one carrying the wound that felled him. Atis would not see this battle, she wouldn¡¯t risk his soul getting cleansed by a stray mage. The elves followed her as she made her way to Allasaria¡¯s quarters. Kassandora had said to collect every piece of information that could be found here, and to cause as much damage as possible. Kavaa had provided maps, and tiny ghastly fairies hovered high above and relayed information on troop movements back to Neneria. Ahead was a force. One that had dug in and prepared. Seekers with their spears lowered and mages with barriers raised. Others waved staves and channelled cleansing magic. Neneria rolled her eyes. A horde of dirty peasants sprung from the ground and charged. Bright flashes of light from Seeker spear and mage stave burned them away, simply sent the souls off to the next world. And Neneria¡¯s cavalry came in from the side. In the air was the worst place to fight. Where there could be no sneak attacks. Open field battles were slightly better, were at least Neneria could force her forces under the ground. But urban fighting? Urban fighting against ghosts that raced through walls? There was nothing better. The cavalry passed through silently, men fell, by the time the defenders realised they were getting attacked from the side, the ghastly riders were already upon them. Neneria called upon Pegaz, her first steed. A winged horse she had long since tamed and brought into the afterlife. It stepped out of the ground from below her, she merely had to lean back and let herself be carried off into the air. In a few seconds, the Legion had shrunk by two hundred peasants, and then it grew as Neneria dragged souls to be consumed by her heart. A hundred and eighty three Seekers, thirty-seven mages, five Divines. She smiled to herself. Pegaz took a step, the elves raced off to the side off the walls, they kicked down buildings to reveal merely lifeless bodies, killed already by Neneria¡¯s ghosts as they raced across the city. As the defences of Olympiada fell, as the flames of napalm died down, as news started to spread of what was happening, the mountain started to scream. The mountain screamed, and Neneria rode through lifeless streets to Allasaria¡¯s quarter. And on that ashen horse, rides Death. - Ending to Neneria¡¯s Prayer. Chapter 188 – Hammer and Anvil ¡°I¡¯ve heard¡­ things.¡± Wissel Ellenheim said to Jozef over the phone. The President of Lubska only sighed. ¡°Is it concerning¡­¡± Jozef paused as he spoke. Phone lines could easily be tapped, and he wouldn¡¯t put that past the White Pantheon, there was a reason they always met up in ancient castles that were designated heritage sites and had modern technology barred. ¡°A guest?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t phrase it like that, but yes, I¡¯ve heard a guest has joined the party.¡± Wissel replied. Jozef was glad they both got the message quickly. ¡°Then that is true, someone not on the list did show up.¡± ¡°That does put us in trouble Jozef.¡± ¡°The trouble only happens if the party turns out to be disappointing.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t.¡± Jozef said. ¡°Better not be, for all of us.¡± Wissel said and turned the phone off. Fer put an arm over her head, the other pressed the elbow, she stretched and let out a ¡°ooooaaaahhhhh.¡± And repeat for the other arm. That helped ease the tension, the past day had been brutal, her pack had to pick up the pace, but she couldn¡¯t order a sprint as that would have left them exhausted for what was going to happen tonight. Her eyes veered downwards, off the cliff and towards her own forces. It was a beautiful night, the clouds had been pushed back to reveal a blanket of deep blue smattered with bright stars, and in the centre a huge full moon dominated the entire scene. The skies above were picturesque, a perfect night for a hunt. And what a hunt it would be. Below those skies sat CR. Under Anassa¡¯s red bubble. Those should be fairly opaque, but now it was a tarnished blood-crimson pimple that erupted from out the of jungle¡¯s edge. Where the trees ended and became Kirinyaan prairies, empty highways led to it from all directions, and a circle of mages of lay siege to that massive bubble. The immediate ground around it was smooth stone, buildings to house the attackers were there too, most likely simply pulled out of the ground by geomancers. And there were endless ritual circles, all glowing bright blue. Mages moved around those ritual circles, they walked to and thro, they swapped with those who were getting tired. They hovered in the air and inspected the cracks that were appearing on Anassa¡¯s bubble. They worked the spell that was beginning to break through them. Kassie would know what it was, Anassa would know too, but Fer did not. Each ritual circle simply sent up a concentration of pure blue mana into the air, they culminated in the centre of that bubble, and then reversed downwards, smashing magical energies into Anassa¡¯s sorcerous ones. And Fer spotted today¡¯s prey. Elassa hovered in the air, her staff of pure white-wood topped off with a fantastic diamond. She lethargically made circles in the air, inspecting her men and the spell around her. Fer licked her lips. Elassa¡¯s blood would be a sweet taste, she was sure of it. That Goddess was far too small and too cute to be bitter. A thousand years ago, they had endlessly evaded each other, ambushes were foreseen by Kassandora or by Leona, traps that should have ended either¡¯s life were simply never triggered, and it had been an endless battle of attrition. But Leona was not here anymore, was she? All Fer had to do was wait for the final piece of the puzzle. She interlocked her fingers, twisted her palms away from herself, and stretched her back with a sigh. She wore the armour Arascus had sent to her, a heavy vest of some new material to cover her chest, and a skirt. The rest, she would go without. Boots and gloves got in the way of claws, helms in the way of ears, and trousers were uncomfortable with the lion¡¯s tail that flicked from side to side. Her eyes, nose and ears found the beastmen in the forest. She would take the east, along with some few hundred beastmen to mop up survivors who would try to run past her. Traius took the north-east, Logar took the south-east. They were spreading their troops out, although no one had been spotted yet. Fer had only seen them because she knew what she was looking for. Fur melded into trees and woodlands in a way no camouflage could replicate. A few minutes passed, and Fer smelled her sister. She heard the click of heel against dirt, she smelled the fresh perfume and she felt Anassa grab her shoulder as the Goddess settled on the ground. ¡°Are you exhausted?¡± ¡°Just let me catch a breath.¡± Anassa said as she let go and stood up straight. Fer still towered over her, but Anassa managed to look at everyone in that way she did, as if she was looking down her nose. It was honestly an impressive skill, Fer didn¡¯t know how the woman could even do it to her. ¡°So you are tired?¡± Fer said. ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± Anassa shouted, then quickly spun to look at the mages. ¡°They can¡¯t hear you from here, I can barely make them out.¡± Fer said lightly, she made another stretch, leaning over at the hips to touch her toes. Anassa merely rolled her eyes as if she was annoyed with the display. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯re stretching?¡± ¡°I¡¯m bored!¡± Fer replied. ¡°I got here three hours before you!¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Well I¡¯m sorry for being late.¡± Anassa replied and swung her hand towards the red shield, another crack formed on it, from where the blue beam above it was cutting into it. It dashed like lightning down the surface of the barrier. ¡°But everything still holds as far as I can see.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just an eraser barrier?¡± Fer asked as she pointed at the red bubble. ¡°It is, don¡¯t touch it.¡± Anassa replied. Some things, like learning fire is hot, had to be learned from experience. Some things, like the effectiveness of Anassa¡¯s Sorcery, Fer only had to see to know not to question her sister when she gave out advice. ¡°So what now? We wait?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Fer quipped. She had already expected Anassa not to read Kassandora¡¯s orders, but it was always fun to tease. ¡°Do I look like I know?¡± Anassa said quietly. The two Goddesses stood on the edge of a cliff as they watched that red bubble. ¡°You really don¡¯t know?¡± Fer said again. ¡°Do you think I know?¡± Fer smiled and crossed her arms. Of course she knew that Anassa would not know. ¡°I caaaannnnn tell you.¡± Fer stretched the word out, she knew it was annoying. She knew Anassa wasn¡¯t in any position to bargain now either. ¡°But you won¡¯t.¡± Anassa said, her tone low and tired. ¡°But why should I?¡± Anassa sighed heavily, her posture dropped, her arms fell loose, even that red dress of hers which exposed the side of a thigh looked depressed. ¡°Because you¡¯re the best sister ever.¡± Anassa admitted heavily. ¡°And because I, Anassa, do not know. So can you tell me now?¡± Fer chuckled to herself. It really didn¡¯t require that much praise, but she still enjoyed it. ¡°What¡¯s the magic word?¡± She cooed. ¡°Please?¡± Anassa had to force the word out of her lips. Fer had honestly never heard Anassa utter that to anyone but her. ¡°We wait for the shield to drop, and then move in. Kassie said she¡¯s ready on her end. We¡¯re ready now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Anassa replied. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± ¡°I can drop the shield at any moment.¡± Anassa said. ¡°That¡¯s not what Kassie said to do.¡± Fer snapped back and Anassa sighed. The Goddess of Sorcery merely shrugged. ¡°Well alright then.¡± Another Anassa stepped into existence, then another, they said nothing, merely turned around and took a step. Both disappeared before their feet even touched the dirt. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Looking for fruit.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Want one?¡± ¡°Please.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Fer saw Elassa pull a phone out of her dark blue dress, all flowing with magical runes that pulsated like beating hearts and naturally changed shapes. Fer¡¯s tall ears sprung up and aimed forwards. It was far away, but Elassa had put the phone on loudspeaker so she could listen above the slow rumbling of her spell. Fortia was on the other side, and Fortia was not happy at all, she screamed through the speaker. ¡°ELASSA! GET OUT OF THERE!¡± Fer saw Elassa blink and look around, her eyes going to the Jungles on the edge of that rocky circle which the mages had carved their ritual circles into. Fer only smiled to herself, she was looking too close. With her so high in the air, it wasn¡¯t too difficult to pick out what she was saying. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Fer smiled and leaned close to Ana. ¡°We¡¯re moving soon.¡± She whispered. ¡°She¡¯s on the phone.¡± Anassa said. ¡°To Fortia.¡± And Fer listened again. Fortia screamed through the phone in a desperate fashion, a way Fer had only seen a few Divines scream in. ¡°GET OUT OF THERE ELASSA! RETREAT! I¡¯M ORDERING A FULL RETREAT!¡± It was odd. Kassie almost never shouted, and when she did, her voice was a tremendous hammer that gave no chance at counterargument. Anassa poked Fer and held an orange in her hand. Fer took it, ripped it in half, and tore the fruit from the peel with her teeth. The juices dripped down her chin as Anassa held her own orange. It split itself into delicate pieces, perfect for eating in her hand. ¡°You eat like an animal.¡± Anassa said quietly. Fer merely shushed her as she leaned forwards, licked her lips, and listened to what Elassa was saying. It was only one slow word. ¡°Why?¡± And Fortia responded immediately, a scream frantic as if wherever she was staying at was currently on fire. ¡°FER AND ANASSA ARE COMING FROM THE EAST! GET OUT OF THERE!¡± Fer blinked. So even without Leona, their movements had been tracked even though the pack had avoided all danger. Kassie should be told about that immediately, that was life-saving information. ¡°We¡¯re changing plans Ana.¡± Fer said as Anassa delicately pinched a slice of orange and chewed it. ¡°On my count, drop the barrier.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Anassa said. She looked down at the fruit in her hand, then quickly ate two more pieces. Fer turned back to Elassa when her eyes caught the Goddesses¡¯ lips move to speak. Two tall ears strained and aimed directly at the Goddess as they caught what she was saying from more than a mile away. ¡°Are they?¡± Elassa spoke slowly, almost as if in disbelief. ¡°I¡¯m almost done with breaking through the second barrier, it¡¯ll be over.¡± Fer¡¯s eyes scanned the skies. If Elassa shot off now, she would be gone immediately. Anassa could catch up, but the plan wasn¡¯t for those two to have a duel. Duels were coinflips, Kassie never employed duels as centrepieces of tactics. Fortia screamed through the speaker again. ¡°AND IF SHE..¡± Fer ignored what she was saying as she grabbed Anassa¡¯s hand. ¡°Drop the barrier, and throw me at her, understood? Change of plans, I¡¯m in charge now, Kassie will be ready, it¡¯s Kassie.¡± Anassa threw the final slice of orange in her mouth, chewed, swallowed and nodded. ¡°When?¡± She asked. Fer turned her head back to Elassa. Fortia was still screaming through the phone. ¡°MOVE ELASSA! NOW!¡± Elassa started to drift higher into the air. ¡°She knows we¡¯re here, she¡¯ll retreat.¡± Fer said as she shook her sister. ¡°Now!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be a second behind you, alright?¡± ¡°JUST THROW ME!¡± Anassa nodded, her scarlet eyes became sharp, she rose into the air and waved a finger. A tendril of red light extended from her and coiled around Fer¡¯s chest. And then Anassa was gone, the trees around Fer became a blur, the cliff she had just stood on, she viewed as if she was looking through a picture. She turned her arms, her tail and legs stabilized her flight, and she saw Elassa turn towards her. Elassa began to speak as Fer launched through the air. ¡°I¡¯m fine For¡­¡± Her voice trailed off, those blue sapphires for eyes met Fer¡¯s wild topaz ones. Fer saw the shock come through Elassa¡¯s face. A weaker Divine, maybe one of the more modern ones, would have been overtaken by shock. Not Elassa though, she was an old breed, a respectable type of prey. The type that would fell a hunter unprepared. That bright white staff flared with light immediately, and winds caught Fer. It was a blacksmith¡¯s hammer from above, and Fer fell through the air. She saw the barrier fall. She felt Anassa¡¯s sorcery catch her. She felt herself be flung back up. She saw Kassandora standing on top of a platform. She saw trees move to reveal her heavy artillery. She saw Iniri raise her hands as the walls sprouted outwards. And she turned to Elassa. Truly an old breed of Divine. She was smiling, her staff making delicate spins in her hands. Flames burst out around her, winds howled as they carried a firestorm downwards. They really did not make them like that anymore. It was almost sad to think the world would run out of prey worthy to hunt. Chapter 189 – Eye of the Storm Pantheon Peace, somewhat paradoxically, has been easiest to implement in the Epan states. Our initial predictions have always considered that Guguo, with its ancient history of unity and the freshly formed Arikan nations, still in their infancy, would be most resilient to Pantheon Peace. That they would have to go through the same trials that Epa has to learn the cost of bloodshed. We thought that Epa would be a sore-spot for the Pantheon, we thought that we would need to spend centuries beating the Epans into submission. Yet there has been no great rebellions, no angry voices, apart from Helenna¡¯s propaganda war, there has been almost no resistance to our project in Epa. We always thought it would be the weak link in the chain, but the whole-hearted embracement of Pantheon Peace has left us honestly stunned. Still though, I have my reservations. As has been proven through the trials of history: Epans make very good subjects. Until they don¡¯t. - Excerpts from ¡®Thoughts on the Post-War World¡¯ in the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library, written by Goddess Maisara. ¡°FIRE!¡± Kassandora pulled her blade out of the wooden platform and swung it in the air. War¡¯s Orchestra flared up in an effort to tear down the entire theatre. Drums beat in sync to the thunderous roar of artillery, smoke whisked up from the barrels supported by stringing violins, rifles shot to the tune of frantic trumpets, each one trying to outcompete the other in how much lead it could unleash. Men silently turned to the chorus, as they picked out targets among the mages around the fortress, where shields formed, they quickly changed targets under Kassandora¡¯s guidance, going from one magician to the next, firing at the groups that powered the ritual circles which fed that mining beam above CR. The blue laser penetrated through a centre tree and burst deep into the ground. There was no need to worry about that spell, Kassandora had already seen its effectiveness when the first barrier had been swapped out for the second. Iniri raised her hands, she rose into the air, the living wood of her dress spiralled into the ground, disappearing as if it was a workman¡¯s shovel about to dig up dirt. Roots touched roots and Iniri felt the singular structure that made up her fortress. The trees interjoining with bridges, the tickling of boots on bark, the gentle vibrations of guns against parapets and barriers., the creaking shakes as Kassandora¡¯s heavy artillery on their raised platforms dug into the wood from the recoil of their cannons. She wouldn¡¯t let the Goddess of War take all the glory. There was a reputation to maintain, Mother Nature was as cruel and capricious as she was benign and benevolent. In one instant, Iniri¡¯s fortress that had been grown to protect the men within Central Requisitions changed from a cowardly tortoise hiding within its shell to a frenzied leopard. It struck out in all directions as the mages around it raised barriers in surprise to the sudden onslaught. Whistling artillery shells fell down upon them. Shells burst like brilliant fireworks on magical barriers. They splashed onto condensed shields of ice and into cloaks of stone that covered a dozen men at a time. Fires sprouted around them in mid-air and tried to ignite them pre-emptively as magicians waved their staves and tried to put up a frantic defence. And from the sides, the gunfire of men hidden between the trees cut them down. Branches moved to reveal squads of men who opened fire immediately. Iniri clapped her hands together, and the woods sprung forwards. Where magicians put up barriers that blocked the hailstone of lead, heavy oaks swooped in like battering rams. One shield cracked, her flora moved forwards. It spread out, branches grabbed magicians in colourful clothes as a counterattack was mounted. Columns of flame out around her attack, columns of stone were dragged from the earth to make blades that split bark and wood, that severed man-ripping vine and blocked the hail of razor leaves which shook from Iniri¡¯s fortress. The Goddess of Nature flicked a finger. This wasn¡¯t the brunt of her attack, this was a mere taster. Her roots hit the stone that Elassa had pulled up to coat the ground. Iniri smiled to herself, her emerald eyes green as the wood on her dress grew thicker and stretched and tore the fabric. A root hit stone and cracked it. A branch filled the crack and pressed in. The branch grew to the size of an arm, a torso, a human, a horse, a truck, a car. It turned crumbled and pushed the stone away as fresh oak beat against the stone. The ground started to rumble, and the forest roared as Fer¡¯s troops engaged from the rear. No beastman would get close to engage mages in melee, but they didn¡¯t have to. Gunfire cut into mages from behind as beastmen unleashed the heavy weaponry they had. Minotaurs hefted heavy machines as wolfmen prowled and dived into the ground to get a shot. Bright red eyes found their prey, beastly jaws spilling over with teeth snarled, thick fur-clad fingers topped with claws pressed on triggers, and mages fell. Elassa stared down in horror at what was happening below. Forty thousand she had brought, forty thousand that she had trained herself for six months. Each one was worthy to be called a battlemage in theory. But this is how they fared? Her face twisted in disgust and rage. What a pathetic show of feebleness. Arcadia was an utter failure. She would not retreat to the Pantheon after this, Allasaria was gone! Gone! There was no reason to abide by the Decrees of a Pantheon that was nothing but a rotting corpse letting out its final death-spasms. Magic had been contained for the good of all Arda. But sometimes, the good of all Arda required a little reminder as to what powers still existed upon it. Kassandora smiled to herself as she watched Elassa¡¯s failure of an army start to crumble. Mages crafted defences around themselves in a desperate effort to save their own lives, shields of sand and hardened air, bubbles of water and the most talented among the magicians managed to bring out the blue shells of pure mana as shells and gunfire rained down upon them. The ground started to shift as the layer of stone shattered and cracked like broken bones and Iniri¡¯s trees sprung forth. Mages lifted off into the air, or turned and ran, flames surged around them, both controlled fires from the pyromancers themselves and the terrible blaze of napalm that painted the sky black. Even her music could not drown the battle out. Frantic trumpets tried to match sharp bursts of gunfire, deafening drums played to the tune of artillery, violins tried to overwhelm the crackling of flames and a choir failed to suppress the litany of orders, shouts and screams that the mages were issuing to each other. Fer¡¯s beastmen roared from behind and Kassandora¡¯s army remained silent, each man guided by War¡¯s Orchestra playing in his head. Kassandora had thought it would happen, she had wanted it to happen, if she wasn¡¯t the Goddess of War, she would have prayed for it to happen, but she planned around Elassa¡¯s army summoning a barrier immediately. On needing to move herself to crush defences, on splitting her attention between the army on the ground and the Divine in the air. She allowed herself a smile. Was it the lack of Leona? No. Kassandora would not let that Goddess take the credit for it. It was herself. She did it, a sudden escalation of violence. Taken from Anassa¡¯s own thinking, not from zero to a hundred in a second, but from null to a thousand in an instant. An escalation so brutal it crushed morale and so utterly destroyed any hope of victory that this battle would only exist in nightmares.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. She had overprepared, she had thought they would be better. She thought there¡¯d be a reaction, that the morale would hold. That she would be saving the lives of her men in a desperate last stand, and salvaging what remained of Central Requisitions once the battle was over. She had planned on them acting like the great magicians of the past did. For once in her life, things actually went to plan. But whereas the mages on the ground were a new species of failure. There was still one problem. One issue that could singlehandedly destroy the beautiful tune her orchestra was playing. A mage in the air, from the old breed, not even the Great War but before, the greatest of them all. Maybe a mortal would take a breath to calm their senses. Maybe they would need a tune out the roar of battle. Maybe they would need to push away the heat of flames, the shards from explosions, the rains of iron and lead. Maybe a mage lesser would need to raise a shield, maybe a mage weaker would think of fleeing, maybe a mage uncertain would need to think. But Elassa was not that type of mage. No, she was not even a Great War mage, she had come from an era long before it, one where magic decided all. She waved her white-wood staff. The crystal become eye-searingly bright, like the sparking nucleus of a burning welding rod rather than the glow of the Sun, and the skies opened up with powers that once broke the world. Fer roared as Elassa¡¯s winds sent her hurtling downwards again. Anassa wasn¡¯t there to save her this time, and she smashed into branches and trees, claw caught bark and shards of wood sprayed in all directions as she slid one of the massive trunks that made up the fortress of Central Requisitions. She grit her teeth, as branches ripped and tore at her skin. Once again, she was glad that Kassandora had hoisted this thick and heavy vest on her. It saved her chest and back from being torn apart by the rugged bark. Her arms and legs and face did not have the same protection, she slid down the tree, muscles tearing themselves apart as her claws slowed her down, and being cut apart by the woods. With a heavy thud, she slammed onto one of the wooden platforms. A soldier turned to see her as Fer merely groaned and rolled over from her back to her front. She brought herself to her knees and the soldier spoke. ¡°Kavaa is coming.¡± He immediately turned back around and started picking out targets with his rifle, his own gunshots Fer collapsed onto her hands and knees and rolled onto her back, taking deep breathes as her body angrily closed wounds. It was almost pleasant, she looked through the hole she made in the branches above straight at Elassa. The skies above her were going dark, the clouds set themselves ablaze as they melted under her fury. Fer couldn¡¯t tear her eyes away from that scene. But Kavaa¡¯s face suddenly obscured the image as the Goddess jumped down a series of branches and placed her hands on Fer¡¯s bare stomach. ¡°I¡¯ve got you.¡± She whispered, pale eyes looking down, framed by pale hair and paler skin. Fer felt tiny little beetles pinch her muscles and drag them back together, ants tickled her arms and legs as they dragged fresh skin out of her flesh. Further regrew itself. ¡°I need blood.¡± Fer said and Kavaa nodded. Fer opened her jaws, fangs exposed, and the Goddess of Health placed her forearm into Fer¡¯s mouth. The blood came, with it came thicker fur, with it came the burning sensation inside Fer¡¯s stomach as Kavaa¡¯s blood was set ablaze, with it came the endless hunger of a predator, with it came the enhanced eyesight and hearing of perfect health. The blood came, and with it came power. Elassa swung her staff downwards. The burning clouds around her gave way to a rain of fire. Winds howled and hurled themselves around her as they picked up speeds. The horizon, the jungle towards the north, the mountain past it, the plains to the south, it all faded away as dusts started to obscure it. Lightning flared upwards from those winds as Elassa rose higher. Dusts swirled above her as they smashed into each other, tiny specks of dirt became pebbles, then stones, rocks, boulders. Elassa''s eyes widened with a manic glee as she saw the scene below her stop. Mages let go of staves, shields popped, the few spells flung in self-defence fizzled out. Kassandora¡¯s army stopped too. There was only so much awe and fear even the most grandiose of War¡¯s Orchestra could overcome, and Elassa had long surpassed that pitiful level of power. Anassa and her sorceries? Kassandora and her armies? Iniri and her trees? Kavaa and her healing? Fer and her what? Her animals? They all paled before the glory of the finest art, the greatest craft, the highest profession humanity had ever created. Fortia couldn¡¯t tear her eyes away from the feed coming to her screen. It came directly from a satellite requisitioned from the UNN. In a mere few seconds, a storm that was visible from space had started to swirl over Kirinyaa. Clouds that blazed orange with flames, fires burst out over Kirinyaa¡¯s natural jungle. Even the Great War had only rarely seen this display of power, and then only in the greatest times of crisis, when Olephia herself needed to be chased away. But there was an era before that saw it every day. The blood drained from Fortia¡¯s face as she recounted those memories, her arms grew weak, her legs shook, grabbed hold of the Guardian next to her to keep herself standing at the sight of it. That era should have been forgotten for the good of all Arda. Elassa hung in the air, arms outstretched as she gazed at Fer, at Anassa, at Kassandora rallying her men, trying to at least. The winds picked up, lightning shot out from all sides and a thousand men were fried on the spot. The boulders above her set alight as they started to melt into magma. Rocks became liquid as Elassa set fires as hot as Arda¡¯s molten core within them. Elassa¡¯s eyes set ablaze with blue flames as the stars of the night sky seemed to retreat. The moon paled in horror. Arda quivered in terror as the mountains to the north started to collapse. A blast of lightning descended from the heavens and arced from side to side. It touched Iniri¡¯s pathetic little tree, a mere child''s attempt at building a castle of sand to be washed away by the ocean that was the Goddess of Magic. One instant wood and bark and leaves, the next merely a pile of ash and molten metal where Kassandora¡¯s artillery had once been. And the lightning continued, it touched the ground and the world of Arda began to weep. A spiderweb of fire shot out from that point. And Arda started to rumble. Ravines opened up from those fires. Beastman and soldier and magician, dirt and ash and bark and leaf all fell into that ravine, bubbling with molten magma that surged upwards upon finding a release of pressure. The world gave birth to nature, and nature conquered the world. Then nature gave birth to magic, and magic had conquered the world. It was simply the cycle of these things. It was over Kassandora. What should have come long ago was here now. The world would be free of War. Whatever her next incarnation would be, Elassa would make sure it would never reach the same level that this pestering little insect had reached. War may be embedded deep into humanity, but Was merely an abstract to be used and molded into whatever the situation demanded. What could War do against the incarnation of Arda¡¯s most potent Force? Abstractions were fun, abstractions were grand ideals, abstractions were precious thoughts, but abstractions stopped mattering when reality set in. Elassa swung her staff downwards, and the molten meteors began to descend. Worldbreaking had come, and Worldbreaking was here. Chapter 190 – Worldbreaking It is easy to declare war. Anyone can do it. What is difficult is maintaining legitimacy in the face of war. Many Divines view humans in the way one views a sword or a shovel. That sort of mentality beckons no love nor call to action, it can only justified when backed by the overwhelming strength of a Divine elite even among Divines. Divines like that do not even need to declare war, they can remorselessly demand. I do not possess that strength, nor have I ever claimed to possess that strength, from the very beginning I was always basked by the shadow of Allasaria. For most Divines, a cause is required. A beacon to rally against. War can only be declared when something is on the line, the greater the danger, the more authority I am given. Only a Divine has the power to drive one to seek out refuge in Divinity¡¯s bosom. - Excerpt from ¡®The Philosophy of War¡¯, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War. Anassa gazed at the howling winds around them, at the clouds that brimmed with burning flames, at the molten balls of magma falling from the sky, at the cracks in the ground, at the ravines that shook the surface of Arda, at the flaming liquid metal and rock that surged upwards. Anassa gazed upon Worldbreaking. Elassa saw Anassa looking up at her. As had been done all those centuries ago, so was being done now. The self-proclaimed gatekeeper of Divinity, the sole false-claimant of Godhood. Deluded into majesty, wielding a bastardized art that Elassa had once tried to master. But she could not, her mind was far too stable, she was far too sane to ever try and handle the delusions of sorcery. Anassa had come around just as the age of Worldbreaking was coming to a close. She had seen mountains rise, she had seen the rivers of magma, she saw the great storms, but she always assumed that she had missed the zenith of that era, when continents where cracked and oceans obliterated. But now, she stared up at Elassa, she looked at the woman who had once taught her magic, and she grew¡­ this feeling¡­ It was almost disappointing. Was that it? Fire and flames, rain and ruin, storms and slaughter. It all had a crucial weakness, a flaw that was fatal, that Elassa could never comprehend. It was all truthful reality, and truthful reality was only a matter of perspective. A handful of water was a flood of ages for an ant, and yet it was merely a handful of water. Two truths, one reality. Anassa appeared by Anassa, as if she was mirrored. And another, a fourth. Anassa spread out her arms and her form as her various incarnations followed. They made a barrier of bodies between Central Requisitions, and the meteors above them. Kassandora rallied her men. She stabbed her blade into Iniri¡¯s cracked wooden platform, she raised the pace of the Orchestra. Fear? Terror? Awe? Who did Elassa think she was? ¡°LEGION!¡± She shouted. That was a good start. It was the sort of word that pulled upon the glories her men loved and respected and trembled at the thought of being acknowledged as. ¡°THE SKY BURNS! THE GROUND CRACKS!¡± It would be fruitless to try and pretend something wasn¡¯t happening, when everyone could see it was. ¡°YET YOU ARE HERE! LOOKING UPON WORLDBREAKING!¡± She quickly found the route, and the words started to flow louder than the swirling hurricane they stood in the centre in. ¡°WILL YOU TREMBLE IN FEAR? WILL YOU LIE DOWN AND ACCEPT IT? WILL THE MIGHT OF DIVINITY DESTROY YOU? IS YOUR TERROR SO GREAT YOU FEAR FOR YOUR MORTAL LIFE? WHEN YOU MEET YOU ANCESTORS, WHAT WILL YOU TELL THEM? WILL THEY NOD AND UNDERSTAND? WE ARE DEAD ALREADY! WE HAVE LOST AND YET WE STRUGGLE! STRUGGLE AGAINST RUIN! STRUGGLE AGAINST DEATH! STRUGGLE AGAINST WORLDBREAKING! STRUGGLE AGAINST THE LOVE OF MORTALITY THAT BINDS YOU HERE! STRUGGLE UNTIL YOUR HEART STOPS AND TELL YOUR ANCESTORS THAT WHEN THE WORLD SHATTERED, YOU STRUGGLED. YOU STRUGGLED AGAINST IT ALL. YOU STRUGGLED UNTIL YOUR BODIES GAVE UP. YOU WILL STRUGGLE, BECAUSE THAT IS ALL YOU CAN DO!¡± She found the crescendo, and men started to move. ¡°DOES YOUR IMMORTAL SOUL LOVE THIS WORLD SO MUCH YOU WILL NOT CAST YOURSELF UPON THE STRUGGLE AGAINST WORLD¡¯S END?¡± Fer got up as she looked at those stones. She felt Kavaa¡¯s blood rage, it set fire within her stomach as her fur grew thick, she gave her arms a shake and looked around at the soldiers around her. Men were aiming upwards, trying to find a clear shot at Elassa without misfiring at any of the Anassas that stood there, arms spread out, sorceries brimming from their fingertips. Kavaa¡¯s blood was good, but it was not strong enough, her eyes found Kassandora. That was the blood she needed. Elassa waved her staff again, the white crystal on the staves¡¯ tip flared with light once again, and a blue light came from it. Pure concentrated mana, the purest, rawest form of energy that existed on Arda, the very lifeforce of the world itself. With the surface cracked and exposed, it surged onwards. This location would become a node for future leylines. Anassa spread her arms out. Crimson sorceries intertwined in between her and her, it conjoined into a spiderweb. Her power started to rise, slowly at first and then faster and faster. It grew and grew, she could not place a number on it, nor a comparison, anything of the sort would reduce it, would drag it back down into the realm of reality. Her crimson dress whipped about in the wind. What was wind before a grand fortress. Too small. What was wind before a mountain? Nay, what was wind before the world? Anassa was of this world, she was on the level of Divines. She was a foundation in what made up Arda. Anassa was of the world, and the world was of Anassa. What was wind before the world? A mere tickle. It existed, but it was a mere breeze when viewed from that perspective. A red blast of light came from her, and her dress became calm in the wake of Elassa¡¯s apocalypse. She felt the heat of the molten meteors of magma descending from above. What was heat before a stone? Not enough. What was heat before a volcano? Nay. That was mere reality, words wrapped around themselves, words were a beautiful art. They flipped perspectives and concepts upside down as long as the user was skilled enough. What was heat before fire itself? Heat could not burn a fire, and who would not call Anassa as the spark of sorcery? And was a spark not just a fire? Anassa set alight with bright crimson flames of sorcery, the other Anassa¡¯s set alight at the same time. And a rush of hot air pushed the burning clouds away.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Anassa felt the heat of Elassa¡¯s mana and Anassa smiled. All the Anassa¡¯s smiled. What was mana? Elassa herself described it as the life-force of this planet. Could life kill life? Anassa blinked, her smile dropped. She was never wrong, but this had been the wrong path to delude oneself down. Cancer was uncontrolled life, and cancer could kill life¡­ And Anassa flipped the perspective. If life could kill life, then she was the former. The mana touched her and the burning stopped. This time, she was the endless cancer. The stealer of life¡¯s energy to selfishly fuel itself. It didn¡¯t need to make sense, Anassa simply had to believe it. And believe it, Anassa did, with her whole heart. Kassandora looked through the eyes of her troops. The artillery was foolish to use, it wouldn¡¯t even touch Elassa, and there was far too great of a chance for the falling shrapnel to injure Anassa or Fer. Or her own troops. That last one seemed like the most realistic chance of happening frankly. Through the sniper scopes, not at Elassa, at the blindingly bright crystal at the end of her staff. And Kassandora felt Fer¡¯s hand wrap around her wrist. She sighed, if her sister needed blood, it was only up to her that she¡¯d provide it. Anassa raised her hands and the storm around her tinted red. She snapped her fingers, and crimson tendrils burst from her fingertips, they smashed against those molten balls, tearing through them and extinguishing the fires within. The tendrils spread out, faint drawings cast onto the fabric of reality, barely even with any colour as Anassa stretched her consciousness to its limits. A hundred pairs of eyes, a thousand different brushes all painting simultaneously, each one wrapping around one of those burning meteors and throwing it away. A storm of lead shot past her in a volley as Kassandora¡¯s troops re-organized themselves. Elassa merely waved her hand, the diamond at the end of her staff flashed as white as snow, and the bullets stopped in mid-air. They hit nothing, they did not bounce, they merely stopped, and then helplessly dropped downwards. And another volley, to the same effect. A third. A forth. Anassa rose higher into the air as another Anassa raised her hands and fired a red beam into those blazing clouds. They collapsed upon themselves, as if an artist had taken an eraser and simply removed them from existence. She rose and rose and rose, until she was face to face with Elassa. ¡°It is over. Three against one.¡± Anassa said slowly. Elassa merely smiled. She waved her staff, a blast of blue light shot at Anassa. That sort of power would be foolish to try and stop, there was only so much delusion a single mind could take while still proclaiming some semblance of coherence. Anassa took a step to the side and appeared on the other side of Elassa. ¡°Elassa!¡± Anassa hissed. Fer licks her lips to catch the last drops of Kassandora¡¯s blood. There it was, a power most Divines could not replicate, a heart-warming meal that raged within her, her muscles reshaped themselves to the tune of war as Kassandora¡¯s Orchestra started its own beat in Fer¡¯s mind. ¡°Thank you.¡± Fer said. Kassandora merely swung her arm, her hand torn where Fer¡¯s jaws had ripped it apart. ¡°Anytime sister.¡± She looked up at the sky, where Elassa and Anassa were face to face. And Kassandora swung Joyeuse with that broken hand, as if the pain and wound was a mere sensation she could choose to ignore. ¡°Now go.¡± ¡°You will not defeat me.¡± Elassa shouted as she spun around in the air, her staff trailing with a blaze of blue flames. She spun, her blue beam of mana through the crowds. Anassa took another step again. She¡­ she did not want to kill Elassa. It was one thing to slay mortals and lesser Gods. But Elassa was one of a kind. The world would be less without her. ¡°You are facing Kassandora. You have already been defeated!¡± Anassa shouted back and spread her arms out. A flurry of sorcery erupted from around. Elassa flicked her staff, her other hand moving in unison, and a shield of impenetrable pure mana absorbed the attack. ¡°WE¡¯VE WON ALREADY!¡± ¡°And yet I am here.¡± Elassa shouted back as fire burst around. The trees of Central Requisitions burst out in flame. Iniri rose into the air, carried by vines, eyes closed, as she the fortress began to beat its own flames down. ¡°And?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°Here? There? Everywhere? So am I!¡± Several of the Anassas below disappeared, and more appeared around Elassa. They launched another attack, thin slices of sorcery, pin pricks aimed for Elassa¡¯s arms and legs. ¡°Delusional!¡± Elassa shouted, a blast of magic wiped the sorceries away. ¡°DELUSIONAL ANASSA! You¡¯ve deluded yourself into Godhood! You should have never been made! I MADE YOU! I WILL UNMAKE YOU!¡± Anassa shook her head as she took a step and once again re-appeared behind Anassa, close this time. ¡°How I was made does not matter. I did it. Reality is many things, but reality acknowledges I am Divine.¡± Anassa whispered and took a step back to avoid the blade of ice that fell onto her position. ¡°Do not toy with me!¡± Elassa screamed, flames burst from her, snakes of fire with maws of ices that spiralled through the air and chased Anassa down. One Anassa disappeared, another took a step, another yet snapped her fingers and a blade of crimson light cut the magic chasing down, as if it was a real animal. ¡°The world¡¯s greatest strategist is on my side. It is simply a matter of confidence.¡± Anassa said as she rose higher. ¡°You cannot even hope to put a dent in that confidence! I have won.¡± Anassa rose into the air. ¡°Because.¡± She snapped her fingers. ¡°I know I have won.¡± And a beam of sorcery descended from the heavens above. Elassa¡¯s burning blue eyes flicked upwards, she moved her staff, a barrier formed. And magic met sorcery, the two energies tinting each other with their colours, until a purple sun shone above what remained of Central Requisitions. Anassa took a step, but Fer was faster. She shot from the ground like a bolt of lightning, with a speed unmatchable. Powered on by Kassandora¡¯s blood, she burst through Elassa¡¯s barrier as Anassa ceased her magic. A clawed fist hit Elassa in the chest and the Goddess¡¯ eyes bulged. The flames went out, to be replaced by her natural sapphires. She coughed and bent over heaving for breath. And Elassa looked down at her hands. Two pale hands. Two empty hands. Anassa caught Fer and swung her back to the ground as Elassa¡¯s magic weakened. She looked around frantically, and she saw the Goddess of Beast rolled into a ball, flying downwards, her tail wrapped around Elassa¡¯s white-wood staff. The diamond on its end that had been a lantern in worldbreaking now was nothing more than a precious and large gemstone. Fer rolled onto the ground and Elassa reached down. She channelled what she could, with herself as a catalyst. A beam of blue energy shot from her hands, strong enough to fell even Iniri¡¯s great oaks. A barrier of red stopped it as Elassa started to lose height. She dropped and dropped, her hands trying to find magic, her mind trying to calm itself. That was the greatest staff ever made, grown for her, wielded by none but her. And as her concentration dropped, Worldbreaking began to slow. The hurricane dropped its dusts, the winds slowed down, the flaming clouds burned out. Elassa did not care, she saw Fer drop, roll and get back up. She saw the woman grab her staff with both hands. She saw her lift her knee. And all Elassa could do was cry out. ¡°NO!¡± And Fer snapped the staff over her knee. And whilst Worldbreaking had only slowed, it now shattered. Elassa lost her focus, she tumbled downwards onto the ground, saved only by a strand of red that chucked her to the same platform Fer stood on. The Goddess of Beasthood weighed both pieces of her staff, her arms popped with veins, she grit her teeth, and both hands close, splitting the staff further into four. She dropped them all and wiped her hands together to get rid of the flecks of white sawdust. And golden eyes settled on Elassa as the Goddess got to her knees. And Beasthood stepped forwards, nails twisting into claws as she found her prey. The Goddess of Magic shook, cried, blood leaked from her mouth, and she fell over, her head bouncing against the cold oak. The Goddess of Magic only let out a pained moan, her arm outstretched to the white dust around Fer. A wind blew it away and tears formed in Elassa¡¯s eyes. But as of Magic lay there, Of Sorcery stepped between Fer and Elassa. Cold scarlet eyes met hot golden ones, and Anassa spoke. ¡°You will not kill her. I do not allow it.¡± Chapter 191 – What To Do With The Worldbreaker? Iliyal raced through a grand corridor. Olonia had managed to patch herself back together, she was no longer crying at the very least, but the elf still had his doubts. Training could be done quickly, but people rarely changed over the span of a night. Divines even more so. He heard a shout from the rearguard, followed by gunfire and a scream. ¡°THERE¡¯S MORE OF THEM!¡± ¡°MORE OF WHAT?¡± Iliyal shouted back. ¡°MORE DIVINES!¡± Kassandora looked down on that wooden platform from her own. The storm of Worldbreaking died down around them as clouds of dusts fell with the failing winds. The ground stopped shaking, it¡¯s fractures stopped expanding as rocks and dirt started to fall and close the ravines, the only fires that remained where the blazing trees in the distance. She moved and as she did, she scanned the environment through the eyes of her men. Fer¡¯s beastmen were pulling themselves up from the ground, past that rocky plain which had been dragged up to protect from Iniri¡¯s underground roots, it hadn¡¯t done much, but it did serve to delay her offensive during the battle. The mages were gone. Killed by gunfire or swept up by Elassa¡¯s storm, a few small groups, like tiny flocks of oversized birds were visible in the distance. Their blue shields of mana like candles in the night sky, they had managed to put enough distance between them and CR to be out of range, and with how little remained, Kassandora removed them from her list of priorities. They wouldn¡¯t return, and if they did, there was more than enough here for them not to be a danger. Kassandora turned and saw Elassa. Lying in that blue battledress, the runes that had been pulsing and re-writing themselves now simple adornments of fabric. She curled up into a ball and clutched at her knees, crying. Fer was on the other side of that platform, standing tall, covered in matted hair, fangs extended from her mouth, nails turned into claws, tail whipping from side to side. Hunched over, hungry golden eyes dancing about as they searched for an opening. Kassandora was almost proud, that was the way the Goddess of Beasthood should look. And Anassa was stood in-between them. Tall and noble, with all the majesty not a queen but an empress should carry herself with. Straight packed, her dress flowing onto the wood around her as beads of sweat burst out on her head. She stood there, grim-faced, scarlet eyes locked on Fer. And as she fell, Kassandora inspected the damage done to Central Requisitions through the eyes of her men. If the structure had been made of stone and brick, it would have crumbled already, but Iniri¡¯s trees held and walls stood, the many branches still remained now unmoving and silent without a storm to blow them about. Where the ground had split, roots were spreading as Iniri was handling the damages. A few men were hanging off ledges, clinging on for dear life. Vines slowly crawled down walls and wrapped around their torsos, or grabbed hold of hands and pulled them back to safety. Some of the warehouses had been incinerated, Elassa¡¯s mana had ignited the treetops, and anything not bolted down had fallen into the ravines, but the fortress still stood. Impressive. Kassandora¡¯s feet touched the platform and she let go of her army. War¡¯s Orchestra came to a close, there was no reason to involve her men in private family disputes. Anassa and Fer stared at each other, unmoving and silent, both challenging the other to make the first move. Children. Children, the lot of them. There was Arascus, there was Kassandora, and then there was a band of children. She had not signed up to be there damn mother. ¡°Calm yourselves, both of you.¡± Kassandora said, she took a step and her armour disappeared. The air was refreshing with how cool it was. Her undershirt and shorts were both wet with sweat, she had not taken that suit of black metal off since Anassa¡¯s barrier had gone up. She gave Joyeuse a casual swing, and the blade dematerialized mid-way through its pirouette. ¡°Elassa is too dangerous to be left alive.¡± Fer growled, her eyes settled back on Anassa. The Goddess of Magic groaned from the ground as Kassandora took a step in between her sisters. Both were taller than her, Anassa by a meagre amount, Fer by so much it wasn¡¯t even funny. ¡°She did not kill me, I will not allow her to be killed.¡± Anassa said. Kassandora sighed. Lovely. She wished Arascus was here. She had to reason with these fools, Arascus could just speak and get it over with. ¡°It is not my fault she made a mistake.¡± Fer growled. Kassandora leaned forwards and looked past Anassa, at Elassa on the ground. What a miserable little girl, was the breaking of a mere staff really that important to her? ¡°And let us not pretend that she kept you in luxury.¡± ¡°She kept me alive.¡± Anassa said. ¡°I pay my debts.¡± Kassandora gave no reaction on the outside, but her mind started to work. Anassa liked having debts repaid to her, but since when did she start caring about repaying them herself? ¡°Your escape proves why she must die.¡± Fer said as Kassandora took a step around to Elassa. She knelt down by the Goddess. ¡°It is one thing to find a solution.¡± Fer said. ¡°But it is arrogance to think you can imprison a Divine for eternity, she will break free eventually.¡± ¡°I will not allow it.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Move Anassa, or I will move you.¡± Fer growled, her claws clicked against each other. ¡°You are not capable of that.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Am I not?¡± Fer said haughtily. ¡°Arrogance I can handle, stupidity is cute. But together they are a thoroughly bitter combination.¡± ¡°Then I apologize for how bitter I am.¡± Anassa argued back. Kassandora put her hand on Elassa¡¯s shoulder and rolled the Goddess onto her back. She coughed and spat some blood out of her mouth, then rolled away from Kassandora. Utterly defeated, she had seen it in soldiers before. Damage that left the body intact but scarred the will, she had always thought the major Divines were immune to it. ¡°Kassandora will agree with me.¡± Fer shouted. Kassandora only rolled her eyes, she knew she¡¯d be dragged into the argument eventually, she always was. ¡°I do not care if all of you are against me. I will not plead or beg Fer. Elassa will not die here.¡± Anassa said coldly and Kassandora looked up at her sisters. Fer was right. Fer was correct. Anassa may be the more intellectually gifted of the two, but only fools called Fer stupid, she was far smarter than most people gave her credit for, frankly, Kassandora held Fer¡¯s advice in higher regard than Anassa¡¯s. Anassa had knowledge but¡­ that was the issue here. Anassa had knowledge and Anassa was cold and bitter and arrogant. Anassa wouldn¡¯t lift a finger if she didn¡¯t get some self-indulgent pleasure from it. And Anassa now was standing on the side of a White Pantheon member as if it was Irinika, or Olephia, or Kassandora or Fer herself lying on the ground behind her.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Anassa had knowledge she did not share. ¡°No.¡± Kassandora said as she stood up. What Anassa knew could be gleamed later, it would be gleamed later. But not now. ¡°Elassa is stopped.¡± Fer cracked a smile. ¡°Stopped?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Stop-start-stop-start-stop. Kill and be done with it.¡± And Fer was correct again. Elassa should die because Kassandora would need to spend a thousand years with Elassa before she would willingly place any trust in that woman. But then¡­ ¡°Elassa is done.¡± Kassandora said. There was no point arguing petty moralities here, the evil of killing and so on. All of them had lived long enough to be done with such trite. And maybe someone like Malam or Baalka would care for principles. But Anassa? But Fer? But Kassandora herself? What did they care about such things? There was defeat or victory; death or survival. War, Beasthood and Sorcery had little in common, but they all followed the law of the jungle. But that was why Kassandora was so curious as to why Anassa would go to such a length now. Anassa arguing her way out of a paper bag was impossible. The woman had strength, and that was all she had. Kassandora sighed as she took a step in-between them. And Anassa was stubborn, there would be nothing to gain from questioning her now. Anassa, like the petulant, annoying, childish little girl she was, had to be accommodated. ¡°Fer, we do not have to kill her yet.¡± ¡°Do we not Kassie?¡± Fer¡¯s expression softened. ¡°Do we not? How long until she wakes up and recovers her power?¡± Elassa moaned from the ground as if she was in agreement with Fer trying to kill her. Kassandora wanted to skewer that woman, didn¡¯t she realise she was making herself harder to defend? ¡°She¡¯ll be useful for diplomacy.¡± Kassandora quickly replied. That was true, there was no one who would deny such a claim. Fer smiled sweetly, her fangs revealed themselves and her eyes grew large. ¡°Her death will set a better example to the Pantheon and the world.¡± Fer said. ¡°Sparing her is not mercy, it merely makes us seem weak. Will you let her go? What will your troops say when they have to repeat this theatre again?¡± And Anassa, like the moody little teenager she was, answered before Kassandora could get a word in. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re on my side Kassie, but there-¡° ¡°Shut up.¡± Kassandora merely growled, Fer gave Anassa a taunting smile but the Goddess of Sorcery did, in fact, shut up. ¡°What do you want Fer?¡± ¡°What I want is her death.¡± Kassandora sighed as Fer took a step to the side. Anassa moved with Fer. ¡°Everyone here knows I am correct. Unless you give me a proper reason, then¡­¡± Fer trailed off as her ears shot up and turned. Iniri and Kavaa slowly rose from behind the edge of the platform, carried by a massive branch that moved them up. Kassandora stared at the two. What did they think they were doing? Kavaa was a nice girl, but she was a healer. Kassandora treated her nicely because she was needed to be treated nicely. Iniri had been excellent in the battle, but neither of the two were part of the leadership. This wasn¡¯t some farce at diplomacy, this was Kassandora¡¯s army. If she wanted to see them, she would have called. ¡°I overheard the conversation.¡± Iniri said. Kassandora¡¯s eyes scanned the platform, then she stamped her foot on the wood. Good to know that the woman could listen even if sunflowers weren¡¯t about. Kassandora wouldn¡¯t have given information like that away. ¡°And I agree with Fer.¡± ¡°Iniri.¡± Kassandora said, then changed course immediately. Treating her in the way Allasaria had treated her would only result in morale breaking. A turn-cloak once, a turn-cloak forever. As long as the Pantheon existed, Iniri had a way out as a spy. ¡°Kavaa.¡± She made sure to include them both. ¡°This is a family discussion.¡± Kassandora made sure her tone was apologetic even though there was nothing to apologize for. ¡°I appreciate the sentiment, but¡­¡± She made the tone on purpose and crushed her pride. ¡°Well, you must understand all three of us are rather defensive about this.¡± Fer smiled and took another step. Anassa once again matched her, to stay in between of Beasthood and Of Magic. ¡°I think Iniri is welcome to join, she is a Divine too after all.¡± Fer said, her face all smiles. Kassandora looked to Kavaa, her eyes motioned to Anassa and Elassa, and the Goddess of War prayed that Kavaa would understand. Kavaa did in fact understand. ¡°I do not wish for needless death.¡± And Kassandora wished that Kavaa had never even opened her mouth. ¡°Death is death.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Elassa will stay alive because I wish for her to stay alive.¡± Kassandora sighed as Kavaa¡¯s tilted her head to the woman. ¡°You do understand I¡¯m arguing for you?¡± ¡°I do not need help in this argument.¡± Anassa said coldly. ¡°Kassandora, Kavaa¡­¡± Anassa grit her teeth. ¡°Thank you¡± She had to force those words out of herself, but Kassandora knew she meant it. ¡°For your support, but your help isn¡¯t needed.¡± ¡°Are you alright?¡± Kavaa asked and tapped her finger against the top of her grey-silver hair. ¡°In the head I mean.¡± Fer snorted in laughter. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Anassa said. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you didn¡¯t understand me.¡± Kavaa said. She stepped forwards and took a stance next to Kassandora, Iniri backed Fer. ¡°I did not ask for either of you two to defend me.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Well if you want me to list a hundred reasons I think Elassa should die, then I can!¡± Kavaa shouted at Anassa. Both Kassandora and Fer looked at her, crimson and golden eyes blinking shock. Kassandora a step in between Kavaa and Anassa, and Fer closed the distance between the Goddess of Health and herself. Anassa¡¯s expression said everything that needed to be known. The Goddess of Sorcery was a delicate violin you did not force. You could play it to sing a tune, but the strings were delicate, and they had a tendency to snap more often than not. ¡°Who are you to speak to me like that?¡± Anassa said. She rose into the air, Fer and Kassandora quickly shared a look. This wasn¡¯t common, but it wasn¡¯t unheard of either. Irinika had usually done it in the past, but sometimes, Anassa really did deserve a knock on the head to have some sense beaten into her. Kassandora got ready to draw her upon Joyeuse and don her armour. Once she did that, it would be over, someone would end up needing healing. And Kavaa stepped forwards, arms on her hips, bent down as if she was talking to a little girl. Frankly, there was something in Kassandora that was extremely satisfied by that. ¡°Am I even going to entertain that question?! You know exactly who I am, Ana.¡± She said. ¡°You do not kno-¡° Anassa said and Kavaa cut her off. Kassandora blinked in shock. ¡°Oh I know I¡¯m talking to.¡± She extended an arm to Elassa. ¡°A hundred rational reasons for why she should die Ana. A hundred, a thousand even! There is no way to argue for her survival. Even a moralist would have to admit she is so dangerous that it would be better to kill her and wait for an incarnation that wasn¡¯t tainted with Worldbreaking.¡± She made her tone light. ¡°But there is one reason, they should listen to you.¡± Kassandora still didn¡¯t see it. Did Fer? What was even Kavaa aiming at? She saw Kavaa¡¯s silver eyes land on her, then shine with pure disappointment, then settle on Fer. ¡°What?¡± Fer asked cautiously. ¡°Because Elassa is obviously important to Ana. And because you¡¯re family.¡± Kavaa said gently. And Anassa, even though she was being argued for, had her stupid little response ready. Kassandora wished she could just cut out that woman¡¯s tongue. ¡°That¡¯s two.¡± Anassa snapped. ¡°Did I ask for your input?¡± Kavaa barked. She didn¡¯t even turn her head to bite back at Anassa, her voice full of snark. Kassandora¡¯s pragmatic mind tried to find a method of reasoning. She simply did not see it. Anassa needed to be gently guided through everywhere, every time. She should be tricked for her own good, because she herself was terrible! But what Kassandora did not see, Fer must have. The Goddess of Beasthood chuckled for a few moments before speaking. ¡°Well, you heard her Ana.¡± ¡°I will not beg you.¡± ¡°And neither will I reason with you.¡± And Kavaa shouted at Anassa. She actually raised her voice and wagged her finger! ¡°STOP BEING A CHILD AND ASK! SHE¡¯S YOUR SISTER! I¡¯D SAY FOR DIVINE¡¯S SAKE BUT YOU¡¯RE THE DIVINE!¡± Anassa dropped back to the ground. She opened her mouth. She closed it. She opened it again. She got angry. She calmed down. She let out a sigh. She began with a wordless sound. She stopped herself. She sighed. Her arms dropped to her sides. ¡°Will you spare Elassa¡¯s life?¡± She didn¡¯t even have the decency to look at them, instead her stared at her fingers as they fiddled with one another. And she added the quietest ¡°Please¡± ever uttered on Arda, Kassandora would missed it if she wasn¡¯t a Divine. And Fer howled with laughter. The gap between them was closed, and Fer picked Anassa up in a hug. There would definitely be cracked ribs, but Kassandora, nor Fer, nor Kavaa, nor Iniri, nor Anassa herself cared at that point. Kassandora just stared at the display in awe. To subdue Anassa like that¡­ Amazing¡­ Chapter 192 – To Bear the Arms of An Ancient Age Fortia stared at the images coming through the screen. A table before her, but she hadn¡¯t paid attention to the strategic in at least an hour. It didn¡¯t matter. Elassa had unleashed Worldbreaking and¡­ And now that cloud was retreating. The satellite was catching it all, the burning orange clouds had changed colours into pale greys and whites, and Kirinyaan news was reporting heavy rains beginning and to prepare for flooding. She stared at that screen in disbelief. Even with Fer and Anassa and Kassandora there, once Elassa began¡­ How did someone just stop Elassa like that? It had to be that Elassa had won. It had to be. It simply had to be. There was no option that she would be defeated. Fortia would not accept it. Worldbreaking was not simply ¡®stopped¡¯ once it had begun. Elassa had just killed Kassandora, Anassa and Fer. All three of them, but how did one Divine defeated both Fer and Anassa¡­ that was the issue. Fer and Anassa were a duo that only Allasaria was powerful enough to take on. They matched each other with speed and fighting style. No matter how much Fortia tried to convince herself of it, she simply¡­ her mind would not accept it. There was something wrong. Maybe it was the fact they were fighting Kassandora and her trickery, maybe she was only growing paranoid. But¡­ But she had a tremendous anvil of dread and doubt weighing down her heart. One that rung every time her heart beat against it. And that ringing was the sound of the worst thing to have happened. A guardian rushed into the tent, out of his armour, he held his arms out and smashed into the table, knocking around maps and counters and strings and pencils and erasers. Fortia didn¡¯t even give him permission to speak, he began shouting immediately. ¡°OLYMPIADA! OLYMPIADA IS UNDER ATTACK!¡± Iliyal spun around a corner. Olonia by his side. The vanguard ahead, the quickly-shrinking rear-guard behind him. He rushed around a corner as the air got colder. It was obvious they were heading the right way, they must be. There was a slow incline of the corridor down, minecart tracks had been laid down here, most likely to funnel back the treasures of Arascus¡¯ Divine Armoury back to the surface. Olonia suddenly screamed and Iliyal turned to glance at the Goddess. A crossbow bolt had pierced the weakened part of the armour, where she had taken the heavy blow from Waramunt, and now she was a leaving a thin trail of red as they raced down. ¡°Can you regenerate?¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°What?¡± She shouted back and the elf rolled his eyes. Whatever, it didn¡¯t matter. When they survived, she could be trained. ¡°Leave it in then!¡± He shouted back, pulling it out would let the blood flow and if she couldn¡¯t regenerate, then she¡¯d merely drain herself of power. A roar of fire flames came from behind and Iliyal slowed down as winds rushed past him, then back again as the fires went out. He caught a glance. Mages in red and blue. Pyromancers and hydromancers. And minor Divines. Four more of them. Neither of them mattered. They had to get to the Armoury at this point. He turned his head back, ignored his own bleeding finger and kept on running. They ran past another bend, and another, all in the same direction, as if the corridor was a slow spiral downwards. Down and down, as the gunfire behind them started to fail and grow quiet, to be replaced by the sounds of flames and crunching of ice and heavy thuds of Divines in full armour. They had to be going the right way, they simply had to be, if they weren¡¯t, why were they being chased? Much better to not waste energy and lay siege to them in the tunnels of the fortress. And they turned again. Iliyal heard Stalker¡¯s voice. ¡°SIR! THERE¡¯S¡­¡± He trailed off as Iliyal turned the corner. Two dozen men had slowed down and were aiming their rifles, in black shirts and shorts, gleaming guns ready to fire with fingers hovering over triggers. Most of them had taken up positions to cover the rear, but five were looking through a hole that had been carved out in a dark wall. Blasted through may have been the better word, a perfectly round hole, the edges smooth and large enough for two Olonias to fit through even if they were standing on top of one another. Allasaria¡¯s work, Iliyal knew what sort of damage her beams of light made. ¡°THROUGH IT! GO GO GO!¡± Iliyal shouted as he upped his pace, now that the end was in sight, it only fuelled him, as if a second Legion had come to assist his during a battle. The men started to pick themselves back up, some let out a burst of gunshots as the defenders of Drayim Fortress, and the reinforcements, hurried onwards. Iliyal leapt off his feet, his undamaged hand trailing along the surface of that hole. Allasaria¡¯s work definitely, it was so smooth there was no friction there even though he was dragging his fingers around stone bricks interlined with ancient mortar. He landed in that hole, his boots lost their grip, and he slid the whole way, only picking up speed as the air changed from merely cold to almost freezing. ¡°GO!¡± He shouted, each word making a mist of air from his mouth. And Iliyal slid the entire way, he felt the sharp edge on the other side and dropped into a roll. His feet touched stone tiles, he tasted the air and saw lights appear as men turned their flashlights on. Stalker and Baker were sliding through, then Olonia, and the rest of the men. At the end of the corridor, the Paladins tasked with protecting this place came to a stop as they looked at the whole. The four different Divines all stopped. Only the mages rushed forwards, two of Iliyal¡¯s men were incinerated on the spot. Another was split by a stalagmite that rose from ground. A few shot back. Some of the Paladins dropped, the mages raised barriers, bullets simply bounced off the thick armour of the Divines. But that didn¡¯t matter now. Iliyal¡¯s ripped a flashlight out of a man¡¯s hand and used it to scan the room. There were podiums, statues should have been placed on those podiums, but not anymore. They were ancient defenders a long time ago, but he supposed that when the Pantheon had got here first, they cleared out a good amount of the traps. The ceiling arced high enough for a barn to fit in here, and the middle of the floor had a hole in it, one that looked as if it had been blown open. The walls were stone blocks, the ceiling was carved with inscriptions and symbols used by Arascus¡¯ various Divines. A sword was embedded deeply into the stone of a wall. A loose shield lay in the corner. It almost smelled like home. The air was cold and bitter, fresh wind had not travelled here for obviously a while, but¡­ Iliyal took a step and the roar of flame woke him up from his trance. It raced through that breach and. ¡°DIVE!¡± Iliyal shouted and everyone dived to the ground. Out of the hundred he had brought, twenty had made it here. The stream of fire raced overheads for a few seconds, then finally burned out. Two of the soldiers immediately took a position by the hole, rifles leaning on that smooth surface, and returned two bursts of gunfire. ¡°Out of ammo!¡± One of the men shouted. Someone threw a magazine from their vest. ¡°Last one! Don¡¯t waste it.¡± Iliyal stood up and got all the thoughts of returning to the Divine Armoury out of his head. This was no time to get sentimental, there was a job to do. This wasn¡¯t the main entrance, they had entered through the side. Which one though? One of the training rooms, the gap in the middle would have been one of Anassa¡¯s or Irinika¡¯s mines that had been activated. Maybe Olephia¡¯s, but then Iliyal assumed there wouldn¡¯t be a room left. He quickly moved his flashlight around and found the door on the other side. ¡°AROUND THE HOLE! GET TO IT! AROUND!¡± And so the men ran, Iliyal took the lead of the right side, Stalker took it on the left. Iliyal had a man by his side, then as the floor between the hole and the wall got thinner, the man slowed down to let Iliyal pass on first. And Iliyal did, he raced across that thin slither of floor which remained, he turned and saw the two men at the end still holding the breach, firing off a shot every now and then, conserving ammo. His own pistol had ran out, most of the men were on their final magazine at this point. He saw Olonia almost slip and fall into that ground hole, she¡¯d probably survive it, but from the smoothness of the edges, no one would pull her out. Iliyal turned to the door, it didn¡¯t matter, nothing of it mattered. They were here.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. He ran to that door and pushed it open. His eyes turned down one a long corridor, tall and wide enough for Fer and Arascus to walk straight-backed and side-by-side. There were no paintings on the walls, no swords hanging off gleaming hooks. Those were now rusted. The grand chandeliers that held up Anassa¡¯s lamps were missing, left behind only a single chain that had been cut near the rounded ceiling. No more of those glorious scarlet carpets, the same colour as Kassandora¡¯s eyes. But as Iliyal looked left and right, as the flashlight explored more of it, as Olonia and a dozen men caught up to him, he wanted to cry tears of joy. It was all old and dusty, but it was exactly the same place that he had. The map of it appeared in his head immediately, they were by one of the training rooms in the western part. He turned right. ¡°Follow me.¡± He said, setting off at a brisk jog. There wasn¡¯t any need to run now. He turned left at the first junction. A meeting of four corridors. Right was Fer¡¯s section, that would be empty or rotted, the Goddess of Beasthood kept little for treasure. Straight ahead would be the long corridor to Baalka¡¯s domain, left of that was Anassa¡¯s. They weren¡¯t going to visit either of them today. Left. To Arascus¡¯ section. Iliyal ran and ran until he came to a spot he knew, one where the corridor seemingly ended in a wall of darkness. Irinika and Anassa had built this one, the Divine Armoury was as much a testing grounds for new techniques as it was a safe haven for Arascus¡¯ followers back then. ¡°Shoes off!¡± Iliyal bent down and started unlacing his boots. He turned to his men, a few had responded immediately. Olonia and several others were simply looking at him in confusion. ¡°TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF!¡± He shouted and woke up them. ¡°SOCKS TOO! IT¡¯S BAREFOOT ONLY!¡± It was a simple trap. An endless hole, truly an endless one. Anassa had somehow joined two mirrors together, one in the ceiling and one on the floor. Once you started falling, you did not stop unless someone caught you. Iliyal had been thrown into it twice. He stood up, black boots with his socks stuffed inside and took an easy step into that nothingness. Darkness from all sides enveloped him, the only slivers of light came from the ends at each corridor. His feet touched a layer of black darkness, and he kept on moving. Kassandora had once told him to not worry about what the material was, that she didn¡¯t care herself. So neither would Iliyal, he raced down that corridor and jumped to the other side, then turned around to see his men still standing at the other side, in awe as to how he had just ran through nothing. ¡°RUN! RUN!¡± Iliyal¡¯s voice boomed an order. ¡°I WILL NOT WAIT FOR FOOLS AND COWARDS! IF I TELL YOU TO RUN OFF A CLIFF, I EXPECT YOU TO BE FALLING BY THE TIME I FINISH!¡± That got them moving. One man took a step, Olonia¡¯s blue eyes monitored him as he plunged a toe onto the darkness. His foot found resistance, he put his weight on it, the man took a heavy breath, closed his eyes, and stepped. And that unleashed the floodgates, the whole team of two dozen were suddenly running through the darkness as Iliyal finished lacing his boots. That was the only trap of this kind here, it could be avoided by taking another route, but the fact it had been activated in the first place meant the base had been scouted out. He assumed the Paladins would know the trick, if they didn¡¯t, they¡¯d have a few minutes of advantage over them. Olonia yelped at the end and jumped into the large stone corridor. It was empty here. Rusty hooks on walls, marble and slate tiles on the ground, some were cracked. Thick blocks made up the walls. This part had been looted too. Iliyal started to walk off as his men finished lacing up their boots. He turned left at the first bend, then immediately right. Ahead six skeletons lying on the ground. ¡°Do not go there.¡± He shone at the light at the small incline in the floor, a mere dip, it would be hard to notice if the edges of the stone blocks weren¡¯t there. ¡°Why not?¡± Olonia asked. She had caught up and shone her own torch at the skeletons. ¡°Heavier than air poison, don¡¯t touch it, it pierces skin.¡± He turned and walked off. Up in Drayim, it was a race to not get caught. Now though, it would be better to take things slow, he knew this place, but the men and Olonia did not. The men could be lost, but the death of a national Divine¡­ Well, Kassandora would expect better of him frankly. ¡°Turn around.¡± He stopped and shone the light on Olonia. She merely looked at him, blue eyes curious, then turned around. The crossbow bolt was still stuck in her back, it was red but the bleeding had stopped. ¡°You don¡¯t know if you regenerate or not?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°I think I do?¡± She said nervously. ¡°But¡­¡± She trailed off. ¡°To your standards, I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°You do.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Not as strongly as Fer does, but you regenerate, most nationals do.¡± She had to, otherwise she would still be bleeding by now. ¡°Hands on the wall.¡± Olonia did as instructed. Iliyal grabbed the bolt and pulled it out in one smooth movement. He had never been a fan of countdowns, Olonia¡¯s scream as the bolt pulled and tore strands of muscle. The blood started to flow again, but Iliyal saw her skin start to regrow. She was fast too, faster than he had expected. ¡°You¡¯re loud, grit your teeth next time.¡± Iliyal said, it was his mistake, he wouldn¡¯t beat her over the head with it. Most likely the Paladins would have heard her, the Divines definitely did, but he should have known she would scream. ¡°I¡­¡± She swayed from side to side as the wound closed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be, you can¡¯t un-scream.¡± Iliyal said and turned. ¡°Just don¡¯t do it next time.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Olonia said as Iliyal set off, frankly, he didn¡¯t know what she was thanking him for. He merely whipped his hand through the air to get her blood off. This corridor led to the prison and Arascus¡¯ section. If the corridor had been looted, so would the God of Pride¡¯s private quarters, and they weren¡¯t for keeping anyone in. He took a breath, gripped his sheathed sword, and took careful steps forwards. And it was for nothing. There should be defenders, ancient moving statues infused with souls by Neneria, but they were missing. The only trace of their existence were the mists of breath. Iliyal walked down the corridor, turned around and saw a flash of light in the distance. A paladin torch, they were faster than he had expected. ¡°I don¡¯t like this place.¡± Olonia said quietly, her eyes downcast and looking down at the feet as if she was afraid to explore it with her vision. ¡°This place is the safest place on Arda when I¡¯m here.¡± Iliyal commented a few of the men chuckled. ¡°Ooh-rah to that.¡± Baker said in his gruff voice from behind. Iliyal merely smiled as he reached the door at the end. It slid open without any resistance. Dwarves knew how to make hinges. He took a breath and held it open, then let the men travel through. A lone Paladin appeared at the end of the corridor, out of breath and almost falling over. ¡°THEY¡¯RE HE-¡° A bullet to the head from one of the silenced him. The man who shot pressed the trigger again. It merely clicked. ¡°I¡¯m out.¡± ¡°Just get inside.¡± Iliyal counted the men as they walked past him. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty one. Twenty one and Olonia. He himself made twenty two. He let the door swing shut as his torches traversed the various cages and cell doors. There had been great beasts kept here too. Hydras and snakes and basilisks for testing purposes. Not anymore, he supposed. He heard footsteps from behind the door, the heavy thuds of Divines in their armour. But Iliyal did not care. From inside, there was movement. A pale hand, a moving black image of a blade embedded in the skin, waved from within. ¡°Who is it?¡± A pleasant voice, haughty and mighty, but pleasant none the less. Although from the expressions on the troops, maybe it was only pleasant to Iliyal. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Iliyal said, his voice echoed throughout the cells. The door slammed. It would only open to those allowed, but after a thousand years, Iliyal wasn¡¯t willing to test if Anassa¡¯s enchantments still held their strength. The hand retreated and stopped waving. ¡°Tremali?¡± The woman from within asked. A man¡¯s voice sounded from the cell next to hers. ¡°It¡¯s him, I¡¯d remember him.¡± Iliyal remembered him too. ¡°Long time.¡± Another woman, high-pitched this time. ¡°So?¡± The first cell asked as Iliyal walked past the cages. ¡°We¡¯re back?¡± Upon hearing those words, another two of the cells burst out in laughter. The whole prison started to shriek in joyous mirth as faces appeared at the cell doors. Iliyal stopped in the middle. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen.¡± Iliyal shouted as he scanned those faces. Nostalgia. It was a delicious cake dripping with nostalgia. The door pounded again. More Divines trying to break through. They should have brought Allasaria. They should have brought Maisara. Or Fortia. Or anyone frankly. But petty fortress Divines? Inventions? A few mages? That cake was being served with a side of victory. ¡°We are indeed, ever so back.¡± He had planned to use explosives as first to bust one of the cells at first, then use that to break the others. But then, plans were worthless, plans changed as soon as operations began. He bowed to his men and to Olonia, both arms extended to one of the doors. ¡°Olonia, the honours are yours.¡± To think the Pantheon had locked them all away in one spot. With only twenty two mortals¡­ They had more than enough for one each. Chapter 193 – Poof. And Gone. The words ¡®defeat¡¯ and ¡®victory¡¯ have lost meaning. Or maybe they never had them in the first place. What is defeat? Just loss? A war can be won without any victorious battles, an opponent can be defeated through pure attrition and nothing else. It is better to compare defeats to ceasefires in our current day, ceasefires with slight territorial changes and monetary obligations attached to them, but ceasefires still. The two are in an endless cycle. Victory and defeat are parts of the same snake. Its jaw victorious as it devours its own defeated tail. And yet, that tail is ever growing. A nation can be defeated, its spirit can be crushed, yet this is a mere set-back, a ceasefire. Populations grow and change, defeats become memories, memories are either mythologized or forgotten. And new generations repeat the cycle. Defeat needs to be reframed. I am not leading wars for only temporary gains. I will not accept these ceasefires anymore. Defeat cannot be a temporary measure anymore. Defeat has to become permanent. When I claim victory, there will be no defeats left remember. And victory? Victory is the same thing as defeat. Victory is annihilation. - Excerpts from ¡°Philosophy of War¡±, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War. Olonia stood and watched Iliyal as he inspected the first door of the cell. The ancient weapon Divines were within those cells. She knew of them, but she didn¡¯t know them. There wasn¡¯t a library in Lubska which had any major detail on them, only records of which battles they participated in during the Great War, and before that... There was nothing. She didn¡¯t know their ages, she didn¡¯t know their original incarnation locations, for half of them, she didn¡¯t even know their names. But Iliyal did, Iliyal very obviously did. He had a bright smile as he waved for Olonia to come over. She did, each step uneasy and wary. Why was she even afraid? She honestly did not know, but the chills running down her back, the sudden heaviness in her legs, the way she had to push herself through the air as if she was trying to traverse thick jelly. Nothing sat right with her. Not since she had come here, the fight still on the ground, when they breached into Drayim fortress proper was nothing like she had imagined. The organized Paladins simply dropping from guns, Iliyal¡¯s sharp and fast commands, the constant movements. She had imagined heroic duels, the testing of wills and skill and all the things myths had told about. And what she got was people dropping dead. Just like that, poof, and gone. And then the duel with Waramunt had told her everything she needed to know about herself. She had duelled with Saksma and Paida and the other Epan mascot Divines, but that was it. They were mere honourable duels, put on for shows. And then Waramunt had come in. She had been stronger than him, she knew she was, his blows were fast, but that was all they were. And yet he had still crushed her. It wasn¡¯t a duel, it was an adult slapping a child about. She couldn¡¯t even get a single on the God. He had utterly destroyed her will. And yet Iliyal had still won. Not a single shred of Waramunt¡¯s death lay at her feet, it was all Iliyal. He had put the bullet into the man¡¯s shoulder, he had set up the plan. There had been no honour in that duel, Waramunt did not take her seriously, nor did Iliyal. She thought about it now, and the elf¡¯s plan made sense. He didn¡¯t expect her to win in the first place, he knew she would lose, she was merely there to give him an opening. And then he took the opening and it was over. Just like that, poof, and a God was gone. And something within Olonia also went poof. She had not changed for some seven hundred years. She had merely been the mascot of a nation, a dutiful guardian that saved during disasters and stayed out of the country¡¯s meandering politics. Allasaria had said it was for her own good, that she didn¡¯t deserve to be part of that sphere. Allasaria had said she was a new being of a new age, that the wounds of the past should not dirty her. Allasaria had said Olonia should not even try to understand, because the simple act of understanding it was a curse. And Allasaria had been right. Olonia understood it now, and something with her shattered. A part of her heart had gone poof, and it was gone. Arascus had come back, and she had met Anassa and Neneria. Two Divines that weren¡¯t mascots. That didn¡¯t even pretend to be mascots. That stood up for themselves and each other. Two Divines that acted like¡­ that acted like Divines. There was the White Pantheon of course, but that was the White Pantheon, they guided the world and maintained Arda¡¯s eternal peace. They were a mountain Olonia had never dreamed of reaching, she wasn¡¯t capable enough, she wasn¡¯t strong enough, she simply wasn¡¯t enough. What was only a mere nation before the Goddess of Light? Of Order? Of Peace? And Iliyal had called her stronger than Waramunt. Poof. Something else had gone with those words. He had called her a useless bitch. Something went poof then too, but something had come in to replace that growing hole. Her heart had shattered into tiny little pieces. The lovely and tender pieces of muscles galvanized themselves into hard steel. They melded themselves into a blade. She took a step through the heavy air and shone her torch into the cell. There was a Divine there, standing bare and dirty, a prisoner for how long? A millennia? Since the Great War at least. Between her bosom was a black picture of a sword, and that sword moved. It slid around skin like a snake, trailing down her leg with each breath and sliding back up to her neck. And Olonia looked at that woman. As tall as her, smiling, arms loose at her sides. Hair a beautiful bronze, eyes gleaming like silver, skin almost glowing like polished steel. How long did she stand here? And how could she stand like that? So confident of herself? Those eyes shone with nothing but pure delight. Poof, and another part of Olonia was gone. Iliyal extended his arm and pointed at a section of the bars. ¡°Here, this is the weak point.¡± Olonia¡¯s eyes scanned the steel, she didn¡¯t know how the elf saw it. But she gripped her blade, her scale-mail rustled, and she smashed it into that bar. And the bar went. Her sabre went through it as easily as butter. The Goddess inside the cell whistled. ¡°You are strong indeed.¡± Olonia merely stared looked up from the steel bars as the cell¡¯s door started to fall open under its own weight. She was strong? What was the woman even talking about? She was the Goddess of an entire nation who couldn¡¯t stand against the spirit of a puny little fortress. A God so pathetic a mortal had killed him. Olonia had no reply, so she said nothing. Iliyal seemed to notice the lull and spoke up. ¡°Olonia, this is Aslana, of the Sword.¡± He turned to Olonia. ¡°Aslana, this is Olonia, Goddess of Lubska.¡± He continued. ¡°That¡¯s the country we¡¯re in now.¡± Aslana smiled as she stretched and yawned, arms above her head, bosom moving with her. Olonia stared at her in awe, even when she was stood in a prison cell and naked, the Goddess simply radiated the air of Divinity. That surety in oneself, that confidence that whatever happened, you were still correct. Poof, and something else went. ¡°Maps have changed?¡± Aslana asked in a deep and cold voice, almost business like. And Olonia stared in awe, the woman had just been released and now? Straight down to business? She didn¡¯t know a single Divine who would be capable of that, even industrious Saksma needed to take breaks every now and then. Poof, this time, it was a shard of her pride. How could she proud when a being like this existed? ¡°Maps have changed.¡± Iliyal said in a light tone. Olonia noticed it, he didn¡¯t speak to her like that. ¡°Time is tight.¡± A bang on the door and the creaking of hinges reminded Olonia they were still being chased. ¡°So explanations will come later.¡± Aslana rolled her eyes, but she wore a pleasant little smile as she spoke to Iliyal. ¡°You¡¯ve not changed a bit.¡± ¡°I tried not to.¡± He said and held out his hand. ¡°So, like back then?¡± ¡°Like back then.¡± Aslana said. Gentle Divine fingers touched Iliyal¡¯s rough hand, she didn¡¯t even question the lack of a finger on his hand, now wrapped with bandages. The moment the woman touched his skin, she started to shine, her body started to flow as if Iliyal was dragging her into himself. Her feet disappeared first, her calves, her thighs, her other hand started to slide as her tattoo moved onto Iliyal¡¯s body and pulled Aslana with it. Her head twisted and turned, sucked into Iliyal. Aslana was smiling the whole time.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Olonia took a step back as she felt the sheer power radiating off Iliyal. The tattoo slithered into his palm and rose out of his body. It took the shape of a sword, gleaming with silver. And Aslana appeared behind Iliyal, hovering in the air, arms wrapped around him. She slid her arm down his, their bodies overlapped into each other, and the woman dragged a second blade out of the first one. Iliyal did not seem to care, he merely smiled and gave the sword a few swings, it cut through the air with a sound, then he swung it at the bars. They may as well have not been there, the blade simply travelled through them, cutting through almost soundlessly, the sound only came when the bars lost balance and clattered on the dark stone tiles. ¡°You¡¯re as sharp as ever.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I¡¯m offended you even considered I would grow dull.¡± Aslana¡¯s ghost said from behind him, she was almost opaque, Olonia could just about make out shapes when she looked through her. The other men stared in just as much awe as the Goddess of Lubska. Iliyal took a step towards the next cell. ¡°Labrys, of the Axe.¡± He swung Aslana and the Goddess moved with him. A pair of blades of appeared with his swift swing, they disappeared for a moment. And then re-appeared. And the cell bars fell apart into different pieces. ¡°Took your time, didn¡¯t you Iliyal?¡± Labrys said as she stepped out. Shorter than Aslana, but with a warmer face and a bosom to make Agrita jealous, with a head of vicious gold hair, the ends turning to bronze. ¡°No time to talk, save it for later.¡± Olonia blinked as she looked at the elf all but ignore the woman. He stepped to the next cell. The one were the male voice came from. ¡°Pridwen, of the Shield.¡± Iliyal said, Aslana did not even move turn a single muscle as she moved, it was as if she was a part of Iliyal. Labrys inspected the men. Olonia saw bronze eyes settle on her, Labrys smiled and waved, then jumped when she heard the battering on the door. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me we were under attack!¡± Labrys shouted. ¡°Shut up Labrys.¡± Aslana said. ¡°Of course we¡¯re under attack.¡± ¡°You¡¯re being broken out.¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°I¡¯d prefer you find one of my soldiers to wield you so that we all make it out.¡± He cut the cell door to Pridwen open. This was a man¡¯s voice. Huge and thick, with shoulders so wide Olonia could sit on one of them. With long hair and a tired face, but it was sharp. Nude, like all of them. ¡°Arascus did not come?¡± Pridwen asked. ¡°There¡¯s a war up above.¡± Iliyal answered and there were cheers from every cell. Even Aslana smiled to herself. Labrys stepped to Olonia and looked her up and down. ¡°You¡¯re not a fighter.¡± She said immediately. Then leaned to inspect Olonia¡¯s sabre. The woman, naked as she was, had the audacity to do a double take, looking at Olonia, at the blade, at Olonia, at the blade again. ¡°Why are you using a cavalry sabre without a horse?¡± ¡°LABRYS!¡± Iliyal shouted. ¡°Pick someone!¡± ¡°First come, first serve.¡± Pridwen already found a man, the one Iliyal had called Baker. They were both huge, but the mortal obviously did not compare to the god. ¡°What is your name?¡± He asked. ¡°Baker.¡± The God cracked a smile. ¡°Just that?¡± ¡°Just that.¡± The man replied, confident resolution in his voice. ¡°Very well Baker, wield me.¡± The God extended his hand. Baker grabbed it as Labrys shook her head and walked through the crowd. The men all pretended as if they weren¡¯t looking exactly where they were looking. And just as Aslana had been dragged into Iliyal, Pridwen was dragged into Baker. The God had a shield tattoo on his back, it travelled down Baker¡¯s arm, then popped from his body. Pridwen¡¯s ghost rose out of Baker and grabbed his own copy with the shield as the man waved it around. ¡°You¡¯re quite light.¡± Baker said in an impressed voice. ¡°Are you complaining?¡± Pridwen said. ¡°Commenting.¡± Baker replied. He looked to Iliyal. ¡°So what now?¡± ¡°They¡¯ll guide you, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Baker chuckled with disbelief as he stared at the shield on his arm and swung it around. ¡°Not much help that.¡± He said. ¡°I can¡¯t teach you melee combat in a minute.¡± Iliyal shouted. Five more Divines were free. A woman with a spear running down her entire body, from her foot and ending at her neck. A man with a bow painted on his chest, one arm slightly longer than the other. Another man with a crossbow. A woman with a halberd. The entire armoury. Labrys found a man she liked, she stopped before him, hands behind her back, and leaning forwards as to put her face close to his. ¡°Your name?¡± ¡°Stalker.¡± The man skinny man said and Labrys raised an unimpressed eyebrow. ¡°Stalker?¡± She said dryly. ¡°I didn¡¯t choose it.¡± The man matched the flatness of her tone with his own and Labrys smiled a smile that promised a thousand and one different things. ¡°Well Stalker, can I stalk with you?¡± She asked rather politely. He smiled and held out his hand. She took it, the double-headed axe tattoo travelled down her arm and onto his, and the Goddess¡¯ body was dragged with it. She appeared as a ghost behind him. Olonia merely stared. Every human had been armed and there was still Divines left. She walked past the ghosts and to Iliyal, who was watching the door. The Divines outside were still banging on it, the hinges were starting to creak. ¡°Do I not wield one?¡± She asked the elf. ¡°You¡¯re a Divine.¡± Iliyal said, he didn¡¯t even look at her, instead planting the tip of Aslana into the ground, it slid into the stone as if it was butter. ¡°When we get out, you can try but I wouldn¡¯t do it here.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Olonia said, Iliyal finally turned to look at her, he must have realised she was satisfied with that answer. ¡°Divines weren¡¯t meant to wield Divines. It¡¯s not as gentle as when a mortal wields them. Trust me on this.¡± He said. Olonia didn¡¯t know why she believed the elf, but she did. He looked at the door, then down at the blade in his hand. ¡°That¡¯s Anassa¡¯s door.¡± He said. ¡°And who is trying get in?¡± Aslana¡¯s ghost replied from behind him. ¡°I don¡¯t know, minor Divines.¡± The Goddess of the Sword¡¯s chuckle sent a chill down Olonia¡¯s back. ¡°I never considered you the patient type.¡± Aslana said gently. ¡°I¡¯m the most patient man on Arda.¡± Iliyal said as he stepped to side. Olonia moved to stay next to Iliyal. ¡°But today, I suppose my patience has just about ran out.¡± He turned to his men. ¡°WHO HAS BESSY!?¡± He shouted. A man stepped forwards, an old musket in his hands. A Goddess behind him, tall and thin. She held her own copy of the rifle, her hair was brown like the wood of the gun, her eyes silver like its cold steel. ¡°I do!¡± The man shouted. ¡°It¡¯s Bess.¡± The ghost said from behind him in a stern tone, she clicked her tongue, it sounded like the flick of a switch. ¡°Juniors get nicknames.¡± Labrys said cheekily from the side and Bess scowled at the woman by her side. ¡°Save us some time.¡± Iliyal nodded to the door. ¡°Blow it open.¡± The man blinked, then stared at the rifle, he lifted it and pulled the trigger. It did nothing and Bess side from above, her ghost moved, she flicked a little handle on the side of the gun. ¡°That¡¯s how you handle me. I won¡¯t show you again.¡± ¡°She¡¯s moody, you have to be gentle with muskets.¡± Iliyal said with a grin. The elf looked like a new man, he stared at the ghosts, his eyes practically burning with excitement. ¡°I am NOT!¡± Bess shouted. And the man pulled the trigger. Bess immediately snapped to attention. The man fired a cloud of smoke. The ghost did. A musket that had appeared in the air by his side joined in. And another. A third. The muskets all appeared instantly, they made ranks upon ranks, all clean, all unleashed a cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared after a few seconds, and Olonia turned her eyes to the door. Although there was no door, there was no wall either. It had all been blown open, a Divine in silver armour was lying on the ground, his chest missing. Another had been blown backwards across the entire corridor. A third Divine was missing an arm. A dozen Paladins lay dead. A mage too. They stared in horror at Iliyal¡¯s new weaponry. And the elf wasted no time, he ran forwards and swung Aslana. The ghost swung with him. Two men fell and a dozen swords rose suddenly materialized around Aslana. They raced forwards, slicing as if wielded by blade masters, sliding along parry and finding holes and weaknesses in armour. A mage mounted a counterattack, Baker slammed his shield down as Iliyal rolled to avoid the attack. Aslana¡¯s ghosts merely started to laugh as the fire ploughed through hair, it burst on Pridwen, the flames tried to escape, and the shield swallowed them. Baker lifted the shield back up and stared at it in awe. Pridwen chuckled from behind him. Stalker launched himself forwards with Labrys in his hand and her ghost behind him. Aslana¡¯s sword aimed for the heart and throat, they beheaded and killed quickly and efficiently. And Labrys did nothing of that. Axes slammed into Paladin¡¯s sides, flinging them against the walls and crushing bodies. They tore through shield as if they were felling trees, they severed leg and arm from torso and they left moaning bodies on the ground. And Iliyal reached the end of the corridor. How many had just been killed? How quickly? He turned. Olonia saw madness spiral across his face, his eyes started to burn, it was the first time she had seen him smiling. A God appeared from the side of the door. Aslana the ghost parried the blow, Aslana the blade cut into his chest. The Divine coughed up blood, Iliyal twisted the sword, cut upwards. He turned on his feet, twisted his core. Olonia had never thought she would ever see the day a mortal flung a God over himself, but she did. Iliyal pulled his blade out and slammed it back down, straight into the Divine¡¯s heart. Olonia stared at the dead. Poof, and gone. Was it them that went poof? Or was it her? She did not know. Chapter 194 – Peace, Unachieved Iliyal took the long and slow route through the depths of the Divine Armoury, past Arascus¡¯ section. They were inspecting the rooms as they went, there was nothing here. With Aslana in his hand, a major Divine would have to be brought in, but all the major Divines were still in Arika. Olonia stalked by his side, his men followed. The Paladins who had chased them down here were dead, the minor Divines and the mages too. His eyes noticed something. He circled his flashlight along the walls again. Next to the door leading into the God of Pride¡¯s. He blinked. Impossible. She had been here? Olonia stopped and flashed her own light. ¡°Are you looking at the runes?¡± She asked gently. Iliyal stared at the writing on the wall. Runes? Well, they would runes to her. ¡°Just curious.¡± He said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t here last time.¡± That much was true, these had been carved into the wall by magic. ¡°Lubska¡¯s national library has a collection of them that we¡¯ve found. No one has been able to translate them though.¡± Olonia said quietly. Of course they wouldn¡¯t. The only people privy to this text were Kassandora¡¯s Legions and the leading Divines of Arascus. Not even the Weapon Divines were taught it, Malam and Kassandora had made it together, out of paranoia caused by Leona. ¡°Can you read it?¡± She asked innocently. ¡°I can do a lot.¡± Iliyal lied through his teeth. ¡°But not this, we came across it in the past. I¡¯m just questioning why it¡¯s here.¡± That was perfect. Olonia made some wordless sound of agreement as she bought the fib. Iliyal could read it perfectly. ¡®I have escaped to the Dwarven Underkingdoms. Malam is with me.¡¯ And there, at the bottom, it was signed. ¡®Irinika.¡¯ Fortia stood in her command tent, tables covered with maps and counters, radios and screens all fixed onto some skeletal structure of steel pipes built to support them. She felt her legs start to quiver and shake as if the whole world was about to collapse. She stared at that screen and she looked at the man who had just rushed in. Olympiada attacked? How? When? Olympiada had tens of thousands of warriors on it, thousands of deities, with mages to match. It was so huge that a single army wouldn¡¯t be even be enough to siege it. Kassandora¡¯s Great War Legions could do it, but they numbered into the hundred-thousands. She wouldn¡¯t have allowed a force that large to sneak through. Maisara wouldn¡¯t. Even Elassa would have kept track. And the ships needed to move such a force? Kassandora¡¯s airforce wasn¡¯t large enough to transport troops like that, and it was still in Kirinyaa. Her own estimates said she only had about twenty planes at her disposal, even doubled, it wouldn¡¯t be enough. Even tripled. And Olympiada was attacked? HOW!? She sighed. Setbacks do happen in war, that¡¯s one thing Kassandora always said. Anyone who would be defeated by a single setback was not fit to stand on the battlefield. Fucking Kassandora herself had just spend a thousand years in prison and look at her now! Fortia sighed and let things settle. Olympiada attacked. That could be recovered from. Frankly, how bad could the damage be? A few burnt buildings? Oh. That made sense. It must have been a bombing run. Fortia smiled as her eyes went to the screen. Elassa¡¯s Worldbreaking had been stopped. At first, she had been panicking but the attack on Olympiada had brought her down back into reality. There was no chance, absolutely zero, no chance at all, that Elassa had been stopped after she started Worldbreaking. With Fer, with Anassa, even if Arascus and Irinika were there themselves, they wouldn¡¯t have the power to stop it. A bombing run as one last attempt to do some damage before Kassandora died. That made sense. That was exactly like Kass too. Fortia leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. And another Guardian, in a brown shirt and shorts, ran into the room. Iliyal entered the room that had the breach into the Divine Armoury. The entire place had been looted for a while now. But he wasn¡¯t coming back empty-handed. Aslana was in his hand. Stalker held Labrys, the Goddess of the Axe stared ahead with hungry eyes. Baker was on the other side, with Pridwen in his arm, holding up the God of Shields. He was bringing these back, but more than that. Irinika and Malam were located. All eight daughters had been found. He kicked the door open. Could this day get any better? He lifted Aslana as Stalker raced forwards. The man holding Bess took a knee and aimed the musket, several other muskets materialized in the air around him. There were a dozen Paladins around the breach. The man pulled Bess¡¯ trigger and all the muskets fired. There had been a dozen Paladins.Stolen story; please report. ¡°DRAYIM FORTRESS HAS FALLEN!¡± The man shouted, then drew a salute, then dismissed himself. Fortia blinked as her sudden courage crumbled away. It cracked like a dam and dread flooded her once again. The man wouldn¡¯t know what lay under Drayim, but she did. She and Maisara and Allasaria had all ventured into that ancient underground fortress that lay under Drayim. Worldbreaking. Olympiada. Drayim. One was a disaster, two was the final spasm of Kassandora¡¯s rage. Three though? Three was far too organized. ¡°It¡¯s fallen?¡± Fortia said. ¡°Drayim has fallen? Not been attacked, not under siege? You¡¯re saying Drayim is fallen?¡± The man nodded slowly and swallowed. ¡°Reports are still coming in but¡­¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°God Waramunt is confirmed to be dead. Goddess Olonia is part of the attack. The report said that they breached inside and that no one has come out yet.¡± Fortia grabbed the back of her chair to balance. Olonia was in on it? How? If it was Olonia, then that meant Lubska had just effectively declared war on the Pantheon. A war in Epa would be the end of the Pantheon. A defeat in Kirinyaa could be salvaged, they could retreat, Kirinyaa could be put back under sanctions, they would drain the nation as had been the first plan before the invasion. At the end of the day, the most powerful army was the world economy, and the White Pantheon still ran that. But Epa did not even have to win its war. Simply moving White Pantheon troops against the Epans would be enough to destroy any legitimacy the White Pantheon had. That was all it had now frankly, since it¡¯s image of invincibility had been all but wiped away with this humiliation in Kirinyaa. ¡°Are there survivors?¡± Fortia asked. The man shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The report came from reinforcements from nearby Paladin strongholds.¡± Fortia sighed. So none. Maisara would not be happy that her Epan Headquarters had been attacked, the entire western flank would have to be called into a retreat before she went into a rage and ordered a full offensive onto the coastal cities. Neneria stood in the main hall of Allasaria¡¯s palace. Huge marble pillars to either side, Allasaria¡¯s own White-Gold banners hanging next to the Pantheon ones of the same colours but different designs, and the dead around her feet. There was the beating of footsteps, boots on stone tiles from the elves, and the flicking and rustling of paper. Pick up would be coming soon but while they were here, they may as well make themselves useful. Allasaria always considered herself a little author. It was time to find out exactly what secrets she was silly enough to share with loose-lipped books. Fortia knew it would come. The little wave of hope had been utterly crushed when she heard about the assault on Drayim. Now the Sun was rising, reports were coming in. From Olympiada and from Drayim. And from Kassandora¡¯s main base. And not a single one of those reports said anything good. Olympiada: bombed. The chaos of the bombing had only been a smokescreen to drop Neneria onto the mountain. So Fortia knew what Olympiada would look like. It was large enough that a few survivors may still be there but¡­ she shook her head. It would only be a few, if any. The White Pantheon would need to recover and repopulate Olympiada after that. The Dead Legion would grow, Neneria would most swallow the souls of at least a few Divines. Fortia did not know why the thought hadn¡¯t even passed her mind. Olympiada was only a few hours from Arcadia, the land of mages. Olympiada was the home of the White Pantheon. Olympiada had a thousand deities and countless Orders situated on it. Who on this precious world, who in their right mind, would ever even have the idea of attacking Olympiada? Fortia could just see Kassandora looming over her. A terrible dark spectre always ten steps ahead. It was a testament to the woman¡¯s skill that she made a war against Leona last a century. Drayim: devasted. The fortress set alight on the way out, the reinforcements that had been sent over had been slaughtered. They didn¡¯t even put up a fight. They wouldn¡¯t put up a fight. Fortia didn¡¯t even need confirmation that the Weapon Incarnations had been freed, she all but had it already in her report: Iliyal Tremali was spotted leading the assault. Fortia had no damn clue why this thought hadn¡¯t passed her mind either. Drayim Fortress was unassailable or so Maisara said, the Divine Armoury had been written out of history, it should have been impossible to find. What references to it even existed apart from passing comments about how it was Arascus¡¯ store-room once? Fortia could just see Kassandora looming over her. That elf by her side. He was old enough to remember, if he had gotten inside, then there wasn¡¯t the slightest shred of hope that it was just a random attack. If he had gotten inside, then the Weapon Incarnations were free. The loss of the reinforcements confirmed that too. And now Fortia stared at the image that had just come through. They had sent a pack of drones. Kassandora didn¡¯t even bother shooting them down, nor did Anassa. And she stared at the image that one of them sent. Kassandora¡¯s base flowering with green leaves, the great ravines left by world-breaking filled in by the roots of Iniri¡¯s trees. Ash all around the base, and Fer staring up at the drone. The Goddess of Beasthood was smiling as if she was looking at Fortia herself, that smile knowing and taunting. So Elassa had been lost. This thought had at least crossed her mind, she could admit that. But it had come too late, the warnings weren¡¯t enough. She should have rang earlier. But somehow, she had been stopped. So it was over. Forty thousand mages and the Goddess of Magic, gone. Gone just like that, whatever advantage Fortia¡¯s army thanks to the magicians had disappeared last night. And without magicians, the technological gap could not be simply ignored. It was too great at this point, new reinforcements from Arcadia would reduce to a mere trickle without a veteran mage, and Elassa had been the only veteran mage left. Now, it had truly become a place for theorists and book-keepers and little else. ¡°Bring me a piece of paper.¡± Fortia said out loud, to no one in particular. Someone had to call the shots here, Allasaria was still missing, it wouldn¡¯t be her. And if it wasn¡¯t going to be Allasaria, then who? Fortia was leading this war, so it should be her. Someone had to call the shots. Someone had to be responsible. Losses had to be cut eventually otherwise they would keep piling and piling up until nothing remained of the White Pantheon. Better to sacrifice the wounded arm than to let disease spread into the rest of the body. She stared at the paper as someone gave her a pen. It was over. It had be written down. It would be a humiliation, but a humiliation was better than total annihilation. She put pen to paper. It was one of the hardest letters she had ever written. And one of the shortest. I am ordering a full-retreat. We have lost. - - - End of Arc 6: The First Kirinyaan War - - - Chapter 195 – A Game of Words Five kingdoms down. Two more to go. Then the lands South of the UNN. They were brimming with Gods. Allasaria flew across the ocean as she rallied her new coalition. Break Pantheon Peace? What was Arascus thinking? Pantheon Peace existed to safeguard the world from Divine War. If humans could not be relied on to keep Peace and Order on Arda, then Allasaria would not rely on humans. And if Arascus wanted another repeat of the Great War, he would have it. ¡°No Kassie.¡± Fer said. ¡°What you¡¯re saying is perfectly reasonable, but I still want to wait.¡± Kassandora maintained her straight-backed posture as in one of the trees of CR. Freshly grown, the wood still cracked when a heavy gust of wind came about. Iniri had grown it after she finished filling in the ravines. No time had been wasted, already supplies were being sent out to the three fronts even though last night the world had been about to break. But then Kassandora was here, and War¡¯s Orchestra was not one to wait for permission on when to play. But that was yesterday, and today, they had to deal with Elassa. Killing her would have been easier but Fer had agreed because Anassa had simply asked her. Now that the heat of the moment had gone, Kassandora silently cursed her own curiosity. If there was one thing she hated about moralists, it was that they never considered the logistics of keeping prisoners contained and alive. So Elassa was in the room too. As was Anassa. As were Kavaa and Iniri. Those last two had done too much last night for Kassandora to only claim this was a family meeting and that they shouldn¡¯t be included, so she didn¡¯t even bother keeping them away. Kavaa sat in her silver armour and green underclothes, both charred by yesterday¡¯s hurricane of flame. Anassa sat straight, looking at nowhere in particular. She had been avoiding Kavaa¡¯s gaze for a while now. Fer would have noticed it too, as did Kassandora. ¡°I¡¯m against it.¡± Kavaa said. Kassandora gave no reaction as she sat at the head of the table. Elassa was between Fer and Anassa. It was the only thing that made sense on short notice. A Divine had to be contained by fellow Divines, and Fer at arm¡¯s length was more than enough for most Divines, maybe it wouldn¡¯t work on Arascus, but Elassa had never been physically strong. The Goddess of Magic merely stared at the table like a little girl who had just been told off, her eyes dull. Was she even breathing? ¡°It¡¯s the best course of action.¡± Kassandora said coldly. ¡°I agree with you.¡± Fer said. ¡°It is the best course of action.¡± She was lying across the table, arms stretched out and ears twitching as she fiddled with her fingers. ¡°But we don¡¯t need the best course right now, Dad said it, good enough is good enough.¡± Kassandora sighed. That was true too. Zalewski now had the Kirinyaan Armoured Corps, he wouldn¡¯t need extra support when he fielded moving shields and heavy armour. But Kassandora did not want to send Fer off because she was worried for Zalewski, she wanted Fer to be away so that no one would overhear the conversation she wanted to hold with Elassa. Iniri would have to be removed too. As did Anassa, but Kavaa could stay. Frankly, when Elassa¡¯s staff was a mere pile of wooden kindling, Kassandora was sure she could take her on alone. ¡°I don¡¯t even think it¡¯s the best course of action.¡± Kavaa said from the other side of the table. ¡°What they save now will return to us in the future.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Every man we get rid of whilst Fortia is still reeling from Elassa¡¯s defeat will be one less man to come back at us.¡± ¡°And how many will come back?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°How do you even know they¡¯ll come back at us?¡± Kavaa spread her arms out over the table, Fer¡¯s ears twitched and she looked at Elassa. The Goddess of Magic, in her blue robe, sniffled. ¡°She¡¯ll call a general retreat. Without Elassa, what hope does she have? Now we have Olephia and Anassa and Neneria, all practically untouchable.¡± That was the worst scenario possible. The moment the invasion ended was the moment Kassandora would be dragged back into the domestic politics of Kirinyaa. As things went right now, her and Arascus could go and demand practically anything from President Ruku and he¡¯d hand it over with a smile. Now though? If the war ended? What reason would Kirinyaa need for a standing army? Maybe the Jungle could still be used as a cause, but the threat of the Jungle paled when put into comparison of the threat against the White Pantheon. But that was not something she could say to Kavaa. That was family business. ¡°Why do you want to wait?¡± Kassandora asked finally. ¡°I want to see dad.¡± Fer said innocently and Kassandora sighed. ¡°Is it urgent?¡± Kassandora asked and Fer turned her head, she smiled so sweetly that Kassandora couldn¡¯t get a read on her. ¡°What do you think?¡± She said, and went back to inspecting her fingers. ¡°We are still in a war.¡± Kassandora said coldly. ¡°Until the White Pantheon formally sues for peace, we are still operating under my jurisdiction.¡± She knew it was a failing gamble. Everyone on the table flatly ignored her. Kavaa only smiled, and Anassa came in to add her own stupid little comment. ¡°You yourself say war is never finished. What does it matter if they sue for peace or not? We¡¯ve just crushed Elassa¡¯s main force, Zalewski is holding, Ekkerson has Olephia with him. Where are we needed?¡± And Fer came in. ¡°Sokolowski¡¯s campaign is going excellently too.¡± How did the woman even know that? Kassandora fixed her with a gaze, Fer¡¯s ears jumped and she answered without even looking away from her fingers. ¡°I ask around, why is Sokolowski getting less supplies than Ekkerson even when Ekkerson has Olephia?¡± She smiled, very satisfied with herself. ¡°Not hard to put two and two together Kass.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°All of you do understand that if we let them go now, it will be twice as bad for us in the future? We¡¯re letting veterans escape who have seen real combat, the more that get away, the more trainers Fortia has.¡± Kassandora said. Fer kept playing with her fingers, Anassa said nothing. Kavaa and Iniri only awkwardly smiled. ¡°So unless we have a good reason to let them go, then why should they stay?¡± It wasn¡¯t a decisive victory, but the other side also had nothing good to say. ¡°It¡¯ll take me a week to get there even if I run.¡± Fer said. ¡°We have planes.¡± Kassandora answered sharply and Fer smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not fond of flying.¡± Kassandora stared at her sister, merely stared. There was nothing to say. Fer was usually always the first one to listen to orders, and now she was the one most against it. Worst of all, she didn¡¯t even argue, she simply did the equivalent of sitting down and shaking her head. There was a snappy retort to her comment about flying, but Kassandora merely let it fade away, there was no reason to try. ¡°Anassa, Sokolowski could use you in the mountains.¡± Anassa leaned back and took a deep breath. ¡°Does he?¡± She merely said. ¡°Is there a reason? Or are you also not fond of flying?¡± Fer¡¯s ears caught Kassandora¡¯s eyes, they jumped and the Goddess of Beasthood smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve got a higher score than you do this war.¡± She said as she stretched her fingers. Anassa¡¯s eyes flared red, her cheeks blushed and she turned to Fer. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Fer didn¡¯t even get up, her tail merely whisked from side to side. ¡°It is what it is, we can¡¯t all be the best.¡± She practically cooed. ¡°How many?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got you at six thousand, right?¡± Fer asked. Anassa¡¯s lack of reply was confirmation enough. Kassandora never understood why they tracked each other¡¯s kills, although maybe she simply wasn¡¯t strong enough to even participate in that game. If she felled a hundred in a battle, that was good for her. It was breakfast for Fer, and a snap of the fingers for Anassa. ¡°Then you¡¯re some few thousand below me.¡± ¡°Are you lying?¡± Anassa said. ¡°Have I ever lied, sweet sister?¡± She said. Anassa turned to Kassandora. ¡°Sokolowski, what for?¡± ¡°Assist in the mountain clean-up.¡± Anassa stared angrily for a moment. Opened her mouth, looked to Elassa, then sighed. ¡°You will not kill Elassa?¡± She asked. Fer answered for Kassandora. ¡°If anyone here thinks of touching Elassa, they¡¯ll have to get through me.¡± She said and yawned. ¡°I¡¯ll hold you do that.¡± Anassa said. And Anassa disappeared. Fer smiled, her eyes went to Kassandora¡¯s, her face smug. Kassandora saw the woman¡¯s hands make casual thumbs-up, if it was anyone else, she would assume it was just an innocuous gesture. But it was Fer, and she knew Fer. ¡°What about repairs on the base?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I¡¯ve filled in all the damage that Worldbreaking caused.¡± Iniri said and Elassa shivered to herself. Her arms wrapped along her own body as she looked around. What did those blue eyes search for? Probably Anassa. That¡¯s what Kassandora would do in her situation, Anassa had been the one who saved her life. ¡°I see.¡± Fer said and clicked her tongue. Golden eyes caught Kassandora¡¯s scarlet one. And Kassandora realised what Fer was doing. Elassa would be interrogated, but Fer would be there too. Kassandora merely sighed. Kavaa and Iniri were much easier to rid of. ¡°What about the wounded Kavaa?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°There¡¯s a fair few Clerics here.¡± ¡°And my beastmen? I had survivors.¡± Fer finally got up and crossed her arms. ¡°I apologize for being protective, but I think you and me are the only ones who understand what it¡¯s like here.¡± She held a pause for a moment. Kassandora feigned an annoyed face, it was true. Her soldiers followed her, but it was mere followers. It wasn¡¯t a Divine Order, nor was it the relationship Fer had to her beastmen. It wasn¡¯t annoying, it was simply how things were. Fer said nothing but the truth. But Kavaa did not know that. ¡°So I¡¯d¡­¡± She even dropped her tone. ¡°Well, I¡¯d rather be certain.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think my Clerics will do a good job.¡± Kavaa said flatly and Fer smiled as she held the Goddess¡¯ eyes for a moment. ¡°Will you be angry if I say I don¡¯t? Why settle for mortals when I have the world¡¯s best healer?¡± She said flatly. ¡°I¡¯m sure you understand.¡± Amazing work Fer. Amazing. Kavaa wasn¡¯t even annoyed. She merely stood up with a sigh. ¡°That honestly, I can at least appreciate.¡± She pointed a finger at Fer. ¡°You¡¯ll owe me one.¡± Fer¡¯s smile revealed her teeth. ¡°Consider it paying back your Jungle debt.¡± She said with a laugh. Kavaa¡¯s smile dropped immediately, so did Iniri¡¯s eyes as she merely looked down at her legs. ¡°No no, we¡¯re even. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Fer said quickly. ¡°It¡¯s just a friendly favour, we¡¯re friends, right?¡± She said and Kavaa¡¯s eyes spark again, as did Iniri¡¯s. ¡°We¡¯re friends?¡± Iniri said and Fer spread her arms out. ¡°We¡¯re not?¡± Masterful work, now it was up to them to decide. ¡°I hoped we are.¡± Kavaa said. Iniri nodded in support. ¡°It¡¯s a selfish thing, but please?¡± Fer said in a sorry voice. ¡°They aren¡¯t an Order, but they are my Order.¡± ¡°Alright Fer, I¡¯ll do it.¡± Kavaa said. And Kavaa walked out of the room. Fer merely lay back down on the table. ¡°We are friends Iniri.¡± Fer said. Palms flat out on the table. ¡°I have nothing else to say, but we are.¡± Kassandora stared in silence at the two of them, then she realised what Fer meant. She really had nothing else to say. Kassandora herself would need to get rid of Iniri. ¡°Well change of plans then.¡± Kassandora said. Getting rid of Iniri now by giving her a direct order would raise suspicion after that. ¡°We¡¯ve just won, we¡¯ll need morale raising tactics.¡± Fer chuckled. ¡°Get Neneria drunk and have her sing.¡± She said and Iniri laughed. ¡°She does have a nice voice though.¡± Iniri said with a smile. ¡°I remember last time, when you rescued me. That was¡­¡± She seemed lost for words. ¡°Nice.¡± Kassandora saw the opening. ¡°Celebrations are nice because we have a reason to celebrate. She looked to either of them. Getting Nene drunk will be a challenge.¡± ¡°Leave it to me.¡± Fer said, then looked to Iniri. ¡°She did complement your wine though.¡± The Goddess of Nature blushed. ¡°She did?¡± She asked in disbelief. ¡°To me, you know her.¡± ¡°Why to you and not me?¡± Kassandora said in feigned annoyance. They were playing with Iniri at this point. Fer looked at Kassandora, sat up, her eyes said she was just as aware as Kassandora that they were both on the same page. ¡°Who can say sister?¡± She pulled her arms down her sides. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just prettier than you?¡± Iniri burst out in laughter and then stood up. ¡°She¡¯ll be back today, right?¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°Then I¡¯ll make some, if she said she liked it, I¡¯ll make some.¡± And Iniri left quickly, most likely to catch up to Kavaa and share the good news. Fer¡¯s fingers tapped the table in a slow rhythm. Fifty beats of pure silence, broken by the tapping of four nails. ¡°So.¡± Fer said, her tone entirely changed. Cold, like a wolf¡¯s. She looked to Kassandora. ¡°We both want the same thing, don¡¯t we?¡± ¡°We do.¡± Kassandora said. Fer nodded. She grabbed the sides of her chair and jumped to turn it. In one smooth movement, she was facing the defeated Goddess of Magic. ¡°Elassa.¡± Fer¡¯s tone made Elassa shiver, the Goddess pulled her legs up onto her chair and wrapped her arms around them. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen Anassa lift a finger to save someone apart from us. You have some explaining to do.¡± She extended her arm out to Kassandora. ¡°We can talk normally, like Divines.¡± And she brought it back to herself. ¡°Or we can do it the way animals do it.¡± Chapter 196 – False Divinity Whereas some will describe Kassandora¡¯s tactics as honour-less or callous, there is a beauty in them. I think I am I am the person most experienced with Kassandora, maybe only Arascus knows her better at this point than me. Kassandora¡¯s greatest strength is in her will. Her will that provides her with endless energy and focus. Her will that lets her focus on a problem endlessly. Most of all, her will to sacrifice. Normal minds have be pushed past the edge of sanity before they consider fighting with their all. Even the other members of the White Pantheon are guilty of this behaviour, it is not shameful after all. There is great pride in being able to hold back from complete annihilation, after all, only cornered rats fight ignorant of their wounds. Kassandora can rule the world, and she is still able to put herself in the mindset of a cornered rat. The rules are simply different. Whereas we fight to safeguard and protect, Kassandora fights to achieve victory. There is no cost she won¡¯t pay, whereas we¡¯re busy defending our pieces, Kassandora has no piece she is not willing to sacrifice. Great generals sent off on suicide missions, Divines launched deep behind enemy lines without support, entire legions which serve as nothing but bait for our forces. It took us an entire four decades of combat before we realised that trying to predict her moves was futile. There is nothing she will not do, there is no taboo she won¡¯t break, no city is important enough, no price is high enough. In the name of victory, she will give it her all. I sometimes question if it is my fault, still from the times of ancient Sythia. Was there something I could have done to ground her? Could I have stopped this monster from being born? Or is the aspect of war simply so overwhelming that she would become this no matter what happened? I don¡¯t know. I wonder if she has these questions too. Knowing her, she most likely says these are worthless questions that don¡¯t need answers. - Excerpt from ¡°Memories of my Great War¡±, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light, kept within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library. Kassandora walked around the table to sit opposite Elassa in that room carved, or grown, within Iniri¡¯s tree. All wood, from the table to the chairs to the hinges on the door. The Goddess of Magic was a miserable little creature. She sat, legs pulled close to her chest, arms wrapped around them, head hidden in her knees, even her blue battledress was a sorry sight, torn where Fer had smashed into her when the woman¡¯s staff, and dirtied from when she landed on the ground. Kassandora looked to her sister, interrogations always went better with two. The Goddess of Beasthood sat there, facing Elassa and looked to Kassandora. Golden eyes met scarlet ones, two nods of silent agreement came from one another. ¡°Very well Elassa.¡± Fer came in with a hard tone. So she¡¯d take that part. Then Kassandora was supposed to be the benevolent one. ¡°We have one question.¡± Kassandora said as she leaned in. Elassa merely shook on her seat. ¡°I will not question you about Arcadia nor your mages.¡± There was no need to do that in the first place. The state of Arcadia as it was right now didn¡¯t have to be questioned, it was something only to accept. ¡°Nor do I want you to break your honour and spill Fortia¡¯s battleplans to me.¡± That wasn¡¯t important either, no plans would save Fortia¡¯s forces as they stood now. But saying that first made her seem understanding and respectful. ¡°But I.¡± Kassandora took a pause, then extended an arm out to remind Elassa who was sitting next to her. ¡°We would like to know why Anassa saved you.¡± Elassa merely shivered and shook her head. Fer growled from her side. ¡°Ana¡¯s not here to protect you anymore.¡± And Elassa only retreated back into her shell. Head behind her knees, tearful blue eyes dancing between monitoring Fer and Kassandora. She shook her head. Kassandora leaned forwards and motioned for Fer to get away. This required a more roundabout method, Elassa¡¯s defeat had utterly broken her. Frankly, it was disgusting, the moment Kassandora had been put into that cell on Olympiada was the moment she started planning. Now the woman in front of her wasn¡¯t even in chains, and she was like this. If it was Fortia or Maisara or Allasaria, Kassandora would assume they were faking it. ¡°Why did you keep Anassa alive?¡± And Elassa said nothing. Sometimes going slow was the right move, but sometimes a stubborn horse simply needed a slap on the rear to get moving. ¡°Elassa.¡± Kassandora said, she made sure she wasn¡¯t imposing, instead simply speaking flatly. ¡°We won¡¯t kill you, we¡¯re not even going to pretend we¡¯re going to kill.¡± She leaned back and crossed her arms. ¡°You heard us promise to Anassa we won¡¯t, so you must be aware you¡¯re safe from being conscripted to Neneria¡¯s Legion.¡± Elassa merely looked up as Kassandora kept on going. ¡°But we¡¯re not the Pantheon, we don¡¯t have a stubborn Allasaria. Arascus will decide what to do with you.¡± Kassandora met the woman¡¯s sad blue eyes. ¡°Out of all of us, who do you think has the most influence on him? Do you think Anassa¡¯s request will outweigh Fer¡¯s and my advice?¡± And Elassa squeezed her knees tight. Kassandora kept going. ¡°Elassa, you know me. You know Fer. You know our Great War reputations. You know what we were like before that too. You¡¯re now at a crossroads.¡± Kassandora spread her arms out. ¡°On one side, you have us and Anassa. You¡¯ll be a war prisoner, but you¡¯ll be treated well. We won¡¯t torture you, we won¡¯t even touch a hair on your head. We¡¯re not going to ask for the impossible, but we want answers only you can give us. That is all, only words, words are wind after all, they blow away in the breeze.¡± She delicately patted the table with an open palm, as if she was petting a dog. And then her other hand made a fist that slammed down on the wood. ¡°On the other. When Arascus comes here, me and Fer will make sure that you¡¯ll wish Anassa let you die.¡± Elassa shivered as Kassandora held her gaze. ¡°So now you can speak. We all know Anassa here, she is not untouchable Olephia. She is not useful like me. She can¡¯t be ignored like Fer. Give me one reason as to why Anassa would stay alive.¡± Elassa sighed.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°I¡­¡± She sighed. That was good, they had gotten a word out of her. She made no reaction, she simply let Elassa brew there in silence. Fer did too, interrogations with Fer always went smoothly, she knew how to work the mind. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Did Allasaria want to kill Anassa?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Last night, Neneria went to Olympiada. We¡¯ll have Allasaria¡¯s writings, I¡¯m not in a mood to be double checking what you say.¡± Kassandora said. Elassa¡¯s eyes widened for a moment. ¡°You got her to Olympiada?¡± She asked. Kassandora leaned back and spread her arms out to either side. She never considered herself too boastful, but sometimes, there was reason to take pride. ¡°Do you doubt me?¡± Elassa shook her head. ¡°So we¡¯ve lost.¡± She said. ¡°You lost.¡± Kassandora corrected her. ¡°We¡¯ve won.¡± But the fact she responded to that was a tell. She still had hope the White Pantheon would save her. ¡°We¡¯ve also breached into Drayim.¡± Elassa shrugged. ¡°One of Maisara¡¯s¡± She said. Fer¡¯s quizzical look she shot at Kassandora said it all. ¡°Do you know what is underneath Drayim?¡± Kassandora asked. Elassa merely looked from her to Fer, and back again. ¡°Am I supposed to?¡± The Goddess of Magic replied with her own question, arms spread out. ¡°I¡¯m Pantheon, but I¡¯m¡­¡± She fell quiet. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I leave it to them.¡± Kassandora sighed. ¡°Underneath Drayim is the Divine Armoury. The Weapon Divines are kept there. Aslana, Labrys, that lot.¡± Elassa¡¯s legs dropped from chair as she sat there, thoroughly stunned. ¡°You¡¯ve found them?¡± She asked. Fer chuckled as she put her elbow on the table and leaned her head against her arm. ¡°It¡¯s fantastic that I don¡¯t smell falsehood from you.¡± Fer said. ¡°You really didn¡¯t know?¡± Elassa once again shook her head, blue eyes prancing nervously between the two Goddesses she was facing. ¡°I really didn¡¯t. I promise.¡± ¡°But you know what they will mean for the Pantheon.¡± Kassandora said, now Elassa was talking. Now they were getting somewhere. Finally. ¡°The Weapons tip the scales in our favour when it comes to deities fielded. And your capture tips the scales further because Arcadia is now going to flounder. We¡¯ve won. A year from now, the White Pantheon will not exist.¡± She spelled it out further. ¡°Not like now, where it¡¯s a floundering corpse without Atis, Leona or Allasaria, or the three that turned to us. A formal dissolution, there will be no White Pantheon. It will merely be an alliance between Fortia and Maisara, maybe Zerus and Sceo, or Theosius will be dragged into it, but there it¡¯s over.¡± She took a pause to let the words take their desired effect on the Goddess of Magic. ¡°So you will not be rescued Elassa, you will not be saved Elassa, you will not be traded in some prisoner exchange Elassa, even if they captured one of us who was worthy enough to be traded for you.¡± Elassa sat there, listening to the words with a blank expression. Kassandora wished she knew this Divine better, but Elassa had been one of the few who rarely came for advice when she was still trapped in that prison cell. It wasn¡¯t like Helenna, who would hop in every few years to vent about the local gossip. Fer took the initiative. ¡°So now you understand where you sit.¡± She chuckled. ¡°And I think you know that you want to keep us happy.¡± Her smile bared teeth. ¡°Why did you not kill Anassa back then?¡± Elassa sighed as she leaned back. ¡°And if I answer wrong?¡± She said. Fer¡¯s ears jumped up and down. ¡°Anassa wouldn¡¯t have come to save you if you used her to indulge your sadism.¡± She sniffed the air. ¡°And you don¡¯t smell like the type either.¡± Elassa gripped her locks of dark hair. ¡°I¡­¡± She began then stopped. ¡°There¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know where to begin.¡± ¡°Elassa.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We¡¯re not children here. Why is Anassa still alive, and why did she save you?¡± ¡°Anassa¡­¡± Elassa began. ¡°Sorcery as a whole, it¡¯s a part of magic, different, but not.¡± Fer chuckled at that. ¡°That¡¯s not what Ana says.¡± ¡°It¡¯s like drawing and writing.¡± Kassandora leaned back. Looks like the Goddess of Magic had found some fire within her, although most of them did when they were discussing their respective demesnes. ¡°Different, but fundamentally the same thing, merely making marks on paper.¡± ¡°Which one¡¯s sorcery?¡± Fer asked. Kassandora let the stupid question stand, Fer was only easing Elassa¡¯s tongue, getting her talking for the sake of talking. ¡°I¡­¡± Elassa eyebrows narrowed downwards. ¡°It¡¯s a metaphor, it¡¯s not supposed to be directly applicable.¡± ¡°Sorcery is drawing.¡± Fer said with total resolve. Elassa merely shrugged. ¡°So it is. I¡­ it¡¯s¡­ Anassa is-was the last sorcerer, I can¡¯t just castrate an entire branch of magic just because she¡¯s¡­ Well¡­ I think you understand.¡± Kassandora nodded. There was nothing to understand, Elassa was simply not strong enough to sacrifice something in the name of total victory. That¡¯s what it was. If Kassandora was in Elassa¡¯s position, Anassa would be dead a hundred, a thousand times over. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Fer asked and crossed her arms. ¡°Why did Anassa save you then? Why keep her imprisoned like that?¡± ¡°I kept her as comfortable as possible! I¡­¡± Elassa trailed off again. And they had been so close. ¡°It was Fortia¡¯s and Allasaria¡¯s mandate, they said for her to never take a breath of fresh air again!¡± She was shouting at this point. Definitely a weak point. ¡°Do you know how much I begged for her to be kept alive!?¡± Kassandora could only imagine, Allasaria needed a good amount of begging to fill her stomach before she was full. ¡°Why did you beg?¡± Kassandora asked as gently as she could. ¡°Because¡­¡± Elassa¡¯s voice trailed off. Tears started to stream from her eyes. ¡°I¡­¡± She collapsed onto the table. ¡°Please¡­ never tell anyone.¡± Fer looked to Kassandora, Kassandora to Fer. They both nodded to each other. ¡°We won¡¯t.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I gave my word to Kavaa. I give it to you.¡± ¡°I swear on the pack.¡± Fer said, she clapped her hand on her chest. ¡°And I will make sure Kassie keeps her promise.¡± Kassandora contained her smile. Her word was worth about as much as Fer¡¯s, which meant that the promise would be broken the moment the situation demanded it. ¡°So? Why did she save you?¡± ¡°She¡­¡± Elassa collapsed on the table. ¡°You love her, right?¡± Kassandora and Fer both replied at the same time. ¡°We¡¯re family.¡± And ¡°We¡¯re sisters.¡± ¡°She was m-my-my apprentice back then. Wor-Worldbreak-king.¡± Elassa said through her ugly tears. She wiped away those blue eyes. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t want anything to happen to her¡­ she¡­ she was the best. Bet-better than anyone. Ever. Be-better than me.¡± Kassandora had little to say about that. It was unheard of, but somehow, she had expected something like that. Never done before, a Divine taking a Divine as an apprentice. But she could imagine it¡­ but could she? Who would Anassa submit to as a mere apprentice. The only reason Arascus managed what he did was because he made them family. No. Something did not add up. ¡°You made her an apprentice to you?¡± Kassandora asked, stunned. ¡°Anassa? Anassa, of all people, you made an apprentice?¡± ¡°No-n-no.¡± Elassa said through tears and sniffles. ¡°Before she was Anassa. But please¡­ don¡¯t¡­ I¡¯m glad she has a home now.¡± ¡°Her home is with us.¡± Fer said. ¡°But what do you mean before?¡± ¡°Be-be-because I-I made Anassa.¡± Kassandora felt her arms fall loose by her sides as she sat there. If the chair didn¡¯t have a back, she would have fallen off it. ¡°Excuse me?¡± It was all the sounds her throat managed to utter. Elassa burst into tears and collapsed on the table. Somehow, she managed to croak out the words through her sobs. ¡°Anassa is not a Divine. I made her.¡± Chapter 197 – Never Enough Maisara stared at Fortia¡¯s letter. If it came from Allasaria, from Elassa, if it came from anyone but Fortia, she would have ripped it up and kept up the defence against Arascus¡¯ new vehicles. But it came from Fortia. She knew what she was doing. Maisara sighed and got around to planning an orderly retreat. ¡°You made a Divine?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°You actually made a Divine?¡± Fer leaned back on her seat, closed her eyes and dropped her chin as she started to think, those two ears on the top of her head shot down as her brows furrowed and she started to think. Elassa wiped tears from her eyes. ¡°Please don¡¯t¡­ I¡¯m¡­¡± She blew her nose. ¡°I only told you because I know you won¡¯t¡­¡± She stammered out. ¡°I think¡­ please don¡¯t kill her.¡± She shook her head and collapsed back down on the table, dark hair spreading out over the wood. Fer quirked a smile as she looked to Kassandora. ¡°That was less impressive than I thought it¡¯d be.¡± She said. Kassandora gave no reaction, she assumed Fer would have seen the flood of possibilities that had just cracked its dam, but maybe Fer didn¡¯t see it. But this? A mortal being made into a Divine? The precedent it set¡­ It was amazing. If Gods and Goddesses could be manufactured at will, then¡­ Well, then there was nothing on Arda that would stop them. ¡°Wh¡­¡± Elassa trailed off as she looked at the Goddess of Beasthood. Fer¡¯s smile revealed her fangs. ¡°I thought I¡¯d see drama between you two. This.¡± She shrugged. ¡°What am I supposed to say about it?¡± That wasn¡¯t the way the conversation should be steered, Kassandora turned it back on track. ¡°How did you do it?¡± She may have been asking what the weather was like, but she didn¡¯t want to show off her excitement. Elassa shook her head. ¡°It was Anassa, it was her own work. I merely gave her what she needed.¡± She spread her arms out. ¡°I don¡¯t know how.¡± ¡°What did she need?¡± Kassandora asked. Elassa finally got to wiping her tears. Her pulled up her dress and blew her nose, and sat up. And blue eyes met scarlet. ¡°I cannot tell you.¡± She said. Kassandora leaned back with a smile. ¡°Cannot or will not?¡± She asked, arms crossed. And Elassa¡¯s tone dropped, her eyes hardened. She finally looked like the Goddess she was supposed to be. ¡°Kassandora, you are one of the simplest people I know.¡± Elassa said. ¡°I actually do not know how to create an army of Divines for you, not that I¡¯d do it in the first place.¡± Kassandora sighed, the first comment, she would just ignore. Frankly, she thought she was simple too. Her finger idly tapped out a code for Fer. The Goddess of Beasthood leaned over and smelled Elassa. ¡°She¡¯s telling the truth.¡± Kassandora sighed and stood up. This interrogation hadn¡¯t been a waste of time, it had given Kassandora an idea her pessimistic mind would have never considered. How was she supposed to know anyway? They had ran tests in the past precisely because Divinity, as omnipresent and omnipotent as it was, was still a mystery. Divines took decades to incarnate if their demesne was powerful enough, less for inventions, but inventions were never that strong. The Weapons were a mere exception compared to the rest. Elassa may not know, but Anassa? Anassa was her dear sister. Temperamental, arrogant, pretentious, but her dear sister still. Frankly, Kassandora had a right to that knowledge within her sister¡¯s mind. ¡°Thank you for the honesty.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Fer, you¡¯re on Elassa duty.¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± Fer asked from the side, her eyes trailing after Kassandora. ¡°I¡¯m going to indulge my demesne before the war¡¯s done.¡± Kassandora stepped out of the room as she listened to Fer sigh. She managed to get down two flights of stairs. ¡°She¡¯s always like that.¡± Fer said as she turned to Elassa. The Goddess of Magic leaned away from Fer as the Goddess of Beasthood came closer. ¡°Why did you pick Ana?¡± Elassa blinked in confusion. She had expected torture. She had expected her secrets to be beaten out of her. She had expected them to question her on how to breach magical barriers and how to best lay siege to Olympiada. Or Arcadia for that matter. ¡°Why?¡± Elassa asked and Fer smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not hungry right now, I¡¯m not going to eat you. Why did you pick her?¡± ¡°She¡­¡± Elassa¡¯s mind went back to Worldbreaking. When she found Anassa. When she sensed potential. The excitement at that endless growth within a human. And then awe as Anassa maintained that growth. And then fear when power was the only growth Anassa achieved. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ve never seen anyone like her back then. Even now. She broke every rule, every tradition we had written down.¡± Elassa put her hands on the table. ¡°And these aren¡¯t just customs for the sake of custom. They¡¯re learned lessons, you cast a spell wrong, you burn out or you scar yourself or you die. I¡¯ve seen it before, I¡¯ve seen it after. But on her¡­¡± Elassa shook her head. ¡°It was almost like she was wanting to break them. She aimed for them specifically. I told her catalysts were needed for magic, she swore never to use a gemstone. I told her spells had to be spoken at the start. She began casting silently. I told her patience was the key. She rushed ahead at every step.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Elassa stared at Fer¡¯s smile, at those warm golden eyes, at the Goddess¡¯ rosy cheeks. And she heard the woman¡¯s tone, so full of pride Elassa had to go back to Anassa¡¯s ascension to know such a feeling. ¡°That does sound like my Ana.¡± Arascus saw Kassandora quickly prancing down the stairs he was walking up and humming a tune to herself. Well, she was happy today. Although she would be, the war had been won. Kirinyaa had been saved from the White Pantheon, that didn¡¯t matter too much, but now came Kassandora¡¯s favourite part: the final clean-up. ¡°Oh!¡± Kassandora said, her eyes widening. She stopped and saluted. Arascus merely waved her down. ¡°When did you get here?¡± ¡°Ten minutes ago.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I¡¯ve talked with Iniri, she¡¯s filled me on the situation.¡± He took Kassandora¡¯s hand and turned around. He wasn¡¯t going to meet Elassa, the Goddess of Magic could wait. With Fer looking over, Elassa would go nowhere and now there were more important things to do. But first, Kassandora deserved the praise he knew she would never ask for. ¡°Good job.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Arascus loved that shy tone. ¡°Really, I mean it.¡± Arascus continued as he started taking the stairs two steps at a time. Iniri had made the stairs for Divines, but he was twice the size of Iniri. Fer would probably do the same, but at least the corridor hollowed out within the tree was large enough for him not to have bend his head. ¡°Do you think Fortia would have done it? Or anyone else? You stalled the entire White Pantheon, practically singlehandedly.¡± He saw Kassandora¡¯s cheeks go as red as her hair. ¡°I had others.¡± ¡°Ingredients make a meal but a chef puts it all together.¡± He took another step and turned left. To the first balcony. Kassandora was looking at her black boots, her uniform cut in odd places, the black coat around her was missing the fabric that fell down to her legs, severed when she donned her armour. ¡°You should get changed.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Kassandora said quietly, she coughed, brushed the sides of her shirt smooth with her palms. ¡°I was planning to.¡± ¡°Planning to, eventually?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Eventually.¡± Kassandora confirmed with a smug tone. She took a step back from the balcony out of the tree. It was just a simple branch without any railings. Arascus did not even know why Iniri made it, but it provided a good view over CR and the jungle to the north. The immediate area was burned to ash, the red-yellow mountains in the distance were scarred black and Arascus thought there was less of them than before. Definitely less. ¡°Now though, there¡¯s a war to finish.¡± Arascus caught her hand and pulled her back to the balcony before she managed to slither away. ¡°There isn¡¯t, the war is over. Maisara has already started a retreat. Zerus and Sceo have gone missing, the western flank is pulling away. The central push will stop most likely when those two have made some distance.¡± Kassandora spoke up, but Arascus already knew her heart wasn¡¯t in it. It never was when she spoke in that teacherly-voice. ¡°Armies take as many casualties on a retreat as they do on an advance. Now¡¯s the time when we can strike.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± Arascus shut her down. He loved them all but each of the Goddesses he had adopted would destroy themselves if given total autonomy. Some, like Fer, didn¡¯t need reasons. Others, like Kass, needed it laid out plain and simple. ¡°Chasing them down wouldn¡¯t be the end of the world, but they¡¯d have no armies left.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that the point?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°And then what?¡± Arascus said. ¡°A destruction of the White Pantheon leaves us where?¡± He looked out over the great ashen land. Trucks and men were digging through it. Iniri was on the ground, growing winding trees that spread out and bent down to make runways. Kassandora had to think for a moment before she answered. ¡°Global conquest.¡± Kassandora said and Arascus nodded. ¡°We would win that too.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And then?¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t be able to hold it together.¡± She said. Kassie was fast like that, and the only time she pretended things were different was through a pessimist¡¯s eyes. ¡°Not unless we had every single one of us serving as enforcers.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And that¡¯s further down the line anyway, we would be made heroes of Kirinyaa, but what influence do heroes have? There¡¯s already a bill being drafted against us, it¡¯s called A Country of Mortals Act.¡± He sighed. ¡°Speaks for itself, doesn¡¯t it? It limits us to having to make all discussions public.¡± ¡°We were never ones for rules.¡± Kassandora said quietly. ¡°No, but it only takes one and then it¡¯s out the bag.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Anassa would have to be removed from the public sphere, but how would you remove the Goddess responsible for the sorcerers that defended this country?¡± Kassandora sighed and Arascus smiled sadly to himself. Anassa had been a headache back in the Great War too, but then Anassa¡¯s terrible reputation could be contained to only the immediate area she was stationed in. Now with the internet. ¡°So what should I do?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°We let them go.¡± Arascus said. ¡°This is my war now, the crusade for public opinion. And that is a marathon we have to be slow and steady in.¡± Arascus put his arm around her. ¡°Recall Olephia from her post bring her back here.¡± He looked over the landscape. ¡°I¡¯ll prepare the base with Iniri. We¡¯re going to have KTV and EIE here tomorrow, it¡¯s organized already. Helenna will come back.¡± ¡°And then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the end of Kirinyaa.¡± Arascus said as he squeezed Kassandora close to her. She leaned her head against his chest. ¡°Do you want a break?¡± The God of Pride already knew she wouldn¡¯t, but it was better to ask anyone. ¡°We take a break when we¡¯ve won.¡± Kassandora said and Arascus nodded sadly. That was one part he never liked about Kassie. Frankly, he doubted she even knew what the word break meant. ¡°Two plans.¡± Arascus said. ¡°To you only, don¡¯t tell the others.¡± He thought for a moment. ¡°Fer can know too, she¡¯s competent enough to know.¡± ¡°And the plans?¡± Kassandora said. She pulled away and Arascus looked down at her. There it was, the burn in her eyes, the lips curling upwards. Mention of a break gave her nothing but mention of more work lit a fire in her stomach. ¡°One, the easier one. Make a unit, Iliyal. I want him in Epa when Wissel¡¯s coalition declares independence from the Pantheon.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°He¡¯s there to make sure Epa starts losing.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°Easy.¡± ¡°When there¡¯s a breakthrough, we will send our army as Epa. When they lift our flag, it¡¯s not going to be conquerors, it will be liberators.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°And the second?¡± ¡°I will prime Kirinyaa. This one, work on first, I can¡¯t tell you the time, but it has to go immediately. And it has to be the most bloodless plan you can make. One bullet fired is one bullet too much.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°The Legions will march on Nanbasa.¡± Chapter 198 – A Slow Game I hate writing. I hate writing. I hate writing. I hate writing. I hate writing. Kassie said I should practice. I hate writing. What is practice? Just repetition. I hate writing. Dad taught me to write. I hate writing. If it was not him, I would not bother. I hate writing. Irinika says writing things down is important, it helps you remember. I hate writing. She is wrong. I hate writing. If I forget something, it wasn¡¯t important enough to remember in the first place. I hate writing. - Fer¡¯s practice journal. Dated to some time before the Great War. Kept within the Divine Armoury, now the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library. Arascus sighed as he watched Kassandora leave, she went down the stairs. That was one problem down. Kassandora wasn¡¯t a problem, but her mentality was. She wouldn¡¯t describe herself as that, but he knew her better than she herself. Of all the daughters, she was the one most prone to overeagerness. It would be locked in a chest of pragmatism and buried deeper with a pessimistic realism, but it was overeagerness nonetheless. She turned as the staircase spiralled and looked up at Arascus. Bright red eyes framed by bright red hair and a lovely smile. She gave him a small wave and disappeared. Arascus hummed to himself as he went up. How he found Kassandora, he honestly did not know. Of every Goddess he had adopted into his family, she was one who should have never theoretically joined, the one who should have been able to find her place in the world, the one humanity was most willing to accept. And yet, humanity only gave War a chance, he gave Kassandora a chance. And Kassandora, as much as she pretended she wasn¡¯t, was a handful. He went up to the room Elassa was kept in, Elassa and the Goddess who was the most competent of them all. Ironically the one that had never been tested by mortals. Fer sat there, back craned forwards, hands on the table, fingers tapping away as her mane of golden unbrushed hair spiralled over her back like a coat. She smiled when he opened the door but only part of her that moved where two cat-like eyes and the tapping fingers. And Elassa on the other side of the table. She had been crying, her head was down, she lay against back of the wooden chair and was taking heavy breathes. She jumped at the door creaking, and her face went pale when she saw Arascus enter. Fer¡¯s smile only grew as Arascus looked around the room. There were only seven chairs around the table, each one of a different size. The smallest two would be Iniri¡¯s and probably Helenna¡¯s. Kavaa and Kass then. Anassa. Neneria from the size of it, the largest was for Fer. That was the only one he would fit on too. ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± Fer talked like a little cat. ¡°I am.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I missed you.¡± ¡°I missed you too.¡± Arascus said as he made a circle around the table. Two sets of eyes followed him: warm yellow and trembling blue. He stopped behind Fer¡¯s chair and leaned on it. ¡°Kassie put you on Elassa duty?¡± ¡°She did.¡± Fer replied. ¡°Look at her.¡± And her hands made two thumbs up. ¡°Elassa is very well behaved, no escape attempts yet.¡± Arascus chuckled, Fer¡¯s tail pranced from side to side. And then her tone went cold. ¡°We¡¯ve had a chat, Me, Kassie and Elassa here.¡± ¡°Did you now?¡± Arascus said. He put his hands on the back of the chair. ¡°We did.¡± Fer replied definitely. ¡°It was very interesting.¡± Elassa¡¯s face grew pale. Her eyes started sparkling with tears again. Arascus wondered what they had told her that got her to cry. He didn¡¯t like the sight of it, but he didn¡¯t have many reservations either. He made people cry too. ¡°You promised you wouldn¡¯t.¡± Elassa said quietly. Fer clapped her hands together, sat up and tilted her head down. ¡°I promised I wouldn¡¯t but it¡¯s too important.¡± Arascus quirked an eyebrow up. Fer was usually better than this, when she spilled secrets, she¡¯d do it secretly at least. ¡°It¡¯s only because I love Ana too.¡± Oh. That explained it. ¡°Apprentice and ascension.¡± Arascus said and Fer¡¯s ears shot up. She turned to look up at him, eyes puzzled and mouth slightly open. Elassa¡¯s jaw dropped as she looked at Arascus. He merely shrugged. ¡°Ana told me back then.¡± ¡°And you didn¡¯t tell us?¡± Fer asked, ears straight as if she was about to go hunting. ¡°Two reasons.¡± Arascus said, he held onto the chair and started to tip it forwards. ¡°One. Does it change anything? Anassa is a Divine because she believes she is actually Divine so what difference does it make? Why are we here? We all believe we¡¯re Divines too.¡± He started slowly pulling the chair back as Fer slid down off it. ¡°And two, more importantly, Ana asked me not to tell anyone, that she¡¯d say herself when she was ready.¡± He smiled. ¡°Thanks for telling me, Kassie didn¡¯t say anything.¡± Fer jumped to her feet as she was about slide off. He quickly got into the chair before she could reclaim it. ¡°It doesn¡¯t change anything?¡± ¡°Does it?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Is Anassa any different now that you know?¡± Fer opened her mouth, crossed her arms, and closed her mouth. She looked past him, at the wall, her head tilted from one side to the other and back again. Arascus always enjoyed watching that show of thinking. ¡°No.¡± Fer said as she nodded to herself. ¡°She¡¯s still Ana.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Arascus replied as he brought the seat forwards. ¡°Can you tell Kassie this? And don¡¯t tell Ana you know, she won¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°Now?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Preferably.¡± Arascus said. Some, like Anassa or Kassandora, would need direct orders. Fer usually got the hint. ¡°Or Anassa will come back and then she won¡¯t be happy.¡± He turned to Elassa. ¡°With you most of all.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve not told anyone but the Fer and Kassandora. This secret has stayed with me for two entire eras.¡± She said coldly. ¡°Then you should be thankful Anassa is not as paranoid as Kassandora then, because you would have never gotten the chance to ever spill it.¡± Arascus said, it was basic questioning tactics. Kassandora was good to have on his team simply because Kassandora could be ascribed any terrible characteristic useful for the moment, and then she¡¯d be able to discard it the next moment. And considering Elassa had been crying, then Fer and Kassandora did not go easily on her. He scanned her face and hands, her dress was charred and frayed, but not torn. So she probably wasn¡¯t beaten then. He turned to Fer. ¡°You can come back or help Kass, your call. I want a conversation with our mutual friend here.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Fer smiled, made an innocent face, but it was somewhat ruined by the fact she had two fangs that would tear flesh. ¡°You¡¯re going on Elassa duty?¡± ¡°For an hour.¡± He said and Fer smiled with glee. ¡°Wonderful!¡± She said, clapping her hands and leaving. ¡°I¡¯ll tell Kassie!¡± Arascus nodded and Fer rushed out the door. It fell shut by itself behind her, and her footsteps beat against the room. Was she tumbling down the stairs? Arascus waited for the sounds to stop as he looked at Elassa. He then waited a moment longer. And a moment longer. A while more. Elassa stared at him and shivered. And stared and averted her eyes and stared at the wall, at him, at the table, at her hands. Finally, he broke the silence. ¡°Long time no see.¡± He said coldly. Elassa only nodded and the God on other side leaned back. ¡°We were like this a thousand years ago.¡± Only back then, the roles were reversed. ¡°Did you have this chat with Kavaa and them too?¡± Elassa asked coldly. ¡°No.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Kassandora recruited them, not my achievement.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Elassa said. ¡°So you think the Goddess of Magic is going to be your achievement?¡± Well, she a tricky one. Although Elassa had never been too sociable. That was simply her demesne, Anassa had the same problem. ¡°We both know I didn¡¯t mean it like that.¡± Arascus said with a smile. It wasn¡¯t even a case of recruitment or bringing Elassa into the fold, but if all they needed was a Goddess of Magic, then killing her and waiting a dozen years for a reincarnation would be the way to go. ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill you.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But before you get ahead of yourself, want and will are two very different things.¡± It was better to not let her get too comfortable. ¡°I¡¯m very aware of that.¡± Elassa said. ¡°I also do a lot of things I don¡¯t want to do.¡± Those eyes focused on the God and she sighed. ¡°Should you really have sent Fer away? Just from that meeting with Ciria, it was obvious you¡¯ve lost strength.¡± Arascus didn¡¯t even move a muscle. A disk appeared by his head, pulsing and swirling with various shades of gold, a blade pointed straight at Elassa slid out of it. He shrugged, the blade retreated, the disk collapsed. Elassa smiled to herself and shook her head. ¡°That was slow.¡± ¡°Demonstrations are always slow.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And without your staff, you¡¯re not going to be too fast yourself.¡± ¡°That a challenge?¡± Elassa asked, her eyes lighting up with some newfound confidence. ¡°Do you want it to be?¡± Arascus asked coldly, he had formulated a plan to sway Elassa. It wouldn¡¯t happen today, it was long and arduous, but Elassa had hierarchy ingrained into her, all mages did. You simply could not be respected in that community without talent in the arts. A fight wasn¡¯t optimal, but a fight would be a good way to establish hierarchy immediately. But he couldn¡¯t simply beat her into a pulp for no reason, loyalty didn¡¯t grow like that. It had to be her own mistake, a lesson he would teach, but one she would had to start herself. Elassa took a deep breath, adopted a fierce posture. And sighed, she leaned back down, arms dropping to her sides and shaking her head. ¡°I will not pretend I can beat even a weakened Arascus. It took forty of us back then.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t a fight.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The White Pantheon alone could have done it.¡± ¡°Leona predicted losses.¡± Elassa said dryly. ¡°So we just kept adding until she said she it would end.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Arascus said. ¡°She¡¯ll be back.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be Leona.¡± Elassa said. ¡°She came around when luck was commonplace, now¡­¡± Elassa shrugged. ¡°It¡¯ll just be some gambler most likely, or another Ciria.¡± It was phenomenal that even now, she was disgusted with Ciria. That was something Arascus could use. ¡°That¡¯s partly why we¡¯re still deciding what to do with you.¡± Elassa sighed and swung her arms on the chair. ¡°I¡¯m a dead Goddess already. Where Anassa not there, I would have died already.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I told Kassandora that Anassa would be useful in the battle against you.¡± Arascus said as the Goddess said at him, terribly unimpressed. ¡°Am I supposed to thank you for that?¡± Her eyes met Arascus¡¯ ones of dark gold. ¡°I have no intention of having done to me what was done to Kassandora or Anassa.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not for you to decide.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But you already know we prefer more permanent solutions.¡± Elassa nodded. ¡°So? When will I die?¡± Arascus wondered if the Goddess was actually this good at bargaining for herself, or if she actually had just given up. It was a good tactic, first he would have convince to keep herself alive, then convince her again. Two sets of bargains for the price of one. Smooth. ¡°Whether you will die is our decision.¡± Arascus said. He crossed his arms and fixed her with his gaze. ¡°As you know, we run tests and aim for permanent solutions.¡± Elassa nodded. ¡°So you do.¡± She said. ¡°With Kavaa, I assume it won¡¯t be good.¡± ¡°Neneria¡¯s theory this, not mine.¡± Arascus said. ¡°On the permanence of Divinity.¡± Elassa¡¯s eyes narrowed when she heard the Of Death¡¯s name, then again when she heard the word permanence. ¡°One demesne, one Divine, that, we all know for a definite.¡± Elassa¡¯s eyes widened and her cheeks went pale, Arascus only continued. ¡°But is it just a physical incarnation? Or the soul itself?¡± He kept going innocently, simply musing on the thought. ¡°There are some, like Of Light, who we assume will be an eternal problem. Even if we kill Allasaria, another Of Light will be made. Irinika is my daughter, an Of Light will always chase an Of Darkness. But a permanent solution?¡± ¡°Dragged into the Legion.¡± Elassa said quietly and Arascus smiled at her. He knew she would get it eventually. ¡°The soul would still exist on Arda. Could another incarnation appear then?¡± Elassa put her hands on her knees to stop them from shaking. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t.¡± She said. ¡°Would I not?¡± Arascus asked. Was there anything he would not do? ¡°You would be freed eventually of course, when we re-establish magical society around our values, then we¡¯d have another incarnation, but until then? What better method of containment is there?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± Elassa said. Her eyes started to tear up. Arascus only looked at her. There we go. Did she think her think her life was truly worth that much? That he would try and buy her will to stay alive? No. Hierarchy did not operate that way. ¡°Seconds thoughts on death?¡± Arascus made sure he would hammer the point home. Divines sometimes got over their fear of death. To him, it was an essential tool though. Elassa nodded and mumbled out some wordless word of affirmation. Arascus sighed and pulled out a cloth tissue, a simple thing he kept on him for cleaning his hands and black boots before meetings. He passed it to her. ¡°Don¡¯t cry Elassa, it doesn¡¯t work on me.¡± Elassa nodded again and blew her nose into the white tissue. She wiped her cheeks, and she sighed. ¡°But I¡¯m not¡­ I won¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t make me fight magicians.¡± She practically begged for it. Arascus only shrugged, he wasn¡¯t about to tie himself down with promises to people even he had some sort of respect for. ¡°I make no promises Elassa.¡± Arascus. ¡°But it probably won¡¯t happen. We don¡¯t trust you in combat.¡± The Goddess of Magic nodded with a sad smile. Arascus thought of pushing her further, but decided against it. It was better if she spent some more time with Fer first, got to like one of them. And Anassa. Anassa would be happy that Elassa was being treated right. ¡°I have one question.¡± Arascus said. Elassa nodded and let her him ask it without saying a word. This was simply something light, to get her to ease up around him. He knew what Allasaria was like, and Allasaria wasn¡¯t one for small talk. Elassa wasn¡¯t either, but everyone enjoyed small talk and pointless questions that didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Because you two are so similar, and I¡¯ve thought about it before. Did Anassa try to steal your name?¡± He didn¡¯t know what he expected, but those blue eyes widened. The Goddess before him got obviously angry, she slammed a fist on the table. Arascus was about to draw upon his blades when he saw mana leak out of eyes in two small flames. Her tone was cold. ¡°Do not even mention this.¡± She said. ¡°Besting me I can accept, but the absolute gall of the woman. It took two decades for me to beat it out of her. And even then, she claims to that this is some favour that she only changed two letters.¡± Arascus leaned back. Honestly, he had always assumed it was freak coincidence but now that he heard it from her. His laughter filled the room as he clapped his hands. ¡°That¡¯s my Ana!¡± Chapter 199 – The Greatest Show on Arda ¡®The White Pantheon can never again be allowed to meddle within the internal politics of Kirinyaa, the precedent set, the loss of territory with the Jungle and the loss of life with the invasion, framed under the guise of Peacekeeping, has shown the stance of Deities in regards to humanity. The Country Of Mortals Act is not designed to punish Goddess Kassandora, nor to tear down God¡¯s Arascus influence, it is written to make sure that Deities can still interact with our political sphere, but that never again will they be able to over-rule us as has been done before.¡¯ Mwai Ruku stared at the speech. This bill was necessary, and it was designed to do exactly what he said it would not. Kassandora lead the war well, no one could deny that, but Arascus himself was the issue. How he had done it, Mwai did not even know. Day-by-day, he could not point to a single thing that had changed, but he compared his influence now to the influence of a year ago. Ministers would be asked for opinions and they would earnestly and honestly say they needed an opinion from Helenna or Arascus. Now he looked at the green armbands supporting the Reclamation War and he saw them not as signs of Kirinyaa, but as a show of support for Arascus. Now, he saw the mistake with the Kirinyaa Army Implementation Bill, Kassandora had been permanently ingrained into their politics. The panic of the Jungle had rushed it through, Kassandora¡¯s own speech had infatuated even him. And in that mad fervour, it had passed. No discussion necessary. No eyeing over the details. No combing for mistakes. Nothing. The Army Implementation Bill had come in. And it had passed. And it carried Mwai¡¯s own stamp of office on it. And what now? Her position had no clauses on it. What was even the method of succession? Was it hereditary? Was it until she died? Until she stepped down and appointed a man to dance on her own strings? There was no way to vote her out, the only thing that could most likely do it was a call to action from the public, but who would stand against the Goddess who saved Kirinyaa not once but twice? Even if she did step down, what difference would it make? Was there a single man who served in that Army who was not fanatical to her? In the span of a mere year, she had caused a spill that would take generations to clean up. He got a new piece of paper and started to re-draft the speech. This one was too aggressive, it wasn¡¯t only a case of fooling the population. He had to make sure Arascus was comfortable enough to smell the poison in the meat he was being given. How did they let a deity just ingratiate themselves in Kirinyaa¡¯s affairs this much? Mwai stopped, sighed, looked at the half-drank bottle of rum by his paper and pushed it away. He had drank enough over these past few months already, Goddess Helenna had made sure of that with all her gifts. Mwai turned and looked out the window. It had been easy. They needed men, Arascus said he would rally men. They needed ammunition. Helenna and Arascus organized the companies. They needed artillery. Ausa would step in, at Arascus¡¯ behest. They needed battleplans, Arascus said not to worry and that Kassandora would lead the war. They had won the war, and the Divines won it for them. The crisis had reared its ugly head at tiny little irrelevant Kirinyaa. Then Helenna had supplied the metal, Arascus forged it into a blade, Kassandora struck the beast down. And now tiny little Kirinyaa had to take a step by itself. He looked at the KAF taking off against the bright blue sky from one of Nanbasa¡¯s airports. Painted in black and red and gold. There had been a joke before, KAF, officially Kirinyaa¡¯s Air Force was actually Kassandora¡¯s Air Force. It had been funny because of the fact the actual meaning of the acronym was never once mentioned in the document that brought about its existence. Now Kassandora¡¯s Air Force wasn¡¯t so funny. They were going to the celebration at Central Requisitions. KTV was being brought in to take interviews on what would be done now. EIE was going to be there too. Most of the ministers from parliament as well. The survivors of Melukal all had been given first-class tickets. Helenna would hold interviews. The soldiers would be recorded and turned from mere heroes into legends. Arascus and Kassandora would both be holding speeches. He had not been invited. Arascus found Helenna as she was working, planning out the organisation of the celebrations. Iniri was close by, Fer had returned to keep watch over Elassa. She would, unfortunately for her, have to stay there until Anassa returned. Then Elassa could be taken on walks to get some fresh air. Kassandora was on the other side of CR, practicing marching with her troops. ¡°We¡¯re going for some twenty thousand attendants.¡± Arascus said as he walked past rows of tables, they were all Iniri¡¯s work, pulled out from the wood that plastered the ground as if they were inside a giant hall and not the light blue sky. Bulldozers had come in quickly, they were here three hours after the battle ended. Helenna was to thank for that. The bosses of over a dozen construction firms had fallen her. Trucks were starting to arrive with food too. Fresh meats and cold deserts. Helenna did that too, although the local towns were more than happy to provide some produce for the saviours of Kirinyaa. Even a few private planes were coming in, loaded with alcohols and expensive gifts. Those would be given out to the soldiers and the people who were evacuated from the north. Again, it was Helenna¡¯s work. ¡°Twenty thousand can be done.¡± Helenna said as she looked over the tables with a proud smile. ¡°Realistically, I want space for twenty-five thousand. We might have some people who just turn up.¡± Arascus said. ¡°At the back preferably, out of camera view.¡± ¡°Can be done.¡± Helenna said, Arascus looked down at her. They were both wearing HAUPT uniforms, as almost always. Black boots, black coats, belts with their own insignias. Helenna had a dagger strapped to her leg, Arascus a sword sheathed. Helenna was feeling good too, her hair was a vivid, almost golden orange today. ¡°But keep them empty at first, then if someone comes send them food. To not make it look like we¡¯re wasting food.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that, good idea.¡± Arascus said, Helenna¡¯s hair flared red for a moment, and then settled back to orange, slightly brighter than before. ¡°Thanks.¡± She said. They walked a few more steps when a soldier in a green shirt approached the two of them. Dark, a native Kirinyaan, in a green shirt and shorts. He saluted. Arascus dismissed him with his own salute. ¡°It¡¯s for Goddess Helenna. We¡¯re running out of storage space.¡± ¡°What for?¡± Helenna asked gently. Her hair did not change. The man scratched his head and thought for a moment. ¡°Everything really.¡± Arascus didn¡¯t even know why the man had come, the issue was simple. ¡°Go to Kassandora, tell her this is my order. Use the armouries as storage for a while. Dry goods can be kept outside, the freezer trucks.¡± He turned to Helenna. ¡°They won¡¯t mind if we borrow them for a day?¡± Helenna smiled up devilishly at him. ¡°They won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Find them a parking spot. If things get even more urgent, then get Iniri to pull up warehouses.¡± The man nodded with every word, then saluted and left. ¡°That was easy.¡± Helenna said. ¡°It usually is.¡± Arascus replied as they kept on the walk. The fortress behind them was starting to flower again, Arascus had plans to turn it into a national heritage site soon. Something to remind Kirinyaa of how intertwined with divinity it actually was. ¡°I owe you an apology.¡± He didn¡¯t, but he knew that Allasaria would have never apologized to her, she considered it humbling. Arascus though? People simply did not understand that Pride was a mountain taller than any dark clouds. ¡°You do?¡± Helenna said out loud in shock. She actually missed a step and stumbled. Arascus caught her arm before she fell over and lifted her back onto her feet. ¡°Apologies for the war effort, you ran our logistics singlehandedly.¡± Helenna did not, Kavaa was the main distributor throughout the war, and Arascus matched Helenna in the amount of supply batches they sent to Kavaa. ¡°And apologies for what I¡¯m about to say Helenna.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± She cooed, hair turning red again. ¡°We have trouble on the home front.¡± At first, he thought Helenna would prefer the roundabout method, but after seeing her in meetings, he realised she preferred when things were laid out bare before her. ¡°With the Country of Mortals Act.¡± ¡°I actually was going to talk to you about this.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I can block it anytime.¡± Arascus shook his head. ¡°I want it passed.¡± And Helenna stopped, she looked up at Arascus, hair turning bright green: confusion. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°I want it passed.¡± Arascus repeated gently. ¡°I want the Country of Mortals Act to go through.¡± He turned around, took a step, and Helenna took three quick ones to catch up. ¡°I¡­¡± She said. ¡°Well, it¡¯ll actually be harder to make it pass than not, it¡¯s not popular.¡± Arascus nodded, he had thought it would be. ¡°Can you do it?¡± ¡°Of course I can!¡± Helenna half-shouted. ¡°Then please do.¡± ¡°Well I will.¡± Helenna said. ¡°But why?¡± Arascus smiled to himself. Explanations where always good, explanations reframed and rephrased and recalculated thoughts. An explanation was as good as a statistic, twice as good as a lie. ¡°Because we want to win.¡± Arascus said, he looked the tables. Fer would be inside, Iniri was far away, unless Anassa stepped into existence besides him, the conversation would not be overheard. ¡°Helenna, proud Goddess of Love.¡± She blushed at the title, hair turned redder than before. ¡°I could give you a speech right now, I could tell you all about the grandiosities of what a good rulership looks like, all of it.¡± Helenna gazed up at him and nodded. ¡°But I think both of us have lived long enough to know, haven¡¯t we?¡± She nodded even more frantically at that. ¡°Then there is no point no point wasting time on speeches we¡¯ve both heard before. Helenna, I want to win, you¡¯re not family in the way Kassandora is, but you¡¯re not a mere subordinate either.¡± And the Goddess beamed at that. ¡°I¡¯m not?¡± ¡°If you were, you¡¯d get this in writing and not words.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I make no promises, no grandiose statements or even acknowledge your glory because there is no need to. All I can say is that this is not the White Pantheon.¡± Honestly, he had to thank Allasaria. She had practically forced these three into his hands. ¡°If you want to leave, then you¡¯re always free to.¡± She wouldn¡¯t, there was no chance of that. ¡°But this is the same deal Kassandora and Fer got. Neither of them care for palaces and servants because they both know a word gets them both.¡± That much was true, Anassa had needed to be bribed at first to even give them a chance. Arascus sometimes wondered if she still remembered that. Most likely she did, it was Anassa. ¡°I don¡¯t take vows or codes of honour. I simply ask.¡± He put his hand forwards. ¡°Helenna, will you the conquer the world with us?¡± A Fortia or a Maisara, a woman who did not care for glory like Elassa would need to be bought, or have the good explained to them. But he had seen Helenna work, and Helenna wasn¡¯t like that. She was cold and bitter, she hated her gifts, she gave them away to the poor and forcefully feigned smiles when she received them. So Helenna simply got the deal. The promise of conquering the world, and all that came with it. The greatest of them all, but one Arascus knew she wouldn¡¯t call in. And Helenna looked at his outstretched hand. And she took it, she didn¡¯t even think about it. She simply took his hand. Arascus sighed and started to walk off with her. ¡°Allasaria¡¯s greatest issue was that she did not want the position.¡± Arascus began as he looked at the trucks in the distance. More cargo for tonight, the festivities would probably stretch on until tomorrow. ¡°You can see it in the rulership, the various Decrees to limit Divine power. She wasn¡¯t stupid, she knew Divines in charge of nations would lead to conflict, so they were conglomerated in the Divine Pantheon and kept close.¡± ¡°She said that too.¡± Helenna said. ¡°There is one option she didn¡¯t consider though.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And she is correct, it is the future of Arda, because if it¡¯s not, then Divinity will destroy this world.¡± ¡°Not decentralization, the opposite. We centralize the world around us. One Arda, One world. Not looking here, not there.¡± He pointed to random spots in the landscape, the jungle past the fields of ash and the mountains, the ones closest had been slowly crumbling through the entire day. One of them was having another landslide. ¡°But up there.¡± He pointed to the sky. This is why the Country of Mortals Act has to pass, because if it does, the people will clamour for Kassandora.¡± ¡°Will they?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°Can you make them clamour?¡± ¡°Of course I¡­¡± Helenna stopped her words. She looked up at Arascus, those eyes hardened. Her hair turned a deep dark red. She spoke again. ¡°I will.¡± He looked down at her with pride. This was another Malam. Maybe even better than the Goddess of Hatred herself. Malam had always said Helenna would be easy to convince, he had simply thought they didn¡¯t need her back then. ¡°And we will give them a Divine.¡± Arascus said proudly. He turned and took a step, her hand in his. ¡°Come, we have speeches to discuss.¡± There were speeches, and there was there was one letter to send. But that letter, no one but him would know about. Chapter 200 – A Night To Remember Fortia, Maisara, Zerus and Sceo returned to the quiet Pantheon. Cold bodies, dour men, heavy stretchers. Charred marble, sullen magicians, shifting stones. Stolen texts, bleak archivists, tapping checklists. Remorseless sun, still winds, red streets. Mountain, silent. Neneria sighed as she looked out over the horde of masses that had come to Central Requisitions. It was over. They had officially won the war at this point, the Pantheon simply hadn¡¯t announced a statement yet, but it was over. Their armies were retreating, Neneria herself had attacked them at Olympiada, Iliyal had freed the weapon Divines, they were being handed out to the Epan Governments now. Neneria sighed as she looked at the setting sun. That was a far prettier sight than the throngs of people Arascus had invited. Her eyes went from the vivacious purples, the brilliant reds, the animated oranges in the sky to the rows of tables. A swarm of souls, twenty three thousand, six hundred, eleven. That many to the dot, Neneria didn¡¯t have to count, she could simply feel them. She sighed as she looked at her black dress. Arascus had picked it out for her, it was as she liked it. With raven feathers and all. She sighed, clasped her hands behind her back, intertwined her fingers, and smiled. It was always like this at parties, she was a Divine of Arascus, so her attending was not an option, and he would make it up to her later. She knew he would, he always did. But that didn¡¯t mean she had to enjoy it. She feigned a smile, small. Pleasant hopefully, although she didn¡¯t care much. The Goddess of Death was a title where even the inkling of a lip curving upwards would be clamoured at. Fireworks were being set off, Binturongs and Lemurs were trundling around as soldiers showed them off to the politicians and civilians and cameras. One, she knew, was focused exclusively on her. She wondered what they hoped to catch. She wasn¡¯t Fer, she wouldn¡¯t embarrass herself in front of an audience. ¡°You¡¯re ecstatic today.¡± Kassandora said. Neneria didn¡¯t catch her approach over the songs and cheers and fireworks. Neneria turned for a moment, HAUPT suit, as was expected. Kassie in a dress was rarer than Fer. ¡°As good as you.¡± Neneria said and Kassie laughed. ¡°It¡¯s work.¡± Kassandora said quietly. ¡°So I can¡¯t complain.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Kassandora nodded to the camera crews. Arascus was taking an interview with some politicians with a swarm of reporters and a dozen cameras around him. ¡°It is.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Not my field of expertise, but war all the same.¡± Neneria¡¯s lips curled upwards as she thought of a way to annoy Kassandora. ¡°Hearts and minds Kassie. Hearts and minds.¡± She said, Kassandora only looked at her in confusion. ¡°And?¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯m just saying.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Not your field of expertise.¡± She saw that slight jump of Kassandora¡¯s eyebrows, the tightening of her cheeks, the smiling becoming forced. ¡°Pleasant as always.¡± Kassandora said. Was it bad? Neneria did not know, nor did she care too much. She immediately felt better though. ¡°Have you had a drink yet?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I¡¯ve not.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Kassandora immediately turned and waved her hand to a waiter in a nice suit, picked out by Helenna. Naturally, one came about immediately. A plate full of glasses in one hand, another full of bottles in the other. She took two of the bottles of hard Kirinyaan rum, and two glasses. ¡°We don¡¯t want to be drinking from bottles now, do we?¡± Neneria sighed. She always made a fool of herself when she drank. She watched as Kassandora put one of the bottles beside her on the ground and popped the other open with her thumb. And Neneria ended up with a glass in her hand and an empty bottle besides her. She felt the burn within her and she looked down at Kassandora again. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s annoying about you?¡± Neneria said and Kassandora sniffed in humour. ¡°A great many things I imagine.¡± ¡°The fact I¡¯m drunk and your cheeks aren¡¯t even rosy yet.¡± Kassandora turned to Neneria and made great big eyes. ¡°You?¡± She made a show of inspecting Neneria¡¯s face. ¡°Drunk? Never. I¡¯ve not seen it.¡± Neneria scowled and finished the rest of the drink. ¡°I¡¯m as drunk as a skunk.¡± Neneria said and Kassandora burst out in laughter. She reached around to pat Neneria on the back. ¡°I¡¯ll send Fer over to you Nene.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Of all people, why did Fer always get sent to her? ¡°Because you need someone to cheer you up.¡± Kassandora said smugly. ¡°And as you said, hearts and minds, not my field of expertise.¡± Neneria sighed and looked at her empty glass. She shouldn¡¯t have picked a battle with Kassie, this was something she wouldn¡¯t be able to win. Silly silly. She wanted a minor Divine to bully. ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± ¡°I heard please do.¡± Kassandora replied, devilishness rife in her tone. Annoying! Annoying and annoying! Neneria sighed as she looked into her empty glass. Wait. Didn¡¯t Kassie take two? But then she¡¯d have to ask. But it was her sister though! Why shouldn¡¯t she ask? ¡°Where¡¯s the other bottle?¡± That came out ruder than she wanted, but it got the point across. Kassandora only chuckled as she picked up the bottle by her feet and handed it to Neneria. Off came the wrapper holding back the cork. Neneria blinked. Corked rum! How high class! She pushed the cork open off and instead snapped the end off. And then stared at the bottle. ¡°Classic.¡± Kassandora said as she snatched the rum out of Neneria¡¯s hands. A knife came out of a pocket, and she stabbed it into the top. ¡°How you managed to survive before us, I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± Neneria asked and then blinked. That was her usual phrase, but it was Kassie, of course- ¡°No Nene, I do not know who you are.¡± Kassandora replied sarcastically. The cork only slid further in. Kassandora sighed and gave up. She turned and looked at Neneria. ¡°How drunk are you?¡± ¡°Not drunk enough.¡± Neneria replied and Kassandora chuckled. ¡°Let¡¯s fix that then.¡± She handed the back to Neneria. What exactly did she want doing? Neneria couldn¡¯t drink thi- A swipe of Kassandora¡¯s knife at the bottle¡¯s neck sent the glass flying off, cork and all. Neneria blinked, realised she had been swung at, and yelped backwards, spilling the rum over her hand. Kassandora caught the bottle as Neneria took a step back. ¡°Warn me next time!¡± Neneria shouted. Kassandora looked inside the bottle with a smile. One hand held the bottle, the other gave the knife a flashy spin and it disappeared somewhere. ¡°Faster this way.¡± She peered in from a different direction. ¡°No glass inside, you can drink it.¡± Neneria took the bottle and poured herself a glass. Full, all the way to the rim. ¡°Proud to be of service.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You didn¡¯t even do anything.¡± Neneria said as she sniffed her glass and took a swig. ¡°I¡¯m on break right now.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°So nanny duty.¡± ¡°Nanny duty?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°What are you even talking about?¡± Kassandora chuckled in that smug way only she could. She actually leaned up to pat Neneria on the shoulder. How patronizing! ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it Nene, you wouldn¡¯t get it.¡± Jozef, Wissel, Aimone, Artois and Richard entered the farm that had been taken over by the Lubskan Government in order to house the weapon Divines. Olonia close behind them. Thirty Divines were hidden here, and it was only time to share them out. Anassa sat next to Elassa on one of CR¡¯s great branches, the fortress was brimming with flowers and fruit. Two pairs of legs under skirts, one blue, one red, kicking the empty air as they watched the throngs of masses party underneath them. Bright lights, fireworks, a beautiful sky, ashes and jungle in the distance. Mountains that were rumbling with landslides behind them. ¡°It¡¯s like watching a horde of ants.¡± Anassa said and Elassa chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re right about that.¡± Elassa said quietly from next to her. Arascus had said that Elassa wasn¡¯t to be left unattended, but since it was Anassa¡¯s directive that she stay alive, it was her responsibility. She had another copy of herself down on the ground ingratiating herself with the politicians and celebrities anyway, so she wasn¡¯t missing out. ¡°Do you want a drink?¡± She held her arm out, ready to grasp the bottle the Anassa on the ground was holding. ¡°Never did it cross my mind you would even offer.¡± Elassa said and Anassa scoffed. She put her arm back down. ¡°Well if you¡¯re like that.¡± Anassa scoffed and Elassa laughed. ¡°You¡¯ve not changed a bit.¡± ¡°Hard to change when there¡¯s nothing left to improve.¡± Elassa burst out in laughter, clutching her sides, legs kicking in the air. ¡°Not one bit!¡± She finally shouted. It took a moment to calm down and then Elassa finally acquiesced. ¡°Alright, bring a drink.¡± ¡°Well now you¡¯re demanding one.¡± Anassa said and Elassa chuckled again. ¡°Oh great and noble Anassa.¡± Elassa said sarcastically, even clasping her hands together as if she was praying. ¡°Please, deign the Goddess of Magic with a drink.¡± Anassa rolled her eyes at the mockery, but frankly, she wanted a drink herself. The bottle down there disappeared, and it blinked into the Anassa¡¯s hand up here. ¡°I could never get that trick.¡± Elassa said. ¡°It¡¯s easy once you figure it out.¡± ¡°Everything is easy once you figure it out.¡± Anassa clicked her tongue. It was annoying that she couldn¡¯t find a way to disagree with that statement. She wanted to, but only because it came a mouth that wasn¡¯t her own. ¡°Here.¡± A small light of red popped the cork off and sent it falling to the ground. ¡°No glasses?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°Are you a child?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not an alcoholic.¡± ¡°The bottle is here, I¡¯m not getting glasses.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t or won¡¯t?¡± A glass immediately appeared in Anassa¡¯s hand. She showed it off to Elassa and then dropped it towards the ground. More fireworks went off in the distance. ¡°Wow.¡± Elassa¡¯s tone was as flat and dead as the fields of ash around Central Requisitions, but she took the bottle. ¡°You really are the exact same.¡± She took a swig. Another. A third. A fourth. How much did woman drink? ¡°Hey!¡± Anassa shouted and pulled it out Elassa¡¯s mouth and looked at the contents. HALF! She actually downed half the bottle! ¡°How much do you drink?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve built up a tolerance.¡± Elassa said as she laughed and lay down. ¡°Besides, we¡¯re Divines, that¡¯s not even a lot.¡± ¡°You should see Neneria.¡± Anassa lay down next to her. Just branches and leaves above them. That wasn¡¯t a view at all. Anassa snapped her fingers, a column of red light shot upwards, and the branches were gone to reveal a hole. They both looked through it, stars on a purple and dark blue sky. ¡°I was about to suggest that.¡± ¡°You could have done it yourself.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Could have, should have, would have.¡± Elassa snapped back quickly. Anassa rolled her eyes, it was annoying she couldn¡¯t think of a retort to that either. ¡°How did you even last in the White Pantheon that long with that attitude?¡± ¡°I lasted longer than you would have.¡± Elassa answered quickly. ¡°Fantastic.¡± Anassa replied. They fell silent for a moment, Elassa broke the silence. ¡°So what are you going to do now?¡± She asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Anassa replied. ¡°Mmh.¡± Elassa made some wordless sound of affirmation. Anassa thought she should explain, she didn¡¯t know why, there was no reason to explain herself to anyone. Maybe apart from Arascus. But Elassa¡­ she was on that level. ¡°Battle plans are Kass¡¯s responsibility.¡± Elassa sniffed in humour. ¡°Responsibility?¡± She asked. ¡°I used the correct word.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just questioning how you, of all people, allow someone else decide for you.¡± ¡°She¡¯s better at it than me.¡± Anassa replied. She waited for a reply that never came. Eventually, she turned to investigate what Elassa was doing. Two blue sapphire eyes were staring at her in almost awe, mouth slightly open. ¡°What?¡± And Elassa gave a slow reply, her voice full of awe. ¡°You have changed.¡± Aslana looked around at who she had been chosen with. Not Labrys, that feeling was pleasant at first, then it became irritating. Frankly, she wanted to show off to Labrys more. She looked at Bessy and crossed her arms. Why? Why? Of all the nations Bessy could have been assigned to, why was it not Labrys who got this upstart junior and her instead? Too late now. And it wasn¡¯t the end of the world. Not after Iliyal had quietly explained the situation to her. Fer tested the crate with her tail. It wasn¡¯t too heavy. In fact, it wasn¡¯t heavy whatsoever, she didn¡¯t have to be so delicate with it. She took large steps, smile on her face, as she made her way through the crowd. A wave to one camera, a smile to another, a funny face to a third. Parties, she always enjoyed. The song and dance of it all, the people, everything. But those were parties with Divines or with her beastmen, with people who had grown comfortable with her. Now, she was the Goddess of Beasthood, people were talking off the feats she performed on the Zalewski¡¯s eastern front. It wasn¡¯t even a boast, her ears could pick them out as they swivelled in different directions. Great Fer, who saved someone¡¯s brother. Amazing Fer, who made sure a father¡¯s son would return home. Powerful Fer, who singlehandedly defeated a team of a dozen battlemages. Fer adopted a smug smile as she strolled, arms behind her back in that way Kassandora walked when she showed off. Large steps, golden main whistling behind her, a crate on vodka held up by her tail. She knew where to go, a quick phone call in advance from one of the two dozen contacts in her phone made sure of that, but she still took the long way around to listen to stories about herself. At the end of the day, she liked the praise, it was as if Arascus was scratching her on the chin.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. But how much praise could one person take? Fer stopped and listened to another story about herself. Awesome Fer, who had saved some soldier¡¯s team and then wiped out three Paladin brigades. She nodded to herself and kept up the walk. It was good. It was fine. But there was little to comment on with speeches like that, the most she could do is bow and make a joke. But she knew were the people who would be complaining where. And if there was one thing more fun listening to people sing her praises, then it was listening to others bemoan their sorry lots in life. The crowds parted naturally for her, she was twice the size of the tallest human, entire men could stand upright in her shadow and not see the moon. So she walked smoothly past the tables as waiters nimbly manoeuvred around her. Her beastmen had their own table, they were having a blast with some dancers and plenty of meats being roasted on campfires. The drinks had started to flow early in the day, and a warm stomach burned with a bravery that would make even heroes of legends blush. Men were coming up to talk to them, that was good, she didn¡¯t like when they were excluded. But her beastmen, she could always talk to. These men though. She saw once in a blue moon, and they were unsung heroes that deserved their own praises. ¡°Lads!¡± Fer shouted. She stopped in front of a Binturong. A vehicle that had changed the world, that everyone thought was a wondrous marvel, and one that had songs it did not deserve. A man was sitting on it, having a smoke, an empty glass next to him. A Cleric assigned to the engineering corps. He looked down at Fer, blinked, and his face lit up with a smile. ¡°FER!¡± He shouted. ¡°How¡¯ve you been?¡± He immediately said as slid off the machine¡¯s top and onto the ashen ground. The mechanics closer to the giant trees of CR were actually getting attention from the cameras and public and politicians, but these were quite lonely, populated only by the mechanics. Fer looked up at the vehicle as other Clerics appeared from the vehicle. One man from the cockpit, another two from underneath, they had gambling cards sticking out of their pockets. ¡°You know you know.¡± Fer replied, she made a funny face, leaned her head from side to side. ¡°War and fire.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Standard business, I¡¯ve been all smiles.¡± The men laughed. Jeffrey finished the cigarette and stamped it down. ¡°And you boys?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been considering asking to be assigned on the frontlines.¡± One of the mechanics said, another face Fer recognised from the Reclamation War, a man called Thomas. All of them were in their full Clerical kit, green clothes underneath topped off with silver armour, finely polished too. ¡°You boys are shining today.¡± Fer said and tutted comically, she wagged a finger at them. ¡°Not good that, I¡¯ll tell Kassie you¡¯re slacking off.¡± ¡°Fucking Hell, you do that.¡± Jeffrey said as he came to shake her hand. She made sure to be as delicate as possible. ¡°I¡¯ll shove one of these up your ass.¡± Jeffrey pointed behind himself with a thumb and a closed fist. Fer burst out in laughter. This is what she had come for. No one else would speak to her like that. ¡°Mine?¡± Fer looked up at the Binturong. It had been repainted, and flags were hanging off the barrel. Ausa¡¯s and Kirinyaa¡¯s tricolour, and Kassandora¡¯s red one. She shook her head. ¡°Won¡¯t fit, apologies for not being as experienced as you in this department.¡± The mechanics all burst out in laughter. ¡°I¡¯ve brought something.¡± ¡°What?¡± One of the mechanics said excitedly. Fer made a show of looking around, she turned her head, she spun on the spot. Her tail moved with her. ¡°Oops!¡± Fer said sarcastically, facing the crowds in the distance. ¡°I think I¡¯ve lost it.¡± Her tail gently put the crate of rum down. She turned again and made a comically shocked expression. ¡°Oh! There it is!¡± The bottles were handed out: To this team, to the one from the Binturong over, to the team that had been assigned on standing by the wheeled Lemur artillery too. And once the mechanics got to drinking, the fun started. They sat in a circle and Fer listened to them share their stories with a beaming smile. ¡°That fucking piece of shit!¡± A man shouted, a new one, not a Cleric this one. Fer sipped on her own bottle. The garage was truly an amazing place, seemingly any man could be placed into it and come out the exact same as they all were. ¡°That one! That one!¡± He pointed at the Binturong next to them. ¡°Fucking Sokolowski sent it back six times! six fucking times!¡± ¡°You have to give them a smack on the way out or they keep coming back.¡± Fer said and the mechanics all laughed. ¡°No way six times. You just can¡¯t fix for shit.¡± Another mechanic said. ¡°Mine, I saw once.¡± ¡°Fuck off Lemur boy.¡± More laughter. ¡°I meant it! We fucking started scratching the armour to mark repairs.¡± ¡°Wait till I report you for sabotage.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll fucking drive your stupid fucking Lemur over with my tracks.¡± Fer burst out in laughter, she didn¡¯t even know why. It was simply funny. ¡°No no no.¡± Another mechanic came in. ¡°All of you think you have it bad, no, fuck off. You¡¯ve not seen the worst of it.¡± ¡°What¡¯s worse than this rotting piece of shit?¡± A man pointed to the huge Binturong next to them. ¡°KAF.¡± ¡°Fuck off KAF are great. You ever see a Raptor break down?¡± One man spoke up. Each member of every team had his own colourful curse of choice for the man assigned to Raptor repairs. ¡°Fucking Hell, you¡¯re not even one of us! The fuck do you even do? Crank one out eight hours a day and then just put fuel in the tank?¡± ¡°Fuck off I have a girlfriend.¡± ¡°Yeah she¡¯s the whole team¡¯s.¡± More laughter. Fer clutched her ribs to contain herself. She finished her bottle and took another one from the crate. ¡°No, KAF are dogshit.¡± ¡°Dogshit is parked right here.¡± ¡°The planes, when they came in, we fucking had to replace the aluminium because it was rotting. You ever see aluminium rot you cretin?¡± He pulled out his phone and showed them all a picture. Even Fer. She made large eyes although frankly, to her, it simply looked like a rancidly dirty steel. ¡°I¡¯ve seen that before!¡± ¡°Where? You fucks get stainless steel.¡± ¡°Raptor-boy¡¯s girlfriend!¡± Maisara read through the report of what occurred at Drayim. She felt her stomach hit a brick for the third time. First time was when Fortia said she would announce Peacekeeping a failure. Second when they realised Neneria had been sent to Olympiada. Third when she saw Drayim had been attacked. And just now, her stomach sank again. Fourth time today. Drayim was one thing. But the Divines kept underneath Drayim? Oh no. Iniri stood in the centre of a crowd. She couldn¡¯t remember the last time she did this. Before, she¡¯d have to ask Allasaria for permission. Now, she had actually gone up, clutching her green dress, to ask Arascus for permission. He had merely raised an eyebrow and questioned why she even asked. And Iniri had stood there, gone as red as a ripe apple, and quickly skittered away. A dozen trees were around her, breaching through the soil close to CR and continuously producing fruit. One for apples, another for oranges, bananas, pears, another wage a winding willow, but on it was a thick grapevine. People would bow, would smile, would laugh, would pick the fruit, would tell her it was the most delicious fruit they had ever tasted. That was enough to make her happy for the night, but then a little boy came up to her. ¡°Miss Iniri?¡± He asked. His parents were behind him, all Kirinyaans, skinny, most likely refugees from the top, although their clothes were clean if not fashionable, they had obviously put some effort in to be here. Iniri squatted down with a gentle smile. ¡°Yes sweetheart?¡± She made her tone as gentle as she could. ¡°I¡­¡± He began and started to blush. Then turned and raced back to his mother. Iniri merely kept posture as she watched his parents reassure him for a moment. The boy turned, took a deep breath, and walked with careful steps to Iniri. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t do anything.¡± Iniri turned and her eyes bulged in surprise. Anassa was standing in the air, red dress gently carried in the breeze as bright flashes of red light shot from within the leaves of the orange tree and oranges darted into an arm cupped around her stomach. Anassa turned and saw Iniri catch her. She looked at the oranges. At the tree. At Iniri. And then the Goddess of Sorcery went bright red that she had been caught in the act. ¡°They¡¯re good.¡± Anassa quickly said. And Anassa disappeared, oranges and all. Iniri laughed to herself and held out an arm, a compliment from Anassa was something she would share with Kavaa and Helenna later. A vine carried one of the apples into her palm and she turned back to the boy. He was staring with awe at the moving plants. ¡°Do you want an apple?¡± The boy nodded and Iniri gave it to him. He clutched it to his chest and took a deep breath, cheeks going as red as the skin of the fruit he was holding. ¡°Miss Iniri.¡± He said carefully again. ¡°Yes dear?¡± She asked. ¡°I¡­ I-I talked with Miss Kavaa.¡± He said. ¡°A-A-And¡­ she said¡­¡± He closed his eyes and spoke very quickly. ¡°Please-can-you-make-me-a-lion-toy?!¡± It was a half shout. The boy opened his eyes when he heard Iniri laugh. ¡°Of course!¡± Iniri said. ¡°Since you asked me so nicely, and you were brave enough to ask yourself.¡± The magic was already working, and what was a simple wooden toy for her? A stick slowly grew out of the ground, she made sure to put on a show for the boy, with the branches curving and swirling through the air, then making a gentle turn. ¡°Put your hands out dear.¡± The boy quickly put the apple into his pocket and put his arms out as the end of the branch made a ball. Ball turned into torso, four legs sprouted out the bottom, a tail, a mouth, a roaring lion. It shed the bark, a thin layer of sap covered it, quickly dried out to give it a shine and protect it from the air. ¡°Ready?¡± Iniri asked. The boy nodded and the tiny piece of wood holding the lion snapped. It fell into the boy¡¯s hands. He looked at it in awe, squealed in joy, and then ran back to his parents. Iniri watched them for a moment as she stood up and got back to tending the trees. A few more fruits were grown, and she felt something gently poke her leg. She turned and looked down. It was the little boy again. She quickly scanned for the parents, they were holding the lion toy and watching their child and the Goddess with proud, bright smiles. ¡°Ah-Ah-Ah.¡± He spluttered out some syllable-less words, then gave up, and hugged her leg. And in that moment, Iniri realised all those years she had chosen the wrong team. People cried, people thanked her, people sang songs for her, but never had this happened. She blinked the water on her eyes away and sighed, then squatted down to the boy¡¯s height and held her arms out. That was a proper hug. And with that one toy, another child came. An eagle for a girl. A sculpture of his parents for another boy. A rhinoceros. A tree. A house. Another lion. The lion was very popular here, as was the rhino. Tiny little wooden toys that made sure these little children would never forget her. But then came a girl, maybe ten, maybe eleven. Blushing and looking everywhere but at Iniri. With long dark hair and arms fidgeting by her sides. ¡°Miss Iniri?¡± ¡°Yes sweetheart?¡± ¡°Please¡­¡± She looked down, took a deep breath, looked up and met Iniri¡¯s eyes with a childish attempt at confidence. ¡°Please Miss Iniri can I have little figurine of you?¡± In that moment, Iniri couldn¡¯t stop her own happy tears from making two thin streams down her cheeks. ¡°How bad is the situation?¡± Fortia asked Maisara. ¡°It¡¯s bad enough for me to say I can¡¯t actually think of anything worse that could have happened.¡± Kavaa eventually found Olephia, she was stood painting on a balcony of CR. She didn¡¯t know why, but she always wanted to meet Olephia. She knew Helenna and Iniri did too, and they had, but it was always with someone else. That short meeting had quelled the curiosity in them, but not in Kavaa. The Goddess of Chaos was stood before a giant wooden wall, perfectly smoothed with sap, and brushing away with her paints. Kavaa said nothing, she merely stood there and watched. It was mesmerizing, beautiful. She had seen Olephia¡¯s paintings before, all of them have. How could they not? Almost every national gallery had a painting of hers still preserved behind glass, the White Pantheon¡¯s own museum had more than a hundred of them. But to see one being made? Olephia stood there, music playing, lost in her own thoughts, rolling her head from side to side, tapping her foot to the beat, rolling her hips during the chorus and gently guiding the brush from side to side. She was drawing the entire scene before her, the fields of ash, the silhouettes of crumbling mountains, the throngs of people, the tables arranged, the helicopters in the air. Planes on the ground, trucks parked in long lines, every tiny little detail, popping and brought to life. She spun, a wide smile on her face, saw Kavaa and stopped suddenly. The smile did not drop, but she put messy palette, different colours mixed into a thousand different hues carefully, the dipped her paintbrush in a cup of water carefully brushed it off. ¡°Sorry for interrupting.¡± Kavaa said slowly. Now that she was here, she really didn¡¯t know what to say. This was Olephia. The Goddess of Chaos. The one who¡¯s throat broke atoms apart. Who had annihilated the Jungle¡¯s Caretaker with a single word. And now she stood before Kavaa. Titles were not necessary for Olephia. Olephia was simply The Olephia. In a dark dress as if she was ready to go for a dance, although admittedly it did have a few specks of paint here and there across the front. Her arms and hands were just as dirty. And Olephia skipped to a nearby table, dipped her hands in another bowl of clear water, wiped them down on her dress, and pulled out a notepad. Kavaa! She said showed the text to Kavaa and then wrote some poor. Heavens above, she really did have pretty handwriting. What brings you here? ¡°I just wanted to talk¡­¡± Kavaa said and realised what she just said. Olephia smiled and wrote a reply. Do not worry, this is how I talk. ¡°I¡­¡± Kavaa was at a loss for words. ¡°I just wanted to see what you were doing.¡± Olephia smiled smugly. Her pen worked quickly. Curious about the Goddess of Chaos? ¡°I suppose I am.¡± I¡¯m an open book. Not much to hide. ¡°I suppose not.¡± Kavaa replied. Olephia turned excitedly to the painting she was working on, showing it off with both hands, notepad and pen still held in her hands, her smiled showed off perfect white teeth. And then she wrote a reply. Do you like it? ¡°I think it¡¯s gorgeous.¡± Kavaa said. Honestly, this wasn¡¯t so bad. The purples were hard to mix. I used blue and red, but added a tiny bit of black. Olephia ripped the paper off and handed it to Kavaa, then wrote more. She didn¡¯t care much for the lines that had come printed on the paper. That was too dark, so I made it lighter, then I accidently smudged it with orange but I think the shade came out really nice! Normally you mix too many together and you get death brown. ¡°Death brown?¡± Kavaa asked and Olephia nodded excitedly. Death brown because it¡¯s the death of a painting. Better than death grey, or death black. That¡¯s just gone! Finito! Caput! Kavaa laughed at the text. I used a pencil to draw it first, have you seen my sketches? ¡°I¡¯ve not.¡± Kavaa said. Olephia walked over to the over side of Iniri¡¯s wall and picked up a large book. She flicked open a few pages, tapped one twice, pointed at Kavaa, then showed it off. And Kavaa was looking at¡­ herself. A perfect version of herself, in black and white, it was a simple sketch after all. But¡­ Wow. She looked at herself holding a blade, the ill and sickly behind her. A line of Clerics before her, but it was her. Olephia wrote something more in her notepad. Do you like it? ¡°That¡¯s brilliant.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°How? When did you do it? Without a reference?¡± Olephia made a smug smile and put her fingers to her lips. ¡°It¡¯s a secret?¡± Kavaa asked and Olephia nodded. Then wrote some more text. Fer likes taking pictures. She takes pictures of everything. ¡°She has pictures of me?¡± She has pictures of everyone. Olephia smiled and she quickly wrote a reply. Honestly, I don¡¯t even know why, her memory is perfect. ¡°What? Does she have them of me sleeping too?¡± Olephia made a smug smile. She¡¯ll get them if I ask ¡°Don¡¯t ask.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Please?¡± Well since you asked so politely I¡¯ll save you. And Olephia scrawled some more. Do you want a drink? ¡°You drink!?¡± Kavaa honestly could not even contain herself. She had expected to be surprised. All of Arascus¡¯ daughters were completely different than what she expected, but not this! Of course I drink! Olephia wrote quickly. Do you know any Divine that doesn¡¯t? Kavaa chuckled for a moment. Actually now that Olephia said it, she didn¡¯t know a single one. Even Maisara drank. What do you like? ¡°I like Whiskeys and Rums. Gin too.¡± Olephia nodded with each one. Her reply came quickly. Predictable. ¡°PREDICTABLE!?¡± All doctor¡¯s drinks. You¡¯re an open book. Olephia smiled. What do you think I drink? ¡°I honestly have no clue.¡± Guess! Kavaa looked Olephia up and down. She was smiling and excited, bouncing from foot to foot. What would she drink? ¡°Vodka?¡± Kavaa asked. Olephia smiled and shook her head. I like that you didn¡¯t overthink it. She wrote some more. Close, Fer is the only one that got closer than you. She walked behind her bored and brought out a large glass. Already half of it was gone. And it was filled with¡­ Kavaa stared at whatever that was¡­ was that even drinkable? It looked like brown sludge. Why did it have a consistency? ¡°What the fuck is that?¡± Kavaa said, then put her hands to her mouth when she realise she swore. Olephia smiled, closed her eyes, and took a silent sip. Then handed it to Kavaa and made a drinking motion. Kavaa stared at the¡­ she had made medicines that looked better! And medicines were supposed to be disgusting! Kavaa took a sigh, and tasted it. Coffee. Vodka. Orange juice. Apple juice too. Tiny amount of coffee. Good amount of vodka. The juices overpowered the bitter taste, although the vodka was obviously not a good brand. There was something spicy too, pepper? No, something like peppers instead. Kavaa swirled it around her mouth and drank. It wasn¡¯t bad actually. She looked at the mixture. ¡°Can I have some more?¡± Olephia blinked in surprise, her mouth finally opened and she closed it. You like it? ¡°It¡¯s not the worst thing I¡¯ve ever tasted.¡± Kavaa took another sip. It honestly wasn¡¯t terrible, although she had never been a picky eater or a picky drinker. She even drank the herbiest gins straight. It¡¯s a joke. Olephia made a circle around her wall and brought back two glasses. Then again. A bottle and a handful of oranges. I make them bad on purpose. She looked at Kavaa. Does your tongue work? ¡°It¡¯s honestly not the worst thing I ever drank.¡± Olephia made an impressed face. Well you¡¯re the first one then. Olephia wrote quickly. I just mix orange juice and vodka normally. ¡°Iniri has good oranges.¡± Kavaa said. Olephia beamed a smile as she wrote a reply down. I know! I get Anassa to bring me them! They¡¯re really sweet! Not too sour either! ¡°Have you ever tried her tangerines?¡± She can grow tangerines? ¡°She¡¯s Iniri, what can¡¯t she grow?¡± Kavaa said. She knew Olephia liked sweets, that was already odd enough. ¡°But her tangerines are really sweet. I think you¡¯d like them.¡± Kavaa said as Olephia ripped an orange apart with her hands. The vodkas were already poured, these were a better brand, and the orange juice filled up the cup. And now that they were talking, Kavaa actually found Olephia¡¯s company quiet pleasant. She was much easier to spend time with than any of them. Kassandora always kept her on her toes, Anassa was just terrible. Arascus was overpowering, Fer was funny, but Fer was mischievous and she got annoying too. And Neneria¡­ In this conversation, Kavaa probably exchanged more words with Olephia than she had the entire since she met Neneria. And Olephia, destructive Goddess of Chaos, the force of Uncreation, simply talked. ¡°Ten time-¡° Olephia silenced Kavaa by pressing a finger to her lips. She cupped her other hand to her ear. ¡°Listen?¡± Olephia nodded and leaned over the balcony. Kavaa leaned with her. There was a song in a terribly delicate voice coming from below. Olephia smiled, closed her eyes, and swayed her head to the music. ¡°That¡¯s Neneria?¡± Olephia nodded. The reply came quickly. Kassie promised me she¡¯d get Nene to sing. ¡°She is a good singer.¡± Everyone says that. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± That, it is. And so they stayed, and listened. And Kavaa would never forget this night. She doubted any of them would. Chapter 201 – Poof. And There’s Something There. Kavaa awoke to Olephia prodding her arm. They had both fallen asleep on the balcony, wrapped under separate blankets. Olephia had rolled a mat to stare at the stars, Kavaa had simply reclined against the wall, she had slept in far worse before. And the stars had been pretty. And the alcohol had sent her off to sleep. Five empty bottles were lined up against the wall. They were Divines after all. Olephia made a sour expression and pointed to her head. Then her tummy. Kavaa blinked grogginess away as she stretched out from under the blanket. Olephia grabbed Kavaa¡¯s hand, placed the palm on her head, and made a pained expression. Kavaa blinked and realised what she was trying to communicate. Poor Olephia had a hangover. Olonia stared at the five men in the room. Jozef in front of her, in a dark suit. Then Wissel to his side, in a royal suit and wearing a tiny band to signify his crown. Saksma stood behind him, taller than Olonia although after Waramunt, Olonia did not really care about the height differences. She stood there with a stern and sober expression, hands behind her back. Then President Artois, Paida behind him. Her lips were quirked upwards, they always were, Paida could see the world destroyed and still carry that vaguely-positive expression. Aimone next, with Agrita. In a classic dress of her own choosing that did little to help the men in the room concentrate. And Aliana of Allia, hair a golden-red. In a naval officer¡¯s uniform and a red cape bearing a lion on her back. ¡°I think the success calls for a drink.¡± Jozef said proudly. ¡°We are ready to begin with Epan separation from the Pantheon.¡± The other four men cheered and Olonia leaned forwards. Jozef turned to her. ¡°Can?¡± She began and stopped immediately. Would Anassa say that? Would Neneria? How many words did Neneria waste on questions? She took a breath. ¡°We¡¯ll go to a different room, alright?¡± That was still weak, but it was the best she could do on the spot. ¡°Me and the other Divines.¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± Jozef said. Aimone was already bringing out a bottle of Rilian wine from his side. Artois a bottle of Rancais one. There¡¯d be an argument over who had better and Olonia did not care enough who drank what. Lubskan vodkas were the best anyway. Saksma, Paida, Aliana and Agrita all raised eyebrows in surprise, all smiled gently as if questioning the situation, but none of them said anything. Olonia felt the tension drain from her body, and then come back. Would Anassa even care? Anassa would tell people to leave and then leave herself. Would Aslana? Aslana was only a mere sword. Aslana had stood nude in front of two dozen men she had never met before, and yet she stood like a Divine who could have ruled the world. She stood as naked as a proud blade. And Olonia could not even say a word to her. Olonia could not get the events of the night two days ago out of her mind. She turned without waiting for affirmation from the other rulers, and simply left. And at the door, she saw Saksma sway from side to side, as if unwilling to ask Wissel for permission. Paida¡¯s smile dropped and she took a tentative step towards Olonia. Aliana bent down to whisper a question to Richard. Agrita was the only one who actually moved towards her, but even her steps were slow as if she was waiting for Aimone to recall her. And so they moved to the room on the other side of the corridor. This meeting was being held in Chateau de Chenon, near the town of its namesake. A grand building, stretching out over the water. But Olonia and Jozef had not come here to discuss the architecture of a stone mansion built on top of a pier. They were here to discuss the next steps of Epan separation from the Pantheon, but Olonia did not really care. It¡¯s not like she wielded any influence in those discussions. Why even bring her along? The doors were wide and tall enough for Divines, but none of the furniture was. A week ago, Olonia would have been impressed. She would have commented how thoughtful it was that she didn¡¯t have to lower her head, she would sung praises for the builders, and commented on how unnecessary it was. And now Olonia stared at the room, with all its tiny little human-sized furniture and scowled. Saksma saw the scowl and narrowed her eyes as she stepped in. Agrita flung herself onto the couch. A Divine filled it up entirely. Aliana sat on the made bed. Paida simply crossed her arms and leaned against the door as Olonia shut the door behind them. Why even build the mansion to fit Divinity if there was no furniture? Why go through the trouble? It wasn¡¯t thoughtful whatsoever. It was simply a waste. A game, a mere pantomime at this strength the White Pantheon and Arascus¡¯ Divines wielded without actually being the proper thing. What? So Olonia could take a brisk walk through all the corridors and not sit down once? She took a deep breath. ¡°What did they tell you?¡± These ancient castles had been Wissel¡¯s plan. Every country in Epa had its heritage buildings, and Epan Community building laws had been pushed through by Wissel. The buildings were to be maintained as they were, that meant no electricity, even the lamps were still candle lights. More importantly, there weren¡¯t any hidden wires about. It was annoying that a Doschian thought of it. But whatever, it meant they could talk. ¡°What do you know?¡± Olonia asked sternly and Saksma raised her eyebrows. ¡°What a tone Olonia.¡± Saksma said. Paida came in, ever diplomatic. ¡°We understand you¡¯re not going to be happy with the fact it was held on Lubskan territory.¡± Olonia raised an eyebrow as her mind had to repeat the words three times.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Richard¡¯s told me nothing. He said it was a success, but that¡¯s it. I know we¡¯re getting the Axe, Halberd, Spear and Gauntlets.¡± Aliana said. Olonia blinked. So they knew nothing? So Jozef had no said anything? Or did he? ¡°I meant about the battle, not after.¡± Olonia said. ¡°And the Axe is called Labrys.¡± And that immediately got four sets of Divine eyes looking at her in surprise and confusion. Even Agrita sat up on the couch, straightened her back, put her hands on her knees and listened in. ¡°The axe is called Labrys.¡± Aliana had to repeat it to herself. ¡°I¡¯m getting Aslana, she¡¯s Of the Sword.¡± Olonia said. ¡°Pridwen is the shield. Bess is the Musket.¡± Even more shocked expressions. Even Saksma, usually so stern and combative, dropped her hands and stared in awe at Olonia. Poof. And something came about within Olonia. Something that told her this was exactly how people should always be looking at Divines, it was the way she had looked at Aslana. ¡°Been doing your reading?¡± Paida asked. ¡°How do you know that?¡± Saksma asked at the same time. Olonia took a deep breath. Closed her eyes. She let the air out. She swallowed the air again. And she said what needed to be said. ¡°I was there.¡± No one laughed. No one said anything. No jaws dropped, but faces became pale. Aliana stood up from the bed, Agrita somehow managed to sit even straight. Paida pulled herself off the wall and turned to face Olonia. The Goddess of Rancais spoke first. ¡°Excuse me? You were there?¡± ¡°I went myself.¡± Olonia said. She felt her legs shake, thought about sitting somewhere, but then Aslana reappeared in her mind. What would she do? What about Neneria? ¡°Iliyal led the operation, as was set up. I went there to assist him.¡± And this time, blood did drain. Faces paled. Jaws did drop open. Even Paida let out giggle of nervousness and smooth her shirt down. ¡°You fought?¡± Saksma asked and Olonia nodded. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t have made it without me. When I got there, it was only the fact I brought Bielik they survived. There were¡­¡± Bielik was the name she had given her eagle, it was one of the few decisions she had ever made alone. She didn¡¯t know what Iliyal had called those gold-bronze things. He said the name once, she shamefully didn¡¯t catch it. ¡°Machines.¡± And Olonia explained the battle. She ran through it quickly, there really wasn¡¯t anything to say about it. ¡°I just saw how they fought. Iliyal, he would just.¡± She mimicked holding up a pistol, holding two fingers for the barrels. ¡°Like that, and gone.¡± And no one said anything. So Olonia continued. ¡°And then inside, there was a God in there. Waramunt.¡± Olonia felt her quiver legs again. Agrita quickly moved to support her. ¡°I¡­¡± Olonia smirked. ¡°He was just a fortress deity. Just¡­¡± What word should she use? She didn¡¯t really know. ¡°Just nothing. He was merely fast, taught by Maisara though apparently. I was stronger than him.¡± And the Goddesses huddling around her all smiled. Saksma even smiled proudly and patted Olonia¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I knew you could.¡± Olonia pushed Saksma¡¯s hand off herself. ¡°I couldn¡¯t.¡± Olonia said. ¡°I would say even if it was all five of us, in there, without our summons, we wouldn¡¯t make.¡± ¡°He was that strong?¡± Paida asked. ¡°I am that weak.¡± Olonia said. She looked to the other Goddesses. ¡°We are all that weak. Saksma, our duels¡­ they¡¯re worthless.¡± Saksma blinked, any other time she would have taken it badly. Olonia knew she would, but now. The woman only looked stunned. Paida asked another gentle probing question. ¡°How did you defeat him then?¡± ¡°I did not. Iliyal Tremali did.¡± Olonia smiled, blinked a shameful tear away, and mimicked pulling a pistol again. ¡°Poof.¡± She said. ¡°Just like that. Poof. And Gone. There was a God. And then there wasn¡¯t. I merely gave him the opening.¡± ¡°He interrupted the duel?¡± Saksma asked. Olonia nodded. ¡°I had lost by that point. Waramunt was simply gloating.¡± These tears came too quickly to blink away, but she had to get to the point. ¡°He¡­ Iliyal! He called me a useless bitch.¡± And Olonia grabbed Saksma to maintain her posture. ¡°And he was right! He was right Saksma! We are! All of us!¡± ¡°Olonia.¡± Aliana said gently. A delicate hand brushed the hair from her face. ¡°No Aliana, no no no.¡± Olonia had to force herself to stand before she knocked herself and Saksma over. ¡°He was right. He was entirely right. I saw them. I saw the Weapons. You¡¯ll see them too.¡± Olonia said. ¡°And you¡¯ll know what I mean when you see them. They¡¯re proper Divines.¡± ¡°Olonia, they¡¯re¡­¡± Paida said and her trailed away. ¡°What are they Paida!? What are they!? Are they veterans!?¡± Olonia shouted. She didn¡¯t even know why she was shouting. ¡°Are they weapons!? They¡¯re heroes aren¡¯t they!? Great War participants!? What are we?! Seven hundred years we¡¯ve been here! Seven hundred! Iliyal is a mortal!¡± That was it. ¡°Iliyal is a mortal! And he did more!¡± ¡°Olonia. You¡¯re shouting.¡± Aliana said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Olonia said as she wiped the tears from her face. A handkerchief from one of her friends was put into her hands. ¡°But¡­¡± She took another deep breath. ¡°I want to ask you something.¡± She realised what she said. ¡°Or I don¡¯t want to ask in fact.¡± Olonia straightened her back. She was no Aslana, no Neneria or Anassa, she wasn¡¯t even Iliyal. But she wasn¡¯t going to be the Olonia of a few days ago. ¡°I will send a letter to Arascus. We see what is happening here. All of us, we¡¯re in every meeting. If it comes to war.¡± Olonia took a deep breath. ¡°I will not be killed in the first battle. I refuse.¡± Something inside Olonia went Poof. It wasn¡¯t a disappearance. Something appeared. Something new. Something Olonia had never felt inside her, she couldn¡¯t quite place her finger on it. Paida spoke up. ¡°This is top secret.¡± Olonia blinked. Was she mad? She didn¡¯t know. She shouldn¡¯t be laughing in this situation though. There was nothing funny about it. But then what else did you do at farce? ¡°Top secret? After Aimone went to Iliyal? Do you think Arascus doesn¡¯t know? We saw them didn¡¯t we? Or did you forget? Did you not see Neneria? Did you not hear?¡± Why had Paida shrunk away? And why was Olonia pointing her finger at them all? She looked down at herself and caught whatever it was inside her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She said. Poof. Something hardened. ¡°But I¡¯m correct. I don¡¯t care if you believe me or not. I love you all. I don¡¯t want you to die. I don¡¯t want to die.¡± She took a breath. Frankly, Olonia didn¡¯t even know if she was making sense at this point. She looked at her four friends. When did her tone get so cold? She didn¡¯t know. But she said what needed to be said whilst she could still think straight. ¡°I refuse to wait.¡± Poof. ¡°I refuse to sit here and pretend I¡¯m fine.¡± Poof. ¡°I refuse to stay useless.¡± Poof. ¡°I will send a letter to Arascus. And I won¡¯t care if he sends me even the lowliest peon of his, because that lowliest peon still has more authority than me.¡± Poof. And Olonia took a deep breath. ¡°And, most of all, I am the Goddess of Lubska. I refuse to be a mascot.¡± Poof. And there was something there. Chapter 202 – Saving Grace Mwai stared at the letter in disbelief. There was no signature but he didn¡¯t care. This¡­ this is what he needed. ¡®To Mwai Ruku, for your eyes only. I currently serve in the Kirinyaan Military. I thought you may want to read this. I apologize for the censoring, it was the only copy I could reasonably acquire. If I am able to find more, I will send them.¡¯ And below was a military document attached. A third of the text was crossed out with thick black lines. Did that even matter though? Mwai had found his saving grace, his light in the night, his lifeline. ¡®Operation Sandfire internal organization. For relevant personel only.¡¯ ¡°They¡¯ve pulled out entirely, there¡¯s no one there, the northern border is open again.¡± Kassandora finished explaining her plan to Arascus. They were once again Western Kirinyaa, looking over the growing sea of ash. The creeping Jungle was being burned down. Before, when Kassandora had only a few batteries of Binturongs, it had been going slowly. Then the Pantheon¡¯s invasion started. War production kicked up. Volunteers had come in. Kassandora¡¯s army had swelled to seven-hundred thousand from the volunteers themselves. It had been enough men to draw battle lines from the west to the east after all. KAF had been created. Factories had turned on. The war machine started rolling. And the invasion ended. Yet seven hundred thousand men still remained in the army. It was Kirinyaa¡¯s largest employer now. There had been some talk in the parliament of what to do with them, but Arascus and Helenna had swayed them to let Kassandora keep her army. Not out of any moralistic reason, nor any fears stemming from future invasion but something much more effective. Something that made the politicians just as terrified, maybe even more so, than the prospect of the White Pantheon coming back: The war machine was still rolling. What exactly was Kirinyaa supposed to do with hundreds of thousands of men? The country already had an unemployment problem before the war. The rapid growth of industry had cut into it, but the industry was a mere knife that scratched the surface of that problem. Kassandora¡¯s Army though was a massive cleaver that cut it clean in half. So it had been decided, the seven hundred thousand would stay, they would go to the west, the Reclamation War would be finished, and then there¡¯d be plenty of room for these men to settle in and plenty of area for development. So Kassandora and Arascus stood on a hill as they watched the horizon burn. Trees and vines retreated and swiped at shells but it wasn¡¯t magic. It wasn¡¯t warfare, it was a mere clean up. The soldiers at the vehicles were talking and smoking as the vehicles launched napalm shells into the distance. A dozen batteries were working on this area, of Binturongs and Lemurs. Funnily enough, the Lemur was the far better vehicle, but now that it had to drive across ash and burned root, the wheels got stuck. It was back to the Binturong, a Mark Two was being finalized already. ¡°Fully?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Fully, they¡¯re moving out of Arika.¡± Kassandora confirmed. They both stood in HAUPT suits, a few miles away from the vehicles. Too close and they¡¯d have to take odd pauses in between the drumming of artillery. ¡°They¡¯re going to focus on Epa.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I got a letter from Olonia.¡± ¡°Lubskan one?¡± ¡°That one.¡± Arascus confirmed. He brought it out and showed it to Kassandora. To Arascus, God of Pride. I, Olonia, Goddess of Lubska, write to you because¡­ Some text was scribbled out. Kassandora sniffed in humour at the sight of it. ¡°She should have restarted from the beginning than sending something like this.¡± ¡°It reads like she¡¯s at wit¡¯s end.¡± Arascus replied. Because I would like training in combat and warfare. I lack in everything. I have nothing but my friendship to offer. I apologize. But I know Epan Separation will lead to war with the Pantheon in my lands. I know I am not ready for it. I would like advice. Best Regards. Olonia. Of Lubska. Kassandora flipped it over to look at the back, then passed it back to Arascus. ¡°So obviously we¡¯re sending someone off.¡± Kassandora said and Arascus smirked. Kassie never needed detailed explanations, she usually simply got it. ¡°I assume you have someone in mind already.¡± ¡°Fer and Iliyal.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°I¡¯d have suggested Kavaa and Iliyal.¡± ¡°Fer¡¯s a better sparring partner.¡± ¡°I thought we didn¡¯t want them to win.¡± ¡°Not a month ago.¡± He tapped the piece of paper. ¡°But now?¡± He made an impressed voice. ¡°Olonia¡¯s friendship? I think that deserves Fer.¡± Kassandora merely smiled as trucks rolled into view. More napalm shells. With this many machines and men, they had done in a week what the first stage of the Reclamation War managed in a month. KAF helped too, they weren¡¯t assigned on this sector, but anywhere with dried out river beds would be carpet bombed. It was good to practice new barrage techniques too.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°So we are making friends with Lubska?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I¡¯ll adjust the plans then.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t Kass.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We¡¯re making friends with Olonia, not Lubska.¡± Kassandora fell silent for a moment as she thought. ¡°I see.¡± She said. ¡°Iliyal is too good then. Send Sokolowski or Zalewski, Iliyal may actually win them the war.¡± ¡°He¡¯ll know not to.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Whereas our men getting defeated will be a bad image. Iliyal will slow them down, and Iliyal can do something the others can¡¯t.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Contact Ilwin in Karaina.¡± Kassandora took a deep breath and shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re opening too many fronts up. A Karainan war will need support.¡± ¡°Iliyal and Ilwin will only prime Karaina, the moment Epa is secured, we move on Karaina.¡± ¡°That¡¯s alright then.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m not going to do a war in Epa, in Kirinyaa and in Karaina at the same time.¡± ¡°Kirinyaa is my part.¡± Arascus said. He put his arm on Kassandora¡¯s shoulder as they watched the Binturongs and Lemurs hold fire. Stabilizers lifted off the ground and they started moving forwards. Fourth time today. ¡°Tomorrow I¡¯m going to Nanbasa. Helenna¡¯s already there.¡± ¡°She can¡¯t manage it?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°She¡¯s not Malam.¡± Arascus replied and Kassandora leaned her head on his side. ¡°Poor girl has a heart of gold.¡± Arascus chuckled. ¡°A rose full of thorns is how I¡¯d describe it.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Anassa is non-accessible, she¡¯ll stay in CR with Kavaa to watch over Elassa. I just wanted to fill you in on what¡¯s happening. You¡¯re going to be here until I ring you.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°No issues I assume?¡± If she saw one, she would spoke up already. ¡°If I have to nit-pick then without Fer it will take longer to win Elassa over.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do that too.¡± Arascus said. He nodded forwards as the vehicles stopped and started dropping stabilizers into the ash again. ¡°Neneria¡¯s out too. Don¡¯t bother her.¡± ¡°What is she doing?¡± ¡°Combing through the Pantheon texts. Leave her to it, she likes doing that. Olephia¡¯s helping her. If you need assistance here though, Olephia¡¯s open. Iniri is free too.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Kassandora replied. Arascus felt her arm wrap around his back as she hugged him. ¡°Anything else?¡± She asked. ¡°There is one thing.¡± Arascus said and took a deep breath. ¡°Helenna will send you a list of relevant documents, study the Kirinyaan laws here.¡± He felt her sigh and chuckle. ¡°I¡¯m not going to become a lawyer.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to court.¡± Arascus said and Kassandora laughed again. Maybe the White Pantheon Goddesses would panic, but Arascus had assumed he could send anyone from his own, and they¡¯d only see it as a light amusement. ¡°And why exactly?¡± Kassandora did sound amused. ¡°Sandfire will be put on trial. I have it handled already, the case won¡¯t stand.¡± Kassandora made some wordless sound of affirmation. ¡°Mwai will pursue it. I¡¯m giving him the details already.¡± ¡°Oh are you now?¡± Kassandora asked. The Binturongs and Lemurs in the distance started to fire. Shells whistled through the air, a few vines shot up out of the Jungle to try and stop them, they exploded and flaming napalm landed on the trees. And the horizon kept on burning, the blue sky tarred black by napalm¡¯s disgusting black smoke. ¡°You can handle it, so it has to be you.¡± ¡°Fer could do it too.¡± ¡°Fer didn¡¯t lead the war.¡± ¡°That she did not.¡± Kassandora agreed. One of the ammunition trucks got stuck in the ash. The drivers clambered out of it and started digging the wheels out with shovels. ¡°I see it though.¡± ¡°I assumed you did.¡± ¡°Mwai is too popular after he stood up for me against Elassa back then.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You can¡¯t crush popularity like that, he could kill a man and people would still look favourably on him.¡± ¡°You have to make them pick a side. The man who stood up, or the Goddess who won the war.¡± Arascus pointed to the distance. ¡°So the more progress you have here, the better.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll push them.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I expected you to.¡± Arascus said. ¡°It may turn dirty here though.¡± Kassandora only smiled and tightened her arm around him. He patted her shoulder in return. ¡°As in?¡± ¡°As in putting down a rebellion.¡± Arascus said. ¡°So your men have to be ready for that.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say they are already.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But I¡¯ll think of something.¡± ¡°I¡¯m having Iliyal¡¯s propaganda team start work on another project. I¡¯m just giving you warning now so you know what it¡¯s about.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Anti-military talk. Use that to push your boys closer to you and further from Mwai. Helenna isn¡¯t too fond of it, she thinks I¡¯m going under your nose.¡± This was something he had done in the past, him and Malam had gotten the idea. Really, only the Goddess of Hatred could have come up with the idea, but once he saw it, it was unarguable in how effective it was. ¡°You¡¯ve told her?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simply easier if she knows the whole picture rather than being kept in the dark. It¡¯s just her, me and you now though. There¡¯ll be some complaining about Anassa. The others will keep her in check in CR. She¡¯s not to move whatsoever.¡± Kassandora laughed again as the barrels turned south and started shelling a different section of Jungle. ¡°We¡¯ve never been ones to shy away from playing with fire.¡± She said. ¡°I would have just written them off though, you didn¡¯t have to worry about me.¡± ¡°I know you would.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But I¡¯d rather you know though.¡± He squeezed her close and sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know the pace of it though.¡± ¡°The army will be forced to disband. Downsize at least, if we don¡¯t keep bringing progress.¡± ¡°The Jungle isn¡¯t infinite though. You push it far enough and they¡¯ll start talking about slowing the pace down.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I¡¯m giving it a time line of six, maybe seven months.¡± ¡°I was giving it a year.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Not your boys, your court date.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll get through it, Mwai will have some supporters of course after, but not many.¡± Arascus stopped. That though, was pure theory, if all things went to plan, then it would be easy. But they were playing with fire here, as they did with Army-Implementation in Kirinyaa, as they did with Leona. But sometimes, risks had to be taken. ¡°Plan around you losing the case Kass. Make sure your men here aren¡¯t loyal to Kirinyaa but to you. I don¡¯t care how or what you do. Even if there¡¯s deaths, we can work around them. But your part is crucial here, I can¡¯t understate that.¡± Kassandora only laughed. ¡°Anyone else and I wouldn¡¯t trust them to do it.¡± She stopped for a moment. ¡°And then what? After the case I mean.¡± ¡°And then Kirinyaa is made into the first Divine Junta.¡± Chapter 203 – The Untouched Woods of Epa Arascus looked at his finished articles. Malam could come up with something better no doubt, but he was quite happy with them himself, quite proud in fact: ¡°Kirinyaa has a (Military) Problem¡±, ¡°Yes, We Won, Now What?¡± and ¡°Let¡¯s Talk about the Boys with Guns.¡± Frankly, Kassandora would have it easy. Kavaa didn¡¯t know why she had come. She didn¡¯t ask Kassandora, but Iliyal had requested thirty of Clerics to be brought into Epa. She really did not need to go but then again, the position of Chief Logistician had little to do in the aftermath of a war. The biggest change to Central Requisitions was that it was being renamed to in the native Kirinyaan to Mti Ushindi wa Kwanza. That was hard to say though, so CR it was. The Clerics would be arriving later, in another transport, Raptor One was carrying the main package. Iliyal Tremali, Fer, and Kavaa. Fer, in was excitedly tapping her foot as Iliyal sat there, straight backed and merely thinking. He was worse than Kassandora, at least she pretended to care. The elf had more in common with machines than with men. Is that what Kassandora¡¯s blessing turned people into? Too many notes of War¡¯s Orchestra and suddenly all they could think about was the job itself and nothing else. It wasn¡¯t that she even minded the man, he wasn¡¯t annoying, he was simply¡­ there was something wrong with him. And it wasn¡¯t an illness her healing could fix either. ¡°You really did not have to come.¡± Iliyal finally opened his mouth as the steel cabin of Raptor One started to turn. This had changed too, the rear cabin had given up half its size for the ammunition rooms. That was it though, the seats were still uncomfortable pieces of steel and if they had brought on more people then someone would have to stand and hold on to the steel poles that shot from the floor to the ceiling. Even the lights had not been changed, still the faint blinking reds that signified the engine was turned on. ¡°It will be good to give them a sparring partner on their level for the first few days.¡± Kavaa said. The war had taught her how to deal with Kassandora¡¯s soldiers. She had segregated them into two groups, the grunts would follow whatever order she said because she was part of the hierarchy. The officers technically ranked with her, so they needed a reason. Argumentation: calls to respect her Divinity, moralising or hoping for empathy all slid off them like droplets of water. But one reason and they¡¯d see sense. Iliyal crossed his arms and sighed. Kavaa smiled in satisfaction to herself, there it was. One reason and he saw sense. ¡°I¡¯m going to be busy then.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I¡¯ll stay the first day, but if you¡¯re here, you handle the training.¡± ¡°What are you going to be doing?¡± ¡°I have a grandson to visit.¡± Iliyal said and Kavaa stared at the elf¡¯s cold green eyes. In his uniform, parachute strapped to him and with that glare, it was impossible to get a read on him. She supposed he would miss Iliyal, but she also doubted the elf had even an inkling of the sentimentality needed to go visit a family member for the simple sake of family. ¡°I won¡¯t stop you.¡± Kavaa said. The elf nodded, readjusted his posture from straight to straighter, and closed his eyes. ¡°I want to meet these new girls.¡± Fer said excitedly. She had to lower her head to not brush her tall ears every time the captain made an adjustment. ¡°They¡¯re nothing impressive.¡± Iliyal said. Oh! Great! So he spoke to Fer? He turned to Kavaa as if reading her thoughts. ¡°I assume you could take on all five at once.¡± Kavaa raised an eyebrow and felt her lips quirk into a smile. If there was one thing people rarely complemented, it was her fighting skill. She was useful in battle, but that was through the merit of her Blessing of Health. She herself though? She merely knew how to swing a sword around. ¡°Don¡¯t put them down so badly.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°You¡¯ll know what I mean when you meet them.¡± Iliyal said, he took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and smiled. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s good that you came.¡± ¡°Oh so now you want me here?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°You¡¯re not bad at all.¡± Fer added from the side. ¡°We can push them further with your healing.¡± Iliyal said with a sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t like teaching combat.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t buy that.¡± Fer said. ¡°Isn¡¯t Fer for that?¡± Kavaa asked. Fer proudly sat up, bumped her head, then lowered her posture again. ¡°And you¡¯re for tactics and leadership.¡± ¡°Even worse.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Old.¡± Fer said. Iliyal merely smiled, eyes still closed and arms crossed over his chest. ¡°Too old.¡± He agreed and Fer rolled her eyes. ¡°And miserable.¡± ¡°Just content.¡± ¡°And boring.¡± ¡°Already had my fill of excitement.¡± ¡°Alcoholic.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t drink too much.¡± ¡°Annoying.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t argue with that.¡± Iliyal said and Fer sighed. ¡°And horribly, horribly calm.¡± She said. ¡°The new girls will be more than enough excitement for you.¡± Iliyal replied calmly and Fer dropped her head. She let out a huge sigh, and swung it from side to side. She looked up and spoke, the tail popping out from under her skirt settled on the ground as she took a breath.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Kassie is a factory that can take anyone and term them into that Kavaa.¡± She shook her head as Iliyal smiled proudly. ¡°Don¡¯t ever let her.¡± Kavaa only smiled. She wasn¡¯t as extreme as Iliyal, but his existence wasn¡¯t as offensive to her as it was to Fer. The plane swerved again, sharper this time. The three passengers held onto the steels posts arranged through the passenger bay and the radio speaker crackled with static. ¡°This is Captain Douglas speaking. We¡¯re over the Erdely mountains now.¡± He said. ¡°Opening doors, thank you for flying Doug-Air.¡± The crackling cut off, then cut back on. ¡°Fer, I still have the Misfortune picture.¡± The Goddess of Beasthood burst out in laughter and gave him a few claps. Douglas¡¯ laughter echoed hers through the speaker. ¡°Pleasure to have you on board. Call if you need pickup.¡± ¡°What¡¯s Misfortune?¡± Kavaa asked the two. Iliyal opened his eyes, looked at Fer, then answered the question. ¡°The Leona plan.¡± He said flatly. ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa replied, she¡­ she didn¡¯t know what to say about that. She liked Leona, but everyone liked Leona. There was, or had been, nothing unpleasant about the woman. She wondered how differently the Pantheon Peacekeeping operation would have turned out if Leona was alive. They would still¡­ would they have won? Was it possible to battle against omniscient and omnipotent luck? It must be, Neneria had killed her after all. There was no time to start a complex line of logic. Pistons hissed, valves turned and the rear door started to slide open. Kavaa turned to look as Fer and Iliyal both stood up. The Erdely region, south of Lubska. Even now, it was practically an autonomous zone within its host nation of Dakia. During the Great War, it was practically owned by Fer¡¯s war-herds, no other army had the skill, the endurance, the will or the talent to cross these ancient forests. Fer¡¯s war-herds and Anassa¡¯s sorcerous. Kassandora had managed to add two decades to the war simply because of the sheer impassibility of this region. After, Maisara had planned to settle it. Dakia didn¡¯t have the population at, then Allasaria had instituted the Pantheon Decrees, and Maisara¡¯s plan had shattered. And so, Kavaa looked out onto the great Erdely woodlands. Pristine and untouched, west of Karaina, it was the last true wild woodlands left in Epa. Mountains stretched all along the western horizon and other than that, it was a sea of dark coniferous green. As far as the eyes could see, the trees stretched on for hundreds of miles, they crawled into valleys and the scaled mountains until there was no dirt left to grab hold of. Untouched, with streams and rivers, and with stars above, although those were quickly retreating in the coming dawn. Fer went first, she patted Kavaa on the shoulder, stepped to the edge and turned. After spending so much time with Fer lately, Kavaa had grown almost accustomed to the woman¡¯s antics. The cute smiles, the sweet faces, the kitten eyes. And it was moments like this that reminded her who Fer really was. She stood there, red eyes glowing as she downed a vial of Kavaa¡¯s blood. Her eyes started to grow a vicious yellow, her skin shed hair, then regrew it, her perfect teeth turned to fangs and she stood here, wind whipping about in the wind. She turned, gave it another, her ears bounced, she gave them a large smile, a thumbs up, and she stepped backwards out of the plane. And Iliyal ran past Kavaa, he didn¡¯t even say anything, he simply ran off the edge. Kavaa took a deep breath, took a step to the edge. There was a first time for everything after all. She let herself fall. The first thing was the view. The rising Sun over the western mountain, the ocean of pine trees, the dark sky retreating against the day¡¯s vivid blue. The second was Iliyal opening his parachute. Far below her, he had put his arms close to his body and shot down like an arrow. The third was Fer. A Divine meteorite falling down, Kavaa would have assumed bestial rage, a scream of joyous excitement, her arms flailing around. There was none of that. She was diving feet first as if she had done this a thousand times already. Fer spanned into a tree, a cloud of dust and pines went up. The fourth was a small trail in the distance, rising from the trees, an obvious campfire. That¡¯s where Olonia and her friends would be. And Kavaa opened her parachute, she felt her body lurch back, her legs swing, her silver-grey settled down, still carried by the wind but no longer whipping about her head. She looked around, she sighed, she smiled, she enjoyed the breath-taking view. And as Kavaa fell, she realised an issue. Iliyal had explained the basics to her, although it was as basic as it got. Which strap to pull to release the parachute, which strap to pull in case the first one failed. Then he had merely sighed. ¡®At the end of the day Kavaa, you¡¯re a Divine. Of Health, will a little even kill you?¡¯ Well now she was looking at those approaching trees, she kicked her legs, she didn¡¯t know what Iliyal did, he must have had some stupid trick prepared for this. When Kavaa hit the branches, the only feeling she could call upon was a cavalry charge upon lowered pikes. Branches cut and caught her, if wasn¡¯t wearing her armour, she would caught a branch through her chest. A rope from the parachute caught her arm. Why was she even holding onto the other? That strap tightened around her wrist as Kavaa¡¯s vision was consumed by leaves. Leaves, leaves, branches, leaves and then the forest floor. A fox ran away from her. And then she stopped falling, her legs off the ground. She kicked them, swung forwards, swung backwards, hit a tree, and decided not to kick anymore. She looked up, tested the ropes. Fer would break them, Fer didn¡¯t need them in the first place, would Kassie? Kassie had her armour, she could just summon to cut through it. She tested her strength. She had seen this straps lift Binturongs out of mud and when tightened like this, what could she do? Alone, she would tear her hands off and heal them back on the ground. But that was an all or nothing situation. Now though? She sighed and supposed she could wait for Fer. Fer never came. It was Iliyal Tremali instead, marching in straight backed as if he was on parade, one hand on his blade, the other swinging about with each step. A light cape flowing off his back, the man¡¯s trousers had one tiny cut on the calf. That was it. ¡°HOW THE FUCK DID YOU LAND?!¡± Kavaa shouted. Iliyal looked up at her with a content smile. He actually shrugged at her! Who did this mortal think he was? ¡°You learn how to do it when you have to.¡± He said. Then looked around, then at her. ¡°Are you stuck?¡± ¡°Do I look stuck?¡± Iliyal smiled and turned around. ¡°I guess not.¡± ¡°YOU FUCK! I AM STUCK!¡± Kavaa shouted and Iliyal chuckled. He sighed. ¡°I know logistics is bad.¡± He said as he pulled out his pistol. ¡°But you¡¯ve grown a real doctor¡¯s tongue.¡± ¡°I AM A DOCTOR!¡± Kavaa shouted. Iliyal rolled his eyes as he aimed the gun above her and pulled the trigger. Even more annoying than getting stuck was that the man managed to cut the strap on the first shot. One arm freed, Kavaa grit her teeth as she felt her other hand take the weight. She calmed herself down though, it wasn¡¯t bad for a first attempt. Helenna or Iniri had never skydived before anyway, and she doubted they¡¯d be brave enough to do it into a forest. ¡°And the other?¡± She said, Iliyal looked up at her and patted his sword. Kavaa looked down at her sheathed blade and then back at him. Could she free herself? Of course! Would she? ¡°Iliyal, just shot it.¡± He sighed and shook his head. ¡°This is a wasting of ammunition.¡± He said. ¡°Do I care?¡± ¡°Well neither do I.¡± Iliyal pulled the trigger. The other band snapped and Kavaa fell to the ground. ¡°Thanks.¡± She said as her healing worked the skin and torn muscles, it hurt, but it wasn¡¯t an open wound. These generally were easy to fix. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Iliyal replied. He took a step and he sighed immediately. Fer appeared from behind a tree, a brown bear next to her. She patted the animal on its head. ¡°He doesn¡¯t bite.¡± She said. ¡°So don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Iliyal asked and Fer quirked a smile. It revealed her teeth. ¡°I thought it¡¯d be a funny joke.¡± Chapter 204 – A Long Way To Go Whereas everyone in the White Pantheon is important, there are only three that would be described as irreplaceable. I am not on that list, as my job could be done by any number of powerful designs that survived the war, the only credit I will give myself is that there is none better in keeping Order than I. Leona, of course, for the containment of the beast that is Olephia. Her omnipotent luck singlehandedly guarantees our survival against Olephia¡¯s rampage. Elassa has proposed a theory I¡¯m not particularly fond of, which is that Leona¡¯s luck also has started to bind us together. Her request to spare Anassa is dismissed by Fortia and Allasaria, but I will push it through. It will utterly collapse whatever goodwill and prestige Elassa has built up during the war and make even the tiniest request seem unreasonable. The dominance of magicians within society will finally be brought to an end. Allasaria is the second. Of course. The most powerful, the Pantheon¡¯s answer to Irinika. I already know that the upcoming vote will result in either Allasaria or Fortia become heads of the Pantheon. I have little to say about Allasaria, she simply speaks for herself. And the third is a surprising one, Fortia disagrees with me but I give credit where credit is due: Helenna of Love. Every decree we institute has her fingerprints over the paper, if not in the planning then in the verbiage and phrasing of it. The saying ¡®Love is Blind¡¯, that is proven by Helenna¡¯s ridiculous love for the ugly swine that is mundane legalisms. Whereas Fortia and Allasaria disagree on a great deal, there is one thing that is certain. One thing all of us see, even Kavaa and Atis. The end of War Council organisation twenty years ago did not free up the Pantheon to the exchange of ideas, nor has this Divine democratic experiment worked. It has handed Helenna the Pantheon on a silver plate, all of us see it, know it and are aware of it, and yet we still dance to Helenna¡¯s tune. She does not lie like Malam or Kassandora, she says nothing wrong in fact. That is the danger, her stringing of lovely words cannot be argued against or disagreed with, but the proactive stance of Helenna in national politics is something that sits wrong with all of us, we did not win the war forty years ago only to become what we were fighting against. The organisation will most likely take another decade. The White Pantheon keeps Order in the world, someone needs to keep Order in the Pantheon. - Excerpt from ¡®The World on our Shoulders¡¯, Written by Goddess Maisara, of Order. Kept within Maisara¡¯s own hidden library. Kavaa looked back at the bear as it slowly trotted behind them, huge and shaggy, with thick fur and thicker paws and small rounded ears on its head. Fer had told it something, and then Fer had said she would see them later. Kavaa wasn¡¯t really afraid, it was only a bear at the end of the day. Iliyal should be the one who was nervous, but the elf was covering the forest¡¯s ground as if there was nothing to worry about. They stepped over roots, the walked around bushes, they leaned underneath leaves. The bear merely ambled through it all. Fer had taken a longer route around, guided by her own nose. Kavaa and Iliyal only had that thin plume of smoke in the air. Fer said if they got lost, they had a friend to lead the way. Birds sung above them as they woke up with the dawn. Foxes and badgers and raccoons scampered away. Every so often, an eagle would cry from the mountains, a wolf would bark in the distance, a deer would casually stop, look at them, see the bear, then turn and flee. Erdely had been like this as far back as Kavaa could remember, it was Iniri¡¯s favourite part of Epa. The untamed forests, the few people who lived here all subsistence hunters, the mountains conquered by vegetation, the land beautiful in its brutality, with ravines and ridges everywhere. For Kavaa though, it was the part of Epa she got nightmares about. Back then, every bird had been an eye in the sky for Fer, every woodland mouse and every furry squirrel a spy. The wolves organised into disciplined packs as if Kassandora was leading them, the boars and bears made for shock troops. Even without the larger animals, men would be picked off by swarms of badgers leaping out of the undergrowth, swiping and biting as they went straight for the neck. Then the animals started to carry Baalka¡¯s plagues, specifically designed to hunt man. A wild dog would walk into camp and beg for food. Soldiers would feed it. It would sleep by the campfire. Morning came, the dog would walk off, the men would never wake. Naturally, any battalion of Seekers would last a week in Erdely. Guardians or Seekers fared no better. Naturally, there was only one set of orders that could even hope to traverse these woods. Naturally, it was Kavaa¡¯s Clerics. Naturally, her Clerics had come, and naturally, they died. Kavaa took a deep breath as she looked at the bear again, it was lazily swinging its head around, looking around at the plants by either side. ¡°Do you remember back then?¡± Kavaa asked Iliyal as she turned back. ¡°I was never assigned to this region.¡± Iliyal said flatly. ¡°I had northern Epa and Karaina.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Not once?¡± ¡°Eight years in the initial push, then eighty straight in Karaina. Not once did I step foot in Erdely. This area had Relio.¡± Another name Kavaa would never forget, Tibor Relio, another elf. He had died two years before the war ended, when Paraideisius¡¯ flying armies finally managed to scour Erdely of Kassandora¡¯s Legions. ¡°I remember.¡± ¡°Relio knew what he was doing.¡± Iliyal said fondly. ¡°The plague animals were his idea originally before the rest of us adopted them.¡± ¡°I thought they were Baalka¡¯s.¡± ¡°Baalka is more into theory than practical applications.¡± Iliyal maintained that fondness as Kavaa walked around another bush. The bear behind them walked through it. ¡°You were this area, weren¡¯t you?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°I was.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t a fair fight from the start.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I have nothing to say, but I have respect that you stepped up to take the job.¡± Kavaa smiled to herself as she circled around. It wasn¡¯t a fair fight, that was true. She had been assigned this area because no one else would take it. ¡°What would you have done?¡± ¡°In your case?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Or in Fortia¡¯s?¡± ¡°Both.¡± ¡°In Fortia¡¯s case, I would have not tried to push through Erdely in the first place.¡± He said it flatly. ¡°In your case though, I would have done my job.¡± Kavaa smiled to herself as she scaled a fallen tree. That, she could respect. Sometimes, she wished the marshals had been swapped. That she had Kassandora and they had Fortia. ¡°I¡¯ve seen how you train your men.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°These will be Divines though¡­¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯d rather you follow what I say rather than go with your method.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve not trained Divines.¡± ¡°I assumed.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°But these girls, they have enough love already. You want to push them.¡± ¡°I do push my men.¡± ¡°Not like I do.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t do needless exercises.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Needless exercises build camaraderie, soldiers grow to miss the routine. We didn¡¯t run needless exercises back then either, the battles replaced them.¡± They both scampered around a series of thick blackberry bushes, looked around. There was no sky here, only faint glimmers of blue coming through a blanket of pine needles and leaves. Iliyal came to a stop, he turned to the bear. Kavaa blinked, if this old elf now revealed he was able to speak to animals¡­ and the elf did speak. ¡°Which way?¡± The bear stopped, he looked left, he took a sniff, he looked right, he took another sniff. And then he pointed his head and rocked his entire body back and forth as if trying to point. ¡°When did you learn that?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Learn what?¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Speaking to them.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Iliyal said and Kavaa turned to look at the bear. ¡°I just saw you ask him.¡± ¡°Fer taught him just now.¡± Iliyal replied flatly. ¡°I don¡¯t know how she does it, ask her about it if you¡¯re that curious.¡± ¡°So he can speak?¡± Iliyal shouted behind himself. ¡°Can you speak?¡± The bear looked up at them and kept walking forwards, past them. Iliyal shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think he can.¡± ¡°But you¡­¡± Kavaa pointed to the bear, then started following him. ¡°I¡­ he understood you.¡± Iliyal shrugged. ¡°They learn a few words and phrases, I don¡¯t know what she exactly teaches them.¡± He laughed. ¡°It¡¯s Fer though so¡­ Sit!¡± The bear stopped, looked at Iliyal. Kavaa looked into those beady animalistic eyes, she couldn¡¯t place whether there was intelligence there or whether it was simply looking at them. It obviously knew what the words meant. And then the bear shook its head. Kavaa burst out in laughter. The bear turned its head back and kept on walking. So they kept on walking. Iliyal wasn¡¯t smooth in conversation, but he didn¡¯t shut it down either. There wasn¡¯t a question he shied away from, not even when Kavaa tried pressing him. ¡°What do you think of Kassandora?¡± ¡°She¡¯s the Goddess of War.¡± Iliyal answered. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Iliyal replied. ¡°Useless question, everyone knows what I think of Goddess Kassandora.¡± The only Divine to actually hold the title in the elf¡¯s mind, Kavaa had noticed it before. It wasn¡¯t annoying that she didn¡¯t get it, it was simply odd that he made such an exception. ¡°Is there anything you don¡¯t like about her?¡± Kavaa asked. Iliyal actually had to think about it for a moment. ¡°No.¡± He said. These questions were meant to prod him, and they were annoying her! ¡°Why?¡± The elf shook his head. ¡°What do you mean why?¡± He asked. ¡°Well why?¡± ¡°There is no why. There is nothing I do not like about her.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°So she¡¯s perfect?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°No one is perfect.¡± ¡°So then there must be something you don¡¯t like about her then.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°This is a game of semantics Kavaa.¡± He said flatly. ¡°You can trick the words but you can¡¯t trick me, she¡¯s not perfect, but there¡¯s nothing I don¡¯t like.¡± ¡°What about if she had elf ears?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I¡¯m not petty enough to care about trite like that.¡± Iliyal said. Heavens above the man was stern, Heavens above the man was annoying. ¡°Divines don¡¯t need them anyway, you have better hearing than we do.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that.¡± ¡°You do.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Fer does too. Inventions don¡¯t count.¡± ¡°That we agree on.¡± Kavaa agreed. And finally, the bear stopped. He looked behind himself as if to check on the elf and the Goddess. They were there, the bear turned back and walked through the push. Kavaa and Iliyal quickly followed. Both through the gap the bear had made. The elf took the lead. There was a clearing here, a few tents scattered about. A few tents, large, obviously not for mortals. Logs and firewood were cut, there was a campfire. A campfire with a series of Divines sitting around it. Olonia was there, in her scale-mail, a traditional Lubskan sabre on her side. No helmet on her head though. Snowy-white hair cascaded down her back. She was sat on a fallen log, Saksma next to her. That woman wore a chest plate, and colourful clothes underneath. A massive greatsword, easily as long as Kassandora¡¯s Joyeuse but much thinner, was leaning next to her. Paida on the other side of Olonia. A sword next to her and in full plate. Agrita was on the other side of the campfire, in a bronze cuirass and a skirt with a spear. Aliana sat in uniform, a longbow next to her. Along with a quiver of arrows, she wore simple clothes, a skirt, tights, a shirt. It was camping gear, not armour. Iliyal looked them over and sighed. Kavaa wanted to sigh too. She remembered when the man told her she¡¯d know what he meant when she saw them. Well she did see them, and she knew what he meant exactly. It was obvious in the movements, the eyes dancing around Kavaa. The way they bounced timidly off the bear. Only Olonia had any sort of resistance in her, and even Olonia focused on the sword on Kavaa¡¯s hip for too long. ¡°I am Iliyal Tremali.¡± Iliyal spoke up first. ¡°This is Kavaa, of Health.¡± Kavaa smiled from besides Iliyal, the bear sat down next to them. Why were these national Goddesses looking at it as if it was going to kill them? It was only a bear at the end of the day. Olonia stood up immediately. Arms by her side, face half shining with excitement, half trying to look stern and ready. Kavaa let her smile stay on her face. That was cute. Saksma stood up too, next to Olonia. Aliana, Paida and Agrita remained sitting as Iliyal looked through them. He walked in between as the lay down, Paida was still focused on the animal. ¡°Is that Fer?¡± She asked. ¡°We heard she¡¯d be coming.¡± ¡°Have a fight and found out.¡± Iliyal said. None of them moved towards the bear. Iliyal clapped his hands. ¡°Right ladies. I¡¯m here to teach you combat, leadership and survival in battle. I am sure Olonia has gossiped about me, that is exactly how I am. I am not your friend right now, I am your instructor. But! I will not keep you here, anyone is free to leave when they want to, I am only a mortal after all.¡± He extended his arm out. ¡°This is Kavaa. She may disappear if she¡¯s needed elsewhere. I don¡¯t when.¡± Kavaa had only been planning to stay for a few days honestly. She was already pushing her luck by coming here. ¡°Kavaa, what are your combat powers?¡± Kavaa blinked. What sort of answer did he want? She shrugged. ¡°Nothing unique, I bless troops.¡± Iliyal clapped his hands again. ¡°You are national Divines, Kavaa is a White Pantheon member, but she¡¯s not the strongest of fighters, as you just heard, she won¡¯t fly off into the sky or blast you with an explosion. I expect the five of you to be able to defeat her.¡± He took a step back and turned around to Kavaa. The smile dropped. ¡°Kavaa, you¡¯re welcome to start whenever you want to.¡± Aliana stood up. ¡°Excuse me.¡± She spoke in that posh Allian accent. Kavaa had always found it funny. ¡°Is that it?¡± Iliyal looked to Kavaa, rolled those green eyes, and turned around. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Just this?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t there supposed to be more?¡± Aliana asked. ¡°More of what?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Explanation?¡± Aliana asked. Iliyal shrugged. ¡°I trust Kavaa is skilled enough to not die to you and I know she won¡¯t kill you.¡± He said. ¡°Pretend this is a battle. Are you going to have an introduction to everyone you meet on the battlefield?¡± Kavaa smiled, mortals didn¡¯t do it, but in the past Divines usually did introduce each other in the past. Then Kassandora had come along. The first year of the Great War was brutal, when her forces would break all traditions and go for the kill whilst the opponent was still talking. ¡°And if we get cut?¡± Aliana asked. Iliyal extended an arm to Kavaa. She stood there proudly, it was rare for anyone to acknowledge the fact she did actually fight. And whilst Iliyal had been a pain to talk to, he did talk to her. The way he talked to these Goddesses was anything but a conversation. ¡°Kavaa, what is your demesne again?¡± She didn¡¯t need to answer it. Aliana¡¯s face dropped and the Goddess scowled at the sheer mockery of the reply. Kavaa stepped forwards before Iliyal annoyed them so much the Goddesses decided to kill him. Iliyal stepped back as Kavaa stepped forwards. ¡°If you want to leave, leave after this lesson. Like I said, Kavaa is not a frontline Goddess. She is not Fer. She is not Maisara nor Fortia. Not Kassandora. If she defeats you, then you can assume that you are not cut out for battle, because she will go easy on you.¡± Kavaa didn¡¯t know about, but these girls didn¡¯t need to know that. ¡°I will watch you fight, I will be able to comment and give improvements when I see what I¡¯m working with.¡± Olonia stepped forwards first as Iliyal took another step back. ¡°Kavaa, I would prefer if you gave them a chance to strike first.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Kavaa said. Saksma took the greatsword in both hands. Aliana raised the bow. Agrita hefted the spear. Paida pulled unsheathed her sword. Kavaa weighed them all herself. Aliana would be annoying, archers always were and Kavaa hadn¡¯t brought the shield. Saksma was slow with the greatsword, it was obvious from the heavy steps. Olonia with her cavalry sabre wasn¡¯t a threat, nor was Agrita. She held the spear as if it was a pike, spears weren¡¯t to be used like that. Olonia quickly stepped forwards. Kavaa stepped to the side. That was the issue with sabres, they swung hard and first, but they didn¡¯t have the agility of a straight sword. She caught Olonia¡¯s arm and pulled her forwards. The Goddess of Lubska yelped, fell, and Kavaa¡¯s knee hit her stomach. And after a winding blow like that, one was out. An arrow came from Aliana. Accurate but predictable, it wasn¡¯t an opening, it was simply a shot for the sake of a shot. Against Divines, tactics like that didn¡¯t work. Kavaa ducked under the arrow, then rolled to the side as Agrita came in from one side, Saksma from the other. Agrita¡¯s spear should have had a shield with it. The woman lunged forwards, Kavaa took a step back. The spear grazed her steel plate. Kavaa¡¯s elbow landed on the woman¡¯s back and Agrita was down. Saksma, spinning with her blonde hair, swung her blade. Kavaa took a step back, then another one when she heard the whistle of an arrow string. An arrow shot past her. Annoying. She unclipped her sword sheath and lazily avoided another blow of Saksma¡¯s. Slow, even Fer¡¯s beastmen were more dangerous than that. She saw Aliana load another arrow and almost stopped in shock. The woman was looking down at her feet, putting an arrow into her bow. Kavaa had to take step away from Saksma¡¯s blade, threw her sheath in a spin and caught its end. She put all her force into the throw. Aliana looked up and caught the sheath on her forehead. And another Goddess was sent tumbling back. Only Paida and Saksma left. One greatsword, one blade and armour. Kavaa took a step back as Saksma made another amateurish swing, the sword swung far to her and Kavaa closed the gap. Her chest slammed into Saksma¡¯s, she knocked the Goddess of Doschia over with just her bulk. A kick in the side ensured Saksma would stay down. Paida lifted her sword, her eyes blinking to her friends at Kavaa¡¯s feet. She opened her mouth and took a step back. ¡°I-¡°, Kavaa wasted no time. Her sword slammed against Paida¡¯s. She pushed her hilt to the blade, knocked the woman¡¯s arm away. Her foot swiped at Paida¡¯s. And the last Goddess fell. And Kavaa stood there as Iliyal came close, arms behind his back, he was watching the five Goddesses on the ground. Olonia was on her knees, trying to stand up, Saksma on her side, breathing heavily, Agrita and Paida both stirred and moaned. Aliana rubbed her forehead as Kavaa went to get her sheath. Her sword was put back in, and she clipped it back onto her belt. She had no words. That was terrible. There were mortals who could provide a harder challenge. That was nothing to say of the sorcerers she had fought against back then. She saw Iliyal looking at her. ¡°I see it now.¡± Kavaa said. The man sighed and nodded. ¡°We have a long way to go.¡± Chapter 205 – To Make A Lawyer One demesne, one divine. There is no one who will disagree with that, however I would reframe things. Epa once had a God of Rivers, who reformed only one year before the Great War ended into Tethya, Goddess of Rivers. Guguo has none to claim the title though, instead each stream has its own guardian deity in the same vein of our Fortress Spirits. My own belief, and Saranael agrees with me, is that Epan mentality operates on a more conceptual, rather than material scale. Whereas Guguo is filled with traditions and arcane legalisms that make magicians blush, Epan mentality can be summed in Saranael¡¯s new favourite revelation: ¡°All I know is that I know nothing.¡± There is another case for it though, Guguo is older than Epan nations. Through ¡®one demesne, one Divine¡¯ we can reason that whereas Guguo brought about its guardian spirits and Divines for locations first and closed down its route to the most powerful, Epa effectively claimed the grandest titles: Of Rivers encompasses all moving freshwaters in the continent. Iniri is the grandest example, we will never have an Of Flowers, Of Trees, Of Oaks because her demesne encompasses all flora. Arascus came to this realisation first, and he did not share it. Of Weapons was slain. Of Swords came about first, thus a section of Of Weapons was taken. We will never have the grand slaughter deity again. Instead we have Aslana, Labrys, Pridwen, the rest of them. I wonder if it was a calculated move. An Of Swords will be inherently more powerful than being separated further, into the demesnes of Scimitars, Sabres, Short and Longswords and so on. I am glad certain Divines have come to save Epa from itself. Because Helenna is here, we have her rival Malam, but I much prefer this situation than having the unified Of Obsession. Kassandora and Fortia are another example, one of them must be kept alive, because to risk both dying at the same time and reforming into something akin to Of Conflict is too dangerous. - Excerpt from ¡°Documenting Divinity¡±, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light. Written in the first decade after the Great War. Currently in Kirinyaa. Helenna looked out the window of the private plane at the sea of clouds below them. This high up, there were always cloud, but it was only an hour flight from CR to Nanbasa. Boring, but Arascus was coming too. The plane was what Neneria had come back on. Whatever plane had dropped her into Olympiada obviously couldn¡¯t land there, so her team merely stole one from the skyport. Good for them frankly. The White Pantheon was the only place in the world with planes designed specifically for Divine needs. The couches against the windows were so tall grown men could dangle their legs off the side. The ceiling was built to give Allasaria headroom, which meant that Arascus only had to incline his head slightly if he stood up straight. He wasn¡¯t though, he was sprawled out on the couch opposite the isle. Supposedly rich mortals had private bars in their private planes, but everyone in the White Pantheon could empty a bar in an hour if they were in a sour mood, which they usually were. Instead it was cabinets. Cabinets upon cabinets in the back, filled with anything and everything. Helenna looked up from her wine glass and at Arascus, he was watching her drink in silence. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯ve not commented yet.¡± Helenna said. ¡°What about?¡± He asked. She tapped the glass filled with red wine in answer and he merely shrugged. ¡°No one¡¯s a child here, I expect you to not to turn up to meetings drunk.¡± ¡°Of course I won¡¯t.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Arascus said. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m not going to say anything.¡± Helenna laughed as she took a sip of the wine. For a Divine, that was a quarter of the wine. ¡°So what will we be doing?¡± Helenna asked as she reclined. CR was comfortable, but there was little in Arda that compared to the comfort the White Pantheon could provide. They really had made a good choice stealing this one. ¡°We need lawyers.¡± Arascus said with a sigh. ¡°I¡¯ll give you two months on this one but it¡¯s your job. I don¡¯t care how you do it. I¡¯d prefer no delays but time will be made if you need more.¡± Helenna laughed. Who did he think she was? Lawyers? Give her a day for something that small. ¡°Kassandora representing herself will be a bad look. She could do it, she¡¯d win, but it simply wouldn¡¯t look good in the long run.¡± Arascus continued. ¡°Everyone knows she¡¯s competent, but mortals can only take a certain amount of Divine competence before they start to feel patronized.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± She had heard the plan. If Kassandora was to coup the country, it would be better if it looks like she¡¯s saving it from itself. Not that she¡¯s so overpowering that Kirinyaa is simply better in her hands. That sort of logic bred anti-Divine sentiment. ¡°But obviously the issue is we can¡¯t¡­¡± Arascus stopped for a moment. ¡°Lawyers get to see the case. It¡¯ll be more trouble than it¡¯s worth if we¡¯re tricking our side as well.¡± ¡°So you want lawyers for the long run.¡± Helenna said confidently.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Treat it is if someone like Sokolowski knows, the lawyer will know. We need that level of fanaticism.¡± Helenna swirled the glass. That would prove harder, especially among the Kirinyaans themselves. They loved Kassandora, but it wouldn¡¯t sit right with them that they¡¯d be plotting against themselves. Again, not a case of them being unfit for the job, but it would open up a can of worms they could avoid later down the line. ¡°We¡¯re taking Kirinyaa over though.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Is it time to start calling the favours in?¡± She smiled at him and sipped her wine again. The glass ran out. ¡°With politicians, go ahead. Burn them.¡± Arascus confirmed. ¡°Anyone you consider easily replaceable, I don¡¯t think I have to tell you not to burn the manufacturers and people like that.¡± Helenna smiled to herself as she poured another glass. The man was smooth indeed, he just told her who not to burn whilst complimenting her. This was the sort of thing Allasaria would write out a list for and still be angry when Helenna purposefully found an annoying way around it to remove someone important. ¡°I know who can be replaced.¡± Helenna said, she sipped the glass. And so, she would do a good job. Had he tricked her into? Had she agreed? She didn¡¯t really know, but this style of leadership far suited her. ¡°Kassandora will need legal documents relevant. She can mount her own defence.¡± Arascus said then trailed off. He extended his arm and moved his fingers about. Helenna passed him the wine bottle. ¡°But it is Kassie.¡± He took a swig. ¡°Too all or nothing.¡± Helenna said as Arascus emptied half the bottle in a go. ¡°Took the words out of my mouth.¡± He said. ¡°The only people who don¡¯t appreciate a delicate touch are those who haven¡¯t felt it.¡± He said with a smile as Helenna laughed, her hair turned red. ¡°I¡¯m very delicate.¡± Helenna said. ¡°It¡¯ll be done.¡± ¡°Tomorrow, you should have assistance arrive too.¡± Helenna¡¯s eyes widened. Assistance? That word was only used when she was the assistance. ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Kassandora is sending soldiers to you.¡± He said confidently and emptied the bottle. ¡°She¡¯ll know who to pick.¡± Helenna raised her tone to a farcical level. ¡°You know me, I expect the best.¡± ¡°We have standards here.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We only get the best.¡± ¡°Best enough to do it in one month?¡± Helenna asked and Arascus chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll take you out to dinner if you do it in one month.¡± Helenna smiled. She was perfectly aware she was being played right now. No one spoke to Divines like that, and especially not to Helenna. Even Inventions and Forces would lower their heads and pretend not to see her when she entered the room. Did they think she cared? If she wanted to be modest, she would! And this man set a challenge like that? How could she not take the bait? ¡°That a bet?¡± ¡°Bets take two sides?¡± ¡°Then dinner¡¯s mine if I can¡¯t.¡± Arascus laughed as he stood up to get a bottle. ¡°Then I¡¯d start making reservations if I were you.¡± She knew she was played, but sometimes, being played was even more fun than doing the playing. Fer knelt at an ancient battle site in the thick forest. Dark furs had died here. Dark furs and more her pack. She told them she would visit once. It was done. Now a hundred more to go. Helenna waited at her hotel when the men arrived. They said they¡¯d be here seven, thirty one, they were seven thirty one to the damn dot. That¡¯s how you knew you were dealing with Kassandora¡¯s types. Only Maisara¡¯s Paladins could compete with that level of stupid little precision. Twenty Kassandora had sent, they¡¯d be sleeping four to a room. Five rooms, Helenna took the penthouse suite. She said that it¡¯s because it was the only one that managed to fit a Divine, but that wasn¡¯t really the case. If all the rooms fit Divines, she would still be in the penthouse. They saluted her as they would their commanding officer and Helenna made an unamused face. ¡°Do you know what you¡¯re doing?¡± She asked. ¡°Yes Goddess!¡± The lead man replied, still holding the salute. He was dressed in standard uniform, a green shirt, green shorts, boots for walking through ash, still dirty. ¡°Do you know why you are here?¡± Helenna snapped. ¡°To assist in an operation I will not say in public.¡± Helenna rolled her head from side to side. Amazing, really. ¡°So why are you dressed like that?¡± Helenna asked. The man still held the damn salute. ¡°Goddess Kassandora sent us off like this.¡± He said. Helenna laughed, well she¡¯d send them back in dresses then. How would Kassie enjoy that? ¡°Do you know what politicians wear?¡± ¡°Yes Goddess!¡± ¡°Get to shopping then. Here¡¯s a card.¡± She pulled a bank card she had prepared for them. Well, someone had prepared it for her, but Divines usually got things free of charge. The man held the salute still. Helenna blinked at him, he did not blink at her. ¡°Are you serious right now?¡± She asked. To think the Goddess of Love would actually have to be pulling military salutes. Arascus looked through his letters. There was one from Helenna, handwritten, wax seal unbroken. If it was important enough to have one of Kassandora¡¯s soldiers hand deliver it, it must be good. He broke the seal, the inside smelled like perfume. That was classically Helenna. And as he read it, he burst out into laughter. What a move. He would have never thought of it. Helenna entered a room in Kirinyaa¡¯s parliament. The ceilings were high, the doorframes could fit Allasaria, the table was huge, there was a grand chair akin to a throne already prepared for her. And around it sat the most influential politicians, not the popular ones, but the old guard. The ones who knew how to pull strings, the ones that Helenna had made sure would get a nice slice of the reclaimed land from the Jungle. She had come early, she usually did for meetings. But mortals had a habit of coming even earlier than Divines when the meeting was being hosted by a Divine. Kassandora¡¯s soldiers followed her in, each man in a prim suit and looking as respectable as the men around the table. Turning lawyers into Kassandora¡¯s men was a tough job. But turning Kassandora¡¯s men into lawyers would be far easier. After all, there was only main roadblock, they had to be Kirinyaan nationals. And that was a mere bureaucratic speedbump. Had something so simple as bureaucracy ever stopped the march of Love? Helenna took her seat and reshuffled her papers. ¡°Gentlemen, I am glad you have come. I have an issue that pains my heart.¡± Chapter 206 – The First Lesson Malam closed her eyes as she stood in the glow of the magma trails dwarves used to light their forts underneath Arda¡¯s surface. An odd report had come to the desks, one that required a Divine to investigate since Dwarves were incapable of magic, Irinika was too busy on the front, and the others weren¡¯t too apt with the skill. She looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath, vivid hair, whiter than snow, cascaded down her back like the purest avalanche. The gates here were locked off, the madness roots lay further in those tunnels. Those were to be avoid. She wrote off the simplest solution that would have satisfied everything: some weapons test happening on the surface. This wasn¡¯t that. She opened her mouth, rocky air tasting of minerals settled on her tongue. The usual flavours were here, dirt, sedimentary rocks, irons, coals, lots of golds and gems too. But there was a taste of something she had not seen in a thousand years. Longer than that in fact. It came harshly at first, magic. Overpowering magic, sweet and lovely, as if she was breathing in liquid ambrosia. But then the aftertaste hit and she her throat made a gasp. She knew it would come back eventually. No matter what everyone else said, she simply had been sure it would be back. Humanity could never contain itself. The delicious flavours of Worldbreaking. Kavaa smirked to Iliyal as the Goddesses were picking themselves up off the ground again. Third time today, this should be the last. Iliyal, in his dark uniform, cape on his back, pistol and sword on the hip, did the unthinkable. He smirked back to her. ¡°Right ladies. Are we done?¡± He said from the other side. Once again, Olonia got off her knees. Her armour had been damaged this time. Kavaa always considered herself calm and under control, she had never been one to needlessly hurt people¡­ but she wasn¡¯t soft. Sometimes an amputation needed to happen. Sometimes, someone needed to be put into their place. She had led the Clerics onto Olympiada after all. It was one thing to dislike violence, it was another entirely to cower from it. A set of scales fell off from Olonia¡¯s armour. Once again, Saksma was back on her feet. Once again, Paida and Agrita and Aliana stood up. Once again they, their eyes shot daggers of pure rage at Kavaa. The Goddess of Health smiled back at them. ¡°We are not done!¡± Olonia shouted. ¡°You have not gotten a single stroke on her.¡± Iliyal said, arms behind his back. ¡°I scraped her with my arrows.¡± Aliana replied and Iliyal sighed. Green eyes met Kavaa¡¯s grey and she got the message. He wanted some assistance. ¡°I could have dodged it if I wanted to.¡± Kavaa replied coldly. There we go, she had never been fond of that pretentious Allian accent. Aliana only made a tsk sound with response as she inspected her quiver. Kavaa could not wait for her to run out already. She had assumed these were magical weapons at first, like Kassandora¡¯s Joyeuse, but no. They were merely what the Goddesses had trained in. ¡°This is the last time then.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°If you cannot stop Kavaa this time. Then you will admit you will never defeat her at the pace you¡¯re going now.¡± ¡°We¡¯re getting better.¡± Saksma replied. Iliyal once again gave Kavaa a flat look, she merely shrugged back. Bullying mortals wasn¡¯t fun because mortals could not fight back. But Divines? National Divines at that? There really was some satisfaction in that. The same as when she found someone complaining of a minor illness and made a disgusting medicine so her time would stop being wasted. ¡°You¡¯re not.¡± Iliyal replied. ¡°Kavaa is a Great War veteran, you¡¯ve not even broken a sweat on her yet.¡± Kavaa smiled as Iliyal continued. ¡°She has purposefully not made a scratch on you yet. You are children who¡¯ve learned how to walk and now think you can run a marathon.¡± ¡°Marathons take determination and endurance.¡± Olonia shouted as Iliyal walked past them and settled back next to Kavaa. ¡°You¡¯re talking about a gentle hike through the hills. Show me a child who can cross twenty six miles in four hours.¡± ¡°Most people take eight to finish one.¡± Aliana said again. Kavaa took a deep breath. That accent really did grate on her ears. ¡°And you¡¯re Divines, you should be able to do one in an hour.¡± Iliyal replied. ¡°I can handle students who do poorly, students who don¡¯t want to learn are not worth my time.¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°We have come here because you asked to be trained, if you were simply wanting competition, we would have sent Anassa to end this farce with a finger snap.¡± He took a step back, as he always did when they were about to start. ¡°This is the last time. If you do not accept that you are lacking in knowledge after this, then we will go our separate ways.¡± Olonia blinked in surprise. Her smile dropped. Saksma¡¯s did too. Aliana only readied an arrow. She was the only one who Kavaa had noticed an improvement in, she was shooting rarer now, looking for attacks of opportunity rather than simply trying to overwhelm with fire. It could be that, or it could be that her quiver only had a few arrows left and she didn¡¯t want to waste them anymore. Olonia stuttered out some words. ¡°Excuse me?¡± She asked. ¡°We will leave Olonia.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°We will very simply leave. There is nothing you can do about it. You have simply grated my patience down to the point there is nothing left. The first fight was enough for me to see what you were doing wrong.¡± Olonia went red and blushed. Saksma managed to bark something out. ¡°We¡­¡± She stopped. ¡°We apologize but this really is how we¡­¡± ¡°How you what Saksma?¡± Iliyal barked back. ¡°How you what? You are playfighting. This is not a game, I am here to train you for warfare. Do you even know what warfare is?¡± He continued on, his face not changing, but it was obvious he was angry. Kavaa blinked upon the realisation and turned at the elf. Wait. Iliyal was displaying an emotion? ¡°Oh you¡¯ve read great tales upon the war we¡¯ve fought in. You¡¯ve seen the films and documentaries. You¡¯ve pretended to be gallant knights who save the day! Wonderful! Beautiful! The two people standing here, who have so graciously come to assist you, were those knights, and there was nothing gallant about us Saksma.¡± He took another step back. ¡°You want warfare? You want to see what¡¯s it like?¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. And he turned to Kavaa. ¡°Show them.¡± Kavaa drew her sword as Iliyal kept barking. ¡°You have ten seconds to organize some defence among yourselves, I don¡¯t care what or how. Kavaa has just ambushed you in Erdely regions. She¡¯s out to kill you.¡± And he turned to Kavaa. ¡°This healing won¡¯t be needless.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t.¡± Kavaa replied. She knew exactly what Iliyal was doing. Maisara used the same method on her Paladins. He was even giving the game away, did they not notice his boot steadily? ¡°Ten seconds have just passed, you¡¯ve been ambushed.¡± Iliyal said flatly. And Kavaa raced forwards, her sword whistled as it slid out of sheath. ¡°WAIT!¡± Paida shouted. She shakily put up her defence as Kavaa stepped towards, her foot twisted, she turned immediately, and she saw Saksma, still lifting that tremendous greatsword. Why the did woman even use it if she didn¡¯t have the strength to? What was the point of a weapon like that? It was just a club at this point. ¡°The whole point of an ambush is that you don¡¯t wait.¡± Iliyal shouted from behind Kavaa as he started circling them. Kavaa¡¯s eyes met Saksma¡¯s, she saw those blue sapphires light up with shock at Kavaa¡¯s speed. She saw the sword twist, she heard the sliding of plate as Paida came in from behind. This is why Divines needed suits crafted by artisans and not amateurs. Kavaa grabbed Saksma¡¯s arm at the elbow. She pulled the Goddess forwards, she stepped to the slide as Paida¡¯s blade came down. And she saw Paida slice into Saksma. The Goddess of Doschia screamed as Paida dropped her blade in shock. But Kavaa only kept close to Saksma, stepping around her, plate armour sliding against that cuirass that had been dented from the three previous beatings. This was no beating now. Kavaa turned, her sword point stabbed in Saksma¡¯s thigh, she turned the stab into a slicing blow, the sword leaving Saksma¡¯s leg and slamming into Paida¡¯s leg. Kavaa twisted her hand, the blade twisted with her, she slid it up. The edge found the opening, between the leg armour and the chest plate. It slide into cloth, and into flesh. Paida¡¯s scream echoed among the trees as Saksma hit the ground. And Kavaa did not slow down a breath. She let go of her weapon. Aliana was aiming at her, her eyes in shock and fury at what just had happened to her friends. Kavaa grabbed Paida before she managed to fall and swung the Goddess between herself and the archer. And Aliana, her eyes smouldering like a volcano, turned the bow. Not at herself, at Iliyal. She released the arrow. For a moment, she thought of having to explain to Kassandora what happened. Endless images flashed before her eyes. How could she return if the elf died here? What would Fer say? Helenna? Iniri? Arascus? How could she- Iliyal saw the movement before the arrow was even flying. She was obviously going to shoot him. One hand grabbed his pistol, he took a step down and swerved his body. Aliana was a good shot frankly, there was little to complain about her in that regard. But good marksman were a dime a dozen. She wavered for a moment before letting the arrow fly. That was more than enough time to see it would fly past his shoulder. And then those images were wiped away by the lightning crack of a gunshot. Another one. A third. A fourth. Aliana blinked as she grabbed her chest. Another gunshot made a hole in her shoulder. In her leg. In her knee. And the Goddess dropped, not even screaming, simply moaning in pain, blood leaking from small holes. And Iliyal¡¯s shout came through. ¡°That was good Aliana! That was truly good!¡± He said. ¡°And it perfectly demonstrates why you must be aware at all times. A single instant is enough to end your life.¡± Kavaa spun and turned to face the elf. He didn¡¯t even a scratch on him. He¡­ Kavaa had to shut her jaw after it dropped. He had honestly dodged it. Was the man ever not on guard? He put his pistol back into his holster and nodded to his side. Kavaa turned, grabbed Olonia¡¯s wrist as it was coming down on her. Still slow, faster than before, but there was still that moment of reservation in the Goddess, as if she didn¡¯t actually intend on hurting Kavaa. Unfortunately though, Kavaa didn¡¯t have the same hesitation. Olonia had stepped forwards to slice, Kavaa pulled her further. The moment made Olonia lose her footing, she fell down, her wrist still held by Kavaa. The Goddesses body twisted one way, the arm in the other as Kavaa turned her arm. Pop. The shoulder dislocated. Olonia still managed to keep her grip on the sabre. Kavaa threw her arm down, brought her knee up. The dislocation of the shoulder was swiftly followed by the cracking of bone. The sabre dropped, it never hit the ground. Kavaa grabbed the blade, threw it back up, caught the hilt, and turned to face Agrita. The Goddess of Rilia was stood there, spear quivering as her entire body shook, knuckles white around it, the tip darted left and right as if trying to find courage in the air itself. She made an attempt at a stab. As had been done before, so was done now. Kavaa effortlessly stepped to the side, caught the spear, pulled it forwards. And then she slammed Olonia¡¯s sabre into Agrita¡¯s side. The Goddess dropped in a scream. Iliyal wasted no time, he stepped forwards in between the Goddesses. Kavaa watched their bodies, the wounds were slowly closing. That was common in National Divines like them, slower than Fer¡¯s almost instant regeneration, much slower than her healing, but they¡¯d be standing in some thirty minutes. Maybe not Paida and Saksma. Bone took a long time too actually. Well, Aliana would be standing at least. That¡¯s if she knew how to push out foreign objects out of her body with just regeneration. Kavaa¡¯s eyes turned to the woman who had been shot. Actually, none of them would be standing if left alone. Iliyal clicked his boots together, and launched into his lesson. ¡°That¡¯s what warfare is. That¡¯s what I¡¯m here to teach you.¡± Iliyal said sternly. ¡°Now do you see how tremendous the marathon is? Or are we still going to ignore the fact we¡¯ve been having a gentle walk this entire time?¡± Aliana lay motionless as she hugged her bow. She didn¡¯t even have the decency to look at them, only staring up at the sky. Saksma breathed heavily, Paida had landed on her and they both let out harsh gasps. Agrita had curled up into a ball. They would be crying once the adrenaline wore off, Kavaa had seen it before. ¡°I¡­¡± Olonia rolled over, clutching at the wound in her chest. ¡°I see.¡± And when Kavaa saw the smile upon Iliyal, it was as if she was looking at Kassandora in full force. Those burning eyes and that devouring smile, as if he was watching a city burn before him. ¡°Good.¡± He said. ¡°First lesson is the most important. This is what happens every day on the battlefield. You will feel this every single time, because this is what everyone in that Great War you all pretend to be in felt every damn day. It builds discipline, it builds camaraderie and it builds battle paranoia. This is not a skill you can survive without.¡± He crossed his arms. ¡°Have we worked it out yet?¡± ¡°What?¡± Paida croaked as she clutched the broken hand on the ground. ¡°Pain tolerance training.¡± And the elf turned to Kavaa. ¡°Heal them.¡± Chapter 207 – By Blood Spilled ¡­Baalka of Disease, small and calculating, she has Kavaa¡¯s intelligence and Helenna¡¯s warmth. Mortals call her insane but that is not true. Baalka is merely the most aware of us all, if her own plagues would wipe out life on this world, they would bring an end to her as well. I wonder how it is, to be a force for destruction, with no ability to create and only destroy that which fuels your existence. Malam. Goddess of Hatred, lovely and beautiful, with an attraction and a tongue that blinds minds and lets emotions run wild. A Goddess that should have been killed years ago, but Hatred is an abstract as permanent as Pride. We are not idealists, Malam can be reasoned with. As the saying goes ¡®better the devil you know than the devil you don¡¯t.¡¯ Some call her an ideological Goddess, that is not true. Maisara¡¯s classification system is better at this, Malam is merely an Abstract. I am certain that she no true positions of policy and was merely chosen by Arascus because there is no better moralistic propagandist. Helenna¡¯s idealistic Love pales in comparison to Malam¡¯s pragmatic Hatred¡­ - Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light: ¡®My thoughts on the Daughter-Goddesses.¡¯ ¡®Use all the prestige you want.¡¯ Arascus had said. ¡®Whatever method.¡¯ Arascus had said. ¡®I trust you¡¯re smart enough not to need help.¡¯ Arascus had said. ¡®Cut the ropes and burn the bridges.¡¯ Arascus had said. ¡®Anything you can get away with, do it, anything you can¡¯t, make it so you can get away with it.¡¯ Arascus had said. And Helenna had listened. Helenna had listened oh so very well. Kirinyaa needed to be primed for Divine takeover? How many nations had fallen in the past to the words of Divines? How many kingdoms had Helenna ravished back then? Not through the brutality of the blade but the precision of the pen. Kirinyaa would fall at this point, that much was certain. The question was a matter of how and when. Frankly, it was much better for them if let themselves gently be lowered down by Helenna because if they waited for Kassandora, she would come in with an army at her back. Her heart beat stronger since she set it on Arascus¡¯ goal than it did once under the thousand years of Allasaria. Kassandora had been wrong, he wasn¡¯t amazing because he accepted her. Everyone opened their hearts to the Goddess of Love. Fer had been wrong, he wasn¡¯t amazing because he was smart. Every Divine worth knowing the name of had at least a modicum of intelligence to them. Iniri was wrong too, because every Divine could bring smiles to people¡¯s faces. Arascus was amazing because he gave her a goal. Not Allasaria¡¯s pointless little tasks. Not conniving little jobs. Not stupid tiny plans to be a cog. Arascus had come and had hefted her back up to the level of Divinity, and Divinity worthy of her title. People only saw the rose, he appreciated the thorns. Helenna didn¡¯t need to hide her smile. It was a real smile, she rarely hid her emotions, but it wasn¡¯t for the reason everyone in the parliament was thinking. Helenna was happy, she was saving lives here after all, doing what a Divine should do. What Arascus had told her before the victory celebrations had solidified in her mind, ancient rose petals had shed and buds started to sprout in her heart. This was the place where she would be treated as the Goddess of Love she deserved to be. The buds started to flower, and the thorns grew large. Not today¡¯s cold, material over-rationalised love. No. Not that one whatsoever. She was not here to talk reason into men. Reason was Saranael¡¯s demesne. Men weren¡¯t pressed into the Fortia¡¯s Great War armies because of the pragmatic reasons against letting Arascus rule. They were pressed in because Divines disagreed with each other, because Allasaria was proud, because Fortia and Maisara were stubborn, because of such tiny and petty differences. Helenna¡¯s smile grew large, that was a tragic tale that simply bared its naked form ready for Love to leave marks all over. What sacrificial tragedy! And what was Love without sacrifice? ¡°Thus.¡± Helenna made her voice loud as she looked out over the parliament. Dignitaries and politicians, men who proclaimed Love but would not recognise it if it threw itself at them. All in suits, with cameras on the upper benches. ¡°We have heard the arguments for and against.¡± She took a deep breath and spread her arms out. ¡°But I would like to make one myself, I thank the gracious people of Kirinyaa for letting me talk.¡± She stepped away from the podium. ¡°Indeed, the naturalization of a hundred thousand Clerics will have consequences.¡± She smiled. Arascus had wanted lawyers, but Helenna knew the lawyers here. It was a different school of law to the one back then, a school that was rational and intellectual and constantly questioning itself. It would be easier to turn Kassandora¡¯s men into lawyers than it was to turn lawyers into Kassandora¡¯s men. One? Maybe she could find, but Kassandora would need a whole team, and this set the foundation for things later too. She wasn¡¯t planting a flower here, she was planting the whole damn garden. The only issue was that a Kirinyaan lawyer needed a Kirinyaan passport, but that was simply a material issue, one that could be fixed. One Helenna was fixing right now. ¡°But can Kirinyaa not take them? We are not talking about an endless flow here, we are talking about a one time burst of population. One hundred thousand in a country of more than a hundred million?¡± She lifted merely shrugged as she took a step. Good thing she wore the dress today, dresses always made sure the eyes focused on her. ¡°You have just defeated the White Pantheon, I think you sell yourselves short.¡± She smiled at the scattered collection of laughs. Helenna waited for the gavel to sound, there was none. Excellent, that meant the honourable justice was on her side too.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Time for her second. ¡°Likewise, I do not see the issue with space. Are the very Clerics we are discussing right now not working to push the Jungle back?¡± She knew that they would know too. She had made sure KTV had established a permanent unit in Kassandora¡¯s ranks, every evening there was a report on their apocalyptic ashening of the nation¡¯s tainted Western half. She smiled. ¡°And economically¡­¡± They all knew the economic arguments, no point of discussing that either. ¡°I am the Goddess of Love, do I look like I know about economics?¡± Her hair turned a vivid red as she smiled at the laughter she was receiving. ¡°No. I have only one point to make. One more important than petty economics and bureaucracy. One larger than that, one about our humanity.¡± Helenna said loudly. It was time to show the irrational, the emotional, the absurd Love that had pulled men from their homes to face Fer and Anassa and Irinika and Baalka on the battlefield. The one that did not care for grand reasons, the one that rested within the impregnable walls of men¡¯s hearts. ¡°I see this discussion as pointless. The Clerics already are Kirinyaan, we are merely updating a bureaucratic matter.¡± She looked at the shocked faces, a few men from Mwai¡¯s party obviously didn¡¯t like the statement, but she had been forceful. Freeing Kassandora had been her idea after all. ¡°I said what I said. I consider the Clerics Kirinyaan already in every language but legalism.¡± Helenna continued. ¡°Because we are not talking here about giving them a reward, even though they do deserve one. They are not mercenaries, I doubt you could find mercenaries that would willingly fight the White Pantheon for any amount of money. These are men who faced down magicians and Divines. Men who stood at Melukal, men who stood besides Kirinyaans, who were the first on the frontlines and who were the last to retreat.¡± Helenna saw one of the cameras focus on her. She didn¡¯t even plan that, but that was a sign her words her hitting the spot she was aiming for. ¡°These men who have been dealing with the Jungle for three hundred years already. Generations upon generations who came to Kirinyaa to lay down their lives and assist their people. Kirinyaa¡¯s soil is already drenched with their blood.¡± Helenna took a deep breath. ¡°If I am wrong, I ask anyone to step forwards and challenge me, but we know that Clerics have been dying in Kirinyaa for centuries.¡± There was no Love that pained the heart so much like the one caused by death. ¡°When Kassandora came, they rallied around her, but did they rally for her? Did they rally for me? For Iniri? No. Kassandora is a general, we were in a war against the Pantheon, we are still in a war against the Jungle. So they rallied, but who did they fight for? Not for Kassandora, I can tell you that.¡± She took a deep breath. ¡°They expected no reward, they want no acceptance. They do what needs to be done. Now, they do not beg and grovel or demand this. Has a Cleric opened his mouth on this issue? Even though this issue affects them most of all?¡± Helenna had made sure the Clerics would not be here to tell sob stories. There was no reason to turn them into pathetic beggars like that. ¡°Not one!¡± Some politician shouted from the side and the justice beat his gavel. ¡°Order, order in the parliament.¡± He merely said the words though, not shouted them. Helenna turned and gave the justice a thankful nod. ¡°Not one, as was rightfully stated just now! Not once have they grovelled for a reward.¡± She looked around. ¡°They wanted nothing, they received nothing. They gave their gave their dreams, their lives, their blood to this country. So what does that make you? Is this the nation of beggars? The freeloaders of other¡¯s hard work? Is this what the nation that stood has been reduced to?¡± A speech was a rollercoaster, the more emotions it had, the more memorable. There needed to be lows, because those lows made the highs. She let the shameful silence hang, and then lifted her fist to speak. ¡°The Clerics are Kirinyaan by blood spilled. That is reason enough.¡± The parliament stood up, men from the top cheered, and Helenna bathed in the applause. She turned to the speaker, inclined her head, and left the speaking hall of the parliament. A tiny break to chew gum would come first, then she would deal with the interviews. KTV and EIE were both promised that they could question her on it. She really didn¡¯t know what there would be answer, that speech basically said everything she needed to say. She stepped out into one of the back corridors. It was tall, red carpets, cream walls, paintings of Kirinyaan figures hung on her wall but Helenna could list them off with her eyes closed already. She dug out a packet of gum from a pocket, the strongest mint there was and walked to the men idling around, not doing anything in particular. Her assistants, soldiers on loan from Kassandora, who were dressed in suits. Each man with a suitcase filled with papers. She never had soldiers as caretakers before but now, she would never be able to back to maids. There was no objections of ethics from them, if something needed to be done, it would be done. If something was to be stolen, they only needed an opening. She imagined if she told them to kill a man, they would do it with the same flat expression they always wore. Kassandora was grand in tactics and strategy, but there was no way she would have thought of this. But Helenna saw the path forwards. If they were going to war with Epa, then all that would be needed was for Kassandora to open a foreign branch in her army. The recruits would be limitless then, and this set the precedent. ¡°Where next?¡± One of the soldiers asked. ¡°Thirty minutes on interviews.¡± Helenna answered, her breath was cold from the gum. The voting would be tomorrow, she would not attend. There was business to do, and the results were obvious from the reaction she got already. ¡°Have you got the tests for next month?¡± ¡°I have them.¡± ¡°Good.¡± And now it was assured that the men Kassandora would pick to represent her passed. It was that simple. Mortals would have spent a year planning it, another year executing it. She was a Divine though. Two weeks of negotiations had been enough. She pulled out her phone and flicked to the man himself: Arascus <3 appeared at the top and she rang. And the best part about Arascus was that he answered or dropped the call immediately. Either he was busy right now and would call back, or the call would be picked up within a few beeps. It was the former option this time. ¡°What is it?¡± His voice rumbled through the phone. ¡°You lost.¡± The man needed a few seconds to respond. ¡°It¡¯s done?¡± ¡°Done.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°So just the lawyers test then?¡± ¡°Done.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°It¡¯s done-done. Voting tomorrow. It will pass.¡± She smiled to herself imagining him in shock. Who else could do that? Could sweet little Kassie? Could Fer? Kavaa? Iniri? Anassa? She had not seen any of them surprise it. ¡°So until tomorrow then.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°It will pass.¡± Helenna said. ¡°And you owe me dinner.¡± Chapter 208 – The League Above Douglas and Erik sat together around a campfire in Central Requisitions. Simply sitting around and smoking, killing time as they did when not on a flight. ¡°Another one.¡± Erik said dourly. ¡°Show it.¡± The man turned his phone over and showed Douglas the article: ¡®Kirinyaa¡¯s big problem.¡¯ ¡°We just don¡¯t get a break.¡± ¡°Kassandora says not to worry about it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Douglas replied. ¡°I¡¯m just not happy.¡± ¡°Neither am I.¡± Kavaa raised her shield and blocked Aliana¡¯s arrow. She took a step back as Saksma came in with that greatsword. It swung just past her chest, it would have been a chance at a counterattack, but Saksma quickly drew it back as Paida came in to cover her friend from a blow. They were getting better, although who wouldn¡¯t after a solid month of duelling? They always started like this, with a quick attack but their strategy was lacking. Agrita¡¯s spear shot forwards, towards Kavaa¡¯s chest. Kavaa found the opening. Her sword arm went up, she closed the distance, her sword smashed through Agrita¡¯s armour and the Goddess groaned as Kavaa twisted it out. Another arrow was blocked, another blow from Saksma was narrowly dodged. Kavaa slammed into Saksma to push her back, then stopped just before Olonia¡¯s sabre sliced into her chest. She took a step back as Agrita groaned and pushed herself off the ground and onto all fours. Gone were the times when she would quickly wipe out all five in a quick show of skill. Iliyal was circling the duel. Two dozen Clerics were watching their Goddess fight. The camp had grown over the past two weeks, with supplies being dropped in. Fer¡¯s friendly bear was still here, it was sleeping in a hole it had dug for itself. And so they came again. Saksma leading the charge, that was a good blow. From an angle and above, not one to be blocked, but to be dodged. To force Kavaa left where Olonia was already standing with a sabre. Kavaa¡¯s eyes met Olonia¡¯s blue. Cold and focused, there was no thought behind them, only pure focus. Her arm was deadly still, not straining itself either. Her fingers gripped her sabre hilt, but they weren¡¯t white with fear as they when Kavaa had come here a month ago. The Goddess of Health took a step towards Olonia, then quickly dug her foot into the dirt and pushed herself off. Her shield caught Saksma¡¯s greatsword, she didn¡¯t try to block, only disturbing its trajectory slightly up and over herself. The hunk of metal on Kavaa¡¯s arm ran down the blade, it bounced off the hilt, kept going and slammed into Saksma¡¯s fingers. Paida¡¯s sword came in from the other side, so did one of Aliana¡¯s arrows. Both could not be blocked. Kavaa held her breath, twisted her blade, slammed the shield into Saksma¡¯s chest, her blade cut into Paida¡¯s arm. The heavy plate dented as Paida took a step back wincing in pain. A month ago, she would have been screaming or shouting. Now she only grunted, tried moving her arm and looked down in frustration as metal plate creaked against metal plate. Aliana¡¯s arrow shot into Kavaa¡¯s stomach. The Goddess of Health merely grit her teeth, and continued the blow that had crunched Paida¡¯s armour into Saksma¡¯s side. And the Goddess of Doschia fell. Paida quickly joined her on the ground. She was still trying to flex her arm when the butt of Kavaa¡¯s sword struck her helm. Kavaa turned, blocked the next arrow from Aliana and pulled the one still in her chest with the same movement. Kavaa turned to face Olonia, the Goddess¡¯ eyes were sharp, they didn¡¯t look at her friends once. Instead completely focused on Kavaa. Not her face, nor her fist or the blade in her hands, but the whole body. Good, she was learning. Kavaa stepped close, ultimately, a sword and shield would always beat a sabre. Olonia needed a different weapon at this point, or a shield. Heavy sabres like that were for horsemen who would swing past as they rode and sever heads in one smooth movement. Olonia swung quick, she swung fast, she swung hard, but there was no reason to drag the fight on. Kavaa¡¯s sword hit her arm on a counter attack, her shield aimed for the Goddess¡¯ head. A raised arm managed to block it, Kavaa heard the shoulder pop and Olonia fell to the ground. Kavaa turned gave Agrita, still bleeding and picking herself up, spear in her hands, a kick to keep her down. And she closed the distance on Aliana. The Goddess of Allia only got two arrows off before Kavaa swung her sword at the woman. Aliana dodged the first blow, she left herself open for the follow up. And Aliana fell. The fight was over, much better. This was the best these five had ever done. Kavaa honestly would not mind sending them off to battle like this. They wouldn¡¯t be able to beat her of course, but there was being exceptional, and there was being good enough. Only the exceptional had been allowed into the White Pantheon after all. Basic duelling with Kavaa would never let them beat her, that sort of training could only do so much for battlefield instincts. Iliyal came forwards as the Clerics cheered. They always cheered when Kavaa won, which meant they were cheering every fifteen or so minutes. The Goddesses were clambering to their feet. That was another thing that had changed. A month ago, they would need at least fifteen minutes on the ground. ¡°Let them regenerate.¡± Iliyal said as he came close. ¡°Good.¡± He gave them a round of applause. ¡°That was good.¡± He turned to Kavaa, his eyes trailed down from her face and at the wound in her stomach, Kavaa already knew the only mark left of Aliana¡¯s arrow was a hole in her armour that exposed fresh pink skin and some blood on the plate. ¡°I assume you can¡¯t teach them how to fix themselves faster?¡± ¡°You just better.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°There¡¯s no method, it just gets faster the more you use it.¡± She shrugged as the Goddesses mumbled. ¡°Better this than healing.¡± Agrita said through grit teeth as she held her side. ¡°One thing I can say is not to hold the wound. Let your body do its own thing.¡± Kavaa said. That did nothing in reality, but it would be better if they started working to break the natural instinct of clutching at wounds. That was suicide in battle. ¡°Aliana, good aim, compliment on the hit. Saksma, fast swings. Olonia you too.¡± Iliyal listed them off. This always happened, he would give them one compliment before the critique came. ¡°Paida, excellent teamwork and awareness. Agrita, good job on trying to pick yourself back up.¡± He finished as the five Goddesses lined up. The elf sighed. ¡°We¡¯re going left to right then.¡± Kavaa wiped her blade of Divine blood on her shirt and sheathed it as stood there. ¡°Firstly, Paida. You panicked in the armour.¡± ¡°I did.¡± Paida said earnestly. The pride had been beaten out of them on the first day, when it became undeniable that not listening to advice would get them nowhere. Iliyal went over to the Goddess, even though she was more than a head taller him, he took her injured arm and turned it over to reveal her fore-arm. ¡°What are these?¡± Iliyal pointed to the straps that held her plate fixed to her body. ¡°Straps.¡± ¡°And what do you have in your hand?¡± Paida had to look down. ¡°A sword.¡± ¡°I think you can put two and two together.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°This goes to all of you. The first line of defence is movement, the second is your armour. If you have to sacrifice one line, you sacrifice your armour every time.¡± He drew his own blade and put the tip against Kavaa¡¯s forearm. ¡°You don¡¯t cut like this.¡± He moved the blade to the side, so it slid between the gap between her plate and her undershirt. ¡°But like this, or you slice yourself open. Alternatively, if you find yourself without a sword. Paida, sheath.¡± The Goddess sheathed her blade and Iliyal took her other hand. He grabbed a finger and manhandled it until it was hooked around the leather. ¡°Now pull.¡± Paida pulled and the leather snapped effortlessly. ¡°Never forget you are Divines. Leather, wood, even steel, you can bend and you can break.¡± He walked to Kavaa and drew put his sword next to himself. ¡°Now we don¡¯t do this, ever.¡± He threw the blade into the air, did the motion of pulling the strap off on himself, and caught his own sword by the hilt. ¡°Why? Do we know?¡± He asked.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Five blank faces looked back at Iliyal. None of those eyes had the shine of being talked down to anymore, they were all looking curiously. ¡°Kavaa. You¡¯ve just done to my armour what you did to Paida¡¯s.¡± He took a step back. Threw his blade in the air, and made the motion of snapping the leather strip of his own armour. Kavaa reacted with the speed only a Divine was capable of. She drew her own sword, slammed it into Iliyal¡¯s and the elf¡¯s sword was sent in an arc across the camp. ¡°There we go.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Kavaa¡¯s sword was in her sheath, that¡¯s how easy it is to disarm an opponent. Never let go of your own weapon.¡± A Cleric went to retrieve the elf¡¯s sword as he turned around. ¡°Aliana, you panicked when Kavaa closed the gap. The moment you see someone approaching you, you have to start backing away unless you¡¯re certain you can down them. The dodge was good, but Kavaa is armed with a sword. It doesn¡¯t matter if you dodge a thousand times, she only has to get you once. Understood?¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Aliana said in a sombre tone. ¡°Agrita. You thought you had an opening when you didn¡¯t.¡± Iliyal repeated the movement Kavaa had done when she dodged Saksma¡¯s blade. ¡°This here.¡± Iliyal angled his foot in the same way Kavaa had done to suddenly reverse her direction. ¡°Is a sign of a feint. This goes to all of you, Agrita, you were simply unlucky it happened to you.¡± Kavaa raised her eyebrows impressed. Most Divines wouldn¡¯t have caught that, the elf was a mortal and yet he still did. ¡°Olonia and Saksma. I have sad news for you.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Which is that your weaponry is terrible. Olonia, you especially. Did you see how Kavaa moved effortlessly with her straight sword?¡± Both of them nodded. ¡°Saksma, your greatsword is not a duelling weapon. I don¡¯t have much issue with it, because a greatsword in Divine hands is for cutting men down. This, you have to prepare for yourself. I can¡¯t tell you how to cope. You simply will deal with the fact that every battle, you will have a kill count in the thousands. Olonia though.¡± He sighed, looked down and shook his head. Kavaa wondered how much of that was actually thought, and how much was just pantomime. ¡°Why does the axe have a handle? Why do we not simply used axe-heads as they are?¡± Olonia¡¯s though, was definitely not a pantomime. She narrowed her eyebrows and had to think for a few seconds. Kavaa only smiled, this was the world¡¯s easiest question. But then, wasn¡¯t youth¡¯s best blessing the lack of knowledge? ¡°For momentum.¡± Olonia replied, there we go. The girl wasn¡¯t entirely stupid. ¡°Good. Momentum. Now look at your sabre. Why does it suddenly get thicker at the end?¡± Olonia looked at her blade. It did indeed get thicker. They had made duelling sabres in the past, thin pieces of steel, but those were merely experiments. Kavaa had been there after all. She remembered the question. Why not just use a straight sword? ¡°To carry momentum.¡± Olonia replied. ¡°Exactly. Why is it a cavalry sabre?¡± This time, the Goddess took longer to answer. Iliyal sighed when he finally heard her answer. ¡°Because it was used by cavalry?¡± It was earnest, that was the worst part. Iliyal turned to Kavaa. She didn¡¯t need the question. ¡°You swing it, and it goes through everything. It¡¯s heavy as to not get stuck in armour or bone.¡± Kavaa replied and Iliyal nodded. ¡°Kavaa puts it in a nicer fashion than I do. It¡¯s heavy so that when combined with the speed of a horse, it will split heads and sever limbs in one blow.¡± Iliyal head. ¡°But Divines are strong enough not to need assistance like this in the first place, it¡¯s assistance for mortals, nothing more than that. You should be using a straight sword.¡± ¡°She¡¯s always used a sabre!¡± Saksma shouted suddenly, then added in a less combative tone. ¡°And we¡¯ve trained in it.¡± ¡°I saw how well you were trained when you got here.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Saksma, it¡¯s on you too, the greatsword is not a duelling weapon.¡± Saksma said nothing, she merely stood there and looked down at her weapon. It was undeniable that the woman was too weak to use a sword that large with any speed, the only reason she was troublesome was because they had good coordination, but she was the only who had not even grazed Kavaa yet. ¡°I¡¯ve seen Kassandora use a greatsword.¡± Saksma said in quiet protest. Kavaa looked to Iliyal. She wondered about the man¡¯s reaction. Would he bristle with rage? Would he shout? Would he shut her down? And once again, it was annoying that the elf¡¯s flat expression did not change even in the slightest. ¡°Are you Goddess Kassandora?¡± He asked slowly. ¡°No.¡± Saksma replied. ¡°That¡¯s all that needs to be said.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I¡¯ve requested Divine straight swords already, they¡¯ll come in the next supply drop. Agrita, you¡¯re getting a shield. Aliana, you¡¯re also getting a sword.¡± He clapped his hands. ¡°Right, we go ag-¡° Iliyal¡¯s words were cut off by a cloud of grass, dirt and mud suddenly erupting from behind him. Kavaa didn¡¯t even catch whatever that object was, it had come in like a meteorite, like artillery. A flash of dark and gold. Her instincts kicked in, she turned, hand on her sword, shield raised. She took a step forwards, towards to protect the elf as she would her own Clerics, her blessing started to flow into her Clerics, they lowered spears, raised shields and drew swords. Then she realised Iliyal¡¯s lack of reaction. He merely sighed and turned. The cloud of dust slowly settled. Kavaa realised who it was the moment she saw the two large ears, golden and shining. Then the lion¡¯s mane of hair as soft as silk and stronger than steel. The two vulpine eyes, almost shining, the fangs. The smile. Fer had arrived. She stood there in her loose shirt and skirt, tail trailing from underneath it. She looked at the Goddesses, sniffed the air, looked around. Kavaa¡¯s Clerics settled down. ¡°Ladies, this is Fer, Goddess of Beasthood.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I am Fer.¡± Fer confirmed, hands landed on hips, she puffed her chest out. She towered over all of them, the top of Kavaa¡¯s said only reached up to her chest. ¡°I am here to teach.¡± Iliyal sighed and nodded. The five national Goddesses all looked at the Goddess in shock, fingers and eyes going from the bear sleeping in its hole to the Goddess that had just descended from the sky. ¡°I¡¯ve been monitoring the progress.¡± ¡°Where have you been?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Paying respects.¡± Fer replied. She turned to Kavaa. ¡°Long time since we¡¯ve been here.¡± ¡°Long time indeed.¡± Kavaa said. She did not let go of her blade. Fer was lovely, Fer was sweet, Fer was funny, Fer was ever so loyal. And Kavaa had fought against Fer in these woods. And she had seen past the kitten on the outside. Blood empowered Fer so she drank it, but for every drop of strength she got from it, two drops of enjoyment were there too. And Fer sighed. Her smile revealed her teeth, two fangs burst from her mouth. ¡°It¡¯s a nice wood. Favourite part of Epa here.¡± She turned from Kavaa to the Goddesses. ¡°Right ladies. We¡¯re on a schedule, so we¡¯re not going to be wasting time.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too much for them.¡± Iliyal said quietly. ¡°Go easy. Very easy.¡± Fer made wide eyes, turned from the Goddesses to Iliyal. ¡°Weren¡¯t you training them?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t have a lot to start with.¡± Iliyal said flatly. ¡°So now, what are they? Out of ten?¡± ¡°In comparison to what?¡± ¡°Me.¡± ¡°Two.¡± Fer looked at them with wide eyes. ¡°Are you really that bad?¡± She said, then pointed to Kavaa. ¡°Can you defeat Kavaa?¡± The Goddesses all averted their eyes, faces flooded with shame. Olonia was the first to step up. ¡°She is rather good though, she¡¯s the Goddess of Health.¡± Kavaa blinked. She¡­ The only reason she was a battlefield Goddess was because of the blessing. She could duel, but she wasn¡¯t¡­ She didn¡¯t compare to the giants of Maisara and Fortia. And the actual people with powers, Allasaria, Anassa. Those were an entire league above her, comparison wasn¡¯t even necessary. Fer blinked too, she turned her head to Kavaa. Kavaa only shrugged in return. ¡°They¡¯ve not defeated me once yet.¡± ¡°Five against one?¡± ¡°Five against one.¡± Kavaa confirmed. Fer turned on the spot and sighed. ¡°So you¡¯ve never seen Kavaa lose?¡± All five shook their heads. Fer turned and cracked her fingers. ¡°Kavaa, a demonstration then.¡± ¡°There is no need, we both know I can¡¯t defeat you.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°No of you losing, but to show them what they¡¯ll be up against.¡± Kavaa sighed. She supposed they should know after all. Fortia and Maisara would most likely enter the battlefield, and those, Kavaa did not pretend to be able to duel either. Fortia had utterly crushed Kassandora after Waeh died, and Kavaa did not even hope she could stand against Kass. Fer turned to the five women. ¡°This is what Iliyal is training you against, the baby training is over now. You¡¯re now going to be learning against a proper battlefield Divine.¡± ¡°Kavaa¡¯s not?¡± Saksma asked. ¡°I am!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°Kavaa is.¡± Iliyal confirmed. Kavaa blinked in shock, did the elf just defend her? ¡°But it¡¯s not her battle prowess. Right now, there is no point teaching you strategy because you would be assassinated immediately. We build forts around treasuries before we fill them with gold.¡± He turned to Kavaa. ¡°If you want to show them, then go ahead. There isn¡¯t much for them to learn from this though.¡± ¡°I think there is.¡± Fer said. ¡°Then we agree to disagree.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± Fer said. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time.¡± Kavaa had never duelled Fer before. That was thanks to Leona, the woman would send a letter every time Kavaa was to avoid a battle. To leave her troops to die. There was nothing to be done. It was the same as when Olephia came. Everyone who could would retreat, everyone who could not would slow Fer down. ¡°Your blow first.¡± Fer said as she spread her arms and legs. ¡°I fight defensively.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°I suppose you do.¡± Fer said. The distance between them shrunk in the blink of an eye. One moment, Kavaa was some twenty steps away from Fer, the next, Fer was casting a shadow upon her. She swung her sword. Fer caught the blade with her hand. Blood leaked down it as Fer slid her hand down. Fingers closed around the hilt and Kavaa¡¯s fist. Kavaa smashed her shield into Fer¡¯s side. It was like smashing her shield into a cliff of iron. She tried to kick Fer¡¯s feet to knock her over, at least stumble her. She may as well have been kicking an anvil. She tried to take a step back. And Fer merely moved her arm up. Kavaa felt her feet leave the grass, she swayed in the air. It was over. Fer didn¡¯t even hurt her, yet it was already over. ¡°I lose.¡± Kavaa said and Fer nodded. ¡°You do.¡± Fer replied. She turned to the five Goddesses. ¡°Kavaa¡¯s a friend so I¡¯m rather gentle with her.¡± Kavaa just hung there for a moment. Fer released her grasp. Kavaa saw the wound on her palm close immediately. That shouldn¡¯t have been called regeneration, it was more akin to when mages would stitch castle walls back together. Fer dropped her tone as she spoke. ¡°Now it¡¯s your turn.¡± Chapter 209 – To Dine With Love Kassandora sat down as she picked up the pen. The Reclamation War did not require her management, so she might as well start doing something useful with her time and no one would do this as well as she did. The words came to her naturally, they started to flow onto the page as her fingers danced with the pen: ¡®The Modern War¡¯ Was personal pride bad? Helenna supposed it could grow to be grating and annoying. Allasaria, Fortia, Maisara and Elassa had more than enough of their own pride to be annoying, but that was because they were proud of everything. Allasaria would demand applause she put pen to paper and knew how to write, Maisara would want praise for having the decency to turn up on time to a meeting. Helenna though? She knew what she was good at. And her chest was as warm as a hearth when she saw everyone stop. Men put their forks down, some forgot they had food in their mouths, others simply stared. One man coughed on his drink. That was enough, but it was from the women that Helenna got the best compliments. Every angry glare at their partner was an admission of the Goddess¡¯s incomparable beauty, every annoyed look was a call to retreat from Helenna. Even the eyes that turned away and pretend not to see the Goddess was simply a childish attempt at espousing the Sun did not shine. Helenna walked through the restaurant Arascus had chosen. Honestly, she had thought he¡¯d make up reason to not take her to dinner, to move the goalposts of the bet or some other farce like that. That didn¡¯t happen though, the man did stay true to his word. He did book the best place in Nanbasa, at the top of one of the cities¡¯ skyscrapers. A whole room just for them. Helenna smiled as she walked by, making sure to add a sway. That was for nothing else other than just to rub salt in the wounds of everyone here. A waiter came to meet to her immediately. A handsome young man, well groomed and tall, in a pretty suit. But ultimately, a suit like that did not compare to a Helenna¡¯s dark crimson dress. She made sure to stop at the end of the room so everyone could see her back. Vainglory was a killer, that was the sin the Pantheon carried. But Pride? Helenna took a deep breath as she felt eyes run down her shoulder blades. The only reason she had ended up with Allasaria was because Arascus had not come back to her back then, she had never been one to hide away under the guise of humbleness. ¡°We have your reservation already Goddess.¡± The waiter said quietly, he did have the look of being popular with girls. It only made the fact he could not look Helenna directly in the face even sweeter. ¡°Lead the way.¡± Helenna cooed. A man close to her dropped his glass as Helenna swept across the room. She didn¡¯t even look at the people on this floor as the waiter opened a door and bowed to let Helenna through. She slowly sauntered up the stairs, her hand trailing along the rail. Arascus had chosen a fine place indeed. He was on the second floor, an entire room prepared for them, there was only one grand table in the middle of the room, Arascus was sitting there. The waiter closed the door behind Helenna as she went to sit down opposite him. She would have chosen a smaller table personally, but that was what she got for letting him do the organisation, men simply could not do romance. ¡°You¡¯re late.¡± Arascus said. He was in a fashionable suit too, black on white, prim. Nothing too extravagant, but then did he need anything like that? The grandest Divines could be imposing even in the nude. ¡°I am.¡± Helenna said as she looked around the table. ¡°There¡¯s no menus?¡± ¡°I took the liberty of ordering for you since you didn¡¯t turn up on time.¡± Arascus said lightly. ¡°How scheduled.¡± Helenna cooed. ¡°I have nothing planned.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°I simply don¡¯t wait.¡± She wasn¡¯t even annoyed that he ordered for her. There was something fun in that, she wanted to see what he would pick. The door opened and the waiter re-appeared, a collection of bottles in his hands, two large glasses in the author. ¡°You can put them down here, we¡¯ll pour ourselves.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Yes, of course sir.¡± The man said and left. Helenna did not take her eyes off Arascus once. That was another good move, mortals had a habit of pouring drinks for themselves. ¡°No wine?¡± Helenna asked as Arascus put one glass in front of her and pulled one to himself. ¡°That fact you didn¡¯t ask him for it means there¡¯s no issue.¡± Arascus said, his tone warm and testing. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to be nuisance.¡± Helenna replied as she watched him pick out a bottle of expensive whiskey. He effortlessly pulled the cork off. ¡°Somehow¡­¡± Arascus said as he leaned to pour for her before himself. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that Helenna, just somehow.¡± ¡°Me?¡± Helenna said. ¡°I¡¯m never a nuisance.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Arascus made the sound as he lifted his own glass, full almost to the brim. ¡°Cheers. To your good work.¡± Helenna smiled as she hefted her own glass into the air. This was proper acknowledgement. She took a sigh. ¡°Cheers.¡± They clinked and both Divines downed their entire glass. ¡°Good to have a drinking partner.¡± Arascus said and Helenna cooed on the table. ¡°Oh really? Your girls don¡¯t drink?¡± ¡°Too little or too much.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I didn¡¯t put you as the sort that would say too much.¡± Helenna raised an eyebrow as she nodded to the glass.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Too much for them.¡± Arascus replied as he poured their glasses full. Helenna smiled to herself as she sipped the whiskey. And he was caring, what a gentleman. ¡°Who¡¯s your favourite?¡± Helenna asked. She wanted to probe at him. ¡°Depends on my mood.¡± Arascus replied smoothly. ¡°All of them are pleasant, but I can¡¯t deal with them all the time.¡± That was another smooth answer. Allasaria would have lied and said she didn¡¯t pick favourites, Fortia and Maisara would both have said each other. ¡°Who is yours?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Neneria.¡± ¡°She is sweet when you get her talking.¡± Arascus said. ¡°She likes you too.¡± ¡°She does?¡± Helenna almost dropped the glass. ¡°She said you came and talked with her every day when Fer and Kass went into the Jungle, apparently you weren¡¯t bad company.¡± Arascus gave her a thumbs up. ¡°From Neneria, that¡¯s a compliment.¡± Helenna blinked in shock. She did like Neneria, but she only said Neneria because she assumed that was the most unexpected answer. The Goddess of Death actually liked her? Arascus saw the expression on her face, watched her hair change from a sleek noble gold to a shocked orange and chuckled. ¡°You are easy to read.¡± He said. ¡°I try not to be!¡± Helenna shouted. She downed the glass and poured herself another one. ¡°She likes me? Excuse me? What are you even talking about? Neneria is miserable to be around!¡± Arascus burst out in laughter. ¡°She¡¯s odd, but she¡¯s sweet. She sings well too.¡± ¡°I sing better.¡± Helenna said. Arascus made a stupid face and rolled his head from side to side. ¡°I can¡¯t choose between the two of you.¡± ¡°EXCUSE ME!?¡± Helenna stood and slammed down the table so hard her glass shook. ¡°You both sing excellently.¡± Arascus said it with far too smugness in his voice. ¡°But I¡¯ve never been one for music.¡± ¡°Oh because you didn¡¯t have orchestras in every city back then!¡± Helenna said. She saw her own locks, bright red. Why was she even angry? She took a deep breath and calmed down, then sat back down. ¡°Idea was Kassie¡¯s and Malam¡¯s.¡± Arascus said and Helenna blinked. That was one name she still could not get over. Malam, Goddess of Hatred. Another who had never been killed, she had simply disappeared, they didn¡¯t even get a whiff of her after the Great War ended. Irinika at least had been spotted multiple times, here and there. But Malam¡­ Malam had just vanished. She took a deep breath. ¡°Expected, Kassandora knows how to marshal men.¡± ¡°She¡¯s good at that.¡± Arascus said as Helenna blinked at him merely sipping the whiskey. Was he enjoying the gossip? She enjoyed it too of course, but him? She wouldn¡¯t have expected that. The last thing she brush she would have painted Arascus with was gossiping. The questions settled down immediately though, who didn¡¯t enjoy a bit of gossip here and there? ¡°What about her court case?¡± Helenna asked. She simply could not help herself, gossip was good, and gossip lead to knew information, she wondered if the man would spill anything. ¡°You¡¯re going to talk about work during a meal?¡± Smooth that, Helenna leaned back and innocently threw a strand of her hair away. ¡°I don¡¯t see any food before me.¡± She said and Arascus chuckled. ¡°I expected you to be the type who wouldn¡¯t shirk this discussion in private though.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Honestly.¡± He leaned back and down his glass. ¡°I was going to hand it off to you.¡± Helenna smiled as she poured them the remains of the first bottle. ¡°All of it or what?¡± ¡°All of it.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Kassandora too, you¡¯re singlehandedly moving our schedule along.¡± Helenna leaned back, crossed her arms, puffed her chest out and smiled in pride. Of course she was pushing the schedule along! She was the Goddess of Love! Who was there that could do this job better than her? Arascus saw her and laughed. ¡°Better than Malam, actually.¡± Helenna only beamed a smile back at him. Now that was a proper compliment. She had never seen Malam work, but she knew Malam had this position back then. ¡°What can I say?¡± Helenna tried to make herself look humble, it didn¡¯t work very well. ¡°I can try not to embarrass you too much.¡± Arascus finished his glass and got the next bottle. Helenna downed her glass and put it forwards. ¡°I don¡¯t think you will.¡± Arascus said. Helenna was about to respond when he wagged his finger at her. ¡°You know what I like about you?¡± Was it stupid that her cheeks went as red as her hair? It must be, but how many people would the God of Pride say something like that to? ¡°Well you have to me now.¡± Helenna said. ¡°You can hold your drink.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I saw it at the feast, you drunk your table under.¡± Helenna smiled back, who did he think she was? Helenna was partly the reason Divines had such a reputation for drinking! In the past, they¡¯d be served a single bottle. A glass of wine even! Who could get tipsy off a glass of wine? ¡°You know what.¡± Helenna said as she took the glass. ¡°I appreciate that.¡± That was a proper compliment. Not on her beauty or her charm, to complement that was to complement the Sun and its brightness. People always said you needed great tragic tales for relationships, those helped, but relationships lasted off the little things. Similar habits, similar humour, similar drinking capacity. It all mattered. ¡°I knew you would.¡± Arascus said as he tasted the next bottle. Helenna matched him, this was a spiced rum. It was sweeter, it burned more, but it was easier than the whiskey. ¡°But I mean it. Kassie doesn¡¯t drink.¡± ¡°I KNOW!¡± Helenna said in exasperation. ¡°I thought she would! But she has a glass here, a glass there, and then she¡¯s done!¡± ¡°She¡¯s like that.¡± Arascus said. ¡°She doesn¡¯t know how to relax.¡± ¡°Worst type of person.¡± Helenna said and Arascus shook his head. ¡°Neneria can¡¯t either, but she¡¯s just shy. Kassie just can¡¯t let go.¡± Helenna saw were this was going, it always did when people started talking to her. Just because she was the Goddess of Love did not mean she would suddenly be able to fix people¡¯s hearts. ¡°Are you going to ask me for advice?¡± Arascus chuckled and raised his arms defensively. ¡°Don¡¯t take it badly.¡± Arascus said. The moment it wasn¡¯t an affirmation, Helenna felt the daggers of curiosity stab her. ¡°But I know her better than you, you can¡¯t fix her.¡± Helenna blinked. She was the Goddess of Love! What heart could she not fix?! ¡°That a challenge?¡± Helenna asked and Arascus leaned back, smiling as he took a drink. ¡°It¡¯s a fact, but you can treat it as a challenge if you want.¡± He laughed. ¡°I¡¯ll do you a favour, you don¡¯t owe anything when you lose.¡± ¡°Oh we¡¯ll see about that.¡± Helenna said, she downed the drink. ¡°When is this food going to arrive.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t order any.¡± Arascus said flatly and Helenna blinked. ¡°You invited the Goddess of Love out and you didn¡¯t order a meal?¡± ¡°Goddess of Love got so caught up choosing a dress she was late.¡± Arascus said back just as cheekily as she did. ¡°And there¡¯s another reason too.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like dancing on a full stomach.¡± Helenna burst out in laughter, downed her glass and went to pour another. ¡°I don¡¯t either!¡± She burst out in laughter as Arascus chuckled, then she realised what he said. This was strong stuff. ¡°Wait. There¡¯s a dance?¡± ¡°Why do you think I didn¡¯t book the restaurant for just us? Ball starts in twenty minutes.¡± Helenna smiled as she pulled her arms down her sides. ¡°Well that¡¯s a surprise, but I¡¯m always prepared.¡± ¡°That you are.¡± Arascus said. Helenna sipped her rum. ¡°And after?¡± She raised an eyebrow. He was smart enough to get what an eyebrow like that meant. Arascus merely smiled. ¡°I did say my evening was free.¡± Helenna smiled back. She knew what that meant. Chapter 210 – Fail Like No One Else Many fall under the idea that soldiers need to be experts in duels and proficient in every weapon. That is a childish idea of what makes a soldier. To train soldiers, all that is required is to instil discipline and hierarchy. A soldier¡¯s training completes the moment he knows how to swing a sword properly, how to dig a trench in full armour and when he will run off a cliff at your command. Low-ranking officers likewise need little more, they should be picked entirely from men who have already fought. Replicating real fighting conditions in a training camp is a farcical idea unless you plan to cut your men down before they even enter a battlefield. To try and ingrain battle instinct into men who have never seen battle is an exercise in futility. Divines on the other hand are the opposite. We are so varied in strength that hierarchy is naturally ingrained into us. There is not a single Divine who can stand before Fer, Fortia or Maisara and pretend they are equal in strength. Anyone who hears the hum of Chaos and watches Olephia speak and still pretends we are equal is a liability. I would rather give them to the enemy than have them myself. Maybe during the Age of Heroes, we could have done with just throwing Divines into battle. Times have changed since then, Divinity is not an expendable resource. Thus, Divine training should be first focused on survival, then skill and finally leadership. I specifically will not state to train defensive or offensive tactics, nor give a list of things that need to be ingrained, because they are so specific as to be irrelevant, or so general that they do not need stating. Anyone reading this manual should be well versed enough to understand what is meant by its words. Time on explanations will be minimal. - Introduction to ¡®Legionnaire Training¡¯, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War. Fer looked up as Agrita screamed from above. She turned around and shot a smile at Kavaa and Iliyal. Iliyal had that ever present trace of little Kassie¡¯s blessing, that stern glare as she stared her. One hand thumbing the sheathed sword on his belt. He obviously wasn¡¯t impressed. Kavaa just stood there, eyes wide, as she absent-mindedly rubbed her hand where Fer had just picked her up off the ground. Agrita was still screaming from above, but she wasn¡¯t about to come back down anytime soon. Fer looked down at the fresh prey with a smile. Olonia lay on the ground, staring into the darkening sky above them with a stunned expression. White hair sprawled out on the grass. Saksma was just as stunned, she was testing her fingers, her own greatsword sticking out of her stomach. Fer had made sure not to hit anything vital. Paida lay smashed into the ground, only her head and legs sticking out as she sat there. Aliana had been flung against a tree, she rolled over the bark and settled on the roots. Fer¡¯s ears bounced as they listened to if she was still breathing. She was, quietly, and groaning. Fer smiled, took a few steps to the side and stuck her arm out. She scooped screaming Agrita from the air as the Goddess fell and stopped her from breaking her neck on the ground. ¡°Ow.¡± Olonia finally managed to mumble out. ¡°That¡­¡± Next to Olonia, Saksma looked at her hand, clenched her hand, realised she wasn¡¯t holding onto her greatsword. Her face panicked, she looked around, then saw her own blade sticking out of her chest. Saksma blinked as she grabbed the blade. Moaned groaned in pain, then gave up. ¡°How¡­¡± She only uttered as her head collapsed back down on the grass, golden hair splayed out around her head. ¡°You¡­¡± Agrita mumbled as she stumbled a few steps. Her spear came down, Fer caught that with her tail and handed it back to the Goddess. ¡°So¡­¡± She blinked as Fer¡¯s tail nudged her in order to remind to take the weapon. ¡°Thank you?¡± Agrita said, still in shock. ¡°Is Aliana dead?¡± Iliyal said from the side. ¡°She¡¯s alive still.¡± Fer replied, she didn¡¯t have to turn around to know Aliana was struggling to her feet. The rustle of cloth and grass and sharp breathes gave it away. ¡°Mmh.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°So there we go.¡± He walked to Agrita and tested the greatsword, it only an inch, from side to side. ¡°Kavaa.¡± Iliyal said and the Goddess of Health woke up from her stunned shock. The elf was obviously not happy with the damage as he looked over Olonia. He reached down to poke her stomach through the scale mail, although it was more a series of wires than scales now. ¡°OW!¡± Olonia shouted as Iliyal ran a finger over her stomach. ¡°Your ribs are broken.¡± Iliyal straightened, gave a glance to Agrita, said nothing, and went to inspect Paida, half buried in the ground. Kavaa got to Saksma, pale fingers closed around the blade, and she pulled it out. Saksma let out another groan, although the adrenaline had not worn off yet. It wouldn¡¯t though, Fer had smashed through all five of them in the blink of an eye. Saksma yawned, her eyes closed, she was already asleep from Kavaa¡¯s touch before the yawn even finished. And her wound got to rebuilding itself. Fer turned to watch Iliyal inspect Paida in her new hole. ¡°You do not look good.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything.¡± Paida said as she looked down at herself. ¡°That happens every now and then.¡± Iliyal said as he stood up. ¡°Kavaa, after you¡¯re done with those two, there¡¯s paralysis here.¡± Paida blinked, her mouth dropped open, she blinked up at Iliyal. ¡°I¡¯m paralysed?¡± ¡°For now.¡± Iliyal replied. ¡°Generally the rule for Nationals is a paralysis like this is a day or two before you can move your legs, anywhere from a week to a month to restore fully.¡± He shrugged as Kavaa ran over. Saksma was waking up from her sleep, the hole in her stomach already sealed. Olonia was murmuring something. ¡°We should get her out first.¡± Kavaa said. Iliyal looked at her, was about to say something, then merely shrugged. He looked over to Fer. The Goddess of Beasthood took three long steps as she hummed and smiled. ¡°Aren¡¯t you not supposed to move them when they¡¯re paralyzed?¡± She asked. ¡°Aren¡¯t you not supposed to paralyze them in the first place?¡± Kavaa answered back flatly as she stared at Paida in the hole. Fer merely shrugged as she shrugged behind Paida, stuck her arms under her shoulders and pulled her up. Paida¡¯s neck fell loose and all her limbs hung from her body as if she was a doll. ¡°I can¡¯t feel anything.¡± Paida said quietly. ¡°No, you can¡¯t.¡± Kavaa put her on the woman¡¯s forehead as Fer sniffed. She couldn¡¯t smell anything. Mages had a smell to them, as did Olephia¡¯s curse. Neneria had no tell, but Irinika and Anassa both had a tell to them too. They would block smells out. ¡°She¡¯s asleep, put her down.¡± ¡°How long will you take?¡± Fer asked. ¡°A minute.¡± Kavaa replied, obviously annoyed. ¡°Go get Aliana, she probably can¡¯t walk either.¡± Fer rolled her eyes, smiled, and jumped off the ground. She flew through the air as Kavaa put her hands on Paida¡¯s cheeks and then she landed next to Aliana. ¡°Up we go girlie.¡± Fer said as Aliana moaned from the ground. Well, she was moving at least. So it wasn¡¯t too bad. Aliana moaned in pain as Fer tossed her over her own shoulder, then jumped backwards. ¡°AHH!¡± Aliana¡¯s shout transitioned into a moan as Agrita came forwards, her eyes avoided Fer entirely. Fer saw Iliyal not happy about the situation whatsoever. He took a sigh, looked at Fer and raised his hands. His fingers made old Great War symbols. The sort that soldiers would use to communicate with each other. Stay silent. Fer laughed and gave him a thumbs up. Honestly, she had only been meaning to satiate her own curiosity at how powerful the modern National Divines were. She supposed it wasn¡¯t a fair trial after all, there had only been three competitors to her throne in melee combat. One, Iliyal had killed himself. The other two Kassie would be handled eventually now that the Pantheon had only half its members left. ¡°Can¡­¡± Agrita said quietly. ¡°I apologize, but I think my arm is broken.¡± ¡°Check Iliyal.¡± Kavaa said, her hands still on Paida¡¯s cheeks. Fer knelt down to watch the woman work. There was no tell, no flow of energy she could sense, nothing. But from within, Fer could hear the tearing of muscles, the rapid heartbeat, the crunching of bone. That sounded like the spine. Paida mumbled something as Kavaa sighed.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°You are terrible Fer.¡± She said. ¡°I held back!¡± Fer shouted back. She honestly had! Her claws had been retracted the whole time! She didn¡¯t even tear an arm off! ¡°It¡¯s snapped here and here.¡± Iliyal said as he ran his hands down the Goddess¡¯ arm. ¡°And your shoulder is dislocated.¡± Fer nodded as the man talked. That was classic battlefield wounds, Agrita should get used to it. Kavaa sighed as she kept on working on Paida. Eventually, the Goddess of Health pulled her hands away. ¡°Is she fixed?¡± Fer asked. She knew using the wrong word would be annoying. Kavaa was a friend, but these woods brought back memories. And those memories reminded her of old grievances. They were settled now, she did promise them she would pay respects, but it was still her pack members that had fought here. ¡°She¡¯s healed, yes.¡± Kavaa said. She looked up at Agrita and Aliana. ¡°Alright, both of you, at once.¡± She shook her head when her hand touched Agrita, and she sighed when she touched Aliana. ¡°You¡¯ve broken all your ribs.¡± ¡°I was thrown.¡± Aliana said quietly. ¡°You were.¡± Fer agreed. ¡°Lie down, both of you.¡± Kavaa said, they did as Fer went over to look on Paida. The Goddess blinked her eyes open with a yawn. She saw Fer, her cheeks went pale, she immediately rolled and scrambled to her feet, then looked down at her body. Paida tested her hands, she flexed her fingers, she looked at herself, and she started to tear up. Fer was about to open her mouth when she felt Iliyal grab her arm. ¡°I told you they weren¡¯t ready for you.¡± He said. ¡°You said two out of ten.¡± ¡°Well forgive me for a scale that terrible. Who¡¯s a five?¡± Fer blinked as she thought on that. Who would be a five? The magicians did not count obviously, because they¡¯re powers were too varied to be put up against each other like that. ¡°Kassie?¡± Fer said it like a question. Frankly, she didn¡¯t even know. ¡°So then Maisara and Fortia are equal with you, six through nine are just empty.¡± He said, terribly unimpressed. ¡°Let me handle this.¡± ¡°If you say so.¡± Fer said. Frankly, she wasn¡¯t going to apologize to these girls, if anything, she just saved their lives by showing how overwhelming Divines really could be. What had Iliyal and Kavaa been doing anyway? It was akin to sending wanderers into the desert with no water. ¡°They¡¯re all healed.¡± ¡°You can all sit down, we¡¯re taking a rest.¡± Aliana and Agrita both woke up as Kavaa slapped their cheeks. ¡°Lesson¡¯s beginning now.¡± She said, they slid across the ground to their defeated friends. Olonia had her knees pulled up. Saksma and Paida were both using one another for support, everyone avoided even looking in Fer¡¯s direction. ¡°This is Fer.¡± Iliyal said. Fer waved to them, only Aliana and Olonia had the decency to look at her, the elf continued without missing a beat. ¡°When it comes to physicality¡­¡± He sighed, then turned to look at the Goddess. ¡°You can explain frankly.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Fer said as she took a step forwards. ¡°We are Divines. There is a natural hierarchy to us. A God of Wires will never match me. He will never match you either. One on one, Fortia will beat every single one of you.¡± Now the lies would have to start. It was like sending five small dogs against a bear, there simply wasn¡¯t a conceivable way for the dogs to win. The bear was simply too strong. ¡°But, five against one, you should be able to put up a fight.¡± Fer smiled at them as they began to listen. At least Iliyal had drilled that into them. ¡°This is the hierarchy.¡± Fer made a line in the grass with her foot. ¡°I am here.¡± Then another. ¡°Fortia and Maisara.¡± Then another. ¡°Kassandora.¡± And a fourth. ¡°The rest.¡± And a fifth. ¡°You.¡± None of them looked happy about that. There were more steps in the hierarchy of course too, but she wasn¡¯t going to list off needless numbers and give them an ego about how they stronger than petty inventions. Too much caution was bad for a mortal, but Divines had all the time in the world to get things done. ¡°We are not here to ask you to defeat me. That was a mere demonstration at what you¡¯ll be working against. If you get a cut on me. You¡¯ll get a cut on Fortia. If you get an arrow in my back, you¡¯ll be able to get an arrow into anyone¡¯s back. You make me bleed, you make everyone bleed. It¡¯s as simple as that.¡± Fer finished and turned to Iliyal. That was good enough, right? He gave her a nod of his head. ¡°Right ladies. As you¡¯ve just heard, we¡¯re not doing half measures here. There is no chance for you to succeed, you will fail and fail and fail until you drop. And then you¡¯ll fail some more.¡± Fer saw Kavaa look quizzically at the man. ¡°But that¡¯s not important, because like I said, we¡¯re not asking you to win here.¡± Iliyal raised his arm above his head. ¡°We reframe success and failure. Success is impossible, it is achieved once we¡¯ve won, and the road to success is nothing but a series of crushing failures. But we reframe that failure. When we jump, we aim for the stars and only manage the moon instead. That¡¯s what we are talking about. This will not be easy but you will get to a point where you fail, you look around, you can¡¯t do it. And then other people look at you and do you know what they will say?¡± Olonia managed to croak a meagre question, her voice low and defeated. ¡°What do they say?¡± ¡°They will see you fail, and they will say: wow, I can¡¯t succeed like that.¡± Helenna crawled out of Arascus¡¯ bed and calmed her shaky legs as she fetched her clothes. What a night. Kavaa joined the training sessions. The elf¡¯s words were as if Kassandora had been right here and they had struck. She swung as Fer, the Goddess of Beasthood answered with a grasp at her blade. Kavaa tilted it downwards at the last moment, Fer¡¯s arm trailed after it but it was too late. Her blade hit Fer¡¯s skin. It even managed to make a small cut. They both stopped at stared at the metal penetrating her skin. Fer broke the silence. ¡°That was good.¡± Helenna had another meeting with Mwai¡¯s ministers. She had managed to get the old ones involved in scandals or just to resign, and these were a much better fit to drive the president further down the road of isolation and madness. They were all young bootlickers and total yes-men, one of them even read Arascus¡¯ anti-war papers. The perfect sorts to make sure that he started living in his own bubble. She slid a series of statistics across the paper. Polling numbers. They were real, but they didn¡¯t mention the fact they selectively polled Arascus¡¯ leadership. Helenna even made a worried face as if things weren¡¯t going to plan. ¡°I would like to ask what the government is doing about this.¡± Aliana let loose an arrow as Fer effortlessly stepped around Saksma¡¯s new longsword. At least when they fought Kavaa, the woman took them seriously. She watched her arrow fly and knew it would not hit the moment it left the bow. Fer¡¯s ears quivered, they did that little jump they always did when she was fighting. She ducked under Agrita¡¯s spear with a yawn, stuck her hand out, and caught Aliana¡¯s arrow between her fingers. What a monster. Kassandora took quick steps to see what the noise in her camp was about. Cursing and anger, if there was a brawl happening, then someone would take lashes, she wasn¡¯t going to entertain a lack of discipline just because they had won the war. She ducked into the tent and the crowd inside immediately went silent. The answer was obvious though. KTV was interviewing some young man in a prim t-shirt and with a face so smooth he could have passed for the son of half the men here. ¡°It IS a waste!¡± He shouted in a shrill voice. ¡°What are they doing for us?¡± Agrita held her breath as Iliyal had explained as she saw Fer twirl around an arrow. Another quickly followed up, Fer did not even turn. Her tail flicked it away as she simply brushed Olonia¡¯s second arrow away. Agrita took a step to the side. She saw Fer sigh, saw her move forwards. She was going for a throw at Paida. Agrita stopped the pre-emptive lunge and waited for a moment. That would have been too early. Fer¡¯s attack had only been a feint, she stepped to the side, her fist landed in Saksma¡¯s chest instead and Agrita took the opening. She pushed her spear forwards with all her strength, straight at Fer¡¯s back. The Goddess of Beasthood answered immediately, her tail wrapped around it, held it still as if it was in a vice and she her head, a smile bright smile painted over it with two golden eyes. ¡°That was good Agrita, you almost got me!¡± Arascus watched as Mwai gave a speech at an anti-military protest. It was a small crowd, but KTV could fix that with a good angle. Thirty men from ground view looked like an entire crowd after all. He turned in the air and slowly flew away. That was for show too, he wanted a picture of him turning his back on Mwai to surface onto the internet today. And there was a more important thing to check. The police cordon blocking the counter protest, it easily dwarfed Mwai¡¯s audience, but these people didn¡¯t have to know or see that. The whole point of the game was to give Mwai enough confidence to try and make a move on Kassandora in the first place. Olonia lowered her head, felt Fer¡¯s claw brush against her ear. Two months ago, when this started, she would have cried from the sting. A month ago, when Fer had first arrived, she would have winced. Now she merely grit her teeth through the pain and closed the distance as Kavaa always did in her demonstrations and swung her blade. Fer responded immediately, grasping at her arm with a speed a monster as large as she was shouldn¡¯t be capable of. Olonia felt her feet lift off the grass, felt herself slam into Paida¡¯s armour. The Goddess of Rancais buried her feet into the dirt, stepped to the side and allowed Olonia to land gracefully on the grass. Agrita came from one side, lunging with her spear, Saksma came from the rear, her swing wide and guiding Fer into Agrita¡¯s blow. Paida stepped forwards, her own blade shining in preparation for a stab. Fer jumped grabbed the spear, she dropped low as Agrita¡¯s weapon was pulled out of her hands. Her teeth settled on Paida¡¯s sword, her other arm and tail twisted as she caught Saksma¡¯s blow. Her head twisted, Paida¡¯s sword shattered as Saksma was thrown to the ground. And then¡­ A sound Olonia heard for the first time since she had come here sounded. Iliyal shouted: ¡°STOP!¡± He started to clap. She turned as Iliyal kept clapping. Fer smiled, bowed her head, and lifted her arms above her head for them to see what happened. Olonia dropped her sword in shock. She felt her knees give out and she landed on the grass as the new plate armour let out a thud. An arrow was sticking out of her back. Chapter 211 – A Show for a Trial Mwai Ruku looked at the arrest order. They had enough evidence to arrest Kassandora courtesy of whoever it was in the army that had been sending him letters. There were even some pictures here and there, although it was still entirely unrealistic that she could be contained in a jail. But with how she was acting, he doubted she would suddenly run rampant in the country, there were more Divines here. Frankly, it could we for the best if she was embarrassed and then left of her own accord. That was the dream. But realistically, this would thoroughly discredit her image. Kirinyaa had exchanged one pair of Divine shackles for another, a looser pair that was as uncomfortable, but shackles they were still. Now it was time to finally take of the shackles and let the country live free. With the White Pantheon now hated, and Kassandora humiliated and exposed for being a liar, they would finally be able to guide themselves. To set an example for the whole world. It wasn¡¯t about the glory of it, Mwai poured himself another glass of whiskey. Another bottle one of his assistants had gotten as a gift from Helenna. He would be lying if he admitted that there wasn¡¯t some spark of pride in his heart at being the first leader of the country to tell Divines to go away. He sighed. One of the new men had recommended a show trial. How the man came upon the idea, Mwai had no clue. Damn though, it was a fine idea. She would be tried publicly, with cameras in the courtroom. She did not even have to be found guilty, all that needed to happen was to lay enough doubt at her feet to completely destroy her image. He took another sip of whiskey. The support, the lack of counter protests said the people were with him. The only reason the crowds were so small was because people were afraid of Arascus seeing them go against his favoured daughter. Mwai took a deep breath and Mwai put pen to paper. Helenna in a room in a Nanbasa hotel. A small room, in a cheap hotel, not quite dirty, but certainly far from clean. The men had picked it out themselves, even though she had allocated them enough money to rent out the best the city had to offer. The big issue they had found was that the nice places didn¡¯t allow smoking inside, and they were far from any of rowdy bars, instead being in a region of the city that was famous for its dining halls and grand, expensive restaurants. Frankly, Helenna didn¡¯t even want to know how much they were spending on drink. The men had enough money for a room each, they had rented three, and were sleeping four to a room. Maybe they just invested all of it but somehow, she doubted that scenario. There was something in their organised mess that annoyed Helenna. Maybe it was the fact she couldn¡¯t point out anything in specific, but the room was a clean mess. Clothes were folded neatly, excellently arranged at the foot of each bed, but nothing hung in the wardrobe. Bottles of drink were in a rank on the counter, sorted by type and then sorted again alphabetically, and they weren¡¯t on the shelves. Bowls and plates were arranged in little squares, perfectly segmented out for each man, and they weren¡¯t in the cupboards. It was an infuriatingly clean mess. At first, the Cleric Naturalization Law was planned to only include Kavaa¡¯s Orders, the parliament had little issue with them, but Mwai¡¯s party was against the idea of letting those sworn to Kassandora to become citizens. Then Helenna had raised the issue of the foreign volunteers. No one had raised any objections, after all, it was all fellow Arikans, wasn¡¯t it? And so the Cleric Naturalization Law became open to basically anyone in the Kirinyaan Military. Officially, it only said ¡®Members of Clerical Orders¡¯ and ¡®Volunteers from other nations¡¯, but didn¡¯t everyone fall into that second category? And once it passed the hands of politicians and entered into the warm embraces of bureaucrats, it had been even easier to speed up that bureaucracy than it was to open a celebratory bottle of champagne. The Naturalization Offices weren¡¯t even open, but Helenna had already secured passports and citizenships for twelve men to make a legal team already. ¡°How did the exams go?¡± Helenna asked, she knew already. They were Kassandora¡¯s men, which meant that they had drilled every single question and answer into their heads by a week ago. ¡°Everyone passed.¡± Mateusz replied, he was tall, bald, with an average face. Muscled and lean, although all of them were. Mateusz himself looked as if he didn¡¯t appreciate the suit, the rest were ambivalent about the garb Helenna chose for them. Kassandora had picked out men from among the officers, those that didn¡¯t have to be tested for their intelligence in the first place. Helenna knew their names before they even arrived, she knew what units they came from by the time they were on their way here. She knew about their families and what they did before this whole escapade by the time she stepped foot into this room. ¡°As expected.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Questions were rather easy.¡± No one would hire them of course, supposedly to become proper lawyers now, they should stick around those who were in the business and serve as assistants for a year or two before taking on their own minor cases, and then specializing into some discipline or field of law. But that was mere tradition, officially, they had the bureaucratic stamp of approval, and they had the best client in the world. ¡°Thank you for them.¡± Pawel said. Another man from the same unit as Mateusz, Sokolowski¡¯s command squad. Kassandora said these two were only on loan, and that it would be good for them to get the experience in any case. It trained a way of thinking and grander awareness about the outside world, that soldiers had a tendency to forget. Pawel here, his forwardness Helenna appreciated. There were few men on this world that had either the bravery, the stupidity or just the damn lack to shame to go ahead and eye her so brazenly. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°Now, I would like to go over the legal strategy.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve prepared several.¡± Mateusz snapped his fingers and one of the other men stood up. A Theodore Asvalt, although the man hadn¡¯t said a word yet to Helenna. Shorter than the rest, stockier but not by much. Shaved, as all of them were, and awkward in his suit, as all of them were. They¡¯d need a lesson on how to present themselves like humans before the trial started. Helenna made an impressed face as Theodore brought her a stack of papers. ¡°All of us have made one.¡± Mateusz explained. ¡°It¡¯s like we did during the war, everyone makes one, the best part from each is taken.¡± Helenna looked at the huge stack of papers. Had the men spent a week writing this? It may as well have been as thick as an ancient tome. ¡°I see you don¡¯t lack brevity.¡± Helenna said as she started sorting through it. ¡°Half of it is Theodore¡¯s.¡± Pawel said. ¡°I only have five sheets there.¡± ¡°I like writing.¡± Theodore said. ¡°Well I¡¯m not going to slap you for having fun.¡± Helenna said idly as she separated the papers out. Theodore indeed was singlehandedly responsible for at least a solid half of the stack of papers. ¡°Impressive.¡± The man smiled, his cheeks going red as he looked away from her. ¡°I¡¯ll read it in my own time.¡± Helenna said, she would skim through all of them. They would be using her legal strategy anyway, these men may have passed the test, but no one had gotten a perfect score, only Mateusz had gotten close. Without the answers, probably half would have failed. They had gone for the bureaucracy, so they could legally represent Kassandora and so they knew basic court etiquette. A few rough edges here and there would be allowed to slide, they could even help make them relatable for the cameras, but they weren¡¯t here to think. ¡°First though, have you discussed this between yourselves?¡± ¡°We have.¡± Mateusz replied with a nod. Pawel leaned back and looked at the bottles.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Can I take a shot first?¡± He asked and Helenna raised an eyebrow. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise Kassandora had alcoholics this bad in her army.¡± She said and the man laughed. ¡°To calm my nerves.¡± He explained. ¡°It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve performed before a Goddess.¡± Helenna felt her hair turn a shade brighter, from the cool business black to a surprised grey. Not quite stunned white, but she had thought these would be total amateurs who just expected to wing a court case. ¡°So you¡¯ve rehearsed this already?¡± Helenna asked. The men all carried proud smiles at her surprise. ¡°Only between ourselves.¡± Mateusz said. ¡°Have a drink then.¡± Helenna said. ¡°And pour me a glass.¡± Pawel clapped his knees as he stood up. ¡°Of course, my pleasure.¡± He said as he walked off. Helenna watched him swagger and pick up a bottle of expensive vodka. That was a classic, what else would soldiers drink? He was Lubskan too, so that only made it even more predictable. ¡°Do you mix or¡­¡± Pawel asked as he looked at Helenna again, the question trailed off. ¡°Boy, I can drink all you into the ground.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Sequentially too.¡± Pawel chuckled. ¡°No time for that.¡± He said, a few other men raised their hands for a shot too. Most of them. The whole bottle went just like that. Helenna drank her full glass in the same way they drank their little shot, she leaned back and motioned with her hands to speed them along. They had impressed her with the fact each man had made his own plan already, and with the fact they rehearsed already. Let¡¯s see what else they could do. ¡°We nominate one speaker.¡± Mateusz said. ¡°Everyone had a go at it already, anyone can do it really.¡± He shrugged as he stood up. ¡°Pawel, you want to?¡± Pawel nodded, he stepped into the bathroom and dragged out a whiteboard on wheels. It was empty. ¡°Right.¡± Pawel began as Helenna watched him grab a pen and start scrawling. That could be improved, he had soldier¡¯s handwriting. Nothing good. ¡°Firstly, we¡¯ve been given the information by Arascus on what Mwai has received.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a mole in the midst.¡± One of the soldiers commented. Helenna saw no need to reveal the real author of half of those letters. She assumed Arascus was responsible for the other half. ¡°We keep a tight ship though.¡± Pawel continued, ignoring the interruption. That was a good sign, she didn¡¯t want them to act too friendly with one another in court. If they fooled around in front of her, there¡¯d be a good chance they would fool around in front of a judge. ¡°So all the information is largely circumstantial, unproven, or false.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve read the documents too.¡± Helenna said. ¡°There¡¯s little in there that¡¯s a flat lie.¡± Pawel nodded and wrote the word information on the board. ¡°But enough is.¡± Pawel said. He wrote discredit next to it, an arrow from the latter to the former. ¡°Once one is proven to be a lie, it doesn¡¯t matter if we can¡¯t prove another, we can smear all the pieces with doubt.¡± Helenna nodded, this is what she expected. They had been tasked to prove Kass¡¯ innocence, so they were going down that route. ¡°What can¡¯t be disproven outright can be laid at the feet of an author unreliable, and who will trust an unreliable source?¡± ¡°The Melukal situation now.¡± Mateusz said. ¡°The Melukal situation is simple.¡± Pawel explained. ¡°Firstly, we did not do Melukal, so the letters are fake. Militaries review all situations, all plans, so someone did write that. Who it was, we don¡¯t know, but it wasn¡¯t anyone important.¡± He shrugged and made a show of innocence. ¡°Who does not have bad thoughts after all?¡± ¡°This was my idea.¡± One of the soldiers raised his hands. Some Frederique De Terriere. Tall, not the tallest amongst them, but a handsome man. He could be the main showman at the trial. ¡°It¡¯s not about just disproving the Melukal accusation, it¡¯s about showing Kassandora in a good light.¡± The men all nodded, a few of them smiled as they saw Helenna impressed. This part, she thought she would have to teach them. ¡°Of course.¡± Pawel said. ¡°So this is why we want this route. Melukal firstly did not happen, we disprove the accusation, but the letter is real. Kassandora did review it, and she decided against it. We can make more letters with these end scenarios, razing the coastal cities, scorching the entire west, salting the land in every village north of the mountains for example. Kassandora reviewed them, and Kassandora decided against them.¡± The men all nodded. Frederique interjected again. ¡°That¡¯s to paint her in a good light and to show how reserved she is. How if it wasn¡¯t her leading the war, then half of the country would be a wasteland now.¡± Helenna smiled and blinked. This was going to be easier than she thought. ¡°Did she tell you this?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°All she said was ¡®Make me into a star. You should understand what that means.¡¯¡± Mateusz pulled a hilariously deep voice for her that made Helenna chuckle. It was funny, and it was infuriating, why did she have to deal with total cretins for a thousand years, when Kassandora could just pick men like this seemingly out of a hat? She lifted her empty glass and gave it a shake. One of the soldiers even caught what that meant, he went to grab another bottle immediately. ¡°But this is just the defensive. Melukal is our big weak point, once that flank is secured, we can move onto the offensive.¡± Pawel continued as Helenna took a deep breath. They barely passed their exams, but she would want to see what they had written down. Surely the mistakes must have just come from wrong terminology and nothing else. They were fucking geniuses! ¡°How will you do that?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°We layer it in, the opening statement will only have a sprinkling of it.¡± Pawel continued. ¡°We don¡¯t mention Mwai¡¯s name yet, but do something along the lines of how Kassandora is extremely popular, even more popular than the president.¡± He shrugged as one of the men refilled Helenna¡¯s glass with more drink. ¡°Just quietly, the goal is to paint a story for the judges.¡± Helenna sighed as she listened. Were they mind-readers? This is why she had come to prepare them! What was she even doing here? Picking out their clothes? They could run it themselves. Pawel turned back to the board and wrote story. ¡°The goal isn¡¯t to point fingers directly.¡± He started writing names around, of companies and famous people. ¡°But let the judges work it out for themselves.¡± Theodore interjected now. ¡°But make it obvious who we are pointing to, don¡¯t let them think through it.¡± ¡°Well for example, the public loves Kassandora, it wasn¡¯t someone from them.¡± Pawel crossed the word public out. ¡°It wasn¡¯t the companies, because we mention the fact of how profitable the Reclamation War is.¡± He crossed out the names of various companies. ¡°It can¡¯t be one of her own men, because we talk about how loyal the entire army is.¡± ¡°I thought of bringing witnesses from every unit.¡± Another man added as Pawel crossed out the word army. ¡°Likewise, it wouldn¡¯t be the politicians, because Kassandora does not threaten them.¡± He crossed out the word parliament. And on it went, never pointing a finger, but always giving a reason why it couldn¡¯t be a certain group. On and on it went, until Mwai Ruku was the only name remaining. ¡°And that leaves only one target.¡± Mateusz had poured himself another shot and took over, talking loudly from behind the kitchen counter. ¡°We then start talking about how the evidence is falsified in the first place. But we never mention Mwai¡¯s name. The most is ask Kassandora a question of who do you think it could be.¡± He nodded back to Pawel. ¡°And her answer will be a noble one, something along the lines that it¡¯s not her domain to interfere in, but that it would obviously be someone who feels threatened by her.¡± Pawel said and caught himself. ¡°In a more diplomatic fashion of course, but basically that.¡± Helenna sighed. These men knew how to run a defence almost effortlessly. ¡°We basically never give Kassandora a chance to speak for herself. All the accusations will be made by us.¡± Theodore said. ¡°We don¡¯t know if this is too aggressive or not, but a few of us could be disbarred on purpose.¡± Helenna blinked. ¡°Excuse me?¡± She asked. ¡°We raise the accusation in bad faith against Mwai. It wouldn¡¯t be a mistrial, but there¡¯s enough of us here that we can give the licenses away basically.¡± Mateusz explained. ¡°That¡¯s my idea.¡± He added proudly and Pawel nodded. ¡°There¡¯s twelve of us here, the average team only has two or three. We can have half of us go, and we¡¯d still have men to spare.¡± Helenna blinked and she finally realised what these men were treating the situation as. This wasn¡¯t a court-case to them, this was a battle. Like the ones they¡¯ve seen, and using Kassandora¡¯s own philosophy. It wasn¡¯t enough to win and simply cause a retreat, they wanted to utterly crush any doubt of Kassandora¡¯s guilt. As Kassandora wrote in her own books: Victory was annihilation. There was nothing ¡°Are you actually aiming for Mwai?¡± Helenna asked. The men looked amongst themselves with calm expressions. There was no emotion there, it was simple reasoning. A weighing of thoughts, as if they could collectively read each other¡¯s minds. Pawel finally answered. ¡°Well, we need a sacrificial cow. These accusations, even if she¡¯s proven innocent, will stick unless we can hand them off to someone else. Mwai is the easiest target.¡± He shrugged. ¡°We can change it, but we¡¯ll need a week to prepare.¡± ¡°No no gentlemen.¡± Helenna downed her glass. This job was even easier than she thought it would be. Why did she not always have Kassandora¡¯s soldiers at her side? They were amazing! ¡°Mwai is perfect, keep at it.¡± They shared relieved glances and looked at each other again. Mateusz finally spoke up as he went to pop open another bottle for them all to share. ¡°So what do you think?¡± He asked easily, as if he was talking to anyone but the Goddess of Love. Helenna appreciated it though, she finally understood what Fer meant when the woman talked about how Kassandora¡¯s soldiers were some of the few people who could be spent time with simply for the sake of company. Helenna turned her hair a bright happy orange and beamed a smile at them. ¡°Gentlemen, you have impressed me.¡± Kassandora really did know how to pick her men. Chapter 212 – Turn The Guns Arascus wished Malam was here. She was a damn natural at this, the best of the best. How Kassandora handled warfare, Malam handled politics. He sighed, a better method would have been to wait for the next elections and turn them into chaos, to make mortals miss the stability of divinity, but he wanted to secure Kirinyaa as early as possible. It was true that patience was a virtue, but patience was only given to those who had plenty of time. Reports were already saying the Epans were preparing for Pantheon Separation this year and very day spent with mortals in charge was a day not used for preparing for the Epan conflict. Kassandora looked over the letter that had gotten to her tent again. This little piece of paper had been on a long journey, from a delay in Kirinyaa¡¯s postal service, to being driven here. Not the whole way, the delivery car was supposed to be hand given to her, the car got stuck in the ash some hundred-fifty kilometres east of her current camp. That added another day to the delay. The car got stuck again, the post gave up on land transport and sent a helicopter instead. Kassandora smiled. Helenna was responsible for that disaster of a delivery. She did it because she knew it would get Mwai emotional with anger. Angry men rarely operated on rationality. But it would also be suspense, from Helenna¡¯s reports, the man had spent the past three nights sleepless, waiting to see her reaction. Helenna said Mwai thought she was going to call for a rebellion immediately upon receiving it. Then he would use his authority to remove her from Kirinyaa, and the whole affair would be over. Kassandora, of course, would do nothing of the sort. She stood and read the letter again: Under the authority bestowed upon me by the people of Kirinyaa, I ask Goddess Kassandora, of War, to appear in court. If you do not, I will be forced to remove you from the position due to crimes against humanity. It was a short piece, maybe Mwai had been struggling for words. She read it again. The world seemed brighter today, the thundering of artillery outside somehow became pleasant. Kassandora looked up again at the scarlet linen of her tent. There had been no point in setting anything permanent up here, the frontline against the Jungle was moving every day. She was good at strategy, but she knew when something was good. Ekkerson on the southern flank against the Jungle had started employing a tactic called a Rolling Barrage. It would slowly batter the Jungle, firing in tight salvos. Instead of the concentrated shelling of areas that they had been doing, the guns would start to fire in lines, moving up, then calling down another salvo. The tactic did left little to clean up. The Jungle was now constantly aflame. Kassandora gave herself one final glance in the mirror. Black suit, long coat, boots caked with ash. Her belt had the skull and sword emblem, the cap the same. From it, her crimson hair spilled out like a banner of blood over her back. She smiled to herself and went outside. It was time for one final inspection of Reclamation Army Centre. Instead of grouping the Binturongs and Lemurs, the fastest method to clear the Jungle was to stretch them out. They worked in small squads, only four each. Half of a full battery. Although looking at the firepower they put out, it would remain like this even for future conflicts. Great War tactics of massed artillery had been used because cannons could output two, maybe three or four shells an hour. But these? These single modern gun outpaced two entire batteries of the past. Lines and lines of trucks numbering into the hundreds stretched out into the distance, supported by bulldozers and diggers that pushed the knee-deep ash away. Hulking beasts of iron and steel that became the icon for this land¡¯s salvation. And in the distance, towards the west, tarnishing the cloudless blue sky, was the Jungle. Once green, once so feared the natives would feed it sacrifices in some attempt to satisfy its hunger. Once, it had been an existential threat to this nation. And now it stood there, howling with ferocious winds caused by the vivid firestorms. The flames, all reds and oranges and yellows, danced as they devoured, they laughed and giggled and mocked the greenery being fed to them, they pranced with the winds, they cascaded up and down over hill and through dried out riverbed. They left their dark marks on the world. Nothing but ash on the ground and nothing but tar-black smoke in the air. The great Jungle, a deity that covered a third of a continent. Beaten not through might and magic but through mortal firestorm, slain not by Divinity but by fire and steel, annihilated through the combined arms of humanity¡¯s sheer force of will. If this did not prove the utter failure that was Divinity¡¯s disregard for mortals, she did not know what did. Sokolowski and Zalewski were waiting outside her tent, they had come the moment Helenna had sent word that the court case was going to happen. Both in their uniforms, exact same style, apart from the fact they didn¡¯t have her crimson hair. They saluted to her. Kassandora saluted back. ¡°General Sokolowski, ready to report.¡± Sokolowski said as he lowered his arm. ¡°Go on.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And let¡¯s walk.¡± She turned her back on the Jungle, there was nothing to gain but satisfaction from watching the flames, and the world did not turn on satisfaction. ¡°First and Second Armoured have been notified.¡± Sokolowski said. ¡°They¡¯re heading from CR to the Kassandora Route.¡± That was the name bestowed upon the endless east-west highway that was currently being expanded. It had only been changed a few weeks ago, once the Reclamation War started picking up steam. The men weren¡¯t aware of the plan, but Kassandora had never shared her plans. Some men, like Iliyal, had to develop Leona¡¯s paranoia. That righteous fear of things going wrong to plan, as if fate itself had turned against them, it was a good skill. The less men knew, the less they could share. Like a vehicle, the more moving parts and points of failure, the more it would break down. Kassandora carried Leona¡¯s paranoia as far back as she could remember. There was always someone smarter, someone who would see things she could not, someone who pulled the unexpected. Out of fortuitous stupidity if nothing else.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°And KAF?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Transport planes all report as ready, but they¡¯re all in CR still.¡± ¡°Your fronts?¡± Sokolowski responded first. ¡°Second army is functioning entirely without my supervision. It took some time to grease the wheels, so to say, but things are rolling smoothly. As requested, I keep fifty thousand in reserve at all times.¡± He said proudly, then his tone became sheepish. ¡°It¡¯s closer to some sixty thousand though, we don¡¯t have enough artillery to keep up with the pace the men work at.¡± Kassandora smiled as she walked backwards towards the east. The Sun was bright above them, the sky blue, the Sun bright, and the ground endless grey. Grey vehicles, heavy trucks, making long steel snakes as they ferried ammunition from the supply depot to the front lines. Grey dozers and diggers worked around them, battering ash down to create roads. Filling dried river beds, excavating through hills that were once teeming with the Jungle¡¯s cursed green to make the shortest routes. All of them had been painted once in pleasant colours once, most of these weren¡¯t even engineering corps, instead just being civilians from companies. Whether they were working for Helenna¡¯s favours, Helenna¡¯s bribes or Helenna¡¯s charm wasn¡¯t important, the ash stained them all grey. Zalewski noticed the pause and realised Kassandora would not pressure him to respond. She could take her time today frankly. There was war coming again, that alone made her mood. ¡°Third Army is working well, pushing onwards. We¡¯re about to hit the ruins of Ulu.¡± Some ancient city that had been lost only fifty years ago, supposedly a beautiful place long ago. So beautiful that the only defence Kirinyaa could muster up was an organized retreat. ¡°Will they need supervision for that?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°They won¡¯t, I¡¯ve given the instructions to use the same procedure that¡¯s used on the mountains.¡± Kassandora smiled, that¡¯s what she would do too. Burn the sides, wedge around them, shell from the flanks. If the ruins proved so large that artillery could not reach the centre then KAF would be called in for carpet bombings. There was no need for Kirinyaa to retreat any longer. War could be waged on anything, the living, the dead, against plagues and against plants if the need called for it. ¡°Continue, the reserves?¡± ¡°Seventy three thousand.¡± Zalewski said. ¡°I try to make everyone useful but there¡¯s simply not enough Lemurs up there.¡± The man¡¯s front was the furthest north, Ekkerson had the southernmost. ¡°That¡¯s not an issue.¡± Kassandora said, no. It wasn¡¯t an issue whatsoever, she had told them to have a minimum reserve of fifty thousand each, but it wasn¡¯t a reserve for them. It was a reserve for her. The fact they went over wasn¡¯t an issue whatsoever, as the saying went: The more, the merrier. ¡°How is the morale situation?¡± She already knew the answer would be dismal. Morale was in a story state because of Arascus¡¯ involvement with the news. It was needed for Mwai, but her men did not like it. Sokolowski took the initiative, as always. Kassandora didn¡¯t care too much, inter-general hierarchy was good at the end of the day, the worst thing to happen was if they started arguing between each other. That was the fastest way to lose an army. ¡°It¡¯s pessimistic is how I would describe it.¡± Kassandora smiled as they trudged through the heavy ash to a spot where it had been cleared. Vans were already waiting to transport them back. She could fly but frankly, there was no need to. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s not disloyalty per say.¡± Sokolowski explained. ¡°But rather, the men aren¡¯t happy at the news that¡¯s coming out about them.¡± ¡°But they¡¯re loyal to us?¡± She always made sure to refer to the army as a whole. It was hers at the end of the day, but men were more loyal if they felt as if they were in it together. ¡°Undoubtedly.¡± Sokolowski replied with full confidence. ¡°I¡­¡± He stopped and Kassandora turned to raise an eyebrow. ¡°Continue, I won¡¯t demote you for opinions.¡± Not unless they were outright treason at least. ¡°Well, on one hand, it¡¯s a blessing I think.¡± Sokolowski began as Zalewski started to nod to support his comrade. ¡°It has pushed the men together, it¡¯s not that they¡¯re more loyal, but they¡¯re further from the civilians.¡± Kassandora turned back to the dirty vans as they got close. These two would be dropped off once they reached the red dirt that lay past the horizon, the ash in the air had downed two helicopters already. ¡°There¡¯s a gap now, there wasn¡¯t before.¡± Zalewski interjected. ¡°There¡¯s a clear gap between us and civilians now.¡± Kassandora smiled. Arascus had been even more effective than she thought he would be. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Kassandora said. The two men gawked at her, she felt their vision on the back of her head, although she felt almost every set of eyes on her at all times. She had assumed it was paranoia when she was young, but now she simply grew to ignore it. People stared at a Divine simply because they were a Divine, there was no reason to try and wage war on human nature. ¡°I¡­¡± Zalewski began. ¡°Apologies, but I don¡¯t understand.¡± Kassandora finally took a step onto ash that had been beaten down by bulldozers. It was good to finally not be taking heavy, large steps through the ash. ¡°Gentlemen, I have a court case. This nation is turning against us.¡± She didn¡¯t bother to look at their faces of disgust, the curses and groans from them where enough indication of what they thought of that. ¡°I assume there¡¯s a contingency for this.¡± Sokolowski said. ¡°There is. I want you each to lead your reserves to the coast. Zalewski, you go north of Nanbasa, Sokolowski, south. Helenna will call you with the exact locations today, tomorrow maybe. The schedule is tight. If you start getting close, then you call her.¡± Kassandora stopped. ¡°Do you have her number?¡± She looked back at the two men. ¡°I do.¡± Sokolowski said. ¡°I do too.¡± Zalewski said. Honestly, it was disappointing, Helenna¡¯s claws were in everything and anything. She turned and kept walking, the two quickly caught up to her. ¡°And what then?¡± Zalewski asked then caught himself. ¡°If I may ask.¡± ¡°And then we turn the guns on Nanbasa.¡± Chapter 213 – Kirinyaa’s Last Sunrise Divinity form and Divinity died, reformed, died again. Reformed again. A God could die, a Goddess may perish, but they would come back. young yet old, evolved yet unchanged, new homes built on ancient foundations. Some creatures though refused to pass on, whether due to themselves or because of bindings. Neneria¡¯s Legion was one. There were others. And in the middle of Arika¡¯s Jungle, lifeless apart from itself, in a pit surrounded by teeth, one chipped. A lion roared, a snake slithered on the ground, a vulture spread its wings. A crocodile crawled out of the water. Small still, but they had plenty to grow on. After all, a Divine could bring solace and silence, could put hearts at rest, could stop an imminent danger. But nothing could defeat humanity¡¯s strongest instinct from outside. Terror within could only be defeated by oneself. Kassandora stood, arms crossed, Joyeuse on her back, suit and coat and ash-caked boots on her, as the behemoth of a tank underneath slowly trundled through the streets of Nanbasa. Sokolowski would take the southern half of the ring-city, Zalewski the northern parts. Both men would then push east, towards the docks as they secured the most important buildings. Her own section, composed of the First and Second Armoured, was on the western part. So they drove through the tall buildings of Nanbasa¡¯s governmental section. In the very western part of the ring, furthest from the ocean, overlooking the rest of the city. A steel snake, each of its scale a heavily armoured tank as they drove side by side and filled the whole four-lane highway. They had seen a few battles near the end of the war, but the war was over by then. Kassandora had read Zalewski¡¯s report on them, the man had little to complain about, but he himself admitted that there was little practical testing that he could have done with so few engagements. Range was good, both for the gun and for fuel. Armour was fine, but they came across no mages. Firepower was acceptable, but all that was left to shoot at had been reserve squads of Paladins that were covering Maisara¡¯s retreat. But they were larger than Binturongs, sleeker, more angular, the turret not situated at the back but in the centre. With a cannon made direct fire rather than artillery support and a machine gun next to it to not waste shells on men, a predator built for precision. Kassandora had little to comment on them, apart from the name. The stupid animal scheme had stuck, this model was called the Lynx. She stood on that turret of the Lynx as police in front of her pushed men away. Crowds had formed, although that was only natural. This was the first public trial of a Divine... well, ever. Even the White Pantheon would handle its disputes internally. It would be a spectacle too monumental to miss. Only a human could think up of such stupidity as to put a Divine on trial, and the Goddess of War at that. At least against some minor invention, they¡¯d have a chance. The crowds swelled around her, they had been already waiting by the time she crossed the horizon. Now that she was here, only more showed up. And it wasn¡¯t for the parade she had brought, it was for her. The line of police officers, all suited up in riot gear, slowly worked pushed the people back. It was why she stood atop the Lynx, to make sure that everyone could get a good few of Kirinyaa¡¯s hero. Kassandora was already late for her own court, but did that matter? What could they even do at this point? She had twenty thousand men in the city now. The Sun was rising ahead of her, the end of the highway was marked with a grand pillar to represent the unmoving will of the Kirinyaan people against the Jungle. It had only been erected two months ago. And behind it lay Kirinyaa¡¯s grand court. The highest judicial institution in the country, a sorry lot who did little but squabble between themselves and turn their nose up at politics. One provision of Pantheon Peace was to not even mention war, so there were no regulations or laws regarding how men could be conscripted, about the limitations of an army, about anything regarding Kassandora. With nothing to bind her, there was nothing to worry about. The Pantheon¡¯s invasion had put any attempts at limiting the military on hold, and Helenna had done a good job at killing any bill that could even hint at imposing barriers on them. Even now, Kassandora wasn¡¯t worried. She felt the eyes of the crowd on her and eyed them in return. To say she could find a man without a green armband on their sleeve would be a lie. The only people without them were the police and that was because they had it forbidden from them. And even with a show of allegiance forbidden, it was obvious that they shared the crowd¡¯s mindset. They pushed lethargically, as if they were pushing their own families. Someone started chanting her name, the crowd soon caught on. And the drums in her mind started to play to the beat with a steady beat. Kassandora knew it well already, it always played when history started to march onwards. They beat as the masses slowly parted, her own soldiers moved to fill in the sides and keep Nanbasa¡¯s highway to the west clear. They beat as police slowly pushed that flood of people back. The asphalt of the road, the heavy tiles of the pavement weren¡¯t even visible through that mass, every junction, every break in the buildings revealed more people. They watched from the ground, they watched from balconies, from windows, from rooftops of homes and skyscrapers. Helicopters flew overheard, as did KAF planes higher still, they slowly circled Nanbasa, tracing its ring in the air above them. The former to make her a spectacle, the latter to cast shadows that from above as a reminder.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Kassandora said nothing. She did not deign to wave. Would not lower herself to acknowledge the chant. The military had been instituted as an apolitical entity. That would remain true, the military was loyal to Kirinyaa, until it became Kirinyaa. Her eyes scanned the side streets for signs of counter-protest, it was honestly disappointing no one showed up. Arascus had told her Mwai¡¯s popularity was crumbling, that she was only soaring with the continued success of the Reclamation War. That even he had been struggling to find people to put brave faces and decry her. But she still read his articles and watched Mwai¡¯s speeches. Cameras really could change reality like that. Her troops must have noticed it too. The journey here had been dour and silent, with barely a word exchanged. Men had ridden slumped over in the backs of trucks, their heads low, a few had even cried. No one reprimanded them for it. It wasn¡¯t just the rank and file either, one team of officers had even come to Kassandora and told her the situation flat out: they did not care if she was guilty. They would draw weapons if she told them to. But no weapons needed to be drawn. Men were walking straight-backed with the confidence only a pleasant surprise could give. The drums started to play louder as Kassandora¡¯s Lynx neared the steps of the grand court. The police had already formed a line two men thick at the base of those steps, although the flood of masses around them was orderly. They simply stood, stood and chanted. The troops who were clearing a path for Kassandora pushed onwards as Kassandora¡¯s Lynx stopped before the central square. That huge pillar cast its shadow straight at them. Kassandora merely stood on it, hers arms dropped to her side, the chanting died down. Maybe they thought she was going to give a speech. Give them the command to seize power. She looked over at the people again. Frankly, there was no need to bring troops. She had done it because it was her. Because she always prepared for the worst case scenario. The plan was going to work even if the entire city had to be razed to the ground. Yet now she looked at those sorry eyes. And she watched them retreat. It wasn¡¯t fear. It wasn¡¯t devotion. It wasn¡¯t awe or love or lust or anything else she would have expected. It was shame. And Kassandora stood there as the crowd gave way. Police moved to clear the entire plaza. Bouquets of flowers were left behind as if they were some apology. Some attempt at forgiveness from her, that even though she had made the country stand once against the dreaded Jungle, stand again against the Pantheon, and stand a third time with her victory, this is how the situation was ending. Kassandora stood there, on top of that Lynx, and contained her smile. There was nothing to smile about in a situation like this of course. She was going to be tried as a traitor against the nation she was serving. But the smile was a battering trying to breach her defences. These people were already an excellent fighting force. Kassandora¡¯s success guaranteed their loyalty. But now their shame, her seeming acceptance of that shame. The judgement, the trial that everyone knew was only Mwai¡¯s attempt at her removal, was simply a terrible move. Too early, the high of victory had not worn off yet, nor were victories in this land so plentiful that men could build up disciplined tolerance. That shame was fuel to add to the fires of loyalty. The cure to it, their redemption in her eyes, would turn it into a bonfire that blazed with the infernos of fanaticism. Arascus had played the entire nation like a damn fiddle. And it sang an ever so beautifully whimsical tune. A melody that played over the orchestra in her head. It didn¡¯t promise a renewal, no, that was too little. This wasn¡¯t merely replacing the furniture, replacing the cracked windows or giving the home a new layer of paint. The entire building would be torn down, the foundations themselves would be rebuilt. And the Divines in Kirinyaa would make sure those foundations would be used to sure up a fortress. Kassandora added more reinforcements to the gate as she took a step off the Lynx¡¯s turret and onto its chassis. More barriers were added to that defence as she touched the ground. She took the first step. Helenna¡¯s team was ready, they would be waiting inside. Kassandora wished the proceedings could start without her frankly. She would do it of course, she did everything. She managed logistics, she made the strategies, she worked with politicians, she taught men. And when the time called for it, she played the fool. Kassandora walked out of that shadow as the Sun above made it ways way over the grand court. She sometimes grew paranoid thoughts that Alkom could see through the Sun. That wasn¡¯t true of course, the fear had been tested several times already. He could not. But today, just once, she wished he could watch. That he could stand next to Fortia and Maisara and Zerus and Sceo and tell them all. Tell them of her victory, how final, how overpowering, how annihilating it was. She slowly crossed the plaza as people watched. One step. Two. Ten. All one hundred steps exactly. This building had been designed by Maisara no doubt, only she would be so fickle as to make the number so specific. Kassandora killed her smile again. She should give a speech, shouldn¡¯t she? Arascus said not to, that rallying the population for her could and would only give credence to Mwai¡¯s entire scheme. She stopped, looked up at the building, and turned around one last time. Arascus was correct, but it was simply a matter of personal pride. Before the Pantheon Invasion, she could have done it, but not now. During the Great War, when Legions were sent off on suicidal orders, they all received a speech too. And she wouldn¡¯t take long. Arascus was correct, she shouldn¡¯t give them a speech, but she simply could not leave them in silence. ¡°Whatever happens.¡± Kassandora cried out. ¡°Know that I have served Kirinyaa to the best of my ability. I hope you will let me serve you until the future.¡± She pulled a salute. Her army saluted with her. The entire army did, the men in the green who had just come from the west, the riot police, those in the clothing of civilians, they all pulled a clean salute. Kassandora turned and looked up at that scorching Sun as it crawled over the roof of the grand court. It better be looking down on her, because be carving this day into its memory. Battles were won or lost before they were started and now, as she could practically feel the adoration flood over her. The whole world better remember this day. Because when it woke up tomorrow, Kirinyaa would not be here. Chapter 214 – Sunset over Kirinyaa There are many types of debt a man¡¯s heart can be beholden to. A warning is the debt of fear; it is easy to pay back with bravery. Courage bought by strength or by stupidity, and neither needs to be especially great either. Loyalty is the debt of love. But love is not steady, it waxes and wanes. And love can have competition, a man who loves his own life will rarely choose another, no matter how much love there is. For debt to be a true stranglehold, it must stand alone, it needs no competition. Its price can never be stipulated yet it can never be given freely. It needs to be so crushing and eternal that men remember it till the end of days, yet it needs to be so gentle that man is not tied to it in any way but from within oneself. There is only one such act I have found to be as tender yet so heavy, one that leaves a wound eternal yet unseen. There are not enough coins to pay for it, nor is any labour sufficient: forgiveness. - Excerpt from Arascus¡¯ own writings. Untitled. Kept within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library. The words ¡°court is about to begin¡± echoed through Kirinyaa¡¯s grand court as Kassandora looked up at the judges, she took stood behind the little location that was supposed to be her stand. She maintained her stoic expression as she looked over at the various people and the grand court. A triumphant building, all the walls painted with white and gold, without any windows but grand chandeliers to illuminate it instead. They hung on long chains, but they weren¡¯t anywhere closer to the floor of marble tiles. The ceiling itself was high enough to stack Kassandora ten times on herself and still have room for an eleventh. ¡°On trial is Goddess Kassandora, of War.¡± The lead judge said. ¡°To be charged with: endangerment of life, needless cruelty¡­¡± The judge took a deep breath as he blinked at the piece of paper. ¡°Seventy five thousand, seven hundred and two charges of arson. Three hundred and twelve charges of willing destruction of heritage. Six hundred and fifty seven charges of corruption. Five charges of money laundering.¡± As the judge read it aloud, his voice grew low. Kassandora knew that feeling of pure awe very well, she too would struggle to say something like that seriously. ¡°Seven thousand, three hundred and twenty eight charges of manslaughter¡­¡± And another. ¡°Five thousand, four hundred and forty three charges of murder in the first degree.¡± He took a deep breath and finally finished. ¡°And one charge of treason in the highest degree.¡± Kassandora said nothing. They were throwing everything and anything at her in the hopes. She would have simply gone with the single treason charge, this was already a bad look for Mwai¡¯s prosecution. Turning her into a money launderer was little more than a joke. The judge spoke again, on that row of seven, each one in a white and gold cloak. A remnant tradition carried over from the White Pantheon. ¡°Do you claim guilt for any of the charges? Your are entitled to converse with your lawyers if you wish.¡± Kassandora turned back as her eyes swept across the room. Mateusz¡¯s team sat in front of her. Twelve men, soldiers she had picked out herself. Helenna had said there would be no point for her to be here, not when Kassandora had this quality of man with her, and then sneakily hinted if she could get a whole platoon to work for her in permanence. Behind them were the cameras. Kirinyaa¡¯s KTV in the very centre, the Allian Everything in Epa, Doschia¡¯s The World Today. Journalists from the UNN, from Guguo, from all Arika. The prosecution was on the other side of the aisle, more cameras behind them. Only four souls, two men, two women, all looking as if they were out of their element. Kassandora had not a shred of sympathy for them, they should have prepared for a show the moment they saw her name on the papers. Kassandora pushed her microphone away, it was only mortals after all. She took a step from the stand, spread her arms out, made sure to throw her crimson hair back as she did it, and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear. ¡°I declare I am not guilty of all the falsities that besmirch my name.¡± Helenna took a deep breath as she inspected herself in the mirror one last time. Black HAUPT suit today, as was her hair, that would have to be kept under control for a while. She readjusted the collar of her dark shirt and smoothed the long coat that fell to her heeled boots. A quick touch of the earpiece to make sure it was turned on. It blinked a blue light and made a small beep to confirm it was awake. Helenna let the air out of her lungs and felt the thrill of her heartbeat. It was time to begin. She made her way to door. Arascus would run the military aspect today and Helenna had the second most important job. Managing the people as to not cause a riot. But first, she had to deliver a suitcase. One filled with all the sordid details she had found evidence of Mwai¡¯s wrongdoing. The cases of corruption, the diary of deviancy. Worst of all, it had mention of direct collusion with the White Pantheon! After all, the details he knew, only White Pantheon members were aware of. And ones in high places at that. No one would be able to tell it was her hand that had written them. Mateusz leaned back, arms crossed as one of the four lawyers Mwai had enlisted stood in the stand. Kassandora stood opposite him, grim-faced. They were in questioning, it had taken two hours to get through the initial proceedings, and those were merely making Kassandora of the penalties. Then everyone took a shot Mateusz and his team. Unqualified, new, why did Kassandora even trust them? She had answered simply, who better to represent her than her own men? And then she had added that if they were so incompetent, then the case should be easy victory for them. That had left Mwai¡¯s four lawyers in a sour mood. The man at the stand sounded as if he didn¡¯t know whether to press the Divine on the other side of the room hard, or whether he should. ¡°What sort of succession is implemented in the military in order to prevent it from lying at the hands of one person forever?¡± Mateusz made a quick movement, a slight lean to the left, his neck turning right. It would look bad if they were caught on camera communicating with each other, but such small movements could be easily overlooked. And they were all trained in hand signs already, so learning new movements was no difficulty for any of them. ¡°Objection on the basis of relevance.¡± Theodore said from behind. ¡°How does that relate to any of the charges at hand?¡± The seven judges looked at Theodore and then at themselves. They shared slow calculating gaze between each other, the centre one banged his gavel. ¡°Objection sustained. Goddess Kassandora, you do not have to answer this question. We will not take it into account of your case if you remain silent.¡± Kassandora smiled and shook her head. ¡°I can answer.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°When the army was created, I was already drafting a bill on succession, but with the White Pantheon Invasion, I made the decision that such things could be left for after the victory.¡± She kept her face straight, Mateusz struggled to think up of a more perfect answer than that. Who could argue against such perfect pragmatism? And the reminder of victory would only make his deflection onto Mwai even easier. ¡°Very well.¡± The judge responded as the prosecution lawyer looked to his team. Dour, downcast faces all. What did they expect? He took a breath and asked another question. ¡°In regards to succession, what sort of method you going to use?¡± Mateusz repeated the movement. Theodore repeated his statement. The judge repeated the question to Kassandora. And Kassandora declared she would answer again. ¡°The method would already be public if it passed my standards. I have multiple theories running.¡± Mwai¡¯s lawyer had his follow up ready for her, he started speaking as soon as Kassandora finished. ¡°And whatever this hypothetical method is, it will minimize the chances of corruption and the military usurpation?¡± Mateusz repeated the movement, but he moved his arm at the same time. This was good, he did not care what sort of image the public got of him, the whole goal was to make Kassandora look as benevolent as possible. ¡°Objection on the basis of relevance.¡± Theodore said and stood up. ¡°How does that question relate to any of the charges at hand? And I would advise your honour to not allow the Goddess answer else this line of questioning can be extended for days, she will earnestly respond to everything.¡± Once again the judges took a pause. This time a few leaned close together and spoke in hushed voices. Mateusz could not hear them, but he could tell from the burn in Kassandora¡¯s eyes that she was happy with the result. It took a whole of whispering for the centre judge to bang his gavel again. ¡°Objection sustained. In regards to this line of questioning, the court agrees. Goddess Kassandora, do not answer this question.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Kassandora replied. Mateusz looked at the team of prosecutors, if this was the quality of their questions, then this wouldn¡¯t be a battle. It would be a slaughter. Arascus hovered through the air, past grand skyscrapers and buildings of sandstone centuries old. Over bridges, until he left the crowds behind him. The tens of thousands who had left their homes to come and see the Goddess who had saved them be sent to their grandest court. Banners were flying in the air, some where being carried by the citizens below him, other were draped from balconies as if they were trying to make the buildings themselves proclaim support for Kassandora. There was no counter-protest, there was nothing attempt to try and corral them back home. The police were of the same opinion as the civilians after all. He looked down and saw twelve Lynx tanks slowly peel away from the crowd. Trucks filled with Kassandora¡¯s soldiers on their backs started to scream momentarily as their engines turned on with a rattle. Arascus watched them, watched police gently push more people away as they pushed people out of the vehicle¡¯s way. They started to turn, tanks in the lead, trucks slowly crawling behind, into road that was empty. There was no need for a crowd here after all. Kassandora was not going to be sentenced by Mwai himself, would she? Usually it was clogged with expensive cars with throngs of people on the wide sidewalks. Not today though. The luxurious stores on either side had been shut in protest to what was happening to Kassandora. The restaurants had no guests, only a few people remained on balconies and through windows, lucking curiously at what was happening below them and drinking their shame away. The tanks slowly devoured the vein of asphalt below them. The trucks tried to bring some life and movement into that . And at the end of that road lay Kirinyaa¡¯s heart, its National Assembly. ¡°I would like to present to the court the most damning piece of evidence that has been found.¡± It was one of the female lawyers this time. A pretty lady, Mateusz did not need to look at Pawel to know what the man was going to say. In a black suit that was so dark it was almost colourless, she was the epitome of professionalism. A cold, bureaucratic, detached professionalism. The sort that Helenna had said they wanted to avoid entirely. An image came up on the screen, the judges looked down as their own monitors flashed with the evidence. Mateusz recognised it immediately. It was the original unedited version of Operation Sandfire. The first plan, which had wanted troops to torch the city before Kassandora had thought of filling the sewers with the Reclamation¡¯s Wars excess napalm shells. But all the names had been blanked out, the dates too. Important locations. ¡°Do you know what this is?¡± Kassandora looked at the screen and sighed. ¡°I do.¡± The woman smiled and pressed on. ¡°This details the destruction of Melukal, does it not?¡± Kassandora made a sorry face, her tone low. ¡°Yes.¡± Mateusz looked on in awe. If he was not aware of Sandfire, he would honestly believe the Goddess was hurting right now. Her voice sounded as if she was genuinely in pain. ¡°And you were aware of this?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°I was.¡± ¡°And this was in your camp?¡± ¡°It was.¡± Kassandora said with a heavy sigh. ¡°Could this plan destroy Melukal?¡± ¡°It could.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Was¡­¡± The Lawyer said, this was a good line of attack. Mateusz had to give the woman that. It was all direct questions, there was nothing open ended about it, no ways for Kassandora to spin her way out of this with questions like that. He felt the crowd of people behind go silent as they re-read the words that weren¡¯t censored several times over. ¡°This plan, did you consider it?¡± ¡°I did read it, so I did consider it.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°End of questioning.¡± The woman said and sat back down. Mateusz looked over to Pawel, now was his time to shine. He got a thumbs up in return. Damian Sokolowski stopped before the skyscraper that was the headquarters of KTV. Helenna would arrive soon, but everything was going to plan. Platoons had been sent off to secure the other stations, and a full battalion of tanks were moving on the port, another was going to Nanbasa¡¯s main airport. Other squads, of tanks and trucks where moving to blockade the city¡¯s highways. Nanbasa would be locked down today. Mwai would have nowhere to run. The general took a deep breath and walked into the door. His men, all in dark face masks and goggles to obscure their identity followed behind him. Rifles in their arms, a proud swagger to them. Damian was the only one with his face exposed, in a dark HAUPT suit, a coat that fell past his knees, a cap on his head. A sabre on his belt, a pistol on the other. Helenna had dressed him up to look as imposing as possible. His black boots clicked against the white tile of the floor as bright lamps shone overhead. The people inside, everyone watching the TV that played Kassandora¡¯s court case live, all turned immediately when they heard him. ¡°No one move!¡± Damian shouted. ¡°This building is now under command of the Kirinyaan Armed Forces!¡± He crossed the distance to the clerk at the front desk. A young woman, barely twenty, whose dark face had grown pale as sat up in her seat. Damian pulled a folder from out of his coat. ¡°This is to be displayed on the broadcast, now.¡± The clerk blinked at the orange folder, she made a nervous smile, a mirthless laugh, those brown eyes ran up Damian as he towered over her. ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I wi-will have to ring.¡± She squeaked the words out as if she was a tiny mouse. ¡°Fo-Fo-For permis¡­sion¡­¡± Damian swung his arm and threw his coat back. His hand settled on his pistol, the girl¡¯s eyes travelled to it in shock and fear. ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking.¡± Kassandora watched Pawel take the stand. A talented man with skill in combat and, more importantly, a good head. Plenty of experience in the Twin Hearts, plenty of experience in Sokolowski¡¯s front too. The only thing she could find to complain about was a crass sense of humour, but if tried to root humour out of her army, it would quickly be her alone. He stood there to lead the responses, without any papers, and spread his arms out in the suit. He was talking to her and the cameras both. She looked at those lawyers, they had begun this session questioning the competency of her men. If her men weren¡¯t competent, they wouldn¡¯t have survived for so long. ¡°Goddess Kassandora, of War.¡± He said it the same way he would be talking to a platoon of soldiers. Every camera would catch him, a single word would not be missed. ¡°Is it true that this document came into your possession?¡± ¡°It is.¡± Kassandora replied. She had only worried at the start, because her men had initially taken the stand. Now though, she allowed herself to be guided. There was no reason to try and intervene, Helenna had been right, they knew what they were doing. ¡°Did you write this document?¡± ¡°I did not.¡± Kassandora said. She could see the battle-lines in front of her start to crumble as Pawel led a flanking assault from the side. This would be a victory alright. ¡°Do you know who did?¡± ¡°I do not.¡± Kassandora replied. She knew the basic questions, they knew how she would answer. They had been revised well, Helenna knew exactly what to say in a court of politics like this. Pawel made a knowing smile as he continued. ¡°So how did you come into possession of this document?¡± Kassandora smiled and took a deep breath. ¡°To not bore you, I will a short explanation of my planning. Generals and other high ranking officers are able to submit battle plans to me. I consider all ideas, no matter how outlandish they are but some, like this one, are handled through an anonymous plan box.¡± That was all a lie, there was no such thing. But it would make perfect sense for there to be something like this. ¡°Things people don¡¯t want their names attached to.¡± Pawel smiled, nodded and extended an arm out to the document. ¡°And what value does this provide?¡± Mwai¡¯s lawyers immediately took the opportunity. ¡°Objection, this question is not relevant to the case at hand.¡± ¡°Sustained. Move on Pawel.¡± The man smiled, Kassandora knew he would be the first one to be kicked out. ¡°So all plans have to be considered, no matter how outlandish they are?¡± And it happened again. ¡°Objection, irrelevant!¡± ¡°Sustained, next question.¡± ¡°Because it is impossible to think through everything oneself, so even anonymous ideas like this could be used to say, realise Melukal¡¯s exposed position and order an evacuation pre-emptively?¡± ¡°Objection! Irrelevant to the charges and pure speculation!¡± ¡°Sustained. Pawel, this is your first warning verbal warning.¡± Pawel only smiled. He turned to the cameras. Kassandora remained there, still. This was the point, it wasn¡¯t to win some legal battle. It was to win over the audience at home. The judges could sustain every objection that was presented, but they couldn¡¯t make people forget the words they just heard. Pawel did not even look at the judges to acknowledge them. ¡°Would you say that this document helped prepare you for the siege of Melukal?¡± ¡°I did not take it into account.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Why did you not take it into account?¡± Pawel asked. He really was enjoying this. Kassandora took a deep breath and stuck to plan. ¡°I had other plans to consider.¡± ¡°So what do you make of such a document, one of many, being used in a courtroom as evidence? Is it not farcical?¡± ¡°Objection! Leading question!¡± ¡°Sustained. Pawel, this is your second warning. You will be removed if you break regulations again.¡± The man smiled, he did not turn to the judge, he took a step off the podium and looked directly at the cameras. ¡°I simply have nothing to ask about a military plan, because it is our job as soldiers to consider every and any scenario possible. Our enemy does it, in order to win anything more serious than a game of dice, it is vital to consider such things.¡± He took a step forwards as the seven judges looked at him in stunned shock. Kassandora supposed they had never been so blatantly disrespected. ¡°This is not even the worst of them, I personally submitted something far more insidious. That too was not used.¡± The head judge started banging his gavel. ¡°This is irrelevant to the case at hand! If you wish to make a statement, you have to wait for the end of questioning.¡± Pawel turned to the judge. ¡°Your honour. The courtroom is your realm, but the war is ours. If you do not respect us, we will not return the respect in turn.¡± The judge blinked. Kassandora kept her mouth shut, she wanted to burst out in laughter as Pawel continued. ¡°Frankly, the only opinion I have on Goddess Kassandora needing to defend herself for winning the war is that this is a farce in its entirety.¡± And Pawel spat on the ground. Kassandora blinked. That wasn¡¯t part of the plan. She contained her urge to smile. That was it, goodbye Pawel. You served well in this battle. One man down. Eleven left. Aimone called Wissel. The man would no doubt be watching Doschia¡¯s TWT broadcast, but Rilia had not sent a news-crew to Kirinyaa. There simply weren¡¯t enough reporters available in this nation, and everyone who watched the news would prefer either EIE or TWT instead. But Aimone was watching the KTV stream. He saw the screen change. Kassandora¡¯s court case took up the right half of the screen, and a picture of Mwai took up the left. The cast of four reporters were looking shaken, almost as if they had just been panicking. ¡°We have just received a letter. This is from an official source and it¡¯s confirmed to be real.¡± The lead reporter, a dark woman in a blue suit, said. She blinked. The others did too. One of the men¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°This is a letter.¡± The woman said. ¡°We¡¯re bring it up on screen and¡­¡± She trailed off. ¡°This is¡­ from¡­ the presi¡­ Mwai Ruku¡­¡± The letter came on screen as the picture of Mwai shrunk. Aimone narrowed his eyes as he focused on the text. Someone on their end quickly fixed it, the picture zoomed in. There was nothing that needed to be said. The first sentence was enough. ¡®I am writing to the White Pantheon on behalf of Kirinyaa. Kassandora has grown too strong. You were right.¡¯ Wissel answered the phone. ¡°Are you watching KTV?¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°What is there to say about this evidence? We have no sources, we have no claimants. Any information that could be used to identify any of the authors of these documents has been redacted. Goddess Kassandora has denied knowledge of half of them already!¡± Mateusz watched Theodore hold up the piece of paper. This was still three men had been removed from court for breach of jurisdiction, but it was getting obvious who the judge would side with now. The arguments they were making weren¡¯t clean, they weren¡¯t professional, they weren¡¯t by the book. But there was no such thing as a battle that was clean, a battle that was professional or a battle that went by the book. Theodore turned and showed the empty paper to everyone in the room. ¡°Can I write whatever I want on this and submit it too? Or is only Mwai Ruku allowed to do that?¡± The judge banged his gavel. And they took another casualty. Mwai looked out his window as he drank straight from the bottle. Twelve tanks were lined up outside the parliament building. Behind them, more than twice that number in trucks. And out spilled hundreds of soldiers. Mwai took a deep breath. He supposed this was it. He had gone against the Goddess of War, and the Goddess of War turned her sights on him. He downed the rest of the bottle in one go. Mwai drunkenly stumbled onto his chair, took a deep breath, let the bottle fall onto the red carpet and sighed. He sighed and listened. Listened as the front door was forced open. Listened to the orders being given downstairs. Listened to the cries and screams. Listened to the commands. He listened to the silence as the ministers gave up. He listened, maybe some part of him hoped someone would be strong enough to say no. But that no never came, and no bullet was fired. He listened as soldiers marched up the stairs. He listened as they kicked down his door. He listened as he watched them enter, every man obscured. Helmets and pitch black goggles over face masks. Each man in full armour, with a rifle in his hands. He listened in silence as one man opened his back pack and pulled out a suitcase. He listened to his hands open the cork of yet another bottle. He listened and closed his eyes and listened to the sound of a match being sparked. He listened to the sound of flames. Kassandora made a flat expression as the judge spoke to her. ¡°Giving the nature of this case, if you would like to make one final statement, we will allow it.¡± Kassandora took a deep breath. ¡°I have only one thing to say. I have served Kirinyaa. I will serve Kirinyaa until either Arda claims one of us. I have nothing else to say, I will accept whatever judgement you cast upon me, as long as this country exists or I walk the world, I will respect it.¡± It was on the nose, but she knew she had won. Damian Sokolowski stepped in front of the cameras in the KTV headquarters. He took a deep breath. Helenna had come arrived, she was holding the script. Something strong and definite she said. The sort of decisive strength that men could respect. Damian took a deep breath and looked directly at the cameras as the news casters left the view. They wouldn¡¯t be important now. He clicked his tongue and maintained his eyes. Helenna motioned for him to start. So he did. ¡°My name is General Damian Sokolowski. I led Front Centre during the White Pantheon¡¯s Invasions. I currently lead the Second Army in the Reclamation War.¡± He took a pause as Helenna raised her palms. She let the words hang for a few seconds, then returned two thumbs up. ¡°Due to the farce of a trial against Goddess Kassandora, the military cannot stand by. Our duty is for Kirinyaa and for Kirinyaa alone. To anyone who stands against Goddess Kassandora, where were you mere months ago? The reason you can even make such statements is because we won. To the politicians who fear their positions, I have only this to say. It is your fear that did this. It is entirely your fault we were pushed past breaking point. And to the proud people of Kirinyaa, I wish you all a good day, we won against the White Pantheon, we win every day against the Jungle, we will not be defeated by limp-wristed bureaucrats.¡± ¡°From this moment, the National Assembly is dissolved. Goddess Kassandora is declared not guilty. The military will lead Kirinyaa in this conflict against the Jungle.¡± ¡°This court finds Goddess Kassandora, of War...¡± The judge took a pause and a heavy breath. Kassandora stood there and kept her face still. It was obvious. It had to be. She didn¡¯t know why she was worrying. ¡°Not guilty.¡± And the room erupted into tears and cheers. Arascus walked through the upper levels of the National Assembly, there was dirty black smoke slowly fogging up the ceilings, although the corridors had been built for Divines. A squad of soldiers were approaching him silently, in uniforms, with facemasks and goggles obscuring their faces. They stopped and saluted. He dismissed them with his own salute. Arascus turned looked at the soldiers as the fire behind them broke down a door and started devouring the carpets. ¡°What happened here?¡± He asked. ¡°Mwai Ruku, the President of Kirinyaa, in an effort to hide his treachery and collusion with the White Pantheon, set fire to his own room.¡± The man lifted his arm and showed Arascus the suitcase. ¡°We have salvaged what we can.¡± Arascus only smiled. ¡°And Mwai?¡± ¡°We believe he has already perished by the time we arrived.¡± Kassandora stepped outside the court-room. The Sun had set. The stars had come out. The crowd cheered for her, but she barely noticed them. Her eyes were entirely flying on the flags gently blowing in the breeze. Gone was the green-red-blue tricolour. It had been replaced by the red-white-black. A flag from an ancient age, one that had not been flown since Rhomaion fell. A flag of Empire. Chapter 215 – End of Training The Dwarven Underkingdoms were never conquered, but they were effectively removed from the Great War during it¡¯s eighty-second year. Paraidesus thought up of the project, although they were always more advanced with this sort of power than we were. The Underkingdoms were fuelled by the eternal World-Core. Obviously, the destruction of it would spell the end of Arda, but sealing it off? The project took ten years, its stagnant energies were laid to rest. The Suns under the surface burned out. The Dwarves no longer posed issue. - Excerpt from ¡°The Great War.¡± Written by the White Pantheon. Kept within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library. Kavaa stood next to Iliyal as they watched the five Goddesses practice. Olonia had a simple task, Iliyal taken a log and nicked it with his blade. Olonia was swinging at a small log that hung off tied to the branch, she was to split the entire log without missing that nick once. A single blow that even scraped the bark off, and the log was replaced with another. Already there were a dozen logs by the tree, but Iliyal said it was good practice for slashing at weak points in armour. Kavaa supposed it was, although she had survived through the final century of worldbreaking. That had been an age where such practice was frowned upon. Why train and expend energy when at any moment, the sky could open up? Saksma, fully armoured in grey steel plate, had the simplest exercise. She merely had to stand, her arm outstretched, and holding that greatsword of hers pointed forwards. Iliyal had told her if she could manage that posture for an hour, she could take it into battle. Saksma could only hold it for twenty minutes so far, although her initial attempts, she could barely manage five. Kavaa had little to say about such muscle building exercises. It was Kassandora¡¯s thinking through and through, not to train specific swings or feints, but instead to build up a foundation of strength and endurance that Saksma would use to forge her own style of combat in battle. Aliana, also in armour, was tasked with running and shooting targets. The Clerics were assisting her, throwing small pieces of prepared firewood into the air or sliding it across the ground. Iliyal said that an archer had only two skills necessary to be qualified: a good aim and the ability to run. If he wanted to have snipers, then Aliana could be replaced by elven sharpshooters. Kavaa could not argue with that. Aliana had absolutely not a shred of talent with the sword, seven hundred years she¡¯s been around and woman had held a blade more times in the past month than in the past seven century preceding that. Could she be trained? Possibly, but she was no Atis. And they weren¡¯t here to turn these girls into champions, nothing but battle could do that anyway. They were here to make sure they were good enough to make it through a battle in the first place. Agrita was fighting with a small bird. Fer had called it, some special species that was native to Erdely. Agrita to catch the bird with her spear as it annoying pecked her. She had been given unwieldy plate armour, then chain mail, then the remains of Olonia¡¯s first set of scale mail. Every time she made a movement, the sound could only be compared to the cacophony of a nursery for small children, each armed with bells. From the expression, Agrita was furious too at the bird¡¯s evasive. It flashed around her like a mosquito and gave her another peck, on the back of the hand this time. Iliyal said the exercise was needed for spear users, and that they used Neneria¡¯s ghosts for this training in the past. She would never get the bird with that fruitless mad stabbing, she would to rest, calm down, and sneak in a blow. That was how spears should fight. Frankly, Kavaa agreed with the elf. Agrita didn¡¯t need defensive training anyway, she had come in here knowing how to parry and spears naturally kept opponents at a distance. And finally there was Paida. The one Kavaa had grown to most appreciate here. A woman much like herself, although far more pleasant in character, Kavaa did have to admit. She was humble, she was smart, she fought without show, in plate and with sword and shield. She didn¡¯t bother with extravagant moves. Frankly, she could do well. Kavaa nodded at she looked at Paida do the same exercise as Olonia, but with one arm held down by a shield. Very much like Kavaa herself. ¡°What do you think of them?¡± Kavaa asked Iliyal, she didn¡¯t turn to look at him, but he stood by her side, arms crossed and watching the Goddesses train as Clerics further on were sat around and played card games. ¡°Not good, not terrible.¡± Iliyal said and shrugged. ¡°I was going to ask you the same thing.¡± ¡°Me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can measure Divines.¡± Iliyal said flatly. Maybe someone else would be sheepish in their admission, but not Iliyal. He simply said it because it was true. ¡°What do I know about Divines fighting?¡± Kavaa said and Iliyal chuckled. ¡°Considering you spent a millennia with the Pantheon, I assumed a good amount.¡± Kavaa didn¡¯t shake her head, didn¡¯t move. She simply replied just as Iliyal did. They were both here for a job, so the job had to be done. ¡°None of them are comparable to the forces and abstracts. I¡¯m not a good measure either.¡± ¡°No.¡± Iliyal said flatly, although there was something else in that tone. Something that almost sounded like respect, or maybe excitement? ¡°Most Divines on Arda right now didn¡¯t survive the Great War.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°They didn¡¯t.¡± Kavaa agreed. ¡°So you shouldn¡¯t measure them against me.¡± Even now, Kavaa could still take them on five on one. The fights weren¡¯t clean anymore, Kavaa did have to use underhanded tricks she herself had developed, but she was still coming out on top. ¡°So neither of us are good for assessments then.¡± Iliyal said, lighter this time. ¡°Or maybe we¡¯re simply too good?¡± ¡°If you didn¡¯t kill Atis, I would tell you to stop boasting.¡± Kavaa said. She was still in disbelief at that. She knew it happened, everyone, even Fer herself confirmed that it was Iliyal who had killed him. But she still couldn¡¯t believe it. It made no sense, Atis had been merely a non-ideological force, but he could best Maisara or Fortia in a duel. And Iliyal had somehow gotten the jump on him. ¡°Growing soft does that to you.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I didn¡¯t have the luxury of living on Olympiada for a thousand years. If Allasaria wasn¡¯t there, then Maisara and Fortia would have become dull too.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kavaa said. She no longer cared about the elf¡¯s silences. She had simply grown to realise that he wasn¡¯t a speaker. There was no reason to prod him with questions, and he didn¡¯t prod her either. What secrets both of them had, they both let the other keep. ¡°When you fight.¡± Iliyal spoke up. ¡°You tend to overfocus on your right side.¡± Kavaa blinked and turned to look down on him. He was stood there, his head only managing to maintain height with her bosom, as if he was merely commenting on the green grass and woods around them. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°You overfocus on your right. I only noticed it recently but you do, six out of ten times, with three opponents around you, you go to the right.¡± Kavaa blinked. He really was impressive. If he was a Divine, he would definitely be some battle entity. ¡°And should I change it?¡± She asked as she readopted the original stance. Hands behind her back, simply watching the five in front of them. ¡°Up to you.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°It¡¯s not something I care about, and when you see openings on your left, you go for them. It¡¯s just¡­¡± He trailed off. ¡°It¡¯s just odd.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s not a problem?¡± ¡°If I notice it, I assume Maisara and Fortia notice it too. Don¡¯t overthink it, but just know.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°When you fight Fer, you should stay lower to the ground. Same with Fortia and Maisara. They¡¯re all so tall that¡­¡± He swung his arm before himself and circled it, palm grasping at the breezeless air. ¡°Well you see, I only have a few feet between me and the ground. Fer has to bend down to hit you below your chest.¡± Kavaa blinked as memories played in her mind of training. Here with Fer now. Of the Great War. Of watching Maisara and Fortia duel. It was so simple, so true¡­ and yet she had never noticed it. Not once. ¡°I honestly¡­¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t thank me for this, it¡¯s a triviality.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I have no flaws to point out in your combat style. The most I can give you issue with is these minor things.¡± ¡°I¡¯m impressed you can point anything out.¡± Kavaa said. She didn¡¯t consider herself a perfect warrior, and the lack of powers harmed her in hierarchy but when the men said that, some dam of doubt gave way within her heart. She looked back through her memories again, when she had duelled Divines that were, or should have been, equivalent to them. And she blinked in shock again. After the Great War, had there ever been anyone outside of the direct Pantheon Divines that had given her trouble? ¡°I was trained first hand by Goddess Kassandora.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°It¡¯d be shameful if I had no words.¡± ¡°Thanks anyway.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°No problem.¡± Iliyal replied. And so they stood in silence. Olonia cursed as she missed the cut on the log and hit the bark. She angrily untied it, kicked it, and sent it flying into the air and the forests around them. Agrita cursed to herself too, as the bird so audaciously landed on her shoulder and pecked her cheek. Saksma groaned, her arm dropped and she gave it a spin. Twenty three minutes that time. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and swapped arms. Aliana ran out of arrows and went to collect them. Paida still made careful swings at her own log. And Iliyal spoke again. ¡°I have something to say, on my own authority.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Come with me¡± Iliyal turned his back to the Goddesses and walked to the other edge of the meadow. Far past the tents, far past the clerics. Still within sight of the Goddesses, but definitely not within earshot. Iliyal pointed at the trees. ¡°Look that way.¡± Kavaa turned her back to the Divines who were training. ¡°Did you see something?¡± ¡°No.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I just don¡¯t know if they can lip-read.¡± Kavaa allowed herself a smile. This was the sort of caution that revealed whether a man had fought against Leona or not. ¡°So what?¡± ¡°When we came here, it wasn¡¯t to train Goddesses.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Well that¡¯s part of the task at hand, but there is something else too.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Fer is searching for Dwarf holds that are still accessible and unsecured.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Kavaa replied. That explained the region too, Erdely was secret, but if they wanted pure secrecy, then any of the Allian islands could do. Those would have been easier no doubt too, without risking a landing of troops in the forest either. But the mountains to Erdely¡¯s east, they were one of the most fortified locations in the world. The south even more so. ¡°If you any, that would help out.¡± ¡°Military organization was Allasaria¡¯s domain exclusively. Only Fortia and Maisara may know, but that¡¯s because they¡­¡± Kavaa trailed off. Because they had serious battle orders, and not Clerics. That¡¯s why they knew. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it then.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Fer knows where they are, she¡¯s just scouting them out, there¡¯s enough that I doubt all of them are found. That¡¯s not why I¡¯m asking anyway.¡± ¡°What are you asking for?¡± ¡°Fer and I will go in.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I know you were taken as a healer into the Jungle back then, but now, you¡¯d be part of the frontline, I¡¯m the handicap.¡± He said it with the same voice he would use to comment on the bark on the tree in front of him. Kavaa couldn¡¯t help herself. ¡°And you need a healer?¡± She asked. ¡°A healer would is never bad.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°But no.¡± ¡°So why then?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re one of us now, you¡¯re part of the war council. So you deserve to know. We want to enter to see what lies in there, whether any dwarves are alive, and if they are, why they have not come out.¡± ¡°We did send troops to explore the tunnels.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know them.¡± ¡°And you do?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°That¡¯s why Fer is taking me.¡± Iliyal answered. ¡°Because half of them were built during the war, they were our logistics links.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to make a decision now.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it will be dangerous or just a waste of time. But when Fer finds one, I¡¯m going immediately.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll think on it.¡± The tunnels¡­ Men who entered didn¡¯t return. Kavaa took a breath as Iliyal turned around and left her standing there. And it wasn¡¯t just during the Great War. There was a reason every major underground highway had been sealed off. Chapter 216 – The Uses of A Fire The depths of Arda hide many secrets. The titans were excavated just before the Great War, to serve as Arascus¡¯ greatest weapons. It is because of their existence that we needed to call on Tartarian Archdemons in the first place. Yet the dwarves kept digging. Through the endless black depths, what monstrosities they faced, we simply do not know. I have to praise their loyalty out of respect if not anything else. The Holds were a nuisance until Rhomaion fell. Yet once it did, the dwarves started their retreat from the surface. Their grand armies turned inwards. Holds were once again left exposed. They began their endless excavation. We gave them trouble were we could. Some Holds were captured, but it was a tiny minority. No one was prepared to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives from their Orders for what would be a mere scratch on the underground kingdoms. For the mountain Holds were mere outposts, as fortified as they are, the dwarves considered them little more than encampments. They could not face the surface Divines, so they did not even bother. Inwards they crawled, to their sprawling cities. The sealing of the World-Core extinguished their fires and they were left stranded. I wonder if that moment spelled the end of the race as it was and gave birth to something new. Do they still eagerly seek monstrosities as they once did? Did the depths eventually consume them? Or are they still there? I have my doubts on this theory, but the prevailing sentiment amongst the Pantheon is rather simple: The dwarves dug so deep that they forgot there was a world above. - Excerpts from Allasaria¡¯s Diary, hidden within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library. Arascus took a deep breath. Kassandora was off giving a speech, Helenna was in room organising papers. Anassa was bringing Elassa here, as well as Iniri. Olephia wanted to paint the crumbling mountains left behind by world-breaking and there would be little for her to do in Nanbasa anyway. Neneria would stay with Olephia, he didn¡¯t expect anything to happen, certainly not to either of them, but he didn¡¯t want Neneria to shut herself in a room all day. Better to give her open air with Olephia instead. So Arascus sat there, in a room of the National Assembly. It was small for a governmental building, but large for anything else. as firefighters worked to contain the flames on the higher levels. The fire had spread across the carpets, but there wasn¡¯t enough wood in this building for it to do any damage. The fact Maisara had designed it meant it would still keep standing even if it was hit by Elassa¡¯s magic. The smoke had cleared out through hidden chutes and large windows, and the men containing the fires were working on bringing gas masks out. So Arascus put the fire out of his mind as he took up one of the governmental room. Zalewski had done a good job at recalling all of Kirinyaa¡¯s politicians. They simply sat and waited as soldiers outside barked orders. Now that the flames of revolution were blazing, he was free use it to cook whatever he wanted. And, more importantly, there was no one who would be looking at what he threw to the flames. Kassandora¡¯s soldiers were organising the proceedings as General Sokolowski and General Zalewski sat next to Arascus. They were only here to make it obvious to anyone who would be called into the room that if someone went against Arascus, they would go against Kassandora. Someone knocked on the door. ¡°Enter.¡± Arascus called out. It was one of the soldiers, the man invisible under his heavy vest, loaded with magazine, a facemask over his head, a single set of black goggles covering his eyes. His rifle was slung across his shoulder. He pushed a man in. Arascus already knew the fellow, Okure. Tall and stout, although not so much that he was fat. A soft fellow, with a hand for his position that was rather gentle. He had been a blessing when Arascus was working from the outside. But Arascus was not on the outside anymore. So Okure could not stay on as Minister of Economics. ¡°Minister Okure.¡± Arascus said. ¡°You did well to assist us in the Reclamation War.¡± The man only cast a single glance at Sokolowski and Zalewski, his entire attention was focused on the Divine that dominated the room. Even with Okure standing and Arascus sitting, Okure still had to look up. ¡°I would you to thank you for that.¡± The man would be removed, and it would be impossible to leave without a certain note of bitterness, but there was no reason for Arascus to make a list of enemies immediately. ¡°However the situation has changed.¡± It has, Arascus wanted to manage the economy himself. The markets simply would not do when he was here to build an army to assist in the conquest of Epa, his hand would be needed. ¡°I see.¡± Okure said timidly. ¡°I¡­¡± He took a deep breath and calmed himself. ¡°You¡¯re welcome to speak.¡± Arascus hurried him along. The man nodded and took a deep breath. ¡°Is Ruku dead?¡± Arascus replied quickly and flatly. ¡°He was reported to have perished in the fire.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°The military will lead Kirinyaa now.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The economy will take a different turn, we are currently reading through the documents and¡­¡± Arascus dropped his tone and took a pause. ¡°Well, the situation has changed now, but another invasion was being planned.¡± Okure¡¯s eyes widened as his jaw dropped.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Again?¡± Arascus merely nodded. The fact he was the one planning the invasion was irrelevant. ¡°I want to forcibly industrialize Kirinyaa. Set up new resource ventures in the west, refineries, industry away from the coasts, somewhere closer to Central Requisitions.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And, I do not know how to say this, so I will say it straight. I will do it myself.¡± Okure seemed to realise what was going on. He blinked for a moment then took a breath of relief. ¡°So I¡¯m out?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll provide you with the minister¡¯s pension of course.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But yes, you are no longer Minister of Economics. Effective from this moment.¡± Arascus took a piece of paper he had prepared on the tables and stamped it. It was simply Okure¡¯s dismissal form. The man read it and chuckled. He actually laughed! Arascus didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°Honestly¡­¡± Okure said. ¡°Actually, never mind.¡± ¡°Do go on.¡± Arascus said it merely out of curiosity. He was expecting needing to have executions today. If this is how the minister of one of the highest positions in the nation took it, it would go even better than he expected. ¡°It was simply a hard job. Stressful.¡± He said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to accept another term.¡± Arascus smiled. ¡°Then I congratulate you on your retirement Okure. You were instrumental to Kirinyaa¡¯s victory in the first invasion.¡± The man laughed, turned and left. And the next one came in. Minister of Education. Minister Musyoka. Tall, thin, once a professor, the country was under enough pressure from the Jungle that it didn¡¯t have the useless bureaucrats that plagued the ancient kingdoms pre-Great War or today¡¯s Epa. This man had to replaced too. Not out of malice, Arascus had some respects for the man¡¯s intelligence and honesty, he had been one of the few warn of Kassandora¡¯s rise to power, yet he had done nothing about it. ¡°I have a question.¡± Arascus said. Musyoka looked around at the from behind his glasses. In a dark blue suit as was the custom in the National Assembly, he did look like the sort who knew how to give a lecture. ¡°Ask away.¡± ¡°Why did you never sponsor any bill to limit Kassandora¡¯s power?¡± Musyoka only smiled. ¡°I gave warnings. I said what would happen.¡± He extended an arm out to Damian Sokolowski in his dark suit. ¡°And it did, Kirinyaa was taken over.¡± ¡°With your popularity, you could have rallied support.¡± Arascus said and the man shrugged. ¡°I could have, but could I have done better than Helenna or you?¡± The man said flatly. ¡°I have some arrogance in me true, but I¡¯m not going to let it blind me to the fact that you are Divine and I am mortal. Major Divines too, even if I had your skill in manipulation, you do not sleep. How do I compete?¡± Sokolowski and Zalewski both shifted in their seats when they heard the word manipulation. Arascus let it slide, he wasn¡¯t going to be hooked by bait that obvious. ¡°What did you teach before you got this position?¡± ¡°Geology.¡± Arascus nodded, he had assumed it would be some subject like that. Where the principle was about analysis of information. ¡°I think you realise what will happen then.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I¡¯m gone.¡± Musyoka said. ¡°Indeed you are.¡± ¡°And if I refuse?¡± Arascus turned to Sokolowski, the man pulled the pistol out of his belt and put it on the table. The Minister of Education looked at it dryly and without comment as Arascus turned back to Musyoka. There had been a plan first for Helenna to find their families, but Kassandora had crushed that plan. Why bother with so much wasted time? Just eliminate the problem at its source. ¡°So I can¡¯t refuse.¡± Musyoka said. ¡°Anything else I should know?¡± ¡°You¡¯re talented.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And obviously you have what it takes, you can live off the pension, don¡¯t go back into education.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Musyoka said dryly. ¡°I appreciate the pension, if that means anything.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The pensions are there to make sure you grow fat and comfortable.¡± Musyoka smiled at that. ¡°I worked that out already.¡± He said. ¡°I know you did.¡± Arascus replied. That¡¯s why he told him in the first place. It was simply better to leave the man with an honest impression. If Arascus simply dismissed him, then the man could get delusions of stupidity, but this fellow was that rare mix of intelligence and honesty that appreciated bad news, even when it was directed at them. But that sort of man was not who Arascus needed to run the education in country. Too much honesty brought about inaction, everything could be analysed from every angle at the end of the day. Someone more¡­ direct was needed, who wouldn¡¯t be afraid to spin an angle in the name of the greater good. Kassandora would find them, from her army. ¡°Well.¡± He said. ¡°That¡¯s it then. There a sector I can work in? That won¡¯t be just micromanaged by you?¡± ¡°Look for private companies. Don¡¯t bother with anything that ties into manufacturing or logistics.¡± Musyoka nodded as Arascus signed his early-retirement form. The man turned and left. Another one down. Another came in. Ministry of Policing. A low position, but Arascus had grand plans for it. Minister Kitili. Tall, imposing, although Arascus already knew it was for show. Kirinyaa had little issue with criminality in the first place. ¡°Minister Kitili.¡± Arascus said as he leaned back. ¡°I have sorry news for you.¡± The man said nothing as he looked at Sokolowski¡¯s pistol on the table and back at Arascus. ¡°Your department is being re-arranged.¡± Kitili blinked with those dark eyes. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You will no be Minister of Policing. There will be no Department of Policing. The Kirinyaan Provincial Police Force will come in to replace you. You will be uniformed troops.¡± The man blinked in confusion and made a nervous giggle. ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡± He said. ¡°The KPPF will be part of the military. In direct hierarchy from Kassandora. You¡¯re job is getting re-arranged.¡± Arascus said. ¡°You will assist in the transition from DoP to KPPF, depending on how you will affect what will happen after.¡± The man was young, the DoP was used as a testing bed for new politics or a political reward. It was an easy position and it paid well. The KPPF would pay well too, but it would be anything but easy. The man blinked again, Arascus didn¡¯t like his lack of confidence. Kassie wouldn¡¯t either then, he would last a month, maybe two if luck favoured him. ¡°Is that all?¡± The man asked. ¡°That is all, I wanted to inform you personally.¡± Arascus sighed as the man left and the next one came in. Kirinyaa had plenty of ministers. He would be here all night. Chapter 217 – Things That Should Not Be Here Olds vows remembered. Ancient loyalties bound by stone. To serve in life and in death. My flame is extinguished, my heartbeat ends, my bones keep moving. My fathers, they look down on me. My mothers, they will have to wait. Until the Suns below shine again. Until the lands below are cleansed. Until Arda¡¯s heart beats again. Until we are but dust. Until the end of days, I serve. Mantra of the Dwarven Legions Iliyal finished his two daily reports. One for Kassandora about the Goddesses. That one was simply honest. They would be fine as Great War Era Auxiliary Divines. Nothing exceptional, simply support that needed to be called in to even the gap when White Pantheon armies fielded dozens of their own Divines. Battle skill was the less important issue. Iliyal kept on writing in his tent: Olonia, Saksma and Paida have the most potential to become loyal. They are classically Epan in thinking, falling in line no matter what is told. Saksma and Olonia especially. They appreciate the hardness of the training and treat it as a challenge. Both become excited whenever Fer returns from scouting. Anyone else would write an ¡®I think¡¯ there, but Iliyal knew that Kassandora was smart enough to understand this was merely his opinion on the matter. Agrita has potential however her character is rather weak. She looks prone to sloth. Aliana is an issue. The woman seems to have a personal problem with me, although she does not raise any issues in training. This seems to be due to the fact she falls in line with the others, rather than respect for hierarchy. Iliyal sighed as he sealed off the letter. One down. Now to the Epans. Wissel got it yesterday, Aimone before, Artois, Jozef¡­ So it would be Richard today. This letter would be nothing important, simply an update on how well the Goddesses are doing in training and that they are ready for battle. Iliyal didn¡¯t care about the contents, but the letters needed to be sent off. The leaders had complained originally that Iliyal only sent one between the five of them. Those complaints, Iliyal ignored. The whole point of one letter between the five of them was so that they grew annoyed with him. That annoyance would form camaraderie between them, and the constant weekly meetings between leaders of five nations would definitely be noticed by the White Pantheon. He finished that letter, stamped it with a wax seal and took both to two clerics who were waiting outside his tent. ¡°Arika.¡± He handed one the letter to Kassandora. ¡°Epa.¡± And the other man got the other letter. He didn¡¯t think they would confuse it, the envelopes were marked, but it was always better to use individual couriers. Things could be misplaced out of pure circumstance. He took five steps towards the Goddesses who were training and stopped. An unnatural breeze was coming from the south east, branches were being broken, leaves were rustling. He turned, calculated where the meteor would land, and took a few steps to the right. A cloud of dirt and dirt exploded around him. He took another few steps away, Fer wouldn¡¯t hit him, he simply did not want to get dirt on his black uniform. It was a pain to wash off when servants weren¡¯t about, and he wouldn¡¯t humiliate Kavaa¡¯s Clerics by making them wash his clothes, he knew they would, but that¡¯s exactly why he didn¡¯t ask. The cloud cleared after a moment, dust would take longer to clear, but this was all just heavy balls of dirt and clumped grass. It revealed Fer, as it always did. She was smiling, eyes blinking the dirt away and ears jump as she shook that golden mane of hair that fell down to her hips clean. A smile that wide could only mean one thing though. ¡°I¡¯ve found one.¡± Fer said so loudly the entire camp heard. Iliyal took a heavy sigh and looked to the Goddesses who were training. All of them looked away simultaneously as if pretending they weren¡¯t interested. Of course they weren¡¯t, and pigs could fly. ¡°What did Kavaa say?¡± ¡°She said she¡¯d think on it.¡± ¡°I want to go.¡± Kavaa suddenly shouted from the other side of the camp. Great. And another one. Kavaa at least Iliyal could understand, but Fer should have developed some of Leona¡¯s paranoia at least. Secrecy was never bad. ¡°She¡¯s just thought on it.¡± Iliyal corrected himself. ¡°Wonderful!¡± Fer clapped her hands. ¡°And them?¡± She pointed to the five Goddesses. ¡°Why don¡¯t we take the Clerics too while we¡¯re at it?¡± Iliyal asked sarcastically. ¡°We might go in for a few days, I don¡¯t want to carry food.¡± Fer said and Iliyal sighed. Food was the least of the issue. They were going to see why Irinika and Malam had not gone out. It wasn¡¯t some damn hike. ¡°I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d be taking them.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°It¡¯ll be good training.¡± ¡°And if we find something?¡± There were creatures down there, the highways were safe, but the land had many caves. Iliyal wasn¡¯t a betting man, but if he was forced to choose, then a thousand years would have released something new. In fact, he was sure of it, the Dwarves would have shown themselves at least a few times to simply check up on what was happening on the surface. Something was keeping them down there. Or maybe they had gone extinct. That was possible too. But then that wouldn¡¯t explain Irinika¡¯s and Malam¡¯s absence. If it was Neneria, it could be reasoned she would sit down to meditate for a millennia. Not those two though. Dwarf extinction meant something had killed Irinika, and if it killed Irinika, then bringing these five was effectively signing their death sentence. Iliyal thought on it for a moment. If it killed Irinika, then it would handle Fer. Kavaa and himself weren¡¯t even part of the equation. He turned to the five Goddesses. Actually, those five weren¡¯t a bad idea. If worst came to worst, then they could buy time. For Fer at least, Iliyal himself was expendable. ¡°Alright.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°That was fast.¡± Fer said flatly. ¡°I didn¡¯t even have to bargain for it.¡± ¡°We can bring them.¡± Iliyal said. He made up some banal reasoning on the spot. ¡°If we find some lizard, then it will be good combat experience.¡± ¡°I knew you¡¯d agree.¡± Fer said. Iliyal nodded. ¡°How far is it?¡± He asked. ¡°How are we travelling?¡± Fer asked backed. ¡°I assume you can¡¯t carry seven people.¡± ¡°I can do it four hours. With you and Kavaa.¡± Fer put her finger on her chin and shook her head from side to side as she thought. ¡°Four thirty?¡± Fer usually undershot. Five and six hours then. ¡°And with them on foot?¡± ¡°A day?¡± Fer asked. No chance. Iliyal knew already. Fer¡¯s groundspeed was incomparable, she was as fast as the average Divine who was capable of flight, faster than most of them if she pushed herself. Two days. Maybe three. ¡°We set off in ten minutes then.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Let them prepare.¡± Arascus leaned back as he signed another law: The dissolution of the National Assembly, the suspension of the White Pantheon Constitution and the removal of the Grand Court. Kirinyaa would be a success if he had to drag out screaming and kicking, because Kirinyaa¡¯s success would show everyone else why things were so much better under him than the ever-so-noble White Pantheon Iliyal looked up at the rather small dwarven hold Fer had found. Not one of the Great Bastions, rather just a supply bastion. Hidden within a ravine between two mountain, it was easily missed. Fer had only found it because it was used as a supply base during the Great War. The outside was barely noticeable, merely a large door that had long fallen over its stone hinges, it could have been mistaken for any other cliff. He sighed and stretched his legs. Travel on Fer¡¯s back always made him feel like child. He doubted there was anyone on this world who could enjoy that brutal rollercoaster even if they were somehow infatuated with the Goddess. He was not, so to him it was especially bad. Kavaa had needed to heal most of his muscle and half of his bones from fractures. She was looking at the other Goddesses. Iliyal didn¡¯t waste the training time, all five of them were in heavy armour and with backpacks filled with various tools they would probably need. Flashlights and ropes and blankets and firestarters. Ammunition for his own rifle too. And rations and water for Iliyal, unfortunately, unlike them, he couldn¡¯t power himself off simple belief. He had the pistol and sword on his belt as always, but there was no point to pretend that larger calibres could not be useful.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Iliyal said and the five Goddesses all sighed with relief. Kavaa took it in stride, although she would used to such marches. Fer merely yawned and stretched. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Aliana asked. ¡°Not grand.¡± Olonia said. ¡°Most dwarven holds are like this.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°The grand ones that are locked down were for marshalling armies, these are supply bases that feed into the highway network.¡± He waited for them to drop their bags and start handing flashlights out. There had been no reason to go easy on them, so Iliyal got one for his head, another in his hand. Kavaa put her own as she watched. ¡°If we find anything.¡± She began. ¡°The five of you are to follow one of our orders. Don¡¯t issue your own unless you¡¯re away from us.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Olonia said excitedly. Saksma and Paida had just as much enthusiasm. Even Aliana was smiling as she clicked her flash light and inspected the opening of the cave. It had long been looted, all the statues were gone. Agrita was the odd one out, she took careful steps. Iliyal was about to speak to her when he turned and saw Fer. The Goddess had a light on her head, and two more, strapped with tape to her wrists. ¡°Pew Pew Pew.¡± Fer said as pretended the flashlights were guns. Iliyal said nothing but the rest of them giggled at it. He had Kassandora¡¯s method of dealing with fear, which was to cast it to the back of the mind and ignore it. Fear, at the end of the day, was merely a small flame within oneself. It could be locked away and allowed to burn out. But if humour worked, then there was no reason to beat Agrita over the head with platitudes. Besides, the best method to learn how to deal with fear was exposure. Eventually, one got used to it. ¡°Fer, you lead. Kavaa and I will be second, you five stay behind.¡± Iliyal said as Fer got to it. Iliyal wondered if that woman ever felt fear, he had not seen it once. But then whereas they were blind here, Fer¡¯s sense of smell was practically a second set of eyes. Her hearing a third. ¡°Don¡¯t get too far Fer.¡± And so they entered. Through the rubble of the stone gate and into darkness. The outside¡¯s light gave up its battle to light these holds early, a mere dozen steps inside and they needed the flashlights to inspect the walls. All plain stone, carved straight from the mountain. A late-war hold then, they stopped adding decoration and tiles some sixty years in. ¡°I know.¡± Fer said as she started walking. Why did she even strap the flashlights to her wrists? Both were pointed at the ground behind her as she walked casually, hands clasped behind her back. The rest of them provided enough light that it didn¡¯t matter, but it was annoying nevertheless. Things should be done properly or not at all. They inspected the small series of rooms. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Aliana asked as she stopped in a doorway and shone her light inside. Iliyal recognised it immediately, platforms upon platforms, stairways on the walls which had cracked and left rubbles of loose stones on the ground. ¡°Granary.¡± Iliyal said as he leaned under Aliana¡¯s arm and shone his light inside. ¡°All empty though.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Aliana replied. ¡°And this?¡± Olonia and Saksma were both inspecting a small indent in the ground. Fer turned and extended an arm to the wall. ¡°You see that hole there?¡± She said. There was indeed a hole in the wall. Both of the young Goddesses nodded at her words. ¡°Water pipe. There¡¯ll be a drain somewhere here.¡± Fer made a loose circle at the dusty ground as Iliyal inspected walls. No spiders or cobwebs, nor any signs of animals. Caves like this usually had faeces left about, especially since the forest had spread into the ravine. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Agrita asked, her voice low as if she was nervous of being too loud. Her flashlight was pointing at a large square hole at the end of the entrance corridor. Classically dwarven, Iliyal had never been in this outpost hold, but it was calming to know that every single one of them followed the same pattern. ¡°That leads deeper, to the highway.¡± Kavaa said. She shown her torch through it and turned a little knob on it to increase the strength. The light got stronger, until it hit a ceiling. It was obviously inclined downwards. ¡°Oh.¡± Agrita said as she stopped and started inspecting the rest of the walls. ¡°It¡¯s not so scary, I don¡¯t think.¡± She giggled nervously. Fer was looking up, her brows furrowed as the light on her head scanned the corners of the ceilings. Iliyal noticed it too. She turned to Iliyal, then made a quick nod at the five Goddesses. Iliyal got it immediately, don¡¯t ask the obvious question, if they panicked then they would only slow them down. Iliyal shown his light up at the corners, at the rusted hook that once would have carried a chandelier. ¡°Old.¡± Fer said lightly. ¡°And quiet.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Untouched.¡± ¡°By everything.¡± Fer said. They locked eyes and Iliyal knew the Goddess noticed it too. They weren¡¯t deep in yet. But where were the bats? The other Goddesses started to inspect one of the side rooms. That would be a mere dead end, just this hold¡¯s armoury. There was no point to inspect, they¡¯d shout if there was something scary, and if something was alive in there, Fer would have sniffed it out already. Agrita stayed at the door as Olonia and Saksma pressed inside. One of them fell over, the other burst out in laughter. But the three who had seen the great war were looking at that grand entrance to the highway. Iliyal saw Kavaa looking at him. She made the motion of opening a door. Iliyal nodded. The highways were never left open. The doors would need a battering ram to siege down. A Divine, or a full team of mages. And this was open. Fer looked at them and made a simple gesture. Stop and hold. She walked to lightly to the end of the door, her feet not even making a sound. And she peeked past where that door should have been. Left. Right. Left again. Up. Down. She turned. ¡°We all think the same.¡± She said. ¡°And I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know what?¡± Aliana said from behind. ¡°There¡¯s statues about usually.¡± Kavaa said quickly and effortlessly. ¡°But they¡¯re probably stolen.¡± ¡°Looters then.¡± Iliyal backed her up in the lie. Statues going missing would not panic the five Goddesses. Fer always caught on quickly. ¡°So heavy, probably Maisara took them.¡± Kavaa laughed. ¡°Probably did. Fortia if not her.¡± Aliana wasn¡¯t so quick to buy the lie. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you know?¡± She asked. Kavaa shut her down immediately. ¡°I had more important things to deal with than decorations Aliana.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Aliana said. ¡°Sorry for being rude.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Kavaa said as she pointed her flashlight at the door. ¡°Are we going in?¡± The question was obviously for Fer and Iliyal. ¡°Well of course. We¡¯re here for information.¡± Fer said. That was on the nose, but Iliyal let it slide. ¡°YOU¡¯RE IN THE ARMOURY, COME ON, WE¡¯RE GOING DEEPER!¡± He shouted. Paida, Saksma and Olonia all quickly ran out of that. ¡°Which one of you fell over?¡± Iliyal asked. Two gazes at Saksma and the Goddess¡¯ blush revealed the answer. Iliyal only inspected her armour. Dusty, but not dusty enough for this to be a thousand years old. ¡°Are you fine?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Saksma said with some relief that she wasn¡¯t being told off. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡± Iliyal said. Fer waited for him to catch up. Kavaa took the other side. Iliyal didn¡¯t know if the woman was merely protective of all mortals or what, but he was glad she did. A Divine on both sides did put hearts at ease, even if he didn¡¯t let the uneasiness show. The floor started to curve into a slope. Slope of ten degrees, as always, it would start to spiral after a while, but the gentle slope was needed to push wagons up from the depths. Iliyal took a deep breath as he buttoned up his coat. Without the dwarven heating system, these caves did get cold. They walked past small rooms, Iliyal inspected the first few himself, then assigned the five Goddesses inspection duty. These had merely served as resting stations in the past. For the crews that would operate the wagons. His eyes went to the ground, at least the stone was untouched here. There wasn¡¯t any great marks of fire or claws in the walls. Apart from the total lack of life, it was as if he was had been a thousand years back. Even the tracks carved into the floor were still here. ¡°Olonia, you turn on this one.¡± They had started to get to the spiralling section. Fer was sniffing every twenty steps, but she gave nothing. Her ears weren¡¯t jumping ear, so there was nothing coming towards them. Iliyal sighed as Kavaa laughed. ¡°It¡¯s cold here.¡± She said. Their breathes were misting now. It wouldn¡¯t get to freezing here, but it was far too cold for comfort. ¡°That is it.¡± Iliyal said and Kavaa chuckled again. ¡°I thought nothing could get you to complain.¡± ¡°I complain about everything.¡± Iliyal said dryly. ¡°I just don¡¯t voice it.¡± ¡°Even Fer?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Especially about me.¡± Fer said from the other side. She stopped, turned and looked at the five Goddesses who were all looking into one of the resting rooms. ¡°And me?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°You¡¯re fine.¡± Iliyal replied as he turned and shone his light at them. ¡°What¡¯s the commotion about?¡± Fer asked. Her voice echoed through the cave and she calmed tone. ¡°Did you find something?¡± The echo was weaker now. Olonia¡¯s head popped out from the door frame. ¡°I think?¡± She said it like a question. What was there to even question? You either found something or you did not. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s not been in the other rooms.¡± ¡°Well let¡¯s see then.¡± ¡°Is it a skeleton?¡± Fer asked and Olonia shook her head. Iliyal would prefer if she was scared, then it could be something they could deal with. Simple confusion was more perplexing than fear. He closed the distance as Olonia disappeared behind the doorway. Iliyal looked through and he stopped. There was a rune on the wall. Jagged and harsh and emitting a delicately faint light. He stopped and felt his hand tighten around the torch, his other instinctively went to his pistol. The five National Goddesses were inspecting looking at it in confusion. ¡°What is that? Important dwarf alphabet?¡± Olonia asked. Saksma shown her light on it. ¡°I honestly have no clue.¡± She said, obviously confused. ¡°You?¡± She looked to Agrita and Paida, both shook their heads. Iliyal turned to Kavaa and Fer. Both of them were staring at the rune. Kavaa¡¯s hand was resting on her blade, Fer¡¯s nails had grown into claws. Just like Iliyal, they both knew who used runes like that. ¡°It¡¯s old probably.¡± Aliana said. ¡°Probably some old magic, maybe a marker or something? Not to go further?¡± The woman guessed correctly, that¡¯s exactly what it meant. They called it a rune, but it was actually just a word. A simple one. Stop. But it wasn¡¯t in a language that originated on Arda. And she was wrong too, runes like this burned out after two years. Chapter 218 – The Arringhall Meeting Irinika was the first daughter Goddess of Arascus. We thought it a marriage, similar to Sceo¡¯s and Zerus¡¯, a mere union of two deities who relied on each other for comfort and protection. It sent waves on the beach of Divine politics, but what beach sits on a waveless coast? At the end of the day, it made sense. Arascus would not settle for any partner but the major of Abstracts, and Irinika was just as prideful as him. She had many suitors over the years, Gods who would try to wed her, who wouldn¡¯t after all? Irinika, back then at least, was as much as a prize as I still am. She had denied all of them. Frankly, I do not blame her, petty domains such as thievery could not lay claim to the might that was All Darkness. So whilst it was shocking, to see two Divines everyone thought would be forever alone finally abandon their solitude in each other¡¯s arms, it was not revolutionary. Then, the others started joining. Excerpt from ¡®The Leadup of the Great War¡¯, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light, kept within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library Wissel watched the five leaders behind Epan Separation enter. They were meeting in Arringhall Castle this time, an Allian heritage site. With chandeliers hanging off the tall ceilings, sunlight beaming in from the tall windows, and overlooking the rolling mounds of the Allian countryside from a tall hill. Allia was an island nation, whereas all castles were comfortable, they always had a tradition of building homes for comfort rather than defence,, the entire country had an ocean for a moat after all. Jozef and Artois, both in prim suits took their seats. Aimone was dressed similarly, the only mark of his position of royalty was a small shawl that became a cape. Richard VI was much the same. Everyone had brought a suitcase for their pressing issues. They all sat silently, these meetings felt¡­ almost small without their National Mascots behind them. They were still leaders of these nations, and Saksma wasn¡¯t needed after all, but it still felt wrong with the Goddess of the nation he led behind him. ¡°Letters, as always.¡± Wissel said as he brought his letter out. ¡°I have two this time.¡± These meetings were held weekly at this point. Every Tuesday, when people would be at work and paying attention to their annoyance for the weak rather than the local news. Of course, it had spread, the pattern of the five leaders had been revealed two weeks ago. Wissel had calmed Doschia¡¯s speculations on it by simply saying it was needed meetings to deal with Epa¡¯s economic problems. Ultimately, he wasn¡¯t wrong. What Arascus had done in Kirinyaa was nothing short but a financial miracle. It was a country that relied on foreign aid and the good will of charity organisations to keep itself afloat, the only uniting factor in the population was the threat against the Jungle. Yet in a mere year, Kirinyaa had gone from importing food to exporting raw iron and coal to Guguo and Epa. All the trade deals had promises of refineries attached to them. Sending trained engineers and schematics was a small price to pay when Kirinyaa was selling resources so cheaply. Ultimately, he didn¡¯t like it. Doschian steel was priced at a premium. Whereas the name itself still carried prestige, prestige meant little to businessmen who relied on spreadsheets to find their suppliers. Doschian industry had to be subsidized to keep people in employment, and to stop them from taking to the streets. But those subsidies were not cheap. Wissel passed his two letters from Iliyal to Jozef on his right. ¡°I have two as well.¡± Aimone said. ¡°Generally it sounds like good news.¡± ¡°I was impressed by Olonia¡¯s progress.¡± Jozef replied. Wissel had called these meetings, they were too important to be handed off to bureaucrats. He was almost certain that they would not be read, he was almost certain that the White Pantheon did not have spies in his court, he was almost certain that they would be delivered on time. Frankly, if this was a bet for money, he would take it every time, there was almost no chance he would not make profit. But almost certain was not certain, and he was betting his life here, not merely money. The other leaders felt the same, so no one complained about hand delivering the letters. ¡°Likewise, I think the elf likes Paida.¡± Artois said, a good amount of parent¡¯s pride in his voice. ¡°He does.¡± Richard said. ¡°Just from reading it though, I don¡¯t think he dislikes any of them.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just hope he doesn¡¯t expect payment for bringing Fer to training.¡± Wissel said. Maybe charity to the poor was benevolent, but he had served as King of Doschia for too long to know that charity was something that would never be handed to him. Even something like this, where Arascus had obvious gain from Epa separating from the Pantheon, would have its terrible strings attached. Frankly, the thing he most worried about was Saksma. It was not wrong for her to make friends, but Fer should be kept at an arm¡¯s length. ¡°I¡¯m have my own suspicions of Fer.¡± Artois said Wissel¡¯s thoughts out loud. ¡°I saw the EIE interview with her.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t remind of that.¡± Richard said sarcastically. ¡°I have nothing to say about that.¡± ¡°Apparently she was unprepared.¡± Artois said. ¡°That¡¯s what I heard.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°How?¡± Artois explained as he took another letter from the centre of the table and read through it. ¡°She and Helenna were apparently arguing in the EIE rooms, Helenna was complaining how Fer wasn¡¯t taking it seriously.¡± ¡°She took it so seriously that in a day EIE went from being in the black to being in the red.¡± Richard said. Artois nodded as he continued in that strong Rancais accent, all the letters curling and stretching. ¡°That¡¯s the point, I don¡¯t think she¡¯s stupid. We¡¯ve not¡­¡± Artois said as he put the letter back into the middle of the wooden table. ¡°Well, Fer survived a thousand years in the tundra above Guguo. How many hunts has it been? Seventy? And we see her now, I don¡¯t think she¡¯s like what the books say about her.¡± ¡°I think we¡¯ve all realised that.¡± Wissel stepped into the conversation. ¡°She¡¯s obviously smarter than she lets on.¡± Artois nodded. ¡°And I don¡¯t like the fact she¡¯s part of training. Is she effective? I have no doubt, but we don¡¯t know what she¡¯s talking about.¡± ¡°Are you saying we should start to keep the mascots at an arm¡¯s length?¡± Aimone said. ¡°I¡­¡± He shrugged. ¡°Well, how? Agrita is more popular than the Royal Family, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s the same for all of you.¡± The rest of them nodded. Wissel had nothing to add, he was here to run the country, Saksma was there to inspire it. He doubted there was a single family in Doschia which would not welcome her for dinner. He knew there were families that would spit on his because of the country¡¯s economic fall, as if he could press a magic switch and suddenly fix the entire nation¡¯s problems. ¡°Frontline duty.¡± Wissel said. ¡°I see no other way to keep out of politics.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t go into politics, they¡¯re mascots.¡± Richard said quietly. ¡°Olonia herself volunteered for help with the attack on Drayim. I didn¡¯t tell her to go, I didn¡¯t forbid her.¡± ¡°As in she just went or what?¡± Wissel asked. That was serious, the mascots were mascots because they led the parade that was the nation. They may be first in that parade, but they did not set the route it would take. ¡°She told me she¡¯s going.¡± Jozef said. ¡°And then asked me for permission to go, but she said she wanted to go, that she couldn¡¯t sit still, that it was her nation.¡± Wissel sighed. ¡°Was it after the meeting in Arika?¡± He asked and Jozef nodded. ¡°Saksma has changed since then too, she¡¯s been getting more bitter.¡± ¡°Paida talks about Anassa and Neneria.¡± Artois said. ¡°Those two made an impression on her.¡± ¡°Neneria made an impression on everyone.¡± Wissel said. ¡°But if they start¡­¡± He didn¡¯t know how to phrase the wording. It wasn¡¯t that he was scared of betrayal by Saksma, he was sure she would not suddenly run to the Pantheon, but¡­ what exactly was tying her to Doschia? Apart from the name and idea itself, it was simply the woman¡¯s job. Jobs could change all the time. The woman would still be the incarnation of the nation, but that was it. Who led the country did not matter to her, she had been on a first name basis with every single of Wissel¡¯s ancestors. Jozef sighed. ¡°There is a way, I think.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It is to move Epan Separation ahead of schedule.¡± He said. ¡°The coup in Kirinyaa has given us a potential ally, I am sure the rest of Arika will fall. Ausa definitely will bend the knee to Arascus.¡± ¡°Even if it doesn¡¯t, Kirinyaa is the Arikan country to deal with now.¡± Artois said. ¡°If they wanted to, they could invade the others, if they don¡¯t, then they still are the future leaders of Arika simply due to virtue of the Reclamation War.¡± ¡°Aye, Kassandora is speeding it up now.¡± Wissel said. Richard brought out a report from his suitcase and added his own thoughts. ¡°AMNI reports that they¡¯re expanding the army to a million and performing a total reorganization. Ten armies, one hundred thousand each.¡± He sounded grim. ¡°What we know is that she has seven hundred thousand men with real combat experience now. The Jungle will serve as training for them too.¡± ¡°That is another worry.¡± Wissel said. ¡°The friends of today could be the enemies of tomorrow. Why is she expanding?¡± ¡°The public justification is to speed up the Reclamation War.¡± Richard said and showed the paper to them. ¡°But it does not make sense, already she has issues with weaponry. A month or two from now, estimates will say she¡¯ll have enough artillery to minimally equip all ten armies. But even then, we¡¯re looking at six months for them to be armed to the same level as the Eastern Front was during Kirinyaa¡¯s Invasion.¡± ¡°So she¡¯s building up manpower.¡± Aimone said. ¡°I don¡¯t see an issue.¡± ¡°Why go through the trouble of getting men when you can¡¯t equip them yet?¡± Richard asked. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense. The Jungle can¡¯t be harmed without artillery. KAF is expanding too, AMNI says they¡¯ve put orders to quintuple Kirinyaa¡¯s air-fleet.¡± Wissel saw it immediately. ¡°Not with artillery, but small arms?¡± Richard nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the issue, Kirinyaa has enough domestic production of guns to be able to field them.¡± ¡°And how many men armed with rifles would it take to secure Arika?¡± Richard asked. ¡°The estimates are in the tens of thousands, one army will be enough.¡± All the men sighed. It was obvious what was happening, but Jozef looked especially sorry with himself. ¡°We didn¡¯t manage to secure any after the Clerics came in to clean up Drayim.¡± He maintained an apologetic tone. Richard only gave the man a sorry look. ¡°I don¡¯t blame you for it, but we should start looking at developing our own at this point.¡± ¡°The genie is out the bottle now.¡± Wissel commented. ¡°We¡¯re not putting it back in. I expect the Pantheon to come in with armies like Kassandora¡¯s when we separate.¡± ¡°Then we move faster than either of them, if we can stand against the Pantheon, we can stand against Arascus whether he has Arika or not.¡± Aimone said, then looked around when he realised what he said. ¡°Because I don¡¯t trust that Arascus will resign himself to just Arika.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone does.¡± Wissel agreed. ¡°In this case, the Goddesses knowing Fer may be good for us.¡± Artois said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°In the history books, it says she valued loyalty to a fault. If she¡¯s friendly with them, it could give us an opening on her.¡± ¡°Two months from now.¡± Aimone said. ¡°Two months from now. It will be just after your Epan Community Archery Competition Wissel.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good date.¡± Wissel agreed. He wanted it to happen soon, because he didn¡¯t want it to happen. He knew himself well enough to know he¡¯d get cold feet if things were dragged out. ¡°Everyone should start drafting plans on how to counter the Divines, both Pantheon and Arascus-aligned. They can¡¯t be invincible.¡± The men all nodded as Wissel wrote it down on a piece of paper. Epan Separation Pact. Signed by Wissel Ellenheim, King of Doschia. He stamped the black eagle onto it and passed it to Jozef. It went to Richard. To Artois. To Aimone. And it was done. The Divines better be ready, because humanity was not going to give up without a fight. Chapter 219 – The Smell of Sulphur Fundamentally, no one but me actually liked Kassandora. She was respected of course, she was loved at times and others she was feared. Her lack of power turned into her greatest strength. Heroes would die during their prime of course, whether through glorious duels or assassinations, until Kassandora started the marshalling of mortals under Divine Leadership. The Dwarves tried to conquer the surface, until Kassandora thought up of the ocean drain. Fer and Anassa created beastmen, their invasion was unstoppable, until Kassandora militarized magicians. Whereas Divines excel in the creation of tactics that rely on themselves, whether through serving as a centrepiece of the army or the final weapon to be used, Kassandora went the other way. She is a weaver¡¯s mill for battle plans, each one designed to be reproduceable in mass. There is no ¡®Perfect¡¯ with her, but everything is ¡®Good Enough.¡¯ Yet all it takes to win is enough. When we saw Arascus approach Kassandora, there was ridicule and laughter. I myself was part of it. Kassandora turned her nose up at grander Pantheons already. It was unconceivable that Kassandora would willingly enter a Pantheon in any permanency, there was no precedent and the Goddess of War did not share her demesne freely. To fight on Kassandora¡¯s side, her payment was ultimate authority until the end. But then there was another reason too. We could only laugh and ridicule, because the alternative was unthinkable. It took them more than two decades to grow together, but then, the alternative option became reality. In one day, War died and War was reborn. No longer was it a Divine art, it became a structured, scalable and utilitarian mortal industry. The entire world took a collective breath as it realised what happened. Just as with the marshalling of mortals and the magician¡¯s militarization, the advent of kingdom-ending tactics such as the ocean drains, we knew that something was going to change. Kassandora joined the ranks of Daughter Goddesses. Two year later, the newly formed White Pantheon was already marshalling forces. Excerpt from ¡®The Leadup of the Great War¡¯, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light, kept within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library Kavaa felt her hand tighten around the hilt of her blade as she started at the Tartarian Rune. She rarely found herself in flat disbelief, terrible things happened, they would have to acknowledged, embraced and moved on from. She had fought against Arascus and his family in the Great War, the amount of times Kassandora had outwitted her was pointless to even keep track off. At least once a week, there¡¯d be a spy caught, once a month a battleplan would have to be re-written, once a year the entire front had to be changed because it was cracking. And yet, as she stared at that rune, she felt her lips tremble into a smile. She didn¡¯t know why she did it, but she laughed. Laughed in the same way she did when she healed Fer and Kassandora brought her back from the edge of death in the scorching sands of the Sassara. Why was Tartarus even on Arda? They left after the signing of peace. Did Allasaria recall them? But then why did Kavaa not know? She stood there and sighed as puzzles re-arranged themselves. The abandonment of underground exploration, the clearing and sealing of holds. Maisara and Fortia had always been against it, they should have pushed the advantage on the kingdoms under the surface whilst they were still reeling from World-Core sealing. But a century had passed. Then another. A third. And eventually the problems of yesterday became the unsolved mysteries of history. The dwarves had been defeated, a few had defected to the surface, the rest had retreated. The issue of under-kingdoms became less pressing as the act of maintaining Pantheon Peace took on priority. Kavaa realised she had shut down when she saw Iliyal take a step through the doorway and heard Fer sniff the air. The Goddess of Health blinked the shock away, she could deal with the questions in her mind later, there was surgery to attend to now. ¡°Well¡­¡± Fer spoke up first. ¡°That¡¯s something.¡± Kavaa took a breath as she realised the woman was still trying to keep the five already crowding in the small resting in the dark. There was a corridor, there¡¯d be a small barracks, most than likely a small armoury, a bath. Certainly all of them would be empty. That would explain why there was no tracks of animals in the dwarven hold they had entered through. ¡°Can you smell anything?¡± Kavaa asked, although Fer was already sniffing the air. ¡°Nothing, just stone. Trace amounts of iron, but its in the walls.¡± ¡°These mountains are rich in iron!¡± Olonia chimed in. Kavaa, Fer and Iliyal all gave the Goddess a flat look. Did they look like they were on a geological expedition here? ¡°It says stop.¡± Iliyal said as he shown his torch directly onto the rune carved on the wall. It was beating like a slow heartbeat, although with the torch on it, the pale red was barely visible.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You can read that?¡± Kavaa burst out in shock. ¡°Malam translated their script.¡± He took a sigh and turned to the five Goddesses. And then stopped. He looked to Kavaa, she merely shrugged. Frankly, she had no clue on what to tell them. ¡°You¡¯re here for the thinking.¡± Fer replied. Iliyal nodded as he drew his sword and pointed it at the rune. ¡°This is a Tartarian Rune.¡± He said. ¡°It¡¯s what demons use to mark their territory.¡± Kavaa looked at the different Goddesses. Olonia¡¯s jaw dropped. Kavaa quickly grabbed Agrita as she realised the Goddess was about to faint and poured some healing into her to wake her up. Paida blinked, her hands started to shake. Saksma had no reaction, then her mouth cracked into odd laughter. Aliana leaned on the wall to support herself. Iliyal monitored them too, as Fer went to inspect the rest of the room, the flashlights strapped to her wrists forcing her to wave her arms around. ¡°You took it better than I expected.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Demons are not all they¡¯re made out to be.¡± Kavaa sniffed in humour. Only someone who had fought in the Great War would say that, Tartarus and Paraideisus had both been mythologized during the era of Pantheon Peace, but it was true. If they were even half of what the stories said about them, then either could have won alone. ¡°I¡­¡± Aliana said. ¡°Are you not lying?¡± ¡°I¡¯m walking proof they¡¯re not.¡± Iliyal said. Kavaa let Agrita go and took position next to Iliyal. He could rally, that was true, but he could be too heavy-handed in his talk. The man explained what he thought would need explaining, and that was it. ¡°I fought by their side.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°They¡¯re much like humans or elves. Stronger slightly, but it¡¯s not comparable to Divines.¡± At least the grunts weren¡¯t. They had their own equivalents for Divines, and nothing on Arda as it was now could match even a single Archdemon. Fer returned, walking easily as she left, sniffed the air again and turned to look deeper into the tunnel. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± She merely growled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± She turned to look back at Iliyal, that golden mane shining with the ambient light of the torches. ¡°Are we going deeper? This¡­¡± She gestured to the rune. ¡°Well we¡¯ve all heard bad jokes before.¡± Iliyal walked to the rune and touched it. It didn¡¯t react whatsoever to him. ¡°True, is it even real?¡± He asked then chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest ladies, I think we all panicked for a moment there.¡± ¡°That was you panicking?¡± Paida asked. ¡°You get used to it.¡± Iliyal said and turned to Kavaa. ¡°I assume you won¡¯t know, but I have to ask anyway. Was there a plan to inscribe fake runes simply to keep people away?¡± Kavaa stood there in shock as the man finished. That was so unlikely¡­ and yet now that he said it, was he wrong? This was exactly the sort of plan Allasaria would conjure up. And Elassa could manufacture runes like this, the lifespan wouldn¡¯t matter then, the Goddess herself could go and renew them every now and then. Maybe at the bottom, there¡¯d be an energy powering them. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Kavaa said honestly. ¡°But¡­¡± Frankly, she was impressed. An idea like that would have never crossed her mind. But just because it didn¡¯t cross hers did not mean it wouldn¡¯t cross Allasaria¡¯s. ¡°Well, I see it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a possibility.¡± Iliyal said as he left the room and started following after Fer. Kavaa quickly caught up to two in the front as the five in the back started to slowly meander behind them. Iliyal lowered his tone, but kept on looking straight as they kept on marching. ¡°But the chance of that is low.¡± He whispered, Kavaa¡¯s perfect hearing barely caught. ¡°If it was a fake, it doesn¡¯t explain the lack of signs of wild animals in the outpost.¡± ¡°But if it is them.¡± Fer¡¯s voice was barely a purr. ¡°Then there¡¯d be the smell of sulphur.¡± ¡°Unless that rune isn¡¯t for us.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°And it¡¯s just for them.¡± ¡°Or it could be that they developed new runology at the end of the war.¡± Kavaa said quietly. ¡°And they¡¯ve somehow managed to get around the leaking problems.¡± That was a possibility too. It existed for all of ten minutes. They reached the next resting room. Iliyal and Fer entered, Kavaa stood outside and waited for the five to catch up. They were talking amongst themselves, obviously terrified. Each one tried to remain quiet, none had any real practice in stealth. Every fifth word out of their mouths sent an echo down the tunnel. Olonia saw Kavaa¡¯s face, saw the Goddess of Health keep her hand on the blade, and shut up. ¡°Keep quiet.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°There could be something here, watch, if you see movement, then call.¡± And Kavaa entered the rest-room where Fer and Iliyal had disappeared into. And she stopped the moment she got through the doorway. Fer and Iliyal were both inspecting a series of runes that had burned out. The elf turned to see who entered, the pointed at the lettering. ¡°This I can¡¯t read.¡± He pointed to a collection of jagged symbols in the middle. ¡°But that says ¡®go no further¡¯.¡± ¡°I¡¯m impressed you can read anything.¡± Kavaa said. Tartarus and Paraideisus both had fought on her side, but they only provided logistics and direct military support. Fortia could read both scripts, Allasaria could too, but Kavaa had not been privy to the strategy council. ¡°I was fluent.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°This is new words they¡¯ve invented. There¡¯s traces of old ones, but I can¡¯t.¡± Kavaa only smiled, nothing would surprise at this point. ¡°You were fluent?¡± Why did she even have to ask? Frankly, she didn¡¯t even doubt him. ¡°Malam even wrote some poetry in their script. I was fluent.¡± Iliyal said definitely. Of course Malam did. Of course Iliyal was fluent. The man was a walking encyclopaedia of anything that could even be tangentially related to warfare. Fer leaned it and touched one of the words they knew. It did nothing. She dragged her finger onto the unknown calligraphy. And the calligraphy set alight. It didn¡¯t burn Fer, it simply sparked like a crackling flame, and then it burned out. ¡°Well that is definitely new.¡± Fer said. ¡°That obviously wasn¡¯t good.¡± Kavaa said, she felt like laughing again. ¡°Well at least it didn¡¯t burn me.¡± Fer said, chuckling. She turned to leave, took a step, and stopped. Fer sniffed. She looked to Kavaa, her nose wrinkling, her ears jumping. There was no need to even ask, she didn¡¯t need Fer¡¯s absolute pinnacle of a sense of smell to know what the woman was referencing. Frankly, she didn¡¯t even need a single drop of Divinity, even a human child would be able to notice this. The rank smell of sulphur. Chapter 220 – Demons in the Deep Pantheon Peace is the first real attempt at forcing the genie back into the bottle. Ultimately, the thought of annihilating victory had to be removed for the sake of the world. Kassandora¡¯s theories of scalable war were also denounced along with magical militarization. All were ideas that simply should have never been thought of. The War College of Arcadia was renamed, the reframing of War back into the Age of Heroes and settling national grievances through champions rather than armies, the cleansing of Sorcery and the capture of Weapon-Divines are the foundations of the Post-Great-War Era. I find Fortia and Maisara annoying, but there is one thing all three of us agree on. None of us will forget Kassandora¡¯s changes. Her mentality is an ideological plague we needed to produce antibodies to. Already, I fear her pragmatic paranoia setting in, the doubt of whether Peace with Paraideisus and Tartus will last, the need to prepare for a conflict should they stab us in the back. I push these thoughts away, the White Pantheon will lead Arda until powerful Divines naturally emerge from Pantheon Peace ideals, the reins will be handed over then. Excerpt from ¡®My Thoughts on the New Era¡¯, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light, kept within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library Olonia gripped her sword as the rank smell of sulphur invaded her nostrils. Lubska had sulphur mines in the mountains, every decade or so there¡¯d be an avalanche. She would be called to help out, and the smell had ingrained itself into her memory. A pungent aroma that seeped into clothes and everything she had on her. Saksma went for her blade. Agrita started to shake, she gripped her spear in both hands and took a step back. Olonia took a deep breath as she recalled her thoughts from training. She had stood up against Fer. It was true, that it was only training, but it was Fer still. The pinnacle of what a Goddess should be in melee. Just as Fer had said, if Olonia could get a cut on her, she could get a cut on anyone. Aliana pulled her bow off her shoulders. Paida drew her blade and started to get the shield ready. But none of them were fast enough, nor brave enough. Olonia saw a red circle appear on the stones of the ground as if a magician had suddenly drawn it with magma. It bubbled and set alight with flames. And Olonia felt her legs go as hard as stone. Her hand tightened around the hilt of her blade until her knuckles turned white, she felt her breath catch, and couldn¡¯t force herself to expel the cold underground air from her lungs. The circle on the ground grew to the size of a table. Five points, each equally spaced from it each other, started to shine brightly on it. Straight lines expanded from them, joining together to make a cursed five pointed star. ¡°Ihh¡­¡± Olonia tried to get the elf¡¯s name out. She hated herself that she was still so weak that she needed to call for help, but call for help she did. Fer left the room first. Clad in animal skins and a skirt, her legs exposed and a tail lightly swishing from side to side. She simply did not fit the mood, it was as if they were all in a horror movie, and she had come out of one of those action flicks Aliana enjoyed. The woman sniffed the air, her ears bounced, she actually turned her back to the burning pentagram on the ground and looked deeper into the corridor. The torch on her head shining brightly onto the walls of smoothed stone. Iliyal was the second, Kavaa came close behind him. They both stared impressed at the symbol on the ground. And Olonia finally saw their faces. Kavaa was merely watching, her grey eyes looking almost bored. There was nothing in them, she was merely waiting for whatever it was to happen. One hand was on her sword hilt, the other gripped her shield, but it was loose. But Iliyal though? The expression he was making was the exact same as when Waramunt had been killed by his hand. His emerald eyes danced excitedly over the red symbol on the ground as he waited. One hand on his sword, the other on his pistol. In that dark suit, he almost faded into the darkness around them. ¡°Looks like they¡¯ve not changed portalling then.¡± ¡°They haven¡¯t.¡± Fer said as she finished her inspection of the tunnels ahead of them. She turned back towards them and Kavaa took a step back. Fer¡­ that was the Goddess of Beasthood indeed. Her iris¡¯ had grown large, teeth extended from her jaws, her nails had grown into claws and thick golden fur was bursting out of her skin. ¡°Been a while since I saw one of these.¡± Kavaa shrugged her shoulders. ¡°So what now?¡± She asked. ¡°So now we wait and see what comes out, this confirms that the first rune wasn¡¯t a fake.¡± Iliyal said as Kavaa looked to Olonia and her four friends. ¡°You¡¯re about to see a demon, whatever it is, we will kill it.¡± Olonia blinked as Saksma let out a mirthless, panicked laugh. Agrita took another step back, Kavaa noticed it immediately. ¡°If any of you run, you are putting yourselves in danger, you are safest around us.¡± ¡°Kavaa is correct.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Fer, it¡¯s your kill.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t in question.¡± Fer merely growled as she circled around the portal. Olonia took a step back to give her room. She was scared of whatever was about to come out of that portal, but that expression Fer was making, the impatient excitement, was just as terrifying. That was the difference between them. Olonia did not know if she could get into that mentality, even if she lived for a thousand years more.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Fer¡¯s tail dragged along the ground as she found a spot, opposite the wall. She gave a single glance up, at Iliyal and Kavaa, who were on the other side, and moved her hand to shoo them away. Neither made comment, they simply moved. That was something else, that level of teamwork¡­ Did they even like each other? Fer and Kavaa had been on opposite sides in the Great War, and now they moved as if they had ten thousand years¡¯ worth of experience together. ¡°Anything we should know?¡± Iliyal asked. Olonia blinked. Was that question for her? ¡°I am supposed to answer that?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°You are.¡± ¡°I assume you know everything.¡± ¡°You fought with them.¡± ¡°You fought against them.¡± Kavaa replied just as dryly. ¡°Let¡¯s not pretend that I¡¯ll be better at killing them than Fer.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not.¡± Fer agreed excitedly. She adjusted her posture, one leg behind her, the other bent forwards, arms hanging loose at her side. ¡°This wait always annoyed me.¡± ¡°I always liked it.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°You had to prepare for it.¡± And Olonia stared at them, barely able to move. She finally took a breath, and felt her hands start to shake. Whether Iliyal noticed or not, he had nothing to say. He was only looking at Kavaa. ¡°I thought you would have more¡­¡± He searched for a word. ¡°Unwillingness to fight them.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve told you about the Pantheon.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°You did.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Imagine the Pantheon, now imagine three of them. That sums the three world alliance up.¡± Kavaa said. She turned to the Goddesses and finally decided to explain. ¡°This is a portal rune.¡± She pointed to the red pentagram in a circle behind her. It set alight, the flames growing tall. ¡°It takes about a minute or two to move someone. It¡¯s not particularly dangerous.¡± Olonia blinked. Saksma let out her scared laughter again. Agrita grabbed onto Paida, the Goddess of Rancais changed her posture, one hand holding Agrita¡¯s, the other trying not to shake her as she hefted the sword to protect the two of them. Aliana reached for an arrow, her fingers missed it and she dragged an empty bow ready to shoot. ¡°You¡¯ll see now. This is good training.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°If it bleeds, it dies. Divines bleed, we die. Far easier than you would think. Demons.¡± She turned to the portal. ¡°There¡¯s flames and howls, but that¡¯s about it.¡± Iliyal said nothing, he merely crossed his arms across his chest as Fer remained still. Olonia did not know if the woman had frozen and her eyes had glazed over, or whether she really had just adapted into a silent snake ready to strike. The rune of fire in the middle started to glow brighter, the flames simmering on it spiralled upwards. Higher and higher, until they made a pillar as tall as Iliyal. Bright oranges and yellows and reds that silently danced in the cold darkness of the dwarven underground highway. They slowly became brighter and brighter, the fire growing so hot that Olonia felt the heat hit her like an avalanche. And they kept on growing, Iliyal took a few steps back, Kavaa only one, Fer remained fixed in place. The fires turned to blue, from the flame of a candle to that of a gas stove. And Olonia saw a woman of appear in the middle of them. She was in mid-air for only a moment, looking down at her shoes as she dropped from the centre of that flame and into the middle of the magical rune. Two horns, pure black, stuck out of her head like a flowing crown. She had a thick red tail that popped from just above her derriere. Eyes like magma, bright orange, perfect white teeth. Her hands burst with flames. She didn¡¯t notice anyone around her, simply looking down in a careful expression as the flames cooled and she fell the towards the stony ground. But she never touched the floor. Fer was faster. Olonia did not blink, but she missed it anyway. One moment, Fer was stood there, the next, she simply wasn¡¯t. Both her and the demoness had disappeared. Olonia heard the impact first, a thunderous sound of a cannonball as the stone to her left cracked. Dust fell from the ceiling as Olonia turned to Fer. She was holding the demoness to the wall, a crater around it as if one of the artillery pieces Kassandora used that Olonia saw on TV had just fired point-blank into it. The demoness squirmed for a moment, her arms flailing, her tail madly grabbing as Fer. The Goddess of Beasthood merely closed her grip on the woman¡¯s throat. Bones cracked, arms fell loose, legs stopped kicking, the tail followed the legs. And Fer let of the woman. She slid down the wall and collapsed into a heap of stone. And Olonia stared. That was it? Just like that? She had seen Iliyal shoot men dead in Drayim. That was slower than this attack. She remembered the training. Had Fer just let them win every time? How would it be even possible to go up strength and speed such as that? Iliyal clicked he tongue in annoyance. ¡°I would have preferred if you didn¡¯t kill her immediately.¡± Fer sniffed the ear, her ears bounced, she straightened her back, her tail waved from side to side. And that monster was gone, replaced with a smile and warm golden eyes again. ¡°Well you should have said so!¡± She said it so earnestly and heartily, she may as well have been commenting on the flavour of her favourite sweets. ¡°I suppose so.¡± Iliyal said with a sigh. ¡°I¡¯ll remember for next time.¡± Fer merely chuckled as Kavaa blinked and turned to look at the corpse, she took one step forwards, held out her hand, and pulled it back. ¡°That was fast.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I aim to please.¡± Fer said happily. Olonia stared at that corpse in disbelief. That was it? Fer had just¡­ Just like that? Iliyal seemed to notice her staring. ¡°That¡¯s how it¡¯s done in battle.¡± The elf spoke to the five National Goddesses. ¡°Take that as a first-hand demonstration. You aim to kill, children fight, adults kill. That¡¯s what separates the two. The only you can be sure of your own survival is to eliminate all threats immediately. Every second you give is an infinite amount of openings which the opponent may or may not see.¡± ¡°This is what fighting Leona does to a man.¡± Kavaa said dryly and the elf shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s merely Goddess Kassandora¡¯s philosophy. There is no such things as raising stakes in warfare, you go with everything you have at all times.¡± He said and took a breath. ¡°Are we going in?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Or should I carry the corpse back? It¡¯s proof of what we came to find.¡± ¡°Proof it may be.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°But it could just be a rogue succubus who was left behind a thousand years ago.¡± He smiled at Kavaa. ¡°That¡¯s what fighting Leona does to a man.¡± The Goddess shook her head in exasperation. Iliyal turned and shone his light deeper in. He turned around, towards the entrance, and he turned back, facing the depths once again. And for all the respect Olonia had for him, sometimes, she wished he just wouldn¡¯t say anything. ¡° Leave the body, we¡¯re going deeper.¡± Chapter 221 – Not So Bad Magic is the act of imprinting will onto reality. In the same way an artist draws a painting, a mage will draw the elements. The theory of elemental mages is fundamentally flawed, there is no innate imprint on a soul that will predict what, if any, element, a person will be capable of. The existence of the great aristocrat families does not counteract my thinking. If anything, it proves it. Does the children of musicians not become talented in music themselves? The descendants of blacksmiths become smiths themselves. To pretend that a learned art is in the blood is as farcical as saying that farmers are naturally attuned to ploughing the land. I have proved this theory in life. I already know how to work flame, water, winds and the earth. Supposedly, this is a feat. I do not think it. I am simply following the theories of magicians who have already written on this art. I am indistinguishable from an artist who can paint in a thousand styles, each one traced from a master. Fundamentally, the feat of mastering four elements is rare because the skills and thinking are not transferable. A magician will have to work from the ground up once again, train different methods of thinking, to learn new elements. Past a certain age, I am sure this is impossible, but I am still young, so I have done it. However, I am still not happy with it. We read stories of tyrant-magicians from eras prior, who could turn day into night, night into day, oceans into deserts and vice versa. No magician is capable of such an act, no one is able to paint the moon as they once did, no one can force the seasons to move either. Why? I have come to a conclusion, magical theory is flawed in itself. The repetition builds up patterns within our mind that we subconsciously rely on. But is not magic simple thoughts in the first place? Why must the thoughts make sense? If it is the strength of the thought, why does it need to be rational? All magical theory is ultimately a crutch, to convince ourselves of new realities which we then create. Thus, my proposition is simple: A mind utterly certain even in the face of reality will make reality crack first. If all it takes to achieve victory is confidence, then delusion is all it takes. I will embrace insanity. Written by Aggriyana. Work preserved by Goddess Elassa, of Magic. Kept within the Divine Library of Arcadia. Neneria watched Helenna go out to meet her at the airport. The Goddess of Love was coming in a black suit, although that was common at this point. The only markings she had of her own demesne in her clothes was the burning heart of passion on her belt, the same emblem on her high cap. Today, her hair was bright red, so she was feeling good and excited. Neneria sighed, she had nothing against Helenna. She supposed she liked the woman, but she would have preferred not to need a procession back to Arascus¡¯ new Imperial Governance Centre. It was simply the National Assembly, repaired from the damages of the fire of the coup, with flags replaced, but it would do. Helenna had come with a full platoon of Kassandora¡¯s soldiers, with a large bus that would transport them from the airport and to the IGC. Neneria thought little of it, frankly, she didn¡¯t care. It was basically a modern carriage. ¡°Hi!¡± Helenna shouted and waved as Neneria closed the distance. Olephia had gone to Nanbasa yesterday, with Iniri, but Neneria had waited until the day of the meeting. Frankly, she enjoyed going through Allasaria¡¯s various writings. Most of them weren¡¯t important information, largely it was just talk about various miscellaneous world events and Allasaria¡¯s various schemes to deal with the Epan economic crisis. But for every three pieces that were simply boring bureaucracy, there was a nugget of gold in there. Parts were Allasaria complained about Maisara and Fortia, where she talked about the distrust of Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri, were she wrote them off as mere followers and largely irrelevant. Kassandora¡¯s best-case scenario had not reared its head though, Allasaria did not write anything about the locations of potential allies to Arascus¡¯ cause. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have come if Arascus didn¡¯t ask.¡± Neneria said flatly as she looked at the huge bus. It was painted black, the windows as dark as the metal. ¡°Why did you pick me up?¡± ¡°He wanted me to fill you in on what¡¯s happening.¡± Helenna said, her hair changing to pink. Neneria had no clue what that emotion could be. ¡°So?¡± Neneria said as she stood. Raptor Two turned its jets off and started to drive off towards one of the hangers in the distance. KAF planes were taking off from here, heading west and south. Helenna raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± She asked. Neneria sighed and rolled her eyes. She wanted to return to her job. It wasn¡¯t even that enjoyable, but it was better than this. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Neneria replied as they started walking towards the huge bus. ¡°No hello? No I missed you Helenna?¡± Neneria rolled her eyes as she looked at the door. Did this require a button or what? ¡°Hello, I missed you Helenna.¡± Neneria said dryly. ¡°Can you fill me in now?¡± She didn¡¯t even bother pulling a tone to hide the sarcasm. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind if you even got mad.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°Why would I get angry?¡± Neneria asked. This was merely annoying, but it wasn¡¯t Helenna¡¯s fault, so there was no reason to take it out on her. Frankly, Arascus wouldn¡¯t have called her if this wasn¡¯t important. ¡°I meant if you had more¡­¡± Helenna said and stopped. ¡°You press the button underneath the handle.¡± She said. Neneria looked over the black door. There was supposed to be handle somewhere here? ¡°It¡¯s here.¡± Helenna reached past Neneria¡¯s waist, her fingers pressed a panel, it flipped, she pressed a button with her thumb. The door started to move. Neneria merely sighed. Whatever. ¡°Well, for one, we¡¯re moving south.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°It¡¯s definite?¡± ¡°It¡¯s definite now. Kass made the plans.¡± Helenna said. Well, at least they would work then. ¡°Am I needed?¡± Neneria asked as she stepped into the bus. It was tall on the inside, Fer and Arascus both could fit comfortably in here. There were couches on either side, a table. Neneria looked around to find a cabinet. Work-bus then, there was no alcohol in easy reach. She sighed again. ¡°Not for the southern expedition. ¡°So I am needed somewhere then.¡± Neneria said dryly as she sat down. Helenna sat on the other side. ¡°Kass wants you to stay on the ready. In CR, but you¡¯ll have Raptor Two assigned permanently to you in case you¡¯re needed.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Neneria said. ¡°So no drinking.¡± Helenna smiled. ¡°Well you can¡¯t hold it, can you?¡± Neneria let the comment slide, she merely turned and looked out the window as they left the airport through a back road. It was a quick trip to Nanbasa¡¯s northern section from here. The Goddess of Love sighed from the other side of the bus. ¡°You can comment on me you know.¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing to comment on.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°I know you¡¯re simply trying to annoy me.¡± ¡°Did it work?¡± ¡°No.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°I¡¯m sisters with Fer and Anassa and Baalka, trust me, you don¡¯t know what annoying is.¡± Neneria replied, her dark eyes caught a glance of Helenna¡¯s dismal expression and Neneria allowed herself a smile. Here Helenna thought she could be annoying? She didn¡¯t know a single thing about pushing buttons. Neneria was the worst of them all when it came to being annoying. ¡°You can continue. What is Elassa and Anassa doing?¡± ¡°Arascus wants to start an Imperial School of Magic in Kirinyaa but Elassa doesn¡¯t know about that yet.¡± ¡°Will Elassa be at the meeting?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Anassa won¡¯t be there either then.¡± ¡°She won¡¯t.¡± Helenna replied, again annoyed that Neneria had worked it out. There we go Helenna, watch and learn what a Goddess older than the calendar could do. The tips of her hair started to a dark red. Neneria didn¡¯t bother to hide the smile. Frankly, with that hair, Helenna made an easy target. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°Iliyal¡¯s reports on the five Goddesses will be covered. He sent a letter that Fer found an open hold. They should be in there today.¡± ¡°Will we do anything about it?¡± ¡°Apparently he¡¯s taking the five in.¡± Helenna said, some curious emotion in that as if Neneria was supposed to have any knowledge, or any statement about what Iliyal was doing. Neneria let the silence hang and Helenna changed her posture. ¡°Are you not going to say anything?¡± ¡°Should I?¡± ¡°Well, do you think they¡¯ll find anything?¡± ¡°They have Fer with them. I assume they¡¯re in no danger. Kavaa is there too, Iliyal himself is intelligent. Unless they come up against a threat akin to the Jungle, nothing will happen. If there was a threat akin to the Jungle there, then it would be public knowledge already. I assume there¡¯ll be some enemy, or maybe the dwarves have simply turned.¡± Neneria finished her explanation in one breath and took a sigh. She purposefully made it as dry and unimpressive as possible. Slowly, the red tips of Helenna¡¯s hair coloured her locks to the roots. ¡°Are you ever not this?¡± She said dryly. ¡°Not what?¡± Neneria asked innocently. ¡°Not annoying.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I have no clue what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Neneria replied. There it was. The game was won, now that someone¡¯s day had been made worse, hers had gotten immediately better. But Helenna did not stop. ¡°You know exactly what I mean.¡± ¡°I have no clue.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too old to not know.¡± Helenna said and Neneria raised an eyebrow. Well, that was one way of speaking to the Goddess of Death. ¡°I think you¡¯ll have to enlighten me.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re truly this stupid, I¡¯m not going to humiliate myself by explaining it.¡± Helenna said. Her hair had changed to black now. It fit the suit. And it annoyed Neneria that she was getting more confident. The words weren¡¯t even hurtful or annoying, it was the fact that Helenna had managed to put Neneria on the back foot in this game of words. ¡°I thought you were the Goddess of Love, I assume you would be good at working me out.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re not as cold as you say you are Nene.¡± Helenna said and Neneria felt her eyebrow jump. It was one thing to call her stupid, it was another entirely to use Fer¡¯s horrendous nickname. ¡°Helenna.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Don¡¯t use that name.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Helenna said. And Neneria blinked. This woman¡­ She¡­ Neneria stood there. She had never considered herself weak in word games. She lost to Fer all the time true, and to Kassandora, but those were the exceptions. Frankly, outwitting Fer and Kassandora in a debate was an achievement worthy of praise. But Helenna? Puny little worm Goddess of something as tiny as Love? What did she even do? Read emotions? Just be naturally alluring? That wasn¡¯t even a power, that was called being beautiful, Neneria could do that if she wanted to. ¡°Why not?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°Why should I even explain that to you?¡± ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t you? I¡¯m too young to know better.¡± Helenna said slyly. And Neneria felt a wall crash behind her. ¡°Well I¡¯m to old to care teaching this lesson.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°Ah.¡± Helenna said. ¡°So we have a conundrum then.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we do.¡± ¡°I think we do.¡± Helenna continued. ¡°One is too old to care, and one is so young she cares so much.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not that young.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°And you¡¯re not that old.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°I¡¯m quite possibly one of the oldest living beings on this world.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°Older than the trees? The Titans too?¡± ¡°Things with cognition.¡± ¡°The titans have them.¡± ¡°You know it¡¯s different.¡± Neneria felt another wall close around her as Helenna smiled. ¡°You can just not be annoying.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be.¡± Neneria lied through her teeth. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Helenna replied so smoothly Neneria was at a loss for words. ¡°But you¡¯re not so bad Nene.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°You can think up of a stupid nickname for me too.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that creative.¡± Neneria replied quietly. ¡°Then ask Fer.¡± Helenna said. And she switched topics. Just as smoothly as Kassandora would order an assault from the rear, or as Fer would go for the throat, Helenna simply went and just changed the topic. ¡°How¡¯s your day been?¡± ¡°I was just reading.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well did you read anything interesting?¡± Helenna asked and Neneria thought of something. ¡°Allasaria just wrote about how much Fortia annoys her. This was before the preparation.¡± Helenna rolled her eyes. ¡°Boring!¡± She said. ¡°Did she write anything about me?¡± ¡°She wrote that you think you¡¯re smarter than you actually are.¡± Neneria replied dryly. That was true, Allasaria really did write that. Helenna burst out in laughter. ¡°Well what does that make Alla then?¡± Neneria didn¡¯t know why, but she found it funny. She recalled another meaningless bit from Allasaria¡¯s diaries. Just a comment on how healing wasn¡¯t as impressive, and how Kavaa was annoying. Kassandora would try to read into it no doubt, but to Neneria¡­ well, she just took it at face value. The complaints of the Goddess of Light and the childish remarks she made. And Helenna laughed this time. And so Neneria recalled another sliver of gold she had found in the diaries. Utterly nothing important, just a comment on how Allasaria would complain about Invention Divines. And the both of them laughed. Neneria did know how Helenna did, but she didn¡¯t look out the window at Nanbasa once throughout that entire drive. She simply decided to sit and talk with the Goddess of Love. Frankly, Helenna wasn¡¯t so bad after all. Chapter 222 – The Crusade Under Your Feet King Wissel Ellenheim looked over the draft with his ministers. The new Doschian Military would be based off the Kirinyaan Model. Kassandora did not publicize how her army was structured, but it wasn¡¯t too hard to copy frankly. He signed off on another bill. One for the nationalization of bankrupting factories and the retooling of them to create an arms industry. Lubska would handle the small arms. Rancais already had a sizable air-industry, they would be responsible for an Epan Airforce. Rilia would assist where needed. The Allians would handle light vehicles, trucks and logistics, their industry was already suited for it. They¡¯d also be responsible for the development of new engine. And Doschia? Doschia would do the heavy armour. Fer took the lead as the party headed deeper through the tunnels. It was confirmed now that there were demons here, and she didn¡¯t believe Iliyal¡¯s proposition that what they just saw was a rogue succubus. Frankly, she doubted the elf believe it himself, but it was a possibility, however slim, so he simply had to voice the possibility of that scenario happening. She pointed an arm forwards and scanned the dark walls. Just as she remembered from the past. Smooth stone, the geometric diagrams were beginning now. Looping squares and rectangles that carefully maintained even distance from each other, they flowed along the walls. Every so often, there was a small ridge where lamps were mounted in the past. Although not anymore, now it was darkness, the only sounds where the shuffling feet behind her. Iliyal was quiet, Kavaa was almost as stealthy as him. Fer could hear both of them, although in this silence, she could make out their heartbeats, a normal man would not be able to catch their steps. And then the five Nationals behind Kavaa and Iliyal. They took heavy breathes and heavier steps. Iliyal had dressed them up in armour to train endurance marching, but now the plates of that armour were drumming against so loud that Olonia and her friends may as well have just been a marching band. Fer took a step, leaned her head back and took a sniff of the air again. Blood, although it was the succubi blood on her hand. Stone, that was just a dusty smell of rock. Copper and iron in the walls too. Well, they were in mountains, there was nothing out of the ordinary. So they she kept on walking. She followed her instincts, there was nothing in her gut that told her she was being watched, nothing that said of imminent danger, the sounds were stable. All she heard were the footsteps and heartbeats from behind. Nothing to worry about then. King Richard VI of Allia visited a factory belonging to Thomas & Son¡¯s. One for truck parts, although he knew the owner of this company. The man didn¡¯t know he engineers were designing engines for Doschia¡¯s new tanks, but he had heartily accepted the project. Who wouldn¡¯t after all? He had given no restrictions on fuel efficiency. No care for range. No stipulations on cost. All that the new engines had to do was not break down and push sixty tons of weight forwards. Honestly, a project like this was every designer¡¯s dream. Fer took another step and looked at the walls. How long had they been marching for now? Iliyal would probably know, but she had grown bored at this point, it felt like days, like weeks. It felt as if they had spent a year down here. It had to be at least one day though, Iliyal had taken a nap in one of the resting rooms that was carved into the centre. That was another case were Fer didn¡¯t know how long, she was sure these tunnels had grown long with her time away. She took a breath though, and watched the square patterns take a harsh turn, then continue straight. So they had gotten to the bottom of the entranceway. This would be one of the feeder roads into a highway later on. She turned her light off, and was engulfed in darkness. The rest of the team were a half-mile stretch behind, she had just gone ahead in case there was anything here. It was a thick, impenetrable darkness. Maybe some would call it overpowering, but Fer had felt her sister¡¯s darkness. That was overpowering. This was not, it was simply as if she closed her eyes. There were still sounds, although all of them were from behind. Footsteps and metal armour and whispered words being hushed between Olonia and Saksma and Agrita. There were smells too, far more metal down here, although the grand tunnels would be reinforced by beams, so it made sense. There was sulphur too. Not fresh though, but aged. As if someone had contaminated this area with rotten eggs, left them to seep into the walls, then cleared them away. Not a pleasant smell, but and weak. Maybe Kavaa would miss it, Iliyal had a chance too. Olonia probably wouldn¡¯t smell it in the first place. Fer squinted as she looked down the long straight road. There was no light, nothing. It was simply pitch black. She took a sigh, sat down, and waited for Iliyal to catch up. President Artois of Rancais sat in a meeting with the men who led the Groupe AR: Groupe Aerospace Rancais. They were all looking at the contract with shocked eyes. He had just given them the chance to go from being in the red for the past two years to fully making up all the profits. It¡¯d be a tight schedule, it wouldn¡¯t be easy for them of course, but Artois knew they wouldn¡¯t deny him this project:This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The Rancais Fighter Aircraft-1. Fer narrowed her eyes as Iliyal and Kavaa caught up. They were walking through one of the feeder tunnels towards the Epan East-West highway. The walls were now decorated, with pieces of dwarf-bronze making geometrical patterns: all straight lines and right angles. There were pillars too, some still standing, most long toppled. Fer¡¯s eyes inspected the walls as they marched, there were signs of battle. Cannonballs had been launched into the stone, there were piles of rubble here and there. Small stones that looked ammunition for catapults too. Scratch marks littered the walls, scratches of claw and scratches of blade. And almost everywhere, they were scorched. The smell had long passed though, these markings had probably been here a decade or two then. Not too long though, else they would have started to fade. Fer turned to look back at the five girls. The five behind them weren¡¯t important frankly. They were only here to see what real combat was like, to absorb the lessons of what warfare was like from a distances. Fer didn¡¯t bother looking back, Iliyal and Kavaa didn¡¯t need checking up on, and the five National Goddesses weren¡¯t worth paying attention to at the moment. Training time was over. So they kept marching, as the tunnel started opening up. This wasn¡¯t a highway yet, a highway would be large enough to march a thousand men side to side, entire legions would be only a drop in the ocean in the terrible depths of a highway. The depths yawned around her, its edges devoured by the shadows so deep Fer could almost fall into them. The torch was powerful, but Fer had to swing her arms for the light to reach the walls. Even then, it revealed little, only fleeting glimpses of jagged stone and faint markings that could have been carvings or cracks. The light transformed them into shifting shapes and whispers of forms. No doubt scary for the Five Nationals, but there was no smell here. Only stone, various metals, coals, and the sulphur. That was becoming stronger with every step. Kavaa should be able to start smelling it now, if not now, then soon at least. Fer blinked her thoughts away. They weren¡¯t real, so they weren¡¯t anything to worry about. It was mere irrational fear, but what could irrationality do? What was it even, the moment she gave it more than a thought, it ran away from her like a tiny little rabbit running away from a fox. Fer sniffed the air again, she had assumed they¡¯d be in here for a week at least, but with how strong the smell was getting, then they¡¯d reach the target in an hour or two. Aimone walked through an outdoors club in southern Rilia. This had been Wissel¡¯s idea, to raise support for them, but as he walked, he really did feel the energy of it. Men setting off, going on competing hikes, each one trying to reach their destination first. These would make fine troops for an army, that¡¯s all Aimone had to know. There was a meeting to do, the first batch of guns from Lubska would arrive to Rilia first, and he wanted to tell these men to start practicing shooting. It would be nothing too dire, no talk of war or anything, but just as boys loved playing with swords, wouldn¡¯t men love playing with guns? Fer turned off her light. Iliyal snapped his fingers, the rest of the torches were turned off too. At the end of the tunnel, there was a light. A warm glow, not that white light of electrical torches, but rather the cosy crackle of fire. It bounced and dances in that darkness, growing brighter and dimmer as if it was pulsing to the beating of a heart. Fer took a deep breath and closed the distance. Towards another harsh bend. She felt heard Iliyal shuffle close as her fingers touched the carved stone wall. Kavaa came in close behind them. Olonia, Agrita, the rest of them, all stayed far behind. Fer leaned over as Iliyal came close. They both looked past the wall. Kavaa scooted past them, and her head above the elf¡¯s but below of Beasthood¡¯s. And they looked at those warm lights. Fer narrowed her eyes. She heard Kavaa¡¯s breath catch. She heard Iliyal whisper a curse to himself. And she felt her heart beat faster, her nails wanted to extend into claws. Further on, beyond those flames they saw the encampment. Tall pillars of flame, all reaching from the paved stone ground to the high ceiling. At least a dozen of them, all great wide enough to fit an entire train carriage in within them. Several were open portals, the flames turned violet, then blue, until they burned with the heat and angry hiss of a gas stove. Through those, Fer could see the insides of deep, almost black-red buildings. Barracks then, as had been seen in the past, although she had never stepped through one of portals before. But whereas the open gateways to the other world were disconcerting, it was the army around them that was the true sight to gawk at. Tens of thousands of troops, all in Tartarian blacksteel. Armed with heavy cleavers and halberds were assembled. Some sat in hastily constructed tents and buildings, others were performing basic training. Nothing like what Kassie had ever done, instead it was all competition games. Wrestling and duelling with those heavy blades that demons loved to use. But it was the vehicles that Fer saw that made her jaw drop. Great beasts of dark steel, all moving, with turning gears and with great batteries of what looked to be magma on their backs. On both sides, they had a cannon fixed to the body, and great spotlights in the middle. Those definitely did not exist a thousand years ago. Around them flew winged demons, both small imps in their nakedness, armed with spears, and greater demons, twice to thrice the height of Fer herself, as thick as a car was long. Their muscles rippling as they turned and twisted in the air. At the very least, they didn¡¯t see any archdemons, but they had found what they needed to find. It was time to report back to Kassandora. Tartarus was on Arda. Chapter 223 – Fruits of Labour Wissel looked at the various diagrams that had just arrived at his desk. Maybe an Allian or a Rancais man would think up of a name for them, but not here. Frankly, he did not mind, it was satisfying to know all Epa would be using Doschian armoured combat vehicles, or as the name went: Panzerkampfwagen I Iliyal turned around and left immediately. It was hard to be noticed in these tunnels, the ocean of darkness was good cover, better yet was the fact all the demons stood about in the warm glows of the fires. They preferred the heat, but the lights would blind them against the darkness. Still though, Fer¡¯s hair was bright gold and Kavaa wore her steel armour. It was hard to be noticed, but he would wait around for one of them to catch a glint against the light. He took a breath and looked at the five Goddesses some thirty steps behind them. They were utterly terrified. Legs were shaking, hands clutched onto weaponry so hard they may as well have been clinging onto their final lifeline off a cliff. Eyes jumped about, maybe they¡¯d want a reason, but he wasn¡¯t to inform here. The worst case was one of them would scream. Even with Fer, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape against an entire army. He put his finger to his lips, saw Olonia and Paida nod as they understood. Then he flicked his hand forwards to indicate they were returning. So the long march back began. The first hour was spent with barely any light, the torches set on their lowest setting. If they had any luck, then the demons would not venture into the almost freezing temperatures of these tunnels. They were more pleasant in the past, the World Core actually warmed these up. Two hours later, they saw flames ahead of them. Jozef took a rifle and hefted it. He held it as he as assumed it should be held. Butt pressed just before the arm, and he looked down the sights. Two simple iron railings, the one closer to him adjustable. ¡°Is this good or not?¡± He asked, he was a politician, not an engineer. The men designing them did not too happy. ¡°We¡¯ve not managed to design Kassandora¡¯s rapid fire guns, however she makes them, but these are close.¡± He showed off the bolt on the side. ¡°It shoots quickly. Depends how trained the men will be, but we¡¯re easily looking at ten, maybe twenty shots a minute. The magazines are thirty bullets, like Kassandora¡¯s.¡± He took a sigh. ¡°Apart from the rapid-fire, it matches Kassandora¡¯s specifications exactly. We¡¯re even better on range in fact.¡± Jozef put the gun back down. This was Epa¡¯s key to freedom from Divinity. ¡°How we got a name for it?¡± ¡°Karabin Wersja Jeden, just K1 for short.¡± Iliyal drew his sword and swung it to stop Fer from advancing. It was a small expeditionary party from the looks of it, with fifty or so soldiers. Those would make for good training, the biggest issue the five Nationals had was in their mentality. They had never killed before, so they didn¡¯t how it was easy it actually was to go into a fight. He would have already told them to charge frankly, if not for whatever that massive thing behind the demons was. Huge and made of steel. Not blacksteel, it looked to be some common alloy. With legs and an array of spotlights facing in all direction and illuminating the tunnels. It had two arms, each arm ending off in a cannon same fashion that Fer had stupidly strapped flashlights to her hands. That would have to be inspected, it¡¯s a good thing he had brought Fer. ¡°Olonia, Saksma, Agrita, Aliana. Paida. These are your kills. Fer, you take that big thing in the back. Kavaa and I will stay in the back.¡± Olonia jaw dropped, but she maintained her posture. Paida though did not have that sort of eagerness to prove her own worth. ¡°You¡¯re sending us in?¡± She asked. ¡°If it¡¯s not now, it¡¯s never.¡± Iliyal said. He supposed they would need some pragmatic reasoning to get them moving, people usually did. ¡°I¡¯m just a mortal, Kavaa needs to defend me. Only Fer can get around them. If you five don¡¯t do it, then we¡¯re either dealing with this group, or we¡¯re marching back to that army back there.¡± No counterargument came. Artois looked at the plane take off. It twisted in a sharp angle. The jet engines blasted, it boomed, the grass and trees around the airfield shook as it broke the sound barrier and the jet fighter disappeared into the clouds. It lived up to its name: The Mirage. Kassandora thought she could enter Epa just like that? Maybe in a hundred years, after Kirinyaa had built up expertise and if she ended up conquering all of Arika. Maybe then. But now? What was she even plotting? This was the continent were the Great War had been set on. And the White Pantheon? An entire collection of Gods defeated by a single nation? Did they really think they could go up against an entire continent? Olonia was suddenly glad that Iliyal had dressed them all up armour. He had said it was merely endurance training, but she would do it a thousand times again to keep this suit of steel around her. Iliyal had given them no choice on it, although he did explain himself well. If there was an army there, and these tunnels did not have the resting rooms, then there was no way to avoid the horde ahead of them. She ran into the spotlights without a word. It would be just like fighting Fer and Kavaa. Just another practice session against them. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. She held her breath, kept her eyes open. Saw the demons in their blacksteel. Each one taller than a man, only slightly shorter than Iliyal. In their heavy plates. They moved immediately. There was no screams, no roars, no orders given. Black pikes started to drop. Some of the demons spread out to the side. Olonia felt the wind shoot past her as Fer launched from behind and onto that massive thing. Iliyal had said not to even worry about it, so she would not. She pushed that steel machination out of her mind and found the first target. A demon, just a demon with a heavy cleaver. Nothing her longsword, but rather a thick piece of steel, sharpened on one side. She closed the gap as she would close the gap on Kavaa, she made sure to focus on the armour, the creature as a whole, rather than just the weapon. It had spikes on its gauntlets and two red eyes angrily looking at her through the visor. Maybe three months ago, she would have said there was no weaknesses in that heavy blacksteel. But she had listened when Iliyal explained, she had watched when Kavaa demonstrated. And now she saw them herself. At the wrists, the cuffs had a piece of skin showing, the helmet didn¡¯t sit perfectly on the shoulders, the inside of the elbows, the gap by the shoulders, the back of the knees, inside the thighs too. She saw them all. The demon closed the gap, his cleaver coming down in an overhead blow. Just as Iliyal had explained, if you can dodge, then dodge. The parry was the second line of defence, a dodge was much easier. Olonia twisted her foot, let the blade build up speed, her legs ached as they begged to jump, then she stepped to the side at the last moment. That¡­ That was much slower than Kavaa. That wasn¡¯t even in the same realm as Fer. That¡­ She blinked as the demon¡¯s cleaver made a crack in the stone floor. Why would he do that? Her arm responded before her mind did, it had learned that with the battles with Fer. A moment to think was a moment too long, she needed to work like the Goddess of Beasthood. On pure instinct and nothing else. Olonia¡¯s sword swept through the demon¡¯s arm. It found that weak, it was easy. It did not even compare to that stupid log exercise. And the demon¡¯s arm was separated from the body at the elbow. Olonia gave no spin, no twirl, nothing flashy. She merely carried the blow, twisted the momentum back up, and then to the side. And once again, the slight opening between the chest-piece and the helmet was easy to find. There was no crash of metal, no angry sparks brought on by steel arguing against steel, no feedback as when Fer would catch her blade with a blade, or when Kavaa would angle a piece of armour to catch it at the moment. The blade went through the demon¡¯s skin, muscle, veins and bones like a hot knife cutting through butter. It rolled off after a second.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Olonia blinked. That was it. She had just killed. Poof. And something was gone. Richard VI looked through the ships that were docked. Hulls which had been taken over at his government¡¯s behest. Cargo ships that operated mainly to Arika and back. The various embargos on those nations had destroyed their routes, and now SeaTrekker, one of Allia¡¯s great trading companies, wanted to be rid of them. There was no reason to pay leasing costs on docking rights for what looked to be permanently, especially now that Arascus had formally taken over Kirinyaa and the embargos were spreading to other Arikan nations too. Those too friendly with Kirinyaa. They had practically given them away too, just ecstatic that finally someone would take them off their hands. So SeaTrekker would be made happy, and Richard would have the ships that would serve as the backbone of transporting from Allia onto the continent and back. He loved win-win scenarios. Saksma looked at the line of pikes before her as her eyes jumped to Fer crashing into that massive behind her. That Goddess wasn¡¯t a woman, it was a monster. It slammed into the steel like a cannonball and knocked the entire construct back. It had to quickly move one leg to catch itself, gears grinded and pistons hissed as it did. Fer kicked off and disappeared into the darkness around them as the machine tried to with its cannons at her. Saksma took her eyes off the show above her and instead concentrated on the line of pikes before her. Iliyal had told her a greatsword excelled in these situation, that pike formations were not dangerous whatsoever and how to fight them. So she did. She took a step forwards, just out of reach of the tips and swung her blade low. She put as much strength and speed into it as the training with Fer demanded. A second would be too long for that Goddess, half a second would only make Fer do a theatrical stretch and a yawn. A whistle if she was lucky. But she had just spent months fighting like that, so what else was she supposed to do? Her sword went through those pikes with the speed she would to hit Fer. Those pikes did not dodge, did not move, did not even react. They were there one moment, the next, all of them were simply sticks in the hands of demons. Maybe a Saksma of a few months back would have taken a step away to inspect the damage, but the Saksma of today did not. The Saksma of today saw the open, she came in with a spin, drawing the greatsword around herself to build up momentum and sending it crashing into the demons. Kavaa would have blocked it. Fer would have caught it. The demons did not. The demons were split in half at the waist, four of them in one clean blow. Saksma blinked as she looked up at Fer again. The Goddess of Beasthood shot down from the ceiling, she appeared from the darkness like a meteor bursting out of clouds. And that meteor penetrated through the steel cockpit, glass shattered, and she roared from inside. That was an opponent she could look up. Not¡­ She looked at the next set of demon pikemen. These weren¡¯t looking so confident now. Aimone looked up at the mountaineers. They would hold the mountains south of Erdely first, so mountaineers would be good. It was hikers and rock climbers here, one of Iliyal¡¯s letters had said that men would need to be trained for endurance, rather than for skill. Whether the elf could be trusted in politics was one thing, but the man had lived through the Great War. He was one of Kassandora¡¯s generals for Divines¡¯ sake. If he said that men needed endurance, then Aimone would make sure that these mountaineers would be able to march in full kit for twenty miles. Agrita watched that massive machine tumble as Fer shot out of it again. This time, there was an arm stuck in her teeth. She disappeared into the darkness again as Agrita dodged another blow. She had been scared before, but she had been scared because she assumed she would be going up against someone like Fer or Kavaa. They still did not match the Goddess of Health in a duel, and trying to do more than get a hit on Fer was completely out of the question. But even then¡­ This was almost¡­ Agrita didn¡¯t know what to say about it. She danced her feet, a feint here, a sidestep there. A step forwards to close the gap. The blows of cleavers and pikes fell lethargically around her. It was as if she fighting children. But then she was a Divine, maybe all mortals were simply this slow. Now that she thought about it, Iliyal had never sparred with them. But Fer did. Fer had ground them into the dirt. And from the dirt Agrita rose, dancing and prancing, swiftly ducking and turning around blows that she knew she would have never even dreamed of dodging in the past. There were too many, they were too violent, too brutal. Yet she did not need to dream, because she did it anyway. And as Agrita danced, so did her spear. A poke there. Light, only enough to cut one of the major arteries in the thigh. A poke there, to catch the eyes. A poke there, underneath the arm and into the chest. She poked and pranced, she poked and twirled. And everyone around her started to drop. ¡°This is the main gun. It¡¯s not artillery, it¡¯s for the PKF1. The gun won¡¯t shoot upwards, it¡¯s direct fire.¡± One of the engineers said to Wissel of Doschia as he inspected a manufacturing. The system had been set up sneakily. One factory was creating pipes for industrial power plants. Another factory was making sheet metal to be exported. Another was making caterpillar tracks for construction vehicles. Yet another was simply assembling radios. Large engines were being shipped in from Allia. And they would all come here, to Stukk Manufacturing. The pipes would be barrels, the sheet metal would be armour, the tracks would not go into construction vehicles, the radios would be mounted. He stared at the factory, and he felt his heart beat to tune of the Doschian anthem. If he ever needed a reason for why this country was the industrial powerhouse of the continent, this was it. Aliana stayed back, in the darkness as she stalked. She watched that massive steel abomination fall backwards as Fer escaped back to where Iliyal and Kavaa were stood and watching. This was their grand examination, Aliana would not disappoint. She ran, she saw a demon come at Saksma from behind. An arrow left her quiver, it left her bow, it flew through the air, and the demon fell to the side as it penetrated his helmet. She saw another one, a team of pikemen trying to encircle Olonia and Paida, they had partnered up and were fighting side-by-side. Just like they had trained against Fer. And Aliana ran as she shot, these were easy targets. True, they did move, but it was nothing like that exercise Iliyal had put her through with the logs on strings. There, she had to be sprinting, and the logs would make erratic jumps with every bump in the ground. Here, the demons merely walked, maybe they swayed. Their heads and chests made for easy targets. Two arrows left her bow as she stayed within the darkness. Demons were starting to realise an archer was about. What could they do? Would they rush into this flood that blinded? No. They weren¡¯t rushing anywhere anyway, already two of them had fallen, an arrow sticking out from their helmets. Aliana¡¯s fingers left her bowstring, the third one dropped. She saw Agrita keeping demons at bay with her spear. The poor Goddess of Rilia had gotten separated. Two arrows. Two dropped dead. Two more arrows, and another pair fell. And Agrita closed the distance and finished off the final three. Aliana stopped and aimed her bow. A thought crossed her mind. One she smiled at herself to. Was it bad that she was enjoying this? Jozef looked at the dozen men all armed with rifles. Scopes had been secured by Artois, Rancais always had a good film industry, and it wasn¡¯t hard to turn the lenses that went into cameras into the lenses that would be mounted on rifles. Jozef looked past them at the woods. Eastern Lubska this was, the closest village was miles away. ¡°FIRE!¡± The sergeant shouted. The men fired, the guns drumming into the windless night. And the twelve targets on the other side of the range fell over. The engineers had been correct. These guns may not shoot as fast as Kassandora¡¯s, but they were more accurate and they had a better range. And besides, Kassandora would come later. First was the White Pantheon. Paida blocked a blow with her shield. Not like in the past, where she would try to knock it away or absorb it with her strength. Iliyal and Kavaa both had shown her how to use it, the trick was to angle it, let the blade slide along, the push back at the last moment to throw the blade away. And so she did. The opening was created, her sword jumped on it, it bit through the demon¡¯s blacksteel. Sparks exploded from where metal tore on metal. But the endurance of a demon would simply not stand up against the strength of a Divine. The blade penetrated, it sliced half way through the demon¡¯s chest. She drew the sword out. She saw the demon next to the one she just killed freeze up in fear. That was almost nostalgic, nostalgic because Paida knew she had done that the first few times when sparring with Kavaa, and then again when brawling with Fer. And the demon¡¯s head came off, through that gap where the helmet didn¡¯t just quite meet the armour. And Paida stopped as she listened. No more footsteps around them. She straightened, her eyes readjusted and she gasped. Paida stopped as she looked around the scene. Dead bodies lay everywhere, some beheaded, some with arrows stick out of armour¡¯s weak points. Others simply had been poked and now leaked blood. She saw Olonia, her blade wet. Saksma was breathing steadily, taking deep breathes through her nose as stabbed the tip of her greatsword onto the ground. Aliana walked out from the darkness, her quiver still half full, she held onto her bow, an arrow hooked around the string. Agrita stood there, in disbelief, as scanned her armour. That reminded Paida to do the same. The Goddess of Rancais looked down at herself. Gleaming steel, somewhat dirtied by blood, but she knew it wasn¡¯t her own. The steel itself¡­ Not a scratch. Had they just done that? And she heard Iliyal¡¯s slow clap. Still though, I have my reservations. As has been proven through the trials of history: Epans make very good subjects. Until they don¡¯t. - Excerpts from ¡®Thoughts on the Post-War World¡¯ in the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library, written by Goddess Maisara. Chapter 224 – Epan Separation Lubska has already amassed twenty-two thousand rifles. Aimone has procured some two million rounds of ammunition. Rancais has started work on the Liovilier bombing craft, Mirage numbers they now count at seventy. Panzer production has reached seven models a week from the Stukk Plant, we¡¯re having one roll off the lines everyday now. We expect to double those numbers by the end of the week. And double it again by the end of the month. - Konigsministerium der Verteidigung internal memo. Aimone took a deep breath as he looked down at the piece of paper before him. It was a speech. It had been looked over by his own writers, then by members of his government. By Wissel and Richard both. Finally his wife had cast a glance on it. She said that she would stand by Aimone in whatever path he chose, that was not the advice he had wanted. He wanted to be angrily scolded, he wanted pretentious mockery, he wanted loving support, he wanted¡­ he wanted anything but this. Aimone took a deep breath. He looked up at the ocean of people filling the streets. They stood on cars, they looked out of windows from tall sandstone buildings. They flowed in like an ever growing flood. People chatted incessantly, some drank wine, others sold their wares out of small carts. Some people were handing out Rilian flags, others were starting to chant the national hymn. There was nothing Rilians liked quite so much as a break. A new national holiday was practically revolutionary. Unfortunately, all the rumours had been wrong. He was not stepping down, he was not announcing a marriage, there was no new family member cooking in his wife¡¯s oven either. Frankly, they should have guessed it already. Today was the Day of Epan Freedom. Aimone looked back down. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen of Rilia. My brethren.¡± He cast his arms into the air as the words started to flow. It was always like this, once the dam cracked with the first word, the verbiage would come in a torrent. ¡°My brothers and sisters! My great extended family! I come to you today not as your king, not as your lord, nor as your superior. Today, I come to stand face to face with family. I will not keep you in the dark on what is happening to us. I will not lie, I will not make empty promises and I will not pretend the situation is anything that it is not.¡± ¡°Today, we will speak of grandiosities. Today, we will speak of taking a step into the unknown. Today, we will write ourselves into the history books. Because today, my brothers and sisters, my fathers and mothers, my children, today, we wholly separate our magnificent Rilia and our brothers and sisters of Epa from the White Pantheon!¡± To use the term ¡®economic-miracle¡¯ would be wrong. For one, it is an understatement. Wissel did not perform any miracle for Doschia, he took the reins of a dead horse and with a single whip brought it back to life. In a mere three months, the effects of his reforms were already being felt. Companies that were closing factories, downsizing their workforces, hastily seeking contracts that would not even earn profit, but rather simply keep afloat. Companies that, by all definitions, were on the verge of collapse and bankruptcy, had found a new client: The newly formed Konigsministerium der Verteidigung, the Doschian Ministry of Defence. Essay by modern UNN economist Aylene Alang: ¡®How to pull a continent out of the fire¡¯ Richard VI stood in his throne-room as the various peons of EIE swarmed before him. Aimone would be giving his speech now, as would the others orchestrated in the plot of Epan separation. He just had to do his job here, Allia would be least hit from a war, and it was the most ambivalent country in the Epan Community about the Community itself. Wissel, Artois and Jozef would have an easy job with it. Their nations already had daily protests against the White Pantheon. Aimone¡¯s Rilians did not care for such grandiosities and would follow along as long as they had a full stomach of food. But Allians? How many of Richard¡¯s descendants had been forced to step down? Allians were a cold and empirical people, ones who needed to see numbers and rationality. Well, if they wanted numbers and rationality, then he would give them that. His wife, Eleanor, Queen of Allia, Flower of his Heart, stood besides him in a magnificent black dress and handed him yet another piece of paper: ¡°The Chimry Iron Mine collapse, just five years ago. Three hundred and twenty one dead. We asked for help, Olympiada sent Yur, God of Chimneys to assist with lifting stones after most of the rubble had already been cleared.¡± And Eleanor passed him another. ¡°The Allian Petrol Oil Rig Failure of 2009. Eighty nine dead. We asked for help, Olympiada sent Elassa this time. To inspect the waters for pollution after we cleared everything up.¡± And Eleanor passed him another. ¡°The Lowlands Mountain Collapse. 2005. Two villages buried entirely, eighty hundred and fourty three dead. We asked for help. Olympiada sent Iniri. She arrived in 2007.¡± And Eleanor passed him another. ¡°The Flood of Whitepond, 2005. Sixty three dead. We asked for help. We have still not received even a notice that they received the letter.¡± And Eleanor passed him another. ¡°The Arcaster Coal Explosion. 2002. Fifty two dead.¡± And Eleanor passed him another. ¡°Limeway Flooding. Twenty one dead. 2001.¡± And Eleanor passed him another. ¡°Saxeter Storm. 2000. Three hundred dead. We asked for help, where did it come?¡± Richard looked at the camera of EIE. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen of Allia. I have only gone back 25 years now. If we go through the twentieth century, we will count that there has been two-hundred and three times that our government has asked Olympiada for help.¡± He helped up the paper with the details of the storm that hit the town of Saxeter. ¡°This piece of paper is all we have to show for it, one hundred and ninety nine times. In the span of more than a century, they have answer only four requests!¡± ¡°So I ask again, why do we pay a tithe when this is the reward we get for our servitude?¡± Richard contained his smile, this is how you worked a nation. He put the paper down on the table and Eleanor passed him the next disaster. This would be a long presentation but Allians liked history. He was about to give them a millennia of failings. Some men did not see it. Some men saw it and pretended not to. Others ignored it. But Bernard Hinleck saw it. A man drafted from the University of Camford, the oldest education institution in Allia. Older than even the Great War itself. Just half a year ago, Bernard Hinleck had been doing a degree in international supply routes. It was a boring job, but it was good money. And then a recruiter from the Crown had come with a job offer. Hinleck had impressed the man, and so he found himself here. The Kirinyaan Invasion had ended, the Pantheon had been repelled and humiliated. Some people flaked out after that since at first everyone presumed it was a White Pantheon task. But was it? Hinleck did not think so, Allia was not Doschia or Rancais. This wasn¡¯t the death spasms of a nation approaching collapse, this was the sort of planning they wrote about in the history books. The sort that make you question how no one noticed it. Why plan a multitude of routes to ship manufactured goods to Doschia? Doschian imports of Allian engines had only started for a month at that point. Why plan them not for efficiency but for safety? Air-routes to Lubska? Why did mighty King Richard suddenly order Allian Aerospace Engineering a contract of transport aircraft? And why did it number two hundred? That would give Allia a larger logistics fleet than all of Epa combined, was it not just a waste of money? What about the talk of submarine transports to Rilia? The talk of strengthening the Rancais-Allia undersea tunnel? Hinleck smiled as he sat in his office and opened his notepad. Today on the resume was ¡®Lubskan Grain Imports: Fall back scenarios in case shipments stop.¡¯ It was obvious what they were preparing for. Some men did not see it. They simply lacked the imagination to remember what Epa forgot when the Great War ended. But Bernard Hinleck saw it. And he simply found it exciting. Artois looked around the parliament of Rancais. Cameras were here, recording this historic moment as men raised their hands to cast their vote. That was simply tradition at this point, behind Artois, on a large screen, a giant television was broadcasting the results to everyone live. The whole country would be watching, and the whole country was in agreement. Of course, Artois knew the results before they even started. Rancais selected for the best, this wasn¡¯t like the monarchies of Wissel and Richard and Aimone. This was cut-throat dealings, at least Maisara had put a stop to the assassinations though, since she had wiped out Anarchia¡¯s cults here, there was no one easy to pin the blame of a kill on. Anyone who did not have a stranglehold on their party would be cast out to the dogs before the Sun came up in the morning. So Artois did, he knew how his party was voting, and he knew he had a majority before the first vote was even cast.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The screen flashed. Artois looked back at it, and turned back to look at the Rancais Parliament. ¡°People of Rancais.¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°Just as our ancestors did in the past when they declared the Republic, just as they did when the first Republic became a tyranny and ended, the second monarchy, and the third and fourth Republics. Just as they cast off the chains of tyrants, we have now done the same. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sure our ancestors are looking down on us in pride.¡± Artois bowed and let the speaker for today¡¯s session read out the results. ¡°The Act of Epan Separation has passed!¡± It was so easy when all you needed to rule a country was one hall. Lorenzo and Matteo stood smoking in their workshop. Break was coming soon, and there was little to worry about. This contract all but done. It was for the development of new train carriages. No reasoning was given, although there never was, but this one did raise questions. Maybe it was for dealing with avalanches in northern Rilia? Or maybe they were to transport something unimaginably heavy. Cranes on trains? Whatever, it didn¡¯t matter, and it was a government contract. That meant it paid well. Usually those would be lax on the workload too, with any ¡®delays¡¯ simply being glossed over. Unfortunately Lorenzo and Matteo both had rather poor luck recently, with the government inspectors being as stringent as Doschian ones. They both stared at the piece of paper. Some ash fell from Matteo¡¯s cigarette and onto the ground. A barrel. Smooth bore. Three hundred and seventy millimetres. Holes at the bottom, probably for the pipe for be mounted on some mechanism. Lorenzo bent to look down at the paper. ¡°What the fuck is this?¡± ¡°I have no damn clue.¡¯ Jozef looked down as he turned around. Wissel and Richard had both told him to run a speech. Artois had provided some hints with the political manoeuvring in a democracy. Aimone had given him the best advice, which was that Lubska was his country, and he would know what to do. Lubska was not a monarchy, so he could not just decide what to say, and it didn¡¯t have the terribly centralized nature of Rancais¡¯ political establishment. He continued his speech, it was time to turn the temperature up. ¡°The building behind me is the Sejm! The people in that room are supposed to represent you! Do they?!¡± He got a thunderous ¡®no¡¯ that sounded as if it was about to crack the streets open. ¡°How long have we wanted to leave the Pantheon? What does our tithe go for? To pay for the Paladin and Seeker bases on our own territory?!¡± And he got an even louder no this time. No, this was not the careful and refined Rancais, were looks could tell a thousand words and glances revealed souls. This was untamed Lubska, the politicians here were wild beasts. Wild beasts that changed their opinions depending on who greased their pockets, what sort of mood they had today, or whether they had added vodka to their coffee in their morning or drank it straight instead. Jozef was here to corral wild beasts, so he would bring in the wildest monster that politics knew. He raised his arms into the air and heard the cheering crowd. Flags were flying, helicopters were recording it all, people were climbing over the iron railings of the parliament to get in. ¡°We pay for our own occupation! We pay to be plundered! We get what in return? Maisara¡¯s rampage would have come here were Kassandora not to cut it off by starting that war!¡± Jozef smiled as he looked at the cameras. It was time to make the bravest, or the stupidest statement of his life. Frankly, he did not know which one. ¡°Kassandora has done for this country in a year than the White Pantheon has done in a thousand! She has given us an opening! It is time we seize it before it disappears!¡± Jozef pressed a button with his foot. The police got the notification, the gates to the Sejm had flung open. The masses came. Jozef turned as men ran up the stairs. They had wanted a change, they wanted to get rid of the White Pantheon. Jozef knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to tame this political establishment in time to keep up with Wissel or Artois, but there was no need. Why bother taming a dog when a tiger was offering up its leash? He walked to the stairs as the public started to slow down behind him. The men in the front were his, they were simply here to lead the crowd by example. He flung open the huge wooden doors. It was revealed a long corridor, carpeted in Whites and Golds just as the Pantheon had decided for them. And he got to the end, to the next set of doors. For a moment, he hesitated. And then he pushed them open. Men and women were already in smart suits and looking around in confusion at the commotion outside. It was classic that they had not realised yet what was happening. Absolutely in character for them. Jozef took a step forwards as public ran past him. ¡°Members of Lubska¡¯s Sejm, the people have spoken! it is time to vote on whether Lubska secures its independence!¡± Jozef only smiled, he hated these people with a passion, they were the sorriest lot of layabouts and paper pushers. The only reason he could not remove them was because of a Pantheon Decree in Lubskan Politics. Not anymore though, now, he would see how the wild beasts of politicians would fare when put up against the terrible monster that was frenzied and rallied masses. Kacper sighed as he finished another stack of papers, around him, a dozen other tired souls were doing the same job. He would knock out the next person who came up to him and said that governmental work was easy. It was letter after letter. Some people were excited for letting their local club be used by a new governmental department even though they knew nothing about it. Those were fine. Those Kacper could sign off on and forget about. But those were the minority. Most simply asked questions. Kacper could not answer. There was nothing for him to answer with after all. He didn¡¯t even know what the new department would be in charge of. But the Sejm had decreed that they needed numbers, so numbers they shall have. Kacper stamped one letter and flipped open the next. And the worst part of the job. Someone who simply told him to go away, and that the outdoors club would rather disband than becoming governmental. Kacper sighed and typed its name into his database. The Lubskan Mountaineering Association. They were flagged: ¡®Critical ¨C Must Secure.¡¯ Kacper sighed, leaned back, and thought for a moment. He could try bribery first, this project had a virtually unlimited budget. An appeal to patriotism should come before that, patriots would be offended by bribes, but those with a want for money wouldn¡¯t be offended by any moral appealing. And if both methods failed, he could invoke the newly passed Governmental Requisitioning Law. Wissel leaned into the microphone as banners flew behind him. Some countries, Rancais and Lubska, would need to be grabbed by the horns and made to march. Some countries, like Allia, would need to be bargained with logically and have infallible reasoning be explained to them. Some countries, like Rilia, would need to be held together and inspired. And some countries, like Doschia, did not need advanced reasoning of any sort. Doschia should not bow to the White Pantheon, because Doschia was Doschia, and the White Pantheon was the White Pantheon, and that was simply enough. ¡°How many times have we been failed?¡± Wissel asked the crowd, the stood before in a Great Hall. He had invited aristocrats and farmers, machinists and professors, teachers and policemen, everyone and anyone had got an invitation at random, although that was the point of it. He knew the room would cheer, and if the room was all one type of person, then he was effectively allying himself with that class. No, he was here to befriend all of Doschia, from the bottom to the top. ¡°We are not talking of moralities here, we are not talking of pragmatisms either. Not even principles. We are talking about sheer stupidity and malice. We are talking about Divines like Elassa, Maisara, Fortia and Allasaria who have continuously done nothing but bemoan our efforts at independence. Who set us down a path of crisis, demand we get off our knees, and then scold us for being too slow.¡± King Wissel Ellenheim cast his arms into the air as he kept on speaking to all the men and women in fine suits and dresses. ¡°It is not that they are stupid, that is simply Divine malice. The sheer stupidity is on our part, for putting up with it for so long.¡± He let the laughter hang for a moment before silencing it. ¡°I meant what I said, what else is it called? A man fooled once is a victim of circumstance, a man fooled twice should learn to smarten up, a man fooled everyday for a year straight is a fool we shake our heads at.¡± He looked around the room. ¡°What do you call men who have been getting tricked their entire lifetime? What about a nation built upon fraud?¡± And he got the shameful looks in response. Yes. The joke was not so funny now. ¡°I have led Doschia through the high years of Anarchia¡¯s riots. I have led it through this five year long recession. We are now coming out f booth stronger than before. I cannot say the same for Olympiada.¡± He took a deep breath and let the silence hang for a moment. ¡°No, Olympiada has been shattered in Kirinyaa. It will not be long before all of Arika is free from their influence. Everyone in this room is smart enough to know it will happen. Everyone in this room better know that when the war is across a continent, how large it will be.¡± Wissel took another deep breath as he saw the looks of shame transform into worry and fear. Eyes that were looking down at the flaw to avoid his gaze were now meeting his in order to find some ray of hope. ¡°And everyone knows that when Maisara and Fortia and Allasaria run out of Paladins and Guardians and Seekers, they will start recruiting. I ask one question, how many Doschians will die in Arika for a war that is not our own?¡± And he saw the fear be wiped away into horror. After all, what he was saying was true, it was obvious that was going to happen. Only the most optimistic fool would suggest it would not, and even then it would be through some hope that Doschia was simply not going to be a recruitment zone. ¡°Kassandora is free. Arascus has returned. The White Pantheon has lost its first engagement. There is another Great War on the horizon ladies and gentlemen. I do not joke, the situation is as serious as it can get.¡± Wissel saw a woman burst out into tears, her husband quickly hugged her. That was enough, now it was time to give them that ray of hope. Wissel made his voice magnanimous and powerful, so loud and strong it carried and echoed across the walls of the entire palace hall. ¡°I am your King. It is my duty to lead you to prosperity, to goodness in life, to self-fulfilment. I hope that all of you can trust me, not by my family name but by the actions I take as I wear the crown.¡± Wissel let the silence for a moment longer. ¡°Sometimes, there is no good option. Sometimes, you have to choose the least bad. Today, I make that choice for Doschia. If anyone wishes to speak up and stop me, then I welcome you to do it. I hope one of you will do it, because I know this will make times hard for us. But if we do not, then that hardness will feel like a cushion when compared to the grip of a White Pantheon in wartime.¡± Wissel looked around the room. If there ever was a moment when people needed saving, it was now. ¡°I declare, once and for all, a total expulsion of the White Pantheon from Doschia. A total separation between Epa and the White Pantheon! If the Divines wish to bring us into war, then it will be our own terms!¡± And no one came to stop him. Chapter 225 – A Pantheon Reborn Black-haired Anarchia sat in her room. A small place in north-eastern Esberia, close to the southern Rancais border, with dirty walls and cracking floors, this place was about to collapse. But Esberia had a beautiful Sun, plentiful fruit and the best weather on Arda. Sleeping under the stars was nothing but a blessing. One of her followers had brought a stolen laptop, apparently she would want to see this. And see it she did. She watched the Rancais vote to separate from the White Pantheon. An utter sham of democracy, the fate of a nation decided by the majority of a single room. She watched Aimone proclaim his love for Rilia. A farce, as if the man knew every person in his kingdom personally. She watched the Lubskan Sejm be stormed by an angry mob, the hangings that took place after. That was a fire whipped up by Jozef, to burn down so he could rebuild. She saw King Richard VI and his wife Eleanor read off a millennia of the Pantheon¡¯s failing, reducing the victims of those tragedies to nothing but empty propaganda. And King Wissel, ever pragmatic, ever logical, ever so correct. Who could disagree with him? Doschia deserved its own freedom after all. Anarchia sat there, and she wanted to weep. The expulsion of the White Pantheon from Epa should have been a day of celebration. A loosening of the tight collars around people¡¯s necks. She wanted an end to the White Pantheon just as much as all of them did. But not like this. ¡®No one leaves this room until we figure out a plan on what to do.¡¯ Maisara had said that. Maisara had indeed said that. Indeed Maisara had said that. So Fortia sat in her marble throne. One of fourteen. When they had returned to Olympiada, it had been silent. Neneria¡¯s assault had killed some twenty thousand, they were largely Allasaria¡¯s servants and Seekers, but Fortia had a few of her own Guardians too. So Kirinyaa had utterly devastated them. Fortia knew it would be difficult without Leona. Kassandora had singlehandedly guided Arascus¡¯ Legions so well that a war which should have been an easy summer campaign turned into a conflict between three worlds. Leona had been invaluable. Her omniscience touched everything and anything. But that had been a thousand years ago. Fortia¡­ Fortia didn¡¯t know what to think. Kassandora had only been free for a few months when the Pantheon had made its move. Fortia had helped build this world, she knew exactly what each nation was capable, she knew how and where to strike to shut down industry, there were only four real armies on Arda. The White Pantheon possessed three of them, and the Clerics had always been weaker than the Seekers, Guardians or Paladins. Well, it was five armies now, with Kirinyaa¡¯s own military. What did that change though? The White Pantheon still effortlessly outnumbered Kassandora¡¯s forces. In terms of magic, in terms of manpower, in terms of industry. The only advantage Kassandora had were her new toys and her mind. Fortia didn¡¯t know what to think. That technological gap shouldn¡¯t have been an issue when Arcadia had so many mages and Olympiada had so many minor Divines. And yet they had lost. And now five countries had just expelled the White Pantheon from their borders. And it wasn¡¯t five Arikan nations. It was five Epan states, how Arascus had achieved that, Fortia had no damn clue. Maybe this was why Kassandora had been so passive in her campaign. Fortia had thought the woman was merely timid of Olympiada¡¯s numbers and conserving her own, but now she saw it. The war of attrition had removed a third of Maisara¡¯s men. A quarter of Fortia¡¯s. Arcadia was left without a Goddess. It had all but closed its doors to the White Pantheon, every response being one of ¡®We shall await Goddess Elassa to lead us.¡¯ Fortia saw the plan now, and she did not know what to think. So Fortia sat in that grand yet empty, tremendous yet cold, inspiring yet dying room that made up the White Pantheon¡¯s discussion room. A circle, with massive doors that could fit two Allasaria¡¯s each on each hour mark. Pillars were spread out in a circle, holding up the golden dome of a ceiling as Elassa¡¯s magical lamps up the air. Fortia leaned back and retreated further into her cold stone throne as she looked at the others in the room. Fourteen thrones. With what should be fourteen Divines. But Atis was dead. Thirteen. Iniri, Kavaa and Helenna had turned traitor. Ten. Elassa had been captured. Nine. Leona was dead or missing. Eight. Allasaria was dead or missing. Seven. Saranael had long since gone insane. Six. Of the fourteen original founding members, only six were left. True, they had gained Sceo, but Sceo wasn¡¯t an original member so did she even count? She sat in the throne next to Zerus. Her in a dark blue dress, tall and proud, with downcast eyes. Zerus in white outlined with gold. He mirrored Fortia¡¯s posture, simply collapsing back into his marble throne, simply staring up at the ceiling through his bushy eyes. Alkom was on the other side of the God of Lightning. Tall and thin, in a robe of gold. All the light from his eyes had burned out. Theosius was on the other side of the room. With wide shoulders and thick arms bulging with veins, but with a tired look about his face. His black hair down his body, and he had only came in his working outfit, still charred from the forges.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. And then Maisara and Fortia, both in their armours. Maisara in silver, Fortia in gold. The thrones swallowed them as they sat in their battle-skirts. Maisara¡¯s was still damaged from an engagement on a front, where an artillery shell had almost hit her. Fortia had sent her own to be repaired by Theosius. ¡®No one leaves this room until we figure out a plan on what to do.¡¯ That was the issue. No one knew what to do. Fortia sat there, for she didn¡¯t know how long. A day maybe? A week? It couldn¡¯t have been longer than a day, but no one wanted to say anything. She hated Allasaria¡¯s attitude, she utterly despised the haughty Goddess of Light. But she had to give credit where credit was due. Allasaria, for all her flaws, did keep the White Pantheon functioning for a millennia. Less than a year had passed since Allasaria and Leona had disappeared. In that time, what had happened? Olephia had been freed. Arascus had made himself a hero in Ausa. Kassandora had established an iron grip over Kirinyaa¡¯s hearts and minds, this coup of hers was merely the final culmination of that. There wasn¡¯t a single trace of rebellion they could instil. Maybe Helenna could, but Helenna, along with Iniri and Kavaa, had switched sides to Arascus. That meant an entire quarter of the White Pantheon¡¯s military forces had gone with Kavaa. Elassa had somehow been defeated. Arcadia had been attacked. Anassa was freed. Fer was running rabid. Waeh was dead. The Peacekeeping operation into Kirinyaa had been lost. And now Epa was gone. Just like that. In a mere year, under Fortia¡¯s and Maisara¡¯s leadership, the White Pantheon had crumbled down to mere remains of what it once stood. In a single mere year, Fortia and Maisara had basically driven it into the dirt. It would have been easier if Kassandora had just killed her, then at least Fortia could have had a hero¡¯s death. Instead she had been left alive to manage ashes. Finally, of all people, Theosius broke the silence. ¡°We give up Arika.¡± He said grimly, his voice a low rumble as if it was a giant bumblebee. Fortia looked to Maisara, Maisara looked to Fortia. Silver eyes met ones of gold. Sceo straightened her posture. ¡°And what then? Do we march on Epa to keep it in the fold?¡± ¡°It is obvious Arascus will send support to Epa.¡± Maisara said. ¡°We cannot ease the pressure off on Arika.¡± Fortia nodded, the Goddess of Order was correct. There was nothing to bicker about here, arguments were a luxury. One they had ran out of when Allasaria and Leona had gone missing. And so the silence returned, although it was only for a moment this time. ¡°Then we let Epa go and continue the embargoes.¡± Theosius spoke up again. ¡°Something has to be cut, we cannot afford a two front war.¡± ¡°Epa is my main recruitment ground.¡± Maisara said coldly and Theosius sighed. ¡°There is no situation out of this without giving something up.¡± He said. And he was correct, but what was there to give up? Every day spent with Kassandora and Arascus out there was a day longer they had to prepare. Yet how could they strike at Arascus with Epa missing? ¡°We realign efforts to the UNN and Guguo.¡± Sceo said and Zerus sighed. ¡°That could work.¡± Alkom quickly chipped in. ¡°Both of them are bigger economies than Epa.¡± ¡°Epa left because we were focused on it.¡± Maisara said. ¡°We have no precedent for interfering with either Guguo or the UNN, no laws or decrees to force them to bend us to. They like us only because we aren¡¯t there.¡± Maisara said as she crossed her arms. The Goddess of Order looked around the room with angry eyes. ¡°Well? I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I? We¡¯re not popular.¡± ¡°Speak for yourself.¡± Sceo said. ¡°I will not argue with you Sceo.¡± Maisara started in an angry tone. Fortia did not let her finish say whatever she was about to, instead, she laid her hand on Maisara¡¯s, Zerus put his own Sceo¡¯s. The two somehow managed to calm down. ¡°The time for arguments has passed.¡± Fortia said. ¡°I think we can all agree on that.¡± Zerus said, he sighed. ¡°Just so you know, I do not blame the two of you for this state. You did not kill Allasaria, nor were you here when Kassandora was freed.¡± ¡°Thank you Zerus.¡± Fortia said. She with-held her own snarky reply, Kassandora was only free because the man had not struck down Iniri and Kavaa and Helenna when he had the chance. ¡°Something has to go.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Because the situation is untenable. We can fight and win against Epa. Kirinyaa has already proven itself against us.¡± Fortia sighed. They needed a baseline of strategy, if for nothing, then to serve as a start to work off. ¡°Kirinyaa will need to be a war of attrition. Not the quick strike we were hoping for with the quick death of Kassandora. We will need to throw enough blood at her to drown her in it.¡± Fortia sighed. ¡°The simple reality of the situation is that the world is still on our side, and Kassandora only has a single nation. Kirinyaa can be purged.¡± She looked around the room at the empty thrones and the shocked expressions at what she just said. ¡°We swore never to purge again¡­¡± Zerus said slowly. He didn¡¯t finish the sentence. A knock on the door and shouting outside of the meeting room killed all discussion. The two huge marble doors, unopened since the remnants of the White Pantheon had entered here, slowly began to swing. One by one, they revealed a small crowd, although Fortia recognised all of them. Ancient faces, ones that had aided them in the Great War, and then been allowed to keep their lands as a reward for their loyalty. The Divines that still ruled kingdoms. Of the great undersea kingdoms, of Alanktyda¡¯s centralized Alanktia. The mad concoction of kingdoms, duchies and baronies that made up Uriamel located in the ocean that Kirinyaa itself sat on. And more yet, hovering in the air, with bird wings that burned with flames. Those were new, from Pichqasuyu. The nation of five, far south of the UNN. Fortia had rarely interacted with them before, they were Allasaria¡¯s fans, not hers. And in the middle of them, shining like a star in the night. Pale and golden-haired and in a dress of pure white, stood the Goddess of Light. Fortia did not know if she wanted to cower or flee or hide in shame or face execution. But she looked upon that central figure and she felt what she felt when Arascus had started his mad conquests. Scourge of Darkness, Night¡¯s Bane, Lightbringer. The titles summed her up, but as Fortia looked upon stern but smiling Allasaria, she only saw the walking embodiment of hope stride in. - - - End of Arc 7: Dreams of Empire - - - Chapter 226 – The Peace That Did Not Last Not a servant under Divinity, but to serve man. Not an empire of tyrants, but to stand as one. Not to repeat the past, but march onwards. Not a community of slaves, but a coalition of Epa. - Proclamation of the Epan Coalition Fortia watched Allasaria as the Goddess of Light took a step forwards. Of Peace felt her heart start to pound. So this was it. Frankly, she should be killed for the damage she just did to the White Pantheon. But Allasaria did not kill her. She did not kill Maisara either. She merely looked at them with disappointment. She looked at Elassa¡¯s empty throne. At Kavaa¡¯s and Iniri¡¯s and Helenna¡¯s and she sighed. She sighed and she spoke. ¡°I have caught up with what is going.¡± Allasaria said in that magnanimous voice of hers. Fortia felt her throat shut down. There was nothing to argue about frankly. Something petty, she could muster up a defence for even if she was in the wrong. But what she had done to the White Pantheon, there was no weaselling out of. Allasaria stood in the middle of that ring of marble thrones as everyone around her sheepishly turned their eyes away. ¡°I have only one question to the two of you, how did you find guiding the White Pantheon?¡± If there ever was a question Fortia could not answer. It was that. Maisara said nothing, only a low rumble emitted from her throat. That was enough to say everything. Fortia did not even bother opening her mouth, her actions were indefensible. She merely shook her head. Allasaria grimly looked over the two, and then waved for her new cohort to come into the room. Fortia could up from the marble floor to face them. ¡°I am reclaiming leadership of the White Pantheon. If anyone takes issue, raise your case.¡± Allasaria said, no one did so she continued after a moment. ¡°Leona is dead, I saw it. Neneria killed her.¡± She took a sigh as she walked to her central throne. She stopped at it, then sat down slowly, smoothing her dress as she did. The group of Divines she had brought were slowly starting to filter their way into the room. ¡°Iniri, Helenna and Kavaa helped free Kassandora. I do not know why their thrones are still here.¡± Fortia did not know either, her and Maisara had talked of it but their grip over the Pantheon was only a wartime emergency. It wasn¡¯t Allasaria¡¯s total control. Allasaria took a sigh, and the shuffling feet were silenced. Fortia¡¯s eyes timidly scanned that new group of Divines. The mermen of Alanktia she knew well, during the Great War, they had served as part of the Coalition, but not the White Pantheon. Arascus had tried to sail the world and strike at coastal Guguo, but Alanktia¡¯s forces had proven undefeatable even with Anassa and Olephia supporting Arascus¡¯ fleets. Although not instrumental in any of the major battles, they had served as a wall for a century that Arascus could not break. Emperor Tasaidien represented them, a shawl of silk around his waist and his chest bare. His hand clasped tightly around a bronze trident, only slightly shorter than Fortia¡¯s spear. A red crown of coral sitting upon his silky dark hair. He saw Fortia and made a respectful gesture of acknowledgement. Fortia tried to return it, she thought she succeeded. And Allasaria continued. ¡°Tasaidien, you are known to us already. There is no need for introductions.¡± She looked at the White Pantheon members and sighed. ¡°I am the Leader of the White Pantheon.¡± She repeated herself. ¡°And to all of you here, I have only one thing to say.¡± Fortia held her breath. She felt Maisara¡¯s warm hand wrap around hers. But Allasaria said something none of them would expect. ¡°I apologize.¡± Allasaria looked coldly at them, her voice tense. ¡°I have failed all of you. The fact Arascus is back is my fault. I vouched for Kassandora back then, that precedent gave Elassa a reason to keep Anassa alive. We should have done more to hunt Fer down too. I became lazy and satisfied. Ultimately, if we killed Kassandora back then, we would not have this trouble now.¡± Allasaria stood up from her throne and she bowed to all of them. She straightened, and sat back down. ¡°Ultimately, we all failed ourselves. I have no intention of apologizing for your treatments, because we all suffered each other.¡± Fortia did not care an inch for that, frankly, Allasaria was in the right. Fortia would not apologize for her words either. ¡°But that is long past. We do not need to love, or even like each other, but we will tolerate ourselves.¡± Allasaria finished. ¡°Consider all your grievances wiped, the slate is clean.¡± Fortia felt Zerus¡¯ eyes on her and Maisara. Alkom¡¯s and Theosius¡¯ too. And Sceo¡¯s. She sighed and stood up, the scales of her bronze skirt echoing in the room. It didn¡¯t feel so empty anymore, nor so cold. The lights had not changed an inch either, but they weren¡¯t that blinding white anymore. ¡°I wipe the slate.¡± Fortia said. ¡°What was said was said. We cannot take it back, but we can move on.¡± Allasaria smiled as Fortia sat back down. And Maisara stood up. Fortia was glad she did not have to push her friend into apologizing. ¡°The threat we face is too great to worry about our petty squabbles.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Everything I said was correct, everything Fortia said was correct.¡± She looked at Allasaria and sighed. ¡°And everything Allasaria said was correct. But we have ran out of time for such discussions. I wipe the slate.¡± Maisara sat back down as she saw Zerus smile. It was the first time that God had smiled before her in how long? A century? Two? Something like that. Alkom even gave them all a little clap. Fortia wished he didn¡¯t. Frankly, these Gods of Forces did not understand what went on in the mind of an abstract. They were powerful, but power was all they had. Allasaria spoke up. ¡°The White Pantheon has shrunk, and it will grow. As the leader of the White Pantheon, Tasaidien, I welcome you to the White Pantheon, to take the seat by Maisara.¡± Atis¡¯ old seat. Fortia smiled. It was a small thing and the seating order meant little in reality. But just as Leona had been by Allasaria¡¯s right hand, Elassa on her left, just as Helenna and Kavaa and Iniri had always been next to each other, just as Fortia and Maisara never left each other¡¯s side, it was a good gesture.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Mur, come forwards.¡± Allasaria said. Another of the figures stepped forwards. This one looking almost human. Whereas Tasaidien was as tall as Fortia, Mur was taller. Yet his neck was too long, his hair seemed to ignore the breeze coming in from the open doors. His clothes rose into the air at the ends, in the same way that Neneria would use fairies to pick up the hem of her dresses. His fingers were like snakes, his arms fell half way to his thighs. His skin was just slightly hued with the blue of an ocean. His eyes were green, yet tinged with a spark of red. ¡°I come as the Emperor of Uriamel.¡± Uriamel had not sat on the Great War¡¯s side-lines like Alanktyda, instead, they served as the White Pantheon¡¯s equivalent to what the Dwarves did for Arascus. An untouchable forge located deep in the oceans. It was an Empire in name only, instead being a collection of kingdoms and duchies and republics and free cities, all joined together under the banner of Mur¡¯s family crest. The man wore it on his silver armour, an octopus reaching around the world. Maybe he did have Arascus¡¯ ambition, but he did not have Of Pride¡¯s talent. Internal strife was common in their lands, but it wasn¡¯t surface territory, so there was no reason to worry about it. ¡°Take the seat next to Theosius, I welcome you to the White Pantheon.¡± Fortia kept her face flat. Allasaria was smart, she was separating them out. Mur and Theosius knew each other too. It was a good move to stop foreign Gods from taking over the White Pantheon. ¡°And the third addition. Itni.¡± One of the figures in the air, with an orange glow around him settled on the ground. ¡°I come as the God of Pichqasuyu.¡± He said, his voice melodic. Two red settled on his back, his skin was bronze, his face hard and he wore a multitude of bracelets on both his arms, each one clicked against each other as they moved. ¡°To represent my nation.¡± Fortia blinked in surprise and looked to Allasaria. A National? Into the Pantheon? Allasaria saw her and shook her head. ¡°Pichqasuyu is a country of five regions that share a single Divine.¡± She said. ¡°He is strong.¡± ¡°I would think I am. It is an honour to join the Pantheon.¡± He took a knee before Allasaria. Fortia looked at him again. She could not remember the last time she had seen any God bow before her. Well, Kassandora had done a few times, but Kassandora never meant it. ¡°Take the seat by Alkom.¡± That was good too, it was on the opposite side of Fortia, but not closer to Allasaria than she was. The Goddess of Light really knew how to run the show, Fortia knew if she brought new people in, she would have just assigned them the three seats furthest from her. Silence descended upon the new Pantheon as Fortia looked over the other Divines Allasaria had brought. These must just be allies of the three who had just joined then. Or maybe weaker beings. She recognised some of the Alanktydan ones, but that was it. And Allasaria broke the silence, her voice as proud and forceful as the day the White Pantheon was formed. ¡°Arascus has returned, a repeat of the Great War is going happen if we do not act quickly. We will not handicap ourselves with laws, rules and decrees.¡± Fortia stared at Allasaria in awe. And she realised why it was Allasaria who led the Pantheon, because Fortia would have never taken such a step. Even though she knew she should, even though everything told her it was the right thing to do. How could she break tradition like that? And Allasaria continued. ¡°Zerus, you will go to the UNN. Sceo, you will go to Guguo. Both of you will be blunt, you will inform of the situation as it stands, and you will demand aid. Both of them have one year to militarize their industries.¡± Fortia did not know why the smile was creeping onto her face, but it was. This was it, this was how Divinity should act. This was what she had been missing for a thousand years. Allasaria leaned back and turned her head to look at the Goddess of Peace. ¡°Fortia, Maisara and Tasaidien, you will crush this Epan rebellion. This is no longer a game of words and diplomacy.¡± Fortia and Maisara shared a shocked look. With this sort of mentality¡­ They would be crushed just as the Goddess of Order had crushed Anarchia¡¯s budding rebellion a few months ago. ¡°Great War tactics are allowed.¡± And Allasaria turned once again, to the God of Forges. ¡°Theosius, repower the smitheries. Requisition land, resources, men, whatever you need. Create a Centurion Model to counter Kassandora¡¯s artillery. You will work with Mur.¡± The God of the Forge leaned back in his seat. His muscles pulsed as he smiled. ¡°With pleasure.¡± He said, his voice terribly low and content. And Allasaria continued. ¡°The Guardians, Seekers and Paladins also need new weaponry, the sort of guns that we see wielded by Kassandora¡¯s armies. And armour to withstand it. I expect you will succeed at both.¡± Theosius took a deep breath, his smile growing wider. ¡°How could I fail the Pantheon?¡± He asked. Mur¡¯s smile went too far up his face. ¡°Uriamel needs a goal to bring unity. It shall be done.¡± Allasaria smiled and nodded, then turned to Alkom. ¡°You will assist in the Epan clean-up with Itni. Arda has forgotten what Divinity is. Fortia, you know how to command. I expect you to remind them. Itni, Fortia is second only to Kassandora in command. You will see how she runs wars.¡± Fortia felt the smile creeping onto her face unleash itself. The first century after the Great War had been good, when people still remembered the power the White Pantheon actually wielded. Now, it was time to remind them. ¡°I was invited into your house, I did not expect to lead.¡± Itni said in his musical tone of a voice. He looked from across the room. ¡°But I prefer to return to Pichqasuyu and build up an army first.¡± Fortia did not return his smile. She had nothing against the man, but politeness was expected from a newcomer. It was the bare minimum he could do. ¡°Of course.¡± Fortia said. ¡°I have no issue with that.¡± Alkom added. And Allasaria stood up. ¡°I am heading out now. I expect to see UNN and Guguoan forces in Arika in three months¡¯ time.¡± Fortia couldn¡¯t let the woman leave just like that. ¡°What for?¡± Allasaria¡¯s shoes left the ground as her hair started to spiral as if it was a scarf carried in the winds. Her form started to glow as she smiled down at Fortia. There it was, that was the look Fortia remembered. The blindingly bright eyes, the air around her shimmering, her dress trailing low past her feet. This was not the Allasaria that had spent the past thousand years guiding the world, this was the Allasaria that Fortia had fought besides during the Great War, the one that had conquered the world once already. And Allasaria spoke, her words seemingly coming from all directions and echoing around the great hall. ¡°To inform the world that the White Pantheon will no longer abide by Pantheon Peace.¡± Chapter 227 – Spymastery A layman will say that the introduction of rifles has destroyed grand-army tactics of the past. That is how it looks at face value. Where before, battles would have tens or hundreds of thousands of men, now a single man is able to mow down a dozen in a second. By logical deduction, battles should be smaller. Engagements should not exceed a few hundred men, a single battalion can now cover entire landscapes with careful planning. Through sheer pragmatism and protection of life, armies should now be far smaller than they were in the past. In reality, the opposite has happened. Great War Grand-Army doctrine has been replaced by frontlines. Take the ancient supply line as example, farmers would produce food, fletchers would produce arrows, logisticians would organise transport, the supply line was an addition to society, it was not part of it. There was no use for battle-smitheries, no need for enormous mining expeditions, no want for exhaustive deforestations and farmings during times of ceasefire. Yet now, factories can easily be retooled from cars to tanks. The only difference between a peace-time aircraft manufactory and a war-time one is whether the plane has a bombing bay or a cannon attached. War has not shrunk, in reality, the opposite has happened. My thesis of Scalable War has reached its natural conclusion. Every aspect of society, from resource extraction to manufacturing to transport to media to the men in battles themselves can now be militarized. The Military no longer exists to serve the interests of a State, the State now exists to serve the interests of the Military. - Excerpt from ¡®The Modern War¡¯, written by Goddess Kassandora. Helenna sat and smiled as she twirled a pen through her fingers. It danced around them, spinning, launching into the air, only to land on another finger to spin again. The fact Neneria, in her uniform, was trying to hide herself sneaking impressed glances at the trick of dexterity was extremely satisfying. Far more than if she just flat out said she was impressed by the trick. So Helenna reclined as her hand kept playing with the pen. She had ended up on Arascus¡¯ War Council, a far grander position than she ever had in the White Pantheon. Even during the Great War, she would only submit handwritten reports to Fortia and Allasaria and receive a cold reply of thanks and a new target to investigate. Now, Arascus had invited her. This was the sort of respect a Goddess of Love should receive. She smiled and sipped some wine. The fact he took no issue with drinking during the meetings was even better. She sat in the middle of the table. Fer to her right, lying down and watching the pen spin in her hands. A golden mass of hair, with two vulpine golden eyes watching Helenna. Neneria sat opposite Helenna, Kavaa opposite Fer. Iniri had not wanted to attend, and Anassa was busy keeping watch over Elassa, but the rest of the Divines were here. Olephia close next to Kavaa, sketching something in her little notebook. For the first time since she met them, both Arascus and Kassandora were late. It was almost odd how easy they took it. Even Iliyal had been allowed to attend the War Council meeting, that had been unheard of in the White Pantheon. The Divines made decisions, and then each one relayed them individually to their orders. The elf sat next to Olephia, obviously annoyed Helenna was playing with her pen, but he said nothing. His arms were crossed, two elongated ears popped out of his blonde hair covered by a tall cap and he looked down at the papers before him. They were in Nanbasa, in what had been the National Assembly, now the Imperial Palace. Through the window, Helenna could see the blue sky, the ringed city. Iniri was in that central animal reserve, growing trees and flowers for the animals safeguarded there. The black-white-red flags of Arascus hung off every skyscraper and gently breezed in the wind. The population had taken far better to the coup than Helenna could have even predicted. Although they would, when the papers from Mwai Ruku¡¯s office were revealed, they had spat on the man¡¯s corpse. To think he was talking with Fortia about selling Kassandora out? All to make Kirinyaa into a monarchy ruled by him! What a traitor! Downright horrible. The fact Helenna had written those letters had not crossed anyone¡¯s mind. Besides, Kassandora had a Jungle to burn. Already, the mines recovered from the Jungle were bringing employment and cheap goods to the country. The ash left lands fertile and people were already clamouring for houses to be built in the nation¡¯s west. Land was plentiful, land was cheap. Apparently a man could work for only a year and already afford an entire estate. So whereas UNN moralists would clutch their hands at the terrible of a Divine Junta, and the Pantheon denounced Kirinyaa every other day, there was little argument to make against Arascus¡¯ leadership. Why risk rebellion when the only argument for it was one of abstract morality? Helenna smiled as she thought about the situation. It had been such a devilish plan it even made Helenna blush. What a lovely and romantic tragedy! The door slammed open suddenly. Arascus held it open for Kassandora and she stormed in, both in dark suits, but Kassandora¡¯s wasn¡¯t as pristine as usual. Her red hair trailed behind her as she shot a look at Helenna and Kavaa. Helenna caught her pen and put it back down on the redwood table as Kassandora angrily stomped to take her seat by Helenna. Arascus took the head seat. He barely sat down before Kassandora took a deep breath to calm herself, then look to Helenna, to Kavaa, back to Helenna, then back to Kavaa. ¡°We have something to discuss.¡± She said flatly. Well. A tone like that sounded like trouble. Helenna didn¡¯t know what she had done wrong, but she had not seen Kassandora since Fer and Iliyal and Kavaa had returned from their training of the National Goddesses. Kavaa must have not either, she angled her eyebrows at Kassandora. ¡°Do we?¡± She asked. ¡°Why is Tartarus on Arda?¡± Kassandora asked and Helenna felt her hands tighten into fists. She rarely let her surprise show, but this was akin to being told that Allasaria was coming to turn the entire city into glass. It was hard to maintain a straight a face. Helenna looked to Kavaa and the woman maintained her cold gaze at Kassandora. Fer sniffed the table, sighed and shook her head. ¡°Surprise.¡± She said. ¡°Oh.¡± Kassandora¡¯s posture changed entirely. She relaxed, the arms crossed over her chest dropped, she leaned forwards and she even smiled. Helenna sat there in pure confusion. ¡°I see. So you really didn¡¯t know?¡± ¡°Me?¡± Helenna asked, stunned. ¡°What? Tartarus is on Arda? No¡­¡± Fer loudly sniffed again. ¡°Shock. Disbelief.¡± She said.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Alright. Thanks Fer.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°You can stop now.¡± The Goddess of War turned to Helenna and Kavaa. ¡°Apologies to the both of you.¡± Helenna already knew that Kassandora was only being polite, there wasn¡¯t a hint of regret in her voice. ¡°But shocking you was the fastest method to achieve certainty.¡± Fer sniffed again. ¡°Satisfaction.¡± ¡°Fer.¡± Kassandora said, colder this time. Fer sniffed again, her tone rather smug. ¡°Annoyance.¡± Kassandora sighed, looked to Neneria, to Arascus and leaned back into her chair as Fer purred a low chuckle, the two tall ears on her head bouncing. ¡°I expected you not to know, if Kavaa did not either.¡± Arascus said as he looked to Helenna. ¡°But we just had to make sure.¡± Helenna could only whisper a reply, she saw the ends of her hairs go white. ¡°I really didn¡¯t.¡± Fer sniffed again. Helenna had once heard the woman could smell emotions, but she had never believed it until today. ¡°I believe you.¡± Fer said from the side. ¡°That¡¯s enough for us.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°But it does change the situation.¡± He finished and looked around the table. No one said anything, so Iliyal took the stage. ¡°It lends credence to the possibility Irinika and Malam are in the Dwarven Underkingdoms.¡± The elf said. ¡°And in that regard, it explains why the dwarves have not been seen for a millennia. The fact they were obviously in a state of war suggests that the dwarves are still alive.¡± The elf finished and Kassandora jumped in. ¡°Well we know where the tunnels are.¡± She said simply. ¡°How hard would it be to dig?¡± ¡°There¡¯s none in Arika.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Unless they¡¯ve expanded here.¡± ¡°It could be worth checking.¡± Kassandora said and Helenna saw her chance to be useful. ¡°I could procure an underground radar from Rilia.¡± That country had a lot and Aimone was generally helpful. Kassandora and Arascus both nodded. ¡°Then we continue as we have.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We don¡¯t reference them once, if the Pantheon knows we know, then they may call them in.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think the Pantheon knows.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Who was in charge of securing the Holds then?¡± Arascus asked. Kavaa answered this time. ¡°Fortia, Maisara and Allasaria. It only took them about decade after the Great War to force the dwarves back.¡± Helenna saw the mistake the Goddess of Health had made. ¡°The Dwarves largely retreated themselves after the World Core was sealed.¡± Kassandora suddenly leaned forwards. ¡°Then we don¡¯t need a scanner, we can dig to the core.¡± Arascus shook his head. ¡°A scanner would be needed for excavation in the first place. And it would help with the Jungle too, to see whether we are actually clearing it away or just scratching the surface. There¡¯s regions it regrows in that need constant bombardment.¡± Kassandora nodded. ¡°Then Helenna, this is your job.¡± ¡°With pleasure.¡± Helenna said. ¡°It will be here by the end of the week.¡± Helenna would steel it herself if she had to. ¡°Very well.¡± Arascus said happily. ¡°Now, unless there¡¯s anything else to mention, we should discuss how to handle the Epan Coalition.¡± Helenna sat there for a moment. She supposed this was as important as anything else. Discussing the Coalition would give them all jobs, but this¡­ No. This did take precedence. ¡°I have one thing to mention.¡± Helenna said, her hair turned orange and red with pride as she leaned down to retrieve the folder by her chair. ¡°I still have contacts on Olympiada. Not many, but enough.¡± Not many was a few hundred, although with Helenna gone, most of the mortals she relied on had slowly given up on her. It wasn¡¯t that they no longer loved her, but rather that love for a Divine rarely held up against fear of a Divine. Now with Fortia and Maisara stalking the mountain¡¯s roads, there was plenty to remind people what they were risking for the Goddess of Love. ¡°It¡¯s important.¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± Arascus said. He really sounded like he meant it. Helenna calmed her heart from the incredible feeling of simply being listened to. Since Allasaria had been voted in as the sole ruler of the White Pantheon all those centuries ago, she had missed it. ¡°I¡­¡± Helenna didn¡¯t know how to say. There wasn¡¯t really anything to say. She simply opened her black folder and pulled out an image. Allasaria in the air, snapped from behind a window, the image was blurry but there was no mistaking the Goddess of Light. Only one person had golden hair that trailed like, only one person emitted that pleasant glow. ¡°She¡¯s back.¡± Kassandora and Fer both leaned in to inspect the image. Kavaa¡¯s cheeks paled. Neneria and Olephia gave no reaction, they merely glanced at it and then looked at Arascus. Olephia didn¡¯t even look scared, not even shocked. ¡°And there¡¯s more.¡± Helenna said. One thing that did help her spies was Neneria¡¯s assault on the mountain. Helenna had told the people she needed to stay off Olympiada for that day. The Goddess of Love pulled out another image. This image from closer, although all that was really needed to identify the figure was the bronze trident and the red coral crown: Tasaidien. Kassandora looked at the picture and spoke immediately. ¡°So the Coalition has lost then.¡± She said flatly. ¡°Alanktyda will blockade Allia and raid the Doschian and Rancais coasts. They won¡¯t be able to hold a front in the South if they have to fight a war against the oceans.¡± ¡°That does change plans.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We can support them more actively.¡± Kassandora said. Helenna spoke before they descended into conversation. She brought an image of a man with wings like an eagle, but all the feathers red. ¡°Who is that?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°And here I thought you¡¯d know sister.¡± Fer said smugly from one side. ¡°It¡¯s Itni.¡± Neneria interjected before Kassandora came back with a reply. ¡°He is strong. Around¡­¡± She sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know, stronger than Kassie. I think Fer can beat him, I don¡¯t know really.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say he matches Maisara.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Then I can beat him.¡± Fer said. ¡°He stands as the God of Pichqasuyu. We can assume they will come in.¡± Helenna said. And Kassandora interjected again. ¡°Then if the Pantheon is pulling in other nations, the UNN and Guguo will also go.¡± She sighed. ¡°Guguo can be brought to rebellion from within but the UNN has a comparable manufacturing output to all Epa.¡± She looked at Helenna and nodded. ¡°Good that you showed these. We can prepare.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not done.¡± Helenna said as she pulled out the final image. One that she knew they¡¯d know, because this Divine had been with the Pantheon during the Great War: Mur. A man that had each of his limbs stretched out. Kassandora looked at it. And she looked at Arascus. And at Kavaa. Everyone knew what it meant. Mur led Uriamel. Uriamel controlled practically the entire ocean Kirinyaa sat on. The silence held for a few moments. Helenna had not thought that was possible. Frankly, she would rather Kassandora say that they had lost immediately. The fact that Kassandora was at a lack for words¡­ Helenna felt her throat tighten. Arascus broke the silence. ¡°So the war will be defensive.¡± He said. ¡°The Epa plan should be adapted, we need them to win now.¡± He looked to Kassandora. The Goddess of War nodded grimly. ¡°I will prepare a coastal defence strategy first then.¡± Before anyone could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Iliyal looked at everyone in the room, then tilted his head to the door. Arascus nodded. The elf stood up and marched to it. Silence. The elf asked nothing, there was only a guard there, a guard with his phone. He passed it to Iliyal. And Iliyal brought it back to the table. He set it at the foot, so everyone could see. Allasaria was giving a speech live. Not to any news station in specific, but everyone was covering it. And in that moment, Helenna felt as if she had chosen the wrong side. She liked it here. She really did. But was it worth dying for? Her hair turned pale white as she listened to Allasaria speak. ¡°Thus, the Pantheon Peace Doctrine is rescinded for the imminent future. Arascus, Kassandora, Fer, Anassa, Neneria, Olephia, Helenna, Iniri and Kavaa and the nation of Kirinyaa are declared as existential threats under my authority, as leader of the White Pantheon.¡± Helenna felt her heart drop. Allasaria had mentioned her by name. There had been no anger in that tone, no rage. It was simply a statement, as if Allasaria was reporting the weather. The Goddess of Light continued. ¡°And my message to Arascus and his cohort: We have defeated you once. We will defeat you again. That is all.¡± Chapter 228 – Preparing for The Long Haul Many before have already written about how a defence is needless, because a good offence will remove the need to defend. That is true, if you force your opponents to defend, they will not attack you. This is a good philosophy to hold, yet it can be extended into farce. The only person I know who does not need to even give mind to defence is Olephia, and that is because there is no one in their right mind who would attack her. I do not consider there to be a difference between a ¡°school of offence¡± and a ¡°school of defence¡±, both are merely different aspects of war. In the same a student needs to have talent in literature and mathematics to graduate, I have consider both as my speciality. Excerpt from ¡°The Philosophy of War¡±, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War Kassandora looked over the port of Nanbasa as she sighed. Uriamel would come from the ocean, that she knew. They had a massive production capacity, as they did back in the Great War, that she knew. The people of that land could breathe in both air and in water, that she knew. And that was all she knew. There was nothing else which she could say, everything else would be merely speculation or conjecture. Would they have ships? Or would they swim? Would animals carry them? There was another issue with fighting Uriamel. Back then, they had merely served as the manufacturing base for the White Pantheon. To counter what the Dwarves could produce. Kassandora had not actually seem them field an army, even though she knew they were capable of one. Uriamel would come from the ocean, and that was all she knew. Kassandora sighed as she straightened her back. The wind carried her crimson hair like a cape, and she pulled her black coat close around her. Iliyal was behind her, as were the generals Sokolowski, Zalewski and Ekkerson. The three humans, although all four were technically the same rank, Iliyal led them simply by virtue of his seniority. Such hierarchies were impossible to contain, so there was no point to even try and fight against their natural formations. So Kassandora looked out over the ports. They could be fortified. In fact, would on them would start today. That was a blessing the knew machinery gave her. There was no need to build tall walls to stop the mass of men armed with melee, not when a single squad armed with machine guns could mow down as many as ammunition allowed for. If she put up walls now, then all they would do is serve as a shield for her opponents. ¡°How long do you think we¡¯ll have?¡± Kassandora asked. She knew the answer already, she was simply killing time as her mind finished formulising the plan. If they survived here, then she could actually start worrying about Epa. Arascus had said that was his side of the war until she would be able to take over. ¡°It could be today, it could be a year from now.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Anything else is purely speculation.¡± ¡°Which one would you bet on?¡± Kassandora asked, personally, she was expecting Uriamel forces to suddenly start crossing the horizon any moment now. ¡°Today.¡± Iliyal replied flatly. ¡°Under the logic that Allasaria has been gone for so long, the most efficient route for her to take would be Uriamel, then Pichqasuyu, then Alanktyda, then return to the Pantheon. I would say they¡¯ve been preparing for the past eleven months.¡± ¡°I see absolutely no reason to disagree with that.¡± Kassandora said idly as one of the giant container ships blew its massive horn. It started to slowly pull up its anchor, a massive chain of steel, each link as wide as Kassandora was tall. The cranes began to turn away, one of the bridges disconnected, men began calmly walking away as they worked and trucks and forklifts swarmed past them to the next ship. That steel colossus was already waiting. ¡°This is what we¡¯ll do.¡± She took a deep breath, and prepared to list off all the ways to prepare. ¡°Firstly, the Reclamation War will be put on the backburner, we will tell the public that we are preparing for a naval invasion, but we¡¯ll keep on burning the Jungle.¡± Helenna recalled the script-points Kassandora had given her. They would continue the war, but it would slow down as they would also start preparing defences on the coast. That seemed easy enough. Kassandora continued. ¡°The further we manage to push it, the more of a time buffer we have in Uriamel¡¯s invasion. The Jungle cannot be allowed to reclaim the new resource extraction sights, nor cut them off logistically.¡± So actually, now that she thought, they should push the Lemurs further. Jeffrey wiped his brow as his team worked on this Lemur. He had been happy at first, when he heard that the Binturongs were being transferred off the front and towards coastal defence. And then he realised that the work schedule had only increased. They had a tenth less guns than the week before, and they were burning twice as much Jungle. He looked at that marvellous concoction of pipes and tanks that made up an engine. He grabbed a spanner, wedged it under a thick rubber tube, and gently lifted it. He complained about these vehicles a lot, but during the night of celebration after the White Pantheon had been defeated, Fer had led them to inspect the various cars that the civilians had come in.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. The Lemur could break, the Lemur was not pretty, the Lemur was loud, the Lemur was slow but if there was one thing that Jeffrey appreciated in anyone, it was honesty, and the Lemur was honest. The oil tank needed replacing and the tubes re-attaching, that was it. Kassandora looked out over the deep blue ocean in the distance. It was a picturesque blue in the sunlight, with dozens of heavy tankers and container ships waiting to enter Nanbasa¡¯s port. ¡°We¡¯re approaching hard terrain in the Jungle, aren¡¯t we?¡± She knew the answer already. Sokolowski stepped in to reply. ¡°WATCH OUT!¡± Sergeant Janek shouted as he jumped back. Something this happened with the ash. It would sprinkle and build up over riverbeds, or over holes, ravines were the worst. One moment, a man would be treading through the ash as he pathed out a way for the wheeled Lemurs, the next, he would be gone. Swallowed by it. It was rough pushing, and the fact the terrain here got more mountainous only slowed it down further. Kassandora apparently wanted these lands, they were rich in iron. ¡°We start flying daily sorties with KAF.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Mount cameras on the undersides, as powerful as you can get, and fly high as to avoid the Jungle¡¯s call. But record the terrain. We start on more bombings too.¡± The Goddess of War finished and Sokolowski saluted to show he would relay the order. Captain Douglas opened up a magazine in his cockpit and began to read. One hand on the control stick between his legs, one hand flicking the pages. He was fly high over that sea of green today, it was boring work. But it was needed, and Erik on Divine Transport Duty today, so Douglas was flying alone. Kassandora took a deep breath as she looked out over the port, then turned to look in the other direction. ¡°Nanbasa will be held obviously, I will have a meeting with Arascus, to see what other cities will need to be defended.¡± Arascus looked at the map of Kirinyaa as Kassandora sat next to him. She had taken a bottle of whiskey and poured both of them a glass. Arascus simply liked the taste, he didn¡¯t need one today. This wasn¡¯t a pleasant job, but it was one he had done may times already. Maybe men with weaker characters would flee from it. Kassandora herself had little to say about it, she simply wanted to know what she was working with. Arascus sighed as he placed a pin on Nanbasa. Obviously, the capital would need to stand. He sighed and pulled out another pin. Maybe other men wouldn¡¯t be able of doing it, but he had no issue telling Kassandora who should live, and who should die. ¡°Iniri will start work on coastal walls.¡± Kassandora said as Sokolowski started writing down the order. Iliyal moved to fall in with the three men and another gust of wind swept in to blow five black coats. Iniri knelt down and touched the ground. A wall of oak burst from the ground before her, it twisted and grew, vines curled and tightened, crenulations sprouted under a canopy of leaves. Branches expanded into platforms, more became ladders and stairs. More walls, enclosures for Kassandora¡¯s artillery, then the walls formed firing locations for machine guns. Iniri stood up and rubbed her hands to together. She turned to one of the soldiers Kassandora had given her as an assistant. He handed her a bottle and the Goddess greedily drank it, then another. One wall finished, time for the next. ¡°What she will build, we will then reinforce with concrete.¡± Kassandora said, another gust of wind blew her hair as she stood her four generals on that pier. ¡°And steel, whatever you can think off, contact Mikhail Alash if you need help.¡± General Ekkerson looked over Iniri¡¯s huge walls. These were monstrous already, more than enough to stop whatever attacker he could imagine, but Kassandora had said to make them thicker, so make them thicker he did. Steel beams and girders were being slowly lowered and driven into the wood, then the whole structure was being reinforced with a layer of concrete. Kassandora turned and looked back at the city. Uriamel would come from the ocean and that was all she knew, but that was all she needed to know. ¡°Sokolowski, this is your job, you will move the industry further west.¡± It had been done in the past, so it shall be done now. The man looked at her in befuddlement for a moment and the Goddess of War sighed. Maybe she should explain this to him. General Damian Sokolowski looked at the two cranes as they slowly hoisted a massive furnace into the air. Two days ago, it was refining raw iron ore. Yesterday, it was being cleaned. Today, it was being moved. At first, he had thought this was going to be an impossibility. How could a factory just be moved? But then he sat down and thought on it. At the end of the day, what did a factory even require to be called a factory? He was going to move important machinery, and the structure could remain. Frankly, once Kassandora explained the fact he was not moving an entire city district brick-by-brick, it really was a manageable job. The sorcerers were already working with ground crews twenty miles west of Nanbasa to pull up new buildings from the ground to house the machinery, and the engineering corps were laying down roads for the workers. ¡°Iliyal.¡± Kassandora started pointing to various districts in Nanbasa. ¡°You are on city garrisons. Pull men from the Reclamation War as you need to, with Clerics and sorcerers. However many you need, whoever you need. Just fill them in, multiple layers in each city. Use the civilian infrastructure as needed. Take over homes, but make sure you don¡¯t upset the populace too much.¡± She finished, Iliyal would know what she had in mind. Assigning Divines would then be her responsibility. Iliyal watched as a dozen Lemurs began to fill up a quarter of a mall¡¯s parking space. They would stay here for now, and later be separated once he found locations and plans for each individual team to use, already he found locations to hide several. From the tops of multi-storey carparks to the entrances of tunnels to warehouses left behind by Sokolowski¡¯s industrial retreat. It would be a lot of work, but there was Goddess Kassandora, there was him, and then there was everyone else. He¡¯d rather it be a competent member of that hierarchy do the planning. ¡°And then¡­¡± Kassandora said as she turned back to look at the ocean. And what then? It was all she could do frankly, the war would be won based on whether Epa would win its conflict or not. They had no real way of harming Uriamel as things stood right now. ¡°And then we wait for the long haul.¡± Chapter 229 – Putting Magic To Rest Kassandora pointed with a stick at the board behind her. These men had made the Binturong, they had made the Raptor, the Lemur, the Lynx and the multitude of rifle models that now existed. It was one thing to steer a ship along with the wind, it was another to try and wrestle with it every step of the way. Kassandora would have not achieved half the success she managed if she did not know how to go with the flow. So the Goddess of War smiled at the engineers as she dropped the series of projects onto the table. Two models of helicopter, a heavy bomber, a fighter, something lighter than the Lynx, a handheld mortar, a quick jeep, a troop carrier, one for mass production and one armed with a small turret. Anti-aircraft guns, both mobile and stationary, and missiles. She did not care what order they would be done. Once the invasion from the ocean actually came, she could start reacting then. But for now, all she could do was just get as far ahead as possible. ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± Anassa said as she finished crafting a golden ring. Personally, she hated any sort of work this precise. It was easy to mess up, and a single mistake would send her back to the start. She had taken a small heartstone gem and wound it tightly into the gold, to make a thick ring. It worked under the same principle that Elassa¡¯s containment crystals did, but naturally better. Better because Anassa made them. ¡°Took you long enough.¡± Fer said idly. She had been tasked with helping Anassa watch over Elassa as the Goddess of Sorcery manufactured a ring strong enough to keep the woman in check. The magical array in the Divine Library had been old technology. Once Kassandora had explained what a containment crystal was, it was undoubtedly better. And once Anassa worked out the details, she didn¡¯t need to know the nitty gritty details of it. It would work because she willed it to work. ¡°Could you have made it?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°I¡¯d have eaten the limbs and sewn the wounds. Then have two guards cut off the nubs whenever they start re-growing.¡± Fer said, her head resting on the table as her golden eyes stared at Elassa. The Goddess of Magic went pale with the words. ¡°I wasn¡¯t threatening, don¡¯t worry Ela.¡± Fer said. ¡°That¡¯s worse.¡± Elassa managed to whisper out. Anassa saw Fer smile in satisfaction to herself as she brought over the finished ring. As always, magic worked out the principal, sorcery mastered the work. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Elassa asked as Anassa put the ring down on the table. They were in CR. Elassa wasn¡¯t around close to Nanbasa, and no one wanted to leave sleeping Baalka without a supervisor in case the Goddess did actually wake up. Fat chance of that though, Anassa had tried, Kavaa had tried, even Arascus and Fer had tried. Even Neneria had tried to coax Baalka¡¯s soul to awaken, but there had been nothing. Yet the woman¡¯s heart was still beating, she was still breathing, so Anassa would let her sleep for a thousand years more if it meant she would wake up. ¡°This is a containment crystal.¡± Anassa said innocently. It basically was, simply an enchantment of draining on a hungry catalyst that constantly leaked its energies into the air. It wouldn¡¯t work on someone like Fer, who was naturally strong, but on Elassa? Who practically a living leyline node? It would drain her quickly. ¡°But in ring form, but it on.¡± Elassa looked up at Anassa from her chair. She was in a dress of blue, one that Helenna had so generously sewn for the Goddess of Magic at Arascus¡¯ behest. Anassa herself was just wearing her conjured clothes, and now that Fer was out of Nanbasa and that CR was almost empty, she was walking around in animal skins again. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°It will work.¡± Anassa said. ¡°I¡¯d rather you put it on.¡± Fer hurried Elassa up. The woman was impatient today. ¡°How do you know it will work?¡± Elassa asked nervously as she prodded the ring with her fingernail. It moved lightly on the table, as any other ring would. ¡°Because I made it.¡± Anassa replied. ¡°Now put it on.¡± Elassa sighed. She looked up at Anassa, she down across the table at Fer. Of Beasthood¡¯s two ears bounced as she nodded for Elassa to hurry up. The Goddess of Magic sighed again, she picked up that ring of gold. With red veins as if it was pumping blood, and she slipped it on her finger. Anassa felt it immediately, the seeping magic pouring from Elassa as if every pore in the woman¡¯s skin had suddenly started to sweat her magical energies out. Of Sorcery took a deep breath in that small wooden room, it was one of the giant trees that made up Central Requisitions. The brown walls seemed to get richer in colour, Fer¡¯s ears up stood up, her hair turned a richer shade of gold. And Elassa swayed in her seat. Once to the left, once to the right. Forwards and backwards and forwards again. Anassa put her hand on the woman¡¯s shoulder. There were maybe a dozen people on this world she did not like to see suffer, Elassa was one of them. But she still needed to be imprisoned. That much was obvious. They had all scene Allasaria¡¯s new proclamation. Anassa would be needed in the coming days, and she would not be able to fight a war if she had to stay by Elassa every day. The ring was a temporary measure, it would have to be recharged every now and then. If Elassa started fighting it, it would run out of power in just two weeks. Otherwise it should hold for two months. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± Elassa moaned, her throat trying to make some word. ¡°She looks as if you¡¯ve drugged her.¡± Fer said flatly. She looked at Elassa with those golden eyes. Maybe in front of someone else, Fer would try and pull a face or feign an emotion. Not in front of Anassa though, yet even though they knew each other far too well for Fer to hide what she was feeling, Anassa still not could not read that woman¡¯s face. Was it concern? Fer was empathetic. But for Elassa? Was it pity? Was it just cynical approval? Anassa could not place her finger on it. ¡°She¡¯s most likely feeling drugged right now.¡± Anassa said. That was how it usually went when energies were expelled so rapidly. That was the difference between Anassa¡¯s ring and Elassa¡¯s crystals. Elassa¡¯s stopped energy from escaping, Anassa¡¯s stopped them from entering in the first place. A far more total approach to imprisonment. Elassa swayed as she felt herself fainting. What Divine had not felt themselves faint at least a dozen times? She leaned forwards to get the blood flowing back into her head. Terrible. Just downright terrible. She tried moving her hand to the ring, but her arms wouldn¡¯t respond. Someone grabbed her shoulder. Fer looked at her, looked at Anassa and stood up. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. What they were saying, Elassa had no clue about. Her body simultaneously felt as if it had all the weight in the world, yet was also weightless. She was sure she was spinning her arms about, yet she knew they weren¡¯t moving. She was cold, yet a sweat had burst out across her whole body. She had never felt more alive, yet she was sure this was what dying felt like. ¡°I can take her.¡± Anassa said glumly from behind Fer. This was truly annoying. The comments, the argumentation, everything else, she could take. Yet when someone else touched Elassa, it was the same as if a member of the White Pantheon tried to touch Arascus. It simply would not be. Elassa was Anassa¡¯s. Why was Fer the one who was carrying her back to her room? ¡°It¡¯s better when they can hear a heartbeat.¡± Fer said. She held Elassa close over her chest, her head nuzzling into the woman¡¯s bosom. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Anassa barked from behind. She wasn¡¯t even walking, only floating through the air as sorcery carried her. ¡°You¡¯ll carry her with sorcery.¡± Fer said. ¡°And I am telling you, it¡¯s better when they can hear a heartbeat.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anassa had never heard of such a thing. Yes, for babies. But Elassa wasn¡¯t a newborn, she was older than Anassa. Maybe older than Fer, although no one really knew how old Fer was. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Fer replied flatly. ¡°It¡¯s just how it is.¡± Anassa scowled and rolled her eyes from behind. There was no point arguing and besides, Fer was the people person amongst them. What claim to fame did Anassa have about playing with hearts? ¡°Are these free?¡± ¡°Put her next to¡­¡± Anassa remembered Elassa did not know who they had sleeping in this tree. ¡°Well, you know who.¡± ¡°I do.¡± Fer said, she stopped next to Baalka¡¯s door, awkwardly moved to open the door as she still held Elassa. Anassa snapped her finger and the door opened itself, at least this way she could pretend she was useful. Fer stepped in, crossed the entire room in three long steps and gently rolled Elassa onto the bed. ¡°Isn¡¯t that adorable?¡± Who was she even asking? Was the smile for herself, or directed at Elassa? Ana knew it wouldn¡¯t be for her at least. Fer leaned down and put the back of her hand onto Elassa¡¯s forehead. ¡°She¡¯s hot.¡± ¡°It will pass.¡± Anassa said. It always did with these things, they were never pleasant. Anassa¡¯s eyes bulged as Fer sat Elassa straight and pulled the woman¡¯s dress up and over her head. The next moment, Elassa was rolled up into covers and Fer purred from above. ¡°You don¡¯t have to strip her.¡± ¡°Better she sweat into the bed than her clothes.¡± Fer said and pointed to Elassa¡¯s shoes. ¡°You do those.¡± ¡°Why me?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°Stinky.¡± Fer replied. Anassa rolled her eyes, snapped her fingers, sighed, and listened as the pair of boots shot off Elassa¡¯s feet and onto the floor. ¡°And the socks too.¡± Fer added. Anassa snapped her fingers again and the socks thumped into the wall, then bounced down onto the floor. ¡°There we go.¡± Fer said as she rolled Elassa onto the side, head on the pillow, one arm forwards, the other supporting the head. One leg forwards too, to stop the Goddess from rolling onto her back. ¡°Do you find that fun?¡± Anassa asked incredulously. This was a farce! Elassa would be up by the end of the day, once her energies drained, she¡¯d stop feeling as if she was dying. ¡°I do!¡± Fer said. Anassa merely turned as Fer spun to fetch a bowl. That she placed at the foot of the bed. Then she brought a bottle of water, cracked it open, and held it to Elassa¡¯s lips. ¡°Drink Ela. Drink.¡± ¡°Mmmhhh¡­.¡± Elassa made some unintelligible sound. ¡°Are you serious?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°When you and Kassie fight, who takes care of you?¡± Fer said. Anassa blinked. It was Fer. Every single time. She sat there, on Elassa¡¯s bed, stunned. How could she even reply to that? Anyone who wasn¡¯t one of Anassa¡¯s sisters, Anassa would scoff at for this behaviour. It was merely playing nice to try and get someone into debt. But Fer? Fer had no magic, only raw strength and speed, and she could rival Anassa in power. Why would Fer, of all people, ever act in such a way? ¡°This is fun?¡± Anassa asked flatly. She watched Fer rub Elassa¡¯s head and mouth drinking water. Elassa drank some. ¡°You¡¯re serious?¡± ¡°Nene bakes. Olephia paints. I can¡¯t do this?¡± Fer said in a happy tone as Elassa drank a quarter of the bottle. ¡°I think she¡¯s going to be sick.¡± ¡°She¡¯ll be sick a few times. It depends on how much power leaves her.¡± Anassa said. She had gone through the same thing after all, several times, it was good endurance and regeneration training. ¡°Archmages may throw up once, but Divines?¡± Anassa rolled her head from side to side. Elassa would be throwing for the next hour, if not two. Fer quickly grabbed Elassa¡¯s shoulders, rolled her onto her front, and pulled forwards over the edge of the bed. In the next moment, Elassa emptied her stomach into the pink bowl on the floor. ¡°Are we feeling better?¡± Fer asked it in the same way she¡¯d ask a child. Elassa looked up at her, looked down at the bowl, and coughed. ¡°More water. Drink. You¡¯ll throw it up, but better than coughing your stomach out.¡± And Anassa watched. Maybe she had never seen this, because whenever Fer was like this, Anassa was in Elassa¡¯s position. She didn¡¯t know what it was. Annoyance? No, not annoyance. There was nothing annoying about it. Even if Elassa was a White Pantheon member, she was still a prisoner. Fer would treat Allasaria this way if she was given the opportunity. It was that simple. She would treat everyone this way, but she was treating Elassa this way right now. Elassa, and not her¡­ Anassa caught herself. What a child. Was she really jealous because this girl was getting doted on? It was just entertainment for Fer, in the same way that little girl played with dolls, Fer played with the needy. It was nothing to worry about whatsoever. Fer made Elassa drink more water, which Elassa threw up, to which she drank more, until she stopped throwing up. It was as simply as that. Fer used a small cloth to wipe her mouth, and then gently pushed her deeper into the bed. ¡°Don¡¯t throw up there. Alright Ela?¡± ¡°Mmhh-hhhmmm.¡± Elassa confirmed from the pillow. She had curled up into a bowl, only the top of her head visible. Two blue eyes looked through messy dark hair at Fer, at Anassa, and back again. ¡°You¡¯re sweating.¡± Fer said. Elassa nodded and pulled the bedsheets tighter around herself. ¡°Cold.¡± She whimpered. ¡°It will be fine once you run out entirely and stabilize.¡± Anassa said again. It really was that simple. Elassa moaned, her hands appeared from under the covers, her fingers tried to fiddle with the ring. Anassa merely watched, she herself had never been contained by a containment crystal, but Kassie had. And Kassie knew all too well what it felt like. Elassa¡¯s hands moved, her fingers closed around the ring, and then they stopped. The shiver, the woman strained, she burped, and Fer quickly grabbed her to pull her over the edge of the bed. And all the water she had drank left her again. ¡°Here, some more.¡± Fer said. Elassa drank greedily, and she looked at her finger. She tried touching the ring with her other hand. It would close most of the distance, and then her hand would simply stop, unable to press on any further. ¡°Mine are different.¡± Elassa said weakly. ¡°Are they?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°Mine, you can¡¯t move towards it if you the intention of moving it. Yours is almost like a challenge.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome to read it as that, it¡¯s a challenge of sorcery.¡± Anassa smiled, there was no one on this world who would beat her in that. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Elassa said as Fer passed her another bottle of water. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡± Fer said as she patted Elassa¡¯s head. ¡°We¡¯ll stay here until we¡¯re recalled, alright?¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Elassa said, Anassa saw the woman finally smile, and she smiled herself. Elassa did not know what it was. Maybe she had imagined Fer would be worse? Maybe it was the illness of her magic being drained? Maybe it was that now, she had a constant reminder of the fact she was a prisoner on her finger? But whatever it was, she really did have to admit one thing. How Fer was treating her right now, no one had ever done. Chapter 230 – A Rebellion To Be Squashed Kassandora looked Nanbasa. In one week, she had managed to re-arrange the city. Through sorcery and through technology, it was tiring affair. The east side of the ring, the city¡¯s industrial district, had been cannibalized. All the expensive machinery moved to the city¡¯s west. Now those empty factories and warehouses were being converted into bunkers and castles. Tunnels were being excavated to connect them, and more were being built under the giant animal reserve. Iniri and Fer had taken it upon themselves to find some place for the lions and elephants and lions to be safely taken too, and now Nanbasa¡¯s zoo sat with only half the animals it once did. In a few days, it would be all empty. Then Kassandora would start driving artillery into the outcroppings of trees. Not Arika, but Epa. It was almost offensive on one hand, as if Allasaria was telling Fortia the woman was simply not good enough to try and fight on behalf of the White Pantheon against Arascus. But then Fortia had tried once. She had tried with Maisara, and Elassa, and her own orders when they were at their peak. She had tried when Arascus did not even control Kirinyaa¡¯s government yet. And she had failed. There was no way to re-frame the situation, there was no pretending to be done. She had gone in, and she had failed. ¡°Waeh was the biggest loss.¡± Maisara said as she looked over the map of Epa. It was Fortia, Maisara, Theosius and Tasaidien. The two Goddesses in their armour, Maisara¡¯s great-axe leant against the wall next to Fortia¡¯s spear. Theosius had come with his muscled chest exposed, although the whole man was covered in a layer of soot. He had been working on new weaponry for the countless invention Divines since Allasaria made the call that Pantheon Peace was no longer to be abided by. And Tasaidien, he stood there, on the other side of the table, looking up at Fortia, at Maisara and back down at the map. He hadn¡¯t said anything yet, but then he wasn¡¯t here because Fortia wanted him here, he was here because Allasaria had assigned him to Fortia¡¯s front, and there had been no argument about it. Fortia caught her line of thought, and realised Allasaria only been back for a few days, and that already she was starting to grind on Fortia¡¯s nerves. Not her fault, she thought. That much was true, if Fortia had won in Kirinyaa, then Allasaria would have lost her position in the Pantheon. If Fortia had won in Kirinyaa, then it would be Allasaria who was agonizing over this Epan situation. Fortia sighed. But she had not won, so it was her job to agonize over, and not Allasaria¡¯s. She looked up at Maisara and Tasaidien. They had stared long enough, now was time to get to work. ¡°Maisara, how quickly can your orders be mobilized?¡± Fortia asked. The Goddess of Order pointed to where Olympiada sat on the map, in the country of Gracya. ¡°Everyone is here already.¡± Maisara said as she blew a lock of silver-grey hair back out of her face. ¡°Some of my members were arrested in Lubska, I know I took a few fatalities in Rancais too, we¡¯re still counting but there won¡¯t be more than a hundred who have gone missing. It¡¯s a drop in the bucket. ¡°And the fortresses?¡± Fortia asked. Unlike the Guardians, who largely worked with offices in cities, the Paladins still carried on the tradition of having castle-towns. Small forts scattered across the landscape to keep order. Drayim fortress was one example. It was a shame that Waramunt had died, although Fortia had assumed so when she heard that Iliyal had led the assault. A man didn¡¯t get to that age only to die to an Invention-tier Divine. ¡°Still operational, I¡¯ve told the people who are there to stay there.¡± Maisara said. Much like Drayim, most of the fortresses had their own deities protecting them. They would hold. They should hold. Both Maisara and Fortia here had seen Olonia fight. A Goddess like that was nothing to worry about, and apparently, she was one of the better warriors of the group. ¡°Are any near airports? Or can they be resupplied?¡± Fortia asked. Maisara started to quickly place pins on the maps to mark the airports. ¡°You can see for yourself. I wouldn¡¯t try and engage an airport though. It¡¯s too close to cities to take down effectively.¡± ¡°But we can shut them down.¡± Fortia said, she looked over to the God of the Forge, he straightened his back and flexed his muscles. Fortia did not know if it was working from the forge all those years, or if the man had just naturally developed into such a monster. His arm was as thick as her thigh. Whatever, it time for the first job. ¡°Theosius.¡± Fortia said. ¡°We need a modern catapult. Something like a mortar. Long range and accurate, it doesn¡¯t have to be too powerful.¡± Theosius nodded with every word and then answered with his own. It rumbled like the beginnings of a huge avalanche. ¡°So small then?¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer for it to be carried by an unblessed man. If that¡¯s impossible, then a Paladin or a Guardian has to be able to lift it.¡± Fortia replied and the man nodded. ¡°What for?¡± He asked. Fortia raised an annoyed eyebrow at him. She wondered if Kassandora ever got backtalk like this as the God shrugged. ¡°If I know what for, then I¡¯ll know what we¡¯re aiming for.¡± He explained in an exhausted tone.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°To cause holes in roads and runways. Something to simply lob explosives over a distance.¡± Theosius nodded. ¡°See?¡± He said. ¡°Now I know explosive ammunition is involved.¡± ¡°That was a given.¡± Fortia quickly replied, the God shook his head and sighed. ¡°It will be done.¡± He said. There, that was an answer she could appreciate. ¡°We such down the airports with the new weapon, simply blast holes in the runway. A team in a car will be able to get it done quickly.¡± ¡°What about mages?¡± Maisara asked. Fortia only smiled back at her friend. ¡°Do you want to use them?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± That simple, there was nothing to argue about when it was dealing with just Maisara. They both knew precisely why, the answer was that no one wanted to be held in Elassa¡¯s debt. If they relied on that woman¡¯s power, it was one thing, but Fortia assumed Epa would have rifles. And if they had rifles, then it would only be a matter of time before magician¡¯s blood was spilled. It was one thing if mages died at Elassa¡¯s behest, but it would be the headache of a generation if Fortia ended up killing one of Elassa¡¯s favourite mages. ¡°We should circle around Erdely.¡± Maisara said as she traced a line with her finger. Up north, through Dakia, into Lubska, then Doschia, then Rancais. ¡°Make a circle like that.¡± Fortia shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t see why we extend the war that much.¡± She explained. ¡°This is not Kassandora we¡¯re fighting. It¡¯s just mortals. Do you think they know anything of battle doctrine? Of logistics? Even if we assume that Kassandora sends Iliyal or some other general.¡± Fortia imagined the Goddess of War wouldn¡¯t, not when Uriamel was breathing down their neck. ¡°Then do you think the Epans will just surrender all authority to him? They call themselves a Coalition, but it¡¯s just five upstarts.¡± Fortia knew very well how quickly coalitions of that nature started to succumb to internal strife. The White Pantheon had been formed as an anti-Arascus coalition after all. ¡°I push into Rilia.¡± Fortia said. ¡°This will be the southern front, with my Guardians for support. I¡¯ll take some minor deities, but Rilia has too long of a coastline to defend it.¡± There was that, and there was the fact that explaining such tactical minutiae to Maisara and Tasaidien was not important. What she did on the Southern Front would not be important, as long as Rilia fell. ¡°Maisara, you go down your route, as you pointed out. Secure Dakia first though.¡± ¡°Secure them?¡± Maisara asked, there was an inch too much glee in her tone though. ¡°They¡¯ve not declared for the Coalition, but they¡¯ve not explicitly allied with the Pantheon either.¡± Fortia said. Sending Maisara in that way may be a bad call actually, but most of Maisara¡¯s fortresses were in central or northern Epa. The Goddess of Order would simply do better in that region, so there was no reason for Fortia to try and overstep. ¡°So?¡± Maisara asked. Fortia sighed. But if Maisara was actually going to keep acting this way, then maybe Fortia should take over that front, for the beginning of the war. ¡°You go in, you give them the rundown, you don¡¯t do any massacres.¡± There, even Maisara should be able to understand that. ¡°No massacres.¡± Maisara said. ¡°But force?¡± ¡°If they¡¯re not with the Pantheon, they¡¯re with the Coalition Maisara.¡± Fortia said harder this time. Maisara nodded with a knowing smile. ¡°That I understand.¡± She said as Fortia looked up. ¡°Tasaidien, you will have two roles.¡± The God of Alanktyda made a grim face, although he didn¡¯t argue back. He only stood there, looking at Fortia, as she started to explain the orders. There was something annoying about the man, the fact he used a trident and that it was so similar to her spear. The fact he wore a crown. What sort of Divine needed to wear a crown? Even Arascus had never worn one. Divines were Divines, that should be all that was needed to be said about them. ¡°Firstly, I expect Allia to be sending supplies to the other countries. If not, then they¡¯ll act as some logistician or supplier. Maybe they plan to open a trade route to Ausa. Or around all Arika and dock in Kirinyaa.¡± That last option, she doubted, but it wouldn¡¯t be unreasonable for Arascus and Richard VI to have set up some scheming plan on how to get artillery out of Arika and into Epa. ¡°I want a full blockade on Allia.¡± The God looked at the map. ¡°Everything?¡± He asked. Fortia knew what he meant. ¡°Even the civilian goods. Even the granary ships. Everything. Not a single ship leaves that port. This is akin to the Great War.¡± Tasaidien didn¡¯t look like he was impressed with the idea, but neither did he look horrified by it. ¡°Not a single ship will leave then.¡± Fortia smiled to herself as the God of Alanktyda spoke again. ¡°And the second?¡± ¡°I assume you can create some sort of naval invasion force for us?¡± It most likely wouldn¡¯t be needed, but after seeing the situation in Kirinyaa, she wasn¡¯t going to simply walk into Rilia. No. It would be an invasion, just as they deserved. ¡°To support your troops? We can have transports. Sea-splitters can be used too.¡± ¡°That would be perfect.¡± Fortia replied, smiling. Why bother with ships? It wasn¡¯t a large sea, a few days march and the distance would be covered on foot. ¡°How long would it take you to prepare everything?¡± Tasaidien shrugged. ¡°A week from now, I can have the Allian blockade running. Two, and your naval invasion of Rilia can begin.¡± ¡°And you Maisara?¡± ¡°Most of my Paladins are here already, it¡¯s just a case of marshalling the forces.¡± Fortia smiled. It was the same with her. ¡°Then use these two weeks to secure Dakia. Then we both move onto the Coalition.¡± So it was done. The Epan Coalition thought it would be a bonfire? What were they even thinking? They weren¡¯t even a spark, and Fortia was coming in to drown them in their own blood. Olonia readjusted her armour and drew her straight sword as she looked at Zamek Ksios. An ancient fortress, built before the Great War. A Paladin stronghold, not the headquarters, but a recruiting grounds none the less. It was in the south west of the country, close to a major highway which served as a vital artery for the connection between Doschia and Lubska. Their shared blood flow of weapons shipments could not be slowed down by such a large clot. So Zamek Ksios had to go. Those two battles with Iliyal had been with training wheels. Now it was time to see how much the training had really given her. Olonia drew her straight-sword and heard the two hundred men behind her flick the safety of their guns off. Chapter 231 – The Hunger of a Nation From experience, there is only one of two ways that Divines usually end up going once they taste blood. Maybe it is simply the Ages we come from, but only a tiny fraction of Divines are actually repulsed by Death. I know not of any abstract and only a few forces. Forces in themselves though rarely have a stance on the matter. Most are like Zerus, hesitant to kill out of sheer apathy and sloth rather than some grand morality. Some inventions I know are very much against the premise of fighting and killing. People mistake inventions. They are not good, they are not noble. It is not that they can kill but choose not to, it is that they are harmless in the first place. An organized band of mortals, not even magicians, will be able to take down nine in ten inventions. The more common stance is the acceptance of warfare. However even this, I would write, is some joyous act as moralists like to write. It is a fact that Divines have power, so naturally we will use that power. Most of us do not celebrate in killing, however most of us understand that sometimes, only the blade can sort an issue out. I would not even say it is bad. It is perfectly natural. We are ageless and infertile. When mortals are enemies, they can still shake hands and settle a peace for the good of their offspring. When someone like Kassandora is your enemy, what can you even shake hands over? The moment the Goddess of War declares you as being in her sights, you have a target permanently etched onto your back. Another fact I would add is that mortals change their views about as often as Divines do, which is never. Mortal society still advances because new generations come to replace the old, it is not a case of ideas being defeated, it is a case of ideas being replaced. Thus, we get to the Divine issue. We do not die in anyway but by combat. A figure like Kassandora, who seeks to turn everything into a war. A figure like Olephia, who is untouchable, a figure like Fer, who is beyond brutal in all her actions, a figure like Arascus, who is ever hungry in his need for conquest. How can we ever get along with these figures? If Arascus was a mortal king, he would have a simple solution. It wouldn¡¯t matter if he had all the powers he had, even if he had all the Divines he called Daughter-Goddesses on his side. He could simply be out-waited until time felled him. But Arascus is Divine, so he is ageless. Kassandra, Fer, Anassa likewise. There is no debate to be had. It is not that they are wrong in their logic. It is that they come from such a rotten foundation that whatever ideas they manage to construct will inevitably be tainted by the cursed soil they are built on. When the situation looks like this, is a fight to the death not the most obvious way to solve our issues? Excerpt from ¡°The Issue of Immortality¡±, written by Goddess Maisara, of Order. ¡°We are ready on your mark.¡± Olonia heard the voice of one of her soldiers come through the earpiece. She had sworn to learn their names, but that hadn¡¯t worked out. Very simply, everything had moved too quickly. By the time she got to the campsite with Iliyal, Kavaa and Fer, where they had trained, the three were discussing ways of getting back to Arika in order to inform Kassandora about the Tartarus threat. Then they had learned that Epan Separation had happened whilst they were underground. Helicopters came to pick them up, Fer carried Iliyal and Kavaa out of Erdely to be picked up by their jets. And they split up once again. When Olonia had returned to Zawitz, she was swarmed with Jozef¡¯s men all asking for an opinion on what to do. And what was she supposed to say to that? She wasn¡¯t a general, she didn¡¯t even consider herself a fighter. Yet, she swarmed, so she said what she imagined Iliyal would say. ¡®We have to secure our logistics lines.¡¯ Frankly, she had no clue what that meant, but she heard Iliyal say it once when he was discussing battle-plans with Kavaa. And so, somehow, only a few days later, she was starting at Zamek Ksios, Ksios Castle when translated. A large beast of a structure, it wasn¡¯t one of those castle towns that they built in Rancais and Allia, but rather a huge fortress that sat overlooking a riverbend. An hour¡¯s drive was one of the major highways which connected Lubska and Doschia, so Ksios had to fall. The fact it was situated on a river was just as bad. She didn¡¯t expect it, but Iliyal had taught her to prepare for the worst in every scenario. The worst in this was for the river to be poisoned, and for a solid third of the country to be rendered without a source of hydration. Olonia stared up at those smooth walls, rounded, with arrow-slits for windows. It had crenulations on the walls and balconies, but the roof itself was copper. Maybe a millennia ago it was a proud bronze, but now it was a vivid blue-green as if it tried to copy the beautiful blue sky above. Olonia could make out people watching her party through the arrow-slits and Paladins preparing through the windows. The gatehouse had been shut, the drawbridge raised. There was most likely another Divine like Waramunt in that fortress. Olonia didn¡¯t know what to think. She didn¡¯t think it was terror, but it was nothing positive. Fer would have been excited no doubt, Kavaa would just consider it another job. But Olonia? She didn¡¯t know, maybe it was supposed to be an adventure?Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. But adventures weren¡¯t supposed to be massacres. Which is exactly what was about to happen here. Olonia sighed as she clicked her earpiece. ¡°Breacher team, are we ready?¡± The reply came instantly. A man with a heavy voice that sounded as if he smoked too much. ¡°Ready and waiting.¡± Olonia smiled and clicked her own piece. ¡°Blow it.¡± She raised her blade, and pointed it at the door. Bielik could be used to breach it of course, but she had not been subjected to Fer¡¯s beatings for so long only for her to rely on Bielik every time the situation called on it. The Breacher team did blow it. Olonia heard a hiss come from the nearby pushes, a man swore and something large screamed as it hurtled towards the raised drawbridge. A Doschian invention, Wissel was afraid of what would happen if the White Pantheon was to start deploying its own heavy armour, so a weapon called the Panzerriss had been designed in advanced. There was no great vehicles to deploy it against, but that only meant they had an excess of rockets for it. Olonia didn¡¯t know if the rocket was fast or slow. Slower than a bullet, no doubt, but the size of her fist. Screamed and whistled and just gently caress the wood of the drawbridge. For a moment, Olonia thought it was a dud. She saw the head bury itself into the bark. And then she saw the ball of fire. The rain of stone, the storm of wooden chips, the three great steel beams that held the drawbridge whole were wrenched away and launched into the air. They cascaded into the grass as the smoke start to clear and the fine chunks of rubble started to beat down on the field. Olonia slammed the visor on her helmet shut and was already running. The men got the order. The bushes around Ksios opened fire. And men started to drop. From the tall walls to those who were putting up shields in preparation. A new design had been introduced since Arika, much heavy steel that the small rounds merely plinked against and bounced off. Glass windows shattered and another explosion came from another Panzerriss rocket. In the chaos, no one so much as tried to mount a defence. Olonia did not have to dodge a single crossbow bolt. She still ran with all the awareness Iliyal had tried to instil in her. Never once looking too long at one spot, always keeping herself prepared. Always anticipating the worst. Iliyal had told her to imagine what it would be to fight against herself. Olonia only found that a challenge, how could you prepare for against yourself? She knew her own weaknesses, and then she fought against Fer. And she realised she had so many weaknesses there wasn¡¯t even point to list them. Olonia disappeared into that grey cloud of smoke as the soldiers behind her started pushing up. It was a disorganized mess of men in camouflaged shirts, holding rifles. Some knelt to provide covering fire, others ran straight for the gate. Others still closed half the distance, dropped to the ground, aimed at a window or an arrow slit and waited for an opening. And Olonia, with her marvellous white hair and sleek armour, with sword in one hand and shield in the other, appeared on the other side of that cloud of smoke. Two Paladins, large bulky men, one with a greatsword, the other with a spear and pike. Olonia focused on them immediately, her eyes fixed on them, but for each instant she was looking at that man heft his blade into the air, she was spending two scouting out the walls and windows. No archers or crossbowmen had shown themselves yet. Olonia let the man take the first swing. She jumped to the right, her own sword quickly round just above the man¡¯s sword, and she split his side open at the chest. He fell, the man wouldn¡¯t be standing up from that. Poof. And Olonia felt something good within herself. She turned to the spearman, with the huge shield. Defensive, true, but she had sparred with Agrita. And Agrita was faster and stronger. Olonia stepped forwards and fought in that same dirty way Kavaa did. She slammed her shield into the man¡¯s spear, she kicked the shield. The man fell onto his back, Olonia¡¯s sword made a hole through his heart. And another man fell. And she got into the rhythm of it. She couldn¡¯t have felled more than ten of the Guardians before they realised they couldn¡¯t touch her. She feigned blows, she sidestepped blows, she dodged and she weaved and the few she knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to escape, she knocked back with her shield. And for every blow she dodged, she landed one. A Paladin dropped his weapon after being cut in the shoulder. Another fell after a single blow separate his head from his body. A kick to the legs broke bone, a bash with the shield broke ribs. And as Olonia moved, the Paladins fell. Olonia looked down at her blade as she drove it through a man. She took a step to the side to avoid a heavy greatsword. She raised her shield in time to deflect a crossbow bolt. She sidestepped to stop herself from getting swarmed. It was¡­ it was exhilarating. Seven hundred years she had lived, and not once had she felt this alive. She kept swung and dodged and swung and jumped and swung and stabbed until there was nothing left to swing at. Olonia swung her blade through the air and flicked the blood onto the stone. She looked at the retreating Paladins around her. They tried to retreat in an orderly fashion, but it was weak. If Saksma was here, if any of her friends were here to cover her back and help split attention, she would have charged in. But her friends weren¡¯t here, and there was no one to watch her back in melee. Another burst of gunfire from outside sent more men in silver armour tumbling off the walls and onto the hard cobbles besides Olonia. They started to make quickly expanding puddles of red from the holes in their armour. Olonia took a step forwards. The Paladins took a step back. Poof. Something appeared in Olonia. Something that appreciated the new respect she was being given. This was indeed how Divines should be treated. She took another step. And she saw a figure step forwards. Half-again the height of the Paladins in their great suits of steel plate. This figure was as if somehow had taken one of them, and upscaled the man again. Olonia looked at the God¡¯s green eyes through the helmet in his slit. Waramunt had not looked at her that way. No. Poof. And she felt a hunger within her. And it wasn¡¯t the sort that a simple meal could fill, but this Divine in front of her did look tasty. The way that Divine was looking at her, was the way she looked at Fer. Chapter 232 – A National Goddess War is the most natural state of being there is. If two men have a disagreement, they are in a state of war. In the past, being cities were settled and when nomads ruled the land, wars took place between mere dozens of people. Now, millions march in my Legions, there will come a time when tens of millions will march, when there are enough mortals in existence, wars will take place between billions of souls. Thus, war is merely human nature. It is disagreement brought into action. I sometimes ponder about my disdain for rulers. It stems from a place of disgust, I do not hate them because of something they represent, or because of some abstract value. I hate them because they try to pretend they are better than me. They are not. Politics is not some grand game of life and ideals. Lofty ideals matter not when they are tested against the edge of a blade. All politics merely comes to a preparation for a future conflict, the only question about this conflict is whether it will materialize or not. - Excerpt from ¡°The Philosophy of War¡±, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War. Olonia looked past the corpses around her and at the mass of Paladins on the other side of the courtyard. The road split, one side leading to a small bridge, barely wide enough for a Divine, to a door leading to Ksios keep, the other leading down a wide road. Heavily armoured vehicles were parked there, the riot control vans that Paladins would use whenever they were called in by Lubskan Police to quell a particularly troublesome group of dissidents. It had been in use frequently recently, to shut down the Anti-Pantheon protests that had been rampaging through Lubska. Both of the avenues had a mass of mass, all in heavy steel-silver armour, with shields so thick Olonia was honestly surprised a human could even lift them. Great pieces of steel, rectangular and slightly arced, positioned so that not a single gap was between them. No arrow, nor tiny little would get through unless it managed to penetrate directly through the steel. Olonia saw the massive figure in the middle of the crowd, she saw the grey of armour, the long piece of metal that indicated a greatsword, and she saw that the figure was only approaching her slowly. So it was nothing to worry about for now, Iliyal had taught her that. It was important to concentrate on the bigger picture, rather than threat that would come later. Olonia¡¯s eyes shot to that cloud of dust blocking the gatehouse. It was just starting to clear. Gunshots were coming from the outside of the walls, and through that breach, and windows where the getting smashed. One of the balconies came under a hail of fire, dust rained down where bullets smashed into the large bricks that made up Ksios castle, and two men fell down. Olonia¡¯s men would get here, but they¡¯d need some time. It would be better if she could keep that breach free while her men spilled in. That God, most likely the mascot of this fortress, finally managed to cross that small crowd of Paladins. Men spread out to let him through and the gap was immediately closed behind him when he made it through the shieldwall. That shieldwall was nothing to worry about for now, the men would not advance whilst Olonia was still holding this location. ¡°Who are you!?¡± Olonia shouted. She would take the initiative this time, there was no reason to let this God, whoever he was, try and talk down to her. ¡°I am Ottok.¡± The God replied through the slit of his helmet. He had a greatsword, like most of the Paladins did. No shield though, Olonia didn¡¯t know why, Iliyal had said that if a shield could be stuck on something, it should be stuck on something. ¡°It is a shame to meet you in these circumstances, Goddess of Lubska.¡± The God said as he swung his sword in an easy circle. Long ago, Olonia would have focused on his blade. Not now, her gaze were entirely on his arms. He had to move them upwards slightly when the sword was facing downwards, the blade was simply too long to be wieldy. And he needed both hands to spin in a circle. Saksma could spin hers one handed now, either the blade was too heavy for him, or he wasn¡¯t as skilled with it as he thought. ¡°This is Lubska.¡± Olonia said. ¡°This is my land.¡± She understood why Kavaa thought defensively, it was much easier to try fight reactively and exploit openings in an opponent¡¯s attack. Kavaa rarely fought aggressively in battles, but that meant Olonia and her friends always had to take the initiative during trainings. Olonia had hated it back then, but now she looked at Ottok, in his heavy armour, and she saw shadows of herself. Olonia followed one of those shadows. She wasn¡¯t the Goddess of Health, there was no reason to try and outlast an opponent. After all, just as Iliyal said, the only enemy who could not hurt you was the enemy that was dead. Ottok was taken aback immediately. What did he think would happen? That was here to have a nice chat? To ask him to leave the White Pantheon? He moved swiftly, just as Waramunt had back in Drayim. But then, Olonia had not known what she was doing. Now though? Her eyes scanned the angle of the man¡¯s steel-clad boot. She saw how the ankle bent, he was going to jump to the left. She saw the bend in his shoulder. The way his right arm twisted to bring his blade up. And he would go for a swing. Olonia raced forwards. Iliyal had made her fight Fer, and she knew what to do with blows that she was too weak to block. She raced forwards, her blade low in her right arm, her other arm forwards. She touched Ottok¡¯s armour and pushed him back. She grabbed the man¡¯s arm, spun around him as he swung his sword down. And she circled around him.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. With a heavy blade on his front and a Goddess on his back, Ottok lost balance. He smashed the greatsword into the ground, tried to recover and Olonia swiftly followed up. This wasn¡¯t Iliyal¡¯s lesson, this was Kavaa¡¯s and Fer¡¯s. A Divine had a weapon, but a Divine was a weapon. There wasn¡¯t a part of Olonia that was safe. Her sword swung at the man¡¯s leg. It bounced off his armour, only denting it lightly in the thigh. That didn¡¯t matter, her elbow was already launching at the man¡¯s side. She heard metal scream against steel, and she saw Ottok try to mount a counter-attack. He stabbed the Greatsword into the air, behind himself, and Olonia once again stepped forwards, once again around him, to his front this time. All three of her teachers were responsible for this, when facing an enemy with a weapon like this, the tactic was to close the distance as much as possible. And Olonia caught the God¡¯s calf with foot. She swung at his armour at the same time. The blade merely bounced off, but combined with the kick at his legs, it was enough to knock him over. Olonia watched Ottok topple onto his back. It was over. She had been in this position against Kavaa. Never against Fer, but Fer was such a monster that the moment that Goddess landed a single blow on her, it was over. Olonia stabbed her blade with all her strength down onto the man¡¯s chest. For a moment, she thought her blade would snap. But then she saw the armour bend inwards, she saw the steel of her sword disappear into Ottok¡¯s chest, and she heard his shout. At least he didn¡¯t scream. Ottok twisted and tried to swing his greatsword to hit Olonia. Even with him on the ground, Olonia wasn¡¯t going to try and block. What was the need when she could simply dodge? Iliyal¡¯s logic, but it did check out. The man swung in the direction of his legs, so Olonia moved upwards, she jumped over his arm, withdrew her blade from his body and did a move she would have never considered in the past. Not anymore though. The only person who decided what was acceptable in a battle was the winner. She took another step, arced her leg back, and she kicked Ottok¡¯s helmeted head as if it was a ball. The man¡¯s helm soared off his head as he screamed, his entire body was flung as far as Fer was tall from the Goddess of Lubska. Olonia looked at Ottok, at that battered God, and she saw the terror painted on his face. ¡°I am Olonia, Goddess of Lubska.¡± Olonia pulled her blade out of the God¡¯s arm. ¡°You are Ottok, God of a Lubskan Castle. I relieve you of your duties Ottok.¡± Olonia took a step as Ottok scrambled away from her, his rear sliding along the ground as he hastily tried to largen the distance between them. It didn¡¯t work, not with Olonia closing the gap with her long strides. The steps of her boots echoed against the stone walls as the audience, both her own soldiers and the Paladins watched with a silent combination of horror and awe. ¡°You are going up against the White Pantheon!¡± Ottok made one last attempt to save his life. Olonia did not give the man even a single inch of sympathy. The White Pantheon, through seven hundred years, had treated her like a mascot. That was what she was after all. Even the term had changed meaning, before the Great War, it was more akin to ¡°representative¡±, now it meant exactly what ¡°mascot¡± meant. She was merely a useful toy, to be used and thrown away when the time called for it. ¡°And?¡± Olonia asked. She took another step as Ottok¡¯s back finally pressed against a wall. He only made a terrified expression, blood leaking from his mouth as he tried to back away further and further. ¡°And?!¡± Olonia screamed this time. ¡°I SAID: AND?!¡± Was she going to get a reply or not? ¡°It¡¯s the White Pantheon!¡± Ottok managed to blurt out. He obviously wasn¡¯t going to say anything more than that, not with the stammering he was going through, not with the way he was trying to push away from Olonia even though he was already against a wall. Olonia glared at him in disgust. How many times had Fer broken her arms? She had been paralyzed, just as Paida had, Kavaa had ran her blade through Olonia¡¯s stomach countless times, it was easy to measure it by the hour rather than to count it. And Olonia had done what to Ottok? Bruised him a little? Stabbed him here and there? This is what she was going up against? This was a fucking disaster. It was shameful that the man had come in so full of Pride, as if he was even touching the level Olonia was on. ¡°I agree.¡± Olonia said as she extended her arm. ¡°I am the quality of Divine for Epa.¡± The blade twisted in the air, the edge held sideways. ¡°And you are the quality of Divine for the White Pantheon.¡± And in one quick movement, the God¡¯s fell off. Poof. And gone. All that fear, all that disgust. It was gone. Why was she afraid? She had faced Kavaa. She had faced Fer. She had faced a Great War general and a legend when it came to fighting in melee. She had been right on not calling in Bielik for this battle. There was simply no need to. Olonia took a deep breath as she watched Ottok¡¯s head roll off his body and heard the collective gasp from that group of Paladins. She wondered if the man had ever even had his bones broken in training. Most likely not, or maybe it had happened so long ago that he had grown soft. She didn¡¯t know. She didn¡¯t care. Iliyal was correct, some questions did not need answers, some questions were merely statements that should be accepted. Olonia flicked her sword through the air, painting a line of Divine blood onto the cobbles by her feet. She turned to the Paladins, not even looking at the men behind her. The straight rose in the air, the tip pointed at the line of shields. The Paladins were looking at her with eyes that tried to balance trepidation with fear. Olonia knew that emotion, she had made it when she had to battle Fer or Kavaa. That terrible awe of facing something you know you can¡¯t defeat. Kavaa, with her thousand years of experience in battle, and Fer, with her natural speed and strength. And now, she had that look directed at her. Olonia smiled to herself. She really did appreciate that gaze, it was one of the biggest compliments anyone could give her. It was a voicing of her power or her skill, it wasn¡¯t some verbal statement about how grand she was. No. It was merely a fearful acknowledgement of her raw power. The tip of her blade remained dead still as Olonia spoke. The men behind her knelt, they drew their guns. ¡°Kill them.¡± Zamek Ksios, Ksios Castle, falls to Epan Coalition Forces. Chapter 233 – The Beaches of Rilia One fundamental difference between Kassandora and Fortia¡¯s leadership styles is their perspectives on warfare. Fortia treats war as a means to an end. From a grander perspective, there is a cold, pragmatic, business mind about her. Just as a business will try to avoid cutting jobs, Fortia will avoid going to war, but when the need calls for it, both will go against their short-term interests for long-term profits. Kassandora on the other hand is an artist. War is the end goal for her, much like the act of painting fulfils those truly passionate in the subject. Kassandora will disagree with me of course, but she is merely a musician stuck playing the same tune for millennia. It is only natural that Kassandora would appear in Epa, where other lands treat war as a matter of settling disputes, Epa treats war as a crucible which forges new legends and ideals. I do not agree with Fortia, Maisara or Allasaria that Epa has somehow been subdued. The tyrannical magocracies are always held over my head in some attempt to remind me why I should be satisfied with just Arcadia, yet where mages the first tyrants? The Age of Heroes stemmed for those ancient Empires, which were just as pragmatic as mine. What of Allasaria¡¯s Purgings? Fortia¡¯s forceful peace-enforcements? Maisara struggles to understand this, yet the answer to why her factory-towns only function in Epa is quite simple. Epan simply have tyranny in their blood. The White Pantheon is fulfilling that need currently, with our benevolent tyranny, but Allasaria¡¯s ideals will never work. If they are given an inch, they will walk the entire mile and return to their famed artistry that painted the Goddess of War. - Excerpt from ¡°Mere Musings on the Post War Order¡±, written by Goddess Elassa, of Magic. Kept within the Divine Library of Arcadia. Agrita, in her heavy plate armour, armed with spear and shield, jumped off the roof of the train as she looked out over a beach in eastern Rilia. Her land, no matter what anyone else said, was the most beautiful in all Epa. The tall cliff immediately behind the beach, the multitude of stairs carved out into the rock for men to walk down, the benches and villas placed high on the cliffs, now empty. The lone trees that peered over the cliff to gaze out onto the ocean. The magnificent Sun above was only rising in the dawn, casting long shadows onto the ocean and the sea beyond the beaches. If there wasn¡¯t an invasion going on, Agrita would have taken a moment to enjoy the view. But there was an invasion going on, and Agrita had been sent to this location. The land here was mountainous and grassy, Agrita could not even begin to consider how the White Pantheon thought moving onto Rilia from the eastern coast would be feasible. But frankly, she assumed Fortia knew better than her. There was no reason to have an ego here, maybe if it was some minor invention from Olympiada, Agrita could argue, but against the Goddess of Peace? The woman who led the White Pantheon¡¯s forces against Kassandora¡¯s Legions? No. Agrita was not going to start pretending she was a better strategist than Fortia. Not today. ¡°STOP!¡± She shouted to her unit. Each Epan army was fielded in a different way. Rancais and Doschia had both amassed their troops into overwhelming forces, but Rilia had too long of a coastline to defend. If one of the major Divines came, then a retreat would be called. Saksma and Olonia had both grown the stupidity to somehow think they could match Fortia in combat, but Agrita knew that wouldn¡¯t happen. They couldn¡¯t defeat Kavaa yet, and she saw how Fer had handled Kavaa. Fortia and Maisara were simply in different leagues. If Agrita saw them, she would order a retreat immediately. But what was the chance of that? Sonar from ships and stations said that there were more than forty different armies approaching Rilia under the ocean. It was a short walk across the sea from Gracya. News said that Allian ships were being intercepted by mermen and sea-monsters. That wasn¡¯t surprising frankly, the White Pantheon had plenty of friends. ¡°AIM! AT THE BEACH!¡± Two forces had already landed elsewhere in Rilia, both had been small scouting forces of a few hundred bronze-clad Guardians. Both had been quickly routed by men armed with the Weapon Divines that had been rescued from Drayim. Both had been recorded by drones. Agrita could have watched those videos a thousand times, and she still would struggle to believe what she saw. But now, the same scene was unfolding before her. The ocean was retreating in an unnatural manner, as if it was preparing to unleash a tidal wave on that thin beach. And then the water stopped, it started to swirl and spin like a carousel. And it spun itself until a tunnel was opened in the ocean. As if it had just been dug out of a stone mountain. A tunnel formed in the ocean, as if a giant snake had just burrowed out of the water and left a giant opening. Inside, through that opening, men with flashlights were slowly marching towards the beach. It would be good if Agrita could find whoever it was that was creating these underwater tunnels, she was sure that some magician could be shot to collapse them, but that was a question that would not be answered today. The first man left the tunnel, turned off his flashlight and looked up at the beach, the cliffs that immediately followed it. There was a set of stairs for civilians here, most had been evacuated or chased away by Agrita¡¯s forces to make sure they would not be hurt in the crossfire of the battle.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The men behind her started to take position, lying on the ground, rifles in front of them as they crawled towards the edge of the cliff. They were only here to mop up the survivors, Agrita turned to look at the train that had brought her here. Rilia had an expansive train network, it was easier to lay rail around cliffs than it was to excavate a wide section of rock in order to clear enough space for a road. And those rails gave Rilia the unique opportunity to use these. A steel monster so grand it was almost farcical, it was a train. This one came with the main engine and three wagons. Two armed with massive cannons, the calibres were large enough for Agrita to stick her entire leg into the barrel. The third wagon, sandwiched between those two gun-carts, sat one filled with ammunition. Pistons were hissing as arms were extending out from the base of the cart, the rails themselves groaned as the guns turned. Men ran out, some fixed steel supports to the wagon, others were running on the structure of the train, on those thin platforms, most without even a railing, and small cranes were ferrying the shells from the ammunition wagon to the guns themselves, with each shell being as large as a man¡¯s entire torso. This was the first time Agrita had seen them in action. The Cannone di Leonardo, named after the engineer who had designed the monster. Agrita took a step back as the engineers started pulling leavers, more pistons hissed, the two railway guns slowly crept upwards. Their barrels casting long shadows as they started their calibrations. When Agrita had seen them, she was sure they would not work. Now, seeing the rails strain as the cannon¡¯s moved, seeing the supports being driven into the ground, she still doubted it. Even as the metallic tang of oil and that smell clean steel always, the engineers that were mere ants scurrying on the two metal colossi, even as it all worked so beautifully together, Agrita could do not see how something so large could ever work. ¡°FIRING IN TEN!¡± One of the engineers shouted from the highest pointed of the ammunition wagon. Other men were signalling to him, and Agrita took a step back, towards the cliff. She drove her spear into the ground and made sure to hold on, just in case. She turned back to look off the cliff. In the distance, on the other side of the beach, more Rilian soldiers had positioned themselves to block off the route south. ¡°NINE!¡± The engineer started counting down. ¡°EIGHT!¡± The set-up had taken so long that the Guardians had all made it onto the beach, and that underwater tunnel which had allowed them to step onto Rilian soil had closed. ¡°SEVEN!¡± Agrita felt her fingers tighten around her spear. ¡°SIX!¡± She saw the around her put earplugs into their ears. ¡°FIVE!¡± Most of the followed up the earplugs by sticking their entire fingers in. ¡°FOUR!¡± Agrita supposed she should do the same. ¡°THREE!¡± The sound of the engineer¡¯s count-down was somewhat muffled now. ¡°TWO!¡± Agrita squinted, half of her still in disbelief and half of her excited. ¡°ONE!¡± Here it went. ¡°FIRE!¡± The explosion came first. Then the wind. Agrita was almost knocked off her feet as her ears started to rings. Her nose forgot how to breath, her mouth forgot how to close. Her ears started to ring as she fell down onto her knees. Her vision went dull for a moment, and she had to blink that stunned feeling away. Agrita¡¯s eyes re-focused on the Guardians on the beach. If she were a human, she would have missed it. But she was Divine, and she saw the two large shells crashing down upon them. They came from almost straight above, as if the Heavens themselves had decided to smite that part of Rilian sand on this day. For one moment, there was a beach, the rolling seaside, Fortia¡¯s Guardians in their bronze-gold armour organizing themselves into parties. Some had noticed the sound and were quick enough to react and look up. Others were still reacting, looking around at the cliffs in confusion. Agrita was sure a few of them had seen her. And the next moment, there was two massive eruptions. She had expected fireballs but somehow, these two defeaning eruptions were more impressive. Agrita watched as those men in that gold-bronze armour scattered on the beach. She watched as they were flung upwards by the huge explosions from her artillery, it was just two, and they had just singlehandedly stopped an entire invading force. She had thought she¡¯d need to go down and assist them, to duel with the leading Divine, but no. Nothing like that, Fortia had not even sent a Divine to support these men. Was that why the White Pantheon had lost in Kirinyaa? Because this is how they fought? That was no surprise then that Kassandora could defeat them even when her nation was put under a global embargo. Frankly, Epa should be free rather than under the boot of people who threw lives away so carelessly as Fortia had just done. Agrita allowed herself a smile. This war was going to be easier than she thought. Fortia looked over her maps and at the various feeds coming from the drones in the air. This was one immediate difference between fighting Epa and fighting Arascus. Arascus had enough competent members, enough sorcerers and enough Divines to shoot down spy drones. These Rilians probably did not even know the spy drones were hovering overhead. The other was that blatant show of force. Kassandora would have answered these small probing attacks with Fer, with Anassa, or if there was this many, she would have sent small teams to investigate hunt Fortia¡¯s men down from the mountains. These had been mere probing attacks, to see how Rilia would react. It did cost lives, but it was all in the service of crafting a peace that would outlast even Pantheon Peace. She would enter the battlefield herself on the next assault, that would be a push of two waves, with one set of small teams once again pulling the attention of Rilia¡¯s artillery, and then Fortia would come in with the main force. That artillery would be a problem, but Alkom or Zerus or Sceo could be pulled to serve in the immediate securing of a beachhead. It was more destructive than Kassandora¡¯s artillery, easily. The Lemurs and Binturongs did not compare, but Fortia would rather face a hundred of these Epan trains than one battery under Kassandora. Why even mount artillery on tracks? Fortia started fetching railway maps of Rilia, it would be impossible for the country to have a rail network spanning down the whole coast. Fortia¡¯s smile curled upwards as she found the spot. Honestly, she missed Kassandora. Putting down these mortals and their silly little mascot Goddesses was going to be too easy. Chapter 234 – The First Days of the Epan War Thus, being aggressively proactive against an equal opponent is a coin-toss. There are some louder opinions on this topic, but the simple fact of the matter is that warfare is like a duel. Once it begins, everything from the weather to the competitor¡¯s morning meal to who is sitting in the crowd can play a part. It is a classic folly to be pushed to action when there is nothing to gain from action. We have seen this in the first forty years, Kassandora thrives in the chaos of warfare more than anyone. To play this game with her of tiny engagements is to suffer a death by a thousand cuts, I have no shame in saying that I cannot defeat the Goddess of War in her own field. Thus, the Chipping Doctrine is proposed. Frontlines will be static and move only upon approval from the highest authority responsible. Tiny engagements will not be responded to, instead grand battlelines will be fortified. The White Pantheon will dominate through the might of its industry and its ability to overwhelm, rather than on the fickle talent of its elite leadership. While I am sure I am capable of finding someone as talented as Iliyal Tremali, Kassandora has a natural gift for picking characters out of her ranks. Offensives will only take place upon openings, whether these are from the immediate losses of the opponent, sustained after a battle or the logistical shock that is an introduction of new weaponry. The goal of offensives will be the seizure of as much easily defendable territory as possible, followed by their immediate fortification. Initiative will not be maintained through pre-emptive action against the opponent¡¯s plans but through an outpacingly quick advance. Until the offensive stalls, after which frontlines are re-fortified. Kassandora is a mountain, blow-by-blow, chip-by-chip, we will topple that mountain. - Excerpt from ¡°How to Fight Kassandora: The Chipping Doctrine¡±, written by Goddess Fortia, of Peace. Maisara walked through the city of Burest, the capital of Dakia, six thousand Paladins behind her swept the streets. A light protest had been put up, to support the Epan Coalition. A light counter-protest had been put up, to support the White Pantheon. Both had crumbled when Maisara¡¯s Paladins crossed the horizon and appeared in viewing distance from the city. Maisara¡¯s looked over at the sandstone buildings, each one a marvellously detailed art piece of a wall, three or four floors tall and filled with apartments. In a grid pattern, each block of towers having their own communal park, it was a nicely organized city. But Maisara did not come here to sight-see. Her eyes were fixed on that marvellous structure ahead of them, one of the greatest palaces to ever be constructed, only thirty years old, a modern marvel that tried to harp back to the great palaces of the Pre-Great War era. Its walls sheer and bare, taking elegance in its simplicity, all sharp angles and tall blocks, rising high above the city. Dakia¡¯s Palace of the Parliament. Dakia had not chosen a side yet. Not the Coalition, nor the Pantheon. Unfortunately for Dakia, it lay in too important a position to be simply overlooked. The country¡¯s east was a straight route to Lubska, and a simple promise of non-aggression was not good enough for Maisara. Maybe Helenna would treat this job as an alliance-making operation. Maisara¡¯s great-axe appeared in her hand and she looked up at that marvellous palace. They should build more buildings like this, it really was beautiful. Maisara was not here to secure friends or alliances for the Pantheon. The time for those sorts of negotiations had long since passed. No. She was here to enforce Order, to keep the natural hierarchy of the world. She stepped on the first step leading to the Palace. Dakia announces full-cooperation with the White Pantheon, and issues an official denouncement of the Epan Coalition. Fortia looked up at the cliffs before her. This was one of Rilia¡¯s most southernmost points, but maybe that was good. Now, she didn¡¯t have to fight a two-front war, going both South and North from the nation¡¯s centre. Now, Peace¡¯s steamroller only had one direction to go in. With Alanktyda securing the waves, her flanks and rear would be safe. Although Rilia did not even have a military navy to take advantage of its own long coasts in the first place. Fortia closed her eyes as she felt the wind pass by in a peculiar way. There it was, a light explosion from the west. The sound indicated it was some forty miles. Five hours over this terrain for Fortia, two days if she had to wait for her Guardians. Fortia looked up at the air, her eyes scanned the edge of the tall cliff. Nothing, no one. This was one of Rilia¡¯s poorest areas, the closest city was several hours drive away. She had not expected an audience, and she got none. And that was perfect. Fortia looked up at the sky. Another explosion came. One of the diversionary forces were being shelled. It was only forty men. Not a lot, but they were asked to spread out quickly, and buy as much time for Fortia¡¯s vanguard as possible. The Goddess of Peace turned to the ocean, it was still being carved by Alanktydan magic to create that tunnel underneath the water. ¡°Onto the cliffs! Secure the area!¡± Fortia shouted. Two thousand men she had brought. Two thousand to secure the road for fifty times that. Fortia¡¯s vanguard force steps foot on southern Rilia. Theosius looked up from his forge and onto the horizon, it was a simple thing, just a flame, a stream nearby for fresh water, several assistants stood about to pass him whatever he needed, and that was it. Olympiada had grander forges, that was for sure, but without Elassa or Iniri there to pull water onto the mountain, it borderline impossible to forge. He preferred his own place anyway, the recent event had tainted Olympiada for him. And besides, it was the skill of the man behind the hammer that made the metal. He crumbled the piece of mithril in his hands and crushed it into a ball. That was a failed experiment anyway. Three different musket prototypes sat besides him, two had been pulled out from Great-War storage, the third he had hand-made only a few hours ago. They all worked, he would be fine arming men of the past with them, but he had seen the weaponry Kassandora had put on her army. Those muskets were simply not good enough. Theosius took a heavy breath and stepped away from the forge. Frankly, he needed a break, and he wanted to enjoy that view. The blue ocean, the bright sky above it, the countless small islands that littered the coasts here. And the hundred ships. Some large transport tankers. Other small boats. A few had sails, other had engines. A research vessel recalled from Artica. Container ships, now empty. All sailing at the same pace, south from Atny, all proudly flying the White & Gold of the Pantheon. That was Fortia¡¯s army. The White Pantheon Navy sets sail for the first time since the Great War. Fortia stepped on the tracks as they started to shake. They had seen enough of this gigantic Rilian artillery to know what it could do, and they had seen enough of it to know what it was coming. Aerial drones said there was four different wagons in the south. Today, number would change. Fortia felt the thick wood of the tracks creak under her weight as the small team of Guardians she had brought as an entourage retreated further up the hill. Only two dozen men, and then it was simply to keep watch and help catch prisoners if they found any. Fortia looked down the tracks, it really was a beautiful land here. The trees plentiful yet tiny, as if trying to fade into the grass. The hills rolled into one another, then suddenly gave way to sharp ridges and cliffs, then started to roll again. There were two small villages in eyesight, maybe three or four hours march at a human pace from this location.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. That didn¡¯t matter though, local uprisings had never been much of a problem for her forces. The Sun slowly started to go crawl behind one of the mountains, and Fortia held out her hand. Her spear materialized within it, she took position, ready to throw, straight down the track. That massive train artillery came hurtling down the track. Its huge cannon pointed straight forwards. The driver must have seen her, as the vehicle¡¯s mad horn started to blow. Fortia took no notice of the horn, nor the vehicle. All her muscles tightened and then she released the spear. The boom came first, as it always did when her spear broke the sound barrier. And then the second sound filled Fortia¡¯s ears. Of metal madly screeching, of pistons wildly hissing, of men shouting. Of ammunition tumbling. Of an explosion. Of fire. Of the rail tearing as the heavy train-artillery pulled them down the mountain with its fall. Forta held out her hand, and her spear rematerialized in it. She looked at the damage, that giant scar of oil and loose rock and fire and tumbling dirt the train had made. It exploded at the bottom of the valley like a pile of fireworks, shells setting off shells in a chain reaction. Fortia¡¯s vanguard force sweeps through Southern Rilia Maisara watched more of her transport planes land. Those hulking behemoths were ferrying a few hundred Paladins to her with every trip. Trains were bringing more men up to Dakia¡¯s north. And day-by-day, the number of trucks here was growing. She climbed onto the back of one such eight-wheeler, first onto the back and then a hop onto the cabin and watched her army. Allasaria had always said that what Maisara did was a waste of her own money. Even Fortia sometimes complained about it. That was nothing to say about the rest of the White Pantheon. For some eight-hundred years, they had called her mad for keeping an armoury. For updating it when new technologies appeared. But this was why the Paladins in Kirinyaa had received the least support from Arcadia, even though they had the largest front. If Elassa had not gone mad, thinking she could stand up against Anassa and Fer and Olephia whilst they were backed by Kassandora¡¯s thinking, then that war would have still been continuing. Frankly, Maisara could see herself reaching the coasts by now. It was true she had taken casualties, but the trade only needed to be one for one. Kirinyaa would run out of men to spare sooner than the rest of the world did. Maisara stood in her silver armour as the Paladins worked in perfect unison, in their perfect camp, in their perfect armour, all moving in their perfect silence apart from the short shouts when commands had to be relayed. She was the Goddess of Order, so she did things as they should be done. Pantheon Peace, she may have not agreed with, but it was set, so she had followed. Just as she had never once broken a promise, she would have followed it till she tied. It was a matter of pride at this point. There was no other Divine alive who could claim to have never once said a lie. It was simply a matter of principle to her. Pantheon Peace was the exception, the default state of humanity was disagreement. That meant the default state was war. So she had prepared for it. Maisara watched the Theosius¡¯ war-automatons, the bulbous centurions with three legs and four arms each, the automated ballistae and catapults. She knew these wouldn¡¯t last through this war, technology had simply outpaced them too far. But if she was not going to use them now, she would never use them. So she may as well pull out all that a thousand years of preparation had given to her. Maisara watched one massive grey plane take off, another quickly land. Two hundred men ran off it in a minute. The plane was already taking off as the next was landing. She turned and she looked north. Keeping Order had been easy in the past. A thousand years ago, simply showing off her executioner¡¯s axe to the local ruler would quell a rebellion. But a millennium of Peace had made mortals forget what it took to maintain that precious, ever-so-orderly, Peace. Tomorrow, she would remind them. Maisara begins the long march through Epa It had been a long time since the last war in Alanktyda. Nothing as mad as Allasaria¡¯s enforced thousand-year peace, but long enough to where only oldest mermen could remember it in any great amounts. Tasaidien swam through the waters, the lower half of his body had transformed into a red-gold fish, the bright scales a sign of his lineage. More mermen swam by his side. The North Sea was cold and dreary, the waters were much better further south, but there was nothing to complain about now. His seers had intercepted one of the ships heading from Allia to Doschia, through a particularly shallow bit of ocean. Tasaidien wondered if that was the humans themselves deciding to take the shallow waters, or whether Kassandora had told them of the great sea-serpents under his command. Those weren¡¯t going to be awoken for this war, not yet. There was no need when he could just use his own mages. Tasaidien¡¯s party of twenty quickly caught up to the ship, guided forwards by dolphins that themselves were being guided by the seers trailing the vessel. They looked up at that huge hull from beneath, it was painted a bright red, although from underneath the colour darkened to the tarnished crimson of spilled blood. Tasaidien gave the orders through his gills, the words bounced throughout the water like a whale song. He got a reply from the other members of the team. They spread out, coral staves were drawn, catalyst-pearls started to glow, the ocean started to swirl. Tasaidien watched as the ship started to tilt from side to side. Up above the surface, the water was already starting to splash onto the containers carrying arms for Epa. And the mermages put more power into it. Long ago, only this would have been enough to crush the wooden boats surface-dwellers used. These steel behemoths were much stronger. But they weren¡¯t strong enough. The mages, half-fish half-human, grit their teeth, their faces turned red with effort even in the cold waters of the deep. They started to groan under the water. But as they groaned, the steel above them started to scream. Alanktyda starts raiding Allian shipping Maisara looked at the small outpost checkpoint that marked the end of Dakia and the start of Lubska. If it was Kassandora, she would have not come this close. If it was Kassandora, the location would have a single team of Paladins be sent to it to check it for traps or ambushes. If it was Kassandora, Maisara¡¯s forces would have already sustained losses from raiding by now. If it was Kassandora, the hundred thousand men behind her would have shrunk to ninety thousand already. But Kassandora was not leading the Epan Coalition. So while there was still good reason to be cautious, there was no need to be paranoid. Maisara kept on standing, on the back of the truck, her own meant that the roof of the cabin only reached up to her belt. She gave out her orders. The trucks stopped. Two teams went ahead. They investigated the small checkpoint. It was only a small building with an even smaller hut by the road. Mountains to the west, endless plains and thick forests to the east. The Sun was starting to rise in that east, that was good. Maisara had estimated she would to the border around day-break. She saw the Lubskan flag, bearing its proud eagle, be lowered. The White and Gold bicolour of the Pantheon went up in its place. And the Long March through Epa continued onwards. Maisara enters Lubska Fortia stayed still as she listened to the great horns of her transport fleet. The White Pantheon did not have a fleet like in the past, where it could bombard shores and have engagements, but Pantheon Peace ensured no one did. The transport fleet was enough. Two huge ships were approaching the beach at a quick pace. Theosius¡¯ design, these naval landers were. From a few hundred years past, but they worked as well now as they did then. The ships had retractable stilts to balance when beached, and small tugs would pull them back onto the open ocean. The area around them had been secured. The rails had been blown at least four dozen miles out in all directions. There would be no shelling from that dreaded Rilian artillery today. Not whatsoever. Fortia watched the entire front of the two massive ships slowly open up. She watched her Guardians march onto the sand, in their perfect gold-bronze armour. She watched trucks drive off too. The heavy equipment that would be required. Theosius¡¯ Sentinel-Centurions slowly marched down. The beach started to fill up. And this was only two of the main landers. She still had eight left. Fortia¡¯s main force arrives in Rilia Kassandora sighed and looked down at the list before her. Olephia was for Kirinyaa, she would cause too much of a mess in Epa, and if Uriamel sent something large, she should stay. Fer would do well here or there. Anassa, same as Fer. Arascus would stay here. Kassandora smiled as her eyes glanced over Kassandora, Of War. She would be staying in Kirinyaa. Epa would need to win, a long war would be good for them. A general should be chosen, and Divines to support. Sorcerers too, these Kirinyaans did not make very good sorcerers. Morale would also be an issue for them, here in Kirinyaa, Arascus could rally the population but Epa would start feeling wartime¡¯s terrible fatigue the longer their conflict went on for. And as Kassandora sat there, looking at her list of names, she blinked. And she got an idea so devilish neither Fortia nor Allasaria would ever predict it. They would call her mad for it even. It was¡­ It was truly revolutionary. Chapter 235 – The Most Pressing Issue Arascus, I greatly appreciate. I have no other way to describe, I simply can appreciate him and his ideas. There are some of us, like Neneria, who have almost been lost to immortality. It is not that they have become lazy or apathetic, but some souls simply need the grip of finite time to get moving. Why do something today when it can be done tomorrow? And when tomorrow becomes today, tomorrow will still be tomorrow. At the end of the day, Divines are ageless. What is one day lost? A week? A month? Year? Century? A millennium of apathy? Mortal thinking is slightly more pressing. Any crime must be punished, and it must be punished immediately. If it does not, then the criminal escapes. I appreciate human philosophy on this matter the most, the fact they consider death an escape from life, rather than us Divines or Elves, who scramble in madness in order to escape it. The criminal who lives to be felled by time has escaped, there is a certain victory in that. Yet this thinking blinds them, even though they have the drive, they are unable to make the grandest decision from fear or retribution. I know this of myself, and I know it for Arascus. We have both been able to combine that motivated discipline found in mortals with the grandiosity only a Divine is able to bear. A man can be killed, because eventually the world would move on past his death. Likewise, a city can be destroyed for the same reason. We will still be here, and that city will not. The simple fact of the matter is where does this logic stop? Is a region too much? An entire country? The whole world? I have found my answer, and it is the same as Arascus¡¯. There is no end. What can will be forgiven, what can¡¯t will eventually be forgotten. - Excerpt from ¡°Divine War Strategy¡±, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War, the text was lost after the Great War although it has frequently appeared in illicit black markets. Kassandora looked over the city of Nanbasa as she saw helicopters arrive from the north, from the south, and from the west. It was only a small change of plans at the end of the day, she was simply requisitioning a thousand men from the Reclamation War and a few Goddesses from the coast. And several million in research grants, but Arascus was there to handle that. The requisitioning of civilians and scientists was not here demesne, she liked soldiers, who simply did things when told to. Kassandora stood on the roof of one of the tall skyscrapers. The building was once part of Kirinyaa¡¯s banking conglomerates. Most of them had turned out to be in a bad situation when the coup happened, although that had only been discovered once Arascus was in government. Many of the donations Kassandora had received were not donations in the first place, but rather loans. Betting on the success of a Divine had never been done before so no regulations against the practice existed, and everyone smelled the easy money on the horizon. About half of the banks had almost ran out entirely of any liquid capital. Arascus had seized the opportunity, with the insider information that came from leading the country, bank runs were organised on the most vulnerable ones. In one week, half of Kirinyaa¡¯s financial sector had been nationalized by the Imperial government to stop it from collapsing. Arascus was centralizing his grip further on the country and he was busy today. There was no need for him to attend. Iliyal came first, Kassandora heard the elevator doors slide open behind her, she didn¡¯t need to turn. The man had a distinct pattern to his steps, slower than a human¡¯s but faster than a divine¡¯s, and the heels of his boots clicked in that way ancient nobles had been trained to saunter about. ¡°General Tremali, reporting for duty.¡± ¡°At ease.¡± Kassandora didn¡¯t need to turn to know he would be saluting either. The world would be ending and the man would still hold his salute. ¡°How is the defence of Nanbasa looking?¡± She asked. The elf responded immediately as Kassandora stared out of the ring-city. In the middle of that ring stood the massive animal reservation the city had been built around. The animals had been taken away to other locations now and Kassandora could catch the tracks that meant artillery had been driving through it. She found a few of the Lemurs and Lynxs hidden underneath trees that once housed lions. The new SPAAG-M1s were there too, these, she managed to finally get a normal name for. Self-Propelled-Anti-Air-Gun-Mark-One, Arascus had been too busy to notice such a trivial piece of information and the two men who had been assigned on giving the stupid animal names to her new vehicles had been sent off to the fight the Jungle in the West. The SPAAGs stood there, hidden near rocks or behind buildings, four barrels tilted upwards as they waited. Kassandora had seen them fire, the hail of lead they put out would overwhelm most magical barriers. If enough of them concentrated on a target, they may even be able to overwhelm Allasaria. ¡°Troop-wise, it is all about production.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°What can be sent, I will be thankful for but it¡¯s not urgent. With the sea-wall and the sheer size and layout of this city, it would take two months to clear it even if it wasn¡¯t fortified.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Kassandora looked up to the huge sea-wall that Iniri had grown, and that the elf had reinforced with concrete and steel. Even now, there were still diggers and trucks working, filling out the hollow trees Iniri had grown with much harder material. It stood as tall as a warehouse, and the network of branches was labyrinthian. A huge helicopter was currently hovering over one of the huge wooden towers, a small cannon held up by ropes on its underside, and setting it down on the wall. ¡°Then Nanbasa will move down on the list.¡± Kassandora replied. The list was a mere colloquialism they used, it was simply the list of cities they were sending the new equipment to. Iliyal nodded as Kassandora kept looking out over the city. The sky was a marvellous cloudless blue today, the ocean a deeper shade of the same colour. Somewhere in that ocean, Uriamel was marshalling forces to siege them. ¡°Understood.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Actually, I would recommend not sending anymore supplies to Nanbasa for the immediate time.¡± Kassandora smiled to herself, she had thought of the same. The city was simply too long and too large. Uriamel would come from the coast, the entire place did not need to be fortified. ¡°It will only be a minimal amount of stationary weaponry.¡± Kassandora replied. The guns that would be difficult to install during a battle. ¡°But I agree.¡± She turned to face to the elf. He stood there, his blonde hair had grown somewhat, but his green eyes were as sharp as they were back during the Great War. Apart from the modern black uniform, the cap and the pistol on his belt in addition to the sword, he had not changed a single bit. ¡°Personally Iliyal, how do you think the defence will go?¡± ¡°I see no reason for it to go terribly. The western manufactory district has been entirely evacuated and General Sokolowski has finished with the industrial relocation plan. Even if the seawall falls, they still have to cross that section. I¡¯m rigging the buildings to blow, and then we will shell them over ruined ground.¡± The elf smiled in that way only Kassandora and her acolytes could. The glare that took outright joy in the flames of war. ¡°The first push will be the worst, the wall will hold them, but it will fall, and then we lure them in.¡± Kassandora turned back to the city. ¡°That¡¯s what I expect too.¡± Kassandora said. This city, whilst on the coast, was not coastal. It was not a port-town even though it had a port. A section of Nanbasa was coastal, and that was it. To call the entire city a port-town would be as wrong as calling an entire continent an island. They were close, but very different things entirely. ¡°We blow give up the eastern part of the city, then we shell them when they reinforce lines. Turn the city from a ring to a horse-shoe.¡± Iliyal nodded. ¡°A child could do it.¡± He said. ¡°A child will do it.¡± Kassandora said, she turned to look at the elf¡¯s reaction. He gave none. ¡°Iliyal, you are wasted here.¡± He smiled at that, Kassandora rarely gave out praise to her own men, praise was a fickle thing, too much and a man got accustomed, too little and he lost motivation. ¡°I am sending you off to Epa. To assist them because they are doing terribly.¡± And the elf smiled at that. ¡°I have been keeping track of their war. Maisara in Lubska and Fortia in Rilia.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a good move for them.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I expect Fortia will go quickly up until she reaches Rilia¡¯s north, whereas Maisara will expand her line to cover all Lubska from South to North, then west into Doschia. Rilia most likely has a month, Lubska has about two.¡± ¡°I would say the same.¡± Iliyal replied. Frankly, Kassandora did not know if that was true or not, the elf always agreed with her. ¡°You will have no Divine support from Arika, who is here, will remain here.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But the Weapon Divines and the Nationals should be enough. Unless you find a chance to remove Fortia and Maisara directly, then you can call for assistance.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°But it¡¯s doubtful that I will.¡± ¡°Both are good at self-preservation.¡± Kassandora agreed. ¡°But they¡¯re not your objective, simply make sure Epa does not lose. If you can manage to cause enough casualties to the armies, that will be fine for us too.¡± ¡°The one issue is that the war is impossible to win in the first place.¡± Iliyal replied. ¡°Even if they are pushed out of Epa, we have no way to strike at Olympiada. The Epan Coalition won¡¯t go on the offensive, they¡¯ll try to bargain.¡± ¡°That is the part of the war I¡¯m in charge of.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Simply slow them down in Epa. Attrition warfare, but be aware it¡¯s not our land. Too much salt in the wounds and the Epans will quickly point to you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make sure that if it stings, they know it¡¯s the Pantheon that did it.¡± Iliyal said and Kassandora smiled. Sokolowski and Zalewski and Ekkerson were all good generals, but a man like Iliyal only came about once in a hundred years. She knew he wouldn¡¯t screw it up, frankly, she didn¡¯t even expect him to hold, simply to slow the Pantheon down as much as possible instead. ¡°If they crush Epa, then Fortia and Maisara are sweeping Kirinyaa from the north, we won¡¯t be able to resist a second war like that.¡± ¡°If Epa does fall.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Then I¡¯ll make sure it kicks and screams so much that Maisara and Fortia have nothing to return with here.¡± Kassandora smiled to herself as she turned back around to look at the city. A small dot in the distance, coming from the other side of the city, caught her attention. Kassandora narrowed her eyes. Anassa was there, floating through the air, a giant red hand conjured out of sorcery was behind her, its fingers cupped upwards as if it was holding something. The edges of it were outlined, as if Anassa had managed to bring a drawing into existence. On it, Fer and Iniri and Kavaa were stood. That last one, Kassandora still debated on bringing, but she would be easily replaced by Clerics here. Iliyal squinted and asked in a polite tone. ¡°If I may, what are you planning with them?¡± He asked. Kassandora smiled to herself. Iliyal knew that plans were shared only on a need-to-know basis, he was simply indulging his curiosity. It was the good the man still had it. ¡°Those four.¡± Kassandora pointed to Anassa and the Divines she was transporting to the skyscraper Kassandora stood on. ¡°I¡¯m taking them west. To secure a weapon which can strike at Olympiada, at Alanktyda and at Uriamel.¡± Chapter 236 – A Highway for the Jungle Planning is a waste of time and resources. Too much planning, and a man will think himself into the most cursed form of stagnation imaginable. Worst of all, his overthinking will make him want to reside in it. The constant questioning caresses the ego, and makes one feel accomplished mentally even though no material action has been done. On the other hand, a lack of planning is stupidity and laziness. To not consider events that could potentially happen is to destroy whatever chance one has at success. In the same way our eyes can see ahead of us, our minds should be able to predict what is going to happen in the immediate future. I have no other comment about those who entirely reject the notion of planning. In this regard, the most important skill is perseverance. Perseverance through hardship is one thing, but this has to be perseverance through nihilism. The most important skill of the men I select to lead to my armies is the ability to spend countless hours on an idea, and be prepared to throw it away at a moment¡¯s notice. It is this that ultimately separates a person who controls plans, to one who is controlled by plans. - Excerpt from ¡°The Philosophy of War¡±, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War. Kassandora watched the city of Nanbasa disappear under a layer of clouds through the window of Arascus¡¯ private jet. A comfortable thing, almost too comfortable for her, but Arascus had always been one for taking the extra step in luxury. It was constructed to be large enough for Fer and the God of Pride, which meant that everyone else had more than enough head-room. With soft couches that gave plenty of room for bags underneath and the pretty red Kirinyaan wood for furniture and a bar with a drink for every Divine allied to him. That meant every alcohol under the Sun was represented here. Kassandora stirred her whiskey as she turned back to the Divines she had brought with her. Fer sat opposite, taking up a whole couch, one leg lying on it, the other on the ground. She was tapping away on her phone. Iniri was next to Kassandora, quietly looking down. Kassandora didn¡¯t even need to ask why the woman was nervous, she was on a plane with herself, with Fer, and with Anassa, who was tasting every wine Arascus had put on the plane. Kavaa was sat next to Iniri, turned around and also looking out the window. ¡°I assume you want to know what we¡¯re doing.¡± Kassandora said. Anassa was the one who would have to be made happy, everyone else here knew how to follow orders. ¡°Not really.¡± Fer replied, not even looking away from her phone. Kassandora gave her no response, she saw Anassa smile in satisfaction at Fer¡¯s comment. Sometimes, of Beasthood really was the best out of them at managing the group. ¡°But what?¡± Fer said. She put the phone down on the small table between the couches, she had been looking at pictures of Kirinyaan wildlife. ¡°Long story short, the geological scanners Helenna had ordered from Rilia have been installed.¡± Kassandora pulled her bag out from underneath her seat. In one quick movement, she brought out a map from that black bag. Of Kirinyaa, with plenty of red lines in the west. ¡°This is where my teams have started scouting the region.¡± Fer sat up as Anassa came over with a glass full of wine in one hand, and a bottle in the other. Kavaa turned from the window, moved her glass of gin and tonic away as Iniri looked down. Kassandora gave the Goddess of Nature a second to figure out what she was looking at, if anyone should be able to, it would be her. Kavaa beat her to it. ¡°That¡¯s roots.¡± ¡°It does look like that.¡± Fer agreed. ¡°I think so too.¡± Iniri said quietly. Kassandora took a deep breath as she pointed to the end of the roots, deeper into Kirinyaa than even the furthest point the Jungle had reached, before the Reclamation War had even started. ¡°This is not the end.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°This is just where we¡¯ve scanned up to, the ground radars only scan about thirty miles from them.¡± ¡°That does make sense.¡± Iniri said. Kassandora raised an eyebrow. It made sense now? Why wasn¡¯t she told of this before then? ¡°How?¡± The Goddess of War asked. ¡°These types of jungle trees tend to have shallow roots that spread far.¡± Iniri said. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s about scale, the Jungle itself is massive, and if it¡¯s a deity then it should be to¡­¡± Iniri looked around at Fer, at Kassandora and at Anassa staring at her and trailed off. ¡°I mean¡­ sorry, I didn¡¯t want to overload you with information.¡± ¡°Continue.¡± Fer said. ¡°You have a nice voice.¡± If Kassandora and Fer were alone, Kassandora would have given the woman a thumbs up. Some people really did know how to keep others happy. ¡°Anything could be important, no matter how small you think it is.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Well¡­¡± Iniri said. ¡°The roots tend to be weak too. It¡¯s not like Epan trees, which will split rock and cement. It¡¯s more that they find openings, soft dirt and such, and burrow into it.¡± ¡°Like rabbits.¡± Fer said. ¡°Brilliant.¡± Anassa added dryly to Fer¡¯s comment. The Goddess of Beasthood looked up smugly at Of Sorcery, as if she had just made a revolutionary statement.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I see.¡± Kassandora said. That did in fact make sense, the odd patterns in the roots then would be were the roots had found openings. ¡°Sit up.¡± Anassa said as she looked at Fer. The Goddess of Beasthood looked up at her and made a pleading face, golden vulpine eyes large like those of a begging puppy¡¯s. The two tall ears, shooting out of her mane of gold settled pleadingly on her head. ¡°I¡¯ll sit on you.¡± Anassa said flatly. In an instant, all the pleading cuteness disappeared out of Fer and was replaced with annoyance. She made a sigh, and then a grand show of having to sit up. Anassa practically fell down next to her, the wine splashed out of her glass, was caught with sorcery, and then floated back in. ¡°Sitting like this is bad for my back.¡± Fer said as she leaned over the table, her eyes bouncing about. She made a confused face. ¡°I want to get to one of these roots.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I assume this is how the Jungle spreads.¡± ¡°Why do you think that?¡± Kavaa asked from the other side of Iniri. ¡°The trees don¡¯t have any seeds.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We saw it when we went in that time. Yet they still grow, so they must be growing out of something.¡± ¡°Why do you need me then?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°Or me?¡± Fer added dryly, although she obviously did not think too deeply on the question. ¡°Because I don¡¯t know whether the roots will fight back.¡± Kassandora answered honestly. There was no reason to hide it from these two. Kavaa was here for the same reason, because Iniri may get hurt. Of Nature turned from the map and looked up at Kassandora. Those two large brown eyes made terrible circles. ¡°Fight back?¡± ¡°Fight back.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I want to collect the Jungle¡¯s seeds.¡± The whole cabin looked at her in shock, the whole cabin but Fer, who was still looking at the map, chewing her lip. Kavaa, from the other side of Iniri, only flatly stared at Kassandora. ¡°You want to collect the Jungle¡¯s seeds.¡± She repeated the words in a terribly flat tone, not as a question, but as a statement. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be the seeds.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But I want a part of the Jungle that grows.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you need me?¡± Iniri said. ¡°I can¡¯t talk to it.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t talk to the wood that is in the Jungle.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But we don¡¯t know if you can talk to the wood that outside of the Jungle.¡± ¡°Like a phonecall, only one person allowed at a time.¡± Fer said idly, her eyes were still looking at the map. ¡°Kassie, do you have a pen?¡± ¡°Here.¡± Kassandora passed her a blue one out of her map. Fer bit the cap off and started tracing lines on the map. ¡°But as Fer said, we don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the trees themselves that are resistant to you, or if it¡¯s that the trees are already beholden to a deity.¡± ¡°That does make sense actually.¡± Kavaa said from the other of Iniri. ¡°How some blessings are incompatible with each other.¡± Anassa merely watched them, got bored, leaned back, and re-filled her glass with wine. ¡°But still, why?¡± ¡°Ihon Knotweed satchels.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We used them in the Great War.¡± ¡°That we did.¡± Anassa said. ¡°That you did.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°They were annoying but not devastating.¡± ¡°Really not so bad.¡± Iniri said. Of course the woman would say that, she could talk to plants. ¡°Knotweed doesn¡¯t beckon you forth though, does it?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the trees, or if it¡¯s the Jungle as a whole doing that.¡± Kavaa said. She wasn¡¯t happy with the idea, her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and she was speaking in that quick tone Kassandora had heard her use when people came to her with only mild ailments, the sorts a good night¡¯s sleep would fix. ¡°We don¡¯t know until we try.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It could be a waste of time.¡± Kavaa argued back. Kassandora saw Anassa narrow her eyes at the Goddess of Health. She sat up straighter, to look down on Kavaa. ¡°Nothing with Kassie is ever a waste of time.¡± She said. Kassandora shook her head. ¡°Kavaa is partly right.¡± ¡°Partly?¡± Kavaa asked, aghast. ¡°It could be a waste of time if we have to excavate with mortals. We don¡¯t have the luxury of pet projects like that right now.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°It¡¯s you two.¡± Fer said, the pen flicking up from the paper to point at Anassa and Iniri, the latter only sighed at the prospect of having to work near the Jungle again. ¡°It¡¯s you two.¡± Kassandora confirmed. The Goddess of Sorcery turned to Fer, then to Kassandora. ¡°Have I been roped into something? Did you two plan this out?¡± ¡°No.¡± Fer said. ¡°It¡¯s just not hard to work out and I like showing off how smart I am.¡± Her smile revealed those pointed teeth again. Kavaa burst out in laughter and even Iniri chuckled at Anassa¡¯s bewildered expression. The woman down at Fer, still bent over the map as she went back to drawing even more lines on the map. ¡°And you want to do what with it?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°I want you to grow it, see if we can evolve it to be aquatic, and then we drop it onto Alanktyda, Uriamel and Olympiada.¡± Kassandora said with a smile. Kavaa looked up at her in horror. Anassa smiled back and Iniri blinked. ¡°You mean¡­¡± Iniri asked. ¡°I mean you would be a champion of this war Iniri. You would singlehandedly end it.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Iniri started to smile. ¡°I could do that.¡± Fer interrupted their shared excitement though. ¡°Before you girls all get too excited at each other. I have one thing to say.¡± Fer said. ¡°Do you now?¡± Anassa asked. Kavaa looked down at the map as Fer finally picked her up and sat straight on her seat. Kassandora looked at those lines and she felt her hands tighten. Now that it was drawn over like this, even a child would be able to see it. ¡°How did you miss this?¡± Fer asked. There was not a hint of judgement or annoyance in her tone, it was merely surprise. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Kassandora said. ¡°What are we looking at?¡± Iniri asked as Kavaa leaned over. Of Health needed a few seconds to inspect the map before casting her own comment. ¡°All you did was highlight the thicker lines.¡± ¡°No.¡± Anassa said. ¡°She did not.¡± Kassandora shook her head as she looked down. What Fer had highlighted was simply too perfect to be a coincidence. It was akin to seeing a silhouette of a man in this distance, it could be a human, an elf, a Divine or a dwarf even, but it could never be a dog. Likewise here and there was only one thing that patterns like this signified. Flat in some places, with sharp corners, only ever at ninety or forty degrees. With circles in some sections, that seemed to trail off at almost random points. Kassandora pulled out another map, this was of the Reclamation¡¯s War progress and the regions where the Jungle regrew for seemingly no reason. It lined up perfectly with the circles Fer had highlighted in blue. Fer commented on that map too. ¡°We have the answer as to why it keeps popping back up here.¡± She said. ¡°It¡¯s not digging out of the ground.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It¡¯s climbing out of the highway.¡± ¡°What highway?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°The same sort of highway we saw demons in two weeks ago Kavaa.¡± Fer said flatly. ¡°That sort of highway.¡± Chapter 237 – An Army Unsecure Malam flicked her white hair back as she inspected the air above her. Her mouth open, she took deep breathes and tasted the cool air. This part of the hold, the highest part had the thickest energies. Anassa stood near a workshop as the dwarves inside worked away. They had gotten used to the Goddess of Hatred walking around the hold by now, and no one so much as turned their head when she walked in. They kept beating their ingots away with bronze hammers as Malam looked up at the ceiling of smoothed-stone. This Southern Hold really did raise question after question. First, she tasted Worldbreaking in the air, and now a flood of magical energies. It was as if a ley-line node above her had burst. She would honestly have assumed it was something to do with Anassa, but there wasn¡¯t a hint of sorcery in the flavour of that magical flood. It was more akin¡­ Malam didn¡¯t bother to hide the confusion that had smeared itself over her face, the dwarves would not ask her questions anyway. The energies tasted of¡­ of Elassa. It had been a three-hour flight from Nanbasa to Aittyopios. Then from Aittyopios to cold and snowy Norje was a full twelve hours. Then from Norje into Doschia was two more. Some people hated flying, Iliyal thought little of it. He didn¡¯t like needing to sit down for so long, but patience was a skill every soldier had to develop. He had merely raced through different scenarios in his mind as he planned on how to handle this situation, then changed from the disguise, a simple t-shirt and shorts, to his military uniform. It would attract looks, but it didn¡¯t matter at this point, Epa should be safe enough from assassins, and he had brought his gun and his sword just in case. Finding Wissel in Doschia was not difficult. Iliyal went to Doschia¡¯s capital, Neustadt. A grand sprawling city, although not particularly tall. It didn¡¯t have the towering skyscrapers of Nanbasa, instead most of the residential buildings capped out at six-floors, their steep roofs lined with tiles of a pleasant orange colour. Every few streets, a church, a cathedral, a palace, a tower, a museum or some other magnificent work of art would breach the city¡¯s canopy of orange like a loan tree in a jungle that surged past all its neighbours. The Konigreichbundministerium, Iliyal was always amused at the fact that Doschians seemed allergic to having words with space in them, was easy to find. It¡¯s massive bulbous dome of copper, topped off with a spike, was almost twice as tall as the surrounding buildings. Iliyal took a bus to the Kingdom Ministry. There wasn¡¯t much need for secrecy here, everyone would know he had come to Doschia by the end of the day anyway, and it was largely to sniff out the general attitude of the population. He sat opposite a young couple, who pretended not to stare at him. He would attract looks though, elves usually did, and elves in military uniforms even more so. ¡°Is there something on me?¡± He asked. The young couple, both blonde, awkwardly shook their heads. ¡°I thought there was.¡± Iliyal made his tone light as he looked at them. ¡°It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen an elf on the bus.¡± The woman said quietly. ¡°Most of us prefer private transport.¡± Iliyal said. The man leaned forwards, leaned on the table between them, and looked at Iliyal again. ¡°Sorry but the accent.¡± He said. ¡°Where are you from?¡± Iliyal merely smiled. ¡°Erdely.¡± Iliyal had planned this out too, just in case anyone questioned him. ¡°Although it¡¯s been a long time.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Before your great-grandparents, easily.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± The man made an impressed face as Iliyal took the chance to ask his own question. ¡°I came to see what was going on Neustadt with the¡­ situation that¡¯s been going on.¡± It was an easy conversational trick. Everyone would know what he was referring to, but he wouldn¡¯t give his own views away on it and steer the conversation down some path. ¡°It¡¯s exciting.¡± The man said, his smile bright. ¡°It¡¯s a bit scary.¡± The woman added. She put her hand over her stomach, most likely with child then. ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll win?¡± Iliyal said. This time, the woman answered first. ¡°I¡¯m sure of it.¡± ¡°We have to.¡± The man said. There we go, Iliyal knew that sort of tone, when someone started rolling with whatever they were saying. ¡°But King Ellenheim is correct. We just came out of the worst recession in recent history and the Pantheon did what? They ask us to go put another embargo on Kirinyaa? For what?¡± ¡°Kirinyaa isn¡¯t one of Doschia¡¯s trading partners.¡± Iliyal lightly pushed back on it. He saw other people on the bus looking at them as the man raised his tone. From the other side of the aisle, an old fellow leaned in, his head balding. ¡°It¡¯s the principle of it.¡± He said. ¡°We embargo Kirinyaa today, we¡¯ll be sending troops tomorrow. Who wants Doschians dying in Arika?¡± ¡°Agree to that.¡± Iliyal leaned back as the whole bus started talking. Each person adding their opinion on why it was so correct that Doschia led Epa out of the Pantheon¡¯s grip. Naturally they would say that, they were all Doschian after all. It was a good gauge though, not a single person on the bus so much as uttered a single word against Wissel Ellenheim. The most negative opinions were those that warned of the dangers a war with the Pantheon could bring, but even then, they were all framed as necessary dangers. Iliyal let the various passengers talk amongst themselves as he silently listened in on the conversation. This was a good sign. This sort of anti-Pantheon sentiment could be exploited in the future, Wissel may have taken the first step in the race against the Pantheon, but first steps rarely mattered. The winner was the man who crossed the finish line first and Iliyal would make sure that everyone knew it was him who led Epa to victory. The bus stopped a short walk away from the Konigreichbundministerium. Iliyal quickly crossed the distance as he watched the main road. It had been blocked off today, to make way for a battalion of tanks driving down it on parade. They were heading for the Rilian front apparently. Iliyal watched them, slightly bigger than Kassandora¡¯s Lynx-Models, the edges of the turret more pronounced, the barrel slightly longer. Sending them to Rilia was a mistake, the mountainous terrain of that land would destroy them, they should be sent to Epa instead whereas Rilia should the lighter vehicles.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He did not stay to watch the whole parade, there was no reason to. Instead, Iliyal got to the magnificent building that held Doschia¡¯s parliament. The dome was made of pure copper, he could still remember it being perfectly clear, but now it was a pleasing blue. The carved walls, with a set of pillars by every window to hold up the floors above, which extended past the walls of the ground floor, were works of art in themselves, every brick decorated with the artisanry only masters could do. The doors were huge and wooden, with reinforced beams of steel running across them. Those were only for show though, it was obvious from the way the wood was mounted that this structure, no matter how grand it was, was not fortified. And before those grand doors, stood six guards. Tall men, obviously chosen for their aesthetics over anything else. Men who were so tall they could almost look an elf in the eye usually made for parade-corps and the like, rather than real battlefield soldiers. They stood in grey suits, rifles slung across their backs and gazes cold as they looked at the approaching elf. Iliyal maintained his cool glare as he strode towards the doors. For a moment, he thought they would actually let him through. It wouldn¡¯t be suprising, he was dressed as if he was ready for a meeting with the king, and elves usually could stride into any building without any hassle. Humans usually assumed that if an elf was about, there was an important job to be done and that they should simply stay out of the way. Mages and sorcerers got the same privilieges. But the guards did share anxious looks between each other, some of them shifted, one of them fiddled with the rifle slung across his back. Then one of them, a young man whose confidence visibly wavered under Iliyal¡¯s sharp gaze, stepped forward. "This is the Konigreichbundministerium," the guard began, his tone overly formal. "Entry without invitation is forbidden.¡± ¡°I have an important message.¡± Iliyal said, he pulled out Kassandora¡¯s stamp from his pocket and showed it to the man. The guard looked at it, looked at Iliyal and obviously did not know what he was looking at. What had the world come to? Where even armed guards would not recognise the sigil of the Goddess of War? It was akin to a herbalist not recognizing an acorn. ¡°Do you know what this is?¡± Iliyal simply had to ask. The lead guard frowned, squinting. ¡°No,¡± he admitted cautiously. The hesitation in his tone betrayed both ignorance and a growing unease. The other guards shifted nervously, their earlier confidence bleeding away. ¡°It¡¯s the symbol of Goddess Kassandora, you should remember it.¡± He saw eyebrows rise in surprise at the mention of Kassandora¡¯s name. ¡°And that I have an important message for Ellenheim.¡± It was a calculated move, to drop the king¡¯s surname without usually the honorific. The guards caught onto it, and they gave the exact sort of reaction Iliyal wanted them to as he spoke. ¡°It¡¯s about your independence war, and its urgent, I have not come to be made to wait.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The guard who stopped Iliyal said. ¡°Of course, if Goddess Ka-Kassandora¡­¡± He looked at the elf, then turned around. ¡°Follow me.¡± That was unprofessional though, a guard who let in strangers before confirming their identity would have never been assigned the post in Iliyal¡¯s armies, but then he doubted anyone would ever have the guts to lie about being in the employment of Kassandora. So Iliyal followed the guard in. He didn¡¯t even have to give his weapons up. The guard led him through a grand hall, up carpeted stairs, past plastered walls that held portraits of the Ellenheim royal family, and through corridors. He stopped at a door. ¡°The king is in a meeting-¡° Iliyal ignored the guard and opened the wooden door. He did not come here to be made to wait for meetings to finish. And he was recognised immediately. King Wissel Ellenheim with his bright eyes and carved face, sat there, in a suit, and with a small band of silver as a crown, surrounded by his ministers, all in dark suits. Every single one of them looked tired, with rings under their eyes. ¡°Iliyal Tremali!¡± Wissel exclaimed, there was no a single sliver of warmth in his voice, no matter how boisterous his gesticulation was. ¡°What a surprise it is to host you! You should have sent notice!¡± The message, no matter how politely the human phrased it, was clear: What are you doing here? ¡°I think you realise why I have arrived.¡± Iliyal said. Wissel and the rest of his ministers merely looked at him. No, they did not in fact realise why he was here. ¡°You are losing the war. Fortia has landed in Rilia, Maisara has entered Lubska, you will not be able to repel either without me.¡± Iliyal doubted he himself would be able to repel them without a major Divine on each front to counter the Goddesses of Peace and Order in the first place, but these men would not realise the strength of Divinity in combat anyway. ¡°I have come to lend my assistance in managing the two fronts.¡± He could see from the reactions, but they obviously did not think too highly of him. As much as he hated doing it, it was time to name-drop. ¡°Goddess Kassandora, of War.¡± He made to include the title this time. ¡°Sent me, she agrees with the sentiment.¡± The ministers shared looks between each other, Wissel joined in too, before he went back to looking at Iliyal. ¡°Are you serious?¡± The King asked. ¡°I am.¡± Iliyal replied, he supposed there should be something more said than just Hello! Can I have military control? ¡°I apologize for the intrusion, but we only finalized our own defence of Kirinyaa yesterday, I arrived as quickly as I could.¡± ¡°We are not losing.¡± One of the ministers said. Iliyal blinked in stunned surprise. Sometimes, he really did hate bureaucrats and politicians. ¡°Are you not?¡± The elf asked. ¡°We-¡° The minister started and Wissel Ellenheim, in all his royal majesty, interrupted the man. ¡°Iliyal Tremali.¡± The man began as he readjusted the cuffs on his suit. ¡°Whereas I appreciate your thought, and you are welcome to stay in Neustadt, I can personally provide you with a place to stay of course, we prefer for Epa to fight the war alone.¡± ¡°I do not think you realise what you are going up against.¡± Iliyal said flatly. ¡°Then it is our mistake to make.¡± Wissel replied. ¡°We could use your advice, but we are in no need for generals.¡± Iliyal stared at the man. ¡°May I ask why?¡± The elf asked with all the politeness he could muster. ¡°Epa needs its own fighting men and its own generals, for the future.¡± Wissel replied with a tone just as sour as the elf¡¯s and Iliyal sighed. The man was good, Iliyal had to admit. That reasoning, he could not argue with, if Epa relied on him, then Epa would have no one to counter Kassandora and Arascus. Just because the Coalition declared opposition to the Pantheon did not mean they declared allegiance to the God of Pride. ¡°I understand.¡± Iliyal said. There was nothing to gain from being rude, and the man was obviously set in his way. ¡°I wish you luck then. Send a letter to Kassandora if you need me.¡± Iliyal bowed, turned, and left. There was nothing to argue about frankly. The elf stepped out into the carpeted corridor and grit his teeth in annoyance. This sort of reason was exactly why he hated politicians. The only ones who were good were those who knew that every job they could do, there existed someone who could do it better. Ultimately though, he had come across this problem in the past. Kings and rulers rarely wanted to give up command of their levies when forces were marshalled. This situation was foreseen though, the long flights had given him more than enough time to prepare a contingency scenario, he would solve today¡¯s issue in the same way he solved it a thousand years ago. There were multiple ways to deal with this, he could spend a month in Neustadt, worming his way into Ellenheim¡¯s good graces and convincing the man how useful he was, or he could do something better. If the politicians did not want to give up command of their forces directly, then he would simply skip the politicians. They may think themselves leaders of great armies, but that didn¡¯t matter, what mattered is who is the soldiers listened to. And rarely did they ever listen to the king in the capital over the general on the field. The Epan generals would listen, he knew they would. Because he very well may be the only mortal in the world that they actually respected. Chapter 238 – Starting The Dig If there are two Divines I could remove from the Daughter-Goddesses, it would be the two weakest. Irinika, Anassa, Olephia and Baalka are all overpowering and powerful, but that is all they are. They cannot manage empires, nor lead wars. If Arascus merely contained his ambitions to this group, he would form a mighty Pantheon, but it would only be a Pantheon, forever destined to be relegated to a single kingdom until it eventually broke apart. Fer brings about her beastmen, but Fer¡¯s beastmen have been defeated in wars already. Although she is powerful, the lack of innate magic in her contains her to a relatively minor threat. I would remove Kassandora and Malam. Individually powerful, no doubt minor inventions or weak deities such as Helenna look up at them in awe. But neither are Maisara or Fortia. To compare them to Elassa or to me is farce. We simply exist in different worlds of power. Kassandora is the reason Arascus has been able to extend his war to all the corners of Arda. It is because of her strategies and her tactics that we are unable to ever lay a trap for any of her stronger sisters. Her conception of scalable war has forced us to militarize our own kingdoms simply to compete. Yet Kassandora herself is not the reason Arascus has seen so much success. Kassandora¡¯s style of warfare is an unsustainable inferno, it burns brilliantly, but it burns out soon. That was Kassandora¡¯s main failure in the past, and whereas every Pantheon wanted her help in times of need, no Pantheon ever wanted to permanently deal with the troubles she brought. If Kassandora is a vicious vine that resurfaces no matter how many times it is stamped out, Malam is the soil, the nutrients, the sunlight and the roots deep under the ground. Kassandora¡¯s biggest restriction in war is the willingness and morale of her own men to follow her orders. Malam though has been gifted with a serpent¡¯s tongue, the question of whether she will be able to worm her way into one¡¯s heart is not an ¡®if¡¯, it is a ¡®when¡¯. Kassandora led Arascus¡¯ armies for a century against us, but it was because of Malam that Kassandora had armies to lead. That is nothing to say on the trouble Malam¡¯s interference caused in our own back lines. Honestly, the biggest question I have is how those two did not befriend each other sooner. - Excerpt from ¡°My Thoughts On the Daughter Goddesses¡±, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light. Kassandora looked at her map and then at the landscape around her. Apparently some people struggled with reading maps, she had never had any issue with it. An incline was supposed to be to the north-east. She looked up. The ground did indeed get higher over there. Trees towards the south, with a dried-out riverbed. Kassandora turned on the spot, her crimson hair flying around her as red dust burst around her laced black boots. Kavaa stood next to her, looking at the map. ¡°Old.¡± She said. Kassandora looked south, then at the map, then south again. ¡°Old indeed.¡± Kassandora agreed. Iniri stood on her toes to catch sight of the map. ¡°The water¡¯s returned.¡± Kassandora said as she moved the map lower so the Goddess of Nature could see. ¡°Thank you.¡± Iniri whispered quietly as they looked south. The wood was slightly larger, and whereas the map said there was only supposed to be a river basin, there was now fresh running water. These new rivers had started sprouting up everywhere in the Kirinyaan west as the Jungle was slowly being pushed back. Kassandora turned west with the two Goddesses by her side. The map said there was supposed to be one of the rock formations that peppered this environment there. Kassandora looked at the horizon. Fer was close to them, walking about and sniffing the air in odd places, her tail swishing from side to side as her ears jumped up and down. Indeed, a giant rock sat in the distance. Kassandora smiled as she made a mark on her map and then pulled out the one Fer had highlighted in blue. They should be on one of the spiralling staircases right now. Although where the entrance was a shot in the dark. If it even had an entrance, whether the dwarves had finished it before the Jungle overran it or whether it was simply an uncompleted tunnel was another question that she could only speculate on. Kassandora looked around herself until her eyes settled on Anassa. The Goddess of Sorcery was gone, disappeared somewhere. Knowing her, it was most likely to find fruit. Kassandora rolled her eyes, why bother looking for fruit when Iniri was right here? ¡°Ana¡¯s gone.¡± Kassandora angrily tutted to Kavaa and Iniri. ¡°I¡¯m not surprised.¡± Kavaa said. Of War turned to Of Nature, Iniri stood there, small, with her brown hair and dark earthy-eyes and that green dress with bands of moving bark on it. ¡°Are you able to start digging now? We¡¯re right above it.¡± Kassandora asked as she started folding both maps away. ¡°Here?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°Here would be preferable.¡± Kassandora said and Iniri nodded. She took a few steps back, Kassandora immediately turned away and shouted to her other sister. ¡°FER!¡± ¡°WHAT?!¡± Fer shouted from the distance, she gave the air another sniff. Kassandora rolled her eyes. Fer would know already what Kassandora wanted. ¡°WHERE IS ANA?¡± ¡°GONE!¡± Fer replied immediately. Kassandora gave no reaction to that stupid answer. If she wanted to know that Ana wasn¡¯t here, she wouldn¡¯t be asking. ¡°I KNOW THAT! WHERE?!¡± Kassandora shouted back. Fer came back immediately with her own reply. ¡°DON¡¯T KNOW!¡± ¡°FIND HER!¡± Kassandora said. She saw Fer turn and give a Kassandora a flat look. The Goddess of War merely raised an eyebrow and Of Beasthood backed down. Fer sighed heavily, her ears fell down on her head as her posture collapsed. And in the next moment, she straightened, ears pointed straight up, swivelling in every direction as if they were a radar. Fer¡¯s eyes started to shine, thick animal fur burst out, she turned on the spot, sniffed the wind, turned, sniffed, turned, made a tiny little half sniff and she jumped. All that was left was a cloud of red dust behind her. ¡°She¡¯s a monster.¡± Kavaa said quietly from Kassandora¡¯s side. Kassandora nodded as she turned to Iniri. ¡°How was training with her?¡± Of War asked as her eyes fell upon Iniri. The Goddess of Nature was in the air, standing on a thick wooden root. The living bark from her dress had shot downwards into the ground and slowly the red dirt around them was starting to move.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°I couldn¡¯t even get a finger on her.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°She told me you did cut her.¡± Kassandora replied as a molehill burst out behind Iniri. Another suddenly sprouted to her left. The entire ground started to shift as the roots of her plants start to grind the dirt and bring it to the surface. ¡°She let me.¡± Kavaa said quietly. They started taking steps away from Iniri, as the ground became as soft as quicksand. It started to swallow the small stones and rocks strewn about the surface here. ¡°Have you fought her?¡± Oh. Kassandora realised the issue. Kavaa was just feeling bad because Fer had utterly dominated her in training. ¡°I can¡¯t match her either.¡± The Goddess of War replied with total honestly in her voice. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to feel bad about, I don¡¯t know how many people can match her.¡± ¡°What about Maisara and Fortia?¡± Kavaa asked. The ground shifted again, a hole started to open up. Iniri turned her hands, her eyes started to glow green and the sides of that hole suddenly started to sprout thin lines of wood. The wood expanded, it criss-crossed onto itself to make a web, then a net, then started to glow until it was a single layer of bark. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Fer says she can win but I assume you know what Fortia and Maisara say.¡± ¡°They say they¡¯re better than her.¡± Kavaa replied. The Goddess of War sniffed with some humour. That was absolutely classic, she wouldn¡¯t expect anything less frankly from them. ¡°Can Arascus?¡± Kassandora merely shrugged. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know that one either.¡± She replied. ¡°They¡¯ve battled against each other but it¡¯s never¡­¡± It would be easier to show with an example than trying to explain the utter shit-show that happened when those two needed pulling off each other. ¡°It¡¯s like me and Ana.¡± ¡°They fight like that?¡± Kavaa asked in shock. Kassandora turned to see the Goddess of Health looking up at her with those silver eyes, full of shock. Her mouth slightly ajar. ¡°Rarely.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen it happen three times.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°And? What happened?¡± ¡°Irinika and Anassa were there to stop them.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And Olephia. I was there too, but I just stayed away.¡± ¡°You just stayed away?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t stick in my hand into Allasaria¡¯s beam, I¡¯m not going to stick my hand into Fer¡¯s bloodlust either.¡± Kassandora said easily. ¡°That¡¯s all there is to it.¡± Kavaa nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t like to talk about yourself.¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes. If there was one thing she did not like, it was when people told her what she did like. ¡°It¡¯s happened, I¡¯m just retelling it.¡± Kassandora said and Kavaa shook her head as Iniri¡¯s tunnel got deeper. They got even further away from the dirt, as more was being pulled out, as if her branches were the paws of a giant dog madly digging at the red soil. ¡°But not how people normally re-tell stories.¡± Kavaa said and Kassandora sighed. She knew exactly what Kavaa meant, there was no emotion there. ¡°There¡¯s nothing in crafting a narrative here. I just said what happened and that¡¯s it.¡± Kavaa opened her mouth to say something when a scream came from the south. Iniri stopped her dig, Kassandora and Kavaa both turned. If Fer screamed with terror like that, then Kassandora would have grabbed her sword and her armour would have been on already, but there was none of that. Fer was screaming through the air, half in annoyance and half in-between laughter as she tumbled above them. Kavaa, Kassandora and Iniri all turned their heads to watch Fer fly above them. ¡°Is that safe?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do it.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine? Right?¡± Iniri timidly asked. Fer reached the zenith of her launch and started to fall downwards. ¡°From how high can cats fall?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Theoretically or practically?¡± Kavaa asked. Kassandora only gave the woman a surprised look. Was there a difference? ¡°What?¡± Kassandora asked. Kavaa began in a quick tone, the sort she always did when she was about to heal someone. ¡°Theoretically, they hit terminal velocity after about ten to twenty metres. Depends on how fat the cat is. After that, they stop accelerating, and they¡¯ve been known to survive from higher so I assume there isn¡¯t a theoretical limit.¡± The Goddess of Health shrugged as a pair of branches brought Iniri close them. ¡°But practically, I wouldn¡¯t drop a cat out of a tree, but less several stories.¡± Kassandora smiled as she nodded along. ¡°I understand perfectly.¡± She said. ¡°No one who says that ever does.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°If a cat is talented, they make it, if it¡¯s not, it doesn¡¯t.¡± Kavaa sighed and shook her head. ¡°I suppose so.¡± She acquiesced immediately. ¡°Well Fer is the most talented of them all, she¡¯ll be fine.¡± And as Kassandora finished, they watched Fer crash into a giant pile of dust. ¡°Will she?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°I saw her jump out a plane.¡± Kavaa replied. ¡°This isn¡¯t even the worst one.¡± Kassandora felt the wind behind and turned around. Anassa had appeared, she was looking down at the hole, then at Iniri. The Goddess of War crossed her arms as she looked at her sister. ¡°What did she do you this time?¡± ¡°She stole my orange.¡± Anassa sulked. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you get another one?¡± Kassandora asked. Sometimes, she really did feel like she had to corral children. If Arascus told her he had brought her in to be a nanny for these women, then she would believe wholeheartedly. ¡°It¡¯s the principle of it.¡± Anassa said. She gave one glance at Iniri, then at the hole. This was Anassa through and through, she wanted something, but she would not ask for it herself. Kassandora tapped Iniri with her elbow and motioned peeling an orange with her hands as Anassa slowly lifted off into the air. And this was one of the reasons Kassandora had picked to escape with Kavaa, Helenna and Iniri, these three may not have power, but they had the intelligence that made them bearable. Iniri understood immediately what Kassandora was getting at, a tree sprouted from next to them. From a seedling to Kassandora¡¯s height in a few seconds, with thick oranges in another few seconds. ¡°Ana!¡± Kassandora shouted. ¡°When you do a bit, take one of these!¡± Anassa saw Iniri¡¯s orange tree, her eyes widened for a moment, and she wiped the excitement off her face in the next. She clicked her fingers, one of the fruit shot off the branch and into her palm. ¡°Alright.¡± She said. The skin fell off, and Anassa started picking away at the fruit as she looked down. ¡°Where do you want it?¡± A crash behind Kassandora told her Fer had returned. Kavaa and Iniri both turned to look, Of War ignored her, frankly, she wanted to get a move with this dig already. ¡°Anywhere here, it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Kassandora said. Anassa raised one hand and held the piece of fruit with the other as she chewed. There was no sound to her magic, no preparation, nothing. In one instant, there was Anassa, in her silken red dress above her hovering against the backdrop of the cloudless blue sky. In the next, there was a massive sphere of pure-red sorcery above her. It was red and opaque, the edges thick as if Anassa had something managed to bring the outline of an object into reality. And with just as little fanfare as the summoning, Anassa flicked a piece of fruit into her mouth, chewed, and cast her arm down. The ball followed. It silently¡­ It should have crashed, but that red sphere touched the ground and kept fall, as if something had placed a coin onto custard. It lasted for about a minute, going deeper and deeper and deeper until it burned out from the friction with the dirt. Kassandora stared into that hole. Iniri settled back down next to her. Kavaa and Fer both leaned to look into it. It went in about as deep as a house, with dirt and rock and stone and soil simply removed. It had not been dug, nor shifted by an explosion. Anassa¡¯s sorcery had simply removed it, in the same fashion her bubble-shields would remove incoming projectiles. Everyone took a step away from the smooth crater as Fer whistled loudly when she looked up at Anassa, still hovering in the air above them. Another huge ball appeared by her side and gently started floating down onto the ground. Kassandora let the smile stay on her face, this was going to go much faster than she had been expecting. She may even be back in Nanbasa before the siege began. Chapter 239 – How to Rugpull an Army When I select a man to be a general, I do not look for skills or what the man can already do. Everything that is needed can already be taught. I look for traits of character. The best generals are those who are intelligent, disciplined yet lazy. These are the men who will see a solution to a problem, try to reason it out, and then simply start doing it so they can get back to their rest. The worst of the lot are those who are stupid, disciplined and endlessly working. A man like that serves as a punishment to the unit he is put in charge of. That sort of leadership does nothing but immediately encourage rebellion in the lower ranks. In this regard, intelligence and drive serve as defining factors. Intelligent men who are driven can frequently descend into spirals of analysis paralysis. Stupid men who are driven will frequently make others pay for their mistakes. Driven men will frequently over-exert their authority and try to micromanage the lives of their men, with intelligence making this even worse. A smart man who constantly monitors others is the most hated. - Excerpt from ¡°The Modern War¡±, by Goddess Kassandora, Of War. Olonia was not hard to get a hold of. That would have to change, if Iliyal managed to find her without any sort of assistance from anyone, then Fortia and Maisara would be able to do it twice as fast. Lubskan news had started reporting her victories. Grand victories they were, the Goddess was storming into Paladin castles, taking a day or two to conquer them, and then moving on to the next one. Maisara¡¯s massive army in the south-east was simply being ignored. Most likely there was a reason for that, most likely the reasoning was simply an intellectual cover for the Lubskan¡¯s own fear. Iliyal looked over at the mismatched array of tents from the crest of his hill and sighed. What a disaster of a camp, it would even put Fer¡¯s beastmen to shame with its tardiness. The tents were laid out in a downright disgusting manner, with no form or thought to them, simply put up as men had stood. There was no central path like in Kassandora¡¯s layouts, there was no clustering around like in Fer¡¯s, there was no rigid grid that maximized flow of troops like in Fortia¡¯s. Even Anassa was better, since she would force everyone to sleep in as tight a spot as possible so that they could all be watched over at the same time. Iliyal brought the binoculars up to his eyes and watched the camp, just by estimation, there were some thousand men here. Olonia was sitting by a campfire, talking to several of her soldiers. The elf smiled to himself in satisfaction, just as he had told her to, she was indeed using a straight-sword. Her armour was gleaming, dented in a few others. That was expected too, she would be making mistakes this early on. Ones from inexperience and others from overconfidence. The soldiers around her showed off why the camp was in a state of complete chaos. A few walked around shirtless, others in shirts, a few in thick sweaters. Everyone wore black or green or dark blue, with no set uniform in between them. Some in shorts, others in trousers, two men were sitting down, warming their bare legs by a campfire, dressed only in shirts and boxers and that was it. Maybe someone else would have gotten infuriated, but Iliyal merely stood and watched. There was nothing infuriating about it, it was akin to watching a band of children roleplay as soldiers. A few of the men were carrying their rifles about, others had their guns laying by their side, one of the campfires had a rack, half filled with rifles. Frankly, it was rather sweet. Imitation was the highest form of flattery, as they said. Now that Olonia had been found though, there was no time to waste. Iliyal put the binoculars back and got onto the motorbike he was using to chase after the Goddess¡¯s army. It was the cheapest off-roader Iliyal could find that did not look as if it was going to fall apart. He still preferred the horses of the past, those were taller and less temperamental, but the motorbike was an undeniable upgrade. Its speed put the horse to shame, and it could drive for as long as it had fuel, unlike a horse. So whilst it was loud and annoying, and the ignition switch had to be twisted a dozen times for the bike to actually get moving, Iliyal got on and started to drive. The roads of southern Lubska did not lend him any favours, with more potholes than not, and the tarmac being a rough stony sort rather than the smooth asphalt seen on more frequented roads. The corners were sharp but there was a certain freedom in it. Iliyal felt the wind go past his ears as he turned. He drove quickly and came to a stop at the edge of the camp. A few men looked at him curiously. One fiddled with his rifle, but no one said anything. Iliyal supposed none of them would, he wasn¡¯t dressed like a Paladin, and one elf was no threat to any camp of a thousand men. ¡°I have come to talk to Goddess Olonia, of Lubska.¡± Iliyal shouted at them as he kicked the leg on the ugly motorbike down. The men shared looks between themselves, Iliyal had lived for long enough to recognize the traces of disagreement before they started to grow into denials. ¡°On behalf of Goddess Kassandora, of War.¡± Iliyal said and the men¡¯s expressions all changed immediately. ¡°I am Iliyal Tremali.¡± That should be enough, as much as the elf hated dropping names, they were good ammunition to keep loaded. ¡°You?¡± One of the men said. His hair cut long, in a pale shirt half unbuttoned. And shorts. Terrible. No discipline whatsoever. Iliyal shrugged. ¡°Me.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°If Olonia does not recognize me, then you¡¯re welcome to shoot me.¡± There was no need to feign confidence here, Olonia would recognize him. ¡°It¡¯s Goddess Olonia.¡± One of the men said. ¡°Goddess Olonia.¡± Iliyal corrected himself. There was no reason to waste time with snarky replies here. ¡°Apologies.¡± The man sighed and stood up. ¡°She will recognize you?¡± The soldier said. Two more stood up. ¡°As I said, put a bullet in my head if she doesn¡¯t.¡± Iliyal answered back. ¡°But it is urgent, and Goddess Kassandora is not one to be made to wait.¡± These men may have never been lead by her, but they would know of Kassandora, who managed to defeat the enemy they were fighting against now with far less than they had already. So the three men lead Iliyal through the camp. They didn¡¯t ask for his weapons, but they made sure to keep their own ready in their hands. That, he supposed could pass, but only because it was him. Anyone else, they should secure and disarm first. He got a few curious looks from soldiers sitting on logs and stumps and foldable chairs or just the ground as they all huddled around campfires and shared stories, but that was it. The elf made sure to keep his annoyance silent, but this is why camps should have central roads, because this winding nature of this route must have easily doubled the time it took for them to get to Olonia.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The Goddess of Lubska was sitting on a log, in the armour that Iliyal had seen through the binoculars, and talking with some of her soldiers. A campfire burned in front of her, and tents with no pattern to their construction surrounded them. Iliyal watched the woman talk easily to men that only reached up to her chest, even when they were all sitting and started making mental notes. This was more akin to Fer¡¯s and Kavaa¡¯s leadership styles, rather than Fortia¡¯s and Kassandora¡¯s. That was fine, everyone led troops in their own way, trouble only came about if he would try and force Olonia to treat men in the way he did. The Goddess of Lubska turned at the newcomers. Blue eyes framed by a pale face and snow-white hair met Iliyal¡¯s green and Olonia smiled. ¡°Iliyal!¡± She shouted. The elf stepped away from the three men who led him here. He didn¡¯t say a word to them, there was no need to. He wasn¡¯t Anassa, who took pleasure in kicking people as they were down. ¡°Olonia.¡± Iliyal said, he supposed going straight to business would be bad with this girl. ¡°I see you¡¯re well.¡± Olonia laughed. ¡°As well as I can be with everything going on.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± Iliyal said. That was enough small talk for him. ¡°I¡¯ve come due to the war.¡± ¡°Straight to business then?¡± Olonia asked. ¡°I¡¯d prefer not wasting time for now.¡± Iliyal replied. ¡°But you need help.¡± ¡°I would appreciate the advice of one of Kassandora¡¯s generals.¡± Olonia said happily. The men around her looked at Iliyal in awe. Even the three who had brought him here now made sorry faces of apology to him. Olonia had unwittingly given him an opening to lead the conversation down the path he wanted to. Iliyal seized the opportunity immediately. ¡°I have come precisely for that.¡± The elf began. ¡°And it is that there is nothing to do for me right now, the issue is with how your military is structured in the first place.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Olonia said. ¡°It is that you have to take command of the situation yourself.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°What?¡± Iliyal repeated himself in the same tone he used as when he trained the Goddess in fighting with a blade. ¡°You have to take command of the situation yourself Olonia. The way your war is structured right now cannot continue.¡± ¡°I have to?¡± ¡°You are the Goddess of this country. The highest authority lies with you.¡± Iliyal made sure to keep his tone hard. ¡°And it is me too, I will not deal with running orders by politicians or having to answer to men who have never held a rifle if you wish my help. I will work with you Olonia, I will not argue with men in suits however.¡± There, the ultimatum was set. Olonia always responded well to ultimatums. ¡°Well¡­¡± Olonia said. She looked down at herself. She looked at Iliyal. There it was, that was the quiet and shy Goddess of Lubska had seen the first time they had met. That was the part within Olonia that the woman had to slaughter if she wanted to survive for any amount of time. ¡°I..¡± ¡°Jozef is not leading the armies.¡± Iliyal said, he supposed some rationalization would be good. An example that Olonia could follow, people always loved to follow examples after all. ¡°This is like with Arascus and Goddess Kassandora. The God of Pride is in charge, but he lets Goddess Kassandora do as she sees fit. The war is her demesne.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s¡­¡± Olonia trailed off. ¡°I mean¡­ I¡¯m not Ka¡­¡± She looked up at Iliyal nervously. ¡°I¡¯m not Goddess Kassandora, am I? It¡¯s not my decision to make.¡± Iliyal made sure not to roll his eyes at the sheer childishness of this situation. The woman was serving as the figurehead of this war, and she still went to others to let them make decisions? The whole purpose of being a war¡¯s figurehead was that the people followed you and not the men in the capital. ¡°Olonia.¡± Iliyal made his tone hard, Olonia had reacted to this sort of ordering positively before after all. ¡°You are leading this war. Whatever Jozef says, he is not in the frontlines, is he?¡± Iliyal looked around at the men. This was about to be an underhanded move but Olonia had opened herself up for it by wanting to talk here. These men were her soldiers, they weren¡¯t her friends. ¡°Frankly.¡± Iliyal turned away from Olonia and made sure to sweep his gaze over the Lubskan soldiers. A crowd had formed, as men looked on curiously at this elf who had waltzed in straight to their Goddess. ¡°Every single one of you here is more qualified to lead this war than president Jozef!¡± Iliyal shouted. He got a few smiles and a solitary cheer for that. It was a small reaction, but the positivity meant he had found the spark, now it was simply a manner of dousing it in fuel. ¡°Where is Jozef?¡± Iliyal shouted to the men. ¡°Where is he? How many of Maisara¡¯s fortresses have you stormed already? How many men have died at the hands of Paladins? Do you think Jozef will die? Do you think that even if you lose, anything will happen to him? The worst that Fortia will do is sentence him to prison! Exile him off to some tropical island as punishment!¡± That was a total lie. Both Fortia and Maisara were generous with their executions, but Iliyal was the only person here who knew what Fortia and Maisara were truly like. And the men cheered. Iliyal turned to Olonia, she was the leader here, no man would lay claim to her position, but she simply needed a push to get moving. ¡°Olonia.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°You are losing right now. Maisara is moving through Epa, she will not be slowed by these small victories you have. Every day you spend wasting your time on this is another day that Maisara drives deeper into Lubska.¡± Iliyal felt the mood of the soldiers around him go sombre. So he had gone too hard, these men were still fresh and inexperienced. They weren¡¯t proper soldiers; they were still children. They needed stories of hope and love and heroism to get them into combat. ¡°And what are you doing here? Whilst the East of your country falls, you go around playing whack-a-mole with these fortresses? For what purpose? So that you can enrage Maisara even more before she gets to you? Are you children? Or are you men? Who have enlisted to defend your lands and your families. Are you here to fight for sight-seeing landmarks or are you here to fight for the freedom of your entire nation?¡± And that got significantly more cheers. Iliyal saw Olonia¡¯s face, it was a timid dread, the sort that said she knew she had to step, but that she could not do it. ¡°Olonia.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°You are the leader of this army. I will help you, just as I helped you train your martial ability, I will now train your fighting skill. I have fought against Maisara and Fortia in the Great War. If there is anyone who can do this, then it is me.¡± Iliyal let the silence hang for a moment so that the woman could absorb his words. ¡°But the first step has to come from you. You can stay here, as you have been, on the sidelines, getting commanded by Wissel and Artois.¡± Iliyal specifically made sure to avoid Jozef, it was far more offensive to say that leaders of foreign nations were commanding you. ¡°Or you can take the reigns of this war and lead it yourself.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Olonia made a timid word again. Iliyal had thought that the training made her more confident, but he supposed it must have only raised her self-opinion about her fighting ability, not her skill in strategy. ¡°Olonia. Lubska will fall. Epa will fall. The Coalition will be defeated if you let the politicians back home run the war on the front.¡± Iliyal looked into those blue eyes of hers. ¡°This is your choice Olonia. I cannot promise you victory just because you take command, but I can promise you defeat if you do not.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Olonia said from that log. The entire camp, all the men had fallen silent. The only sound that was left was the crackling of logs in the campfires. ¡°Will you help?¡± She asked. ¡°Why would I be here if I wasn¡¯t prepared to help?¡± Iliyal said and Olonia smiled. ¡°But this is your country, it is your decision.¡± The Goddess of Lubska stood up, she looked down at Iliyal. She tilted her head forwards and she nodded. ¡°You are correct.¡± Olonia said. ¡°Lubska is my land and I will lead it into war.¡± Iliyal contained his smile as the men around him cheered at Olonia¡¯s proclamation. This had indeed been the easier route to go down. Wissel would have taken at least a month to grant him command of the Coalition¡¯s armies, Goddess Kassandora had given him a week, and he had done it in two days. Chapter 240 – An Army from a Baby Aliana watched another pair of helicopters bring in survivors from a sunken ship. She thanked whatever Divine was watching over Epa for the fact that the men were rescued alive, and again that Richard VI had enough foresight to order a fleet of aeroplanes. They weren¡¯t enough to handle everything that Allia produced for the war effort, and the experimental artillery and Allia¡¯s own tanks were too heavy and cumbersome to move to Lubska to be tested in live-combat, but they did allow for the vital supply line of Allian engines to make their way into Doschian factories, and for Lubskan grain to make it back to Allia. This Alanktyda problem had to be sorted out before the granaries started to run dry. Iliyal looked around Olonia¡¯s tent. Apparently, this was the command tent. Apparently, her unit was the main force of the Lubskan military, with other brigades and divisions still being marshalled. Apparently, the hierarchy was lifted straight from how Goddess Kassandora organised her army in Kirinyaa. Apparently, this was supposed to be a military. Apparently¡­ Iliyal did not even know what else to list off as he stared down at the table in the tent Olonia had brought him to. They were wrong on all counts. They were so wrong that it was baffling how they managed to even make one step past the starting line but then the backing of an entire willing nation did give a good amount of leeway for failure. Olonia crossed her arms behind her back and stood off to the side as Iliyal bent leaned on that flimsy piece of steel. How did they even manage to somehow fail at furniture? Iliyal looked up at the ten men who were rank of captains in this brigade. That¡¯s how it went. A squad was ten, commanded by a sergeant. Ten sergeants to one captain. Ten captains to one Olonia. How they expected this model to scale, Iliyal did not even bother trying to comprehend. But there was something almost comforting in this total failure at organisation. It meant Iliyal could make all the sweeping changes he wanted to, and he didn¡¯t even have to feel bad about removing things other put effort in. ¡°Olonia.¡± Iliyal asked as he cast one final gaze around the tent. The fabric around them was a dark green, there was a huge table and a stool for the Goddess. A box for her clothes, another for her arms, and that was it. ¡°What is this?¡±¡¯ He knew the answer already. It was a fucking disaster. But disasters had a habit of needing to be concluded to by one¡¯s own mind rather than being pointed out than others, for someone to take action. If he just told her that everything was terrible, Olonia would most likely follow along, but he wasn¡¯t talking to her now. He was talking to the ten men who served in her leadership now. ¡°This?¡± Olonia asked she looked at the hierarchy. The ten men shuffled on their feet. No one wore anything that would not serve as a uniform, but no one matched anyone else. One man had a dark shirt, buttoned up. Another shorts. Another loose pants. A t-shirt here, a vest there. Nothing too bad, but the lack of cohesion was so annoying Iliyal felt his neck tense. ¡°This.¡± Iliyal replied as he pointed to the hierarchy. ¡°That¡¯s how we organize for now.¡± Olonia replied earnestly. She stood there, still in that armour, with that snow-white hair falling down her back. She was so earnest that Iliyal could almost believe her. If it was Kavaa standing there, he would just assume the hierarchy was laid out like that for a reason, but because it was Olonia he assumed there was no reasoning whatsoever. For the Epan military to be dependant on him, he would need a reorganization, but for there to be an Epan military, he would need to make sure that they weren¡¯t defeated in the immediate start of the conflict. Thankfully, Iliyal had come prepared. He put his own bag on the table and pulled out a blue folder. Blue for the home-front. The red one was for the front-front. ¡°This is how we do it in Arika.¡± Iliyal said as he pulled out a document outlining Kassandora¡¯s basic hierarchy. And Iliyal pointed at the top position: Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. In Kirinyaa, that was Kassandora¡¯s position. The Generals were below her, with Iliyal being the highest class and then Sokolowski, Zalewski and Ekkerson below him. ¡°This is you Olonia.¡± Iliyal said as he tapped that highest rank. Then he looked to the men. ¡°Does anyone know why we are doing this?¡± Men always learned better when they felt they got to the answer themselves, no matter how many hints they got to get to that answer. A few of them shifted. One man spoke up. ¡°It¡¯s a more professional way of doing things?¡± Iliyal shook his head. They wouldn¡¯t get there, he could tell already. He gave Olonia a glance. She was staring at the paper in confusion. Well, this was why he had come here, wasn¡¯t it? ¡°You.¡± Iliyal pointed to a bald man. ¡°You have a hundred men underneath you, yes?¡± The man nodded. ¡°I do!¡± He added to his nod. ¡°You have to secure two buildings, how do you do it?¡± The man looked at Iliyal, then at the other men in the tent, then at Olonia. She gestured for him to answer. ¡°I would¡­¡± He thought for a moment. ¡°I would make a plan for each of them, and then¡­¡± The man saw Iliyal¡¯s dour expression and trailed off. ¡°If you are making plans on how to siege individual buildings, why are you commanding an entire tenth of this brigade?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Is the maximum capacity of organisation here only ten buildings at a time?¡± A few of the men furrowed their eyebrows, a few of them made wide-eyed expressions as if they suddenly understood.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°I understand the argument against adding more ranks.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°If everyone had their own rank, what would the purpose of ranks be? Isn¡¯t that just a hierarchical chain at that point?¡± The elf saw several men nod and smile. ¡°Ultimately though, the chain is inefficient but has redundancy, your system is efficient but¡­¡± Iliyal thought of how to explain it to them in the simplest way possible. ¡°Split yourselves up, two groups.¡± They did as told, Olonia watched silently. ¡°Now you.¡± Iliyal pointed to the group on the left. ¡°You are all dead.¡± The elf to the men on his right. ¡°Now you have five-hundred men without orders, that you have to save. What do you do?¡± And he got a series of blank expressions. It was painted on their faces, they had answers, but nothing was good. ¡°Do you see now? There is only one person irreplaceable in this room.¡± The true answer was that it was Iliyal, but he gave them the wrong one. ¡°Olonia here, as long as she lives, Lubska can fight on.¡± That was simply the application of more pressure to the Goddess. It was obvious this wasn¡¯t her field, and the less confident she felt about herself, the more she would come to Iliyal for help. ¡°I want, between all of you, to organise ranks into this.¡± Iliyal tapped the paper as men came round. A few started to write down the various ranks on pieces of paper. ¡°Goddess Olonia will make all decisions on leadership.¡± ¡°I will?¡± Olonia asked. ¡°It¡¯s your army, isn¡¯t it?¡± Iliyal asked her with a bright smile. ¡°It is.¡± Olonia replied. ¡°It¡¯s your men, I¡¯m sure you know them better than me. I can help where I¡¯m needed but I¡¯m no Goddess Kassandora, she has a better eye for talent than me.¡± Iliyal lied through his teeth, he could tell whether a man could lead after a single conversation, but it was certain now that Olonia would come to him for advice. And he didn¡¯t want anyone growing the idea that it was Iliyal¡¯s fault they didn¡¯t get a promotion. Ultimately, he didn¡¯t know these people and if he started assigning men, then there would quickly be a demand from Jozef to remove him. Even his position as an uncalled-for-advisor was tenuous at best, the only thing he had going for him where Olonia¡¯s respect and his name. ¡°Okay.¡± Olonia said. Iliyal nodded. ¡°Preferably, we would have you trained in a school for this, but war did not wait for us.¡± He sighed, moved the paper with ranks away and revealed the map underneath. ¡°So we will do some training on the job.¡± Iliyal looked at the ten men who served as Olonia¡¯s leadership. He almost wanted someone to raise an issue with what he just said yet no one did. ¡°Alright.¡± Olonia replied. It was almost too easy. ¡°Firstly, the other brigades of the Lubskan military, where are they?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°There¡¯s several all along the southern mountains.¡± One of the men answered quickly. ¡°They¡¯re all individually sieging their own Paladin fortresses.¡± ¡°And the ones up north?¡± He said. ¡°Like Drayim?¡± The men looked at themselves, then at Olonia. So she was designated as the bearer of bad news then. ¡°Those we¡¯ve decided not to siege.¡± Olonia said. Iliyal had to blink at the absurdity of what he had just heard. ¡°You¡¯ve decided not to siege those?¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Why exactly?¡± ¡°They¡¯re far away from the front and not on any major highways. We can siege them later but they¡¯re not trouble now. And there¡¯s not enough Paladins in them to worry about raiding¡­¡± She paused for a moment. ¡°Too much.¡± Iliyal sighed, he imagined if this is what Kassandora felt like when she taught him. But he never remembered making a mistake as glaring as this. ¡°A rule of warfare is to always strike fast and strike hard. We currently have the initiative in all regions but the south west, do we not?¡± ¡°We have it?¡± One man asked in surprise. ¡°We do have it.¡± Iliyal confirmed for them. ¡°Maisara is marching on us, and we are playing whack-a-mole with odd fortresses. When she advances here, then her northern bases serve as resting spots for her army.¡± He shook his head. ¡°What you have to make sure of, in warfare, is that when the enemy gives you a chance, you take it immediately. What does it matter if they react, if you¡¯re back in the starting position by the time they can react?¡± The men all nodded to him. As did Olonia. Of course they would nod, it made sense. Goddess Kassandora had written the words herself, so of course it did. ¡°Where are the Weapon Divines?¡± One man answered, this one had close cut hair and a dark shirt. Top two buttons undone. ¡°In Zawitz, protecting the capital and the govern¡­¡± He trailed off when he saw Iliyal¡¯s expression. ¡°Olonia, send an order to them. They¡¯re to clear the Paladin bases north of us immediately. Have them set off today. Give them a hundred men each as support. Don¡¯t send them alone.¡± It would be terrible if someone like Aslana fell into the White Pantheon¡¯s hands. ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Well they won¡¯t listen to me, will they?¡± Iliyal said. Once again, no one commented. ¡°I will then, alright.¡± Olonia said as she made quick nods. ¡°No, I see it, if we go fast, we can get rid of them so they won¡¯t be a problem for the future.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°If you have a chance, you need a reason to not be taking it.¡± ¡°I see none.¡± One of the men said. ¡°And you Olonia, I want you to move through the south. Not with this brigade here, but yourself, use your eagle.¡± ¡°Myself?¡± Olonia asked. ¡°From sieging brigade to sieging brigade, rather than waiting for this one to get there.¡± Iliyal confirmed and Olonia narrowed her brows. ¡°This is the only brigade that has seen live combat, we¡¯ll take the least losses with these¡­¡± And she shut up again. ¡°That was wrong, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Iliyal sighed, the woman really did have a confidence problem. ¡°It was perfectly correct.¡± He answered. ¡°But will this brigade be the only one that fights throughout the entire war? Will only these thousand men engage all of Maisara¡¯s hundred thousand? Everyone needs experience, we take losses now to minimize them later.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Olonia said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we didn¡¯t realise that.¡± One of the men chimed in. ¡°It¡¯s obvious when phrased like that.¡± And as did the rest, everyone commenting on Iliyal¡¯s move and how smart it was. The elf clapped his hands to shut them up. ¡°Gentlemen!¡± He shouted and got the attention of everyone. ¡°We have a war to fight, if I wanted compliments, I¡¯d get them from pretty elf girls rather than you.¡± The room laughed at that, even Olonia chuckled quietly to herself. ¡°We have our orders, send the weapons up north, you lot get started on the re-organization and Olonia, you clear out the southern bases.¡± The elf looked at them again. ¡°Well? Go on!¡± And they got moving. Iliyal looked at the men in the room as they ran out, everyone filled with excitement. No one had noticed he had given the order and not Olonia. Even the Goddess herself was still looking at the map and nodding at Iliyal¡¯s plan. Finally, Iliyal around himself a smile. When someone knew what they were doing, then taking over a nation¡¯s military was as easy as stealing candy from a baby. Chapter 241 – Dawn Comes To Nanbasa Maisara looked over her reports. Sudden attacks in the north. Several at the same time. And Olonia was using her eagle now. She was attacking during the day and the night, sometimes her forces would engage before she even got there. This past week, Lubska¡¯s ¡°Army¡± had been moving lethargically. And now, it was moving as if it was frantically running out of time. Something had changed, these frantic moves had the stink of Kassandora on them. ¡°Production is up again, we¡¯re running at full-steam in the new district.¡± Arascus listened to Sokolowski finish his report. War administration was always a pain, every facet of peacetime ruling could be delegated away whereas every facet of wartime ruling had to be carefully monitored because no one but Arascus would do a job as well as him. So he sat in the Imperial Governance Office of Kirinyaa, the building that once housed the National Assembly. It was the only building that would do, designed by Divines, for Divines, there was no other building with doorframes Arascus could simply walk through without craning his neck. It did make all the humans look comically downsized though, but Sokolowski seemed to take no issue with it, he simply kept on giving his report. ¡°I¡¯ve put a man called Haki in charge of the organization of the new housing district. He¡¯s native here and that¡¯s all I¡¯ll say about him.¡± Sokolowski finished with a perfect salute as Arascus leaned back on his chair. Helenna tapped her pen against her piece of paper and readjusted the folders by her side. ¡°That¡¯s all you¡¯ll say about him?¡± Arascus asked, Damian Sokolowski did not even react to the accusatory tone. He wouldn¡¯t though, Kassandora¡¯s men rarely got flustered. This man was becoming another Iliyal, in his military uniform he stood, with the honorary rifle and pistol on his belt. All the officers were allowed to bring their weaponry into the Imperial Governance Offices, it wasn¡¯t like they posed a threat to Divines anyway. ¡°I am certain he will do an acceptable job.¡± Sokolowski said. ¡°He has finished a degree in urban planning from Nanbasa¡¯s Westpoint University.¡± That was one of the best in the country, especially when it came to issues like this. Other schools could claim to have better scientists and technology, but no one produced better administrators than the place that lay in the middle of the country¡¯s administrative centre. ¡°And he understands that the new town is to be designed for the war effort. Foundation excavations started a week ago.¡± Arascus nodded as he looked over to Helenna. The Goddess of Love scrawled something on her piece of paper and shrugged. She wore the black HAUPT uniform that had become synonymous with Arascus¡¯ rule. Today, her hair was a pale brown, that simply meant the woman was satisfied. Arascus wished all Goddesses had their emotions on display like that, it would make living in this world far easier. Helenna¡¯s tall cap, with the emblem of a rose with huge thorns, sat on her desk in front of her. ¡°Do you have anything to add?¡± Arascus asked. She probably wouldn¡¯t, but the woman should be kept on good terms for now. She should feel as if she was doing something until Irinika and Malam were rescued from below at least. ¡°Nothing.¡± Helenna said, her hair turning a brighter shade for only a moment, as if it was a beating heart. ¡°Thanks for asking.¡± Sokolowski did not even look at, that was another thing Arascus liked about the generals of Kassandora. They could stand in front of a circus and not see anything if not asked to. ¡°And the Epa situation?¡± Without Kassie here, it was hard to get news. Damian Sokolowski made a sorry face. ¡°I do not know. General Tremali only sends updates to Goddess Kassandora.¡± Arascus retreated further back into his seat. That was a big failure of how Kassie organised her armies, without her here, it was almost impossible to get any news. ¡°So she does.¡± Arascus said as he stood up. ¡°You¡¯re dismissed General.¡± He saluted to the human. The human returned the salute to the Divine. ¡°Get to the sea-wall and keep preparing defences. If you hear anything from Tremali, then send word to me. We need to keep track of the Epan situation.¡± ¡°Yes Sir!¡± Damian Sokolowski answered. He turned around and made the formal goosestep out of Arascus¡¯ room. Arascus sat back down and peered over his map of coastal Kirinyaa. Defences in Nanbasa were complete, that was true. The city was not fully defended, but it was defended enough to be able to repel the first wave. The rest of the country though? Pitiful. Iniri had gone where she could. Most of the cities had her grown seawalls now, though none as grand as Nanbasa¡¯s towering monsters, and only a few were reinforced in the same manner. But that was why Arascus had made so much publicity in the past week about being in Nanbasa and about preparing its defences. It was a plan him, Kassandora and Helenna had agreed on. A news cycle filled with nothing but updates on the defences served two purposes. The obvious one was the rallying of morale amongst the population. They saw he was working on the imminent threat, and they gave their support when needed. Fortia¡¯s invasion of Epa only brought credence to threat and it set a fuse off for Kirinyaa¡¯s population. They thought they had until Fortia finished up in Epa, so the news of defences taking months to complete was glossed over. Months to defend a country was already fast. Whereas the other purpose it served was to force Allasaria to engage. Nanbasa specifically. Kassandora had given a presentation on how unassailable the walls were on national news. Helenna constantly talked about the procurement of arms and how Nanbasa alone produced most of the countries¡¯ weaponry. That wasn¡¯t even a lie. And Arascus made vague references about how not even titans would be able to cross the walls of Nanbasa once all the defences were finished.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The goal was simple. It was to paint Nanbasa as a target so that the other cities would not be the focus. There was precisely no chance that Uriamel would only invade Nanbasa, but if most of Uriamel¡¯s armies hit this city, then the others had a chance. ¡°What do you think Helenna?¡± Arascus decided to make small talk. He had to be in the capital for now, but that was because mundane issues came up every hour or so. Someone had to be here to solve them. ¡°I was talking with Neneria.¡± Helenna said, she looked at Arascus with those warm eyes of hers and turned away after a moment, some colour in her cheeks. ¡°Back when Iniri got lost in the Jungle. She said this to me, and she said Kass told her. The wait is the worst part.¡± ¡°That is Kass¡¯s line.¡± Arascus confirmed, although no one understood the way Kassandora understood it. To everyone else, it was the fact that fear of a threat was usually greater than a threat itself. To Kassandora, it was more akin to needing release. ¡°And she¡¯s not wrong on it.¡± ¡°No, she¡¯s not. It¡¯s terrible.¡± Helenna confirmed. ¡°I sit here and look out the window and there¡¯s just ocean.¡± She looked past Arascus and out the window. ¡°I¡¯m glad it¡¯s just ocean, but then that dread sets in again.¡± Arascus turned on his chair as he watched Nanbasa. All the streets were lit, the vehicles in the city¡¯s animal reserve were turned off, but he could pick them out here and, hidden under trees, starlight glinting off them. Traffic had died down in the city, a good amount of the population had fled to the rural countryside deeper in the country. A few had even gone so far as to already start building on the land reclaimed from the Jungle. Now, the city was like a tired heart. It beat twice a day, during morning rush hour and during the traffic jams in the evening when everyone was returning home from their work. Every other time, it remained quiet and dead, without so much as even a pedestrian walking about. The animals from the zoo had been evacuated, even the infrastructure of the city¡¯s manufacturing district had been moved. Cannons had been positioned on the top of skyscrapers and city blocks, windows had been blown out to give vantage points for soldiers, roads around the port had been torn up to make sure they wouldn¡¯t serve Uriamel¡¯s forces. That entire part of the city had been rigged to blow. Arascus looked up at the starry sky, the darkness retreating as the orange edge of dawn was approaching from the east. ¡°Do you think we have a chance?¡± Helenna asked from behind him. He heard her stand up and walk besides him. ¡°I see no way forwards but victory.¡± Arascus replied and the Goddess of Love sniffed in humour. ¡°That may work on Princesses, but not on me.¡± Arascus sniffed back, with just as much humour as she put into it. ¡°Of the Old Guard, I assume there isn¡¯t a single one of us who isn¡¯t so jaded as to laugh at that.¡± Helenna popped open a bottle of wine behind him, the cork hit the ceiling and landed somewhere. ¡°But I do genuinely believe it.¡± ¡°We all have our failings.¡± Helenna said as she came over, a glass of wine poured for Arascus. ¡°And I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a failing.¡± ¡°Neither do I.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°At least one of us needs to be an optimist.¡± ¡°I would have assumed that was Fer.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°Have you ever talked with Fer?¡± ¡°Have I?¡± Helenna asked, almost aghast as to how her honour could be questioned so much. ¡°I meant about the future.¡± Arascus said. As pleasant as Fer was, she was also the Goddess of Beasthood. The more one got to know her, the more one started to underestimate her nature. ¡°I¡¯ve not.¡± ¡°Then you should.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But Fer lives in the moment, she¡¯s not an optimist or a pessimist, she¡¯s just here.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t have anyone like that.¡± Helenna said. ¡°The Forces I suppose, but for them, it¡¯s more that they don¡¯t want to cause trouble because then they¡¯d have to work. Maisara, Fortia and Alla¡­¡± Helenna chuckled. ¡°There isn¡¯t much to say about them, is there?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing to say that¡¯s not been said before.¡± Arascus said. ¡°But one optimist is needed. Someone needs to see the light at the end of the tunnel to guide the others.¡± ¡°And you see it?¡± Arascus looked down at the burgundy wine Helenna passed. Whether he saw it or not was not important. What was important was that others thought he saw it, because then they would want to follow along in his footsteps. ¡°I have to see it.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Because if I don¡¯t, then who does?¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Helenna purred from the side of his chair as they watched the first sliver of the Sun breach the horizon. ¡°I like the honesty of that answer.¡± Arascus merely sipped from his glass. He knew she would. Helenna liked any sort of news as long as she could read into it. So they sat, and waited, and watched the Sun rise. Arascus looked over the city. Past the animal reserve Nanbasa was built around, now populated by military vehicles, artillery and self-propelled anti-air. Each one holding its gun as if it was a porcupine ready to defend against a giant animal. He looked past the industrial district, the warehouses evacuated of machinery to be replaced by soldiers and explosives, the whole section of the city ready to blow if it fell to invading forces. He looked passed Iniri¡¯s seawall, a magnificent barrier of wood, taller than city blocks, filled in with concrete and steel and peppered with its own turrets and men. He looked past the dark blue ocean, once filled with countless ships, now empty and still. Over the horizon, the Sun was rising, dawn was pushing away the starry night. And with that dawn came a figure. Floating in the air carried slowly. She was small, but Arascus could tell who it was with a single glance. There weren¡¯t many Goddesses that tall, who let their pale hair grow so long it fell like a curtain behind them, past their hips. Who did not need armour but instead only donned a dress of white and gold. Allasaria had come. Chapter 242 – A Grand Past Captain Douglas swerved Raptor One to the side as Erik once again came into radio range. They were both flying over the Jungle and performing scouting runs for the Reclamation War. Taking pictures of the terrain with high-resolution cameras and dropping beacons that would map out the terrain. It wasn¡¯t glorious work, there was little heroic in it and no action, but it was needed work. Better to waste some time on finding them rather than to waste lives or vehicles which would be swallowed up. ¡°How are you doing?¡± Erik asked over the speaker. ¡°Same old, same old.¡± Douglas replied. ¡°Returning, out of pods. You?¡± ¡°Same.¡± Erik turned Raptor Two and flew close next to Raptor One, the two black jets soared over the vast green ocean below them. ¡°I want a shower.¡± Douglas agreed with Erik¡¯s sentiment. He had flown in the newer KAF planes a few times now, largely to just show the new recruits how to handle them. The two Raptors simply did not compare to KAF jets. They were faster true, and more manoeuvrable, but they had been designed to counter the Goddess of Luck apparently. That meant that the only electronics in the plane were the radios and the lights. The radars had been installed after the fact, and it showed. The cabins were crammed full, every inch of metal that could have had something installed, did, and it was obvious that the design had accounted for none of it. The cabin did have a heater, that too had been installed post-Operation Misfortune, and it had only two settings: Sub-Zero or Oven. ¡°Shower would be good.¡± Douglas said. He drank some of the stale water as a yellow button by his right thigh lit up. Message incoming from income. Douglas flicked the switch to accept the call. ¡°This is Captain Douglas speaking, over.¡± Ground Control was usually a pain in the ass when it came to maintaining proper radio discipline. ¡°Ground Control Speaking, can both Raptor units hear me, over?¡± ¡°Raptor One, you are loud and clear, over.¡± ¡°Raptor two, same here, over.¡± Erik added. ¡°You have a new mission. Radar picked up movement some two hundred kilometres to your south west. Coordinates should already be transmitted to you. Scout it out, over.¡± Douglas sighed, frankly this was the last thing he wanted to be doing right now. ¡°Excuse me? Ground control? Right now? You want us to scout it out?¡± Erik said over the comms. ¡°We do.¡± The radio replied. ¡°Scout it out.¡± ¡°Now?¡± There was a sigh from the other side of the radio. ¡°It¡¯s urgent Raptor Two. We wouldn¡¯t be telling you to go on a scouting run with no ammo if it wasn¡¯t.¡± Douglas sighed as he moved the control-stick to the right, his black jet started to turn with him. Kavaa looked down the hole as Anassa blinked away from it. One moment, the Goddess of Sorcery was standing there, silhouetted against her red arts as they simply removed dirt from existence, the next, Anassa was besides them in that horrid dress of red velvet and silk, grabbing yet another orange from Iniri¡¯s tree. ¡°This.¡± Anassa declared loudly. ¡°Is not work for me.¡± Fer made a he-he-he of a chuckle as she looked down the cliff. Anassa¡¯s sorceries had not dug, nor carved out a section of the soil. They removed a part of the world. They left a smooth surface and a perfect circle on the ground, large enough to drop an entire house in. Every now and then, a gust of wind would blow some dust into the hole but its edge was a sharp and sudden as the edge of a piece of paper. Fer was sitting on it, kicking her legs and looking inside. ¡°You¡¯re the best at this, so it¡¯s your job.¡± Kassandora said as she stood there, in her suit, brilliant red hair cascading down her back. ¡°In fact, you¡¯re so good that it would be offensive if we tried to do it, it¡¯s like letting a child cook whilst a master chef is standing by.¡± Kavaa didn¡¯t know if Kassandora meant it or not. The woman said the words without a hint of hesitation or shame, as if she was doing nothing but simply acknowledging Anassa¡¯s power. True, the woman was strong, true, there was no one who could make this tunnel as quickly or as efficiently as Anassa could, but wasn¡¯t that simply too much? Kavaa herself would honestly take it as an insult if Kassandora suddenly started talking about her like that. ¡°Well¡­¡± Anassa said smugly. Kavaa sighed, Anassa apparently took it entirely in the opposite way that Kavaa would have taken it. Her cheeks went red with satisfaction and she looked at the orange from Iniri¡¯s tree. ¡°I guess I have to do it now.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t save us Ana, then who will?¡± Kassandora said flatly as she turned looked into the hole. ¡°How far have you gone?¡± Kavaa peered over the edge herself. As did Iniri, that Goddess made a tiny little branch clamber out of the ground to hold onto as she looked. There was red soil, and then the red soil simply gave way to an ocean of darkness. ¡°Deep I guess.¡± Anassa replied. ¡°You can¡¯t tell?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s a distance.¡± Kassandora shook her head at the stupidity of the answer. ¡°Yes but is it a long or a short distance?¡± ¡°Depends on who is measuring.¡± Anassa replied sharply this time and Kassandora sighed in exasperation. ¡°Then if you¡¯re measuring Ana, how far is the distance?¡± And Anassa smiled as she threw in the last slice of orange into her mouth. ¡°All distances are short to me.¡± She said, mouth full and swallowed. ¡°That was tasty.¡± She declared and then clapped her hands. ¡°Right! Breaktime over! Time to get to work, someone has to do it after all!¡± And Anassa disappeared. She had been stood right there one instance, then in the next, she was gone. Kavaa looked down into the hole, she saw another red sphere of sorcery suddenly appear. There was no charge up, there was no wind, no great incantation or scream to let the world know it was about to behold the power of the Goddess of Sorcery. No, it just appeared and started moving downwards, erasing itself and the ground as it went. The only way trace of movement from it was Anassa¡¯s silhouette from above, idling about as she called on more spheres. Fer kicked her legs, swung from side to side and sniffed the air. Once. Twice. Thrice, then she leaned back and tilted her head back so that she looked at the rest of team upside down. ¡°She¡¯s dug three-hundred fifty metres about.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Not deep then.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It¡¯s faster than if I did it though.¡± Iniri said quietly. ¡°How can you tell?¡± Kavaa asked and Fer smiled. The ears on top of her head straightened and her fangs revealed themselves. ¡°She¡¯s hit a different kind of stone.¡± Fer said as she pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and threw it at Kavaa. The Goddess of Health caught it and carefully straightened it out. It was just an image that had been printed off, an illustration of different ground layers. Kassandora gave it a glance and stepped away, Iniri stood on her tip toes and then looked at Fer with awe, brown eyes wide and mouth open. ¡°You can smell stone?¡± She asked. ¡°It has a smell.¡± Fer said happily. ¡°Everyone can smell soil, it¡¯s the same. The trick is telling them apart.¡± The sense of smell did not impress Kavaa in the least, she had gotten used to it when she had entered the highway with Fer and Iliyal. No, what was impressive was the woman¡¯s foresight to predict and prepare for this scenario. She really did hide a beastly intelligence underneath that pretty smile. ¡°I have one thing to ask.¡± Kavaa said, Fer¡¯s vulpine eyes turned to her, but it was Kassandora who spoke. ¡°Better to get the questions out now than later. What is it?¡± ¡°We¡¯re going into the Jungle¡¯s roots, right?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°We are.¡± Kassandora confirmed coolly. ¡°And what stops Iniri from falling to them again?¡± Kavaa asked. She turned to see Kassandora pointing at Fer. ¡°What is Fer supposed to do exactly?¡± Kavaa said and Fer made that horrendous he-he-he of a laugh again. ¡°You saw me fight the Nationals.¡± Fer said. ¡°Do you think Iniri will get taken when I¡¯m here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Iniri said. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± She took a sigh. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think I can stand against it, but I know what it¡¯s like now. I can give a warning or something.¡± ¡°Anassa¡¯s here anyway.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°If Fer can¡¯t do it, which I doubt, but if Fer can¡¯t do it, then Anassa can. We¡¯re not going on another trip into the Jungle again.¡± ¡°And if we are.¡± Fer said. ¡°Then treat it as a team-building exercise.¡± Kavaa supposed there was nothing to say to these women. They were ultimately better at this than she was herself. With Fortia and Maisara and Allasaria, Kavaa had always felt as if her opinions were simply swept away and ignored. Neither Kassandora nor Fer swept her points away, but with them here, it was hard to think of anything she could add. ¡°And Anassa?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°What if she gets taken.¡± Kassandora looked to Fer and the Goddess of Beasthood shook her head. ¡°She won¡¯t.¡± ¡°She won¡¯t?¡± Was all Kavaa had to say. She didn¡¯t even make her tone farcical or disbelieving or questioning. It was just¡­ She believed Fer, but she had no reason to believe Fer. That was the issue. ¡°I know she won¡¯t.¡± Fer said, somewhat more disbelieving. ¡°Just like I knew you or Little Kassie wouldn¡¯t, or that Nene would.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± Kassandora said quickly. ¡°I would never Kassie.¡± Fer said. Kavaa saw Iniri smile to herself as they watched the two stare at each other. Fer¡¯s eyes casting a horribly smug challenge, Kassandora¡¯s resigned in their annoyance. Fer suddenly burst out in laughter, Kassandora smiled along. And now it was Kavaa who was annoyed. Annoyed that these two got on so well and she had just spent the past millennium seething in the White Pantheon. ¡°How long are we going in for?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°As long as we need to.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Nanbasa should be able to hold and there isn¡¯t anything pressing. I¡¯m going to cut it off if we spend a month in there and can¡¯t find anything.¡± ¡°And if we find¡­¡± Kavaa trailed off. ¡°Tartarus?¡± ¡°Then we kill and retreat and Iniri fills up the hole.¡± Iniri shook her head at that. ¡°That¡¯s so simple.¡± She said. ¡°Must it be complicated?¡± Kassandora asked back and Iniri shook her head even harder. ¡°No, I¡¯m not complaining.¡± She spoke gently. ¡°I¡¯m just¡­ It¡¯s just refreshing I think.¡± ¡°You think too much.¡± Fer said from next to them, still looking at them with her head tilted back. Iniri turned to her, but she didn¡¯t seem angry or even confused. More as if she had given up. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not the Iniri I knew.¡± Fer said and sniffed the air. ¡°You smell the same, but this isn¡¯t the Mother Nature I fought against back then.¡± ¡°A lot can change in a thousand years.¡± Iniri said. Now Fer shook her decisively, her golden locks brushing against the dark red Kirinyaan soil as she did. ¡°Not us Iniri.¡± ¡°The world has moved on Fer.¡± Iniri argued back, some fire in her. Kavaa was impressed, no one had managed to drag any sort of rage out of Iniri for a while now. ¡°It¡¯s only natural that I¡¯ve been left behind.¡± The Goddess of Beasthood only stared the Goddess of Nature down, Kavaa didn¡¯t know if Fer was angry or not, but she obviously was not happy with Iniri¡¯s answer. ¡°If the world¡¯s moved on, then why am I here?¡± Fer asked. ¡°No Iniri, once, my tigers had sabres for teeth. Now I run with wolves. Your great forests are gone, but you are still just as present, maybe even more. In the vines and the mosses and the roots that tear up roads. You¡¯re still here.¡± Iniri chuckled dryly. ¡°Fer, I appreciate the support.¡± Kavaa blinked and took a step back. This was Iniri, but this wasn¡¯t the tone she always used. Not the meek whisper that faded into the background, but the loud speech that Iniri always gave back then. ¡°But I do not need it. We¡¯re not children, let¡¯s not pretend that going from sabretooths to wolves or oaks to vines is anything but a degeneration.¡± Fer smiled slyly as she looked at Kavaa. Her eyes glinting with a victorious pride that she had drawn something out of Iniri. ¡°If we¡¯re talking about degeneration, we have the grandest degenerate right here.¡± Fer said, her tail moved to support her back and she pointed to Kassandora. ¡°Explain in what way I have gotten worse, please sister.¡± Kassandora said, not impressed at all. ¡°Let¡¯s not pretend that war is grander now than it was in the Age of Heroes. Where¡¯s the chivalry and gallant knights? The princesses to rescue? The kings to award titles?¡± Kassandora sniffed the air. ¡°I¡¯ve distilled my subject down to the bare essentials. War is not chivalry or knights or kings. Compare the Age of Heroes to the Great War. Do you think the ancient fools would have lasted even a day? Compare them to today, with mass mobilization. What is grander than that?¡± Fer nodded. ¡°I have the same view. The sabretooth killed a man once a month, if that. The mosquito sentences an village in a night. The great serpents still live because they accepted they would be hunted to extinction if they kept the oceans to themselves. The wolf became the dog and ensured permanence for itself.¡± And Fer looked to Kavaa. ¡°You have it easy.¡± ¡°Do I now?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Was your demesne not grander back then?¡± Fer asked. ¡°With village healers and travelling doctors and healing magic?¡± Kavaa asked sarcastically. ¡°Romantic, yes, but grander?¡± Kavaa shook her head. ¡°The greatest thing the hospital has done is freed me from the annual pilgrimages to counter the winter flu.¡± Fer turned to Iniri. ¡°And there¡¯s your answer. We¡¯ve all grown less romantic, more jaded, but that¡¯s how the world is. Back then, you had your grand forests, now, you have mold in the walls. Less romantic? Definitely, but don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s less efficient in combat.¡± Iniri merely shrugged. ¡°The entire world isn¡¯t about fighting Fer. Am I deadlier? Most likely.¡± Iniri showed off her fingers and a root exploded out of the ground. ¡°But do I want to be?¡± ¡°Just because your deadly doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re a killer.¡± Fer said. ¡°And if you weren¡¯t deadly, you¡¯d be harmless. Who will respect a harmless Goddess?¡± Kavaa nodded along, maybe she was simply as jaded as Fer was. Maybe they had simply lived too long. Whatever it was, she found herself agreeing. She was about to speak, but Anassa suddenly appeared, she was still as perfect as ever, so clean she may as well have just stepped out of shower, her hair still gleaming. She looked around for Iniri¡¯s orange tree. Saw it. Snapped her fingers. An orange shot out of the tree and landed in Anassa¡¯s grasp. The Goddess of Sorcery looked down on them all from above. ¡°Breaktime?¡± Fer asked. Anassa tore the orange apart and dropped the skin into that abyssal pit she had just carved out. ¡°Whilst all of you were busy rationalizing your existential dreads up here, I¡¯ve been working.¡± ¡°And?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°And we¡¯re through.¡± Anassa said as she threw a piece of fruit into her mouth. ¡°I¡¯ve just hit carved stone. Fer was correct, it¡¯s dwarves.¡± Chapter 243 – The First Wave I can not think of a worse scenario, of a situation more miserable, of any scenario worse in warfare than urban fighting. In the same way that a man can only say he knows how to swim after being thrown into waters in which he can drown, a general can only say he knows how to lead after being tasked with sieging a city. War is sometimes called a crucible for men, then urban fighting is the hottest point of that crucible. To defend a city is noticeably easier. The two biggest mistakes novices in this art make are the following: One, plans are made to be too complicated, with dozens of fallback lines and locations in the city to hold. A strategy followed is always better than a strategy forgotten or, worse yet, misremembered and confused. Your soldiers are men, they are not automatons to be programmed. And Two. They give emotion to brick and mortar. That is a mistake. Brick is brick. Mortar is mortar. No one cries over a broken brick in construction, no one should cry over a broken brick in war. Almost every defender I have ever fought against has fallen prey to this mentality. They move out of position to try and prevent fires, they fortify collapsing buildings to try and salvage them. Defensively, this tactic can be applied to. What sort of protection does an invading army have when the streets themselves are rigged to blow? When the homes around them are set ablaze, what can invaders do but retreat? Principles of Siegecraft, written by Goddess Kassandora, Of War, during the Great War. Damian Sokolowski turned towards the oceanfront from the top of his tower. Arascus would be watching, the General was sure that the God of Pride would not miss a moment of this battle, but Kassandora had told him that he was personally responsible for the defence of Nanbasa. That if the city fell, his head would fall with it. Arascus would come in, he would help, but he was an independent auxiliary. Nothing more, nothing less. This was the one point Kassandora had driven home to Damian. Everything else could be rationalized, could be worked around, everything else was rather flexible. Not Arascus though. Do not rely on Arascus, do not call on him for aid. Arascus was a better general than Sokolowski, if he chose to assist, then it would be because of a reason. If he chose to stay put, then likewise, he would have a reason to stay put. So Damian pushed all thoughts of calling for the God of Pride out of his mind. Frankly, this early on, Arascus was not needed anyway. Allasaria was hovering terribly high in the air, watching the city from afar. It was out of the range of anti-air and the Goddess was too small to be locked on by the heat-seeking missiles. So Damian Sokolowski stood in his vantage point. It was a skyscraper in Nanbasa¡¯s south. The building had been evacuated, a good amount of the windows had been taken out, and now his team stood around him. Wiktor was working the radio that had been set up in this apartment¡¯s living room. It was a cumbersome thing, all boxes and wires and odd antennae that threatened to poke eyes out, but it had served in Melukal, so it would serve now. Mateusz and Pawel were both looking at the water through their own pairs of binoculars, all the men were dressed in dark clothes. Nothing pitch black, that stood out too much, but dark enough to look as fade into the shadows of the apartment they were in. ¡°Certification.¡± Pawel said, his binoculars aimed at Allasaria. ¡°Would.¡± ¡°Classic.¡± Mateusz replied as he looked over the ocean. Damian Sokolowski ignored the two men, both had shaved their heads for this operation. Kassandora had recommended for the whole army to shave, they would most likely be engaging in melee combat. Even a single strand of hair that an opponent could latch onto would prove deadly. Mateusz finished his scan of the dark blue waters and looked up at the Goddess of Light. Allasaria stood there, in a dress of white and gold. It both awed and terrified Damian. Any other Divine, and he would have called them an amateur for not bringing armour. But he had seen how much Kassandora respected Allasaria¡¯s strength. He had seen the amount of preparation that was put into contingency plans that were to be done if it was only Allasaria who was sieging Nanbasa, he had been in those meetings more than once. So he knew that if Allasaria had decided to come in a dress and not armour, it wasn¡¯t some stupid naivety. It was a simple show of force. ¡°KAF is on the line! They have ten jets sortied! Ready to intercept at your orders General!¡± Wiktor shouted from the abandoned apartment. Rifles and spare ammunition, along with kits for first aid lay strewn about. Damian Sokolowski gave on final glance at the Goddess of Light. He was sure she could see him, but he had absolutely no way to confirm it. Frankly, simply standing here with her up there, in the air, was enough to set his heart racing in panic. ¡°Which Squadrons?¡± Damian asked. It wasn¡¯t important which squadrons they were frankly, fighter jets would either turn the tide of the war for them, or they wouldn¡¯t even put a dent in Allasaria. All that was left was to discover which way the tide would flow. ¡°One through Three.¡± Wiktor replied. ¡°Send Squadron One in. Tell them to go in from different angles and at the same time. No restrictions on firing.¡± Damian said, his eyes went to the water as Wiktor started to repeat his commands to Ground Control. They would be beaming it up to the jets. But Damian did not care a single bit at how efficient the system was. He could not turn his eyes away from the deep blue ocean under the cloudless light blue sky. Past Iniri¡¯s tremendous seawall, that Damian had helped reinforce with steel and concrete himself. He watched the water.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Something was in there. As if a tremendous whale had decided to move onwards, onto Nanbasa. Damian put it out of his mind as Wiktor shouted from behind him. ¡°Squadron One is coming in now! From the North and South!¡± Damian looked up, he saw Allasaria turn her head at the sounds of jets coming in from either side. The General then caught the sight of the jets, like three spearpoints, two from the south, one from the north, flying in from odd angles and at odd intervals. The closest of those jets let out its thunderous buzz as its machine guns opened fire. Allasaria only lifted her hand. A flash of light blinded all of Nanbasa for a moment, as if someone had managed to stretch out the instance of a lighthouse shining directly at you across the sky. And there were only two plains remaining. Allasaria moved her hand. Another flash of light. And only one plain remained. Allasaria moved backwards with all the agility of a bumblebee. She went from standing in place to racing across the sky in an instant. Bullets flew by her, as did the plain. Another flash of light temporarily blinded Damian Sokolowski. When he recovered, it was as if there had never even been a Squadron One. There was no burning wreckage, no plume of smoke, no oil spilled into the ocean. Allasaria had simply evaporated the three jet planes. ¡°Call off KAF!¡± Damian quickly shouted. If three jets barely forced her to move, then a dozen would barely get a scratch on her. He was not about to trade all of Kassandora¡¯s Air Force for a single drop of Divine blood. And there was a greater threat approaching. From the depths, that patch of darkness started to rise out of the water. At first, Damian thought he was looking at a submarine rise out of the ocean. Then he saw the two tremendous black claws, each one as large as a bus. He saw the chains dangling from a cannon, fastened onto a piece of carapace as dark as oil. He saw flames as that cannon fired, the chains tore off and it landed back into the ocean. Damian saw the seawall buckle as that cannon¡¯s single volley hit it. And he finally realised what he was looking at. A ginormous crab, easily the size of an entire building. It hefted one great claw out of the water. And it smashed it into the wall. Damian quickly began issuing orders. ¡°Fire all artillery on that monster!¡± He shouted to Wiktor, then thought about the shells. ¡°Two rounds of high-explosive! Then a volley of bunker-breacher!¡± Wiktor quickly transmitted the command as the crab moved its massive claw into the air, and then slammed it down on the seawall. The structure buckled as the defenders on it opened fire at the soldiers of Uriamel leading the crab. ¡°FIRE! FIRE! BRING IT DOWN!¡± Damian shouted into the radio. The ground around him shook. The entire building quivered as if it was about to collapse. For a single instant, Nanbasa seemed to fall silent before someone on the wooden seawall opened fire again. The rapid drumming of machine guns quickly followed, another wave of lead launched in Allasaria¡¯s direction from behind Damian. From the turrets on the buildings and the various self-propelled AA pieces that now roamed Nanbasa¡¯s planation. All Allasaria did was raise her hands again. Damian had to close his eyes against that blinding flash of light. He opened them, he saw Allasaria standing as she stood, without even a single scratch on her. Once again, she had simply erased the bullets from existence. The General swallowed and readjusted his cap. How exactly where they supposed to go up against that? The Goddess of Light was nothing if not invincible. But his attention was stolen away. The artillery that had sounded moments before began to descend. Shells started to scream through mid-air as they accelerated. Allasaria lifted her arms, palms flat and pointed away from her, and blasts of light quickly shot out of her. They seared the air, they almost reached the buildings before finally ending, and they simply deleted whatever shells they managed to catch within themselves. But for every shell that Allasaria managed to catch. Five got through. They impacted upon that giant crab, the first few shells exploded in tremendous flames against its carapace shell as it lifted its claw to swing at the seawall again. More of Uriamel¡¯s inhuman soldiers floundered around its legs, swords and shields ready to swarm in as concrete dust poured from the cracks in Iniri¡¯s wood. If Kassandora had not given the order to reinforce it, then that monster would have been in by now. Damian watched shell after shell hit that monstrosity as Allasaria stayed at a safe distance. She removed incoming shell were she could, but she did nothing more than that. For a brief moment, the explosions died down and Damian saw the splintering shell. The back of that giant crab was a patchwork of wires and chains that once held the cannon on it. Now, pieces of its thick black carapace fell off every time its massive claws battered the wall. There was a pause in shells. Damian Sokolowski knew what that meant. The bunker-breacher ammunition was being loaded. After a few dozen seconds, the next set of whistles came flying back down. Damian didn¡¯t even bother pulling up his binoculars to see what was happening, he could make the picture out from this vantage point. That giant crab took a step back, it swung that massive claw again. It roared as its limb once again got stuck in the wood. It pulled away. And the bunker-breacher shells made impact. A dozen different rounds had managed to get through Allasaria¡¯s counter-fire. A dozen different rounds smashed into the shell, the delays on their fuses started to kick in as the solid lead tips penetrated the natural bone of carapace. Damian felt himself hold his breath. And he watched the crab explode. Once, twice, a dozen different times as each shell blew up. Great claw and piece of carapace and leg and eye-stalk and massive organ and crab-meat launched into the air, charred by the tremendous flame as the strength gave out in the monster¡¯s legs. It collapsed on top of the Uriamel natives around it, sentencing them to a death by crushing. Damian Sokolowski watched Allasaria looked down at the unmoving body of her living siege engine. The Goddess of Light sighed, turned, and left Nanbasa, she eventually disappeared behind the horizon. The walls held for now. Damian wondered how many more attacks they¡¯d be able to last for. If they were all like that, he didn¡¯t expect a lot. Already, the inside of Iniri¡¯s seawall showed signs of cracking and damage. He just hoped they would send more than one or two at a time. Allasaria had to report what she saw. The great-Cannons needed better mountings if the crabs were to serve as mobile artillery. Chapter 244 – Scars in the Jungle To kill a Divine is easy. There is no challenge in putting a God to a sword, apart from driving that sword through the God¡¯s chest. The real thing that needs to be considered is the reincarnation. Kassandora can be killed of course, but what happens to the next Of War? What about Arascus? At least in the past, Pride could have been considered as a virtue in certain aspects. Now, Arascus has dirtied his own demesne, anything Divine that would take on his mantle would no doubt be far worse in character than the man himself. This is how the theory goes for every Divine, Saranael, of Knowledge was the first to conceive of it: The more of a reputation one builds up, the more powerful one¡¯s reincarnation will be. Of course, not a single one of us is mad enough to actually kill ourselves in some attempt at forced evolution. Whether he is correct will only be proven through another conflict. Personally, I do not know whether I agree or not. Abstracts rarely reform into similar beings and typically get broken up before they manage to reform. Still though, it¡¯s an interesting thought. What would happen if a Divine built up a reputation, died, and reformed based off its reputation? - Excerpt from Allasaria¡¯s Diary, Untitled. ¡°And here I wanted to kick my feet up.¡± Erik moaned through the radio as Captain Douglas pushed Raptor One further. Erik¡¯s own jet, with its four huge engines fixed to the chassis of the plane, was soaring just next to Doug¡¯s. Painted black, two red eyes just behind the cockpit, the tip of the plane painted yellow like an eagle¡¯s hooked beak. A cannon sticking from within the centre of that beak. Douglas moved the control stick to the left and felt his plane tilt. Flying without ammunition was a blessing beyond blessings. The plane was manoeuvrable like a sparrowhawk hunting through the sky, whereas when it was loaded up, it felt more like trying to steer a rowboat through jelly. ¡°We get there, we take pictures, we fly back.¡± Douglas said. Frankly, he had nothing to add, he was just as annoyed as Erik. The fact the cabin was far too warm didn¡¯t help. But the terrible heater would either cook him alive or freeze him to death, as least if he was cooking, he could undo the front zipper of his jumpsuit to cool off. ¡°Fucking sending us off for what exactly?¡± Erik moaned again. ¡°Just shut the fuck up and take the pictures man.¡± Douglas said. ¡°No need to get pissy with me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m as happy as you are about it.¡± Douglas said back into his microphone. ¡°Complaining only makes it worse.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Erik somehow acquiesced. ¡°I¡¯ll shut up.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Douglas forced out. He turned the plane to the side and watched the green ocean below them. That was the dreaded Arikan Jungle. Douglas thought about the Clerics, trying to rescue people from it. The evacuations of villages, the tears of people forced away from their homes. The times when the Clerics would get somewhere too late, and all that would be found were empty homes and footprints leading into the Jungle. Frankly, that was one thing he was not jealous for. ¡°Have you ever gone in?¡± Everyone in the army had tested themselves against the woods at this point, it was almost impossible to be part of the Reclamation War and not. ¡°Tell me about it.¡± Erik said. ¡°I only did it once.¡± ¡°Who pulled you out?¡± ¡°I tied myself to a rope. Was driven out.¡± Erik said with laughter. ¡°I don¡¯t know how the Clerics did it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t either, I can tell you that.¡± Douglas said as he looked down. ¡°Twice for me. Both times, the Ambelee girl pulled me out.¡± Eril laughed through the speakers. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s worse.¡± ¡°She pulled me out, threw me in when I didn¡¯t thank her enough, then pulled me out again.¡± Douglas said. He remembered the Jungle¡¯s pull. Kassandora had told them both to get to know the Jungle, so that they would know not to fly too close. Now, they were far above the cloud-layer, if there were any clouds down there. ¡°Not jealous of that.¡± Erik replied quickly. ¡°I¡¯ll sweep the north, you aim south, alright?¡± ¡°Will do.¡± Douglas said as he flicked another control stick, this one controlled the cannon, although it had temporarily been re-wired to control the direction the camera in the underside was pointing in. ¡°Honestly, I feel bad for the Clerics.¡± Douglas said and Erik laughed over the speakers. ¡°Who doesn¡¯t?¡± He asked farcically, the words breaking up for a moment because of the shoddy connection. ¡°Is there anyone who does, honest question that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Douglas said. ¡°No one probably. It¡¯s just¡­¡± He didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°Just what?¡± Erik asked. ¡°Not conclusive.¡± Douglas replied. ¡°You know¡­?¡± Douglas didn¡¯t know how to phrase it frankly. The Clerics did their job well, but¡­ ¡°I do.¡± Erik said. ¡°They¡¯ve been here how long? It¡¯s been Jungle, Jungle, Jungle and then Kassandora came along.¡± Douglas smiled in his cramped cabin. Erik had phrased it far better than he could.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°And she did it.¡± Douglas said. ¡°She fucking annihilated them.¡± Erik said. ¡°Burn it down, it¡¯s so simple that it¡¯s fucking embarrassing not a single one of them thought about it.¡± ¡°They did need the artillery though.¡± Douglas only argued back for the sake of conversation. He agreed entirely with Erik, everyone who was a Cleric in Arika before Kassandora came felt the same. It was a simple travesty that Kassandora had done in a few weeks what their entire Holy Orders could not do in a few centuries. ¡°They did, but don¡¯t tell me it would have been impossible to design something like the Binturong.¡± Erik said. ¡°Hell, we even do bombing runs now, why couldn¡¯t they have done that back then?¡± ¡°Just depressing.¡± Douglas said, his tone low. ¡°Just fucking embarrassing.¡± Erik added. ¡°Just a fucking travesty. Honestly, I don¡¯t know how more of them have stay with Kavaa.¡± ¡°Priorities probably.¡± Douglas said. The Clerics were good soldiers, and they were popular in the army, but the Reclamation War was starting to drain their morale as much as it was improving Kirinyaa¡¯s. It was one thing to save a country, it was another to save a country so effortlessly when others could not. ¡°Not my problem though.¡± ¡°True enough.¡± Erik said. ¡°My problem today is a horse-race.¡± ¡°There¡¯s one on today?¡± Douglas asked in surprise. ¡°It is Friday.¡± Erik replied and Douglas blinked. These daily scouting runs had basically killed whatever internal clock he had inside him. The days now consisted entirely of waking up, having a drink, a smoke, getting into the cabin, flying, landing, shower, dinner and sleep. And Repeat. ¡°I¡¯ll go wi¡­¡± Douglas trailed off as he blinked. The Jungle below him was an ocean of green, a magnificent, beckoning sea that would call and whisper. It was untouchable, save by the flames that tore it down. It would climb over mountain and it would infest ravine and drain lake and river, no matter how grand. Yet today, that green carpet below him was torn. It had patches of brown. ¡°You alive?¡± Erik asked. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°Just checking.¡± ¡°You see that?¡± Douglas asked. The jets on Erik¡¯s plane started to scream louder as the man turned his own vehicle to the side. ¡°See wha¡­¡± Erik trailed off. ¡°I see it.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Douglas said. That was the Jungle, yet something had made marks within the Jungle. It wasn¡¯t a case of some exposed rock, or a cliffside that only had vines instead of the ever-present trees. No. They were both gazing down at great brown scars. ¡°I¡¯m taking pictures.¡± The same a man would make if he was to wade through tall grass, yet what would wade through the Jungle like that? ¡°Same.¡± Erik said quietly. ¡°Not a fan of that.¡± ¡°You scared?¡± ¡°Not for myself.¡± The man said quickly and they both chuckled. ¡°But no complaining now.¡± ¡°Looks like we were needed.¡± Douglas said with a smile. Scouting the ground endlessly may have had its uses, that was true. Terrain did need to be mapped out and the two Raptors had several times the range of any KAF plane, it was simply obvious that they would be the ones for this job. Yet it was mundane work. It almost made Douglas feel like a servant. Not now though. ¡°Hey Doug.¡± Erik said. Raptor two spun in the air and veered in a circle. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You see that?¡± Erik asked. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°South of your position, turn¡­¡± Erik thought for a moment. ¡°Three hundred degrees about.¡± Douglas turned his head and felt his breath catch. The previous tracks had been odd holes, a dozen trees felled in a circle, as if a single napalm shell had managed to fly all the way here. Yet now, they were looking at something else entirely. ¡°You see it?¡± ¡°I fucking it see.¡± Douglas couldn¡¯t help himself with the swearing. What he was looking at now wasn¡¯t tracks as if something had walked through the Jungle. What he was looking at now were two massive lines. One slithering and curling from side to side, the other thrice as wide, with craters left behind in odd spots. It was thick too, stupendously so. ¡°We¡¯ve not been testing any new weapons, have we?¡± Erik asked. ¡°Have we?¡± Douglas said. ¡°I asked you first.¡± Erik said. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Douglas replied as the two jets passed over the two massive lines. ¡°Which way?¡± ¡°We¡¯re not splitting up?¡± Erik asked. Douglas sighed. That would be the best course of action, but no one had told him about what they would find. They didn¡¯t even have ammunition for the cannons, that had been taken out for increase the fuel efficiency. ¡°Do you want?¡± Douglas asked. ¡°Not really.¡± Erik replied and Douglas laughed. That sentiment did not have to be repeated. Frankly, splitting up like that was only asking for trouble. They had made it through the entire White Pantheon invasion of Kirinyaa as a pair, they weren¡¯t about to start making stupid decisions now. ¡°East, both of us?¡± Douglas asked. ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± Erik affirmed. East, back to the frontline, back to the front. They had their images. And they weren¡¯t about to¡­ Douglas looked down. ¡°Do you see that? I¡¯m snapping photos.¡± Erik said over the microphone. They both gazed at that moving black¡­ mass on the ground, so dark it looked like a¡­ Douglas blinked and cursed himself. What a fucking idiot, it was a shadow! Simply flowing over trees instead of harming them, huge, easily the size of several container ships put together¡­ Wait. It was a shadow. Douglas moved his eyes up towards that pale-blue Kirinyaan sky. The Sun was shining above them, but he forgot to squint. He could he anyway? There was a bird with a wingspan as large as all of Central Requisitions. And it was above them. ¡°Erik¡­¡± Douglas said. ¡°I see it Doug.¡± Erik said in awe. ¡°What the fuck is that?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Douglas blinked as the plane malfunctioned and started snapping its own pictures. Standard procedure, faulty electronics, this had happened several times already. It was annoying, but it had a tendency of happening just as he was blanking it. ¡°Is it getting bigger?¡± ¡°It¡¯s coming down at us!¡± Erik shouted. ¡°EVADE!¡± Doug shouted more for himself, to get his own body moving rather than to issue an order for Erik. He made a harsh break to the right, Erik went to the left, both Raptors screamed as their engines flared. Red fire burst from their jets, two supersonic explosions shook the Jungle below them, and the two planes broke the sound barrier as that massive vulture dived at the spot where they had been. It turned and twisted in mid-air. Its massive wings made a tiny hurricane underneath it and the trees below were blown away. ¡°PULL UP!¡± Erik shouted. ¡°AS HIGH AS POSSIBLE!¡± Douglas pulled up immediately, for a moment, he was an arrow shooting straight up into the sky. For only a moment, the jets stalled and he had to level the plane out before it fell. ¡°We¡¯re flying back, right?¡± ¡°Fucking Hell we are! I don¡¯t care what command says. That thing is still looking at us!¡± Erik shouted into the radio and Douglas turned his plane. That massive vulture was resting on the ground, it had fell the trees around without a care in the world. The beast must have considered them simple blades of grass rather than enormous trees that had a canopy so thick they blotted out the Sun. It twitched its head. That dark red eye blinked. The pupil followed Douglas¡¯s Raptor. The afterburner roared, the jet accelerated even further. There had been days that Douglas had spent longer above the Jungle, and even though he knew he could not have been followed, the man felt watched for every single second he spent above the Jungle. Chapter 245 – Once More Unto The Depths I ¡°created¡± Anassa only insofar as I explained, in detail, the rules Divines have worked out about themselves. I did not give her a guide, I did not even think what she did was possible. Even though Anassa has done what she has done, I still refuse to believe it can be repeated. Some would call her insane, others would call her pure evil. Character-wise, I have to admit she is troublesome, however she needs to be. These are not her flaws, these are the reasons for her existence. But then if she was not, if she had even an inch of leeway within herself, she would have not managed to accomplish the feat of ascension to Godhood. Many think it is possible to accomplish what she did, to somehow copy Anassa. If all it took was confidence, then every great hero of the past would have become a Divine at some certain point. No. Anassa was so stubborn and so delusional that she took a failed art, a lost principle of magic and turned it into Sorcery. Where every civilization has adopted agriculture to feed its population, Anassa is the lone tribe still living off hunting wild game. The people who call her insane and delusional are correct, but they vastly undershoot just how mad Anassa actually is. Even I, Elassa, Goddess of Magic, Archivist of Arda, do not have the words to explain it, so I will simply say what happened. Anassa, as a human, was so delusional that she genuinely believed she was so much stronger than me, the Goddess of Magic, in the magical arts that she could defeat me without a supporting catalyst to channel her flows. - Excerpt from ¡°Divine Ascension¡±, written by Goddess Elassa, of Magic. Kept within Elassa¡¯s private chambers in Arcadia. ¡°So one last time.¡± Kavaa listened to Kassandora as the woman ran through the plan. ¡°Torches on everyone¡­¡± She looked at Fer as the woman fastening torches to her arms in the same fashion she did as the time they had entered with the Nationals. She was humming happily, ears jumping up and down, and smiling wide as she wrapped tape around her arms. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Kassandora asked flatly. Fer patted the down and swung her arm around. ¡°I like my hands free.¡± She said. Kassandora blinked in shock, looked down at her own hands, and moved them around in a circle at the wrist. ¡°Excuse me?¡± She said in disbelief. ¡°But you lose so much range of movement¡­¡± The Goddess of War moved her hand back as Fer extended her own. The Goddess of Beasthood held her breath for a moment and her nails enlarged themselves into massive claws. ¡°I need to be able to do this.¡± Fer said and Kassandora sighed. ¡°You should have said that sooner.¡± Kassandora said as Fer did not reply. ¡°Anassa, are you taking one?¡± ¡°I can make my own light.¡± Anassa said. Kavaa supposed the woman could, Anassa carrying a torch would be as farcical as making Allasaria bring one. There simply wasn¡¯t any point. ¡°Alright. Kavaa and Iniri, you stay close to me. Fer, you¡¯re the vanguard. Anassa, you cover us from behind.¡± Anassa shrugged as she took a step backwards. The Goddess of Sorcery blinked from the dirt to hovering in the centre of that pit she had just carved out. ¡°I¡¯ll keep watch.¡± Anassa said as she looked down. Kavaa leaned over the edge and saw a dozen red orbs appear in a line below Anassa, they fell down, casting pale red lights over the walls. Those were perfectly smooth. It was obviously a pit made by a Divine, although Kavaa had only Allasaria and Elassa manage to create something like that in the past. ¡°Iniri, you¡¯re our highest risk member.¡± Kassandora said as she started patting her black coat down. Kavaa wore a similar HAUPT design, it was comfortable, and it protected from the blasts of red Kirinyaan dust that plagued the western half of the country. ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad, it just is how it is.¡± Kavaa gave Iniri a supportive smile. This was her own favourite thing about Kassandora, the woman did not judge, she analysed the situation and simply voice her conclusions. Usually, they were correct. Fortia or Maisara, or Elassa, would have thrown in some snarky comment if they were to assign roles like this. Iniri nodded to Kassandora, her large green eyes settled on Kavaa and she gave the Goddess od Health a thumbs up. ¡°Iniri?¡± ¡°I understand Kass.¡± Iniri said and Kassandora took a step to be directly in front of Iniri. ¡°Iniri, if you feel the call, if you hear it, if you even for a moment feel yourself slipping, give us a sign, alright?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Fer is here. Ana is here. Kavaa and I am here. We will catch you.¡± ¡°I get it Kass.¡± Iniri said, her tone slightly more definite this time. ¡°I hope you do.¡± Kassandora said as she pointed to Kavaa. ¡°As usual, healing. There is no order or anything. I assume you know your demesne better than I do.¡± The Goddess of Health smiled, that level of trust to simply be tasked with the general prospect of healing, but to let Kavaa herself handle the specifics was a compliment she rarely received back then. Fortia always set countless priority orders, it was worse with Maisara though. That Goddess would actually remember them and get sulky when Kavaa took things as they came. ¡°I have your backs.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I¡¯m quivering already.¡± Anassa said in that terrible fashion that made Kavaa feel dirty every time she heard it. She didn¡¯t like that her healing hurt others, but the fact Anassa somehow enjoyed it made her stomach want to empty itself. The woman, as strong as she was, was disgusting. Kavaa was rarely one to keep her words to herself. ¡°You¡¯re disgusting.¡± She said. Fer laughed and Anassa chuckled horribly. Just disgusting. Kavaa had nothing else to say.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Kassandora had already turned around and was looking to Of Beasthood. ¡°Fer, you¡¯re on vanguard duty. If you smell or hear anything, tell us. If not, lead the way. We¡¯re looking to avoid Tartarus if they¡¯re here. If we can¡¯t pass then it¡¯s you and Anassa. No survivors. They can¡¯t know that we know of them.¡± Kavaa nodded, she agreed with that sentiment. The status quo with Tartarus was terrible, but it was better than any situation in which they got involved. ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s just us?¡± Kavaa asked. She generally realised it already, she just wanted to show off the fact she could think herself. ¡°That is why.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°If we bring an army in then we can only hope to not come across them. If it¡¯s us five, we can be in and out easily. No luck required, only our own skill.¡± Fer and Anassa both chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s the Leona paranoia kicking in.¡± Anassa said smugly. Kassandora gave her sister a dirty look. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you don¡¯t have it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of anything.¡± Anassa said as she looked down into that tunnel. ¡°Frankly, I¡¯m excited about it.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s strong Ana, you retreat.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°If you feel yourself going, then tell us. We¡¯ll get you out.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get myself out.¡± Anassa said. ¡°And besides, they say it drives men mad.¡± ¡°I tested it with soldiers, they get amnesia.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°When it dragged me in, I can¡¯t remember that either.¡± Iniri said. ¡°It¡¯s just looking at Helenna¡¯s face and then straight to when Fer found me. Nothing in between.¡± Kassandora let the Goddess of Nature finish and nodded along. ¡°So it¡¯s serious. It can affect even a Divine¡¯s mind Ana.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t affect mine.¡± Anassa said and Kassandora sighed. She shot Kavaa an annoying look that begged for support. Kavaa was about to come in with assistance, but Fer beat her to it. ¡°If you get caught Ana, I¡¯m not going to be gentle.¡± ¡°Are you ever gentle?¡± Anassa asked, she turned to Fer, the Goddess of Beasthood didn¡¯t even look up at her, she merely sniffed the air and looked down into that pitch black abyss of a pit Anassa had excavated. ¡°And what will you even do?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯ll be too disorientated to use sorcery.¡± Fer said. ¡°It¡¯s the best to make sure you don¡¯t get caught, or that it doesn¡¯t trick you to go against us.¡± ¡°I¡¯m shocked you would even suggest that.¡± Anassa said. ¡°You¡¯re the only one I would suggest it to.¡± Fer said ¡°If Kassie gets caught, or Kav, or Ini, I can carry them out. Not you.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t need carrying out in the first place Fer.¡± Anassa said confidently. If it was Elassa, the words would have been filled with spite. If it was Kavaa, she would have only been annoyed at such comments. But Anassa didn¡¯t sound annoyed or doubtful, she only spoke as if she was confident of herself. ¡°Let¡¯s hope not.¡± Fer said. She turned around to look at Kavaa. ¡°Are we going in? I¡¯ll dive first. Ana will take the rest of you down.¡± The funny, smiling and joking kitten had been put back into its house, and the cold hunter of a sabretooth had come to replace it. Kavaa didn¡¯t know which of those were the real Fer, honestly, it was one of the few things she was afraid to ask of the woman. ¡°Ready when you are Fer.¡± Kassandora said, the Goddess of Beasthood took a deep breath as her skin started to cover in thick fur. Her nails expanded into claws, her ears became taller, her eyes sharper. Her posture got more crooked, as if she was ready to pounce. ¡°How do you even think you¡¯ll stop me?¡± Anassa shouted at the woman from behind. Fer rolled those cold eyes of hers and answered. ¡°Most people can¡¯t think straight without arms.¡± She replied coldly. Kavaa looked up with satisfaction at Anassa¡¯s concerned expression. It was the first time the Goddess of Health had seen Of Sorcery be stumped for a reply. Kavaa supposed that if anyone made a threat like that, then it would be most believable from Fer. Before Anassa could say anything, Fer took a step back and somersaulted backwards into the pit. Kavaa looked down into the hole, to see Fer switch on her torches mid-fall. ¡°We¡¯re not capable of that.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I know.¡± Anassa replied as Kavaa lost track of Fer in the darkness, but her torches were like two bright beacons that revealed the Goddesses¡¯ position. Of Health felt something grab her like a child. She looked down to see a massive hand of red sorcery, opaque and casting a faint glow, wrap around her chest. ¡°I hate you.¡± Kassandora said flatly. She was being handled in the same way, as was Iniri. Anassa chuckled as she started to lower her altitude, down into the into. Kavaa, Iniri and Kassandora all followed her, each one being carried by a huge hand of Anassa¡¯s creation. The air became colder, the wind disappeared, to be replaced by nothing but silence. The daylight Sun was quickly obscured and the darkness came on with such a heavy blanket that it swallowed them whole. Fer was looking around, sniffing, her sharp intakes of air were the only thing Kavaa could hear. And she heard the cool whisper of the Jungle. She pushed it away, she always did. It was strong, but she had been inside several times, the last time, to save Iniri, had merely galvanized everything she already knew on how to avoid it. ¡°I hear it.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I do too.¡± Kavaa said and turned to the Goddess of Nature. ¡°Iniri? Are you fine?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± Iniri said quietly. ¡°It¡¯s a bit odd. Bit different.¡± ¡°You have to push it away.¡± Fer said. ¡°Be rude to it. Tell it to fuck off.¡± She took a few steps and shone the torch around as Kavaa inspected the stones. It was a dwarven tunnel, that was certain. The stones were smoothed, then carved with thin lines, every angle sharp without even a single curve. There was no rail running here though, and the tunnel was nowhere near as grand as it had been back in Epa. Still more than large enough for all of them a dozen times over, but that only meant it was a third of the size as back there. ¡°I¡­¡± Iniri said quietly. ¡°No, that does work.¡± More confidently this time. ¡°I do just have to be rude.¡± The opaque red let go of them. ¡°I¡¯ll catch you.¡± Fer said. ¡°But you do. It doesn¡¯t try and drag me whatsoever, it just tells me to take you girls and leave.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just silent with me.¡± Kassandora said, almost disappointed. ¡°It was there for a moment at the start but then went away, I feel it watching me but that¡¯s it.¡± Kavaa blinked and realised that the whispers had gone away from her too. Fer sniffed the air as Iniri took a tentative step. ¡°I still hear it.¡± Iniri said. ¡°But it¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± Kavaa took steps, her flashlight illuminating the walls. There were vines and roots growing along them, but nothing that looked too terrible. No moving woods or razor leaves. ¡°Ladies.¡± Anassa said from behind them. Her voice was breaking, as if she was either writhing in pleasure or fleeing in terror. Kassandora turned immediately, she shone her torch to Anassa. ¡°Oh no.¡± Kassandora said as Kavaa turned to Anassa and felt her grip squeeze the torch harder. The Goddess of Sorcery was standing in the air, in her perfect red velvet and silk dress, in those perfect black boots, with the heels, all as if she was standing on an invisible platform of air. It wasn¡¯t the Goddess herself that bothered Kavaa though. It was Anassa¡¯s expressions. Her hands were quivering. Her knees were shaking. Her smile split her face from side to side as her eyes burned with a glow that Kavaa had only seen in those who were experience pure ecstasy. Anassa saw them looking at her and whispered a tiny explanation, barely controlled. Now that she spoke again, Kavaa realised there wasn¡¯t a hint of fear in her voice, it was all pure bliss. ¡°It¡¯s afraid of me.¡± Chapter 246 – A Titan Missing Anassa went mad, she became a Goddess, the end. This is where most stop at the analysis of Anassa, and it is where I continue. Those who are afflicted with standard insanities can still be trained, mortals and divines both can be conditioned in the same way dogs are trained. Even the truly insane can be taught basic behaviours through simple reward-punishment behavioural trainings. Anassa, I do not believe is possessed by madness in the traditional fashion. She has a logical pattern for the world, but she chooses to exclude herself from those. All hierarchies exist, yet Anassa is not part of those hierarchies. Everyone gets dirty, yet not Anassa. Everyone needs a catalyst, yet not Anassa. Everyone can be defeated, yet not Anassa. Every rule is meant to be followed, yet Anassa will exclude herself from them whilst simultaneously enforcing them. Everyone should feel bad about being a hypocrite, yet not Anassa. Anassa has not mastered magic, Sorcery as an art is merely catalyst-less magic. Powerful when awakened, but dangerous. I did not force every nation in the world to use catalysts, it is that every nation in the world simply worked out that using catalysts is far more effective. In the same way that no one taught humans to build homes, yet every culture has built some sort of structure to serve as a home. Magic can be taught to almost everyone, all it requires is discipline. Sorcery kills around eighty percent of people that try to master it. Anassa has mastered madness. She is aware of her own delusions. She is aware her logical reasoning is broken. Yet she does not care. Her mind is one that works perfectly, yet in that perfection, it has realised its own limitations: Humans should not be Divines, Demesnes need to exist to Divines to form around them, Magic is simply more efficient with catalysts. In the same way a knight throws his shield down to wield his blade with two hands, Anassa threw away her sanity to wield her delusion. - Excerpt from ¡°Divine Ascension¡±, written by Goddess Elassa, of Magic. Kept within Elassa¡¯s private chambers in Arcadia. Douglas kicked his feet up as he sat on the foldable stool. Erik passed him a cigarette and lit his own as they watched the other pilots train. Airfield Six, there were twenty in total, and each one looked the exact same. A few hangars set up to cover planes from snowstorms, and then either tents or caravans for the teams. Airfield Six was rather good though, it had a concrete runway rather than one made of just battered dirt. ¡°That, I¡¯m not jealous of.¡± Erik said, the fresh-meat, that¡¯s what everyone called new recruits, was being forced to run laps around the runway. Douglas ran one every morning just for the sake of it, but he would always do it as the Sun was coming up over the horizon and the breeze was still cool. Now, with the midday Sun overhead and the air shimmering, it was practically torture. The fresh-meat was breathing heavily, their clothes so wet with sweat they may as well have just been dumped into a river. ¡°Neither.¡± Douglas lit his cigarette as a few of the other Captains came to sit by. Officially, everyone was the same rank, but only Douglas and Erik piloted the Raptors, only Douglas and Erik participated in Operation Misfortune, only Douglas and Erik served as the private transports for Divines, only Douglas and Erik had a picture of themselves with Neneria and Fer. The rank may be the same, but the unofficial hierarchy put Douglas and Erik somewhere just under the level of Kassandora¡¯s Generals. Even Ground Command of this airfield carefully skirted them. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± Pat said. Ex-Cleric, from Allia. With a full head of hair and wearing a shirt. It was too hot here for anything. ¡°Same old, same old. Done for today.¡± Douglas said as he nodded over to the other set of stools. ¡°Scouting run.¡± Pat smiled as he sat down. ¡°Talk is you found something.¡± ¡°Fucking tell me about.¡± Erik said. Douglas laughed and shook his head as he turned his head to look at his jet. A team of mechanics was loading Raptor One with ammunition. A forklift was bringing bombs to it too. Command had called off the scouting runs. Every plane was to be armed. ¡°You won¡¯t believe it even if I told you.¡± Douglas said. ¡°Try me.¡± Pat replied as more of the pilots came around. ¡°Giant bird.¡± Douglas said and Erik laughed. ¡°It was a vulture actually.¡± The pilot of Raptor Two added. The other men shared looks amongst each other, a few chuckled. A few looked like they believed him. Most simply had no reaction. ¡°Can¡¯t be worse than flying over Elassa.¡± One of the pilots said. Richard, this man. His hair cut short although it was regrowing. He had lost a bet a week ago and had to shave himself for it. ¡°Can¡¯t be worse than Elassa, damn right.¡± Another said, this one, Douglas always forgot the name of. And he always pretended to remember because it was stupid to ask for someone¡¯s name a dozen times. ¡°I-¡° The man never got to finish what he was saying, blaring alarms cut him off. The fresh-meat stopped their run, Douglas and Erik sat up immediately, and the rest of the captains started looking around. ¡°Fuck.¡± Erik said as he smoked half his cigarette in one long drag. Douglas followed along. How he was supposed to make it through this job without some sort of addiction, he had no clue. ¡°Fuck indeed.¡± Douglas said. The howling alarm stopped after five seconds. Douglas was about to ask if there was a test scheduled when the terrible speaker started to talk. It was barely intelligible, Douglas only caught every second word. ¡°Alarm. No. Test. All. To. Planes. Frontlines. Attack. Urgent.¡± ¡°Fucking Hell.¡± Erik said. ¡°That¡¯s not us, is it?¡± And as if on cue, Douglas felt his phone start to ring. He pulled it out and felt his heart drop. This number called almost every day and it was somehow worse every single time: Ground Control. He swiped the green button to answer. ¡°Captain Douglas speaking, what do you want?¡± Douglas said. It was Mosi. At this point, Douglas was on a first name basis with all the operators of the KAF lines. Mosi was a native Kirinyaan, he liked Lubskan Vodka, he had a large family in the countryside, and he was in his early forties. Douglas had never met the man in person though. ¡°Captain Douglas.¡± Mosi said politely. ¡°Is Captain Erik with you?¡± Douglas looked to Erik and put the phone on loudspeaker. ¡°He is.¡± Douglas said. ¡°Richard and the KAF grunts are here too.¡± ¡°Fuck off Doug.¡± One of the men said and Douglas gave him a smug grin. No one liked being called a grunt, but no one was on the level of prestige that the Raptors held either. ¡°Good.¡± Mosi said. ¡°Everyone is to get into the air and fly to Jungle Group Centre. Make sure your planes have ammunition.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Douglas asked and Mosi fell silent. ¡°We¡­¡± Mosi said. ¡°I don¡¯t know, JGC requested air support. Reports are still coming in.¡± ¡°It¡¯s bad then?¡± Erik asked loudly enough from the side that the phone would pick him up. ¡°I can¡¯t say that.¡± Mosi said. ¡°But I know the 77T squadrons have been sortied. Command is sending everything to the west.¡± He fell silent for a moment, then his voice lowered to a whisper. ¡°And I¡¯m only saying it because it¡¯s you two, but there¡¯s rumours Command called for Olephia.¡± And upon saying one simple name, the situation stopped being annoying. It was no longer just another job on the checklist. It was now serious. Douglas looked around at the other pilots. No one was laughing now, no one was even smiling. It was all hard looks, some nervous, some determined. ¡°I copy, we¡¯re going to the birds now.¡± Douglas said. ¡°Good luck Captain.¡± Mosi said and the phone switch off. Richard broke the silence. ¡°You think it¡¯s your vulture?¡± ¡°What else?¡± Erik said. Douglas merely gave them a wave as he started walking to his black jet. With those four engines, the beak painted yellow, the two red eyes, it really was a beautiful machine. He hated the uncomfortable seat, he hated the fact he had to step on the body of the plane because no ladder would curve like that to give access to the cockpit, he hated that heater did not work, the microphones, he hated how much the cabin shook and how the engines sounded as if they were about to explode until they warmed up. And he wouldn¡¯t trade Raptor One for any other bird out there. The engineers must have gotten the orders before he did, because they were all already clearing the runway. The fresh-meat was retreating back to their caravans. And Douglas finished his cigarette as he pulled the jumpsuit over himself. That was another perk of being a Raptor pilot, he had an entire team just to make sure that everything was in place for him and that he could get into the air as soon as possible. Douglas climbed onto the ladder. He clambered over the sleek black hull and fell into the seat. That was honestly the best way to do it, trying to do it with any dignity usually resulted in falling off the plane itself. Pistons hissed as men got out the way, one man with a pair of green lights in his hands rushed to indicate the way for Douglas. Honestly, there was no need, these military airstrips had so little traffic that usually, Douglas only pretended to watch that man. And then, it was only insofar that he wouldn¡¯t be ran over when the jet was setting off. ¡°Captain Douglas. Your co-ordinates are already inputted into your radar.¡± The speakers said through his helmet. ¡°Ammunition and fuel are both at maximum capacity. You¡¯re clear for takeoff.¡± Douglas was already reversing Raptor One onto the runway by the time the speakers finished. Raptor One may have lacked any amenities in life, but it had not given them up for no gain. The engines turned on immediately, the lights didn¡¯t even have a moment of preparation before they started responding. Everything flicked on immediately, even that terrible heater went from zero to a hundred in a matter of moments as it started blasting hot air into the cockpit. Douglas flicked the ignition button to his side. Botton engines, built into the side of the plane. Top engines, fixed to the jet¡¯s rear. One set of fire sounded. Another did too. He felt the force of acceleration force him deeper into the barrel seat. Raptor One started to howl, a mere moment after he fired up the jets, the plane was already arcing away from the ground. In a few moments, Raptor One left the runway of Airstrip Six. In the next few moments, Raptor Two caught up as blue flame blurred from its rear. Douglas was not about to let Erik get there first. These missions were always the best, the moment ammunition was expended, he would get an order to return. That could be achieved in only a few long flyovers, a matter of minutes. And then he could take a rest from swimming in the light blue ocean of the sky. The Two Raptors built up speed. The men piloting each vehicle practically mirrored each other. Big switch covered by a cap on the left, above the ammunition gauge. Flip it open, hold the accelerator, press it down. Fuel burst through the engines, the blue flames of the jets exploded into great conflagrations of orange, then simmered back down into long trails of blue. Raptor One and Raptor Two both unleashed sonic booms as they broke the sound barrier. Behind them, more fighters were rising into the air from Airstrip Six. The two Raptors dashed through the sky like two black bolts of lightning. Like two bolts shot out of the a Divine¡¯s Crossbow, they devoured the distance between Airstrip Six and Jungle Group Centre in a matter of minutes. Although the fact that the Airstrip was built specifically to be close to the frontlines did help. Frankly, Douglas wished they could have remained soaring through the air forever. The Vulture was the first thing that came into sight, high in the air. Almost as high as Raptor One was, Douglas made sure to angle his jet slightly higher up. If there was one thing he didn¡¯t want dropping from above him. It was that giant bird. Douglas narrowed his eyes as he looked at the avian drop something. Rectangular, with a tube. Wheels. A Lemur. An entire heavy artillery piece, carried off with just one claw. The bird turned those red eyes towards Douglas. It shrieked. Frankly, Douglas breathed a sigh of relief the glass of his cockpit did not crack, but he wouldn¡¯t have been surprised a single bit if it did. All thought of sweeping in with the guns left his mind. This pass would be to simply see. And already, that vulture was proving itself to be a hard target. It soared from side to side like a fly, seemingly being able to turn on a dime it cried out a deafening squawk again. And as Douglas dashed towards the horizon, he saw the other two. A lion, a crocodile, both built like cliffs. Each one was as big as a large hill. The Lion stood taller as it smashed its claw down upon a battery of retreating Lemur artilleries. It crushed steel barrel and chassis and suffocated the chain reaction of exploding ammunition as if it was merely splashing that paw into a puddle. A cloud of dust burst up from around it, as that golden lion, its mane a whirlwind of bright fur, looked up and roarer. Douglas felt himself needing to keep the plane steady under the sheer strain of that bestial roar. And then the Crocodile. A massive moving beast of carapace scales, each one so large the gaps between them looked like small ravines. It, like the Vulture, was surprisingly fast. It moved like a tiny crocodile, launching itself from spot to spot as other artillery teams were trying to shell it and the Lion. That monster got hit high explosive rounds, those exploded against the beast¡¯s fur and skin and¡­ Douglas blinked as he inspected the damage. And a small graze as if the Lion had just rubbed itself on the wall. At least it turned around to inspect its own wound. That was better than the Crocodile though. That was busy jumping from spot to spot, the ground shaking and booming and throwing up a sandstorm of red dust each time it did, and it didn¡¯t even seem to notice the torrent of shells impacting its scales. The next volley brought napalm. The shells exploded against the animal¡¯s back, they threw that sticky jelly about, it started to burn a horrible smoke so dark it may as well have been tar, and the Crocodile did not even turn its head to inspect what was tickling it. And Douglas saw this part of Jungle Group Centre. What remained of it anyway. Men were running on the ground, black clothes bringing contrast against the red dirt of Kirinyaa. Cars and trucks and jeeps were all driving away, as were the Lemurs. Everything was going at a slightly different direct, there wasn¡¯t even a single pair of vehicles that had formed. Not good. That meant the commander didn¡¯t even think he could get away with losses, and was simply trying to minimize instead of avoiding them outright. Those that didn¡¯t make it had been squashed into the ground, in the same fashion that a man stepping on a can could flatten it, so did these monsters flatten artillery vehicles that weighed almost triple digits in tons. Captain Douglas braced into his seat again as he flipped the plane upside for one last look. The giant Lion was staring up at them, the crocodile was moving back towards the Jungle itself as its back was aflame with napalm. That didn¡¯t even seem to tickle the beast. And that Vulture disappeared behind them as it swung its wings. Something that huge should not be that agile, but at least it wasn¡¯t fast. Raptor One and Raptor Two both could put enough distance between themselves and the bird that it wouldn¡¯t immediately peck them out of the sky with that tremendous beak. ¡°Hey Erik?¡± Douglas said. ¡°What?¡± Erik replied as the started to circle high above. That vulture gave up its chase and returned to the ground, flattening trees like blades of grass once again. ¡°So those patterns we saw last time.¡± Douglas began. ¡°The circle where the lion.¡± The footsteps of that gigantic cat. That made sense. ¡°The thick straight line is the crocodile.¡± That made sense too, the crocodile was wider than the lion, and it left a straight scar through the Jungle as it walked. ¡°The vulture doesn¡¯t leave a mark.¡± That thing flew, so of course it wouldn¡¯t. ¡°Oh.¡± Erik caught on. ¡°Yeah, I see it.¡± ¡°Do you?¡± Douglas asked. Erik voiced the words Douglas did not want to. ¡°Where¡¯s whatever made thin winding trail back then?¡± Chapter 247 – A Different League of Madness Sanity is stable. Sanity produces rules and outcomes. It guides behaviours, it makes sure that groups as a whole do not descend into anarchy. Yet there is a cost, self-sacrifice will be made out of sanity. It is ultimately better for one to take the fall then to let ruin sweep the entire group. The tireless grind to improve, only moving a tiny slither towards masterhood every week, is what drives men to devote their entire lives to the arts. Phobias, should as those of spiders or snakes, are speculated to exist because of genetic memories to protect one from poisonous critters. Likewise, the taste of bitterness is naturally disliked because most natural poisons are bitter. All of these are perfectly sane, yet they are absurd principles that fall outside the natural, instinctual behaviours of animals. Anassa has done the opposite. Why self-sacrifice, when enough power can simply remove the need for any sacrifice? Following that, if power can be acquired, then why must there be an investment for said power? Should the truly powerful not just grab power by the horns and wrestle it into the ground? What stops someone from immediately peaking at their potential? Why feel the most natural emotion of fear, when ultimately, with enough strength, there is nothing to be afraid of? I am simply too sane to comprehend this mentality. I can look at it, I can understand the words on the page, yet my mind will simply not let me accept the fact that someone can improve without training. I refuse to throw fear away even though there is nothing I am afraid of. I refuse to treat sacrifice as a failure because it simply is a noble gesture. Some natural laws are absurd, but that is simply how the world is. It is just as absurd that snowflakes are unique and that butterflies are beautiful. That fruit are sweet and that wild animals can be domesticated. Some things are absurd simply because that¡¯s how they are. Yet Anassa rejects this idea entirely. Her thinking is unique to herself, I do not know of anyone else who can logically explain why the suspension of sanity is a benefit. Still though, the results speak for themselves. Anassa may be troublesome, but her strength does pose a question that we simply ignore: Which is more effective: Absurd sanity or rationalized delusion? - Excerpt from ¡°Divine Ascension¡±, written by Goddess Elassa, of Magic. Kept within Elassa¡¯s private chambers in Arcadia. ¡°It¡¯s afraid of you?¡± Kassandora asked. It was one thing to put up with Anassa¡¯s terrible character. It was one thing to have to complement her in order to get her to do something. ¡°It¡¯s dreading me.¡± Anassa said. She started to move, to the front of the pack but she didn¡¯t pull ahead of Fer. ¡°I¡¯m not mad, it¡¯s not calling me. It¡¯s just never met someone like me before.¡± ¡°Who has?¡± Kavaa asked flatly and Anassa chuckled. ¡°True, I am one of a kind.¡± Kassandora started to walk onwards, her eyes on Anassa for the first few minutes of it. In that cool darkness of the underground, Anassa was surprisingly easy to see. Fer too. One had a red dress of silken velvets, the other a mane of gold, both shone like bonfires when the torch was pointed at them. ¡°You can control yourself?¡± Kassandora asked. She had to ask. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t trust Anassa, but certainty was the highest form of trust after all. ¡°Do you know who are you speaking to?¡± Anassa asked and Kassandora smiled to herself. There was only person in this entire who would be that rude to her, and it was indeed Anassa. They kept on trekking for an hour in that darkness. Iniri was stop to inspect the roots every twenty minutes. Anassa would use her sorceries to cut them off, yet no matter how much they cut off, the plants started to wilt and die immediately. Even the Goddess of Nature could barely keep them alive. ¡°They¡¯re incapable of life.¡± Iniri said after the fourth attempt. ¡°They¡¯re getting fatter, that¡¯s good, but they can¡¯t be kept alive.¡± ¡°Say it so I can understand it.¡± Fer said from the side as Iniri few a root Fer had torn off the ancient dwarven tunnel-wall off. ¡°It¡¯s as if I chopped off part of your finger and tried to keep it alive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s possible.¡± Kavaa said and Iniri scoffed. ¡°Well this isn¡¯t!¡± ¡°I do understand it though.¡± Fer said. ¡°You can¡¯t keep it alive.¡± ¡°No, you can¡¯t.¡± Iniri said. ¡°It just dies.¡± ¡°So we need a bigger piece?¡± Fer asked. ¡°We need one which has some¡­¡± Iniri trailed off for a moment. ¡°The animal equivalent would be organs.¡± Fer nodded, turned and started marching again as Anassa restarted her joyous glide deeper into the cave. Two red orbs from the Goddess of Sorcery eliminated any need for torches, and Kassandora had turned hers off to conserve battery. Kavaa and Iniri did too. Fer took a few steps, then suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. Her ears quivered. She turned to face the group behind them, opened her mouth, but did not need to speak. Almost the second she was prepared to explain, the ground started to rumble and shake. Dust fell from the walls and ceilings. Kassandora felt her nerves crack, whether it was the silence of the Jungle or simply the lack of talking from anyone in the group, she knew she was scared, she just simply kept on moving, one leg in the front of the other and repeat. And now that Fer had stopped, she did not want to start moving. Kassandora felt the cool black metal of her armour hug her as it appeared. Joyeuse¡¯s calming weight filled her arm as she gave the Greatsword a spin. It had been a while. Kavaa and Iniri both huddled close together when they saw Kassandora draw her sword, but they said nothing. There was nothing to say in fact, the rumbling was so loud now that it sounded like an avalanche approaching them. Fer sniffed the air again. Her ears jumped. She opened her mouth. Too late. The tunnel to their right cracked. The walls gave out, the ceiling started falling like an avalanche. Kassandora turned on the spot, all the fear gone, pushed away by the raw call to action of instinct. She saw a giant tooth, easily as wide as she was tall, slide past her. A giant tooth, a mouth drooling with venomous spit, and green scales. Each scale massive, as large as one of her artillery pieces and furiously dashing past her. Snake scales, Kassandora was sure of it. She took a step back, eyes looking around for her allies.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. And the floor below them gave them. Fer roared in from deeper in the tunnel as Kassandora heard a shout. ¡°KASS!¡± Kavaa¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯M HERE!¡± Kassandora shouted, although what could be made over the thundering of those tremendous scales against stones, she didn¡¯t know. ¡°I¡¯M HERE!¡± ¡°I HEAR YOU!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°I HAVE INIRI!¡± Fer roared from Kassandora¡¯s side, and then the Goddess of War felt her sister¡¯s arms wrap around her chest as she fell, and she felt Fer almost crush her spine in a brutally merciless bearhug. They both fell through the floor of that tunnel. Deeper, and deeper, until Kassandora felt Fer¡¯s arms wrap tighter around her and then the Goddess of Beasthood grunted as she landed on rock. Fer let go of Kassandora, the Goddess of War rolled off her sister and both pointed their flashlights up at that huge green avalanche. It was still moving, the scales were sliding so fast through the ground they were nothing but a blur. Fer sniffed the air. ¡°I can¡¯t smell Ana.¡± She said. Kassandora looked up at the snake. If what Ana had said about the Jungle, of it being scared of her was true¡­ She looked up at that snake. If that wasn¡¯t a way to deal with someone you were scared off, Kassandora didn¡¯t know what was. ¡°What about Kavaa and Iniri?¡± Kassandora asked, unable to pull her eyes away. It had simply shot out of the wall. There hadn¡¯t been even a moment of preparation they could have done apart from taking a stance. Kassandora had only barely managed to slide into her armour. Fer lifted her hand and pointed towards the darkness. ¡°Over there.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see anything.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Rocks fell. I don¡¯t smell blood though, so they¡¯re either knocked out or on the other side. There¡¯d be blood if they were crushed.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Kassandora as she turned around. There were roots here too, they were thicker, but the collapse of the ceiling had torn of them away. Various vines were already starting to push rocks over, but Kassandora didn¡¯t care too much, she just stared at the sudden flash of red light had appeared. The entire cave sounded with a hiss as the snake continued, but it was when that monster had finally made its pass that Kassandora realised what happened. The snake had swallowed Anassa whole, but the woman had conjured up one of her eraser shields around herself. With a single spell, Anassa had flipped the scenario entirely, the snake was no longer the fork stabbing into a delicious meal. Instead, it had become a block of butter sliding along the unmoving knife that was Anassa. That bright red shield, somewhat dirtied and darkened by the amount of sheer matter it had just absorbed lasted there for a few moments, and then it disappeared. Anassa stood there silently, looking ahead, at where the snake had come from. Her eyes burning, her mouth twisted into a smile so wide Kassandora had not seen it on the woman since the Great War. And as the rumbling of the world went silent, as the snake put more distance between them and itself, as its hisses of pain died down, Kassandora could only look up Anassa and beat herself mentally that she had brought this fool here. Why? Shouldn¡¯t she have known? It was like bringing Fer to a vegetarian party, like bringing Neneria to disco. It simply should have not been done. Kassandora looked up at Anassa¡¯s face, and she knew that expression was what true madness looked like. Anassa, still smiling wide, started to move in mid-air. She turned her head to the side, one eye looking down at Kassandora. ¡°Kassie. You should retreat.¡± She said, her tone slow and almost drunk. Kassandora had no clue how, or why, or what caused the Goddess to enjoy this. She simply should not sound like that, no Goddess should! ¡°What?¡± Kassandora barked back as she grabbed onto her blade. Kavaa and Iniri lost. Just like that. They may have still been alive, but they were as good as dead when it came to the mission. If they were going to get out, tunnels would have to be dug elsewhere. Anassa excavating this could bring the whole highway down on them. Even if Olephia was here, Kassandora would have not risked the Goddess of Chaos blowing the tunnels open. And now Anassa wanted something. What exactly? It better be fucking revolutionary! ¡°Kassie. I want you to go home.¡± Anassa said again, her breathing heavy as she tried to control herself. A small amount of spit was dangling from her lips as more Jungle roots shot out towards her again. And Anassa didn¡¯t even cast her sorceries at them, she merely turned to face them head on. And those vines, the limbs of the huge monster that terrified an entire continent, they turned and fled from Anassa as if they were little mice running away from a prowling cat. ¡°I will kill it.¡± Kassandora blinked. Excuse me? Anassa would do what? How? It was a Jungle! It was akin to saying one would kill an ants next, but when they were half the size of an ant! ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Kassandora shouted as Fer sniffed the air behind her. Once. Twice. No need for a third time. Kassandora felt her sister touch her shoulder and pull her back. ¡°She believes it.¡± Fer said quietly and Anassa burst out in laughter. ¡°Of course I believe it Fer! Of course I do! This thing cannot defeat me!¡± Anassa turned to look at more roots that were slowly trying to creep towards to her. Her very gaze made them flee in terror. ¡°How?¡± Kassandora asked in disbelief. ¡°If a child came and said he knew war better than you, what would you say? If someone said they were a better survivalist than Fer, what would you say? Let¡¯s take this farce further! What if someone was a better leader than Arascus!? What then?¡± Anassa looked down at Kassandora, her eyes glowing with an almost maddened joy about the situation she was in. Kassandora had not damn clue why the woman was so happy right now. There was nothing to be happy about. ¡°If someone came in, and said they were madder than Anassa, of Sorcery, what would you say?¡± ¡°Then I¡¯d simply laugh.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°I would too.¡± Fer added as Kassandora continued. ¡°There¡¯s just nothing worth discussing there, it¡¯s just wrong.¡± Anassa nodded with every word. Too much movement, and her smile was too big. More roots were slowly crawling towards her on the ceiling. This time, the Goddess of Sorcery merely snapped her fingers. A flash of red light separated them from the main body of the Jungle. ¡°It is wrong.¡± Anassa said proudly. ¡°In fact, it¡¯s not just wrong. It¡¯s a joke. It¡¯s a farce. It¡¯s the funniest thing I¡¯ve heard since Elassa told me I could not match her in magic.¡± Kassandora blinked and looked to Fer. Was that a slip-up? Anassa did not know that they knew it was Elassa who created her. ¡°This is bigger than Elassa.¡± Fer shouted. She pulled Kassandora back as the roots of the Jungle started to approach them. ¡°This is a joke.¡± Anassa shouted from the air. ¡°This thing is trying to match me in my own demesne. I¡¯m not going to let it.¡± She turned around, the red silken dress cling to Anassa yet unmoving, as if the woman was a solid statue being rotated on the spot. ¡°Anassa!¡± Kassandora shouted. She had just realised what Anassa was wanting to do. ¡°Don¡¯t go in! We have the Reclamation War, we can burn it down safely.¡± ¡°Kassie.¡± Anassa started to float deeper into the hole. Kassandora felt Fer¡¯s hand tighten on her shoulder, whether it was Fer anchoring Kassandora to the ground, or Fer anchoring herself to Kassandora, Of War could not work out. ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of safety or not. I¡¯m perfectly fine, I¡¯m perfectly sane, that snake, I don¡¯t even know if it was real or not, but all I know is that it can¡¯t touch me.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Kassandora shouted this time, Anassa was getting further into the hole. ¡°Fer, it¡¯s calling her.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not calling her.¡± Fer said as she sniffed the air. ¡°It¡¯s still Ana¡¯s smell. There¡¯s a change when it gets you, Iniri had it. When you two got stuck in the hypnosis trap, you and Kavaa, your smells changed too. Ana is Ana.¡± ¡°It¡¯s challenging me!¡± Anassa shouted proudly. ¡°A Divine that drives people mad against a Divine that exists because it is mad! What better way to test myself than that?¡± ¡°Fer. We have to stop her.¡± Kassandora said quickly. Fer merely shook her head. ¡°You may as well be asking me to stop Olephia.¡± Fer said quietly as took a step away and pulled Kassandora backwards, to avoid the gnashing roots that poked at the locations they just stood. Kassandora realised why the woman wouldn¡¯t even attempt a pursuit, Fer from bleeding from the side, and she winced as her body started to close its own wounds. It would only take a minute. Kassandora looked up. That giant tunnel the snake had made started to cover itself with regrowing, and further in, a red orb appeared as Anassa lit the way for herself. They didn¡¯t have a minute. Kassandora saw Anassa¡¯s sorcery disappear deeper in that terrible web of regrowing roots. A Goddess of Sorcery lost, A Goddess of Health and a Goddess of Nature trapped, a Goddess of Beasthood almost killed. A disaster so terrible only the Goddess of War could have done it. Chapter 248 – Stuck At The Bottom I am not a writer. I have wanted to be a writer for all of maybe two months after my incarnation, because that spark within me was extinguished by my duty as a healer. My people say that healing is a blessing. They get on their knees and thank me, they say they will offer their lives for me. What could a Goddess want with the life of a farmer? The worst part is, they mean their gratitude. Healing is a blessing, that is true. Healing saves lives and keeps families together. There is no greater gift than life. Life can only be traded in life, for there is no amount of finances that can pay for one¡¯s life. Even when people say that they will die so their children are rich, they are merely trading their own life for their children¡¯s. I do not hate my blessing or my demesne. I do it because it needs to be done. Life is far too precious to be wasted so the mood of one Goddess should not affect who lives or who dies. It is the power bestowed upon me, so I use it. I do not think I am a naturally benevolent person, it is simply that healing is benevolent. It takes little out of me. It¡¯s not particularly taxing on my mind, I don¡¯t even need to sleep after it to recover. I am not naturally benevolent, but I am not evil either. Anyone with my power would do the same, it is simply too much to let waste. That is all I have to say on the subject, the only reason I am even writing this down is because Allasaria told me it would improve my mood. It did not. Written by Goddess Kavaa, Of Health, Untitled. Kept within her private quarters. Kavaa grabbed Iniri¡¯s hand and started to run. Backwards, away from the tumbling roof, she didn¡¯t even care where she was running, she just knew that if they stayed where they had been staying, it rocks would have crushed both of them. Hopefully Anassa would get them out. Maybe Fer could catch them still. Once the rocks settled down, maybe Iniri would be able to dig through, but not now. Iniri yelped upon the first step, but she quickly found her footing. As sad as the Goddess of Nature was about the situation, she still served in the Great War, she had still survived a century of conflict that left only the strongest of them alive. Behind them, the ceiling collapse caused by that giant snake started to pick up speed. Kavaa began to shout Iniri¡¯s name and tell her to take cover, but all she could manage was the first letter. ¡°I-!¡± Roots wrapped around Kavaa¡¯s stomach. Her hand leapt to the sword still sheathed on her hip, but then she felt the cool dusty air of these tunnels blow past her ears. She felt Iniri¡¯s small hand grip hers. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Iniri whispered from the side. And Kavaa allowed herself to be dragged through the air as the tunnel behind them kept falling. An ancient dwarven underground highway once, but abandoned for how long? Then cracked by the Jungle and shaken by that huge monster which had come to attack them¡­ Kavaa blinked and realised that a huge monster had come out of the wall to attack them. ¡°Iniri!¡± Kavaa shouted. ¡°Not now.¡± Iniri whispered. The roots accelerated, Kavaa moved the torch forwards as Iniri¡¯s magic carried the two of them. The roots wrapped tightly around her stomach, but the last time she had been carried by a fellow Divine, it was when she rode on Fer¡¯s back out of the Jungle¡¯s Stomach. Anything compared to that would be enjoyable. So she watched the walls fly by as the green vines slithered along the jungle¡¯s roots. The two plants fought in places. Every now and then, the Jungle would lash out and try to cut at what was carrying the two Goddesses. And Iniri¡¯s plants would fight back as they carried the two. Branches would burst out of them, leaves would flower, then harden to be as sharp as doctor¡¯s scalpels. They would swing at the oncoming tendrils of the Jungle, they would try to batter them back as the Jungle sent its own roots to try and stop them. Kavaa, even with her Divine eyes, could not keep track of what was what. When she lost sight of which vines were protecting her and which were trying to drag her into the darkness, it merely looked like the tendrils of two octopi flailing at each other. Iniri pushed them like that for a long time. Far longer than Kavaa thought the woman could do. At least an hour, maybe two. They had turned down corners as they escaped from the Jungle, ever held up by those vines the and never touching the ground. Eventually, the roots underneath them grabbing at them. Kavaa looked down, bare stone. She looked at the walls. Bare stone, smoothed and carved with geometric patterns that every dwarven structure liked. She looked at the ceiling, it was a copy of the walls. Carved, sturdy, all the angles harsh and sharp. Iniri dropped them eventually. She was breathing heavily, her cheeks were red and she grunted as the vines dropped her. Kavaa and Iniri both landed on the stone and slid along the stone tiles of the ground. Knees and elbows scraped, Kavaa grit her teeth as she came to a stop. She grabbed her torch, jumped up from her back to her feet and looked around for her friend. Iniri was lying on the ground, arms and legs extended spread eagle, breathing heavily and smiling as the ceiling. ¡°Are you fine?¡± Kavaa asked. She slowly worked her own wounds. These scratches were about as painful to heal as they were to touch, that meant not very. ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± Iniri said through a deep breath and then winced. She looked down at her arm and burst out in laughter. ¡°I¡¯ve broken my wrist.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got you.¡± Kavaa said as she carefully closed the distance. Iniri would be healed, but Kavaa had been bitten too many times in the past by people who claimed to only need healing. The Jungle could have gotten into her mind. Iniri didn¡¯t usually smile like that. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Kavaa make a circle around Iniri as the Goddess of Nature, in her green dress, the strands of living wood slithering along it like snakes, started to laugh. ¡°I¡¯ve not felt like this since in a thousand years.¡± Kavaa stopped her slow walk and gave the Goddess a second look. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°I feel great.¡± Iniri said. ¡°Like I¡¯m alive again.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Kavaa¡¯s mind worked through everything that could have happened. This was textbook shock and dissociation. They were lost in the dwarven underground highway, with no way forwards. Thankfully Kassandora had been paranoid smart enough to force extra batteries on them for the torches. But once those torches went, they were in the dark. ¡°How many fingers am I holding up?¡± Kavaa held out her hand and Iniri did not turn to look. Instead, her eyes started to shine green instead and the wood from her dress shot at Kavaa. A Goddess without Kavaa¡¯s experience would have been caught. It wasn¡¯t speed, it was that Kavaa simply felt the blow coming when she saw the branches on Iniri¡¯s dress start to twist. She jumped to one side already drawing her sword and swung. Kavaa tried to swing. She looked up at her hand. A branch was wrapped around it. And then Kavaa was pulled to Iniri. The Goddess of Health twisted her core, kicked forwards, and the solid steel-cap of her boot burst into Iniri¡¯s side. ¡°OW!¡± Iniri screamed. The branch untwirled from Kavaa¡¯s hand as Iniri wrapped into a ball and Kavaa moved her blade close to the woman¡¯s torso. She didn¡¯t want to kill her, but Kavaa was the damn Goddess of Health. An arm damaged here and a stab there could easily be fixed. ¡°Why?!¡± Iniri cried out and Kavaa blinked. ¡°Why what?¡± ¡°Why did you kick me?¡± Kavaa looked down at her blade as her mind worked. So amnesia then. The kick most likely brought her out of whatever trance she was in. ¡°Do you remember grabbing me?¡± Kavaa showed off the red skin on her wrist where Iniri had held her in the air. ¡°And you weren¡¯t saying anything either.¡± ¡°I told you my wrist was broken!¡± Iniri said. ¡°And what is that? You were circling me like a hawk!¡± Kavaa blinked. She supposed she had. ¡°You were laughing as if you had gone crazy.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t laugh when we get trapped down here Kavaa?¡± Iniri shouted. Kavaa finally sheathed her sword. She had over-reacted. Iniri was correct. ¡°Sorry.¡± Kavaa said as she knelt by Iniri and grabbed her cheeks. ¡°Sorry again.¡± Kavaa said as her powers started to flow into Iniri. Sleep was first, then bruise she had just made on Iniri¡¯s size. Then the broken wrist. The woman had simply landed badly. Then some recovering of vigour for good measure. And Iniri awoke. ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± Iniri moved her fingers and smiled up at Kavaa. ¡°Good. Sorry for scaring you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡± Kavaa said. Of the White Pantheon, this feeling only her and Helenna shared. Even Iniri, sweet and timid and lovely as she was, could utterly overwhelm Kavaa in a fight. Even the Nation Goddesses, if they summoned their animals, could defeat Kavaa. ¡°It just is how it is.¡± Kavaa reached out for Iniri and helped pull her up. ¡°Thanks.¡± Iniri said as she looked around, shining her torch behind them. At the end of the light, there were thin roots of the Jungle slithering along the rock like tiny worms. Following them came thicker ones, worms followed by snakes. ¡°Let¡¯s not go that way.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Unless you can carry us through again.¡± ¡°I think?¡± Iniri said. ¡°You think?¡± Kavaa asked flatly. They both started taking steps backwards to put some distance between them and the Jungle. ¡°The problem is the collapsed part of the tunnel and I hear it louder there.¡± Kavaa blinked. She herself was immune from the Jungle, the few times she consciously heard it, her mind simply pushed the words away. Iniri had already once fallen into a trance. ¡°Are you fine?¡± Kavaa started walking backwards slightly faster. ¡°I am.¡± Iniri said happily. ¡°Really, it¡¯s not paying attention here.¡± Kavaa was not impressed with that answer. ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s very quiet. It just wasn¡¯t loud, almost as if it didn¡¯t care about me this time.¡± Kavaa sighed. Maybe Kassandora would work it out. Maybe Fer, she was rather smart for her reputation. Anassa? Kavaa had little positive to say about Anassa. The woman was strong but that was all major Divines. She probably wouldn¡¯t be of help even if she was here. ¡°Ah.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means.¡± Iniri giggled as she turned. ¡°Neither do I.¡± She flashed the torch forwards. ¡°Well, there¡¯s only one way.¡± ¡°That there is.¡± Kavaa said. She turned and started away from the Jungle. She wasn¡¯t scared of the darkness, she never had been, but now, every step felt as if she wading through jelly. As if the air itself was pushing her away. Without Iliyal to confidently make plans and Fer to serve as the best vanguard in the world, these abandoned tunnels had a different atmosphere. Every now and then, she would glance at Iniri. The woman was actually smiling! ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± Kavaa asked. Iniri shrugged. ¡°I just enjoyed doing that.¡± ¡°You did?¡± Kavaa asked and Iniri nodded. ¡°Not like¡­¡± Iniri began and trailed off. ¡°I mean. It¡¯s proof I can still fight. I¡¯m not just here for building defences.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa said. As much as she disliked her own demesne, at least everyone respected it. Iniri had probably been the lowest in the Pantheon¡¯s hierarchy. Maybe her or Helenna, but Helenna had spies to bargain for herself with. ¡°You are strong though.¡± The Goddess of Nature fell silent for a moment. ¡°You shine shoes in the Pantheon or you rule on behalf of the Pantheon. It¡¯s as simple as that. I chose the first option.¡± ¡°You served in the Great War.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°As did you. As did Kassandora.¡± Iniri said. ¡°Yet both of you are valued higher than me.¡± She sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not complaining, it just is how it is. That¡¯s why I enjoyed it Kavaa, it was something I could do.¡± Kavaa fell silent. There wasn¡¯t much she do say to argue against that. ¡°Time goes faster if we talk.¡± Iniri said. ¡°And I don¡¯t like hearing the whispers.¡± ¡°You said it wasn¡¯t looking here.¡± ¡°But I didn¡¯t say it was silent Kavaa.¡± Iniri replied. Kavaa wanted to sigh but she kept silent. It was usually like this with everyone. Go to Kavaa! Ask Kavaa! Kavaa will solve all your problems! Don¡¯t worry, are you scared? Ask Kavaa! Are you bored? Ask Kavaa! Just because she didn¡¯t mind healing her friends didn¡¯t mean she shined up to be their entertainer. But Kavaa didn¡¯t voice any of the thoughts, she knew it was unfair, she knew it was cruel, and she knew Iniri would help her in the same situation. ¡°Do you think you could defeat Kass?¡± Kavaa asked. Taking someone¡¯s mind off something was usually better with a question. ¡°I actually asked Fer about this once.¡± Iniri said. ¡°Did you?¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Iniri said. ¡°I did. She said in theory, Kass should lose but in reality, I would have no chance.¡± Kavaa laughed. ¡°That sounds like Fer.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯ve seen Kass beat Ana.¡± ¡°That¡¯s completely different!¡± Kavaa shouted as the two descended into mindless gossip. Frankly, Kavaa appreciated it as much as Iniri did, it took her mind off the fact they were marching towards either Tartarus or the Dwarves, Kavaa didn¡¯t know who was worse. How long they marched for, Kavaa could not say. It didn¡¯t matter down here at the end of the day. It was a day maybe? That was still far too little time for Arascus to mount a rescue operation. And if he would mount one, Kavaa had no doubt it would be aimed at Kassandora, Fer and Anassa before herself and Iniri. They kept walking and talking. They kept talking and walking. And then they stopped. Kavaa felt her mouth go dry as she looked ahead. She flicked the torch off immediately, and ripped Iniri¡¯s out of her hands to get switch it off too. Hopefully, they wouldn¡¯t have been noticed yet, it was only faint. Kavaa looked at the darkness around them. In this black ocean though, any sort of spark would be a lighthouse. She looked ahead and swallowed. Hand going to her sheathed sword as she took a step forwards. Behind them was the Jungle, that was certain death. If they stayed here, they could be trapped for millennia, and the Jungle itself was still expanding underground no matter how well Kassandora¡¯s Reclamation War went. So forward it was. Yet forwards and ahead of them, the tunnels had lights. Warm fires. And those fires had the silhouettes of people moving about. Chapter 249 – An Army Stolen Victory has nothing to do with the cities you capture, the battles you win, or the men you kill. Victory only means that your opponent has lost the will to fight. - Excerpt from ¡®The Philosophy of War¡¯, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War. Iliyal prowled throughout the camp of the Lubskan Army as he watched helicopters in the air. Olonia, Saksma and Paida were all coming back from a mission. Aliana had been forcefully recalled from sitting on her ass in Allia and now was tasked with assistance on the Rilian front. Iliyal mused as he looked around them camp, they were located near Kaczaw. The city was a major logistical hub, it didn¡¯t serve as a major artery like any of the Doschian cities where all the traffic passed through, but it was the largest urban area before the frontlines began. If a bullet was going to enter a Paladin, if a bandage was going to be wrapped on a Coalition soldier, if a another batch of fresh meat was going to be sent into the meat grinder on the Lubskan Front, then there was a seventy percent chance it would pass through Kaczaw first. So the city had to be fortified. Naturally, the Epans had not done it before they declared their war. That was an amateurish mistake, although those mistakes were why Iliyal was here after all. To fix them and pay whatever price necessary. War charged in blood, the Epan leadership was too weak-willed to pay, so Iliyal would handle all the transactions. And even though the man was here to lead. He may as well make himself useful to Arascus. Winning the war for Epa was just a stepping stone on the long march to final victory after all. Iliyal turned and looked over at the various elves he had made into his leadership. Elves always made for good commanders, they lacked the rashness, they had a baseline level of competent intelligence, and most importantly, elves were an investment: finding an elf loyal to an Epan country was about as common as finding a sorcerer who didn¡¯t look down on people. They may serve under banners, and they would serve well, but the colour of the manner rarely mattered to those of a race whose parents, grandparents at the worst, lived through the founding of the banners nations they lived in. Iliyal gave the camp one final look as he saw his captains return. All tall and straw-blonde, with pointed ears and long rifles designed specifically for elven hands. They were a larger calibre too. Iliyal had gotten to shoot one and had already sent the design off to Kirinyaa: He wanted one. Same with the Doschian Panzers and the Rancais Mirage Fighters. No one asked questions, after all, why would they? Iliyal was merely inspecting designs in order to make sure they were up to his standards, how could he be sending men off in inadequate vehicles? No one even knew the fact he was copying each and every one of them by hand and sending them back to Kirinyaa. One more glance at the nicely arranged tents. Kassandora¡¯s standard camp design, it was the most effective, with tents in tight blocks around campfires to build camaraderie and wide central roads to allow throughput of movement. And he looked over the elven captains: Aryon, from Doschia, a man who had only joined up after he heard the news that Iliyal was here. Apparently, his great-grandfather served in Kassandora¡¯s Legions. Menith, almost five hundred years of age. His grandfather served as a Captain back then. Beryon and Alinth, both quite young, only eighty and one-twenty respectively. But both were intelligent, both were highly educated and both had grown disillusioned with the Pantheon. They would though, young souls always reached too high for their own good. All four looked as every elf did, handsome and tall. Beryon and Alinth both had long hair that fell down their back, Aryon and Menith cut theirs short. And from their expressions, they obviously weren¡¯t bringing good news. Menith spoke first, elves usually segregated their hierarchy through age and nothing else. But then the man had two hundred years on Aryon, and more than four hundred on Beryon and Alinth. Iliyal had hated the system when he was young, now that he was older than even Divines, he had nothing bad to say about it. ¡°Olonia is on the way back from Operation Sweep. Saksma has reported she is still waiting for transport, but she¡¯s finished too. Paida is in the same boat.¡± That was news. It wasn¡¯t bad news, it wasn¡¯t particularly good news either, but it didn¡¯t warrant the dour expressions on the four Captains. Iliyal said as much. ¡°So what is the problem?¡± A few of the soldiers burst out in laughter as one of them tripped and planted his face on the ground. ¡°We¡­¡± Menith fell silent, coughed and went on. ¡°Wissel Ellenheim and President Jozef of Lubska are coming here.¡± Iliyal did not blink, in fact, he wanted to smile and cackle in laughter. Wissel and Jozef coming here? What a treat! ¡°I see.¡± Iliyal let the captains go inside to draft battle plans. He did not particularly care if they made anything of value, he already had his own prepared. Neither did he care about the time when Olonia arrived and came to stand besides him. She reported her victory, Iliyal recorded it, and told her to wait. It was the same with Saksma, who jumped out of her helicopter and smashed into the ground as if she was impersonating Fer. But Fer would have not needed the vehicle to come so close to the ground, nor would she have needed those minutes of recovery. Paida merely waited patiently in her helicopter, she waited for it to land, and she met up with Iliyal as he was chatting with other two Epan Goddesses. And Iliyal chatted with Paida, Saksma and Olonia. About the war, about what they thought of the Pantheon, about what they thought of Iliyal himself. And then about less important things, about what sort of drinks they liked, about what movies they watched and about what games they played. Iliyal merely amused the three Goddess until he saw two of the Epan leaders approach him. Wissel Ellenheim, in a pristine black suit with a cape and a small crown, and president Jozef of Lubska, dressed entirely like a businessman. Iliyal was about to greet them, but Wissel beat him to it as the Goddesses watched the interaction curiosity. They would need to be called on slowly, they would need to be made to feel as if they were making their own decisions. Iliyal opened his mouth but Wissel was faster. ¡°Iliyal Tremali!¡± Wissel shouted from across the distance. That was one way to make an impression, it was just a shame that the man didn¡¯t know how to work soldiers. Shouting like this may work well on civilians, but soldiers would simply scowl at the bypassing of hierarchy. ¡°I was just waiting to meet you!¡± Iliyal smiled at them. ¡°What for?¡± ¡°About what you¡¯re doing here in the first place!¡± Wissel said. Jozef quickly came in to support his fellow ruler. Too bad they were heading down the wrong avenue of attack. ¡°I never gave you permission to attach yourself to the Lubskan army.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Jozef, Wissel, both of you embarrass yourself.¡± If there was one thing that maintained morale, it was seeing outsiders trying to get their sneaky fingers into the leadership. If there was one thing that made a leader instantly liked, it was seeing them stop a coup. It really was common sense, when a man saw a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature he would like the strong horse. And there was nothing that spoke of strength like benevolent magnanimity. Iliyal gave them the way out, he purposefully phrased it so they wouldn¡¯t accept. ¡°Come inside, I will not explain your failures before the men.¡± Wissel narrowed his eyes. The man was smart, that was true, but he wasn¡¯t a genius. The man could fancy himself to be Arascus any day of the week, but Arascus would have not brought Jozef here. ¡°Iliyal Tremali, it is you who embarrass yourself. We did not ask for your help in this matter, did we?¡± What a terrible reply. Maybe it would serve in some argument between individuals, but Iliyal rarely argued for enjoyment anymore. Arguments and debates had nothing with convincing the opponent, that was what children thought. Arguments and debates were about convincing the crowd to devour the other party. ¡°Where is your combat experience? Where are your officer schools? What is your doctrine? Your organizational structure?¡± Iliyal knew neither of them would have a reply, he raised his voice. ¡°The fact you didn¡¯t ask for me is not some grand indictment of treachery on my behalf. It is a simple confirmation you have no idea what you are doing.¡± That was for those two, now something that the men pretending not to listen in would understand. ¡°It is like a child baking a cake without any eggs. That is how little idea you have on this topic. Tell me, do you really think you can defeat Maisara alone? Do you think you can defeat Maisara and Fortia both?¡± Wissel and Jozef shared a look. Of course they couldn¡¯t, of course they were trying to think of some smarmy reply. Of course, they failed at it. Wissel stepped forwards. ¡°This is a matter of principal, we do not fight for a free Epa only to be made servants of Arascus. We fight for a free Epa in order to fulfil our own destinies.¡± Iliyal only rolled his eyes. How many times have idealists talked to him of destiny before? ¡°If you wish to have destinies, then you need to win a war first.¡± Iliyal replied loudly enough for everyone to hear. This was the issue with idealists, they faltered when faced with cold, harsh, realistic pragmatism. ¡°This isn¡¯t you issue to decide Iliyal!¡± Jozef came into the conversation. Why? Iliyal did not know. Wissel was challenging to crack, but Jozef was the complete opposite. Maybe it was because it was his land getting invaded. Maybe it was because it was his army getting usurped. Maybe it was because it was his Goddess who was losing allegiance. Iliyal saw the opening immediately. He saw Olonia, Saksma and Paida all watching the argument, all casting wary gazes at the two men who had come to argue. They were on Iliyal¡¯s side, the elf did not even need to ask to confirm. ¡°Whose is it then?¡± Iliyal set the trap, it was obvious, but there was only one answer at this point. ¡°It is the armed forces of Lubska! It has no affiliation! I only represent it because I am the President of this country of this country!¡± Jozef shouted. That was a good reply, Iliyal could almost respect it, almost. Unfortunately, the man had exposed his flank for an assault. A good one at that. Iliyal only had to ask the question: ¡°So if you only represent it, who does the army belong to?¡± Wissel came in to defend his compatriot. ¡°The military is shared, it belongs to no one in particular, yet everyone at the same time.¡± Iliyal responded with his own blow as Olonia, Saksma and Paida watched. Those three obviously did not like being left out of the conversation. ¡°So who makes the decisions then?¡± Iliyal asked. They had left this gap open for themselves. ¡°Do not argue in platitudes, who is in charge here Wissel?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Wissel responded confidently. Iliyal tried to contain his smile. There was only so winning he could take in one day. Olonia took a step forwards. In between Iliyal and President Jozef and King Wissel Ellenheim. Both of them looked up at the Goddess in surprise as she stared down at them. Iliyal didn¡¯t say anything, he didn¡¯t even so much as move. He had told them not to argue outside, they had still done it. Like a child falling off a log after being warned not to trip, it was their wound to bear. Saksma followed Olonia. Paida saw her two friends, and she stepped forwards too. Three giants, clad in armour damaged by bullets, their weapons sheathed, their hairs dirty with mud and blood. Iliyal maintained his lack of expression as he stared into Wissel¡¯s and Jozef¡¯s eyes. Check and mate. It was their own fault they had come here. If they wanted to be rid of him, they should have withdrawn support from the armies until he left. But then, they weren¡¯t like the scheming aristocrats of old, who would immediately jump to sending the greatest of generals off on suicide defences simply to eliminate the potential of losing their positions. Children in warfare, children in politics, children surrounded by children, now Iliyal had come to show them what an adult acted like. ¡°This is not your army.¡± Olonia said loudly, her white hair shimmering like snow. Jozef blinked as Wissel sighed. Iliyal let out his breath. It was over, Jozef had lost, maybe Goddess Kassandora or Arascus himself would see a way out from here, but even Iliyal could not. ¡°Well it¡¯s not Tremali¡¯s either! Is it?¡± Iliyal maintained his expression, he at least would have managed to salvage it in some way, not dig the hole deeper. Olonia had the perfect reply ready. ¡°It is mine.¡± ¡°Olonia!¡± Jozef shouted. ¡°The¡­¡± He trailed off as Wissel put his hand on the man¡¯s shoulder and shook his head. Paida came in to back up her friend. ¡°It is Lubska¡¯s army, Olonia has more of a right to it than any of you.¡± Iliyal allowed himself a smile. Paida had always been the smartest of them all. Olonia was rash and fast and decisive, Saksma was argumentative and arrogant and confident, but Paida, seemingly always so polite, lived up to the ancient reputation of old Rancais scheming nobility. Paida smacked her own plate armour, riddled with dents from where she had been shot at. ¡°I do not see you going into the line of fire.¡± Maybe everyone else would have missed it, but Iliyal caught it. It was a simple thing, an odd movement with her hand, over in a second, Iliyal had caught onto it before but this made it definite. They did use some sort of sign language in between themselves. If his prediction was correct, then Saksma should step in. Saksma did indeed step in. ¡°Wissel Ellenheim!¡± Saksma shouted. Iliyal smiled, true, the woman was the Goddess of Doschia, so naturally she should target Wissel, but the elf doubted she was targeting the mastermind of the Epan Coalition. ¡°It is the same for us!¡± Oh Saksma. Precious Saksma, never to be outdone by another, the only who wielded a greatsword, the only who had stepped up to challenge Neneria and Anassa back in Arika. ¡°Logistics, production, supply of armaments is your demesne, I do not impose on how you should run your factories. But the front lines, the Olonia finished them off. ¡°Iliyal Tremali stays. Unless you know of a man who has faced Fortia and Maisara and lived to tell the tale, unless he was also trained by the Goddess of War, Kassandora herself, unless he has ties to the only other faction in this entire world who would even think of a potential alliance with us, General.¡± Iliyal smiled at the fact she used his title. ¡°Iliyal Tremali stays.¡± And the coup-de-grace was Olonia turning to the crowd of soldiers. ¡°If anyone is aware of such a man, then I welcome the name to be put forth, but it is Iliyal¡¯s tactics which have stalled Maisara in the South West, it is Iliyal¡¯s tactics that have ensured we cleared out Maisara¡¯s castles in the North, it is because of Iliyal¡¯s tactics that the Paladins are not within seeing distance of Zawitz right now! Until then, the army is mine and Iliyal assists with the strategy, nothing more and nothing less! We are going up against the White Pantheon, it is not time to play petty politics.¡± The crowd only cheered Olonia¡¯s name. And as Iliyal looked into Wissel¡¯s eyes, he knew the man was the only one bar himself who realised what had just happened: Olonia had just usurped the military out of the government¡¯s control. Chapter 250 – Siege of Nanbasa Kirinyaa serves as Arascus¡¯ model for a society. If it is allowed to stand then it creates competition to the Pantheon. It is not that we are against the success of Kirinyaa simply to keep them down, it is that the success of Kirinyaa threatens the success of the Pantheon. Currently, the dominance of the Pantheon is secured as much through the subconscious idea that standing against the Pantheon is unthinkable as it is through our own policies. The Epan Coalition and Kirinyaa both threaten to act as dominos which could make everything we have built come crashing down. For the sake Ardan Peace, both of these factions need to be so utterly humiliated that they forever taint the idea of splitting from the Pantheon. - Excerpt from a document written by Maisara, Allasaria and Fortia. Damian Sokolowski sprinted across an empty road. Rifle bouncing on his back, suitcase full of plans and papers in his hands. The rest of his command team, Pawel, Mateusz and Wiktor all followed him as they tried to make as much distance between themselves and the slowly tilting building. A tall tower, not quite a skyscraper, but it had served as an excellent vantage point to overlook Nanbasa¡¯s evacuated industrial district and the mix of wood and concrete that made up the sea-wall. A sphere had hit it and the building was starting to collapse. If it was an artillery shell, or even just a dud, Damian would have not been sprinting so frantically. He fondled his radio, grabbed the button and screamed into it. ¡°This is General Sokolowski, another one landed on me! I repeat, another landed on me!¡± The radio turned off, it buzzed slightly for a moment, and then turned back on. ¡°Copy that General.¡± There was silence for a moment. ¡°RF Seven has been dispatched to your location. Estimated time is three minutes. Over.¡± Damian did not respond, he merely dropped his radio, it started dancing on its cord again and grabbed onto a sign post to quickly turn. Response-Force Seven, they were positioned north west of him, he should head that way. ¡°AFTER ME!¡± Damian shouted as the three men behind him slid on the ground and started sprinting after him. And behind them, further past the cracked black tarmac and underneath the artillery shells and jet planes shrieking through the skies as they bombarded the monsters that clambered out the seawall and tried to knock it down. ¡°RUN!¡± From that toppling building, the sphere that had caused it to collapsed rolled off, crashed into the asphalt as napalm shells exploded in mid-air and something shrieked from the ocean. The smooth sphere split mechanically. A hexagonal pattern split it down the middle. It cracked into two halves, like an egg. Damian felt rush of adrenaline hit him like a steam engine as he heard the maddened barking of Uriamel¡¯s dogs. That was the colloquial name, not even Arascus and Helenna knew what these creatures were. But six of them burst out from that sphere. As large as wolves, but with scales instead of fur. Gills on the side of their bodies, their heads covered by a crown of thorns, their legs ending in long claws. Where they should have had a mouth was a curtain of octopus tentacles underneath a dozen crazed red eyes. Foam poured between those tentacles, Damian knew there was a beak hidden there. A beak that could crush rocks, forget about bone and skin. ¡°BEHIND US!¡± If there was one, Damian would have given the order to turn and fire. But there were six, each one took about as much firepower as a bull. ¡°RUN!¡± And so they ran. Down one corner, with those monsters catching up to them with every step. Another pair of jets shrieked over and unleashed lead as the cannons positioned on the skyscrapers all fired in unison. Explosions and napalm and shrieks. Then there was a cheer from the wall and a huge splash. The misty sea, tinged sour with the blood of Uriamel¡¯s monsters, enveloped the eastern Nanbasa like rain. Damian Sokolowski did not turn backwards, he saw RF7 turn around from the corner. Two Lynxes that quickly trundled along the ground and cracked the roads underneath them. Each one with a man crewing the machine gun on top of the turret. ¡°DIVE!¡± Damian shouted as he jumped to the ground and rolled over. He turned around to see Wiktor, Pawel and Mateusz drop down and heard the two Lynx tanks open fire with their machine guns. Using the main gun on the roads had been banned for now, but that didn¡¯t matter too much. The machine themselves were of a larger calibre than what men carried and while the heavy scales of Uriamel¡¯s dogs could glance pistol shots, these tore through the monsters. One. Two. Six dropped as Damian Sokolowski fondled for his radio. ¡°This is Sokolowski, RF7 made it in time.¡± The radio replied almost instantly. ¡°RF7 has orders to move past you. I¡¯d advise getting out of there General.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°The Seawall is about to break.¡± Jets and artillery shrieked overhead. More splashing came from the other side of the wall. Arascus looked out the window as he watched another squadron of fighters dive and open fire on more of those giant creatures marching out of the ocean. Nanbasa needed more men for its defences, but every city had been attacked on the coast. Nothing as large as the capital, some of the attacks had already been repelled even, but it was enough to make sure that Nanbasa stood alone. More men were needed. The volunteers that were arriving from the nation¡¯s west were simply too small in number. He took a sigh and looked down at the new law. Kassandora was smart, Kassandora was brilliant and, worst of all, Kassandora was right: War did need to be scaled up. A single signature sentenced two million men in the city to serve. Damian Sokolowski stuck his fingers in his ears the huge anti-air gun started to pound lead into the monsters coming out of the water. These huge double-barrelled cannons where first built in preparation for anything from the air. Any assault by massed magicians or by Allasaria. Then someone had the idea of simply tilting it down. Damian watched as he saw that huge black crab¡¯s shell burst open in a line as the AA gun focused on it. A pair of KAF jets dived down, autocannons wailing, the crab¡¯s leg got hit, the creature lost control. It collapsed, the two massive claws smashing into denizens of Uriamel as they poured out from the waves. Napalm artillery came in from artillery batteries in Nanbasa¡¯s central zoo and Sokolowski watched the ocean be set alight. The soldiers of Uriamel, humanoid but obviously not human with all their limbs too long, started to scream and run from the flames as Nanbasa¡¯s defenders from the wooden seawall, now cracked and revealing the solid slab of concrete interlaced with steel on its inside. And Sokolowski watched more of those giant crabs crawl sideways out of the ocean. At first, he had been awed by their size. Now, he realised the real danger of Uriamel was not the great beasts it possessed but the fact it could use them to wield even greater weaponry. Each crab had a small platform on it, from which Uriamel¡¯s commanders were shouting down orders at their men. And each crab was helping pull a steel cable out of the water. Sokolowski clicked his radio and talked into it: ¡°This is General Sokolowski speaking, artillery barrage on whatever the fuck just came out of the water.¡± ¡°Roger that, batteries two and four are ready, three is out of ammo. One is operating at three-quarters strength after a vehicle malfunction.¡± The radio said. They would pass on the orders. They passed them on quickly in fact.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Only a few seconds after Sokolowski clicked the radio off, he heard the thundering drumming of artillery from behind him. Sokolowski had never been a hopeful man, so he kept the optimism contained. Good thing he did, the ocean leapt upwards. The shells that screamed as they fell exploded against that barrier of clear liquid. The water collapsed and Damian saw what the crabs had been dragging out of the water. A huge cannon, a massive tub of black metal. Damian heard the cannon to his side fire. He saw the shell of a crab start to crack under the fury of its shells. He heard another round of drumming from behind him. Fighter jets screamed from above as they dropped bombs or emptied themselves of autocannon ammunition. The defenders on the seawall fired. All its turrets turned to fired at that tube and at those monster pulling it out of the ground. But it didn¡¯t matter. In a mere moment, Damian watched as that tube lit up a bright blue. A beam came down on it as the neighbouring crab collapsed. Before the monster managed to even make a splash in the water, the tube had finished. Damian had seen magicians cast spells with their wands, what he just witnessed could only be described as an upscaled version of that. And Damian realised what had happened. He grabbed his radio, ready to report the situation. This, Arascus and Kassandora had to know about. A massive hole had been carved through several buildings, as if the beam from whatever the crabs had pulled onto the shallow waters had simply incinerated the bricks and mortar. A massive hole through the buildings, and through the seawall. The ocean spilled through that broken seawall. And all the monstrous soldiers of Uriamel came in a flood with it. Arascus had gone off to fight, so Helenna had to manage the logistics. She had only rarely done it in the past, and always it was when it was her own plans. Allasaria and Fortia both had doubted her skill in it. And then Arascus had told her that he trusted she would be able to supply Nanbasa with enough ammunition to shoot everyone in Uriamel ten times over. Helenna smiled as she leaned back and gave the God of Pride¡¯s seat a spin. Comfortable, lovely, almost as if it was meant for her. It still had his smell too. She poured herself a glass of red wine and turned from the disaster happening through the window. Arascus was in the air, and Iniri¡¯s Seawall had been broken. That was the front, that wasn¡¯t her demesne. Helenna readjusted her black cap marked with her emblem: the thorned rose of the Goddess of Love. She looked down at the paper she had just finished drafting: The National Survival Bill, it banned unions in all manufacturing industries, it imposed a minimum two year prison sentence for organisation against labour, it set the death penalty on all wilful sabotage of Kirinyaa¡¯s manufacturing, it instituted fines and imprisonment in labour camps for deliberate avoidance of work, it would expand the ammunition factories three times over, it would make sure that Arascus had enough ammunition to shoot everyone in Uriamel twenty times over. And it was all done in the name of Love, for each other and for the nation. This was her demesne. ¡°FIRE! FIRE! FIRE AND HOLD! NOT ONE STEP BACK!¡± Damian shouted his team gunned down a charging platoon of Uriamel¡¯s soldiers. When the seawall had still been in once piece, it was farcical that they had come without long-ranged rifles. The best they could muster were the harpoon guns and they could only shoot as far as a street was wide. Now that the fighting took place on the streets, Damian did not find their weapons so laughable. Not with the heavy shields that almost all of them were equipped with. What sort of technology it was, Damian did not know, but every soldier had a thin barrier around him that held back lead and flame and napalm and had to be overwhelmed with nothing but sheer firepower. They cracked eventually, but he had seen a single soldier of Uriamel wade through machinegun fire that would have downed elephants and keep on marching. Damian another magazine into his gun as the Lynx tank besides him fired. The tread had fallen off, it had caught itself on the pavement and now field engineers were madly working to pull it back on as the turret and Damian¡¯s platoon worked to defend them. The ground shook, another building started to collapse as glass rained from overhead. A helicopter turned and let emptied its rocket pods onto the street. It started to pick up altitude, fly away. A bolt came out of nowhere. It impaled itself through the helicopter¡¯s hull, the machine started to lose control and fall. It exploded somewhere out of sight, the explosion of its engine lost in the hundreds of other explosions from bombs and artillery and cannon shells. Damian looked down the iron sights on his rifle and held the trigger. Two of those monstrous scaled dogs with beaks for mouths and tentacles for whiskers ate the entire magazine. One dropped on the spot, the other kept on marching until Pawel aimed his sniper at it. He held his breath, pulled the trigger, and the monster¡¯s head suddenly burst open with a hole in the middle. ¡°HOW LONG?¡± Damian shouted as he saw the rest of this Uriamel platoon start to charge. Damian was about to issue an order to forget the tank and retreat when a blade dropped from the sky. It shot downwards like a needle launched from the heavens. Then another. A third. A hundred. In an instant, a monsoon of blades from above came from the sky. Swords. Swords and spears and axe and all manners of weapons reverbed as they stuck themselves into the ground. Each one shaking as pieces of an Uriamel soldier lay around it. They tore through armour and scale and bone and flesh as if it was all paper. And the street was still, Damian eased his finger off the trigger. How many were dead? A hundred? Two? He couldn¡¯t even count all the bodies. Damian looked up and he saw Arascus staring down on the street. The God of Pride lived up to his namesake, with a suit and long red cape that flew in the wind, A thousand golden spheres around him, each one ready with a blade, a spear, an axe or a hammer prepared ready to be launched. Arascus said nothing, his face was only deadly serious as he looked at the dead on the ground, scanning them for any sign of movement. One thing twitched, it was immediately pierced by a sword that lodged itself in the ground. The God of Pride turned as another of Uriamel¡¯s monsters turned the corner. It hissed, a rider armed with a pike on its back. The thing was as large as a tank, its front with two horse legs that cracked the tarmac with each step. Its back a slithering snake that left a trail. Arascus did not even move. A massive silver blade dropped from the sky and split the monster and its rider in two, as if a giant had just decided to cut it in half. Damian swallowed his own spit as he looked up at Arascus again. The God hovered in the air for a few seconds, then turned and moved onto another street. Damian was glad Arascus was on his side. Arascus stood on top of a skyscraper as he picked out another crab marching through the streets. Uriamel¡¯s soldiers around it and a piece of a vehicle in its claws. He took a breath and looked elsewhere down the streets. Killing it was not hard, but there were hundreds of thousands of invaders already in Nanbasa. One ant could be squashed, but even Gods got tired when they had to constantly be crushing ants. Allasaria was not here yet, but he had to conserve enough energy to make sure that the Goddess of Light would be kept at bay. Neneria and Olephia were assisting with the defences of the other cities, they could not be called here. Arascus pulled his phone out and rang command. They answered immediately, although they always did. ¡°Ground Control speaking your majesty.¡± The radio operator said. Arascus gave his order quickly. ¡°I give permission for bombing runs over Nanbasa.¡± ¡°All units report they¡¯ve moved out of the industrial district.¡± Wiktor shouted as he flicked a button on his radio. Damian Sokolowski readjusted his coat as he made his way to top of the cresting hill in Nanbasa¡¯s zoo. From here, all he could see was the skyline of the western part of the ring-city. A 77T plane was flying north-to-south along it, carpet bombing the city from high above. Those bombers were the only things that could touch the forces in that part of the city now. The concrete jungle was too thick and too dense to allow shelling from an angle. Either bombs would come in straight down, between the buildings, or shells would impact against buildings instead of against the enemies currently in those streets. So the concrete jungle had to be cut down. ¡°Anything new? No change in schedule?¡± Damian asked. Wiktor played around with the black magic that was the radio controls for a few moments before shaking his head. ¡°We have information that they¡¯ve brought demolitionists to tear down the seawall as well.¡± Wiktor said. ¡°And more are coming in, but that¡¯s about it. Nothing new, no undocumented monsters on the horizon.¡± Damian took a heavy breath. Well, there was nothing to wait for now. Damian clicked the button and said goodbye. Goodbye to the grand docks of Nanbasa, to the huge cranes to lift heavy containers out of vessels. To the huge factories and warehouses that once tarred the skies with fumes and now lay silent, most already damaged by the battle in the city. Goodbye to the streets, now flooded by the waves of Uriamel¡¯s soldiers and monsters. Goodbye to it all. The industrial district of Nanbasa was ripped apart by flames. The same inferno that had ravaged Fortia¡¯s Army in Melukal now ravaged Uriamel¡¯s in Nanbasa. Allasaria returned to the great domed cities of Uriamel underneath the water. Nanbasa would fall eventually. Kassandora¡¯s trickery could only slow Uriamel down, it could not defeat it. Now though, it was time to send a message. The entire world had to know what kind of power the Pantheon possessed, and what kind of damnation would be wrought upon those who decided to stand against it. Chapter 251 – Dwarves in the Deep Titans are the greatest beings of Arda. Older than divines and older than mortals, some say they are the first creatures to exist. One thing that is for certain though: the titans are Arda¡¯s, just as the greatest archdemons belong to Tartarus and seraphim to Paraideisius. These creatures served as the foremost guardians of their respective worlds when conflict between them emerged. The titans of Arda aligned themselves with Arascus due to the White Pantheon¡¯s acceptance of interplanetary help. Some lands are filled aplenty with them. Some lands lack any. Alanktyda has the monopoly on the aquatic kind. But Alanktyda does not match us. What we possess is not a titan, it is not of this world. - Translated excerpt from an Uriamel scholar, thought to be some historical work. ¡°How fucked are we?¡± Iniri quietly asked Kavaa as the Goddess of Health looked over at the fires in the distance. Kavaa had her own doctor¡¯s tongue, but Iniri swore once in a blue moon. Still, the Goddess of Health did not comment on it. If there was ever a time that demanded a swear, it was right now. The Highway they had travelled down did not have a single split, not one junction. The most cover it had were the supply rooms built into the walls. The long emptied supply rooms, although the ones here looked as if they had never been touched. Kavaa and Iniri rested in that lake of darkness, the shore behind them blocked by the Jungle¡¯s maddening roots, the shore ahead with flames of campfires and people walking about it. Kavaa slid her hand down to the sheathed blade on her hip. It was still there. As was her shield on her back. She unhooked it and strapped it to her arm as Iniri watched. ¡°Do you need armour?¡± The Goddess of Nature asked. Kavaa looked down at her battered chest-plate, dented from being gripped so heavily by the vines. ¡°It¡¯s good enough.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Iniri said as the living wood branches on her green started to expanded in the darkness. It was too dark to watch, but Kavaa had seen Iniri graft the armour over her clothes more than enough to recognise the quiet sound. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight them.¡± She whispered with quiet hesitation. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have a choice Ini.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Mmh.¡± Iniri said. ¡°I mean, we have to, I just don¡¯t want to.¡± Kavaa rolled her eyes. If there was one thing that annoyed her, it was this hesitation. Did the woman think she was morally superior to Kavaa? Iniri had done more than her fair share of killing back then. When it came to Great War reputations, there was Allasaria¡¯s purges, there was Fortia¡¯s peacekeeping and there was Iniri¡¯s pacifications. Mere Forces like Sceo and Zerus did not even hold a candle to Mother Nature back then. ¡°You can do it.¡± Kavaa made her voice as supportive as she could. ¡°I¡¯m here if you need.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Iniri said, there was something warm in her tone. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m excited.¡± ¡°Are you now?¡± ¡°Feels like back then.¡± Iniri¡¯s eyes started to shine emerald-green, she took a step forwards. Kavaa heard the cracking of stone and the slithering of stone as she drew her blade and kept close to her friend. ¡°They¡¯re dwarves.¡± Iniri said as strolled forwards. ¡°Have they noticed you?¡± Iniri did not reply, Kavaa only the campfires in the distance with dwarves walking around. Standing around now actually, standing as still as statues. In massively thick plate armour that covered their chests, and then long scale-skirts clad the lower half of their bodies. Block helmets, two small cut-outs for eyes that Kavaa could not make out. Each one stood and faced them. Have they been seen already? But it was only dwarves at the end of the day. ¡°You ready?¡± Kavaa asked. Iniri did not respond, but Kavaa heard the ground next to her break apart as the Goddess of Nature struck more roots from her dress into the cold stone that surrounded them. And she watched those dark silhouettes, all facing the Goddesses suddenly be flung up into the air. Vines burst out of the rocky ground around the campfires like lashing snakes. They hissed and swiped and threw the bodies of the dwarves upwards. Some were launched high into the darkness, other were strangled, yet more simply were torn apart by Iniri¡¯s vines. The vines entered them, and then ripped them apart from the inside. It lasted only a few moments, but in those few moments, all that was left of the silhouettes were simple mounds on the ground. ¡°That¡¯s all of them.¡± Iniri said as she settled back down on the ground next to Kavaa. ¡°Really, we can go forwards.¡± ¡°It¡¯s your call.¡± Kavaa said. She knew she could fight, but she was simply talented with the sword. She could beat Helenna, but that was about it. Any Divine with any power would be able to obliterate her in a battle. ¡°Okay.¡± Iniri said timidly as she started walking forwards. Kavaa did not know what got into the Goddess. She was strong enough to eliminate a whole platoon of dwarves like that. She could rival Zerus and Sceo at the same time, and yet she had such a low opinion of herself. If the woman was even a tiny bit more confident, she would have been a pillar of the Pantheon in the same manner that Maisara was. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Kavaa smiled as Iniri took some initiative. It was forced on her, it wasn¡¯t real initiative, but every one had to learn somehow. Iniri knew too, Kavaa was sure that she did, else she would have no had such a terrible reputation in the past, but it was simply a case of reminding the Goddess what she was capable of. They closed the distance to the campfires. There was nothing here. Kavaa looked around, hand ready with her sword and shield drawn for combat. There was a campfire, there was dead dwarves, their square tower shields and long pikes lying on the ground. Nothing else. Kavaa blinked. There was dead dwarves and there was no blood. She looked at Iniri, the woman had noticed too. They both nodded at each other, and one of Iniri¡¯s vines pulled a helmet off a thick, dark chest-plate. A skeletal head. Wide and bulky, as dwarves typically were, but without any eyes, without any muscles or skin. Simply bone engraved with runes Kavaa did not know. Iniri narrowed her eyebrows and looked at Kavaa. Kavaa looked at Iniri. The Goddess of Health asked first. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°Am I supposed to know?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± Kavaa was interrupted by another voice from the darkness. ¡°FIRE!¡± A voice from out of nowhere. A voice Kavaa swore had been killed more than a thousand years ago. She heard the release of springs, the lashing of ropes, the pull of gears turning. Immediately, the Goddess of Health raised her shield to cover her face. Iniri launched into the air, arms outstretched, eyes shining green once again as vines ripped out of the ground to make a barrier around the two Divines. Kavaa, at the end of the day, only had her shield. She felt something impact it, and she felt something smash against her back. Iniri on the other hand was too slow, her wall of greenery had only gotten to the two Divines¡¯ knees before the hail of sharpened iron came. From deeper in the highway, from all angles in the darkness, as if the two had wandered into a semi-circle. And as Kavaa felt the hail of iron, she got a flashback to the past. To the Great War, when she or her Clerics would be caught in the traps set in Erdely. They had been single shots first, designed to impale and incapacitate with massive blows. Kavaa had been hit a few times by them, and each time she had healed herself out of the damage. Her Clerics could too, men could lose an arm or be impaled by a massive bolt, and still function to heal enough to save their lives in those few moment after the adrenaline spiked but before the pain kicked in. And then, they had slowly changed. To massed arrow traps, and finally to this shrapnel of iron. It was less damaging than the large bolts, but it was far more destructive. Kavaa it crush into her armour, and she felt the tiny shards embed themselves in every crack in her armour. Pain flared from within her armpits, pain shout from the backs of her knees. Kavaa fell and felt herself coughing up blood as her neck was cut by the iron shards. Her palms, the insides of her elbows, her thighs. Kavaa took a step, looked down and blinked as she watched some glass vial head towards her from the darkness. Kavaa¡¯s healing is powerful however it lacks the finesse of natural regeneration. The pain it causes makes it difficult for one to self-heal from shrapnel or remove foreign objects from one¡¯s body. Our mentality should be changed on how to counter the Goddess of Health and her Clerics. Ultimately, there is no difference in a battle between a total incapacitation and outright death. The Clerics can be simply forced out of combat and executed after the battle is finished, instead of trying to kill them instantly. Whereas wood is light and plentiful, I propose iron or steel shards. - Excerpt from ¡°Miscellaneous Strategies¡±, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War, during the Great War. Kavaa heard Iniri grunt as the woman¡¯s battle dress and face were shredded by the hail that cut and tore at her dress and skin. The woman¡¯s wooden clothes weren¡¯t armour, and parts started to fall away as the hail of iron started to shred into her. Iniri lifted her arms, her barrier grew as Kavaa smelled the noxious fumes from the vial that had smashed on the ground. She did not need to be in a lab to identify toxin. Sometimes, the bitter smell simply gave it away. And then Kavaa saw a large arrow, a ballista bolt, rupture through the air like lightning. Dreaded Iniri is rather simple to defeat. Wood is a strong, especially her ever-growing barks, however wood pales against the might of modern machinery. Over the long-term, wood may no doubt defeat steel and stone, however battles are fought on an instant-to-instant basis. To crack wood, we simply need to apply force. Likewise to crack Iniri, we simply need to apply enough force. Nothing more needs to be said. - Excerpt from ¡°Miscellaneous Strategies¡±, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War, during the Great War. The Goddess of Health, bleeding on the ground as she moaned in pain and used her healing energies to push out the shards of steel caught within her body, yelped as she saw Iniri get flung back. She felt her breathing stop to process the sight of the little Goddess screaming out as a tall pole impaled her to the stone wall. Blood discoloured her green dress into a sickly almost-black and roots immediately sprouted to cover the wound and try and force the spear out. It had no effect. Kavaa realised she wasn¡¯t breathing and inhaled. She wished she hadn¡¯t. She had come across enough poisons in the past to know one by smell. And this smelled like a terrible one. Immediately, her eyelids became her, her muscles became weary. Kavaa started using her own healing on herself, then realised she was breathing in more of the poison. It would take a while to settle from that vial. All she could do was speed up the regeneration of her own body. It didn¡¯t hurt, but she felt her cheeks grow hot, her heart start to madly beat, her fingers quiver, as her body cleansed itself of poison in with each second, and took in more poison on the next. Kavaa looked up as she saw black heels click forwards to her. Her vision was fading. Not death, drowsiness. Her arm hurt. So did her chest. She looked down. No blood. Paralyzing poison then. Her body should be able to clear it. She looked at Iniri. The Goddess of Nature was still impaled half way up to the wall of the tunnel as she clung onto the ballista bolt that went through her gut. The living wood on her dress was fighting to push it out and then another bolt burst into the wall next to her. It vibrated next to her head as Iniri looked up in horror. The message didn¡¯t have to be said to be clear, stop moving. Kavaa grit her teeth as she felt herself about to throw up. She used the very last reserves of her strength to push herself into the recovery position as her stomach emptied itself onto her arm. Better this than dying. And she looked at those black heels. Pale legs. Black dress. Kavaa felt her vision dim even more. A black dress and precious, snow white hair. Kavaa collapsed. Chapter 252 – Natural Hierarchy Divines exist as a higher race of beings. I am aware of how this sounds, I understand the statements pretention and arrogance. Yet I also know it is true, if a mountain boasted of its own height, would we also decry the mountain as arrogant? Or simply true? With a few exceptions, most Divines are rather weak. Maisara¡¯s orthodox classification of Divines into Inventions, Forces and Abstracts is flawed in this regard. A Force such as Zerus has little to do with almost every Invention, yet an Invention like Aslana can easily rival an Abstract such as Kavaa. Maisara¡¯s system is simply too orderly and neat to classify everyone. In fact, why must a system even exist? Do we need a guide to cats and dogs and horses, or are people simply able to lay their eyes upon a dog and know it is a dog? Maisara would wish for us to compare graphs to make sure we are correct, I will simply trust my instincts. Everyone knows what a Divine is, because a Divine is a higher race of being. Maisara¡¯s system reduces Divinity to a mere set of calculations, mine once again races Divinity to its classical conception. Mere inventions are no better than magicians, I do not and have not ever considered them as real Divines. If one gazes upon a Divine and those not feel respect for the sheer power within that being, then that being is simply an upjumped spirit, magician or some other ghastly pretender. After all, what is a God that can feel fear? - Excerpt from ¡°Natural Hierarchy¡±, written by Goddess Anassa, of Sorcery. Kept within the White Pantheon¡¯s Closed Library A finger-snap caused a bright-red sphere to appear besides Anassa¡¯s head. It lit up the tunnel that the snake ahead was carving out, the monster was still bleeding but its wound was closing. It probably wouldn¡¯t come at Anassa again. In fact, it definitely would not. Not with the frantic way it was digging through the dirt and tearing apart the Jungle¡¯s roots as it tried to flee from the Goddess of Sorcery behind it. That gigantic snake once again managed to extend the distance between itself and Anassa by a mile. Anyone else but maybe Fer or Elassa, it would have ran away from. Down here, even though two would have a problem. The Jungle was protecting its defender, the roots and vines were regrowing, trying to grab at Anassa to slow her down. Anassa let out a slow, deliberate yawn, her crimson eyes glinting with disdain. She could feel its gaze boring into her, though it dared not look directly. Good. Let it watch. Let it understand just how inconsequential it truly was. Roots tried to take their shot at the Goddess in her pristine red silk dress. The sphere beside Anassa erupted outward, its crimson light slicing through the air like a blade. Roots snapped and splintered into thousands of jagged fragments, their severed ends curling as if recoiling from her touch. Anassa finished her yawn and smacked her lips together. The snake had managed to furiously burrow through the dirt and rock and stone in that darkness, the trail of red blood from the hole Anassa had made when the monster had dived onto her was now growing thin. So it was a regenerator, most Divines were, that wasn¡¯t surprising. Anassa took a step. It was all a matter of perspective. How large were snakes normally? Why should this snake be any grander than that? And if it was merely a snake, what sort of person would honestly struggle catch up to it? Snakes were tiny little pests. Anassa took a step, and Anassa closed that tiny distance between her and the monster in a mere instant. The reptile screamed underground its rear was lit up by red. The tunnel behind them started to collapse. Anassa did not particularly care about such trivialities. A lack of a way back was a mere hindrance. She wondered how far they had gone already. She was trailing behind the monster for a while now. The Jungle¡¯s murmuring was getting louder too. It wasn¡¯t talking to Anassa though, it sounded faint, as if Anassa had her ear pressed against a door and was trying to overhear muffled whispers. And then, the jungle spoke, not in a single voice, but in a cacophony of countless others, each syllable layered atop another like layer of layer of composing bone. They whispered, screamed, pleaded, and hissed, a symphony of defiance and despair. Yet to Anassa, it was merely noise, background static to be ignored. ¡°Who are you?¡± Anassa smiled to herself as she took another step. And again she was next to the giant hissing snake. If there was anything that fuelled her confidence, it was being grovelled before. It was knowing dominance was ensured. It was knowing that even though some creature did not know her name, it was afraid of her. Anassa answered as Anassa would: ¡°You do not have the credentials to ask me that.¡± Anassa said out loud as the snake kept on digging further. ¡°Fer told me of your whispers. Come at me!¡± The Goddess of Sorcery looked around in the underground tunnel. Dirt fell from all sides as the snake kept digging. The Jungle, in a rather disappointing manner, did not come at her. It remained silent. Anassa took a step in the darkness and stopped and waited. Silence, no sound whatsoever. Anassa turned backwards, turned forwards, she was in the long tunnel that the snake had just dug out¡­ The snake was gone. She felt her dress cling to her legs, her collar became tight. And Anassa burst out in laughter. ¡°Who do you think you are?¡± Anassa shouted. ¡°To attack me in my realm?¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Anyone else would have shattered the delusion. Kassie would have been out of it already, Fer would have not been caught in the first place. But Anassa let it keep going. She felt herself be strangled by her clothes. Naturally, her clothes were her creation, they would not strangle her. The illusion shattered and Anassa forced it back on herself. ¡°Are we running already?¡± Anassa tauntingly asked again. The tunnel around her disappeared until it was just Anassa. Anassa glanced down, watching as roots slithered up her legs and coiled tightly around her neck. For a fleeting moment, she felt their weight pressing against her skin. But then she smiled, snapping her fingers. The pressure vanished. The roots dissolved into nothingness, revealed as mere constructs of madness, figments born of the Jungle¡¯s madness, now corralled by her own imagination. The darkness dissolved, replaced by the familiar confines of the snake¡¯s tunnel. Yet around Anassa, an eerie void stretched outward. It was a perfect sphere, as though some unseen force had radiated from her core and erased everything it touched. Trees, roots and earth, all were gone, reduced to nothingness. ¡°HOW!?¡± The Jungle roared at her and Anassa smiled. How was simple. Madness only existed in one¡¯s mind. Thus if one recognised their own madness, could they not simply rationalize it away? Could they simply bring about an end to its presence? How can something hurt her if it did not exist? But try explaining the logic and rationale of that? Anassa took a step and once again closed the distance between her and the snake. A single step to cover a mile, in the same way that a mouse would gaze at a human in awe at its strides. The Jungle¡¯s cursing got louder as Anassa watched the snake. ¡°ANASSA!¡± Kassandora¡¯s shout echoed through the tunnel. The Goddess of Sorcery looked down to see the Goddess of War looking up at her. Crimson-haired Kassandora and beastly Fer. Iniri clad in wood and Kavaa clad in silver. Illusions, mad figments of imaginations. Kassandora clothed herself in armour as Joyeuse materialized in her hands. Did this plant think it knew Anassa¡¯s sisters and friends better than her? Did it think she could not fight illusions? Kassandora threw her sword up at Anassa. Fake. Immaterial. Kassandora would say something like ¡°Ana!¡± instead, or she would have just said immediately what to do. Or she would have started buttering Anassa up. The sword touched Anassa¡¯s red dress, slit it, touched her pale skin, and disappeared. Fer growled as Anassa reached out with her own mind. She heard the Jungle¡¯s whispers, she silenced them. They were mere figments of imagination, thus, they could be pushed away. This Kassandora was fake, but Anassa saw her. It wasn¡¯t the Kassandora Anassa knew, but it was a Kassandora. And whatever the Kassandora was, any Kassandora was Anassa¡¯s sister. The Goddess of War turned, her eyes started to blaze, Joyeuse reappeared in her hand and she spun. Joyeuse arced downward in a flash of crimson light, cleaving through the vine before it could reach her. The blade shimmered briefly, its edge glowing faintly as though imbued with purpose, before vanishing once more into nothingness. Fer¡¯s nails grew into the roots hanging from the ceiling, Kavaa and Iniri followed suit to support her. That was how one countered madness. Many considered it merely a weapon to be fired and forgotten about. No, madness was just like magic. It was simply another realm of thought that required total and utter concentration. Just as the Jungle created those illusions, so had Anassa possessed them. She knew Kassandora and Fer and Kavaa and Iniri. She was sure they would listen to her. In fact, she was so certain that any Kassandora would listen to her over some plants that it was farcical to entertain! In fact, it didn¡¯t even have to be entertained! It was simply how it was! Anassa confidently took another step forwards. She followed the burying snake as the monster tilted up. The Jungle would harmlessly cast its illusions at her. Kassandora would take over them once again, the Jungle would wipe them from existence. A beam of sunlight meant that the snake had reached the surface. Anassa took a delighted breath. It was getting stuffy chasing after it. She took another step, outside, as the snake hissed and fled from her. Now outside, she could see its magnificent size in its entirety. As long as a small hall, it could have had a town built on the back of those shining green scales. Anassa took another step, to the front of the monster and looked down at it. The snake saw her, it kept its eyes on her. It hissed. Anassa snapped her fingers and a blast of sorcery, as if an artist had drawn a sword-strike onto reality, cut into the snake. House-sized scales cracked and hit the ground. The hissing stopped and the snake recoiled. It lowered its head as Anassa smiled down upon it and the landscape. They emerged into a meadow nestled within the somewhere deep within the jungle. Where exactly, Anassa did not know but it was a surreal expanse of golden grass surrounded by towering trees that scraped the clouds like skyscrapers. Anassa would have been fine with being in the jungle proper, surrounded by flora of all kinds but this sunlit openness was surreal, as though the jungle itself had peeled back its skin. Anassa put herself on guard as her crimson dress trailing behind her like spilled blood across the pristine field. The snake smiled at her. Anassa smiled at the snake. The snake was gone. Anassa cast a protective barrier around herself. Anassa took another step to the side, just in case. Anassa realised what had happened. She had gotten pulled into a delusionary realm of the Jungle. There would still be an Anassa outside, but she was the Anassa, and she was in here. Delusionary realms like this were bound to one¡¯s soul. They were direct imprints onto the mind. Seperate realms, so to say, but real still. Just as real as when Anassa would awake Sorcery within mortals and send them into their own trials. This Jungle Divine was unique, Anassa had to give it that. It was large, but what did large matter? It was small compared to Arika, and it was tiny when compared to all the world¡¯s oceans! Size was not a worthy qualifier for Divinity, else every elephant and every whale would be worshipped. And as difficult as originality was to achieve, it too was no a precursor to Divinity. All that these plants had were madness. That simply was not good enough! Godhood was a position earned. Godhood needed gatekeepers, the Jungle itself demonstrated why Godhood needed people like Anassa. A thousand years in prison and she came back to find that even the plants themselves thought themselves Divine! What a farce! As had been done in the past, so will be done now: it was time to gatekeep Godhood once again. Chapter 253 – Crimson Jungle Arusei and Kimani sat as they saw the pictures of what was happening by the Jungle. They both knew the tales, they both had seen the Caretaker be annihilated. Waf quickly retold it, in the same way he always did: ¡°The Jungle¡¯s madness then infected the others too. The four returned to the Jungle¡¯s heart and agreed to lay down their lives to make sure their power could not be used against people. But the snake, in his jealousy tricked them. He waited for the lion, the vulture and the crocodile to die, then the snake wrapped around them, bound them and they became one. From four caretakers, arose one. The first one to fall to the Jungle¡¯s whispers.¡± Jebet and Eyapan shifted in their seats. The Caretaker had been killed once, but the Epan Goddess who had killed the Caretaker was now busy defending Kirinyaan cities from the oceanic invasion. What were they supposed to do now? How many sacrifices were to be given? Falling upwards through the air, Kassandora relaxed her arms and legs as she spread them out. She had never been one to be scared of heights, likewise, she had never been one to give into terror. But there was something about being thrown so uncontrollably high by Fer that did make her heart quicken its heartbeat. The Goddess of War watched the black hole Anassa had carved become a mere black speck on the blood-red ground of western Kirinyaa. She caught the thin cold air as the wind rushed past her ears, and she hit the zenith of her throw. Climbing out whilst defending against the Jungle would have been difficult. Fer had thought up of a smarter idea. One that only Kassandora would have agreed to out of all the sisters, but it undoubtedly made the escape easier for the Goddess of Beasthood. Fer had merely grabbed Kassandora¡¯s hand, spun, swung, and threw the Goddess of War out of the bottom of that hole. Surely an arm was dislocated, most likely a wrist was broken, but natural regeneration could fix that. Natural regeneration would have to fix that. Kavaa and Iniri were gone now. Lost somewhere down there. Fer was sure they had not died. Kassandora took a breath and pushed the thoughts of those two Goddesses away. Compatriots had been lost in the past too, and whilst they should be searched for, Anassa was more pressing. There was an invasion worse than Fortia¡¯s from the coast too, that too was more pressing than Kavaa and Iniri. So as inhumane as it sounded, Kassandora simply wrote them off. It was one thing to have a person bleeding in front of you. It was another entirely to have them be lost in the tunnels of the Underground where the beckoning Jungle lay. Panicking now would only make the situation worse, there was no way to save them, thus, plans should simply write them out¡­ Kassandora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Was she trying to convince to herself? She shook her head and stopped trying to rationalize the loss of two Divines. Kavaa and Iniri were pushed away. It was as simple as that. It was her failing and she would pay for it later, but now, she had to make sure it wasn¡¯t three lost Divines. Fer shot out of the black pit as Kassandora was half way down. From so high up, Kassandora could see supply lines ferrying supplies to the Reclamation War. Trucks filled with napalm shells travelling west, trucks empty travelling east. But that wasn¡¯t all of it. Kassandora saw damaged vehicles and ambulances returning from the front lines. That had to be investigated. Hopefully, it wasn¡¯t invasion from the air at the Reclamation War forces. They were minimal now, but Kassandora would do the same. Use Elassa¡¯s magicians to sweep the area here now that all the main defences and Divines were in the east, then squeeze Kirinyaa from both sides. Fer suddenly grabbed Kassandora. A large arm wrapped around Kassandora¡¯s stomach, slid up past her chest to hook underneath her shoulders and Kassandora grit her teeth as she felt both of her arms pop out of their sockets. Whenever Fer was allowed any leeway in the planning stages, this is usually how it ended. How the woman managed to orientate in the air without any sort of ability to fly or float in the air, Kassandora did not know. Kassandora grit her teeth, held her breath and relaxed her muscles as she felt the ground approaching. Three. Two. One. They plunged into the ground as Kassandora exhaled the air from her lungs. She heard the distinctive pop of an escaping its socket, but that was it. After the first few seconds of her vision spinning and the sudden onset of nausea passed, they had landed. Fer gently placed Kassandora on the ground as she waved her arms to blow the dust away. Kassandora coughed and almost fell over as she tried to take a step. ¡°Don¡¯t move Kassie, let it blow over.¡± Kassandora took a step and realised she simply had to throw up. She bent at the waist, her stomach emptied its acids onto the red dirt and Kassandora wiped her mouth. She felt better immediately after that as Fer turned and looked into the whole. ¡°We lost Kav and Ini.¡± Fer said. ¡°We did.¡± Kassandora said as Fer took a deep breath. ¡°When are we getting them out?¡± ¡°After Anassa.¡± ¡°Good enough.¡± Fer said, she turned around and looked up at the sky. Kassandora did too. There were bombers flying west, towards the Jungle. Three of them in an arrowhead formation, the huge 77T models would open their rear doors and drop dozens of tons of napalm in a single run. ¡°That doesn¡¯t look good.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t look good whatsoever.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I saw the convoys were active too.¡± ¡°I saw ambulances.¡± Fer said. She sniffed and shrugged. ¡°Smell anything?¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Exhausts.¡± Fer replied quickly as she turned to look down the hole again. ¡°We should go get them though.¡± ¡°We will, but we¡¯ll need someone to excavate for us Fer.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Do you know what tunnel they went down?¡± ¡°I have a rough idea.¡± Fer said. She walked a few circles, as if retracing her steps, then pointed north-east. ¡°In that direction is where we got split up. Why? What are you thinking of?¡± ¡°Instead of using this entrance, we dig a new one there. Deeper obviously, to get to the highway, but we hit the highway in an area where the Jungle hasn¡¯t infested it yet.¡± Fer spun with one of the widest smiles Kassandora had ever seen on the woman. ¡°That¡¯s my Kassie!¡± She said. ¡°I knew you¡¯d think of something.¡± Kassandora nodded and sighed, of course she would, this was simply the best case solution to solve the situation. ¡°And we need to see what Anassa achieves first.¡± Kassandora said as she turned to the north. ¡°That convoy wasn¡¯t there when we went in.¡± Fer came over to stand next to Kassandora. The woman, especially with her massive mane of hair, provided enough shadow for all of Kassandora to be covered from the sun. ¡°Is that bad?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I don¡¯t like surprises.¡± Kassandora replied dryly as she started ruffling through her own pockets. She had brought her phone in an enclosed case and, thanks to being a Divine, she was so large that the protective case could nestle in the inner pockets of her coat. She flipped out it and started making phone-calls. For a moment, she saw Arascus¡¯ name at the top of the list. She supposed she should call to tell him everything was alright. Kassandora flicked downwards past his name. Arascus could wait, there was a job to do and if she gave herself a reputation of calling, then he would demand she ring every day. Much easier to only give a ring when the man was actually needed for something. She went all the way down to ¡®4. Central Requisitions¡¯. The phone sorted numerically, so Arascus got ¡®0.¡¯ The other sisters got ¡®1.¡¯, other Divines got ¡®2.¡¯. Important mortals like Iliyal Tremali and Damian Sokolowski or Anassa¡¯s four sorcerers got ¡®3.¡¯ Her phone rang twice before it was picked up. Kassandora did not let whoever it was introduce themselves. ¡°This is Kassandora speaking, what is happening in the West?¡± The person on the other side had to recover from the fact the Goddess of War was ringing the number, but he got to an explanation quickly enough. ¡°Three monsters were detected coming from-¡° Kassandora put the phone on loudspeaker and waved Fer over. Fer most likely didn¡¯t need it, with her hearing, anyway. ¡°-the Jungle. A giant lion, a vulture and a crocodile.¡± Fer and Kassandora exchanged a look. It was obvious that they were both thinking about the same thing. It didn¡¯t need to be even voiced: The Caretaker. ¡°What are they doing?¡± Kassandora asked. The reply was quick and definite, just as Kassandora had taught everyone serving under her to do. ¡°They¡¯ve demolished Army Group Centre.¡± The swords in Kassandora¡¯s head started to clash and spark against each other as she thought of a plan. ¡°What maps are you using?¡± Kassandora asked. The person on the side hesitated for a moment, then replied. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± The man said. ¡°Just a map of Kirinyaa?¡± ¡°On the bottom left corner, what is the number?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Ess-Eye-Zero-Two-Three-Kay-Gee¡± Standard issue, 023, Kirinyaa-General. Kassandora had made that one herself, although that was a redundant statement. Almost every map her army used was made by her. ¡°On sector eight, sixteen. There¡¯s a rock. Send pickup to that rock.¡± Kassandora said as she turned and picked out the biggest landmark. It was one of those Kirinyaan mountains, sharp rocks that rose straight out of the ground, as if they were pebbles dropped onto the world by some giant. Fer smiled and Kassandora raised an eyebrow to her sister. ¡°Understood Goddess.¡± The person on the other side said. ¡°All planes are currently busy bu-¡° ¡°Reroute one. Whatever bombing run you¡¯re doing is less important than me.¡± Kassandora said and the man replied immediately. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll close the line to organize a pickup. There¡¯s 77T¡¯s close to you right now.¡± ¡°I see them.¡± Kassandora said and switched the phone off. That was one thing she always had to do, mortals always find it odd to drop the line when a Divine was speaking on the other side. ¡°It¡¯s impressive how you do that.¡± Fer said quietly. ¡°What is?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°How you know what all the maps are and everything. I can¡¯t do it.¡± Kassandora blinked for a moment, and then she shrugged. ¡°I made them. I just know them.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Nothing else to add but that.¡± She turned and pointed to the bombers in the air. It took one half a minute, but it started to turn. Kassandora could only imagine the conversation Ground Control just had with the pilot of that plane. The hulking vehicle turned slowly, then started to tilt downwards. ¡°We need to get over there.¡± Kassandora pointed to the rock, then looked at Fer. Fer raised an eyebrow. ¡°You want me to carry you?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Kassandora replied without hesitation. Maybe someone else may have skirted the answer. She knew Fer well enough that this was the most efficient method. With practiced ease, Kassandora climbed onto the other woman¡¯s back, positioning her head carefully to avoid getting tangled in the woman¡¯s soft hair as they set off. They got there before the plane did, the massive, six-engine vehicle slowly came down. It¡¯s rear door opened to let in the two Goddesses. The flight was short, Kassandora watched the red Kirinyaan dirt become grey ash. Then she watched the grey ash become tattered with wreckages of tanks and artillery. She saw the doors open. There were three great beasts there, a lion, a crocodile and a vulture, all as large as large hills or small mountains. The lion had napalm burning on its back, as did the reptile, but neither seemed to notice or care. Both were looking west, towards the Jungle¡¯s heart. The giant animals were one thing. They were mere opponents to kill, beasts to hunt, objectives to complete. That didn¡¯t shock Kassandora. What shocked her was the Jungle itself. Every plant, every leaf and piece of bark in that green ocean was tinged with a red grow. Kassandora recognised that red immediately, it was an unnatural colour, too perfect to ever be natural. More like a paint that had been smeared over an art-piece: Anassa¡¯s crimson sorcery. The Snake watched the delusional woman put up another red shield around herself, her magic spread around. She had accidentally broken the Jungle¡¯s curse on the snake and now her mind had been pulled into the Jungle¡¯s world of whispers. The beast heard the trees around it scream and demand what the Snake had just done. The monster hissed and dove into the ground once again. Once again, madness clouded its eyes, once again, the whispers turned into a song. Once again, the Snake became one with the Jungle. But this time, within those maddening lyrics, there was something else. Obviously there, once noticed, it was absolutely impossible to ignore: a loud and obnoxious guitar that played completely out of tune. Chapter 254 – Nanbasa Standing Alanktyda, with its monopoly on underwater titans, would have united the entirety of the oceans into a single land where Uriamel never to have found Nahum¡¯s stone. The immediate area around the place went mad, the creatures are it where disfigured and twisted, the coral and flora in the area grew rapidly out of control. Some feared that the entire ocean would slowly grow to be overtaken. Past the immediate impact site, the infection starts to be less prominent. Creatures grow larger, crabs harden their shells as they turn black, coral starts to ooze natural oils. Fish slowly grow as large as the beasts of burden that humanity possesses: cows and horses. The exploitation of this unique flora and fauna paved the way for Uriamel to industrialize rapidly. Yet it was the creature within Nahum¡¯s stone that secured Uriamel¡¯s survival in the face of Alanktyda¡¯s expansion. Some call it a God from above, others say it was a creature expelled from another world, some even say it was an escapee from somewhere else. The creature, easily rivalling a titan, proved to not only be powerful. It was also intelligent. So intelligent in fact, that it could be bargained with. - Excerpt from Allasaria''s report on Modern Uriamel. ¡°I REPEAT FOR THE LAST TIME! ALL UNITS HAVE FIFTEEN TO RETREAT FROM THE RED-ZONE! ALL UNITS HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES! DO NOT AWAIT RESCUE! ALL UNITS ARE TO RETREAT THEMSELVES!¡± Wiktor screamed into the radio as Damian Sokolowski flung his rifle over his shoulder, it clattered and bounced against his back as the man stuffed papers into a suitcase. They should have packed up earlier, but then who would have thought that Uriamel would have so quickly adapted to land warfare? Certainly, Sokolowski would have assumed this section of Nanbasa had at least another month in it before it had to be evacuated. He fixed the bandage over his shoulder, that was there to cover up a shrapnel wound. It had happened recently and with the frontlines in this much chaos, there had been no time to go to the Clerics for healing. Wiktor unplugged the radio from the power and waved for Pawel to help with the clean-up. ¡°Leave it!¡± Damian shouted. ¡°Don¡¯t bother, we have spares.¡± ¡°Understood boss!¡± Wiktor dropped the thick green straps that were used to hoist the heavy machinery onto his back as Damian pulled out his military radio for communication with the command team. ¡°Mat, how¡¯s the transport looking?¡± Damian asked as he pointed for Wiktor and Pawel to pick up the rest of the suitcases stuffed with the battleplans. Most of these had been made in the past week, and most of these had no other copy that what Damian had written down there. It wouldn¡¯t be the end of the world if they were lost, but likewise, there were units that only appeared on these maps and none else. ¡°I¡¯ve hotwired a civilian jeep.¡± Mateusz replied over the radio. ¡°Tried to find key.¡± He spoke in-between quick, hurried and rapid breathes. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Good job.¡± Damian replied. ¡°Get it to the front door now. We have¡­¡± He checked the clock hanging on the wall. ¡°Fourteen minutes.¡± ¡°Aye Aye boss.¡± Mateusz replied as Damian gave the room one last look over. The plumbing did not work, the toilet was blocked, the kitchen sink was leaking after the building had been hit by one of those cannons on the backs of the giant black crabs that served as Uriamel¡¯s artillery. The fridge had nothing left, and the one bottle of drink left behind under a counter had taken the four men of the command team all of fifteen minutes to finish. They had only been here for two days, but it was a good two days. The beds were large and comfortable and the water was still running, those were the important parts. And then Damian¡¯s eyes went outside to the window. They were in a tall tower block, not the top floor as those had a tendency to be shelled by Uriamel¡¯s magicians, but high up. Ahead of them lay what remained of the industrial district and the crumbling seawall. Damian had thought that part of the city was destroyed when it was blown. If it was destroyed back then, then the week of bombing and artillery had utterly devastated it. What remained of the huge factories and warehouses could not even be called ruins. Nowhere across the charred ground stood more than a dozen bricks overlaid on each other. The port¡¯s towering cranes used to move containers had long since collapsed too, two still maintained their shape as they flat on the ground, the rest had been torn apart by Uriamel¡¯s forces to make way, or reduced to mere shards of steel by the continuous bombing and artillery. What remained of the seawall was a mere mound of concrete interlaced with steel, Iniri¡¯s wood had all been burned away already. Of all of it, the smell was the worst part. The charred tarmac was one thing, the toxic plastics only added to it. The bones and corpses though could make men unused to the stench throw up. And the reason for Damian¡¯s retreat from this building was coming in from the seaside. A massive horde had amassed from the ocean and was now marching onwards. The ever-present giant crabs were there, although they were low in number. Their shells pitch-black, with tents and platforms strapped onto their tops. Some were used as mobile bunkers, from which Uriamel¡¯s commanders would shout orders, other had artillery mounted on their backs. The cannons were powerful, but they were slow. It was obviously a technology not built to the standards of being used on the surface. Around them swarmed Uriamel¡¯s soldiers with the multitudes of species of beasts. The sea-wolves that were just as fast out of the water as they were in it. Each one would require the combined fire of an entire squad to take down, especially now that they were being fielded with thick vests of armour for them. Then another type of animal, that Damian did not even bother to try and name. Everyone simply called it the porcupine, a thing as large as a horse, with four stunty legs as if it had once been a tortoise, but where another animal would have a shell, this had long spines, each one as long as Damian¡¯s leg. The only thing that could stop those spines was the heavy of the Lynx tanks, and even then, it wasn¡¯t certain. But it was the trio of warehoused-sized turtles that were chewing what remained of the seawall with their massive jaws that signalled the retreat. This week, Nanbasa¡¯s defenders had managed to stall out Uriamel¡¯s invading forces. Kassandora¡¯s general lure-them-in strategy had been implemented, and Damian did not know why he ever even had a single question about the Goddess¡¯ thinking. The entire coastal section of the ringed city was devastated, reduced to flat rubble. With no cover, it did not matter if Uriamel sent a dozen, a hundred, a thousand or a hundred thousand invaders. They all fell to the hail of steel that would come from the air. The few standing would be picked off by snipers and infantry on the ground. And Response Forces were here to plug any gaps or suppress the enemy into one location as the artillery re-calibrated.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Until these turtles. Three of them, with magic structures on the backs of their shells. Each one basically carried a tower, tipped off with a crystal and bustling with activity. Binoculars revealed it was Uriamel¡¯s magicians on them. That would have been bad enough, but then Sokolowski had seen those crystals start to glow and fire lightning at incoming artillery. Where Anassa¡¯s Sorcery had the reality-erasing shields, and where Elassa¡¯s Magic had the brute force of solid elemental barriers, Uriamel¡¯s Technology brought about counter-measures. Sokolowski had already sent a dozen reports to Kassandora on what he witnessed here. He watched another round of shelling. This would be all the batteries firing in unison, as he had told them to. The crystals of those towers started to glow a blinding white, and then they burst out with white strings that split the blue sky. And the sky set alight in fire and explosions as lightning jumped through the artillery shells. Uriamel¡¯s army below cheered. The cheers lasted even as a few of the shells impacted against the ground. They had been thrown off course by their neighbours¡¯ destruction, one hit a platoon of a dozen troops armed with sword and shield and harpoon gun. Another sent rubble flying onto a giant crab. The creature blocked most of the damage with its massive claw. A few managed to hit the turtles. They didn¡¯t even take a break from demolishing the remains of the seawall. Damian let himself take a breath though, that was good enough. It meant that the defences could be overwhelmed. Kassandora had once again been correct. There wasn¡¯t a defence out there that could not be breached with firepower. ¡°Hey boss!¡± Wiktor called from the door, a suitcase in both of the man¡¯s hands. ¡°We¡¯re going!¡± ¡°Right! Right!¡± Damian shouted back as he chased them down. Explosions from outside shook the building as they raced down stair and stair. Damian with one suitcase, Wiktor and Pawel both with two, they bounced against the walls and kicked off to maintain speed. Then jumped the final set of ten stairs, dropping down into a roll as they picked themselves up. Mateusz already had a luxury pickup truck prepared. Black, with tinted windows, he must have gone for the best of the best that the local car-parks had. The doors were already swung open, the man was revving the engine and waving for them get in. One end of the street led to the ruined industrial district, a platoon of Uriamel¡¯s soldiers, supported by their sea-wolves, were closing the gap quickly as Damian jumped and dived into the rear of the cabin. Pawel slammed into him, then cursed as Wiktor slammed the door on them. ¡°GO GO GO!¡± Mateusz did not have to be told twice. He spun the truck around with the handbrake as a harpoon slammed into the rear of the truck. A step on the gas pulled the vehicles¡¯ rear wall off as Damian held onto the front passenger seat. Pawel and Wiktor both smashed the rear window, and started shooting back at the animals chasing them. ¡°That¡¯s the birds.¡± Mateusz said as he pointed forwards. Above them, six black silhouettes in the sky. Like dark arrows against that blue ocean, KAF bombers. Nothing standardized, no single model, each one was slightly different taken from the refurbished civilian aircraft. ¡°Keep going.¡± Damian said as Mateusz raced down the street. ¡°Turn to the zoo.¡± The zoo was Nanbasa¡¯s animal reserve that the city was ringed around. It was merely a colloquial name, the joke had come about because most of the vehicles were named after animals. ¡°Got you boss.¡± Mateusz said as he swerved into a bend so hard that the three men all almost crushed each other. Damian turned to watch the bombing run. Another round of artillery shells had come in, once again enough of them were stopped. And then the black spots in the sky started dropping their cargo. Six lines of barrels and crates and anything and everything that could be filled with liquid. Just as Kassandora had taught Damian to plan, the tactic was simple. Shells could be shot down, but could fire? The man grabbed onto the seat tighter as Mateusz turned the car onto a dirt bath. One of the ones that had been freshly constructed to facilitate traffic in and out of the zoo. They drove through the areas were lions had once prowled and rhinos were once kept. Now, it was the wheel Lemur artillery, supported by groups of Lynx tanks to serve as a shield. Skysweeper AA guns were strewn about, although they did not have much use yet. ¡°Where should I park?¡± Mateusz asked as he slowed the car down. Platoons of infantry were here too, all replenishing their ammo by handloading their magazines as a team of Clerics was stalking through them and finding men to heal. ¡°Up there.¡± Damian said as he pointed to a hill that had a cave in it. He should have gone to see what animals lived here before the siege of Nanbasa had started. Mateusz pushed the truck forwards, and it started to groan over the heavy terrain. Somehow though, with no rear window, with fuel leaking and tires burst and the truck bed¡¯s door torn off, they made it up that hill. Just in time to see the view. Damian groaned as he got out. A team of Clerics was already coming to assist them, but he didn¡¯t really about the wound on the arm apart from the immediate strain it burned with when he opened the door. It was the firestorm in the distance he gawked at. The six planes were swerving around, still saying in formation after dropping their ago. A hurricane of flame had formed, it tarred the skies and pulled Uriamel¡¯s ground forces in. Even those giant crabs started to slide on the ground as the winds picked up. The turtles in the rear roared and placed themselves down on the ground, but the towers they had built onto the backs of their shells collapsed immediately. Man and beast and stone and rubble, it all set alight, and it was all pulled into the flames. A beam of light suddenly knocked one of the planes out of the air. Then another. A third. The fourth beam swept across the last three and downed all three at once. Damian pulled up his binoculars and pushed a Cleric away as he tried to confirm his suspicions. He had seen attacks like that before and¡­ Allasaria was floating the air, in a dress of white and gold. She looked exactly how a Goddess should look, serene and peaceful, the only tell it was her beams of light that had downed those six bombers was the fact one hand, palm outstretched, was pointing to where those planes had just been before they became burning wreckages hurling themselves back onto the land. ¡°Turn on the AA guns.¡± Damian started giving orders out immediately. ¡°Wiktor!¡± ¡°Yes boss!¡± ¡°Radio to the men! Turn on the AA guns, organise perimeters and zones, if Allasaria gets close, then flak the entire area. I don¡¯t care what or¡­¡± His voice trailed off. Allasaria was there, but Allasaria was not the only one. Underneath her was a huge humanoid figure, easily surpassing the skyscraper that the general had his vantage point from. An enormous bald head slowly peered over the horizon, it had a beak where the mouth should, covered by a monstrous layer of octopus tentacles. It took a step and revealed the huge, muscled chest underneath it. Its were too long, its fingers looked as if they had an extra joint in them. And it waded through the water as if the ocean itself was a mere puddle. They were supposed to stop that? Arascus sighed as he looked out at the monster. Olephia was busy responding to Alkom¡¯s raids in the north. Neneria could do little against a beast like that. Kassandora and Fer and Anassa had gone off. He supposed it would be up to him alone then. It¡¯d be easier if Allasaria wasn¡¯t on the scene. Chapter 255 – Madness and Delusion There is no set method to awaken Sorcery within oneself. There is no hard rules. No theory. Nothing. It is a test set by one¡¯s own subconscious. Fears and desires both clamour to slow one down. It is not as simple as a person wishing to learn Sorcery, otherwise the test will consist of one being even more powerful than I in the field. A person running from their fears will not be able to take step forwards in their own world. A person clamouring for power and fame will live the life they have always dreamed of. Once that world is entered, one has to forcefully destroy it. They need to realise they are stood within their own delusions, they have to learn to manipulate them on the spot, and then they have to make their conscious decision to be free of them. The third step is the one that takes the most, although that step is the true test of character. A person has to be given the bliss of everything they wish for, and then they have to return to reality. Frankly, even if there was a set method, I would still not give it away. It would not be an art if everyone could learn it. - Excerpt from ¡°My Sorcery¡±, Written by Goddess Anassa. Anassa fell through downwards through the sky. Black hair and crimson dress flapping through the wind, she looked down at the world. This Anassa had already lost control, it was obvious through the fact that her perfect hair was ruined. An Anassa that was in control of herself could be within the centre of Worldbreaking, and still look exactly as pristine as a Divine should look. Another Anassa appeared next to the first. They looked at each other. This one was perfect, hair straight, stood on the air, the hem of her dress lifted upwards as if invisible maids were carrying it. The first Anassa disappeared and the second became the original. Anassa looked down at the Jungle as she regained control of herself. She looked up at the sky. There was no Sun, it was merely an eternal blue ocean. That was merely confirmation that she had been whisked off to somewhere that wasn¡¯t Arda. The real Anassa would have not let her clothes be ruined. She looked down at the Jungle as it started to growl at her. The winds and leaves rustling with a million different voices it had taken throughout its history. ¡°How?¡± ¡°How is simple.¡± Anassa laughed mockingly from above. ¡°I am a Divine. You are a plant.¡± The plants from below laughed up at Anassa. Oh? They were confident, where they? ¡°Divinity has to be recognized to be given power.¡± Anassa cast her hands into the air. A dozen copies of the Goddess of Sorcery appeared, each one as perfect and as real as the first. ¡°Your madness is merely a powerful curse.¡± A crimson moon appeared within the circle of Anassa¡¯s as the day retreated to night. Did this plant really think it could try and fight Anassa in the realm of one¡¯s soul? There was no one who knew Anassa better than Anassa did. ¡°I revoke your Divinity.¡± Anassa revoke it because Anassa was Anassa. Because Godhood needed a Gatekeeper, and no one but Anassa had stepped up to the duty. ¡°HOW?!¡± The Jungle cried out again. ¡°If I say it is night. Then it is night.¡± The sky above Anassa beat in a pulse as the stars burned out to prove her point. This was a night worthy of Irinika herself! ¡°If I say the moon will crash onto you.¡± Every Anassa in the air cast her hands down. ¡°Then it will.¡± And it did. Kassandora blinked as Fer narrowed her eyes. The huge Jungle beasts that once made up the Caretaker had stopped. They were all looking up at the sky as if they could something that wasn¡¯t there. The Jungle, now glowing crimson, screamed and lashed out with vine and tree and root. And then those whipping plants suddenly turned in mid-air, and struck back down at itself. ¡°That¡¯s her.¡± Fer said proudly. ¡°That is her.¡± Kassandora said as she flicked open her phone. Whatever Anassa was doing on the inside, Kassandora wasn¡¯t about to let this chance go. Anassa watched her crimson moon, a perfect circle, slightly opaque like a shaded drawing, tear through the ground. Like a ball striking a theatre¡¯s curtain, the entire surface of the world wrapped around the moon. All the mountains covered in green, all the ravines overflowing with plants, all of the Jungle, its roots crawling deep through the dwarven tunnels underneath the surface and its shoots regrowing through grey ash, wrapped around that moon as if it was a present being wrapped as a gift. The moon started to shrink and shrink and shrink, until it became the size of a house, then a person, no larger than a blade of grass. A tiny pea could crush it. And then it vanished. A new Jungle revealed itself from the fa?ade of the previous one. As if all Anassa had done was pull back one curtain to reveal another. It was a perfect copy of the Jungle that had stood there once. Just as Anassa could become several at once, the Jungle had abandoned one incarnation of itself to resurrect as another. ¡°This is not your realm.¡± The million different voices cried out from the ground. ¡°Divinity is omnipresent.¡± Anassa shouted down. ¡°There is no realm that is not mine.¡± The sky became filled with copies of herself. On Arda, there was a limit to her powers. Anassa had never hit it, but every Divine had a limit, it was simple common sense: truly omnipotent beings did not exist. In realms like this though, which existed as nothing more than mere figments of thought, in these farcical creations within one¡¯s mind, then did limits truly exist? The only limit was the unbending boldness of one¡¯s confidence.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. And Anassa was confident indeed. If this realm did not want to bow to her, then she would teach it to bow. As if guided by one will, every Anassa outstretched her palms downwards, and from every Anassa fell a beam of crimson that incinerated the leaves and woods below her. The trees all fell, reduced to ash, then the ash was reduced to nothing as Anassa¡¯s beams scared their way across the surface. They dug through the ground, into the roots. They seared the entirety of the Jungle out of existence. And the Jungle underneath that. And the one that had come to replace the next one. Kassandora watched the scraps of artillery she had ordered fire. Those who survived against the three guardian beasts of the Jungle as Fer monitored them. Each of those giant animals was still looking up at the sky, as if waiting for something to appear. The Jungle lashed out, vines shot out of the trees and swiped at the artillery shells coming in. Napalm exploded in mid-air, and trees rapidly grew thick canopies to shield themselves from the flaming rain. Kassandora smiled in surprise, she felt her cheeks go hot, her eyes started to burn and her steps were lighter. They were having an effect. Anassa looked down upon the burning world. The red beams of crimson slowly started to give way as another Anassa appeared on the ground, on a tiny area that the beams had carved out and avoided, specifically for her to stand. ¡°You cannot outlast me.¡± The Jungle whispered up to her. Anassa felt sweat burst out over her forehead. It wasn¡¯t her sweat. It was the Jungle imagining she was tired. Anassa could command sorceries infinitely, just as no-one ever got tired of breathing, the Goddess of Sorcery could never possibly tire of her own element. It was simply a matter of perspective. ¡°You do not know who you are talking to.¡± Anassa whispered back as yet another layer of Jungle crumbled away. The trees had it too good for too long. These quick deaths men got used to. She wasn¡¯t working to defeat the Jungle, she was simply killing it an infinite amount of times. Tactics had to be changed. The red beams disappeared. The countless Anassa¡¯s in the air looked up as the Jungle started to laugh. ¡°Do we tire already woman?¡± Another Anassa, perfect this time, refreshed as if she had just woken up from a timely nap, appeared. The sweating Anassa disappeared. ¡°I have been kept in prison for twice as long as you existed.¡± Anassa said as she snapped her fingers. From above, a thousand needles rained down into the trees. They grew and twisted and tore the trees from within. ¡°I am easily four times your age.¡± Anassa said. ¡°You are a child compared to me.¡± And just as a child could not ever compete against an adult, the Jungle could not ever compete with Anassa. It wasn¡¯t a rationalization, nor was it a reason. It didn¡¯t need to make sense. Anassa knew herself the logic was flawed, the Jungle was massive and unique. Who knew what the Jungle was even capable of? The plants claimed part of a continent to themselves. Yet Anassa said the Jungle was a child, so it was. It had to be, because the reasoning didn¡¯t need to matter. All that Anassa had to be sure of was that she would defeat these sentient trees. The Jungle burst into crimson flames. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Fer asked. Kassandora shook her head. ¡°You, of all people, should understand.¡± Kassandora poked Fer in the stomach. The Goddess of Beasthood merely raised a curious eyebrow. She didn¡¯t even flinch, although Kassandora could do little more than merely press it, the woman¡¯s torso was as hard as iron. ¡°What was that for?¡± Fer asked. Joyeuse suddenly materialized in Kassandora¡¯s hand, she brought it around in a swing, straight down on Fer. Kassandora knew she wouldn¡¯t harm Fer, she didn¡¯t even think she was capable of it even if she wanted to. Fer¡¯s eyes glanced up and she caught the greatsword with one grasp. ¡°And this?¡± ¡°Why block one and not even react to the other?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Because the first one didn¡¯t even have a chan¡­¡± Fer trailed off as she looked at the Jungle. It was burning with ethereal flames, in addition to the real ones. Those red ones of sorcery seemed to have no effect, but the napalm spread along it as if was devouring kindling. Oh. Whatever Anassa was doing inside was having an effect out here too. A dark man with a spear burst out from a burning tree to try and stab at Anassa. A beam from above incinerated him from existence. Anassa smiled smugly to herself as an arrow heading for the back of her head disappeared from existence as an Anassa snapped her fingers and split it into the base atomic components. If the Jungle was throwing its souls at her now, that meant she was having an effect. More men came. More men were cut down. Clerics and Paladins and Kirinyaans and Ausans. Men from nations which no longer existed and beasts that had been stolen by the Jungle. Enormous spiders, twice the size of Anassa, leapt from the canopy. The Goddess of Sorcery and a hundred spikes burst out of the ground to tear them apart. Lions burst out of the undergrowth. They fell. Fish and crocodiles and birds. Great beasts and tamed horses, packs of wild dogs and swarms of insects. Sorcery felled them all. And then Anassa saw them. The four great beasts. Fer had once said they were the first to fall to the Jungle. Anassa looked at that mountain-sized lion as it began to race at her. A lion? What was a lion? A mere cat. In this world of delusions, what could a cat do? A mere kitten? How tiny was an adorable kitten when compared to a Goddess? A boot descended from the heavens and crushed that mountain-sized lion. Anassa licked her lips in glee as she looked at the next three. When all it took was a single reason, what could not be reasoned? Kassandora waved in order to signal for Raptor One where to descend. Fer caught her hand. ¡°You want me to stay, you sure?¡± Kassandora sighed. Whenever Fer got scared, she always got wary like this. The woman would step through whatever terror there was, she would not admit of getting afraid once. But the fear was obviously there, painted on her face. Kassandora reached up to pat Fer on the shoulder. ¡°I do.¡± She pointed to the tremendous guardians suffering on the ground from whatever Anassa had just done to them. ¡°Watch over them.¡± And then a hug to calm Fer down. ¡°And we have someone.¡± ¡°Olephia?¡± Kassandora shook her head. Olephia was good, Olephia could cause insurmountable damage, but Olephia was far too contained. War called and War took whatever it wanted to achieve victory. And right now, War was calling for a person who could crack a continent. Chapter 256 – Guiding Light, Ruling Pride I remember the great ages of the past. Every year, a dozen major deities would be killed, every year, a dozen would reform. But once a century, one of us would be missing. A major Deity would split into various other incarnations. Some, like Of Fortresses, would need a cataclysmic event to ever wipe out every minor mascot of the local castle at the same time to even have a chance at return. Eventually, we realised we were wiping ourselves out. Now, I do not want to kill any of them. Divinity is the Light of this world, it should not be made extinct or reduced to nothing but Inventions simply because of our inability to keep the blades away from each other¡¯s throats. Even those I cannot personally stand, like Irinika. Even someone like Arascus. - Excerpt from Allasaria¡¯s Diary. Dated to before the Great War. Arascus took a heavy breath, his eyes cold, as he stepped off the edge of the balcony. So Allasaria had come. She had dragged whatever that monster was out of the surface of the ocean. The beast took another step, the multitude of octopus tentacles swinging from head from side to side as it pulled up the ocean along with it. One step pulled the water back as the ocean came to flood the area just taken up by that beast, the next cast it forwards again. A thunderous tidal wave rolled over the firestorm that had just been called down by the bombers. Steam erupted skyward in a deafening roar, clouds billowing like ghostly spectres as fire fought water. Soldiers shielded their faces from the scalding mist, their cries lost in the chaos. Arascus would have handled that force in largely the same way, Kassie did know how to pick her men out. A lesser general would have wasted too much ammunition on such a minor threat. The God of Pride floated through the air as the army in Nanbasa¡¯s animal reserve started to re-organize themselves. Arascus himself flew higher so that Allasaria would see him. Allasaria herself would have to be kept away from the battle itself. Giant monsters were powerful, they could be unstoppable, but they rarely had the speed to cause as much damage as the strongest of Divines. An Olephia, an Irinika or an Allasaria were all far worse to face off than something that could be targeted with artillery. At least, that was what Arascus hoped for. He floated higher and withheld on attacking yet as the tidal wave caused by the monster¡¯s lumbering steps finally ran out of energy to keep flooding onwards. The next one was from a shallower area of the ocean thankfully, and it only had half the amount of water as the first one. Corpses of Uriamel¡¯s army that had been swallowed by the firestorm of napalm were washed away. The giant crabs, their shells cracked open by the heat, the men and sea-wolves and porcupines, now reduced to dark liquid slurry discoloured by ash by flame, and the upper layer of rock and tarmac that had started to melt in the heat. The three giant turtles that had been chewing through what remained of Iniri¡¯s seawall extended their legs and let themselves be taken by the current. As did the wrecks of the KAF bombers, each one a different model of requisitioned civilian plane. Arascus took a deep breath and thought about ringing Helenna. No, there was no need. The Goddess would only get annoyed, and she was competent enough o be trusted that she was taking pictures right now. Allasaria was terribly strong and imposing, but if there was one thing Allasaria lacked, it was the ability to see the greater picture. Monsters like this could obliterate entire armies in battle, but monsters like this rarely turned the population towards them. Especially the more inhuman ones. Great beasts could at least rally some image of nobility. Monsters had strength, and that was all they had. Arascus flew higher into the air as the monster took another step. He tapped into his own power, a golden disk appeared at his side. Then ten. A hundred. That should be enough to test the monster. Another appeared above him. A blade slid forth from each disk, simply the tip of a sword, a spear, a halberd, and axe or a javelin. Arascus gave one glance to Allasaria. She hovered in the distance, golden hair and white-gold dress whipping about in the wind, her hands extended, palms facing to the God of Pride. She was smiling, Arascus smiled back. In the air like this, with her, he had honestly grown to miss it. It was nostalgic. The blades shot forwards. They penetrated into that monsters head with barely any effect. A beam of blindingly blazing light left Allasaria¡¯s palms, aiming straight for Arascus and large enough to bathe the whole God in its devouring heat. The disk above Arascus, with a huge blade, extended it downwards. It blocked the beam as two more shot out at Allasaria. The Goddess of Light dodged to the side. A beam of light appeared from her side. It swept towards Arascus. He stood, unmoving in the air, as a blade fell from the sky to split it in half. The light peeled off, cascaded and reflected off the shining metal, and swept into a skyscraper, collapsing it. The blade twisted in the air, shot forwards at Allasaria. A beam of light wiped it from existence. An axe swung from above Allasaria. From behind it, more of Allasaria¡¯s power came. It destroyed the axe, then continued forwards at Arascus. The God parried the blow with a swing of a massive sword that fell out of yet another golden disk. Another skyscraper was hit, it started to slowly topple and fall, the glass crying out as it suddenly shattered under the tension of being bent. The exchanges accelerated as the two Divines kept up with each other. They narrowed the gap slowly as Arascus¡¯ weapons smashed into buildings around them, and Allasaria¡¯s beams demolished building after building. Twice, her burning light hit the battle lines in the zoo. Lemur artillery and Lynx battle tank simply melted under the terrible heat that the Goddess of Light could put. Shells and ammunition set off from the heat, and it was only General Sokolowski¡¯s quick orders and pulling the troops to the south that stopped more casualties. Arascus did what he could too, he positioned himself above Allasaria, so that anything she shot past him would harmlessly fly off into the air, and he slowly dragged her to the Northern Quarter of the city. Sokolowski pulled the platoons and men who were garrisoning that section of Nanbasa out. Trucks and tanks slowly filtered out, towards the final lines of defence in Nanbasa¡¯s governmental districts. For a moment, Arascus lost himself in the dance. Silver steel came to meet blinding light as Allasaria twirled in between skyscrapers. More of the steel giants started to topple under that deadly dance between the two Divines. They got closer and closer to each other, until Arascus could clearly make out Allasaria¡¯s glowing eyes and the drops of sweat on her forehead. He knew she was tiring him out too, the back of his shirt felt damp. ¡°Long time no see.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I have to thank you.¡± Allasaria shouted back. A beam of light lanced down from above, forcing Arascus to dive sideways. At the same moment, a spear materialized beneath him, hurtling upward toward Allasaria¡¯s heart. The God dropped a shield from the sky, the Goddess enveloped herself in a bubble of light to block the attack. It disappeared after a moment and the two stared at each other as the monster took a step forwards. ¡°Because this does blow off steam.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Arascus guffawed into the air. ¡°Great and noble Allasaria? Needing to blow off steam? Never.¡± A beam of light that was quickly deflected by a sword shut him up. He was picking up the tricks in fighting her again though. It was like riding a bike, you never really lost the skill, but you did have to shake the rust off the wheels. ¡°I¡¯d like to see you spend a millennium wrangling the White Pantheon.¡± Allasaria lifted up her arms and shot off another beam. Arascus started to conserve his energy, he merely dropped his flight for a moment, fell through the sky, and let the building behind him suddenly have a perfectly spherical hole in it. ¡°You are weaker than in the past.¡± ¡°A thousand years in solitary confinement does that to you.¡± Arascus replied. He launched another blade at her for good measure. Allasaria had been tricky to kill back in the past when he was stronger than her. When it came to speed, there were only a few that could measure up against the Goddess of Light. ¡°How goes your world?¡± ¡°Excellently.¡± Allasaria replied. ¡°Until you came back.¡± ¡°If all it takes to knock your house over is a light breeze, it wasn¡¯t a good house Allasaria.¡± Arascus said as he extended his arm to the huge monster that was taking its first step out of the ocean. ¡°You are correct. Mistakes were made. We went cheap on the foundations.¡± Allasaria lifted an arm up to the monster with its beard of tentacles. ¡°As you can see, they¡¯re going to be far stronger this time.¡± ¡°What benevolence.¡± Arascus shouted, chuckling. A sword-hilt materialized by his hand, he unsheathed the blade from the air and gave it a swing. The blade pulsed as if it had its own heartbeat, each pulse left a copy of it in reality. When the swing was finished, the dozen copies all short forwards. Allasaria spun in the air as Arascus closed the distance further. ¡°Do not pretend you are some paragon of benevolence either.¡± Allasaria argued back as her body was enveloped by a shield of light. Arascus¡¯ blade passed through her, and where the metal should have drawn divine blood, it disappeared instead. Scorched from existence. ¡°It is not an argument of benevolence Allasaria.¡± Arascus shouted back. ¡°It is an argument of the future.¡± ¡°This debate simply will never end Arascus.¡± Allasaria shouted back. Arascus simply could not accept the fact that this woman was so stubborn. Arascus slammed into the side of a skyscraper, rebounding off its glass facade just as Allasaria hurtled toward him. She moved like a comet wrapped in devouring light. He barely twisted out of the way in time, feeling the heat singe his skin as she grazed past him. ¡°You will stagnate Arda.¡± ¡°Well we¡¯ve seen a thousand years of your rule, haven¡¯t we?¡± Arascus shouted back. ¡°A thousand years of peace, with centuries of technological advancements that have made even most magic irrelevant! Yes Arascus! Yes!¡± Allasaria shouted back in joyous rage. ¡°Look and weep at what I have achieved!¡± ¡°I see it Allasaria!¡± Arascus shouted. ¡°A world so magnificent all that was needed was a single kick on the door and the whole rotten structure is coming down!¡± More blades fell from the sky at the Goddess. Allasaria took a step back and let them pierce into the road and abandoned cars below her. ¡°Where is Epa? Where is Arika? Truly this world loves to be ruled by you Allasaria!¡± ¡°No love is required, all that Arda needs is an example to follow.¡± Allasaria said coldly. ¡°I am a guiding light for humanity. To steer them away from the rocks, but to let them command the ship themselves!¡± She flung her arms down at Arascus to launch another attack. From the Sun this time, a beam of light as thick as a skyscraper, directly at Arascus. The God of Pride, even if he wanted to dodge it, would have not been able to move that fast. Arascus stood his ground, summoning a silver blade as wide as an ancient oak. With a single, sweeping motion, he cleaved the beam of light in two. The halves fizzled apart, carving twin trenches through the cityscape below. Arascus tutted, this truly would never end. To think that the Goddess of Light would be the most stubborn of them all. ¡°Humanity makes ideas and ideas guide humanity. It is the same with us! Divinity is bestowed with a divine right to rule!¡± ¡°Then you Arascus, are an idea that should only exist in the history books.¡± And so the battle continued. ¡°A world led by a Divine can never hope to surpass that Divine.¡± ¡°Then give it a Divine with limitless ambition.¡± Allasaria cracked a smile as they exchanged another series of blows. Another building started to topple, suddenly-shattering broken glass making a thin mist in the air. ¡°Delusion Arascus. That is what you are talking about. Pure delusion, do you think humanity will never imagine anything greater than you?¡± ¡°There will never be an Of Pride again Allasaria. My demesne will be split into a thousand others.¡± Arascus replied. ¡°So no. If I die, no one will ever match me.¡± Allasaria snorted and rolled her eyes. ¡°You think too highly of yourself Arascus.¡± ¡°Ciria, Fortia, Maisara, even Kassandora! Do you think they¡¯re not forged in the fires of humanity¡¯s Pride? How many Abstracts exist on such a base level as me?¡± ¡°Simply foolish narcissism.¡± And the short pause was over. Once again Allasaria¡¯s blinding light carved out a ravine through Nanbasa¡¯s roads. Once again Arascus¡¯ blades kept toppling buildings. Once again the God of Pride and the Goddess of Light danced through the air like two birds in song. Their tune signalling the destruction of Nanbasa¡¯s entire northern quarter. Blow after blow was exchanged, until both Allasaria and Arascus were breathing heavily. She had survived the Great War, of course she wouldn¡¯t be an easy kill. But Arascus was disappointed couldn¡¯t even get a scratch on her. Then again, she could not even singe the edge of his suit. Arascus put one arm up as drifted down to stand on a skyscraper. ¡°Peace Allasaria, I have a question.¡± If there was one thing that the man respected about the Goddess of Light, it was that she truly was an old breed. Older than most, and stubborn enough to have not been affected too much by Kassandora¡¯s mentality of immediate violence. Someone like Fortia or Maisara would have gone for a swing as they saw the opening. Elassa would have already devastated the city. Worldbreaking-breed did not know honour in the way that those from the Age of Heroes did. ¡°What is that Allasaria?¡± Arascus swung his blade to the monster as artillery expelled napalm over it. It did not even react to the flames, not to the pin-cushion of blades Arascus had shot into its head. The creature kept on walking. ¡°Uriamel¡¯s Divine Titan.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°It is Starspawn, not of this world.¡± Allasaria let Arascus gaze at it for a moment longer, her voice thick with pride. ¡°Your monopoly on Titans has ended, I too have one now.¡± Arascus rolled his eyes. Allasaria was brilliant, but sometimes she really acted no better than a little girl. Although maybe he did deserve it. He had been the only one to try and overshadow light. ¡°Well done.¡± He answered sourly. ¡°Ktulu.¡± Allasaria said smugly. ¡°We are not having a repeat of the Great War. Your insurrection ends here.¡± Arascus merely watched, at an angle, so he could keep an eye on Allasaria and on the battle happening in central Nanbasa. Planes were coming in rapidly, out of formation too. Sokolowski was simply requesting whatever was available. Ktulu stopped. He swung his arms to the sides, then upwards. His head, no aflame with napalm and pin-cushioned by Arascus¡¯ blades that fell from the sky, was twisted backwards to reveal the beak underneath that curtain of tentacles. The beak twisted, it opened. It started as a mere squeak, the sort squirrels would make. In a moment, it became an ear-piercing screech that shattered the glass windows of the skyscrapers in most of Nanbasa. A fog of shattered glass filled the ringed city for a moment before it started to dissipate. Arascus looked down on the ground when he heard the cursed wailing of that monster. He looked down at the ground. Trees grew out of control, as if they were suddenly part of the creeping Jungle in the country¡¯s western half. Yet the Jungle did not discolour them into a sickly, plagued black. It did not make the branches grow out of control either. They twisted and curled as if every inch of the wood had become its own lifeform and was trying to outcompete its neighbours. And then Arascus saw the first trench-line of men. They had dropped their guns. Some had curled into balls on the ground, a few had shot themselves with their own guns. Those were the lucky ones. The ones who stayed alive lost control of themselves, their bodies grew pitch black. Skin became scales, teeth became fangs, eyes discoloured to terrible reds and blacks and browns. They stood up straight, turned and raced at men who once were their comrades. And Ktulu took a step forwards. The cursed wailing hit the next trench line. Chapter 257 – Something Worth Doing General Ekkerson sighed as he smoked and watched what was happening down the street. A hospital was collapsing, one of those massive crabs had been brought down with a full team of tanks and in its death-throes, it had smashed through several walls of the building. One of Ekkerson¡¯s assistants came up to him holding a phone.. ¡°General Zalewski called.¡± Well that was new. ¡°What does he want?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The soldier gave him the phone. ¡°But he said it¡¯s urgent.¡± Ekkerson finished the cigarette as he typed out the number. Zalewski picked up quickly. ¡°Ekkerson here, what did you want?¡± ¡°Just wondering if you heard anything about treason.¡± Treason? That was a first. They were all largely ex-Clerics here. Clerics did not do treason. ¡°No. Why?¡± Zalewski made a sour tone. ¡°Kassandora took my sorcerers.¡± ¡°She took mine too.¡± Kassandora took a breath and slowed down just before she knocked on the wooden room in Central Requisitions. Baalka was still asleep, Kassandora simply had to check, just in case, but the Goddess of Disease did not even stir once from her slumber. And now Kassandora stood on the other side of the corridor as her mind played through a dozen scenarios simultaneously. Then a dozen again, and a dozen again. Until she was satisfied that whatever argument against her would be met with a disarming parry. Her shieldwall of ideas would outlast any charge of doubt or unwillingness. It had anyway. Anassa had gone in, and Anassa had to be dragged out to help at what was happening in Nanbasa. Kassandora did not know how to enter that realm within. Nor did Fer. Irinika could, but Irinika was not here. Malam maybe, but again, Malam was not here. Kassandora took a deep breath and shook the doubts off. What was she even complaining about? She had a Goddess at her disposal, if Leona was still alive, Kassandora would have ended up with one sickly mortal about to keel over and die. It did not matter that the Goddess Kassandora had could not be trusted, should not be freed, and had just as large a chance at fleeing immediately as she did at actually helping. But those were mere problems to work through and to be solved. Kassandora smiled to herself as the crusade in her mind culminated in a thousand simultaneous successes. It was time to meet with the Goddess of Magic. How hard would Elassa be to work anyway? Kassandora had spent a millennia in prison acting as the confidante of every White Pantheon member. If there was anyone who should be able to get that woman dancing on strings, then it should be Kassandora. The Goddess of War pushed open the door. Elassa was sitting on a chair, craned over a table, lost in thought, as she assembled a jigsaw. The woman¡¯s dark hair was pulled back over one shoulder, and she wore a pretty blue dress. Even if Elassa was a prisoner, she was too high-value of a prisoner to mistreat. Kassandora was glad she had put the effort in on organising the room. The comfortable queen-sized bed, the various wines and cakes, the books and jigsaws brought in from cities. Elassa looked up, blue eyes looked in surprise at Kassandora and the Goddess of Magic straightened her back. ¡°Ahh¡­ Hello?¡± Elassa said. ¡°Hello Elassa, how are you doing today?¡± Kassandora said as she scanned the room. She could not feel any eyes in here, not any magical traps. So that ring really was working. It was such a tiny little item and yet it managed to lock down an entire Goddess. ¡°How do you think?¡± Elassa said replied dryly. Kassandora looked down at the jigsaw, it was an image of elephants bathing themselves in the river. ¡°How¡¯s the ring?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Don¡¯t remind me.¡± Elassa showed it to Kassandora. She moved her hand around so that Kassandora could see the ring from all sides. ¡°Why ask?¡± Elassa must have noticed that Kassandora did not particularly care about the ring itself, and every time she had come to visit before, she had just talked with Elassa as if they were friends. If there was one thing prisoners hated, it was reminders of their situations. ¡°A situation has cropped up.¡± Kassandora answered. She needed to be careful here. Elassa needed some pressure applied on her, if the woman knew she was the only rope Kassandora had managed to grab hold of, then she would start to bargain. ¡°And you are the closest and easiest Elassa.¡± Elassa caught on. Or at least she thought she did, smarter than Fortia and Maisara, this one. Kassandora had to give her that. ¡°Why not Olephia?¡± ¡°Olephia is busy on the frontlines.¡± Kassandora replied earnestly. ¡°Could I take her? Yes. Do I want to? Not really.¡± It was the little things, the definite ¡®yes¡¯ versus the ambivalent ¡®not really¡¯ that would lay the groundwork for the ideas Kassandora was trying to build. ¡°Ah. So you want me?¡± Elassa said, there was some smugness in her tone. Those dark blue eyes of hers were confident too. Maybe Kassandora had been treating her too good. ¡°I¡¯m honoured Kass.¡± ¡°I¡¯m happy you¡¯re happy Ela.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Will you hear me out or are you just going to say there¡¯s no way.¡± The Goddess of War made a show of looking around the room. ¡°Time is of the essence in the matter, and I¡¯d appreciate it not being wasted right now.¡± Elassa sat there for a moment, Kassandora let her think. It would be better if she was going to raise a condition now rather than later. Besides, whatever the woman was thinking, there was no way she would predict Anassa was stuck in the Jungle. ¡°Just so you know.¡± Elassa said. ¡°I think you¡¯re the most honest liar to exist.¡± Kassandora smiled at the compliment. That was a new one. She liked it. ¡°And it¡¯s not that¡­¡± Elassa trailed off for a moment, chuckled and shook her head. That black hair swayed from side to side as it retreated from her shoulder to her back. Kassandora smelled the woman¡¯s perfume, it was a citrus-scented one Anassa liked. ¡°I won¡¯t waste your time, I can¡¯t promise to agree, but I will consider it Kassandora. On two conditions though.¡± Kassandora leaned back with a smile. Now they were talking. Everyone had a price, the only question was how high it got. ¡°What?¡± ¡°One, you won¡¯t ruin my image publicly.¡± Elassa said then explained. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be seen on your side of the war. Nothing like that. I¡¯m not going to attack Fortia or Maisara no matter how much I dislike them. I won¡¯t touch Arcadia.¡± Kassandora nodded along. That was a good one, Kassandora would have made a similar demand frankly. ¡°And two?¡± Elassa smiled like a hawk. ¡°I want something in exchange that is worth my time. You can decide it.¡± Kassandora smiled back. What a perfect set of demands. They would be utterly debilitating if the woman was being sent off to fight on the front. ¡°No fighting White Pantheon forces, and you save Anassa¡¯s life.¡± Kassandora said. She didn¡¯t even know if Anassa was in danger or not. Frankly, it was Anassa, she could be on the edge of death and perfectly safe at the same time. ¡°How¡¯s that for payment?¡± Elassa sat there for a moment. She leaned back. She tilted her head. She crossed her arms. She stared Kassandora down. ¡°We both know that isn¡¯t payment.¡± Elassa finally said. Kassandora had to give the woman gall, they both knew Anassa was important to them, and they both knew they rescuing Anassa was not payment. ¡°So you¡¯ll leave her?¡± Kassandora asked.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°You said you have Olephia.¡± ¡°I said I¡¯d rather not pull her off the front.¡± ¡°Apologies for not being part of the war effort.¡± Elassa said coldly. ¡°You understand freedom is off the table.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m not rescuing Anassa just to have to deal with you again.¡± ¡°What if I pull out of the Pantheon then?¡± Kassandora laughed to cover up her surprise. Elassa did not know! Did she? ¡°I thought I was trying to buy you?¡± Kassandora laughed and Elassa shrugged. ¡°What can Fortia and Maisara do? With Kavaa on your side, the situation is bad. With Epa spiralling out of control, then it¡¯s only a matter of time before the White Pantheon loses most of its recruitment grounds. What then? Is Arcadia going to start supplementing the frontlines because Fortia can¡¯t deal with the fact you best her?¡± Elassa laid it out plainly as she spread her arms out across the half-completed puzzle of elephants. ¡°Epa is already out.¡± Kassandora said. She thought for a moment, should Elassa be told? It wasn¡¯t exactly hidden information, and if the woman felt tricked, she wouldn¡¯t care about going back on her. Finally, Kassandora decided. Elassa should know the whole truth, but it should be Kassandora¡¯s truth that was ever on the march to victory. Not, for example, Allasaria¡¯s truth, where Arascus¡¯ army was about to crumble at any moment. ¡°You don¡¯t know what¡¯s been happening outside.¡± ¡°I assumed you wouldn¡¯t share so I didn¡¯t even ask.¡± Elassa said and Kassandora shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not you.¡± Kassandora began and laid out the scenario. Some things were said straight: Kavaa, Iliyal and Fer found out that Tartarus is still is on Epa. Some things were dishonest truths that gave off better impressions: The Five Epan National Goddesses are good enough now to have served in the Great War. Along with: Iliyal is doing better in Epa than we are in Kirinyaa, and we¡¯re withstanding the invasion from Uriamel. And some things were simply omitted, there was no need to mention that Irinika and Malam had been found after all. But the most important part was said straight, the one that would make sure Elassa would feel as if she was being treated with honesty: Allasaria has returned. She is leading Uriamel¡¯s assault on Kirinyaa. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t want to move Olephia. Elassa leaned back and tilted her head at Kassandora as the Goddess of War finished. ¡°That¡¯s everything.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You did not lie once.¡± Elassa said it as a statement, but Kassandora answered nevertheless. ¡°On my life, I did not.¡± ¡°You are terrifying.¡± Elassa said flatly. Kassandora¡¯s lips curled into a smile. Elassa was generous with her compliments today! ¡°I know I¡¯m being played, but I have no idea how I¡¯m being played.¡± Kassandora laughed and put her hands on the table. ¡°I¡¯m honoured at how smart you think I am Elassa, but that is the situation. You know now what hand I have. I don¡¯t want to let you loose because I don¡¯t trust that you won¡¯t run off to Allasaria.¡± Elassa sighed and leaned back, her arms fell to her sides. ¡°You¡¯ve talked to Kavaa about me then?¡± ¡°And Iniri and Helenna.¡± Kassandora affirmed. ¡°That¡¯s not what the situation is like. I had to ally with Allasaria.¡± Elassa said. Kassandora lifted an eyebrow to prod the woman into an explanation, but she wouldn¡¯t force it. Elassa always preferred being asked than commanded. ¡°Anassa was locked away in the Divine Library, in Arcadia, you know that already.¡± ¡°I do.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Why do you think they didn¡¯t execute Anassa? She¡¯s not you, you have intrinsic value in here.¡± Elassa tapped the side of her head. ¡°Allasaria kept you as a contingency in case Tartarus or Paraideisius ever attacked us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s working under the assumption I would want to help.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Elassa asked and Kassandora smiled. Of course she would. She would barter something out, she would buy her freedom, and then she would win that war and destroy the Pantheon with it. But Allasaria had always been an optimistic idealist. ¡°But why was she kept alive? You, of all people, should figure it out.¡± Kassandora smiled as her gears started to turn. The pieces fell into place the moment Elassa asked the question in that depressed tone of hers. It was so obvious she kicked herself she didn¡¯t see it before. ¡°You were compromised by Anassa.¡± Elassa¡¯s eyes fell and she answered only with a slow, sad, nod. Kassandora leaned even further back to give the woman space. ¡°Care to explain?¡± ¡°What is there to explain?¡± Elassa said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Why I kept her alive?¡± Elassa asked sarcastically. ¡°I trained her. That is reason enough.¡± Elassa shook her head as her eyes started to tear up. ¡°I¡¯ve met plenty of prodigies, by Anassa was a prodigy among prodigies. I have never met anyone like her. I don¡¯t think I ever will either.¡± She cracked a sad smile. ¡°She¡¯s created an entire branch of magic herself. It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen of such a thing. It¡¯s like¡­¡± Elassa burst out in laughter. ¡°It¡¯s incomparable to your demesne Kassandora, it simply is. Magic was set. Anassa came along, and Magic was not set. The fact she exists means¡­¡± Elassa broke down in tears. Kassandora had not expected Elassa to start crying, she would have brought a handkerchief. The Goddess of Magic took a few moments to compose herself and then blew her nose into her dress. ¡°Anassa proved to me magic was not a finished art. I cannot¡­¡± Elassa burst out in laughter. ¡°If she did not exist, then the training methods me and her developed would have never come to fruition. If Anassa was not around, then the foundation for militarizing magic, all the theory, all the groundwork, it wouldn¡¯t be there. We laid that. Me and her.¡± Elassa, two thin tears streaming down her cheeks. Kassandora let the woman calm down. There was no reason to push her even further than that. ¡°Why align with Allasaria so much then?¡± The Goddess of War asked. ¡°You are called Allasaria¡¯s Dog.¡± Elassa burst out in laughter and slammed her down onto the table. ¡°Because Allasaria had you.¡± Elassa said and Kassandora sighed. When was the last time she thought of Allasaria? In a context that did not involve defeating the woman? She simply did not understand it. Everyone had moved on since then, Allasaria had founded her own kingdoms after Worldbreaking, Kassandora simply could not. They had gone their separate ways. It was as simple as that. ¡°And?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°She kept you alive. It never sat right with anyone else either. But because she had you, she allowed me Anassa.¡± Elassa shrugged. ¡°Because it¡¯s fair? Because I justified her? I don¡¯t know, ask her yourself.¡± ¡°One day.¡± Kassandora said flatly. She didn¡¯t need to ask. She had been kept alive because the White Pantheon was soft at the end of the day. If Kassandora captured herself, then her head would be rolling by the time the hour is up. She was simply too competent to keep alive. Kassandora stopped herself from asking whether Elassa would want freedom. It was a perfect story. It made fantastic sense. And it was exactly the sort of thing she would say herself if she wanted freedom. No. If the woman wanted to play at this emotionality, then she was digging her own hole. Kassandora pushed her into that hole. ¡°So will you help us save Anassa?¡± Kassandora said slowly. Was it dirty? Was it wrong? Most likely. But this was simply another battle. The victory condition was killing the Jungle. Kassandora would drive the sword that was Elassa through that giant, swords only needed to cut. She had never asked Joyeuse on what it felt about being her greatsword either. Elassa cracked a smile. ¡°How Kass? How? I have no staff.¡± ¡°I have heard magicians themselves can serve as catalysts.¡± Elassa snorted in laughter. ¡°Black magic.¡± She said dryly. ¡°Magic nonetheless.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Do you have a problem with it?¡± Elassa shrugged and smiled without a single ounce of warmth. ¡°We¡¯ve all done worse, haven¡¯t we?¡± Kassandora smiled back. Of course they have. The basics of magic had been discovered in the same way as the basics of medicine, as the basics of damn-near everything else: trial and error. And early magic had considerably more error than trial. Elassa raised another question. ¡°But you have no magicians.¡± Kassandora crossed her arms. ¡°We have sorcerers. You said it yourself, it¡¯s a school of magic.¡± Elassa wiped the remnants of her tears away. A certain excitement was starting to brew in that short woman. ¡°Never been done before.¡± ¡°Even I know elements can be mixed.¡± ¡°Sorcery is a foundational principle, not an element.¡± Elassa said, but the woman was caught. It was obvious she was, she was eyeing Kassandora, begging to be convinced. ¡°What sort of magic do you want cast through them?¡± But Elassa was not the sort to be convinced through promises and platitudes. Besides, what could Kassandora offer? An escort back to the White Pantheon? Did Elassa even really want that? Kassandora doubted it. And besides, Elassa did things only if they were worth doing. ¡°There isn¡¯t one, I need something new.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°What¡¯s the closest approximate then? For a Jungle like that, some mass enchantment then? Or what?¡± Kassandora shook her head. ¡°Nothing that precise. I just want the evolution of a magic you know. Like that, but just better.¡± ¡°Better than what?¡± ¡°Worldbreaking.¡± Kassandora¡¯s word echoed around the room as Elassa¡¯s lips curled upwards. ¡°There is nothing greater than Worldbreaking. That¡¯s impossible.¡± The Goddess of Magic¡¯s voice curled as if she was tasting a fine glass of wine. Kassandora exactly what the woman wanted to hear next was. ¡°And?¡± Elassa sighed and looked down at the ring that was blocking her magic. She moved that finger up and down, curled, then straightened it. Then looked to Kassandora. There was a flame in her eyes, a sense of excitement Kassandora had not seen previously on the woman. It wasn¡¯t the rageful Elassa that Kassandora had faced during her escape, nor the terrible one during the White Pantheon¡¯s invasion. This wasn¡¯t even the Elassa Kassandora had seen in the Great War. Some things never changed. No matter how much one buried their past, it would always come back. Elassa¡¯s eyes were burning with the exact same excitement as when Kassandora had proposed the idea of militarizing magic all those millennia ago. That flame which burned with originality and excitement. That said something should be done, because it was indeed worth doing. If for nothing else, then to prove it could be done. Chapter 258 – Out of Options It¡¯s a question I get asked a lot. Not so much by mortals but by other Divines. Some have demesnes obvious and contained: Elassa, Anassa, Neneria & Kavaa all restrain themselves to tight-knit, highly-literal, interpretations of what Magic, Sorcery, Death & Health are. Others, like Kassandora and Fortia, try to claim the world with their demesne. Both could make even a drop of rain somehow fall under their purview. Of course, both are wrong. They are wrong not because they are wrong, but because they simply don¡¯t have perspective. Only demesnes such as Arascus¡¯ Pride or Galrond¡¯s Gluttony, which are intrinsic to humanity, can even lay claim to omnipresence. And in that, then it is mine which is at the forefront. In this regard, it is irrelevant to apply materialistic descriptions to my demesne. It is beneath Love to try and explain itself. Every person on this world can point Love out when they see it. The only ones who claim to deny it as a set of circumstances or emotions are those bitter that its sweet touch has left them. Some Love selectively, maintaining the autonomy that Love takes as a price. Others Love freely, their hearts addicted to the sweet embrace of Love. I assume it may be possible to be loving and autonomous, but I have never seen it. The amount of power, even Divines would fail to match. Hearts simply get tinged with nostalgia and regret as they experience loss. It is a natural process. I cannot imagine a God or Goddess loving, especially from among the age I am from. We have simply lived too long. - Excerpt from the autobiography: ¡°Roses, Blades & Blood¡±, by Goddess Helenna, of Love. Fer stood, arms crossed, brows furrowed, mouth tightly closed, as she watched whatever was happening to the Jungle. The trees had started to tear themselves apart, regrow, then tear apart again. As if whatever Anassa had done to them on the inside had resulted in a rapid cancer that they were trying to forcefully excavate out of themselves. But those trees, Fer did not care about in the slightest. Trees were trees, maybe Iniri would shed tears over them, but Fer had different loyalties. She listened to the pain wheezing of that giant lion as it collapsed. Whatever Anassa was doing on the inside was having an effect on the Jungle guardians just as much as it did on the Jungle itself. And while she had nothing against hunting and taking lives, Anassa¡¯s sadism had always sat badly with her. Pain was pain, suffering was suffering, they were facts of life. She didn¡¯t feel bad about hunting wild game, but¡­ She saw the Lion take a step and fall over onto its side. A sandstorm of dust erupted from it as the trees fell like dominos under the container-ship sized beast. That wasn¡¯t hunting wild game though. Fer sighed and watched as she waited for Kassandora to start whatever she was planning, her ears fell flat on her head and her tailed whisked from side to side as she looked around the environment. The Crocodile gave up in the distance, it lay flat in the backing Sun as if it was simply waiting for whatever Anassa was doing to be over. The Vulture squawked from above and crashed into the ground. Helenna turned her eyes from Arascus and Allasaria in the air. Nanbasa, once a ring, now stood as a an arc of a circle. The eastern section blown up by explosives, the northern completely devastated by the two Divines. Allasaria¡¯s beams did more damage than the explosives themselves, there were new ravines dug out of the ground. Another pair of skyscrapers were falling as the two black dots danced around each other like two duelling wasps. One left lines of swords and spears soaring through the air, the other beams of light that incinerate whatever they touched. And then Helenna¡¯s eyes went to the giant monster that took another step through Nanbasa¡¯s zoo. General Damian Sokolowski was pulling his troops away, keeping the distance with the beast as shells impacted against its muscled bear chest. The monster¡¯s beard of tentacles curled around its head to make a crown of flesh, and they revealed the beak that shrieked madness at the men. It took another step, once again its chest was bathed in flames, once again another team of bombers flew in from Nanbasa¡¯s west. And it took another step. She had to do something. Fer jumped heard engines approaching from the south and turned towards the midday Sun. A group of Lemurs were slowly driving up here. Her eyes went to the three Jungle Guardians. She put down members of her pack when they grew ill, or when they damaged limbs beyond repair. But that was putting them down. She didn¡¯t burn them alive, she put them down. Fer looked at the three great beasts. The Crocodile unmoving, the Vulture madly beating its wings into the ground and the Lion breathing heavily as it gave short spasms on the ground. No. They may have tried to attack her, but if they were going to die, then it would Anassa¡¯s or Olephia¡¯s job to put them down. Fer wasn¡¯t about to stand here and let them be burned to the bone by napalm or slowly torn apart by artillery. If they had a weapon that could incinerate them in one go, then Fer would let it happen, but not like this. It was akin to throwing a lying into a nest of flesh-eater ants. Kassie would be mad, but if Kassie wanted this job done so much, then she should have stayed here and let Fer wrangle Elassa. Fer turned and jumped to the approaching artillery.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Neneria looked down in surprise at her phone. Well, that was new. Kassandora had forced one on her for communication, but the most thought Neneria gave it was keeping it on her. And now it was ringing with some odd tune. Unknown number. Neneria looked up at the city around her. Ghosts raced through walls as they wiped away another thousand of Uriamel¡¯s soldiers. What was odd about these creatures is that they fled quickly. Neneria had managed to capture a few of them, but it was almost as if they knew to pass on quickly to protect their very souls. Neneria looked down at her phone and thought about answering. It was an unknown number though. Should she really answer that? And she was busy. A massive, black Lynx tank parked next to her to shield her from the explosion that shook the city. Bombers were coming in to drop bunker-busters on the giant turtles. Neneria¡¯s ghosts had emptied the towers fixed onto the back of their shells of defenders, but the beasts themselves were simply too big for ghosts. She glanced at her phone again. The screen had turned off. Oh. She had waited too long and missed it. Fer landed crashed into the dirt of the approaching Lemur artillery and stood up straight. It was twelve massive trucks, six wheels each, with arms on pistons that would extend into the ground. Rotating turrets on the back, with cannons twice as long as Fer was tall, and Fer stood so tall she didn¡¯t even have to crane her neck to look into the driver¡¯s cabin that had a ladder leading up to it. The first vehicle stopped, the driver looked at her, then rolled his window down. ¡°Goddess Fer.¡± The driver said as Fer walked over to him. The Jungle squirmed and started to rip and tear at itself. Vines shot out of the ground, they pierced trees that uprooted themselves and fell. One collapsed, as did another, until they went like dominos. The green leaves, tinged with the crimson glow of sorcery as if they themselves were casting it, started to discolour themselves until they were shining red. The three beasts cried out as the Jungle, flailing in its madness, started to hit them as much as it hit itself. That, Fer didn¡¯t feel bad about. There was needless suffering she could stop, and then there were things she could not. There was no reason to reminisce about the latter. ¡°Are you going to shell them?¡± Fer asked. The driver looked to Fer, to the animals, then nodded. ¡°That was the plan.¡± He sat there, in a green shirt tinged orange with the red dust. ¡°I¡¯d rather it wasn¡¯t.¡± Fer said. There was no need for intimidation or harsh tones or threats or appeals to authority. She was Fer. That was enough for men to listen to her. The man sighed, then looked to the other two men in the cabin with him. One of them shrugged, the other didn¡¯t look happy. ¡°Don¡¯t shell them?¡± The man asked. Fer nodded. ¡°Then¡­¡± He sighed and collapsed into his seat. ¡°The order to shell them came from Goddess Kassandora.¡± He quickly erupted into fast speech. ¡°And since it¡¯s her, I¡¯m not saying you don¡¯t have authority but-¡° Fer reached into the cabin and patted the man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Kassie, I¡¯ll handle later. Don¡¯t worry.¡± She gave them a thumbs up and looked at the three suffering animals. ¡°Thank you.¡± Helenna grit her teeth in frustration at the Goddess of Death. Once, she understood. Twice, maybe the woman was busy. Five times though, she was simply being ignored. Olephia next then. Helenna rang. This time, the call was simply denied. Olephia sent a text over, a simple face made out of characters: ¡® :| ¡¯. Helenna stared down at it in confusion as tanks firing from right outside the building fired. The walls of the Imperial Governance Centre shook. A text came through. ¡°I don¡¯t talk Helenna.¡± Oh. Helenna blinked. She quickly started typing out a text, but one from Olephia came through just before Helenna could send hers: ¡®I have Alkom to deal with here. He comes in several times a day to one of the cities and I get dropped off to send him away. I can¡¯t leave here. Sorry Helenna, but it¡¯s Kassie¡¯s orders.¡¯ Then another text came through even faster. The woman really did have fast fingers. ¡®Unless you want something else, in that case, ask away.¡¯ And to top it off, a little smiley face. ¡® :D ¡®. Helenna wanted to cry as she looked at that smiley face. Was there no one who could help? Fer soared through the air and felt her phone start to buzz. Who was calling her now? Now? Of all times? About what exactly? She maintained her posture, angling herself so that she would go feet-first into a tree that was being driven mad and fighting its neighbours. Its leaves turning red and dying, some were starting to fall off. That was Anassa¡¯s work alright. Fer smiled to herself as she put one arm forwards, her feet crashed into the bark, a spray of wooden chips exploded around the Goddess as her sheer bulk eviscerated the wood. Immediately, and the Jungle started to scream and grab her. It wasn¡¯t like the last time she had entered. It was unfocused, as if unaware Fer had once again entered. And the screaming was directed seemingly in all directions, from all directions. A vine hurtled towards Fer¡¯s neck and she quickly jumped again. Fer landed on top of the Lion itself. It had soft fur, almost as soft as her golden locks. The Goddess saw the animal¡¯s eyes watching her. They were sore. But they weren¡¯t maddened anymore. Nothing like the gaze of the Caretaker. Fer put her hand on the Lion¡¯s nose. Its rumble was as delicate as the buzzing of a bumblebee, and as a loud as an avalanche crashing down. And the Goddess of Beasthood smiled, it truly was just an oversized animal. There were thin traces of sanity in that rumble, as if it was trying to form words. She was about to speak to it, when her phone buzzed again. Once was just a call. Twice was serious. It could be Kassie. It wasn¡¯t Kassie. It was Helenna. Chapter 259 – Operation Ashlands The Lion¡¯s ears twitched as he listened to the¡­ the¡­ He had never seen anything like what just stood on his nose. She smelled like human and like animal at the same time, and she talked so softly to the little box in her hands. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Helenna. You should retreat, that city is not worth your life.¡± Then she would listen to a reply. Those replies were frantic and filled with tears at the start. Now, they were mere sniffles, as if it was a cub on the other side that had been crying for its mother. ¡°Really Helenna, don¡¯t cry. It¡¯ll be fine.¡± It was good when she talked, concentrating on the sound of her words allowed the Lion to ignore the Jungle¡¯s screaming threatening to split his head. The woman rolled her eyes at whatever the little device replied. ¡°Helenna.¡± She growled harder this time. ¡°You¡¯re a Goddess. We are busy here. We will get to you as soon as possible. But until then, you¡¯re on your own.¡± And then she made her tone softer. ¡°Kassie always says this, the wait¡¯s the worst part.¡± She laughed. ¡°Alright, see you later,¡± she said finally, lowering the device and turning her full attention to the Lion. His golden eyes were enormous, large enough to swallow her whole if he wished¡ªbut there wasn¡¯t a trace of fear in her scent. Instead, she radiated a calm sunshine that split storms, or a balm against the Jungle¡¯s maddened screams threatening to split his skull. Somehow though, through whatever crazed magics the woman was using, she did understand. ¡°You want to talk?¡± The Lion purred again. He did not, he only wanted to listen. Her voice was sweet. ¡°Oh.¡± The woman sat down and started rubbing the Lion¡¯s nose. ¡°Well then I¡¯ll you about myself. How about that?¡± She didn¡¯t wait for the Lion to purr a reply as she stood up, planted her fists on her hips, and proclaimed her name. ¡°I am Fer! And I am the Goddess of Beasthood!¡± The Lion blinked slowly, his tail flicking lazily behind him. What a lovely little Goddess indeed. ¡°We¡­¡± Kassandora raised an eyebrow at the two men who had drawn rifles on her. Their voices lost all strength and their arms were shaking. ¡°We cannot allow you to pass.¡± The taller man said, his voice quaking. Kassandora smiled, crossed her arms and turned back to show off her men to Elassa. ¡°See that?¡± Kassandora said, her voice thick with smug pride. ¡°You know you have an eye for men when they stand up to Divines.¡± Elassa did not reply verbally, but her eyes jealously running in disbelief over the two humans dressed in black uniforms said everything. Kassandora knew before, but in positions like this, when she was dealing with Divines so much more powerful than herself, it was satisfying to rub things in. And she knew Elassa could take it too. There was no one who despised magicians more than Elassa. Kassandora turned and looked down the wooden hallways of Central Requisitions. Iniri had grown them, so each hallway was Divine sized. Whereas Kassandora was too big in most places, here, it was the two humans that were too small. ¡°I am Goddess Kassandora, Of War. Here is the proof.¡± Kassandora tapped into War¡¯s Orchestra, she felt the men¡¯s strength flow into her, she saw herself through her eyes, she let them see themselves through hers. Elassa stood silently in the corridor, the only one of the four to not hear the slow drums that were Kassandora¡¯s power. The Orchestra lasted for a mere few notes, a second, if not two. Immediately after it ceased, the two men stood up straight, saluted and slung their rifles over their backs once again. The taller one promptly started explaining. ¡°We apologize profusely Goddess Kassandora. We¡­¡± He took a breath. ¡°The orders were no one is to pass with the prisoner, even if they are Divine. Shapeshifters were also mentioned so we¡­¡± Kassandora smiled and waved her hand to stop the man¡¯s stammering. ¡°Do not worry, I am impressed you stood up to me.¡± Men always liked praise, especially if it was rare. But more than praise, men liked rewards. Rewards had to be real things, not sweets. Children got sweets for good behaviour and if there was one thing men hated, it was being treated like children. ¡°You can expect promotions by the end of the week.¡± Both men tried to contain their smiles, both men failed as Kassandora walked past with Elassa trailing to her side. One in a dirty HAUPT uniformed, torn in places from the expedition underground when Kassandora had donned her armour, then tinged red with the red Kirinyaan soil. The other in a pristine blue dress that only a prisoner of luxury could achieve. ¡°Are you actually going to promote them?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°I¡¯ll send strong recommendations.¡± That was an assured promotion. Kassandora could send nothing but a name and that would be enough to achieve a better rank. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°How many people do you know who will stand up to me like that?¡± Kassandora asked as they turned a corner and went down yet another winding set of stairs. All wooden, grown into position by Iniri¡¯s power rather than built. On the inside of the spiral was another, this one made of steps only a third the size. For the mortals who worked here so that they didn¡¯t have to clamber up the staircase for Divines. ¡°Mmh.¡± Elassa said. ¡°I don¡¯t handle things that loosely.¡± Kassandora took the lead as they headed downwards. More people walked past them, more guards and servants running around with papers. CR now was serving as a supply base. Whereas ammunition was no longer being delivered here, so much had been built up during the White Pantheon¡¯s first invasion that the storage was still being emptied. Three more times they were stopped, but by the time they had made it outside, they were simply sauntering through CR. ¡°That¡¯s our ride.¡± Kassandora said as she pointed to Raptor One and Two. Massive black jets with huge blocky engines built into the chassis and wings rather than fixed to them, their tips painted yellow and with red eyes as if they really were the birds of prey that their names professed them to be. Captains Douglas and Erik were sat on two crates, drinking coffee and having a smoke as they watched the engineers fill up their planes.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Some eighty or so sorcerers were lied separated into their own teams. Anassa had awakened a few more after the White Pantheon invasion concluded, but it hadn¡¯t been a lot. The four children who were the best at sorcery were still a long way off from being able to awaken others themselves. Kassandora stopped, Elassa stopped with her. ¡°That¡¯s them?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°That¡¯s our eighty sorcerers. There were a hundred before the invasion started.¡± ¡°And is there an organisation?¡± Elassa asked. Should Kassandora explain? Elassa would probably work it out anyway, even from here, it was obvious that there was a hierarchy. ¡°Eliza¡¯s team.¡± Kassandora pointed to the shortest girl with brown hair. Her team of twenty was sitting on the ground, whispering between themselves as Eliza sat on a crate and watched Elassa and Kassandora. ¡°Lyca¡¯s.¡± Twenty men in torn clothes, each man lean and muscled. They were separated into groups and talked loudly. Lyca was talking and laughing with a few of his own men too. ¡°Edmonton¡¯s.¡± Twenty who stood at soldierly attention. ¡°Fleur¡¯s.¡± Twenty who stood at terrified attention, not moving so much as a muscle. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°The four I mentioned by name are the only ones I would rank as a sorcerer Elassa.¡± Kassandora explained. ¡°Everyone in the teams would be a trainee by Great War standards.¡± Elassa stretched her hands. ¡°They don¡¯t need knowledge, they just need to know how to commune. I¡¯ll handle the rest.¡± The Goddess of Magic said. Kassandora made a stupid smile. She didn¡¯t feel particularly bad about it, she simply knew that a stupid smile like that would lessen the blow of just how thoroughly lacking they were in magicians and sorcerers. Elassa saw the smile. She made an unimpressed face, her eyebrows falling just like her hands. ¡°They don¡¯t know how to commune.¡± ¡°You know how Anassa teaches sorcerers.¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t.¡± Elassa snapped back quickly. ¡°Well.¡± Kassandora had no issue with playing the fool. If Elassa got mad, then it would only add fuel to her drive to succeed. ¡°To each their own.¡± ¡°Would you say there¡¯s anyone who knows War better than you?¡± Elassa asked. What a stupid question. Someone who was more revolutionary in warfare than Kassandora? That simply didn¡¯t exist. ¡°Should I even bother to answer that Elassa?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the Goddess of War, I¡¯m the Goddess of Magic. If I say Anassa doesn¡¯t teach, she doesn¡¯t teach.¡± Elassa declared and sighed as she looked over the sorcerers again. Fleur¡¯s had turned to face the two Goddesses as if they were a platoon of soldiers standing at attention. ¡°It¡¯s just them?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just them.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°Not a lot.¡± Elassa said dryly. ¡°Is that a problem for you?¡± ¡°Do you know how many people can Worldbreak themselves?¡± ¡°Throughout my life or right now?¡± Kassandora asked then answered her own question. ¡°Throughout my life, about two dozen. Right now, it¡¯s just you and Anassa.¡± ¡°Anassa can¡¯t do it.¡± Elassa quickly added. The Goddess of War made her tone annoying and doubtful on purpose. ¡°Can she not?¡± ¡°If you have Anassa on the list, then Olephia and Allasaria are on it too. Hell, add Alkom to it. Sceo as well.¡± Kassandora gave no reaction. Elassa had always been like this. She needed someone terrible like Allasaria to smack her down or she would simply be the most unbearable smart-ass of a Goddess who had everything to prove. ¡°Just you then.¡± Kassandora said flatly. Once Anassa came back, then Elassa could once be handed off to the Goddess of Sorcery. These two were truly made for each other. ¡°Sorcerers! Form ranks!¡± She shouted. Immediately, the sorcerers formed ranks. Even those who were sitting and chatting in Eliza¡¯s team got into position so quickly as to make Kassandora¡¯s soldiers blush. Fleur, Lyca, Edmonton and Eliza stood a step in front of their squads, and Kassandora waved them over. ¡°I recognise these four.¡± Elassa said quietly. ¡°They were students in Arcadia.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°They probably know you.¡± The four ex-magicians, now sorcerers came forwards. Each one dressed slightly differently, but each one fit to Anassa¡¯s standards. Edmonton in a suit, it was torn in places from combat. Lyca in a white shirt and brown shorts, as if he had been trekking through the jungle, but the clothes reeked of wealth and his belt buckle was adorned with gold. Eliza was dressed in a similar fashion, the only difference was that she wore a skirt instead of shorts. Fleur came in like a proper sorcerer, downright inspired by Anassa, in a dress that ended around her calves. Terrible, if she was Kassandora¡¯s to command, then she would be forced to wear a potato sack for a day in order to learn how to dress properly. ¡°Well well well.¡± Elassa said before Kassandora could introduce them. ¡°So you¡¯re the four. Fleur Ambelee. Edmonton Weaver.¡± She said, looking at those two. ¡°Lyca Myklos¡± She said. Eliza raised an eyebrow. ¡°And your name?¡± ¡°Eliza Grinhoff.¡± Eliza sounded embarrassed that Elassa did not know her. ¡°You all already know who I am.¡± Elassa said. ¡°Anassa is stuck in the Jungle.¡± Kassandora said louder. This was her mission. It was one thing to let Elassa talk to them, it was another to let her take command of the situation. Elassa backed off, for all her need to prove her own intelligence, she did respond well to hierarchy. Although mages usually did. ¡°We are going to rescue her. You have been selected to rescue the Goddess who awakened sorcery within you. I¡¯m not here to ask you whether you want to do it or not. I am the Goddess of War, Elassa is the Goddess of Magic. You are simply going to do it. Understood?¡± Naming the titles was on purpose, it screamed an implication about what would happen if they refused. ¡°Yes! Of course!¡± Edmonton said first. He pulled a clean salute, Anassa¡¯s variety, with two fingers by the forehead, rather than Kassandora¡¯s. Fleur, Lyca and Eliza were all only a moment behind him. They did know how to pull one, she had to give them that. ¡°I will now explain Operation Ashlands.¡± That sounded like a good name, although Kassandora had made it up moments before. ¡°I will use my blessing you and the sorcerer-novices under your command. Then on Elassa. The reins will then be handed off to Elassa. Raptor One and Raptor Two will drop us at the Jungle¡¯s Stomach, I know where it is.¡± Kassandora had been there once, and that was enough. ¡°I will also be dropped off and need protection from your magic as the planes won¡¯t fly the moment there¡¯s any ash in the air. From that point, Elassa will use all of you to channel enough magic to destroy the Jungle in one blow.¡± Kassandora smiled at them as she finished. ¡°Any questions?¡± ¡°None.¡± Lyca said. The rest of the sorcerers looked excited too. That was good news. Sorcerers usually fared better when they felt good about themselves. ¡°I have one.¡± Elassa spoke up. ¡°Oh?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°What?¡± Elassa turned to look mirthlessly at Kassandora. ¡°So let me sum this up.¡± She said flatly. ¡°You want me, who has never used your ability, to use it to guide these sorcerers through you into a perfect communion, when most of them don¡¯t even know what a communion is, in order to force enough power through them to crack this continent open? And while doing that, we¡¯ll also need to keep you alive?¡± The four young sorcerer¡¯s smiles dropped when Elassa rephrased it like that. ¡°Can it not be done?¡± Elassa¡¯s tone was a satisfied, deep rumble. ¡°Of course it can be done.¡± Chapter 260 – All Heaven Above The inclusion of Elassa in the White Pantheon has fundamentally shifted the dynamic, although that is only natural when a Goddess appears who represents magicians. If it was up to me alone, then I would have kept Elassa as a client and deal with her in the same way we deal with countries, not individuals. Alas, she fought in the Great War, she did do her fair share. Unlike Divine Orders, whether it be Clerics, Guardians, Paladins or Seekers, mages are fundamentally a different class of people. Orders can be described as military organisations, none have a life-vow amongst the lower ranks, and all selectively recruit candidates. Whereas one is or is not a magician. There is no such thing as leaving Elassa¡¯s demesne, one can¡¯t unlearn what they have learned. In the same fashion that hearing Kassandora¡¯s music addicts one to the taste of War, Elassa¡¯s thirst for discovery is just as addicting. So while the mages follow Elassa¡¯s commands in the same fashion Orders listen to their respective Divine, mages are not an Order. It is this discrepancy that brings about my largest issue with Elassa. If a Paladin were to strike a man down in the middle of the street, then I would pay for it. Order responsibility is inherently collective, Magician responsibility is kept individual. Elassa simultaneously tries to pretend she is a single Divine, in the likes of Iniri, yet she is powerful enough to be second to Allasaria, whilst also giving Magicians the benefits of Orderhood, whilst also representing her people as a nation-state. It is not that I vie for power, but I cannot abide by this hypocrisy. Elassa¡¯s influence must be curtailed. I am sure that Fortia and even Helenna will agree with me. - Private Writings of Goddess Maisara, Of Order. Written shortly after the Great War, before Maisara voiced support for Anassa¡¯s imprisonment and the transition of Arcadia from a War College. ¡°We will have to stay at least a kilometre in the air. I¡¯d prefer two, but one should be enough.¡± Kassandora said as the doors of Raptor One started to open. They had taken Lyca¡¯s and Eliza¡¯s team with them. Raptor Two was carrying Fleur¡¯s and Edmonton¡¯s close behind them. ¡°Otherwise the men might start getting called.¡± Something in Kassandora doubted that sorcerers would fall prey to the Jungle¡¯s whispers. If they managed to survive Anassa¡¯s awakening, they should be strong enough to resist the trees below, but sorcerers were too valuable to waste on testing. Elassa herself, Kassandora was already sure she would not. The woman simply did not the character to fall to madness like that. ¡°I¡¯ll hold you then.¡± Elassa said. ¡°Not a sorcerer?¡± ¡°Do you trust me or some mortal?¡± Elassa asked coldly, Kassandora saw the sorcerers in the back all turn away. Some were ashamed, like Eliza, some took it as a fact. Lyca did not seem happy about the comment, although it was true. Did they really think themselves better than Gods? ¡°We¡¯ll go first then.¡± Kassandora said as she walked past the sorcerers. Forty people on Raptor One, with the plane refurbished to make room for ammunition storage, made the rear a tight fit and she consciously avoided stepping on toes. Not out of politeness, but she knew that with her weight, there would be more than a few broken bones if she did. Elassa followed close behind. Kassandora grabbed her hand as the rear doors started to open. The Goddess of War clicked her earpiece. ¡°Douglas, how much further are we before the stomach?¡± ¡°I see it already. Three seconds and I¡¯d be jumping.¡± Kassandora grabbed Elassa and looked out past the edge of the rear door. The moment she saw the telltale sign that they had arrived: the sudden cliff-face that was the only part not flood by shrubbery and trees and other plants in the Jungle, its surface the colour of aged bone, Kassandora grabbed Elassa and jumped. Ultimately, Kassandora had never been a trusting person. It was much better to have some leverage over a person than to simply go ahead and simply trust them. Arascus and Fer were much better in this regard. Even Olephia was. Kavaa and Iniri and maybe Helenna, although to Kassandora, she didn¡¯t look like much of a truster. So she had never taken the ring off Elassa, not for that entire flight, not for the briefing, not once. Helenna had not asked, whether it was pride or simple assurance that Kassandora would eventually, the Goddess of War did not know. But whatever the case, they now fell, holding each other¡¯s hands, looking into each other¡¯s eyes. Kassandora¡¯s fingers travelled along Elassa¡¯s until she felt the ring. There was no other way, for Elassa to use magic, Elassa had to be able to use it. For that to happen, Kassandora had to trust that the woman would not immediately go back on her word. Kassandora blinked as she made a stupid realisation. Kassandora was afraid. And with that knowledge, she simply ignored the feeling, sequestered it off somewhere, and ripped Anassa¡¯s containment ring off Elassa¡¯s finger. Kassandora felt the air catch her immediately, it was nothing like Elassa¡¯s grasping claw that carried her like a child through the air. Instead, it was a soft pillow of air Kassandora landed and stood up in as Elassa correct her posture. Behind her, the eighty-four sorcerers jumped out of the two Raptor jets. The planes did not slow even for a moment, the moment they had deposited their cargo, the sped off into the horizon. Once their rear doors had finished closing, they both broke the sound barrier and veered off into the distance.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Kassandora looked down War¡¯s Orchestra began to play its tune. She saw the Jungle¡¯s maw, those teeth, one chipped. That must be the one Fer had broken through back then during their escape. The mouth, from straight above, the ivory bones in the inside of that pit were visible. The Jungle around her, an endless sea of green that flooded into ravines and slowly clambered over mountains. A few of the sorcerers came into view as they descended to meet Elassa and Kassandora. And War¡¯s Orchestra reached them. They had already agreed, and Kassandora had told them to embrace her, so they did. They froze in the air as war started to fuel war. Their senses were shared in an overpowering manner, each man looking through each man¡¯s eyes, and Kassandora through them all as she arranged them in lines. The four most senior sorcerers closest by, as each person fuelled themselves independently, yet also using Kassandora¡¯s orders. She told them to stay at her level, so they did, how was unimportant: Some stood on the air, others sat on seats of hardened wind, others yet simply floated on giant invisible cushions of sorcery. And Kassandora reached to Elassa. Kassandora felt Elassa¡¯s mind reach through hers. The tune of War¡¯s Orchestra changed, from the slow drums and violins to organs and flutes. Their tunes danced around each other, fading out as others took their place. Elassa started to sing her tune, and the sorcerers followed. From the green Jungle underneath, it was all black specks in the sky, as if they were dirty pieces of stuck in one¡¯s eye. Elassa moved them long a spiral, each magician raising their arms and mirroring Elassa¡¯s movements. Elassa started chanting. The sorcerers followed. The sorcerers flew higher, their bodies used as catalysts for Elassa¡¯s power. Kassandora heard the tune of War Orchestra¡¯s change once again as Elassa¡¯s voice copied itself out in a choir, of her notes adding to the gentle tune as the Goddess guided the mortals through Kassandora. They spread out, Kassandora did not even bother to try and figure out the ritual circle, nor the words they had started to chant. The glowing around person amplified, light started to swell and distort around them as the Jungle screamed out from below. Kassandora only stood, frozen in the air, as Elassa kept on guiding her magic. For once, she had come across something that was not her demesne. And Kassandora stood there as the Jungle screamed out from below. When they were this far up though, there was nothing the trees below could do but watch. So they screamed. Vines shot upwards, yet they only managed to cross half their distance before coming to a stop. They strained in the air, they Jungle screamed again, the teeth around the Jungle¡¯s stomach started to close. Kassandora smiled at the reaction, one of them was chipped, where Fer had smashed through it on the way out when they rescued Iniri. That wasn¡¯t even so long ago, yet it felt like a different age. ¡°I have come back.¡± Kassandora said to it. She didn¡¯t even know if they Jungle could hear it, for once though, she allowed herself to indulge. ¡°You should have killed me when you got the chance.¡± Kassandora took a deep breath as beams of pure light blue mana, magic distilled into its most raw form, shot upwards from the sorcerers. ¡°Now, weep as you watch at how killing is done.¡± And another beam shot from Elassa as the woman raised her hands. The sorcerers all copied the motion, a few shifted position as the spell they were casting started to have an effect. The winds around them started to twist and blow as they circled. As if Kassandora was stood in running water that rapidly changed temperatures, the wind came on her hot at first, then freezing cold, then warm. Dust started to form a rolling curtain around them as the flutes and organs playing through War¡¯s Orchestra started to pick up. And then, it all died down. Everything went silent. Even the instrument playing in Kassandora¡¯s mind started gave up. The curtains of dust collapsed, even the Jungle was silent. Yet magic still poured out of the sorcerers and out of Elassa. The winds started to pick up speed again, pulling everything upwards as if trying to rip the Jungle out by the roots. Kassandora looked down as she saw the trees and vines retreating. The maw had shut entirely, the only sliver still visible of the inside was through the little chipped tooth. And Kassandora looked up. She saw the Sun fade away. Its fantastic light, its heat and warmth were dulled as a blanket of night ascended from out of Elassa. It spread out like a slow flood or the beginnings of an avalanche as it devoured the bright blue sky away. And in came the night to replace it, not Irinika¡¯s overpowering darkness, so black that it was difficult to breath, but the most beautiful sky Kassandora had ever seen. As if all heaven above had come to visit Arda. Auroras sauntered across the sky in greens and purples and reds and oranges as vivid galaxies lit up the background. All pale shades of cream that gently oscillated in colour, and moved and swayed as if they were specks of dirt floating on a puddle of disturbed water. Stars shot across the sky, from any and every direction, but always out of Kassandora¡¯s vision, until they settled in their positions and formed shapes and constellations Kassandora had never seen. All heaven above started to move. Chains of rocky asteroids stretched in belts across new sky as they intertwined themselves between planets. Plantes red, planets blue, planets green, orange and brown and pink and cyan. Gas giants formed as the galaxies started to condense. The stars burst out in lights and started to smash against each other. Worlds cracked as the rocks above crashed into them, and the gas giants set alight. All heaven above burst out in flame and fire. Not Worldbreaking. That had been done before. This was something greater. Something that had never been tried before. Yet why? It was not impossible; it had simply never been done before. So it was. All heaven above started to fall. Chapter 261 – Starfall Elassa has rarely been a leader. The woman herself says she does not want to lead, I almost respect her for it. I would, but her reasoning is simply one of sloth and apathy rather than a real respect for power. Arcadia¡¯s management reveals Elassa¡¯s weakness, she is lax to the extreme, only taking interests in pet projects or favouring a certain class to raise a generation of prodigies. If Kassandora had never come along, then magicians would still be stuck in that dismal, post-Worldbreaking state of simply being ever-wanderers and universal handymen for hire. Kassandora¡¯s Militarization of Magic did in a few years what centuries of Divine and Mortal plans could not: it made them useful to the state and it reintegrated magicians back into societies. Magicians on one hand are cursed because their divine representative is someone like Elassa, who is whimsical and emotional and rarely guides them. Yet the world as a whole is blessed that it is languid Elassa that represents them, and not the competence of Kassandora, Arascus, Maisara or Fortia, myself or even Irinika. The mundane populations only got the chance to establish themselves as they are now because Elassa simply is not interested in such things as managing populations. - Excerpt from ¡°Documenting Divinity¡±, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light. Kassandora looked up at the flames above herself. Standing next to Elassa on solid air, surrounded by the eighty-four sorcerers the Goddess was using as living catalysts to channel her magic. Then further surrounded by layers upon layers of the blue astral glow of mana. That mana shot upwards as it called upon all heaven, and then it spiralled outwards as the day¡¯s bright sky tore open. The pristine night-time descended upon Kassandora and the Jungle around her. Belts of stars started to cascade down as Elassa¡¯s chanting changed into a slow hum. The sorcerers, under her command through Kassandora, changed their chanting to a hum too. Everyone but Kassandora played that apocalyptic tune in unison. An aurora from above touched the green Jungle as it slithered downwards. And its cyan light shot out like lightning in all direction, the world below it shattered. A star slowly crashed down upon the Jungle¡¯s closed teeth. They burst and shattered under the searing heat. And as the Jungle from below screamed and set alight, another star came down. A third, a fourth. Kassandora saw the world start to shake as Elassa¡¯s magic split it open. And Kassandora smiled at the marvellous display of raw power. There would be no Jungle left after this. Mountains in the distance, overgrown with vicious flora, started to crumble as a wave of fire swept turned the ocean of green into a lake of grey. Fire and ash burst upwards, guided around the party in the air by a magical shield set up by Elassa. Kassandora only stood and watched. This was the end of the Reclamation War. This, for once in her life, was a victory total and beyond doubt: Annihilation. Whilst most historians ascribe the Invasion of Kirinyaa as the end of the Pantheon Peace Era¡­ The Snake looked around at the crying red Jungle and blinked as it regained control over itself. Over its own body and mind. There was no more creeping whispers, no more crying souls begging for release. No false teachings or fake prophecies to follow. It took a deep breath through its two huge nostrils and smelled the fresh air. No. The Jungle was not silent. It had merely lost its hold over the Snake¡¯s mind. The Jungle was screaming in disbelieving rage as it simultaneously wept for its own demise. The Snake shook itself away as the trees, glowing crimson, started to vibrate. It perked its head up and stood as tall as a mountain, until its eyes were just below the clouds. And the Snake saw the horizon. A wall of burning black ash coming from the centre of the Jungle, where it had incarnated. Something had happened there. Lightning suddenly split the sky, it left a trail of stars as the bright blue of the day suddenly tore and revealed a dark night. Stars and meteors fell from it. The Snake turned and started to slither away as fast as it could. And the Snake stopped. The body of the mad woman. She had broken the curse the first time. She had helped before. The raised its head, the woman was lying in a red dress on the ground, black hair splayed out over the ground like a crown around her head. Unconscious, but obviously alive. Her fingers were twitching, she wore a terrible smile. Every now and then, she even chuckled and laughed. What a terrible woman. The Snake looked at that wall of ash. It would incinerate her. It took a deep breath. There was a duty to perform, a job to do and there were many sins to atone for. Guardian of the Jungle once, Guardian of the Jungle forever. To guide and lead and help, no matter whether the Jungle was a place of nourishment and rest, or a crazed wood torn apart by madness and devoured by flame. The Snake slowly curled slowly and carefully curled around the mad woman, and closed its eyes to protect them from the flame. She should not die here. ¡­I would argue that is wrong... ¡°Can you imagine it? Ten thousand voices in choir? I was there and¡­¡± Fer¡¯s voice lost itself as the Lion started to move. She squeaked and turned to look at it. ¡°Are you awake?¡± The Lion gently bowed its head and purred. She understood. ¡°Are you?¡± She made a silly expression and spun a finger close to her head. ¡°Can you still feel it?¡± The Lion purred again. It could hear the Jungle, but the monster¡¯s grasp over its mind had shattered. Fer smiled and turned around. ¡°And your friends?¡± The Vulture had stopped beating its wings into the ground, the crocodile was slowly standing up, blinking and looking around as if stunned. The Lion purred. They too were fine. And Fer smiled and jumped up. ¡°See! I told it¡¯d be fine! Little Kassie is there.¡± Fer shouted excitedly. ¡°She¡¯s a handful, but if you want something done, you go to Little Kassie.¡± The Lion smiled at that open display of love as it stood up. It thought that the little Goddess on its nose would be scared, but she meekly looked around at the Jungle that was aflame with crimson magic. ¡°That¡¯s Anassa, that.¡± She said. ¡°That¡¯s her sorcery, she¡¯s fighting it from the inside.¡± The Lion knew, it had heard the fight and the Jungle screaming at the mad woman to stop. And then it had heard the screaming at the people in the air. And now, as the Lion stood to the towering height of a mountain. It could see further past the horizon before the edge of the world ran away again. But the increase in distance was enough. From the west, from the Jungle¡¯s centre, a wall of ash and a sky dirtied with soot was approaching. As if it was the explosion of a volcano, yet the ash of a volcano should not reach up all the way to the clouds. Lightning flashed along it and fires raised away. Fer saw it too. She jumped from the Lion¡¯s nose and into its mane. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here Mister Lion.¡± The Little Goddess of Beasthood could not have been more right. As the Lion turned, the world started to shake and the ground below screamed with the tearing of stone. ¡­There was still a chance to salvage Pantheon Peace after the Invasion of Kirinyaa¡­ Helenna turned and stopped looking at the window. There was no reason to keep looking at Ktulu. It was time to organize a retreat. Arascus had successfully pulled Allasaria further north of the city. That was good, she was rather generous with her beams of light, and more than a few had hit the troops. Ktulu, tentacles wrapped over his shoulders and around his head, as if they tried to make a mane of a crown, took another step. Now that he had stopped shrieking, the monster was starting to move faster.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Damian Sokolowski¡¯s troops had been pushed back to the western edge of the ringed city, and Uriamel was sending even more troops from the oceans. The huge crabs now came in packs of two or three, and the cannons strapped to their backs had been changed to be smaller turrets that could swivel. Smaller, but far more dangerous, the first weapons had simply been overkill. Planes constantly came in to batter from the air, and Sokolowski¡¯s artillery still dropped napalm from a distance, but numbers had shrunk, especially after the initial confrontation with Ktulu. Fer had been correct, the war could be dragged out. As long as they had a rear, they could give up the front and pull Uriamel further onto the land. Helenna fastened daggers to her belt and fiddled about with a pistol. At the end of the day, she was still a Goddess, and she was still a good-half again size of what a normal human stood at. Her finger simply did not fit. She took a step forwards and she heard the radio turn on. ¡°Code G-1¡± Code Global-One. Kassandora had set it up for cases when encryption was not necessary, or when news was so important that it simply had to be transmitted to everyone, regardless of sides. Kassandora had given an example for when to use G-1, which was if the world was to stop turning. The radio repeated again. ¡°Code G-1. I, captain Douglas of Raptor One, am announcing a Code G-1. Under my own responsibility, even though I know I have no command, I advise all commanders currently on the Reclamation War front to order a full retreat. I repeat, my advice, at the highest priority, is to order a full retreat. You will probably die if you stay there.¡± Helenna blinked. Excuse me? She knew that Kassandora, Anassa, Iniri, Fer and Kavaa had gone to the Jungle, but what was this about? A few seconds later, the radio spoke again. ¡°Code G-1. This is captain Erik, Raptor Two. I¡¯ll say it in nicer way. If you¡¯re near the Jungle, drop what you¡¯re doing and get the fuck out of there.¡± ¡­instead, I would say that the point of no return¡­ Malam, Goddess of Hatred, smiled and kept on humming to herself as she thought of what to do. Now it was simply a waiting game, so she had gone back to her own room without telling Irinika who she had taught. Irinika would want to come immediately, and then they¡¯d have trouble, and then they¡¯d end up getting nothing out of Kavaa and Iniri. Kavaa and Iniri were still asleep. That was annoying on one hand, but extremely satisfying on the other. If she could do something like this to the Goddess of Health, then it meant the tricks Baalka had taught her and had not gone to waste. Malam smiled, looked at herself in the mirror as she washed her face and pulled the white locks of hair away. The mirror cracked. Malam looked at it with an unsatisfied face. She wasn¡¯t that ugly, was she? And then Malam felt the shaking. She ran out of her room and looked around at the Dwarven hold. No. The mirror had not been her. The entire place was shaking. Statues were falling over, tiny little dwarves were scurrying about as they tried to avoid getting hit from the ceiling falling down on them, every piece of glass fixed to anything had already shattered under the strain of the world shifting. A bridge here and there was crumbling, leaving on the superstructure of metal, now bending and flexing, in its place. Malam opened her mouth and tasted the air. It did taste like magic. Like Worldbreaking. But not quite. It was¡­ Malam blinked in confusion. How could something be sweeter than Worldbreaking? ¡­which awoke the whole world as to the fact that Divine politics weren¡¯t a mere triviality¡­ Premier-General Abakwa of Ausa once again sat in the Igos Crisis Centre. Once again he stared into his coffee. Once again he listened to everyone dashing in a mad panic. Once again he prepared for the worst. If there was one thing to be thankful for though, it wasn¡¯t the Jungle this time. Whatever it was, it seemed to be as bad for the Jungle as it would be for anyone caught in it. ¡°Building One is fully locked down! Twenty percent above capacity in people, but it will be hold for a month if need be!¡± Abakwa listened to the reports. Buildings two through eight were the same. Everything was over capacity, but everything was doing rather fine. The first Igos Crisis with Olephia had reminded them that there was a need to smoothen out these operations. Abakwa stared at the cloud of ash as it started to roll towards the Igos Firewall. The huge barrier that would be set alight twice a day to keep the Jungle from crawling over the city. This was far better than Olephia. Most of the city¡¯s population had been sent to the city¡¯s underground, or into the basements of governmental buildings or their skyscrapers. Igos had been built to withstand the Jungle¡¯s advance. A cloud of ash? Even if that cloud did reach up from the land all the way to the clouds. Even if that cloud was coming at them at tremendous speeds. Even if that cloud was hot enough to set the woods before alight, Abakwa was not worried this time. After all, there was nothing to worry about. Either they would survive it, or it would incinerate them immediately. Unlike the Jungle¡¯s slow crawl, this was almost a pleasant death. He sipped his coffee and recalled when he had seen Kassandora declare the beginning of the Reclamation War. If this was not the end of the Reclamation War, he did not know what it was. ¡­was Elassa¡¯s demonstration of force over Arika.¡­ ¡°Send an urgent dock order to all our ships.¡± King Richard VI sat and listened to his ministers as they ran around and gave orders. They were in the War-Room of Allia, for managing the Epan Logistics. With plenty of fancy screens and displays and an army of bureaucrats and servants scurrying at frantic speeds, although today, there were no logistics to manage. It was all hands-on deck with no one knowing what to do. He sat, his wife was holding a broadcast on EIE telling everyone to stay calm and that the crisis would not hit Allia. Richard smiled to himself as leaned further onto his table and listened to the panicked voices: All-hands on deck and yet no one knew what to do. After all, how could you prepare for something like this? ¡°Submarines are reporting sudden currents in the ocean!¡± ¡°Satellite gives us nothing over Arika still, it¡¯s just a cloud of ash!¡± ¡°There¡¯s no winds, it¡¯s being pulled down!¡± ¡°Initial reports have come back from the universities!¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Even lower levels are more than 600 cubic kilometres!¡± ¡°The continent has shifted!¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°EIE stations in Arika are reporting compasses are facing in the direction! The continent has shifted!¡± ¡°Aittyopios station does not report that!¡± ¡°GET ALL SHIPS OUT OF ALANKTYDA! AWAY FROM ARIKA AT THE VERY LEAST!¡± One man suddenly shouted. ¡°Issue a full mayday! Waters are draining!¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°THE WATERS ARE DRAINING!¡± ¡°The deep scans from satellites are ready!¡± ¡°Pull them up!¡± ¡°DOCK THE ENTIRE FLEET NOW!¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°Rancais is reporting the tide retreating too.¡± ¡°The UNN¡¯s tide has reversed as well.¡± ¡°Start evacuating the coasts, we may have tidal waves.¡± ¡°Look at that!¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Second monitor!¡± Richard looked to the second monitor and felt his breath catch. Arika was about to have a new sea. ¡­That made the whole world realise they had to choose a side¡­ Fortia could not peel her eyes away from the screen. She knew that the other side could not, nor could Maisara. The entire Epan War had come to a pause as they watched what was happening over Arika. Some had news, others internet reports. Fortia had the White Pantheon¡¯s satellites streaming video direct to her. And frankly, she wished she didn¡¯t. Now was an excellent time to attack. She knew that someone like Kassandora would be taking it, but Kassandora may very well be the only soul on Arda who was single-minded enough to ignore something like this. Since Fortia had laid her eyes on it, she could not pull them away. The black cloud of ash over central Arika was settling. Or rather, it was being forced down. Elassa¡¯s work, it had to be, the woman would clear the sky to make sunny days in the same manner. But as the ash settled, Fortia¡¯s eyes widened even further. She heard the Guardians in her command tent express shock with her: catches of breath and jaws dropping. They were all trained soldiers here, Fortia herself was the Goddess of Peace, she had fought through the Great War. She had thought she¡¯d seen everything the world had to offer. And now, the world offered an entire new sea in central Arika, quickly filling up as the oceans came to flood¡­ Could it be called a valley? A ravine? Fortia did not even know. The rushed in came to flood the gap in the middle of the continent. ¡­it is hard to stay neutral when a continent is cracked open. - Excerpt from ¡°End of Days¡±, by Goddess Ciria, of Civilization Chapter 262 – I am Here There are many qualms to raise about the Goddess of Magic. Maisara and Allasaria are both fans of endless analysis of ourselves, and both of them can go at length regarding her. I simply see it as sophistry, to an extent, it is intellectual self-pleasurement. Elassa does not need endless texts to realise what sort of person she is, nor does she deserve them, if I¡¯m going to be quite honest. Elassa¡¯s character can simply be gauged on her relationships. The only person that Anassa, Goddess of Sorcery, likes the company of, is Elassa. That alone should raise enough questions about her ideals and what sort of person she is to disqualify her from the White Pantheon. - Excerpt from ¡°Peacekeeping in the Pantheon¡±, written by Goddess Fortia, of Peace, and kept within her own quarters. Helenna gave one look to Arascus¡¯ office in the Imperial Governance Centre. The plush red carpets, the swivelling chair, the desk made of Kirinyaan red-woods. The empty bottle of wine she was leaving behind. All sized for Divines. She would miss it she supposed. But not greatly. She hadn¡¯t had time to settle in yet, and Love was always fond of adventure after all. Stagnation simply made things boring. Seeing Ktulu through the windowpane kick-started her back into action. Helenna let the door slam itself shut as she ran through the building that once stood as Nanbasa¡¯s National Assembly. She ran through the halls, ignoring the pictures of Divines on the walls and the various signs of Arascus¡¯ Empire. Helenna stopped at a series of stairs and jumped them all in one smooth movement. Soldiers were down here, evacuating the last of the important documents she had chosen to save. It was largely the administrative papers, the treaties and deals, whereas Kassandora¡¯s war plans and Helenna¡¯s own promises in writing were being thrown on fires in the middle of the grand hall that once housed the parliament. Those didn¡¯t have to be saved, but it would be annoying if they were captured and then had to be explained. Helenna ignored the soldiers as she smoothed out her black HAUPT coat. Her black heels clicked against the ground and she made sure to keep up the pace. Sokolowski had already given evacuation orders and she had stayed here long enough. The man was doing a good job in preserving what remained of the army defending Nanbasa, but they were being worn down. Arascus had removed himself and Allasaria from the battle, was the trade worth it? Helenna didn¡¯t think so, but then the odds were stacked against from the start. Kassandora better come back soon, and she better bring Anassa and Fer here, because the city had held for as long as it possibly could. Helenna stepped outside as she looked at the grand roads of Nanbasa¡¯s governmental district. The buildings here were lower than the residential areas, more ornamental. More yellow sandstone and less glass. And the streets were full. Soldiers were guiding the remaining the civilians that remained in the city out of it. Trucks filled with men, women and children, all with sullen faces, were escaping in organised fashion to the west. Tanks were parked on the pavements, every few moments, they fired off a shell or two towards the general area of the park. On one of the huge junctions was a pull battery of eight Lemurs that were firing. Two ammunition trucks were parked in the middle of them, and soldiers were hurrying with shells as loaders threw the empty casings after each volley onto the road. Another set of bombers came from above, two this time, that dropped long lines of falling black dots from the sky. It all played together in a thunderous cacophony, each gun and explosion like a drum fighting for its own place in the musical and trying to drown the others out. The slow wind brought in the smell of fire and tire and burning chemicals from the East. Napalm smell that overpowered whatever else was caught up in the fires. Helenna looked down the stairs leading up to the Governance Centre and saw her transport waiting. A flatbed truck, painted dark green with spots of grey to fit in with Sokolowski¡¯s colour scheme. The animal reserve in the centre of the city had more than enough greenery for forest camouflage to be used. Helenna ran down as a row of four APCS, each one¡¯s turret facing backwards, slowly followed the rear of the civilian column. A group of soldiers was in the truck meant for Helenna, a few of them were smoking as they waited. Helenna smiled to herself as she jumped up, the vehicle creaked and shifted as the suspension dealt with the weight of a Divine. How long was it since she had a guard of honour? One of the men, his arm bandaged was sat with a radio in his hands. He clicked it on as Helenna settled at the front of the men, just behind the cabin. ¡°Team Red reporting, Goddess Helenna is aboard, we are evacuating Nanbasa. Over.¡± Helenna was about to question the man when the vehicle set off sharply and the radio turned on. ¡°Copy that, take the military route out of the city. The civilians routes are congested. Over.¡± ¡°Understood. Over.¡± The radio man said, he nodded over to one of the men, who held onto the truck¡¯s side as he leaned around to the cabin and knocked on the window to deliver the information. ¡°How are evacuations going?¡± Helenna asked. The truck started to pick up speed and her hair started to get thrown about in the wind. It was black today. It had been since the siege of Nanbasa started. ¡°Most of the city was empty before the invasion started.¡± The radioman said. ¡°These are just the stragglers.¡± He nodded to the glum faces they passed by as the truck turned away and headed down a different road. ¡°It¡¯s a lot of stragglers.¡± Helenna said and the man shrugged. ¡°I just execute orders, not my place to worry about them.¡± He said. ¡°I¡¯d hold on, the military route isn¡¯t¡­¡± The truck sped up and made a sharp turn. Helenna slid on her seat and almost crushed the man on her left, then she slid the other way and almost crushed the man on her right. Both moaned in pain, she probably had broken a bone or two with her sheer size. A team of tanks rolled past, towards the front lines, as Helenna¡¯s truck barrelled forth. The Goddess of Love already knew she wouldn¡¯t see any fighting. Even in the Great War, after she had proven herself more than once in combat, she wasn¡¯t allowed anywhere near the front lines. Now, there was absolutely no chance that general Damian Sokolowski would even give Helenna the chance to risk to her life. Helenna could only imagine what the man thought of needing to explain to Kassandora about how he lost the Goddess of Love. It was a short drive out of the city, although that was mainly due to the organisation of the governmental district, the wide roads and the lack of speed limits. The truck barrelled down the roads that had been cleared out, only swerving a few times to avoid the slower tanks and artillery.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Helenna turned her head and watched two jets dive behind her, autocannons firing although at what, Helenna did not know. Their targets were hidden behind the sandstone buildings, all their windows shattered already by Ktulu¡¯s shrieking. The monster itself was closing the distance on them, seemingly ignoring the fact that its upper torso was wearing a shirt of burning napalm. It took another step and the radio got another alert. It was Sokolowski giving another order in his cold monotone. ¡°Carpet bombing zone is reaching the inner government district. All troops, you have two minutes to get out from zones sixteen, seventeen and eighteen. Proceed west, not north or south.¡± Helenna did not know how a voice like that could inspire, but this battle had exhausted the men already. It was only a short way drive down the motorway to the first trench line. Partly dug, partly still being dug, with the heavy Lynx tanks and Skysweeper AA guns positioned about. In the distances, batteries of Lemur artillery was being calibrated. A few were already shelling the city, their huge cannons shaking about the carriages of the vehicles. Ammunition trucks were still coming in from the west, but everything else was fleeing. There was a line of civilian vehicles being sent to the residential blocks that had been quickly put up after the evacuation of Nanbasa¡¯s industry at the start of the war. ¡°Where is Sokolowski?¡± Helenna asked her men. They looked around, no one seemed to know. The soldier with the injured arm and the radio rang. ¡°General, Goddess Helenna is asking after your location. Over.¡± A reply came quickly. ¡°North side. I¡¯m in an offroad. Over.¡± Helenna looked at the men, did they really need to be told what to do? The man who leaned over the side of the truck to speak to the driver did so again. He held onto a railing, swung, and slammed into the door. And then swung back. The truck turned suddenly and went onto the arid outskirts of Nanbasa. It kicked up dust and ride wasn¡¯t smooth, but that was mainly due to the driver. He did not ease up on the gas once. Helenna¡¯s truck came to a stop before Damian Sokolowski. The man, shaved bald and wearing half his uniform. He had the white shirt and the trousers, but the shirt was unbuttoned and the coat was missing. At least the tall cap was still there. ¡°What is it Helenna?¡± Damian asked. ¡°I just came to watch.¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather you get out of here.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Explaining my death to Kassandora will be easy. Explaining yours, I don¡¯t think I can do.¡± Helenna smiled in satisfaction, she had been correct. ¡°Well you can try to move me General.¡± Helenna said. She was only being difficult because that¡¯s how she was. Frankly, she wanted the man to shout at her and tell her to flee. Damian Sokolowski, ever a soldier chosen by Kassandora, stayed calm. His cold eyes looked at her for a moment, and then he sighed. ¡°Very well, stay close to the car.¡± And immediately, Sokolowski went back to organising the retreat. He called in artillery strikes on locations, he directed the retreat line-by-line, the man even made sure that there was always a plane or helicopter in the air to keep track of Uriamel¡¯s forces. It almost got monotonous. Helenna was in disbelief as to how a mortal like that was able to keep such focus for so long. Even when she trained her spies, they would be able to go maybe half as hard as this man went. She tried to not look too impressed with the mortal, although she doubted that the man would care even in the slightest. The Sun slowly crawled across the sky as Ktulu slowly closed on the governance district. The evacuees from Nanbasa shrunk from a torrent to a river, then to a stream, a trickle, and then no one came out of Nanbasa. When the last Lynx tank raced out of there, a pack of sea-wolves chasing it, Sokolowski ordered the rest of the city shelled and blown. And even the remains of Nanbasa¡¯s garrison shredded the city, artillery and bombers and tanks simply smashing through the buildings, Ktulu kept moving forwards. A meteor fell from the sky. Not a meteor, but an arrow shot into the ground. It crashed into a cloud of dust. For a moment, Helenna put her hand on her knife, and then she remembered who had a habit of coming in like that. ¡°Fer?¡± Helenna asked, she came to a stop. Sokolowski¡¯s car slowly trundled to a halt too, although the general was still shouting orders into his radio. ¡°I have come.¡± Fer said as she walked out of the cloud of dust. Her glowing eyes shot around the escaping convoy. It was an orderly retreat, as orderly as a retreat could be when they fleeing from a titan and being chased by the mad swarms of Uriamel. Slowly, the tanks and AA and artillery were pulling back as they covered the civilians from Nanbasa¡¯s governmental centre and infantry before them. ¡°We¡¯re retreating.¡± Helenna shouted in panic and saw Fer stand tall. Not the Fer of today, not the laughing kitten that played jokes and slouched over tables. This was the Fer that sent chill¡¯s down Helenna¡¯s spine, the Goddess of Beasthood that had led the warherds during the Great War, the maneater who devoured after a battle. Helenna saw Fer¡¯s eyes settle on her and shivered. They were red now, filled with bloodlust. The woman was constantly shedding and growing fur all over her body, and her nails had curled into claws. ¡°This is Sokolowski¡¯s army.¡± Fer said it as a statement, but Helenna still mumbled a reply. ¡°It is.¡± Fer was already pulling out her phone as her eyes went to the monster and her lips curled upwards. She sniffed the air and looked to through Helenna at Damian Sokolowski sitting in his jeep. He was still giving orders. Helenna turned as she watched Fer saunter past her and towards the man. The General gave one final order before finally putting the radio down. The man was about to introduce himself, but Fer skipped the pleasantries. ¡°General, this is as far as you go. Dig in, hold and cancel your retreat.¡± Cold and commanding. The sort of tone that would order a massacre and not give it a second thought. Damian Sokolowski somehow looked shocked and unfazed. As if he was merely surprised that the Goddess had chosen to show herself now, and not that she had just usurped his army out from underneath him. He pulled a clean salute. ¡°Dig in and hold.¡± He said flatly, staring at Fer without a hint of fear or discomfort, even though it was obvious he was not satisfied with what had just been said. ¡°And the monster behind me?¡± Fer¡¯s eyes went to the giant currently treading through the many buildings of Nanbasa¡¯s western section of the ring. The woman actually smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve brought my own.¡± Fer said and a roar from the west silenced everyone. A roar so loud and thunderous it was as if all the lightnings in the skies were had descended down to the sky. A roar so loud that the world shook and trembled. And then, a roaring mountain crested the hill in the west. A roaring mountain with a mane of gold and legs and fur. A roaring mountain that had sins to atone for and a debt of gratitude to settle. Chapter 263 – Apex Predators of Arika When faced with an open fire in the kitchen, is the solution to blow on it first? Then to work upwards in scales of strength, matching the fire¡¯s power in order to make sure that the fight is fair? Only culminating in flooding the house once the blaze has devoured it? No, the idea is farcical. To defeat the flame, the flame must be overpowered. This is easier done at the start, when the fire is merely burning the stove rather than the entire kitchen. This battle against the flame can be extrapolated to every conflict. Sports teams do not win matches through matching their opponents, in situations like that, the reactive force is always in the inferior position. This is simply by virtue of the proactive attacker being able to choose battles where they pick. Possession of strength and no ability or willingness to use it is simply known as ¡®weakness¡¯. The only difference between warfare and other competitions of this nature is that warfare is uniquely tinged with violence. In all other cases, the differences between a game and a war are merely ones of scale and aesthetic. Ultimately, if violence is the problem; hyperviolence is the solution. - Excerpt from ¡°Steel and Sorcery Doctrine¡±, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War, with help from Arascus, of Pride, Irinika, of Darkness & Anassa, of Sorcery. Damian Sokolowski had been shocked how many times in his life? He had been shocked and surprised back in Lubska, when he was still a child and a girl kissed him. He had been shocked when she had said yes to going out with him. He had been shocked when he found her with another man. Then he joined the Clerics and risen through the ranks of the Order of the Twin Hearts. There, he had been shocked an uncountable amount of times in the first year, and never again: There was only so many times you could see someone death before even that got too common to have effect. And once death was mundane, what wasn¡¯t? He supposed he had been shocked when the Clerics had been tasked to free Kassandora, although by that point, he had seen too much to be shocked. The only surprise was that it was the Twin Hearts that had been chosen to siege Olympiada¡¯s Skyport. He had joined Kassandora, it was obvious from the start that the Goddess would choose him to command. He had not risen so quickly through the ranks to somehow doubt his own skill at leadership. He had seen Olephia annihilate the Caretaker. He had seen Elassa¡¯s display of power when he was tasked to hold the Central Front in the Invasion of Kirinyaa. He had seen Melukal and he had seen the Reclamation War. Had he been shocked once yet? Well he was shocked now. The radio fell from his hands as he felt his jaw slide open. The two tall ears bursting out of Fer¡¯s unbrushed golden locks quivered as the woman turned her back to him and looked over the hill. The Goddess of Beasthood, her clothes overflowing with fur that covered her whole body, tail swishing from side to side, smiled in pride. A mountain began to grow from the horizon. Slowly it rose, to the size of a skyscraper. Its mane a perfect shining gold that reflected the afternoon Sun. Each time it lifted one of those massive legs and slammed its paw back down on the ground, the world shook. The Lion stopped, lifted its head high, and roared. Helenna awoke from her shock before Sokolowski did. ¡°Wh-what is that?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve not given him a name yet. It¡¯s just the Lion for now.¡± Fer said as that giant looked out from its hill down onto the city. Nanbasa, once a glorious ring of silver and sandstone and steel built around an animal reserve that housed the species who lost their native homelands in the wake of the Jungle¡¯s growth. With the largest port this side of Arika and a constant flow of huge ships seeking to gain access to the city¡¯s huge industrial district. Now? The industrial district was no more, the specialist machinery had been evacuated west under Kassandora¡¯s Order, the warehouses and empty factory complexes had been rigged to serve as yet another speedbump for Uriamel¡¯s army. Iniri¡¯s sea-wall, grown from the ground and filled with a concoction of concrete and steel, gone. Blown open and then crushed by the jaws of those massive turtles. The northern district, devastated and reduced to mere ravines on the ground by Allasaria¡¯s beams, then plastered with spikes from Arascus¡¯ weaponry. The southern part of the ring, bombed and shelled into the ground. The animal reserve in the centre of the ring was nothing but scorched earth from napalm. And the governmental district, in the process of getting destroyed by shelling and Uriamel¡¯s beasts moving through it. Damian turned to look at Fer again. ¡°Should I call off the artillery strikes?¡± The Goddess sniffed the air and shook her head. ¡°Stop firing at the monster.¡± She pointed at Ktulu. Uriamel¡¯s massive titan took another step as it locked eyes with the lion. Ktulu¡¯s crown of tentacles grew taller, its peak opened and closed as it tasted the air. Huge muscles on its arms and chest bulged and veins popped out from under its dark-grey skin. Fer ignored the monster¡¯s show entirely. ¡°But keep on firing at the city.¡± Damian started signalling the orders across the radio as Fer continued. ¡°Keep your carpet bombings to the rear too, block off their retreat.¡± ¡°Understood Goddess.¡± Fer sniffed the air again and looked around. ¡°I¡¯ll take one area here.¡± The final few of Damian¡¯s forces finally made it out of the city. Infantry madly scrambling from Uriamel¡¯s shoulders armed with poisonous swords of red coral. ¡°I¡¯ll take the road, how about that?¡± How exactly was Damian supposed to answer? Helenna, he could deny. Helenna was not a fighter, but Fer? Denying Fer was like denying Anassa. At least, that¡¯s how he thought about it. Damian looked down to Pawel in the driver¡¯s seat. Wiktor in the passenger. Mateusz who was fiddling with wires on the big radio box that enabled Damian to communicate with the rest of the army. All three men, so attentive usually, somehow just happened to have their attention stolen by a more pressing issue. How fortunate for them! Lovely! Wasn¡¯t it!? ¡°Go ahead and good luck.¡± Damian said and Fer chuckled coldly as started walking off. ¡°Luck won¡¯t be a factor General.¡± She said. ¡°But if you fire on me, we¡¯ll have a chat later.¡± She shouted as Damian grabbed his radio. ¡°All troops, I repeat, All troops! Do NOT, Do NOT fire at the road. Goddess Fer is going to be there. I repeat, do NOT fire at the main road. Any heavy vehicles, keep your guns away from it. Do not even THINK about firing anywhere near Fer.¡± Helenna¡¯s death would probably be a dismissal from his position. Maybe there would even be a way for Damian to talk his way out of it. Fer though? Damian would not let so much as a hair be harmed on someone who Kassandora called her sister. The replies came in quickly. ¡°Understood General.¡± ¡°Copy that.¡± ¡°Read you loud and clear.¡± Damian turned back to the Lion, it was still stood on that hill, looking at Ktulu. It¡¯s golden eyes, so large Damian could clearly make them out from here, were scanning the ruined city of Nanbasa. Damian pulled his eyes away as he watched Fer. ¡°You know what?¡± Pawel asked from the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°Don¡¯t say it.¡± Wiktor added from next to him. ¡°Would.¡± Pawel said and Damian sighed and shook his head. Helenna coughed from behind them and Damian¡¯s eyes widened. They had all forgotten she was there. ¡°How tasteful.¡± She said. ¡°Well I said it now, can¡¯t take it back.¡± Pawel said quickly as if that was any sort of explanation.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°You just-¡° Helenna¡¯s words were cut off by Fer¡¯s roar. Fer was large, but she was still a Goddess. A roar that loud should come out of a whale, not a divine only twice the size of a human. The sound echoed back when it bounced against the burning ruins of the city. And then the Lion answered back. Damian felt his ears start to ring against that massive wave of sound. The ground started to shake, once, twice, stronger each time. The civilians in the back started screams, and then stopped them when they realised that whatever this new monster was, it had not come to hurt them. A pair of close-air-support jets once again flew close by, autocannons making long trails of tiny explosions along the ground as the two jets honed in on a pair of the giant black crabs Uriamel used as siege engines and line breakers. Damian realised his previous orders had scared the men into not shooting. He clicked the radio once again. ¡°All units, avoid Fer, but fire at will.¡± The men in the trenches started to fire sporadically in bursts at the creatures emerging from the city. The ranks of Lynx battle-tanks opened fire, two buildings immediately fell down, collapsed by explosions of rock and rubble at their bases. Skysweeper AA guns, retuned to fire at ground targets, started to tear into anything that moved. Fer stood there, unmoving and watching the shells past her and devastate anything and everything that ran out of Nanbasa¡¯s governmental district. More buildings started to collapse. A tower from deeper in was hit by a barrage of artillery shells and collapsed. And then it all went silent. For a moment, Damian thought that the Sun had suddenly set. He looked up and saw the shadowed stomach of the giant lion above him. Fer should not roar that loud, but Damian could believe she could roar like that. But something that big should not be able to leap through the air like that. It was blazingly fast too, the only reason the shadow above his head lasted so long was because of the Lion¡¯s sheer size. And as Damian watched, he realised what was about to happen, and only managed to instinctively hurl the order into the air. ¡°TO GROUND!¡± Men dived into their trenches, those who heard him anyway, as Damian simply let the strength leave his legs and fall to the floor of the off-road car, arms wrapping around the seat that housed his radio. The Lion¡¯s paws landed on the ground. Its rear legs did. And the world shook. What tanks and artillery managed to do to the city over several barrages, what Allasaria and Arascus had done over several hours of combat between themselves, the lion did in a single jump. The governmental sector of Nanbasa did not shake, the buildings did not start to topple, they did not crack. The entire district of the city crumbled. From the shaking ground and under the winds that ripped rifles out of men¡¯s hands, that made Helenna grab onto the heavy vehicle to maintain her balance and that even made Fer change her stance to better withstand them. The gunfire stopped, even the heavy vehicles and artillery, did. The few of Uriamel¡¯s forces that made it out the city, that weren¡¯t smashed into pulp under those heavy paws, were just as stunned as Damian¡¯s forces. And finally, Ktulu gave a reaction that wasn¡¯t simple advancing towards Damian¡¯s forces. He changed postures. He lifted up his arms, as if preparing to strike the Lion, his huge muscles pulsed again. He put one leg forwards. And the Lion dropped down to the ground as it stalked around the giant titan. Size wise, the difference between them was the same as between a man and a human. The Lion only reached up to Ktulu¡¯s hips, yet if it stood on its hind legs, it would easily tower over the titan. And it moved far too quickly for a man to react too. Damian doubted he would be able to target it with artillery. A bombing run would have to come in close in order to actually score a hit. The Lion dropped, growled, its tail high, its mane shining. It took a step into the rubble and crushed a pack of sea-wolves that were trying to dig themselves out. Fer sighed and started to walk back to Damian. ¡°Looks like there¡¯s nothing for me to do today.¡± She said just as the Lion jumped. It pounced. Ktulu took a step backwards, spun, his crown of tentacles dropping as if to try and protect his neck. And the Lion¡¯s jaw tried to close on Ktulu¡¯s side. The titan took a stupidly fast step backwards as it turned and used the momentum to smash its fist into the Lion¡¯s side. The great feline was thrown backwards, but it recovered before its paws even made contact with the ground. A bruise for a scratch. Damian tightened his jaw. At least the Lion had forced a reaction from Ktulu, that was already more than all the artillery shelling had done. ¡°Should I command the artillery to fire?¡± Damian asked Fer. ¡°Hold it, he won¡¯t need it.¡± Fer replied confidently. Damian narrowed grit his teeth together as he watched the brawl. Ktulu was certainly not untouchable, but it wasn¡¯t a battle between a man and a normal lion either. A man would have already fallen to the scratches, yet Ktulu¡¯s wounds were regenerating. And the feline¡¯s? Damian Sokolowski had no idea. Ktulu punched and kicked and fought like a boxer, all blunt attacks that looked at if they would break bone. One hit was one hit. Even a novice could strike a blow on an expert. Yet two? Five? When the Lion had taken a dozen blows, Damian grabbed his radio and started rolling his finger over the transmission button. The only reason he had not called one in yet was because he was scared of hitting the feline. It wasn¡¯t a question of morality, it was a question of what would happen if they feline wanted revenge even for accidental-friendly fire. ¡°Can he kill it?¡± Damian asked, he could not take it anymore. Ktulu¡¯s chest was scratched but the Lion was moving slower whereas the titan kept on closing his wounds. The animal was also starting to breathe heavily, its huge maw gulping the air down greedily as if it was water in the middle of the desert. Fer made a terribly smug laugh. ¡°Do you think I only brought one?¡± The Goddess of Beasthood pointed upwards into the clouds as they grew darker. At first, Damian had merely dismissed them as rain clouds, now though, he could see it was something different entirely. The dark spot of the clouds was a shadow being cast on them, a shadow from above. The Lion once again growled, once again it jumped forwards. A claw swiped at Ktulu¡¯s chest, skin was broken. Ktulu recovered, picked his arm up and slammed down. And yet this time, the Lion did not dodge. It drove the hit deeper and angled its body so that its ribs would take the blow. The titan dug his heels into the ground, creating two huge walls of earth in the city. Its beak made a shriek as the Lion¡¯s jaw closed onto its side, yet its arms closed around the animal next to it as if it was trying to crush the humungous feline in a great hug. That black shadow in the clouds grew darker, from light grey to monotone concrete. And then they erupted into feathers of pitch black. A head of ugly flesh red, eyes furious and bloodshot. And a beak that may as well have been an enormous hook. Two great sets of talons, dived onto Ktulu¡¯s back as the Vulture screamed and curled its head down like a snake. That hook stabbed into Ktulu¡¯s neck. The vulture pushed its wings back as it pulled out a string of muscle from the giant. Ktulu shrieked and let go of the Lion. The beast dropped down like a wolf and its jaw closed around Ktulu¡¯s calf. Uriamel¡¯s forces, standing still and watching from the ocean, started to wail and scream as Ktulu lost its balance. The vulture flapped those massive wings momentarily creating two tornados of dust and blood and stone, and Uriamel¡¯s forces advanced. That reminded Damian Sokolowski he still had an army behind him. He clicked his radio. ¡°All forces, avoid the Lion and the Vulture, those are tagged red.¡± On Kassandora¡¯s maps, red was friendly forces, red like the Goddess¡¯ hair. ¡°Fire onto the industrial district and the beach. Don¡¯t let them reinforcement Ktulu. I want a carpet bombing north-south as soon as possible.¡± The Vulture made it half-way to the clouds as Sokolowski¡¯s artillery started firing from behind him, and then the bird swallowed that tendril of flesh it had in its peak. It turned immediately, talons extended, wings relax upwards, beak ready for a swing, as it entered a freefall onto Ktulu. The Lion lifted up a huge paw and pressed it against the monster¡¯s thigh. Ktulu, shrieking in fury, tried to lean down and swipe at the feline assaulting its leg with a huge-closed fist. The Lion was faster. It pushed with its leg, pulled with its head, and Ktulu¡¯s entire calf was torn from his body, down to the pale bone that supported his leg. Immediately, the giant started to topple backwards as artillery pounded into the ground behind it. The Vulture went for Ktulu¡¯s front this time, leaving two giant gashes down his stomach with its curling talons, and tearing as his thigh with its beak. Ktulu smashed into the ground, a wave of dust carried on the wind toppled another one of the few buildings that somehow managed to stay standing throughout the battle. And the great feline circled around to Ktulu¡¯s head. ¡°Natural hunter.¡± Fer whispered, her voice full of pride. ¡°Straight for the jugular.¡± The Lion¡¯s jaw closed around Ktulu¡¯s neck, tentacles and all, as the giant pressed gave one beast one final swipe at the legs. A paw smashing into Ktulu¡¯s elbow stopped the attack. Ktulu gave one spasm as the Lion shook it head from side to side. And in one great swing, the Lion pulled its head up. A fountain of blood from the giant easily as tall as any of the great cranes that had once been in the docks. It let the chunks of flesh, the tentacle and broken bone and shattered beak fall from its maw. The Lion, streams of blood so large they may as well have been rivers flowing from its mouth, stood up tall. Its roar came as the next set of carpet bombing set fire to the ruined city behind it. Against all odds, as had been done before, so was done now. Kirinyaa stood. - - - End of Arc 8: Mad World- - - Chapter 264 – Lovely Hatred Allasaria dashed back across the ocean. How? Why? It was impossible? She had done everything there was to do. She should have won! How did¡­ Allasaria came to a stop across the roaring ocean and took a deep breath. There was no reason to be emotional right now. Uriamel may have lost Ktulu, but it did good damage on Kirinyaa. Without a nation to serve as a main base, Arascus and his daughters would eventually be worn down through attrition. And besides, when it came to overwhelming power, she still had the ace of aces in her hand. Kavaa opened her eyes and looked around a dark room. Stone. That¡¯s the one she would describe it. She was inside a stone box with a heavy steel door on one side. The only slivers of warm orange light were through a series of bars in the door. And that was it. There was no bed, no chair, no table, not even a bucket. The walls were simply dark stone, there wasn¡¯t a hook, a chandelier, there was nothing. It was a box that had been carved out into the world. Kavaa shivered from the cold and realised she had been stripped. The Goddess of Health felt her breath catch as she slid into the corner and pulled her knees up to her chest. She tugged a few locks of grey-silver hair and stared at that crack in the door as she thought on what to do. Was there anything to do? Should she call out? She shivered and stood up, then walked on the bare stone to the little window in the door. A quick look through it revealed a corridor. Torches on one side of the corridor. A pair of dwarves standing in full armour opposite her doorway. Kavaa stared at the dwarves. They were short and rotund, made almost rectangular by their spears and shields. Each one had a sword on his belt, and their armour was so thick, the slits for eyes so small, that Kavaa could not even make out the slightest hint of life within them. Kavaa sighed, well, they had obviously seen her now. There was no reason to hide. And there was no reason to panic either. Not right now at least, it was like an operation on someone on the surgery table, the panic always came later once the patient was safe. Here, the laughter would come once she and Iniri got out. Kavaa cleared her throat and spoke to the two dwarves. ¡°Hello?¡± She made her tone cold and commanding, the same sort of tone she would use as when issuing commands to her Clerics. ¡°I am Kavaa, Goddess of Health.¡± The dwarves did not react. They did not even pretend to not hear her, they stood there as unmoving as statues. ¡°Hello?¡± Kavaa said again. ¡°Hello!¡± She shouted this time. ¡°Anyone?! Hello?!¡± Nothing. Not even movement from the corridor. Kavaa sighed and looked at the dwarves. ¡°Can you speak?¡± No reaction. ¡°Are you alive?¡± Still no reaction. Kavaa thought about what would get a dwarf moving, insulting familial honour no doubt, but then, she didn¡¯t want to make her situation worse. ¡°Can you move?¡± Kavaa stared at the two unmoving suits of armour. Where they even alive? Actually¡­ were they? Kavaa looked into the cold slits where eyes should have been, at first, she thought it was merely the angle but now, she realised that indeed the slits obscured nothing but darkness within them. Kavaa sighed and gave up. ¡°Whatever then.¡± Kavaa scowled as she retreated to her corner once again, the stone was cold and uncomfortable to sit on, but she had enough pride as a Divine to not beg to a pair of Dwarves. So Kavaa sat there. Did the temperature drop? Even if it didn¡¯t, Kavaa felt like it did. The stones were terribly cold and her body did little to warm them up. How long did she sit there for? An hour? Two? A day? Mortals had it so easy. They¡¯d be able to track the hours by sleeping schedule and meal times. Divines required neither for survival, open stomachs were annoying and uncomfortable, and sometimes a bed was nice to relax in. But both were optional; Divines sustained themselves off humanity¡¯s sheer confidence in their demesne. So Kavaa sat in that darkness, the only light was the flickering orange of the torches in the corridor that would sometimes manage to angle itself and bounce into the cell. Kavaa sat there until Kavaa heard a door slide open. Then clicking. A terribly nostalgic clicking, although for no one in particular. A clicking of heels on the ground, and from the amount of time between each click, it was the footsteps of a Divine. A Divine that was taking their time as well. Locks on the other side of the cell door suddenly started to slide open. One. Two. Three. Kavaa smiled in satisfaction. It was only right that a Goddess of her status should have seven different locks to be kept behind. Kavaa stood up straight, maybe Elassa would care, Leona probably would, but Leona had been a different breed of power. Frankly, Kavaa doubted anyone in the White Pantheon, or any of Arascus¡¯ family, even the God himself, would cower in a corner just because they had been stripped. It was merely standard procedure. The door slid open as Kavaa waited for what sort of Divine the Dwarves had conjured up for themselves. She could talk her way out of it yet, whether they were seeking rehabilitation with the Pantheon or still loyal to Arascus, both sides could be played. White hair. Dark dress. Very dark dress, tight and hugging too, the sort that¡­ Kavaa felt her breath catch. It was the sort of dress that Malam, so high and mighty and pretentious and full of herself always, would wear. A style not seen on the surface for a thousand years, but it only made sense because within that dress, with its deep neckline, was of Hatred herself. Daughter-Goddess of Arascus and Goddess of Hatred. Helenna¡¯s nemesis, although the two had far more in common with each other than Helenna would ever like to admit. Malam stood there, her hair white like pristine snow. It sparkled in the torchlight as the Goddess looked over Kavaa with bright eyes. ¡°Long time no see Kavaa.¡± Malam said cheerfully as she extended an arm, her voice was a scarf of velvet, soft and cold. She was holding a thin cloth, enough for Kavaa to cover herself up with, but not much more. Kavaa met Malam¡¯s gaze. Of everyone she had expected¡­ Well, it certainly was not Malam. Was it good luck? Or was it misfortune? Malam... Kavaa sighed. Malam was competent, Malam knew what she was doing, she was honest too. And if there was one person who could out-deal Kassandora, it was Malam. ¡°Likewise.¡± Kavaa said carefully. Malam lifted an eyebrow and bounced her arm to bring attention to the cloth. ¡°Have you become a nudist?¡± If the woman phrased it in any different way, Kavaa would have simply and slowly reached for the cloth. She stood straight to show she wasn¡¯t intimidated, not to be humiliated like that! How could the woman even say something like that? Of course she had NOT! Kavaa¡¯s cheeks went red and she ripped the cloth off Malam¡¯s hand. ¡°Sticks and bones then, sticks and bones now Kavaa.¡± ¡°What a¡­¡± Kavaa shut up. She was about to ask what the woman just meant and then she realised. Teeth were grit and the Goddess of Health covered herself up. ¡°You¡¯re the one who stripped me.¡± Kavaa said slowly. ¡°So I think that says more about you.¡± Malam¡¯s smile revealed perfect white teeth. ¡°That was just simple procedure. You never know where someone like us could keep a dagger.¡± Malam hiked her dress up to reveal her thigh. Five dagger on a belt around it, more on the other leg. Why the woman needed that many, Kavaa had no clue. ¡°And with you.¡± Malam made a terrible chuckle. ¡°Well, if I could heal my wounds like this.¡± The Goddess of Hatred snapped her fingers. ¡°I¡¯d be walking around with an armoury in me.¡± Kavaa¡¯s cheeks went red at the thought. ¡°You are disgusting Malam.¡± Malam chuckled and turned. ¡°To each their own. I¡¯m disgusting, you¡¯re boring. Who¡¯s more memorable though?¡± Kavaa didn¡¯t take the bait this time. Every single time she so much as opened her mouth, Malam would have some stupid infuriating comment. Already Kavaa could feel her blood pressure spiking. ¡°Come, follow Kavaa.¡± Malam said. Kavaa remained where she was and Malam stopped, she leaned back into the cell. ¡°Come, Come Kavaa. Here. Here.¡± Kavaa realised what she was being treated like. ¡°I¡¯m not a dog.¡± Malam sighed and changed tactics. ¡°Pss pss pss pss.¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± Malam sounded abashed that she actually had to explain herself. ¡°Isn¡¯t that what you say to cats to get them to follow?¡± She shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since I talked to Fer.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a fucking pet.¡± Kavaa said, harsher this time and Malam smiled in glee. ¡°I was thinking how long it¡¯d be before the doctor¡¯s tongue came out.¡± Malam raised an eyebrow and that stupid smile said everything that Kavaa needed to know about the incoming comment. ¡°Although personally, I¡¯d prefer if you-¡° ¡°You don¡¯t have to finish that.¡± Kavaa interrupted her. ¡°Well are you staying here or can I move you to a better cell?¡± Malam asked. ¡°Because personally, I¡¯d prefer a chair.¡± Kavaa sighed and took a step forwards. Then another. She followed Malam out of the corridor. Those two dwarves weren¡¯t statues, they did in fact move to follow Kavaa and Malam as they moved. Two more marched silently ahead. ¡°They were statues for me.¡± Kavaa said in displeasure. ¡°They don¡¯t talk.¡± Malam said. Kavaa absolutely hated the walk Malam was pulling, there was no need to swing like that when it was just the two of them. ¡°Oh.¡± Kavaa said as Malam leaned down and pulled a helmet off one of the dwarves. It revealed a skull, carved with and illuminated by glowing runes. They pulsed blue and orange and red and the skeleton in the suit of armour did not even seem to take notice as Malam slid his helmet back on. ¡°Most of them are like this. This entire hold only has eight hundred and thirty one living dwarves.¡± Malam said. ¡°That little?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not play around Kavaa. The Pantheon launched a war of extermination here. The fact we¡¯ve lasted so long is impressive in itself. We have another century in us, maybe two.¡± Kavaa watched as they turned down another corridor. All smoothed stone once again, without a single decoration, and all lit up by torches. The silent dwarves, the animated skeletons ahead and behind them kept quiet as they walked with spears. ¡°Where is Iniri?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°She was in the cell next to you. I¡¯m just not going to wake Mother Nature up, am I?¡± Kavaa sighed. It really was Malam, not some illusion. But Kavaa realised the issue. This was a Malam who was still fighting the Great War, even though it had ended a thousand ago for those on the surface. This Malam legitimately still thought that Kavaa and Iniri were of the White Pantheon. They walked through a series of twisting corridors, up, then down, and eventually Malam came to stop at a door. Of steel, like all the doors here. ¡°This is going to be your room.¡± Malam said as she opened the door and motioned for Kavaa to step in.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Kavaa took the first step in a tentative manner as she looked around. There was a simple bed, a chair, a table, a wardrobe and a mirror. Another door, open and leading to what looked to be a bathroom. It was all stone and steel, apart from the bedsheets and two pillows. Those were some thick wool. And there was a bottle on the table, two glasses next to it. Kavaa did not even need to ask whether that was water or drink, Divines would stop drinking the moment humanity did - never. Malam gave Kavaa a little push to hurry her through the doorframe. ¡°How polite.¡± Kavaa said dryly. ¡°I aim to please.¡± Malam said, it made Kavaa¡¯s blood boil that even such an innocuous statement like that coming from that creature¡¯s mouth sounded disgusting. ¡°Sit.¡± Malam said. ¡°Or stand, I don¡¯t really care. There¡¯s clothes for you in the wardrobe. I made them myself.¡± Kavaa blinked and stared at the snow-haired woman. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the odd one out that you¡¯ve lived for how many thousands of years and still don¡¯t know how to sew.¡± Malam said smugly. That wasn¡¯t even true! ¡°I can sew.¡± Kavaa said dryly as she went to inspect the wardrobe. ¡°It¡¯s not really¡­¡± She opened the doorframe and the artisanship within shut her up. She touched a sleeve, it was some thick ram¡¯s wool, but to be able to work wool like this? She looked at Malam. The woman was sitting smugly at the table, pouring herself something that smelled like alcohol from that clear bottle. ¡°Can you sew?¡± Malam asked innocently. ¡°Not like you.¡± There was no point to even try and compare. It would be like doctors or healers pitting themselves against Kavaa herself. ¡°Come, sit.¡± Kavaa shut the wardrobe and got over to the table before the woman started treating her like an animal again. ¡°See? That wasn¡¯t hard, was it?¡± Kavaa sighed. ¡°You¡¯re enjoying this, aren¡¯t you?¡± The Goddess of Health. And the Goddess of Hatred¡¯s smile was so wide that Kavaa didn¡¯t even know how to describe the emotion. Euphoria maybe? ¡°Am I Kavaa?¡± Malam asked. ¡°I apologize profusely for the indulgence, but you do have to see it from my side. I¡¯ve been down here for a thousand years and suddenly, two White Pantheon members just happen to drop themselves at my feet.¡± The smile became even wider. ¡°So am I enjoying myself? Yes, I am Kavaa. In fact, you should be grateful, you should be on your knees and thanking me for not doing the things I¡¯ve promised myself I would do when I got my hands on one of you.¡± Kavaa caught the implicit threat. Some people would just threaten, but then there were those like Malam. Allasaria had this skill too, and Kass did, but neither as well as Malam. The way she made it sound promised not just pain but also humiliation. ¡°Things have changed up above.¡± Malam crossed her arms and smiles. Kavaa once again got annoyed that the woman was showing off what she had been blessed with, Kavaa wrapped the cloak tighter around herself. ¡°Well?¡± Malam asked. ¡°Are you going to explain how?¡± ¡°Leona and Atis are dead.¡± Kavaa said flatly. ¡°Arascus is out. Me, Iniri and Helenna freed Kassandora from her prison in Olympiada. Fer, Neneria, Anassa and Olephia are also with Arascus. And Baalka has been found but she¡¯s unconscious and no one knows what has happened to her. I¡¯ve tried to heal her. Anassa has tried too. The main base is in Arika.¡± Kavaa pointed upwards. ¡°That¡¯s the continent we¡¯re under now.¡± ¡°I know where Arika is.¡± Malam said as she tilted her head. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the short of it.¡± Kavaa said and Malam sighed. She moved her head from side to side, eyes on Kavaa. ¡°Do you want an explanation of why I don¡¯t believe you, or do you not need one?¡± Malam asked. ¡°You¡¯re scared of Leona.¡± Kavaa said. Malam closed her eyes and gave one slow nod. ¡°The term we use is Luck-Paranoia.¡± Malam said. ¡°But I am indeed scared of Leona.¡± Kavaa sighed. ¡°You can ask Iniri.¡± ¡°Leona is lucky enough to tell you that when you dive here, to prepare a story between you and Iniri that will suit me.¡± ¡°Leona is lucky enough that we wouldn¡¯t have gotten captured in the first place.¡± ¡°Leona¡¯s luck is powerful but not omnipotent. There may be multiple ways this ends, and you may have needed to come here to learn something.¡± Malam said as she poured some of that alcohol into the Kavaa¡¯s glass. ¡°The dwarves brew it, drink.¡± ¡°And if it¡¯s poison?¡± Kavaa asked, she didn¡¯t think it was honestly. If Malam wanted her dead, she would be already. ¡°Woman I want someone to drink with that¡¯s not Irinika. Now drink or I¡¯ll force it into you.¡± Kavaa¡¯s eyes widened at the name. ¡°Irinika?¡± Kavaa asked. Malam raised an eyebrow in a farcical manner. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve forgotten the best of us.¡± ¡°Irinika? That one?¡± ¡°There¡¯s only one Irinika, isn¡¯t there?¡± Malam said, she tapped her finger on the table and nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a good honest reaction there Kavaa. You¡¯re cute.¡± Kavaa blinked, her cheeks went red again. Did¡­ No. Did Malam just call her cute? Excuse me? ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯re cute Kavaa. What, did Allasaria not tell you where Irinika went?¡± Kavaa¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°Allasaria knew?!¡± Kavaa screamed and stood up. Malam smiled at the reaction. ¡°My my¡­¡± She cooed. ¡°The White Pantheon looks to be just as tightly knit as all the Pantheons of the past. Yes. Allasaria knew. She chased Irinika down here and then we chased her out. Would you fight Irinika here?¡± Kavaa shook her head. Fighting Irinika in the darkness of the underground would be like trying to out-madden Anassa, or to out-track Fer. If anywhere was Irinika¡¯s natural habitat, it was here. Malam nodded to Kavaa¡¯s glass. ¡°Drink Kavaa, I didn¡¯t pour for it to sit.¡± Kavaa finally acquiesced. It wasn¡¯t pleasant, the taste of mushroom and earth was obviously in the drink, and it was strong. Stronger than human drink, that was easy, but it was still drinkable. Malam smiled in satisfaction. ¡°I once heard you could drink everything.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had worse.¡± Kavaa said, ignoring the woman¡¯s terrible tone that hinted at a double meaning. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure you have.¡± Kavaa failed at containing the red in her cheeks. ¡°You¡¯re fucking terrible. You know that?¡± Kavaa finally gave up. Her tone dropped to a simple flat monotone. ¡°You are the worst Malam. You¡¯re as bad as Anassa.¡± Malam shrugged and smiled as she poured two more glasses. ¡°Yet somehow, people keep coming back to me.¡± Malam said. ¡°But why am I as bad as Anassa?¡± Kavaa opened her mouth. Her cheeks went red, her throat caught. She simply could not say. ¡°Ana¡­ she¡­¡± Kavaa felt her hands get dirty and she wiped them on the cloth again. ¡°You are both disgusting. That is all I have to say.¡± Malam burst out in laughter as she drank and immediately poured herself yet another glass. ¡°You are the sweetest little Goddess Kavaa.¡± She pushed Kavaa¡¯s forward too. ¡°Come, come.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t treat me like that.¡± Kavaa said coldly. She did drink though. And Malam immediately refilled it. ¡°I¡¯m not here to get shattered with you.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I don¡¯t like seeing empty glasses and full bottles.¡± Malam replied innocently. Kavaa looked at the bottle. Full? It was half empty already. ¡°But you said you freed Kassandora.¡± Kavaa nodded quickly. She hated her own quick reaction. Why did Malam deserve such haste? For what reason exactly? ¡°Prove it?¡± ¡°Prove it?¡± Kavaa asked in disbelief. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Tell me something only Kassandora would know.¡± Malam said with a smile. Kavaa stared blankly at Malam upon hearing that. ¡°Kass told me¡­¡± Kavaa trailed off as she realised the impossibility of the task. Not because the woman had asked something nonsensical, but because was there any real answer to a question like that? Did Kassandora even share any personal information like that? Malam sat there and motioned with one hand for Kavaa to keep going. What did Kavaa even know though? Facts? There were none! ¡°Kassandora told me she formed in Sythia with Allasaria. How they fell apart, Allasaria settled down, Kass never did.¡± Kavaa cracked a smile she knew was stupid. ¡°And that¡¯s it basically. She said that Arascus gave her a chance. He told her ¡®Give War a chance.¡¯ She smiled when she said that.¡± Kavaa tried pining for any detail about Kassandora that only Kassandora would know. ¡°She loves all of you, she told me I have an inferiority complex.¡± Malam interrupted at that. ¡°You do. Continue.¡± ¡°She¡­¡± Kavaa looked into the glass of dwarven spirit and wrapped the cloth tighter around herself. ¡°I don¡¯t know Malam. I genuinely do not know. I can tell you what I like about Kassandora, but I can¡¯t¡­¡± Kavaa shrugged. ¡°She doesn¡¯t share information.¡± ¡°You mentioned Anassa. What about her?¡± ¡°Anassa is despicable.¡± Kavaa said flatly. ¡°She is disgusting, she¡¯s pleasured when I heal her. I feel dirty when I think about her.¡± Malam raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°What do you want me to say about Anassa? I know you are sisters, I¡¯m not going to badmouth her in front of you.¡± Malam smiled and nodded. ¡°Good choice Kavaa. Then Arascus, what about father?¡± ¡°He¡­¡± Kavaa did not know either. There were times when she wanted to be rid of the God. There were times when she didn¡¯t doubt a single decision that led up to this moment. ¡°He pulls people together. Once he told me he was a man with a shovel and that others simply get caught up in the river he¡¯s digging. It¡¯s a bit like that.¡± ¡°Do you like him?¡± Malam asked quickly. Kavaa had to think about the question for a few moments. How long had it been since she stopped killing that spark within her that wanted acknowledgement from Arascus? Quite a while at this point. ¡°I suppose I do.¡± ¡°And he¡¯s alive?¡± ¡°I swear on my life Malam, he is.¡± Kavaa said. Was she having an effect? Malam didn¡¯t have even the slightest of tells. She was the opposite of Kassandora, where that woman could be a brick wall that hid everything, Malam¡¯s face was constantly changing, from smiles to shock to surprise, and yet there was nothing to take out of it. Of course the woman would smile at mentions of her sister, of course she would be surprised at the fact Arascus is alive. There an oceanic trench of emotion in there, and Kavaa could not even dip her toe into the water to scout it out. ¡°How do you like him?¡± Malam asked yet another one of her terrible, just downright rancid, questions, in her terrible, just downright rancid, tone. ¡°What?¡± Kavaa asked flatly. ¡°Well? Romantically? Platonically? Friend-ily? Rival-ily? How?¡± ¡°I simply have grown to respect him.¡± Kavaa said and Malam made a knowing smiling. ¡°You¡¯ve got the hots for dad. I¡¯ll tell him that.¡± Kavaa hated Malam¡¯s tone, she hated the smugness, she hated that this Goddess thought she knew everything, and she hated the fact her cheeks were going crimson. ¡°I fucking hate you.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam said. ¡°Love and hate, two sides of the same coin. Fer then?¡± ¡°Fer is lovely.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°She helped pull Iniri out of the Jungle.¡± Malam raised a doubtful eyebrow. ¡°Iniri could not get out of a Jungle?¡± Malam asked, her voice thick with doubt, yet even that doubt did not seem real. ¡°Would I actually make something that stupid up?¡± The Goddess of Nature stuck in a Jungle, it had to be seen to be believed. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Malam asked the air. ¡°Would you?¡± Kavaa said nothing as Malam didn¡¯t give her a chance to answer. ¡°What else about Fer? What do only we know?¡± ¡°Fer gets scared easily and she stalls herself.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°She¡¯s very loyal, she loves all of you immensely. When she gives gifts, it¡¯s always something really thoughtful rather than expensive.¡± Kavaa still had the leopard skin that Fer had given her for the cold Arikan nights. ¡°She and Anassa made the beastmen. She drinks blood, my blood heals her. Kassie¡¯s makes her stronger than mine. Anassa¡¯s doesn¡¯t have much of an effect.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam said. ¡°You know a lot about Fer.¡± ¡°I like her.¡± Kavaa defended herself. She honestly did like Fer, in the same way that she liked Helenna and Iniri, it was simply that the latter two she had known longer. ¡°I actually do. We¡¯re friends.¡± ¡°You and her were both assigned to Erdely.¡± Malam said. ¡°So it makes sense.¡± ¡°Malam, please¡­¡± ¡°Olephia.¡± Malam said. Kavaa remembered when she had met Olephia at the party in CR. Back then, she was merely curious. She could not believe her luck she had decided to talk to Olephia then. ¡°Olephia paints beautifully. She¡¯s also really chatty, even though she stays silent. She makes disgusting concoctions of drinks to play pranks on people but she actually just drinks vodka. She¡¯s really sweet. I honestly feel sort of bad for her because she can¡¯t speak.¡± Kavaa finished as Malam sat there and watched. Was that everything? Did the woman want anything else? Please. Kavaa realised she had tears in her eyes. And she realised she wanted to spill everything and anything to Malam. Whatever the Goddess of Hatred would ask for, she was ready to say. She just wanted the chance to prove herself. And as she realised that want, she saw the Malam before her again. Cold calculating and dark eyes, completely devoid of emotion. A face that revealed nothing in that sweet smile. And the beautiful white hair, at first, Kavaa had thought it was like fallen snow, but it was actually a cold tundra, stretching on forever. And as Kavaa sat there, she almost choked on her spit. Kassandora had played her back on Olympiada, but Kassandora had been honest to the extreme. Malam was another beast entirely. Allasaria and Olephia were awe-inspiring in their power. Kassandora was brilliant in her strategy. Anassa was despicable and Fer was lovely. Iniri was sweet. Helenna was the most supportive woman Kavaa knew. And Malam was the most terrifying person Kavaa had ever met. Never once had she sat across someone who had just imprisoned her and somehow been convinced to want to spill every secret in her head. And yet, Malam had done it. One conversation was all it took. Malam finally stood up and clapped her hands. ¡°You are wonderful Kavaa. You are just the best.¡± Kavaa hated that she couldn¡¯t get a single tell on whether Malam believed her or not. It was worse than talking to Kassandora, at least that woman would say flat out whether she believed you or not. ¡°I¡¯ll go now. I¡¯ll think on what you said, and I¡¯ll come to a decision regarding you.¡± ¡°Do you believe me?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Just answer like Kassandora? Please?¡± She couldn¡¯t believe how pathetic her voice was. Malam made a terrible Ohohoho of a laugh. ¡°Well Kavaa, I¡¯m not Kassandora, I¡¯m Malam. Do you believe you?¡± She raised her hands. ¡°Do you want me to believe you?¡± Kavaa never got the answer to that question. Malam simply left, the door falling shut behind her. The woman had not even said anything terrible, she wasn¡¯t even rude. She had said nothing horrible but mocking compliments and childish innuendos. And yet Kavaa wanted to cry. What a terrible Goddess. Chapter 265 – The Fence Washed Away Anassa ran her fingers over something cool and smooth. If it was wet, it would be slippering. She slowly peeled her eyes open. The sky was a wonderful blue up above and¡­ Anassa stood up in shock. Was she still in Arika? All around was deep blue water, murky and almost black as if it was dirtied with soil or ash. Had she landed in an ocean? Anassa realised the island she was on wasn¡¯t an island whatsoever. She turned around, two enormous red eyes were looking directly at her. The ground below her was not ground at all either, it was the huge scales of a reptile. Anassa blinked at the beast and didn¡¯t grab at sorcery. There was no need to, she had humiliated the monster the last time they faced off against each other. She merely stared into those eyes, they were intelligent. That was the part she was totally unable to comprehend. Why would an intelligent creature save her? Ciria readjusted the collar of her coat as she jumped out of the helicopter carrying her. By all rational observation, she should not. Frankly, it wasn¡¯t just rationality, every bone in her body told her not to come. To leave the UNN and Newford to its fate. She wasn¡¯t Kassandora, who had all the great books written about her and who all the Divines treated with so much awe and adoration that she existed as a Goddess among Gods. She was not Anassa, who apparently was so powerful she had entire libraries dedicated to the tragedies laying at her feet. She was not Olephia, who even Allasaria had once said was undefeatable. Nor was she Fortia or Maisara, who had no powers yet could inspire cities to move as one. Allasaria, Ciria was not either, the Goddess of Light cast a shadow so large Ciria felt as if she could drown in it. And she was not Elassa, who had caused this crisis in the first place. She was merely Ciria, Goddess of Civilization. Supposedly the highest title of this era, supposedly the greatest to exist amongst them. Her husband was Halkus, of Industry, another great God. Supposedly the second greatest of this era. After all, what had changed more in the past thousand years than the advent of industry and the stabilization of civilization? For the first time in history, nations weren¡¯t being wiped out at the local ruler¡¯s whims. Halkus fixed his sleeves and gave Ciria a smile as he jumped from the huge helicopter too. The two Divines landed with a crash onto the concrete of the Newford¡¯s many piers. ¡°I¡¯ll clear the ships, you raise a floodwall.¡± Halkus said and Ciria smiled as she gave one last glance at her husband. Etala, Goddess of Democracy and Patron of the UNN, had called him here. Newford had eight million people. It was a jewel of the UNN, with skyscrapers that reached the clouds, each one seeming to race the others in a bid to be the tallest. The other coastal cities were in just as bad a situation, but the only saving grace was that even the second biggest only stood at four. And they were considerably smaller. Halkus, in his dark blue coat which matched Ciria¡¯s, raised his stands as he took over the ships that were left abandoned in Newford¡¯s port. Ciria got to work. Wave hits Alkai, Southern UNN. UNN Death Toll: 1,800,000 Ciria closed her eyes, there were times when she had responded to natural disasters before. Usually, it was her or Kavaa. And Kavaa was there to heal, not to protect in the same way that Ciria could. The various magicians who happened to be in the city started to help too. That was another reason Ciria had come to Newford, magician density here was the lowest out of any other city on the east coast. The others had defenders which could potentially raise something akin to barriers. A concrete wall, fashioned out of the tarmac and pavement. The land simply shifted as Ciria used her powers to pull them up. It was the same thing as shaping sand, simply using the material in the ground and guiding it serve a different purpose. Ciria saw several of the mages in the distance lift off into the air as they went to deal with the crowds. Cars were stalled behind Ciria, two trucks crashed into each other. No one had been hurt, but the vehicles had been made immobile. Ciria turned as she watched the magicians used winds to lift one of the trucks into the air and open up the road for more people to flee. She almost smiled, then she stopped. The concrete wall reached the height of the second floor window. Ciria almost got hopeful, and then she let the little voice in her mind to move faster guide her. Who was Ciria joking? An entire continent been shifted. Ciria started to pull the wall higher. Wave hits Endmond, Southern UNN. UNN Death Toll: 4,250,000 Ciria¡¯s concrete wall reached the fourth floor of the buildings behind her. Some of the people this high up had decided to test their luck by staying in the city rather than attempting an escape. Ciria did not know if she deserved that level of trust. A year ago, she would have been happy that the people were so confident in her ability. And now? She had failed in the Peace Conference back then, she had simply given up and decided that it was not worth it. That the old breed of Divines was simply unsalvageable. Well, maybe the old breed of Divines was not her problem. Maybe they should simply go and kill themselves for the good of Arda. But if it was as simple and as easy as that, then would there have been a Great War in the first place? Halkus jumped from the pier onto a yacht that was operating itself under his command. The great container ships and tankers that had been docked where being guided by Ciria¡¯s husband out to the sea. It didn¡¯t matter where, they simply shouldn¡¯t be in the port for when the tidal wave came. Ciria held her breath as she pulled on steel to reinforce to her wall. Concrete was good, concrete was strong, but she doubted that concrete alone would stand against the whole might of a shifted ocean. Metal from the plumbing systems, from the street lamps, from the buildings themselves and from the cars that had been abandoned on the roads by the people, shot into the concrete and started intertwining through it like spider-webs. A few helicopters were flying in the sky, now purple from the setting Sun, as more planes were flying to the cities in the south.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Ciria saw the tide start to retreat. It was coming. Wave hits Onkton, Central UNN. UNN Death Toll: 12,800,000 To the sixth floor, Ciria¡¯s concrete wall rose. Intertwined with steel for support, it was a challenge to put, gone to save people from avalanches before. She had reinforced cities in times of flooding too, and she had stopped a few tidal waves in the past. But nothing like this, never had a floodwall needed to be so thick, so tall, and on such a short notice of time. Behind her, the roads had died down. People were actually starting to return to their homes. That was good, they should head to the upper floors, even if the wall fell, then Ciria could reinforce the structures so they would not collapse. Whatever breed of God Elassa was, Ciria was the exact opposite. The Goddess of Civilization smiled at the thought. That was one thing she could be proud of: she was not Elassa. So Ciria kept on dragging the wall higher, as helicopters circled around her, recording the event. As other helicopters went out to scout the retreating waters. As people clambered onto rooftops and started laying sandbags out in front of their homes. As the Sun began to set over Newford, Ciria kept on pulling every inch of material not crucial for a building with people in out of the city and into her protective barrier. Wave hits Mulley, Central UNN. UNN Death Toll: 23,900,000 Ciria stared out into the ocean. Fish and other sea creatures were jumping on flat ground as Halkus returned on a helicopter. He dropped from it next to Ciria and looked around grimly. ¡°Are the ships gone?¡± Ciria asked. ¡°I got most of them past the wave and onto the open ocean.¡± Halkus said. ¡°I¡¯ll hold the ones that the wave carries.¡± ¡°Is it big?¡± Ciria asked. ¡°It¡¯s big.¡± Was all Halkus said. Ciria felt her knees shake and sweat stream down her face and dampen her shirt. ¡°Hold me Halkus.¡± Ciria said. ¡°Keep me standing, I¡¯ll keep on pulling it up.¡± Ciria closed her eyes and worked without seeing. There was nothing to see anyway, she was simply repeating the same motion. More material pulled into the foundation, the foundation would be shifted upwards, metal would be collected, the metal would reinforce her barrier, and then she would repeat the action. She was glad Halkus didn¡¯t say anything, her mouth was too dry to answer right now. Instead, he merely stood behind her, wrapped his arms under hers, and kept Ciria standing. Ciria heard a crash. In the distance, like a thousand different thunder strikes all overlapping over one-another. The Goddess of Civilization opened her eyes. Ciria saw the horizon move. Wave hits Newford, Northern UNN. Ciria caught her breath and almost gagged at the sight. That wasn¡¯t a wave. That was a wall. A moving wall of blue so dark it may as well have been black. The cargo ships it had swallowed were little more than tiny little needles in it. Ciria felt her eyes tear up in fear. She pushed it away, Halkus¡¯ touch stabilized her emotions, and she merely kept on raising the wall as that moving mountain, stretching endlessly from each end of the horizon, barrelled towards them. It crashed half way across the distance, launching a spray that may as well have been rain towards Newford. And thankfully, the waters did not rise even to half the height of that first wave again. Instead, they roared onwards, straight at the defences Ciria had put up. Ciria raised her arms higher as the floodwall started to climb. The ocean crashed into it like a battering ram crashing into a castle gate. If Ciria was not reinforcing the stone underneath with magic, constantly re-arranging itself to re-fill cracks as the material groaned. For a moment, Ciria had one stupid thought that the waters would retreat immediately. That all she had to do was withstand the initial crash, and that then she would have saved Newford. Ciria stared down in horror as the ocean started to rise. And it rose quickly too. Ciria¡¯s concrete climbed higher as it kept pace with the ocean. She had used all the power she could manage to hold onto, and she could only build one wall to protect Newford. Here, she had only managed to roll a boulder into the river. All it did was slightly stall the water as they raced around them. In the grand scheme of things, when it came to the entire east coast of the UNN, Ciria¡¯s wall was merely a single piece of tape across the hole in the sinking ship. She had saved how many millions? The people who had stayed behind when they got news that a Divine was coming to help had freed up the roads for those who decided to leave anyway. Her intervention meant that every plane in the country could be diverted to another city, more pressing. One million? Two? Let¡¯s say even five million. A drop in the bucket. The worst part was, it was an unneeded loss. Ciria had met Kassandora and had met Elassa. She had told them both to stop. She had tried to convince. They had merely ridiculed her like a child. Yet the only point where Ciria had been wrong was in the scale; even she did not think any of them were capable of this. Ciria¡¯s concrete walls climbed higher as Halkus raised his hands and forced the engines of the ships to turn on. Anchors dropped, and the huge vessels just about barely stopped from crashing into Ciria¡¯s floodwall. They had treated her and Halkus like children, and now her and Halkus were cleaning up their mess. Who was the real child now? Ciria bit her tongue in rage. She rarely got angry, and usually she tried to quell those flames of anger within herself. Not today. Today, those fires were righteous. She knew they were. The lot of them should have been killed then and there. Instead, Waeh had died. Instead Epa had gone to war. Instead, two continents were burning with war, and half of the world was flood. The lot of them were terrible. Elassa, Kassandora, Maisara and Arascus. Allasaria too. The woman had always said that everything would work out. Ciria¡¯s concrete walls grew half way to the size of skyscrapers as they started to thicken. The buildings behind her started to expand and reinforce the floodwall, else it would collapse from its own sheer scale. All of them. Allasaria and Zerus and Sceo. All of them! And what was Fortia? Fortia? Goddess of Peace? What a joke. Fortia would be satisfied with a world under one tyrant simply because it meant that there was a lack of war. What a child. Kassandora? Why was she even respected? Because the woman had a total lack of morality? Because her convictions were ones of utter immorality? Was that it? And Elassa? Ciria could not believe she had ever once respected the woman. Once, she had even thought Elassa to be the most intelligent and knowledgeable of them all. The Archivist of Arda, even if the woman died now, she would leave a permanent mark on history simply through the sheer number of historical records she had made first-hand. And now? No. Elassa was not stupid, that, Ciria could not believe. She wished she could though. That would offer an easier explanation than the alternative. Because if the person who cracked a continent was not stupid, then what were they? Continent Cracking fatalities within the UNN on the first day: 36,800,000. The number would rise to 55,500,000 over the course of the next week. Disease and starvation would lead to an estimated 5 million dead over the next three months. The UNN itself tracks deaths at 62,832,933. The War College of Arcadia, within the next month, would release a statement officially sanctioned by Elassa, Goddess of Magic, listing deaths at only 43, this is the sorcerers who burned their lives out during Starfall. Chapter 266 – Stars have Fallen The damage caused on that day cannot be undershot, it is simply impossible. Even contingencies for total societal collapse in the wake of a hypothetical Anarchian victory projected less damage. In terms of raw numbers, every plague in world history combined only barely to scratch Elassa¡¯s count. One would have to go to the Great War or to the Worldbreaking era in order to find similar events. The world population graph plummeted as if it was a crashing stock market. It is, and there is no need for discussion or comparison regarding the facts, the single greatest humanitarian disaster in world history. - Excerpt of a news article written by Etala, of Democracy and the UNN, published two days after Continent Cracking. Olympiada, the Divine Mountain, never had the hustle and bustle of towns and cities. Even though the mountain had its peak smoothed out, and the top had a concoction of buildings that could be called something resembling a town. Yet Olympiada, in all its glory, always carried that reserved air of respect around it. Divines would wander through the streets, in between the different sections assigned to each major God or Goddess of the Pantheon. And the mortals would talk in hushed voices, rarely did anyone shout, and the most noise was definitely caused by the engines of aeroplanes as they landed in the skyport. Sometimes, a man would trip and fall on the cobblestone roads, a cart would fall, a jar or a plate would shatter yet the rule was that Olympiada was a generally quiet place. Yet today, the Divine Mountain stood in silence. In the Great Hall where the Pantheon met had a ceiling cold and pale and domed. The magical lamps that Elassa had created were slowly rotating as they hovered in the air surrounding the marble thrones of the White Pantheon¡¯s highest members, although their number had shrunk, from fourteen to ten. The grand doors were shut, they had been shut for half a day now since Fortia had arrived. The Goddess of Peace was the last to come, from her war-front in Rilia. At first she had been angry, she knew about Elassa¡¯s display of power, she did not know about the consequences of it across the world. But then she had learned. And she said nothing. Allasaria, white gold robes and golden hair that fell almost to the floor, sat in silence. Maisara stared at her in satisfaction. The woman had come in so smugly that Kassandora had defeated her and Fortia before, and now she had been repelled even faster than the first invasion. Not so easy now, was it Allasaria? Zerus sat in silence. Breathing heavily, in a grey shawl. The God said nothing, boring as always. Sceo sat in silence. She leaned on her seat to get closer to her husband, another Force who had no real beliefs or positions. The only reason she had been formally included in the Pantheon was simply so that they had another strong member. Theosius sat in silence. He was one Maisara could rarely get a read on, but his hands were dirty, he had been rather happy over the course of the war, especially since the forges around Olympiada had restarted. Now though, he was the height of depression. Alkom sat in silence. The man had done practically nothing throughout Allasaria¡¯s attempt to dislodge Arascus from Kirinyaa. Alkom could burn down entire cities, and every time he would appear, Olephia would soon be there to chase him away. Mur sat in silence. All his limbs too long, and in dark armour. Unhappy as he looked around. His eyes avoided Maisara¡¯s, that was good. The man had actually thought that just because he led some backwater kingdom, he was now allowed to sit on the Pantheon. Tasaidien sat in silence. The man looked defeated, his eyes were heavy. He had come with his coral crown and armour, but instead of wearing it on his head, he was gently sliding his finger along it as to remind the God that it was still there. Itni sat in silence. Maisara gave the God one passing glance. Why was he even here? For what? Supposedly he was to help them in Epa, he had done nothing. Marshalling armies? What a joke. It was simply a lack of want, the man needed a fire under his feet to get him moving. If Maisara was to go and marshal her Paladins, they would be ready on the same day. Itni had already spent a month in Pichqasuyu. Fortia sat in silence. In gold, with her spear next to her. Maisara appreciated the look. That was how a Divine should hold herself like. Maisara sat in silence. In her silver armour, exactly how a Divine should look. They sat like that for another hour. Allasaria had brought a whole folder practically overflowing with images of giant waves. Of the horizon advancing like a giant wall. Of locations that once where amazing cities, the peak of technology and civilization. Now, they had become nothing more than mere marks on the ground, washed away to nothing more than patches of concrete and tarmac. Of places that once were great forests, now only barren trees, all the leaves ripped from them as if they had been in a blaze. Of broken dams. The worst part was that even though the folder Allasaria had brought was a disaster that would make any day in the Worldbreaking era look preferable, it was the least pressing issue. Maisara sighed as she decided to break the silence. They could sit and stew in their own depression here for days on end, but she had a war lead in Lubska. Fortia had a war to lead in Rilia. Tasaidien had Allian logistics to raid. Allasaria and Mur, ever so high and mighty, had been repelled in Kirinyaa. Even though that was a military defeat, Maisara could not help but feel satisfaction at that fact. ¡°So, we take the issues one by one.¡± Maisara said. Her eyes skipped Itni, Mur, Tasaidien and Sceo, these weren¡¯t real Pantheon members. She skipped Zerus and Alkom and Theosius too. Those were forces, they had no beliefs. So they landed only on Fortia and Allasaria. And so, before anyway could raise disagreement, Maisara began. ¡°Firstly, the war. I am pushing in Lubska. The Epan Coalition forces have changed tactics, it is obvious that either they are being led by Kassandora, by someone trained by Kassandora, or their leadership has been trained by Kassandora. The tactics changed like this.¡± Maisara snapped her fingers. ¡°Overnight, however, we are still pushing. Casualties are slightly greater than expected, progress is slightly slower, but both are still acceptable.¡± Maisara turned to Fortia to let the woman speak. Fortia nodded and began in a cold voice. ¡°I have the exact same to report in Rilia. The place is mountainous, there are obvious tactics to be used in locations like that which would be easy to counter, yet the Rilian army is fighting a war of attrition and movement instead of trying to hold strategic locations as would be normally done. I have nothing else to report. The country will fall within the year.¡± The Goddesses of Peace and Order both turned to Allasaria. The Goddess of Light stared at them, silently broiling in fury. Maisara knew it was obvious what she had done, but she simply could not help herself. It was Allasaria¡¯s own fault for coming in like that, all so smug about how she would be the one who would defeat Kassandora. Well where was Kassandora now? Certainly nowhere near defeat. Allasaria began in a cold voice. ¡°Kirinyaa holds. Nanbasa has been destroyed. The strategy is changing to one of attrition. At the end of the day, Kirinyaa is only a single nation, it cannot stand on its own forever.¡± And Allasaria added her own little snark to it. ¡°The sooner you finish in Epa, the sooner a professional land army will arrive in Kirinyaa. We¡¯re waiting on you.¡± Maisara smiled to herself at that sarcasm. Wasn¡¯t Allasaria just the loveliest? Well whatever, she let it slide. The results spoke for themselves, Kirinyaa was not as easy a nut to crack. Maisara began. ¡°So now, we have an issue.¡± ¡°We do.¡± Tasaidien answered. He passed his images to Mur, who only gave them a glance. From the rumours Maisara had managed to sniff out, the man had taken the fall of Ktulu particularly badly. Who wouldn¡¯t though? It was a national titan. Those sorts of things didn¡¯t exist on the surface. ¡°The Arika situation.¡± ¡°Continent Cracking.¡± Maisara correct him. That was what all the papers were calling the situation. ¡°Does anyone want to start? Or should I?¡± ¡°I will.¡± Allasaria said coldly. ¡°The tidal wave has killed some hundred million world-wide. More will come in tomorrow. This, the White Pantheon cannot sit out. We will do something.¡± Maisara nodded. Allasaria did speak sense, the world was in too bad a situation now, and the Policy of Non-Interference had an exception for Divines. Elassa had caused, there was absolutely no way they could pretend to turn a blind eye. It would spell the death of the Pantheon. ¡°I agree.¡± Maisara said quickly to show her support. ¡°I do too.¡± Fortia said. And when Maisara, Fortia and Allasaria all agreed on an issue, it didn¡¯t leave much chance for anyone to disagree. Tasaidien looked around with a heavy expression, Maisara saw him, as did Allasaria and Fortia. ¡°Speak.¡± Allasaria said and the God sighed. His finger once again traced the ridges of his coral crown. ¡°Alanktyda has taken damage.¡± Maisara rolled her eyes. Well that was obvious. What? Did the man want a participation award? ¡°How much?¡± Fortia said. ¡°Because I was expecting you to assist.¡± Tasaidien sighed and looked around the room. He traced the edge of his coral crown and slowly lifted it up into the air. The put it onto his head. ¡°I am gracious for the opportunity to serve on the Pantheon, but I am a leader of a nation too.¡± Maisara stared at the man. Wonderful. A fool then. This is why she had been letting National Divines join in the first place. That sort of responsibility was like asking a man with children to lead a revolution: it simply did not happen. ¡°How bad is it?¡± Maisara asked coldly.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Elassa shifted the tectonic plates.¡± Tasaidien said. ¡°We¡¯re used to earthquakes here and there, but not this. Almost every city has collapse, although loss of life is minor compared to the surface. I have already started rebuilding efforts, but I am pulling the army away from raiding Allia too.¡± And now it was Allasaria¡¯s turn to snap. Her eyebrows arced downwards and she turned to the God. ¡°Why? Allian logistics are the backbone of the Epan armoured core. You can¡¯t just leave it.¡± Tasaidien slowly shook his head. ¡°This is not up for debate, with any of you. The decision has already been made. I will not let my people suffer so that a surface war will succeed.¡± Maisara stared smugly at Allasaria. It had been her idea to bring Tasaidien here after all! Look at how helpful he was! Lovely, wasn¡¯t he? ¡°Several of the islands in the ocean have collapsed too. I am transporting the populations back to their respective countries. Allasaria, Fortia, Maisara, I will not claim that what happened to me was just as bad as what happened to the surface, but more than half the country doesn¡¯t have a home right now. Hospitals, schools, infrastructure was damaged, if I keep fighting the Allian front, then we will face revolution in the ocean.¡± ¡°Ah. So you¡¯re scared for your head.¡± Maisara said and the God looked at her as if she was stupid. Tasaidien explained slowly, as if for a child. ¡°Maisara. It is not that I fear a revolution, I simply know it will succeed. And what then? Do you think that the new Alanktydan government will ally with the White Pantheon? Or do you think there¡¯s another faction they would prefer?¡± Maisara understood, it was obvious what the man said after all. They were going to ally with Arascus. ¡°In that case, Tasaidien, you will deal with rebuilding yourself.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°We cannot help, and the surface is not in a good position either.¡± ¡°I have no qualms with that.¡± Tasaidien said. ¡°I actually do.¡± Fortia said. ¡°Which is that we do need Tasaidien¡¯s troops.¡± ¡°I have voiced my case Fortia, it is good for the Pantheon as a whole-¡° Fortia interrupted the God of Alankytda. ¡°No Tasaidien. I do not care for your raiding of Allian logistics. I merely think you are a coward because even a hundred troops will make a difference.¡± Maisara smiled at the cutting remark. ¡°But if you¡¯re this set, then so be it, surface wars are won by surface hands after all.¡± Tasaidien did not take the bait to argument, so Fortia actually got to her point. She lifted up one of the Allasaria¡¯s pictures, it was merely a stretch of concrete on the water. ¡°What is that?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°This is Alkai in the UNN. There isn¡¯t a building left standing.¡± Fortia said. She looked around the room. ¡°Does anyone know what Alkai had?¡± Maisara thought for a moment, and then she blinked. Her cheeks went pale and her eyes wide. Fortia saw Maisara¡¯s expression. ¡°I think you do Mai.¡± Of course Maisara did. ¡°Alkai had the Robert C. Poiter Nuclear Power Plant.¡± Maisara answered and Fortia nodded. The temperature in the room seemed to drop as the council of ten Divines had a collective shiver. Tasaidien¡¯s face was the worst though, the God fell back into his seat in utter shock. And Fortia began. ¡°Station Six, Redrick Centre, Temeni Centre, Onkton Institute for Nuclear Development.¡± She took a breath. ¡°I have named only four but twenty six stations were hit. Eleven no longer exist, they were washed away entirely, fifteen are flooded. Two of those have collapsed.¡± Tasaidien took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling. ¡°Divines have to go. We cannot allow fifteen nuclear meltdowns.¡± ¡°Eleven have already been washed away?¡± Tasaidien asked in disbelief. Fortia nodded. ¡°Your ocean will be irradiated, but if we move fast, we can stop it from being uninhabitable. The East Coast of the UNN will be designated a red-zone, but we can save the rest of your kingdom.¡± ¡°What do you propose?¡± Tasaidien asked. Fortia turned to Allasaria. ¡°Using your beams, cut the reactors out of the ground. Use magicians from Arcadia to transport them out to wherever. Just make sure that they don¡¯t contaminate the oceans.¡± Allasaria made a grim face and a heavy breath ¡°And if Arcadia does not help?¡± ¡°I am already sending Guardians there. I know Mai is sending Paladins too. We will transport the materials by land if necessary.¡± Maisara nodded, Fortia had asked her to send immediately, so she had done. She had thought it was only for humanitarian help back then. ¡°I will divert more of my forces then.¡± Maisara said. ¡°I can cease pushing in Lubska for now.¡± ¡°I have decided to keep fighting in Rilia, but I won¡¯t make you push.¡± Fortia said. ¡°Frankly, I think this is more urgent.¡± Fortia sighed. ¡°That is all I have to say on the topic. We have come out of the frying pan and landed in the fire so to say. If anyone wishes to add anything else, they¡¯re welcome to.¡± Zerus spoke up for once. ¡°I was going to discuss the landfill wastes flowing into the oceans, but Fortia¡¯s point on the Nuclear Power Plants is more urgent indeed.¡± ¡°It is.¡± Sceo agreed. Maisara spoke up. Was hers as urgent? Maybe? But the power plants had to be dealt with immediately, this was more long-term. ¡°I have my own problem to raise.¡± Maisara said. ¡°What is it?¡± Fortia asked. ¡°It¡¯s not as pressing, but long-term it is an issue.¡± ¡°How long-term are we speaking?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°I¡¯m comparing it to the hour-by-hour of the nuclear power plants. So long term as in we have a week, maybe two.¡± ¡°Lovely.¡± Fortia said. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Getting supplies to the affected areas.¡± Maisara said. A few of the others got it immediately, Fortia did, as did Allasaria. Theosius did not, that was typical though, the undersea kingdoms didn¡¯t have such a thing as congestion. Maisara explained. ¡°There isn¡¯t a port remaining in the eastern UNN. Simply just based off transport links, they¡¯re in the worst situation. Supplies either have to be airdropped, or shipped by land all the way from the west.¡± ¡°The UNN produces it¡¯s own grain.¡± Mur said. Typical frankly, the man had not seen real conflict, he had merely sat on the sidelines during the Great War. ¡°But not its own fertilizer.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Now, it will have no power, so its factories are offline too. The power grid can¡¯t be turned on all at once either, we¡¯ll have to go part-by-part. Whereas I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll thirst themselves to death.¡± Maisara looked around the room. ¡°The same cannot be said for food. Medicines are another weak point. If we don¡¯t move quickly, we can expect disease outbreaks.¡± Maisara wanted to laugh. She saw Allasaria open her mouth and close it. She saw Sceo pipe up, ready to say ¡®Ka¡­¡¯ She saw Theosius sigh and lean back into his chair. ¡°If we don¡¯t move quickly.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Then those lost to starvation and illness will be measured not in thousands but in the tens of millions. An entire continent is without food and power.¡± Everyone wanted to say the same solution, the same thing they had been using for the past thousand years. The same duo that could at least be partly responsible for what just happened: Kavaa and Iniri. But there was no Kavaa with her endless Clerics to heal the sick, and there was no Iniri to serve as a walking granary. Maisara smiled in humour, it wasn¡¯t funny, it was downright hilarious. It was true, you did not know what you had until you grew to miss it. Fortia spoke up. ¡°Nuclear Power Plants need to be done within the day. Food and medicine, we can secure within the week.¡± ¡°I have no issue with that.¡± Maisara said. ¡°But Theosius, you should work on temporary docking stations. I don¡¯t care how or what, or if they fall apart after one use, but ships need to be able to anchor on the UNN¡¯s east coast.¡± ¡°I will think of something.¡± The God of Forging said. ¡°And on that regard, I think we have something else to discuss. Or, I should say: someone.¡± Maisara looked around the room. It was obvious who. ¡°Elassa.¡± Allasaria said the name. Maisara¡¯s eyes flicked up to the hovering lamps. ¡°I know what I would do, but I would ask for your suggestions first?¡± Maisara saw all of the old members of the Pantheon turn to her. Well, she was the one who was usually tasked with keeping Order on the Mountain. ¡°If we kick Elassa out.¡± Maisara began and trailed off. ¡°Well, we know what will happen.¡± ¡°Arascus will recruit her.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°Immediately most likely.¡± ¡°She is one Goddess only.¡± Zerus said. ¡°And she is less troublesome than Anassa.¡± Itni made a confused face from the other side of the room. ¡°This is less troublesome?¡± ¡°To kill.¡± Zerus said. ¡°In ritual magic, Elassa is second to none, but in battle, we have a few candidates here who are stronger.¡± The God of Lightning was much too humble to say who. His wife was not. ¡°Zerus for one.¡± She said rather proudly, then listed off the other names with much less enthusiasm. ¡°Fortia and Maisara, Allasaria of course. I would argue that even Alkom could on a good day.¡± Zerus made a tiny smile that he quickly hid again. ¡°The issue of Elassa is Arcadia.¡± Fortia said. ¡°Not Elassa herself but what will we do with all the mages in there.¡± Maisara sighed, that was indeed the issue. Arcadia was an army, perhaps the only army in the world. And if it wasn¡¯t, then Elassa¡¯s death would certainly make it into one. ¡°Elassa could be excommunicated.¡± Maisara said. ¡°We could¡­¡± She hated that she was suggesting this. It wasn¡¯t good, it wasn¡¯t orderly, but it needed to be done. ¡°Arcadia of course won¡¯t stand for Elassa¡¯s execution. However I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll¡­¡± Maisara did not know. That was the worst part. The Arcadia of a thousand years past would have undoubtedly followed Elassa no matter what she did. But this Arcadia? With its weak and moral mages? ¡°I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll be able to stomach following Elassa after this.¡± ¡°There is an option.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°If Arcadia does not comply¡­¡± She made her voice hard. ¡°Well, whilst it is Arcadia and obviously we don¡¯t want to. We do have a solution to troublesome nations.¡± ¡°I saw it in Kirinyaa.¡± Fortia said sourly. Allasaria did not take the bait, she simply made her tone hard and commanding. ¡°Kirinyaa is Kassandora and Arascus, different things. Arcadia has no Divines for protection.¡± ¡°So what then?¡± Allasaria gave up, her voice grew harder, she sighed. ¡°Arcadia could be purged. That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. I would do it, with my Seekers.¡± Maisara summed up, Fortia was just being difficult at this point. ¡°So either Arcadia bends the knee or we bend Arcadia.¡± Fortia nodded. ¡°It is too close to us just geographically. The Pantheon armies are here, they wouldn¡¯t have a chance, mages or not.¡± ¡°Mages can¡¯t block light.¡± Allasaria said grimly. ¡°They would not be able to stand against the Seekers.¡± ¡°So we are kicking Elassa out?¡± Maisara asked. Zerus came in. ¡°To associate with Elassa now is a death sentence. The Pantheon is unpopular enough, if we don¡¯t kick her out then the world will turn its back on us.¡± The whole room gave a reason of careful affirmations, as if no one wanted to voice too much enthusiasm about the fact they were discussing being rid of a particularly annoying member. Allasaria nodded. ¡°Elassa cannot stay because of that. Kicking her out may not necessarily mean she joins Arascus either.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± Tasaidien asked and Allasaria shook her head, golden hair swaying from side to side. ¡°I don¡¯t know if even Arascus is prideful enough to think he can somehow rehabilitate Elassa¡¯s public image. The woman is worse than any mass murderer in the history of the world. Ever.¡± Maisara added. ¡°What she did warrants an execution. The only reason we are even considering staying it is because the White Pantheon can¡¯t fight a war against Epa and Kirinyaa at the same time as it hunts down Elassa.¡± The others in the room, everyone but Fortia, looked as if they took discomfort with the way she had phrased it. All apologetic and careful eyes, all looking away. ¡°Well? I didn¡¯t say anything wrong.¡± ¡°Maisara is correct. Elassa would not simply submit to an execution. We would need to send a full team for a capture and execution. And it would have to be some of us, not minor Divines. Elassa is not the strongest, but she is strong.¡± ¡°But it make actually work out for us though. If Arascus does recruit Elassa, we¡¯ll have our public image rehabilitated simply through opposing Elassa.¡± Maisara said. Fortia nodded. ¡°In that case, it could be beneficial to even push her into Arascus¡¯ grasp.¡± ¡°All that can come later.¡± Zerus said. ¡°We should expel her now in order to not make it seem like we¡¯re simply reacting to public opinion.¡± He turned to Allasaria. Maisara tightened her fists at that, why was Allasaria always the one who declared these things? Maisara was the Goddess of Order, it should be her. ¡°Allasaria, the honours?¡± Allasaria sighed and stood up. ¡°All of those in favour of expelling Elassa, Goddess of Magic, from the White Pantheon, raise your hands.¡± Ten hands went up. Allasaria was last. She honestly sounded sad as she spoke. ¡°Elassa, of Magic, is formally expelled from the White Pantheon.¡± Chapter 267 – To Make a Goddess Smile At the end of the day, it is not any specific invention that has broken the Divine stranglehold on rulership. There still exists no such thing that will make a mortal equal to a Divine. No weapon, no poison nor any magical spell can be employed against us and have a success rate even of one-in-ten-thousand. It is thought that has advanced, and it is thought and philosophy that has forced Divinity into a retreat. The worst part it, it was not even human thought. Generally, they are quite content to be guided into a stable future and uncaring of who is actually leading the way. It was the ideas of Divines. Conceptualized by us, to fight against each other. Each one is another arrow in the mortal quiver against us. Elassa, with her Magic, showed that even if one man cannot stand against Divinity, mortals can break Worlds just as Divines can. Kassandora, with her War, rationalized strategies that, whilst difficult, work in theory. And even if the chance is less than one-in-ten-thousand, there is more than a million of them for every one of us. Helenna, with her Love, awakened a beast greater than any dragon when she conceptualized the idea of love and loyalty to nation-states. Malam, with her Hate, defeated the fear of Death and the instinct of self-preservation. Anassa, with her Sorcery, proved that the strongest sorcerer can stand against the weakest Divine, and once one falls, why can others not fall? Arascus, with his Pride, told mortals they can do better and tied it all together. Excerpt from ¡®Divine Rule¡¯, written by Allasaria, Goddess of Light. ¡°You four and your teams are dismissed.¡± Kassandora stopped as she looked at Eliza, Fleur, Lyca and Edmonton. The four sorcerers that led the surviving sorcerers after Worldbreaking. Eighty Kassandora had brought, thirty-seven were still standing. ¡°Raptor Two is yours, it will take back to CR, I¡¯ve already called it in.¡± ¡°Understood Goddess!¡± Lyca half-shouted with Anassa¡¯s variety of salute. A fist over the heart. His clothes were burned and he his arm was in a sling made out of his shirt, but Kassandora got the feeling from the boy that he was showing off his muscled chest too much. Eliza was next him. She had ripped the sleeves off her shirt and tied them around her head; Starfall had made her ears bleed. ¡°If¡­¡± Edmonton began weakly and then coughed up some blood, just like the other two, his black suit was charred in random spots, as if the man¡¯s body had simply overheated during Starfall to burn holes in the cloth. ¡°If¡­¡± He croaked again, unable to hold even that single syllable steady. ¡°Speak.¡± Kassandora said as she turned to him. ¡°If-If I may.¡± The man really did sound terrible, each word was another nail on the chalkboard. ¡°How long in CR?¡± Kassandora stared at him in confusion for a moment. People usually thought spies asked this sort of question but she knew Edmonton wasn¡¯t a spy. And spies typically tried to be more suave about it. ¡°Not planned, why?¡± Her soldiers, she would tell off, but the man had more than proved himself today. All of the sorcerers did, they had served as living catalysts for Elassa¡¯s magic as she channelled her power. Kassandora¡¯s soldiers wouldn¡¯t have been able to do that. ¡°Healing.¡± Edmonton said and Kassandora shook her head. ¡°You¡¯ll have time to heal. Clerics are in CR.¡± Edmonton smiled and sighed. ¡°Th-Thank you.¡± He croaked the words with all the grace of a frog. Fleur grabbed him, saluted to Kassandora and helped Edmonton down to the ashen ground. Kassandora let the other walk off as she turned back to Elassa. The Goddess of Magic was the only one among them who looked perfect and untouched, even Kassandora¡¯s uniform was darkened, with the edges singed, simply from the amount of heat Elassa had expelled from herself. And yet Elassa stood on that ash and yawned. And that was it. The woman had only gotten slightly tired. It almost made Kassandora jealous. Kassandora caught the thought and corrected it, it did make her jealous. Just as jealous as when she saw Olephia annihilate armies with a word, or when Fer blocked blades by merely grabbing them. If Kassandora had that sort of power, there would have never been wars in the first place, she would have won millennia ago. Even after unleashing so much power as to destroy the Jungle in one blow, Elassa still had enough to carry them back here. And she didn¡¯t even look exhausted, merely tired. In the same way that mortals did when they had an early morning in the day. Her blinking was slow, she was smiling, and standing at ease, hands behind her back in that blue dress of hers as she stared at Kassandora. The land here was ash, but it was all ash in all directions. There was nothing else to say. ¡°Can you clear out a runway?¡± Kassandora asked and Elassa smiled. ¡°Here? Or where?¡± ¡°Here.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°They¡¯re tracking my radio, so close.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Elassa said as turned around and lifted her hands up. Kassandora watched the woman for any trace or tell about her power. It was rare one got to study Elassa using magic with much ease. There was nothing, but that was a tell in itself. When Anassa used Sorcery, her hair and dress would stop being affected by the wind. When Fer jumped or exerted herself, her muscles would shift in such a way that they would be visible even from a distance.Stolen novel; please report. And now, as winds suddenly started to race past Elassa, there was nothing but the Goddess¡¯ quiet chant of an invocation. Her blue dress whipped around her legs and stomach, and her hair was thoroughly messed up by the winds, yet the ash being blown did not stick to the woman. It did not avoid her, like it did Anassa, but it simply slid off, like water sliding down glass. Kassandora made sure to record it all to memory. What she could gleam from it, she did not know, but that was typically the way of these things. Each tiny little fact of information was a puzzle piece, it was simply a matter of collecting enough puzzle pieces to be able to guess as the completed picture. Elassa sighed and stopped as she turned. ¡°So? That fine?¡± Kassandora leaned past the woman. Fine? It was downright beautiful, as if the woman had cleared the ash out and the smoothed the ground down with a steamroller. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Kassandora said and Elassa looked surprised for a moment. ¡°Thanks.¡± She answered. The planes came quickly. Captain Doug and Captain Erik deserved bonuses after this operation. Both have been in the air for more than thirty hours over the past two days, even during the Great War, Kassandora had not pushed her soldiers so hard. Raptor Two with Erik landed first. Kassandora sent the sorcerers off with CR and watched the plane take off. It shot away from the ground, booming like a great thunderstrike, as it broke the sound barrier. Raptor One landed shortly after. The jet-black jet kicked up a storm of dirty ash is it landed, but those jets had been tested in Karainan swamps. They would need to buried to be stopped from taking off. The side door slid open as Captain Doug, his face hidden behind a visor with a tube for fresh air leading to his mouth and nose, waved to them. Kassandora gave the man a single nod as she stepped aside for Elassa. The Goddess of Magic hopped on and immediately went to sit on one of the seats fixed to the wall. She leaned on the wall and smiled as Kassandora jumped on. The pistons of the door started to hiss as they slid the metal shut. The pilot¡¯s voice, surprisingly sharp for being up so long, came over the speakers. ¡°Captain Douglas speaking, good to see you Goddess. Where are we flying to?¡± ¡°Fetch the co-ordinates for when you dropped us last time, when it was five of us. There.¡± Kassandora shouted as she sat down. She saw Elassa looking at her with suspicion. ¡°You said we were going to save Anassa.¡± Kassandora gave the woman a flat look in return. ¡°Where is Anassa?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Well isn¡¯t that why we should look for her?¡± Elassa said, arms outstretched as the engines of the plane started to turn on. The two Goddesses in the back of the cargo hold slid on their seats as the plane tilted and ascended through the air. For a moment, the lights turned off and were only replaced by a blinking red one, although they came back on after a moment. ¡°Apologies for that.¡± Douglas said into the speakers. ¡°This girl doesn¡¯t like being pushed so much.¡± Kassandora ignored the man entirely. ¡°How big was the Jungle?¡± Kassandora asked, then made her tone more pressing. ¡°I¡¯m asking Elassa, how big is the Jungle?¡± The Goddess of Magic did not reply, Kassandora had not expected her to. It was obvious who was in the right here after all. Kassandora stared at the woman for a few moments, she saw Elassa almost shrink, her head dropped, her arms fell, her legs out on in strength. And the Goddess of War sighed, Elassa had always been like this. She could commit tragedy after tragedy, she had no qualms about live-testing for the advancement of knowledge, and she rarely opened up her to others. Kassandora was much the same in that regard. But Kassandora knew there was a difference, it was what separated her from Kavaa as well. These sorts of Goddesses closed themselves off because they got like¡­ like this, Kassandora stared at Elassa looking down at the floor. Her eyes were starting to silently sparkle. They got like this when they lost someone. Whereas Kassandora rarely opened up because there was nothing for her to open up with. So Kassandora leaned forwards, she made her tone soft, she put her face into Elassa¡¯s feel of vision so that the woman would see someone else. It was the best way to cheer her up. A tiny voice in the back of Kassandora¡¯s mind cursed the Goddess for her thinking; normal people would hope to cheer others up, only Kassandora would sit there and coldly strategize what facial expressions to make, how high her eyebrows should be tilted and how wide her eyes should be open. If she could do it at will, she would dilate the iris of her eyes too. ¡°Ela.¡± Kassandora whispered softly. ¡°Mmh?¡± Elassa asked sadly. She wasn¡¯t crying, but tears were slowly making streams down her cheeks. ¡°Wherever Anassa is, do you really think she¡¯s in danger?¡± Elassa opened her mouth, her voice cracked, and she shook her head. ¡°Do you really think you can find her?¡± Elassa took a deep breath, she blinked her eyes clean, and she wiped her cheeks with her blue sleeve. ¡°Kass.¡± Elassa said. ¡°I¡¯m not¡­¡± She sighed. ¡°I am worried, I know I can¡¯t do anything, but I am worried.¡± It had been like this in the past too, Elassa always thought to much. ¡°Then take your mind off it.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Elassa said and croaked out a mirthless laugh. ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°We lost Kavaa and Iniri in the tunnels.¡± Kassandora said flatly. She knew the change of tone would make Elassa laugh, it did. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you can just say that.¡± Elassa said. ¡°Kavaa doesn¡¯t even like me.¡± ¡°Iniri doesn¡¯t either.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But Anassa likes both of them. Kavaa especially, for some reason.¡± And now, even though she knew exactly why Anassa was fond of Kavaa, she let herself sound confused. ¡°And I don¡¯t like making Anassa mad.¡± No one did, so Elassa would be able to relate to that. ¡°Mmh.¡± Elassa said sadly, then narrowed her eyes at Kassandora. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me I would be rescuing Kavaa though.¡± Kassandora stared at the woman for a moment. She looked into those blue eyes, there was some excitement there at the prospect of showing off her skill again. The lips of her mouth were quirked up too. ¡°I¡¯m not going to beg Ela.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Kavaa is good for the war effort.¡± ¡°And now you¡¯re asking me to sabotage my own side?¡± ¡°Do you care?¡± Kassandora asked quickly. Elassa caring about her side in a war would be a first. Even when the world had come to her to face off against Fer¡¯s first incursions, Elassa had practically been dragged kicking and screaming to the front lines. ¡°Well¡­¡± Elassa said. ¡°I suppose I could do you a favour.¡± Ah. There it was. Elassa wanted Kassandora in her debt. Classic. Classic, but it wouldn¡¯t work. ¡°I¡¯m doing you a favour.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Are you?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°And I¡¯m not even asking for anything in return.¡± ¡°How are you?¡± Elassa honestly sounded curious, not even offended or insulted. ¡°Do you want to face Arascus after losing two Goddesses?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Because I don¡¯t.¡± Elassa laughed for a moment as she sat back up and crossed her arms. She closed her eyes and smiled. ¡°Great and noble Kassandora.¡± The woman was being sarcastic, but Kassandora didn¡¯t care. Working Elassa was simply a manner of keeping her smiling. That was it. At the rate they were going, she could be convinced to switch sides sooner rather than later too. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d see the day you were nervous.¡± Kassandora finished her coup-de-grace. She made her voice sound stupid, as if she was embarrassed of what she had just said. ¡°Me? I¡¯m never nervous.¡± Kassandora croaked. Elassa laughed. She shook her head, smiled and leaned back. ¡°I¡¯ll go for a nap Kass. That tired me out. Wake me up when we¡¯re there.¡± And Elassa fell asleep. Kassandora sat back up and sighed. It was that easy. Honestly, this sociopathy was her only ability that she hated. Chapter 268 – Uncorruptible Leadership An atrocity is called an atrocity because it is intolerable. Although the majority of us have the lessons of survival by now, there is still value in putting them to paper, for the future generations if not for us. The Eras of unanswerable despots led to Worldbreaking. Divines, although powerful, are no longer untouchable. My equals consider me a tyrant, I know they curse my name behind my back. In truth, I must have some inklings to tyranny in me. I will not pretend to be innocent in that regard, yet my tyranny is a product of self-preservation. It is only because I have kept my fellow Divines on a tight leash that we have retained relevancy into the modern era. I only need to point to the current-day mascots and compare them to previous national incarnations to show how much power Divinity has actually lost. The advent of industrial technology, the slow march of march and the exponential growth of populations have only been countered by Pantheon Peace, by Magical Demilitarization and by Divine Courts. Divines were being killed off by mortals long before the advent of the Great War, I struggle to find any of us who are actually stupid or prideful enough to think that if the various mortal races actually tried to, they would not be able to wipe us out. Excerpt from ¡®Divine Rule¡¯, written by Allasaria, Goddess of Light. Iliyal sighed and leaned back in his chair. It was oversized for a human, but perfect for him. He sat in his command tent, close to the frontline, although that had mainly been chosen because of the fact that Olonia, Saksma and Paida were sent as a response force from this base. He poured himself a glass of Lubskan vodka at an agonizingly slow pace before finally putting the bottle down on the foldable steel table. His bunk bed was close by, along with a crate stuff with organized folders. Iliyal made a show inspecting the entire tent, its pale cloth, the carpets on the floor, all of it, before finally looking at the guests. looked at the four men from Zawitz, Lubska¡¯s Capital. He had seen the city a few times in person, although not recently. That meant not in the past century. After a certain point, especially with modern surveillance and cameras, things simply got too dangerous to travel about like that. That was when he was running Arascus¡¯ Cult in Karaina. Now, even though he could walk around openly, there simply wasn¡¯t enough time. There wasn¡¯t enough time, and Iliyal had never once forgotten how easily a man fell to an assassin¡¯s blade. Iliyal stared at the four men from Zawitz as he sat in the chair of his tent. He kept his hands on the table though, there was no reason to show off the fact he was nervous of them. And frankly, he knew that if they tried to shoot him, he¡¯d be faster. ¡°I apologize, but I must have misheard you.¡± Iliyal said. The other men in the room, the commanders of the Lubskan army that Iliyal had picked out for promotions, all tall elves, all smiled. Aryon and Menith, both centuries old, yet that only meant they were children compared to Iliyal, and Beryon and Alinth, who were indeed children by all standards but ones based purely off biological growth: they were eighty and one-twenty respectively. All four had their hair cut short now, to fit in with the style that the humans used, and all four had suits that Iliyal had asked for. Helenna had made them, or at least made the inspiration for them in the HAUPT uniforms. They stood in black coats and tall boots and looked at the four men from Zawitz with nothing but such sheer, incredulous, pretentious, arrogance that only elves could manage them. The three bodyguards Iliyal had assigned to himself were there too, Hubert, Jazior and Hamek, all native Lubskans. Burly men, with good senses of humour. That, Iliyal always appreciated in guards for himself. He didn¡¯t talk and joke with them too much, but the fact they enjoyed their job and were thankful for it made them twice as loyal. They wouldn¡¯t have such an easy affair anywhere else, so naturally they made themselves do a good job. And, they were huge, the three largest men Iliyal could find in his army. The fact one of them chuckled at Iliyal¡¯s tone was exactly what the elf was hoping to achieve. ¡°Misheard which part exactly?¡± The tallest man from Zawitz said. Iliyal had heard their names, he simply decided they weren¡¯t important. These were bureaucrats, nothing more, nothing less. ¡°The part about heading to Zawitz to run a course for next year¡¯s officers.¡± Iliyal said dryly. He extended his arm to the four elves. ¡°I am training four replacements here.¡± The four Lubskans looked at the elves then dryly looked back to Iliyal. This was another reason for choosing elves in specific, what sort of human could look at an elf and treat him equally? It was simply impossible, the human inferiority complex was just too strong. That inferiority complex, Kassandora had identified in the past. Elves made for good generals precisely because they were elves, soldiers could have no hope in human skill, but still rise to the fight because an elf was leading them. And it also meant that humans rarely, if ever tried to bargain with elves. Elves were such mystical creatures that they were simply too noble to even know what corruption and betrayal meant. And to pull an elf away from another elf? Simply unthinkable! Iliyal smiled to himself. What better way was there to assure that the leadership listened to him, than by choosing a leadership that the other side wouldn¡¯t even bother trying to buy out? Another of the Lubskan men from Zawitz spoke up this time, a shorter man, balding, with dark eyes. ¡°It¡¯s a government affair, we¡¯ve decided to transfer you.¡± Iliyal answered with a grim expression and slowly sighed. ¡°I see.¡± General Tremali stood up and looked down at the four men. ¡°Come, I will show exactly what is being done here.¡± ¡°The decision is made already.¡± One of the men said. ¡°Are you aware of the level of organisation that goes into managing this front?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°And the fact that I run this, I¡¯m assisting the Rilians hold against Fortia?¡± That much was true too, although Iliyal wasn¡¯t managing them on a day-by-day basis like here, instead simply sending generic advice on what to do. The four men sighed and looked amongst themselves. ¡°We have are not here for a discussion.¡± ¡°Either way, what do you expect me to do?¡± Iliyal said as he walked past the men. ¡°I assume one of you will be staying here, am I right, or not?¡± The four men shared looks as Iliyal started pulling the cloak back. ¡°Yes or no? Are you children? We¡¯re fighting a war here!¡± ¡°All four of us are staying.¡± One of the men said. ¡°We¡¯re the elected war committee.¡± Iliyal nodded at the words. An elected war committee. Lovely. He had never heard of such a stupid idea.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Iliyal asked, he looked at his four elven captains. ¡°Come, you follow too.¡± This would be a good lesson for them too: on what to do when humans overstepped their boundaries with their silly little political machinations. ¡°The four of us will discuss strategies together in order to formulate a plan against Maisara.¡± ¡°I see, you will do better than me than.¡± Iliyal asked sarcastically as he stepped out of his tent. The camp was Kassandora¡¯s standard design, the tents arranged in circles around campfires to make sure the men got to interact and build camaraderie, the circles themselves were arranged in rows and columns to maximize throughput. The bright Sun was shining above, Doschian tanks and artillery were rolling about the camp, heading towards the front. The recent event in Arika, whatever had happened there, had been interesting. Iliyal had spent all of ten minutes watching the news before realising it would be a disaster on a scale never seen before, and then ten minutes more before realising that if he was watching the news, everyone else would be too. So his army had launched a counter-attack. From the reports, Maisara¡¯s Paladins had been caught off-guard, they were all watching the news too. One of the men answered again. ¡°Whereas we don¡¯t think we could defeat you one-on-one, it is four minds against one.¡± Iliyal sighed, he let whatever it was he just heard stand. Frankly, he had lived too long to deal with such stupidity, War was not a popularity contest, no one truly liked working under Kassandora, but everyone admired and respected the Goddess of War because she brought results. And sometimes, results came from swift decision making that would simply be impossible if the logic had to be explained. Iliyal looked around the camp as he lifted his hand. It would be better to get them comfortable at first, because he had no intention of handing the reigns of this army over. Frankly, what would it achieve? They must have purposefully chosen a time when Olonia wasn¡¯t here, because they would know that the Goddess of Lubska would step up to protect Iliyal. Now, if he sent them back home, he would know exactly what sort of headlines would be circulating in the press tomorrow: Iliyal Tremali wants to coup Lubska! ¡°That way is the armoury.¡± He set off north, towards the wood that the camp was placed close to. It served as a good natural barrier to any of Maisara¡¯s cavalry or siege engines. And there had been reports that the Paladins were starting to field rifles too. ¡°That way is the officer¡¯s mess tent.¡± Iliyal pointed out every tent that wasn¡¯t for sleeping in, from the medical triage tent to the ammunition stockpiles. ¡°Why do you have an officer¡¯s mess tent?¡± One of the men asked. Iliyal rolled his eyes, of course they wouldn¡¯t get it. These men were thinking they would democratically run a war effort. ¡°Would you expect Olonia to dine with you?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°Then why are you expecting the officers to?¡± That was no reason whatsoever, the real reason was much simpler. The officers got better rations, it would be bad for moral if the men saw the difference. ¡°Oh.¡± One of the men said, as if he thought he knew what Iliyal was entailing at. Iliyal tuned the men out as they started pointless, meandering and thoroughly stupid questions. There were some out there, Anassa was one, who would always show off. But Kassandora had taught Iliyal not to expend energy. The men following him would only see the issues in the statements these four were making, whereas the guests from Zawitz would not be convinced either way. So Iliyal trekked through the camp, until they got to the forest. Iliyal quickly made up a reason to go into the woods. ¡°We have buried stockpiles here.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I won¡¯t show you all of them because we¡¯d be here a week, but we¡¯ll dig one out. Guard team, get shovels, then meet us inside.¡± Iliyal¡¯s three huge bodyguards veered off as they went to get shovels. ¡°Why exactly?¡± The tallest man asked. Iliyal had lived more than long to be able to think of a satisfactory answer. ¡°It¡¯s safer when its buried. From mages and from Divines and from thievery.¡± It was a completely stupid answer, who would bury supplies? Why? So that when they were needed, hours would need to be spent on digging them back out? Even a moment of logical thought would poke holes in what Iliyal just said. But he said it confidently and clearly, and he was Iliyal Tremali, General of Kassandora, and he was an elf. What sort of human would question credentials like that? So Iliyal led the men through the forest and stopped as soon as he was sure they were out of sight. ¡°So we¡¯re just to wait here?¡± One of the four men spoke up. ¡°You can use your hands if you want.¡± Iliyal answered flatly. He gave Hubert and the bodyguards ten minutes, but Iliyal¡¯s long elven ears caught the sound of them approaching within seven. Just as Iliyal had said, Hubert was smart enough to know he had a good position, so he tried twice as hard for it. ¡°And what exactly do yo-¡° Iliyal ignored the man¡¯s questions as he turned to his four elves. They were looking at him, half questioning as to what the plan was, half almost excited because they seemed to realise what was about to happen. Iliyal picked out the oldest amongst them to serve as the first part of the lesson. ¡°Read my mind.¡± Iliyal said as he drew his pistol and handed it to Menith. It was a purposefully unclear instruction, but Menith was an elf, and an aged one at that. He should be able to work it out. The captain took the pistol. ¡°What are you-¡° Iliyal ignored the four men from Zawitz. They weren¡¯t important now. He was forging leaders here, and whereas he could count the amount of leaders with clear consciences he knew on one hand, there was no such thing as a leader with hands that were clean. Iliyal hurried Menith along before the four started to run, he made a quick throw of his head at the four men. Menith looked at the at the pistol in his hand. He understood the assignment immediately. His arm went up, the pistol pointed at the four men ahead of him. He pulled the trigger four times, each man got brand new opening in the head. ¡°Good.¡± Iliyal said as he turned around. He saw Hubert approaching with a shovel in his hand, the other two men carried their digging tools too. Excellent, Iliyal turned to the other elves. ¡°Question, Beryon, this one¡¯s for you. How did these men die?¡± Iliyal asked. Beryon answered immediately, in a cold and definite tone as if he was nothing more than recalling from memory. This man was good, he would be the first to be promoted. ¡°There was an attack by Maisara¡¯s forces on headquarters. Unfortunately, these four men didn¡¯t listen to advice and got in the line of fire. We tried to save them, taking several casualties in the process, but could not.¡± Beryon said as Iliyal stood there with a smile. Hubert pressed the shovel into the dirt and started to dig. Jazior and Hamek got to it too. Iliyal turned to Alinth. ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Alinth narrowed his eyes for a moment, then looked at the grave being dug. Iliyal gave the man a few seconds to answer, he was young after all. Alinth did answer, and he answered well. ¡°We send a letter to Zawitz, informing them of what just happened as well as making sure to tell them¡­¡± He took a breath, Iliyal gave the man a smile to say he was on the right track and hurried him along with a movement of his hand. ¡°To remind them that this is a warzone and that we cannot guarantee the safety of any civilians.¡± ¡°Excellent answer.¡± Iliyal said. He turned to the last elf, Aryon. ¡°Alinth said what we will say to the government, but what should we do about rumours?¡± Aryon answered quickly, just as Beryon did. ¡°We release a casualty statement today and say what happened.¡± Aryon replied simply. ¡°There¡¯s nothing much to it, we just get ahead of the curve, ideas have first-mover¡¯s advantage.¡± Aryon did not disappoint, Iliyal would do the same himself. ¡°And then?¡± ¡°We simply ignore any other theories, trying to argue against them will give them credence.¡± Aryon said. ¡°We¡¯re in a war, they¡¯ll be forgotten about a month from now.¡± Iliyal could barely contain his smile. Some people said elves were uncorruptible. They were wrong. Elves were simply too cautious and too smart to take chances that weren¡¯t definite. But give an elf permission to take risks, assure them of protection, and look at them reveal their true nature. They were the worst of the lot. Chapter 269 – True Nature Whereas Allasaria¡¯s loveliness and empathy are fantastic to behold. I have merely one qualm to raise, she herself defines the atrocity as something intolerable. She concedes that it is nothing but a moral descriptor. In this regard, she is correct. An atrocity is not merely defined by scale: extermination of disease, executions of bandits and bloody insurrections are not called atrocities, yet the brutal murder of a child is. It is about the pain inflicted to the population¡¯s morality as a whole, the subject is irrelevant: case-in-point: A death by Olephia is instant and painless, yet we have a new atrocity every time my sister opens her mouth. Allasaria¡¯s definition is correct. An atrocity is intolerable. Populations simply will not stand for them. However whereas her foundation is correct, her conclusion is wrong. There is another way to prevent atrocities: Raise the population¡¯s pain tolerance. Excerpt from ¡®Rulership¡¯, written by Malam, Goddess of Hatred. Iniri coughed and groaned as she slowly stirred and awoke. Her entire body was pressed against something cold, she stretched and yawned, her hands sliding along the smooth material. Her stomach felt cold, her bosom did too, and she realised she was naked. The shock woke her up immediately as she pulled on her magic to grow a dress of leaves for herself. Nothing came. Her energies simply rebounded back into her. Iniri opened her eyes and saw a pair of black heels popping out from the edge of a dress. She scurried backwards immediately to avoid whatever blow or attack was coming as she tried to call upon all the flora of Arda again. And again nothing came. Iniri¡¯s back slammed into a corner as she reached the edge of the room. It was cold again, and she flinched forwards when she felt the cool¡­ It was metal. Iniri¡¯s eyes readjusted to the cold light. It was a pale glow-stone crystal, not the brightest, looking as if it was running out of energy, hung from the ceiling on a chain of pure metal. Iniri tested the area around herself again, her powers sniffed like hungry wolves throughout the entire room, there was not a single piece of wood or dirt, no furniture, even the door-handle was pure steel. And Iniri finally looked at the person in the middle of the room, who was standing in a black dress with a silver chain of a belt around her waist. Daggers lined it, she was holding a cloth in one hand, but none of those details really mattered. And the woman was taller than the Goddess of Nature, Iniri had to look up to see the face. Eyes as black as pitch and hair as white as snow. Malam, Goddess of Hatred. Of course it would be Malam. Who else would know how to contain the Goddess of Nature? It would have to be one of the old breed Divines. Iniri groaned as she felt her energies crash back into her, they were unable to disperse past this little steel box of a room, so they needed to be absorbed by something. ¡°Hello Iniri, did you sleep well?¡± Malam spoke in that voice of hers that just radiated happiness. There was no other Divine who could pull it off, Maisara and Fortia would have had the tone tinged with smug satisfaction when talking to a prisoner. Helenna would have gone harder, and added some worry for her prisoner in there too. Kavaa and Kassandora would have simply treated it like a business meeting, but Malam? Malam sounded as if she was stroking a kitten, as if she was enjoying a sweet treat on a sunny day. How the woman could be happy with such earnestness made Iniri¡¯s gut turn. ¡°I¡¯m not your enemy.¡± Iniri said quickly as she stood up. ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam said. ¡°That is rather lovely.¡± Iniri stood up, uncaring of her own nakedness in front of a Divine. Or at least, she tried to be uncaring. She covered herself with her arms and tried not to look at the cloth in Malam¡¯s arm. ¡°At least you¡¯ve not become as degenerate as Kavaa.¡± Malam said. Iniri blinked. Excuse me? Kavaa? Degenerate? Kavaa was the most prudish woman Iniri had ever met. Even Maisara and Fortia would show off more than Kavaa! Her brows furrowed at the comment towards the Goddess of Health. ¡°Who are you to talk Malam?¡± Malam squinted at the sudden burst of anger, and tilted her head to see Iniri from a different angle, as if analysing her. Iniri stood there in the cold silence of the metal box. ¡°Who am I to talk indeed?¡± Malam said. ¡°So have you two become each other¡¯s bedwarmers in the past thousand years?¡± Iniri knew Malam, who in the Pantheon did not know Malam? Arascus¡¯ chief propagandist, if Kassandora was the flood that had washed over the world during the Great War, then Malam could only be the rivers and rains that created the flood. She knew the woman was only trying to rile her up and throw her off. And she knew she fell for it. ¡°Malam!¡± Iniri shouted. ¡°NO! What? Don¡¯t¡­¡± Iniri controlled herself, she couldn¡¯t think of a snarky reply, but she could explain before Malam made some other comment. ¡°The Great War ended Malam, it ended a thousand years ago. Arascus lost. We¡¯re in the era of Pantheon Peace, at least we were up until two months ago.¡± Malam smiled as she took a step away from Iniri. ¡°Has it ended Iniri? Why am I still here then?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Iniri didn¡¯t have an answer. What did the woman even want to hear? ¡°How can the Great War be over when I¡¯m still alive? After all, when two people are in disagreement, they¡¯re in a state of war.¡± Malam said haughtily. ¡°That¡¯s not even my line, that¡¯s my sister¡¯s.¡± ¡°Kassie¡¯s.¡± Iniri said quickly. ¡°I¡¯m working with her now! I can tell you everything about her.¡± Malam replied immediately, so quickly in fact that it threw Iniri off. ¡°What is Kassie¡¯s favourite colour?¡± Iniri had to honestly think about the question. It was¡­ it was so stupid. Had she ever asked though? Why would she ask? They weren¡¯t little girls who talked about colours¡­ but then what would Kassandora¡¯s favourite colour be? Iniri blinked. Wasn¡¯t it obvious? ¡°Red.¡± Iniri answered and Malam smiled smugly. ¡°Wrong.¡± She said. ¡°What is it then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s red, but answered immediately.¡± Malam¡¯s tone was downright righteous as she talked about her sister, it was a soft silken scarf, so delicate yet cold, that gently tickled Iniri¡¯s ears. ¡°Any idiot will be able to work that Kassie¡¯s favourite colour is red. She¡¯s not known for being humble now, is she? Of course it would be the colour of her eyes and her hair.¡± Iniri blushed at the downright scolding she just received, it was as if she was a little girl. ¡°That was a stupid question.¡± Iniri said quietly as Malam stared down at her, her teeth showing in a wicked smile. ¡°Yet you still got it wrong.¡± Malam said and just as Iniri was about to defend herself, Malam switched topics. ¡°Here¡¯s a cloak.¡± She extended her arm to Iniri, just slightly out of her reach. Iniri had to leave the corner of her room to grab it, but she retreated just as quickly as she covered herself with the fabric. It was too long yet also too narrow. She had to squeeze it tightly around herself to hide. Malam raised an eyebrow. ¡°What do we say?¡± Iniri looked at Malam, then her eyes slid down to the daggers on Malam¡¯s belt. ¡°Thank you.¡± Iniri replied and Malam smiled in satisfaction. She leaned against the door, crossed her arms and looked Iniri up and down. ¡°Am I honest Iniri?¡± Malam asked. Iniri stared at the Goddess of Hatred. What sort of question was that? Was Malam honest? What sort of answer did the woman even want?The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Are you?¡± Iniri asked and Malam smiled. ¡°I mean¡­ I don¡¯t think so?¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam said. ¡°What do we think of Kavaa then?¡± ¡°We as in us?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°We as in the Royal ¡®me¡¯.¡± Malam answered smugly. ¡°You¡¯re not going to start treating me like a commoner, are you?¡± Iniri gawked at the explanation for a moment, whilst she did understand what Malam just said, she didn¡¯t exactly know what Malam actually meant. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you think, but I like Kavaa. Her, Helenna and me freed Kassandora from the White Pantheon prison.¡± Malam gave no reaction, but those dark eyes poured over Iniri as the woman was a mathematical calculation to solve. ¡°Out of my sisters, who do you like most?¡± Malam said. ¡°Fer.¡± Iniri answered immediately. It wasn¡¯t even a hard decision, Iniri was indebted to both Kassandora and Fer, but Kassandora was much too cold for Iniri to be able to say she liked. Fer though was lovely and sweet. ¡°That¡¯s a good answer.¡± Malam finally said. ¡°It almost makes me believe you¡¯ve actually met them.¡± ¡°We have.¡± Iniri said. ¡°You can ask Kavaa.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already met the sad nurse.¡± ¡°She¡¯s a doctor.¡± Iniri didn¡¯t know why the words came out of her mouth, but she wouldn¡¯t take them back or apologize for them. Kavaa had gone into the Jungle with Fer and Kassandora to rescue her, Iniri owed her a debt of a lifetime. Malam tilted her head again. ¡°Between me and Helenna, who is better?¡± Something in Iniri snapped. She had expected to be questioned, but what was this? It was one thing for Malam to ask about the Pantheon, Iniri would have even expected those questions, but why was everything so personal with the woman? ¡°What sort of questions are these Malam?!¡± Iniri shouted. Malam smiled. ¡°I asked a question Iniri. You¡¯re the prisoner here, don¡¯t make me make you answer.¡± The change in the woman¡¯s tone at the end sounded disgusting. It wasn¡¯t a threat of violence or pain, it was one of humiliation. ¡°Helenna.¡± Malam sniffed the air in humour. ¡°You are the only person I know who has ever said that.¡± ¡°I like Helenna Malam.¡± Iniri defended her friend, then trailed off. She was about to tell Malam she didn¡¯t like her. Malam raised an eyebrow as if reading Iniri¡¯s mind. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Malam asked. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Iniri replied definitely and Malam smiled, she sighed and shook her head. ¡°Who was it then Iniri, because it wasn¡¯t one of my sisters, I¡¯m sure of that.¡± ¡°Who was what?¡± ¡°Who made you into this?¡± Malam said as she pushed off the wall and closed the distance. Iniri retreated deeper into the corner. If she had her powers, there wouldn¡¯t exist a reality in which Malam was a threat, but without access to anything that plants could root in, then the roles were reversed. Malam came close, pushed Iniri into a corner and grabbed one of her hands, she twisted it and pulled it above Iniri¡¯s head. ¡°Was it Fortia? Maisara? Helenna? Allasaria? I don¡¯t think it was the Forces, they don¡¯t care that much.¡± Malam said then pulled Iniri up, the woman wasn¡¯t strong enough to lift Iniri, but it still hurt. ¡°Or maybe it was, after all, Nature is one of the grandest Forces there is, no doubt that Lightning and the Sun would be jealous. Sceo definitely is, she¡¯s the sort to seethe about things like this.¡± Iniri cried out in pain as Malam squeezed her wrist. ¡°Malam! Stop! You¡¯re hurting me!¡± Malam squeezed harder. ¡°I didn¡¯t believe Kavaa, but I believe you Iniri.¡± Yet she only pulled Iniri¡¯s wrist higher up. ¡°Just answer me one question.¡± ¡°What?¡± Iniri said through closed eyes and grit teeth. She felt the cloth fall down and her back once again press into the cold metal. ¡°Why do you not grab one of the daggers on my belt and open my stomach right now?¡± Malam asked. And something within Iniri cracked. It wasn¡¯t any great barrier or chain that kept her controlled, it could only be described as a pillar or a foundation. Malam dropped Iniri and the Goddess of Nature collapsed onto the floor. Why did she not fight back? The Iniri of the past would have done so. Yet the Iniri of today did not. Instead, she grabbed the cloth and wrapped herself into it as Malam made some distance between the two of them again. She squatted down on the ground to bring herself to Iniri¡¯s height. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Iniri whispered quietly, she felt her eyes start to grow wet. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Mother Nature would never say thank you to me.¡± Malam said coldly. ¡°And when she lists off names, she doesn¡¯t care for politeness, she¡¯s always at the front of the list. So, what changed?¡± ¡°The world moved on Malam.¡± Iniri said quietly. ¡°I adapted where I could.¡± ¡°Did you?¡± Malam asked. ¡°I¡¯d say I have adapted.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve not changed.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve gotten better.¡± Malam said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be able to manhandle you like that in the past.¡± Iniri wiped her eyes with the cloth as she wound it further around herself. ¡°Kavaa hasn¡¯t changed too much, she¡¯s more bitter than in the past, but you¡¯re very different.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve changed my title.¡± Iniri said. ¡°To Of Food & Bounty.¡± Malam made a humourless sniff as she looked flatly at Iniri. ¡°Was Of Fertility taken?¡± Iniri shook her head, she didn¡¯t even care about the connotation. Frankly, it didn¡¯t even embarrass her. ¡°It was vetoed by Maisara.¡± ¡°Too grand a title?¡± Malam asked. Iniri sighed as she replied. She hated that Malam was correct. ¡°Too grand a title.¡± She confirmed. ¡°What a sad little Goddess you are.¡± Malam said. The Goddess of Hatred squatted there for a few minutes as Iniri tried to control her sniffling tears. Malam fiddled with that cold white hair of hers, it was like a cleaned out bone rather than the precious snow Iniri had first thought it was. ¡°If I release you from here, what will you do?¡± ¡°You mean from the cell? I¡¯ll dig my way out.¡± Malam shrugged as she spoke, she didn¡¯t even seem particularly cruel or joyous in her revelation, instead just resigned. ¡°I¡¯m inclined to believe you, but I can¡¯t take that risk.¡± When those dark eyes of her rolled over Iniri ¡°Leona is dead.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam said. ¡°I won¡¯t believe it until I hear it from one of mine.¡± Iniri sighed and nodded. ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you do.¡± Malam said. Iniri didn¡¯t reply, Fer had said the same, that one had to fight Leona in order to know what it was like. Iniri had never asked Kassandora on it, but she was that the woman would say something similar too. Malam sighed and looked Iniri up and down. ¡°I feel sorry for you.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to.¡± ¡°But I do.¡± Malam said, harder this time. Iniri merely shook her head. ¡°Go ahead then.¡± ¡°What a pathetic woman you are.¡± This time, Malam had some disgust in her tone. Iniri pulled her legs up to her and didn¡¯t reply. ¡°Are you just going to sit there?¡± ¡°I have nothing to say Malam. I¡¯m not who I was.¡± ¡°How noble of you.¡± Malam said it as a taunt, but to Iniri, it was oddly relaxing. It wasn¡¯t noble, but she wasn¡¯t- ¡°Iniri, you¡¯re a liar.¡± Malam said coldly. And Iniri blinked, she wasn¡¯t the strongest in the White Pantheon, there were plenty of stronger candidates, but not once had she been called a liar. Frankly, it did hurt her pride. ¡°What?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°You¡¯re a liar. You sit here and pretend to be some pitiable creature, you¡¯re not worthy of being Iniri. You were envied, you¡¯re the Goddess of Nature.¡± ¡°Like I said, the worl-¡° ¡°World has moved on.¡± Malam interrupted. ¡°Then get down on your knees and beg for your place in it.¡± Malam stood up from her squat and crossed her arms. ¡°But you won¡¯t, will you? Because there still is some pride left in you, because even though you pretend you¡¯ve changed so much, there is still some of the cruel and capricious Mother Nature in there.¡± ¡°It¡¯s gone Malam. A Mother Nature like that would have been cut down in this age.¡± Iniri said, it was simply self-preservation. She had to change throughout the eras, she had to grow to stay useful to the world, because she was not Allasaria who led it, nor did she have the overwhelming demesnes of Fortia and Maisara. Nature, at the end of the day, existed as long as humanity let it. Malam¡¯s reply was harsh and fast. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you¡¯ve changed, you¡¯ve merely retreated from your demesne. Is it cowardice? Or just laziness? Or did the White Pantheon really break you? Is this how little you care about yourself? Kavaa at least put up a fight.¡± ¡°And?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°So what, Kavaa is Kavaa, I am me.¡± ¡°No.¡± Malam growled. ¡°Iniri is the Goddess of Nature, you are nothing.¡± Iniri pulled the cloak even tighter around herself, and buried her face in her knees. Her brown hair covered her face and she shivered against the cold metal. ¡°I¡¯m just me.¡± Iniri whispered. ¡°Have you really joined us?¡± Malam asked flatly, a complete lack of emotion in her voice. Iniri¡¯s large brown eyes looked up at the Goddess standing over her, all she could muster was a few rapid and tiny nods of her head. ¡°Then it is good you met me.¡± Malam said. Iniri felt her eyes start to get wet again. ¡°I wish I didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Oh no Iniri, you don¡¯t know it yet, but you are grateful you did meet me, no matter what you say.¡± Malam said. ¡°Because I see the problem, the White Pantheon has cut down the Iniri I lost the war to and this creature in front of me has regrown in its place. I will cut you down, and we will regrow the Iniri that was back then.¡± Malam raised an eyebrow. ¡°That is, only if you have really joined us.¡± ¡°Malam. I¡¯m not the Mother Nature that takes children when they wander into the woods anymore.¡± Malam opened her mouth, and then stopped. There was a knock on the door. Malam made a surprised face and looked at Iniri. ¡°Well look at that, we have guests.¡± She said. ¡°For your sake, let¡¯s hope it¡¯s not Irinika.¡± Malam turned and tapped on the little shutter in the door, it was close to the ground, even Iniri would have needed to bend to reach it. The metal slid open from the outside, a dwarf was on the side. ¡°What is it?¡± The dwarf was breathing heavily, his face covered in sweat, and he spoke in their old tongues. It had changed slightly over the past millennia, some of the words sounded weaker, others had been changed to be more stressed, the intonations harsher. Only a few words were new in their entirety, and Iniri caught more than of the speech to understand it. ¡°The Madness Roots are being burned up! There¡¯s something coming through the lost highway!¡± Chapter 270 – The Great War’s Greatest Pillars The Magocracies, the most tyrannical forms of state to exist in all Ardan history, were not original in thinking. What then, where they based off? The Trial-and-Error evolution of Magic, so cruel and unusual, was not the first thing to use live mortals as test subjects. What then, was? The Era of Worldbreaking, the shattering of Arda, brought a Chaos to the world that should have never existed. Yet why did Worldbreaking begin? I am despised by Divines, that is simply plain to see. I see it on their faces, I see it in their eyes. The reason is rather simple: Before the advent of Magicians, what kept Divinity in check? - Excerpt from ¡°The Great Equalizer¡±, written by Elassa, Goddess of Magic. ¡°Stop.¡± Elassa heard Kassandora¡¯s word and felt the woman¡¯s hand on her shoulder. ¡°We¡¯re through.¡± Kassandora said flatly. There was no emotion in the woman¡¯s tone, she had been like this ever since they got to the hole where Kavaa and Iniri had apparently been lost. The entrance had very obviously been excavated by Anassa, the walls had been smoothed to shut an inhuman degree that even the red dust from above, blown in by every blow of wind, struggled to catch any friction on the edges of the dark earth. Then they had gotten to the tunnels. Kassandora had, of course, naturally, remembered the direction she had gone before. Elassa had nothing not been with her then, but she had silently wished that the woman could be wrong at least once. The amount of competence on display from her was beyond annoying, it was only good fortune that the woman stuck to her own demesne and had never decided to venture into magic because with a mind like hers, Elassa could only theorize the heights Kass could reach. Elassa used a battering ram of hardened air to push the overgrown remains of the Jungle, what could not be battered down was broken into pieces by invisible blades of wind. Even though the plants had only been killed yesterday, today they were already wilting and drying out. Their leaves and spines had turned into a dead brown and they were falling down with nothing more than simple pushes. There was no reason to use fire, Elassa didn¡¯t need to be told not to smoke them out by trying to burn the roots away. So they had started tunnelling through the wood, there wasn¡¯t anywhere to get lost, no junctions and only a few bends. It was a simple dwarven highway on the outskirts of their kingdom. Still though, it was interesting that the dwarves had managed to dig so far. Elassa was sure that the Underempire did not stretch all the wall to Arika in the past. Or maybe it did. The Great War had been fought on the surface, a few of the tunnels had been flooded with the oceans. A few more had been collapsed from above, but no one was going to send armies down here. Elassa especially, she wasn¡¯t going to let magicians that took years to train fall to traps in the darkness. ¡°We are.¡± Elassa said. She hummed a spell and a ball of bright blue light appeared over her head. That was much more effective than the torch Kassandora was using. The Goddess of War stopped and looked around. She turned to look at the roots, then turned back around. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I feel eyes on me.¡± Kassandora answered quickly. She didn¡¯t sound scared, or even nervous, nor curious. There was nothing in her voice, she was merely stating a fact. Elassa made the ball above them brighter to chase more of the darkness away. This was a dwarven highway through and through, the ground dashed with lines for organising traffic, the walls smooth with only slight geometric patterns on them. There were no rails though, nor any sign of life. ¡°Well I don¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°No.¡± Kassandora agreed with a sigh. ¡°Will you carry me?¡± Elassa blinked and stopped. She had to turn to the Goddess of War to double check whether the woman was joking or not. Kassandora stood there, arms flat by her side, red hair tinted into a purple by the blue orb¡¯s light and wore one of the most serious expressions Elassa had ever seen. Of Magic had to chuckle. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m serious.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°We do this all the time.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I ride on Fer¡¯s back or Anassa flies me around.¡± ¡°Are you joking?¡± Elassa burst out in laughter. ¡°I¡¯m dead serious, it will be faster if you carry me and fly yourself.¡± Every word made Elassa laugh harder, she grabbed her sides as they started to hurt before finally calming down. ¡°Really?¡± Elassa asked, still chuckling. Kassandora was staring at Elassa without annoyance or anger at the laughter, just simple flat exasperation. ¡°If you say no, then we can walk, but you¡¯re supposed to be one of the fastest Divines in existence, aren¡¯t you?¡± Elassa caught the slight smug condescension in Kassandora¡¯s tone, and she knew it was purposefully there to get her mad, to get her to prove that she was fast. And Elassa still fell for it, frankly, she wanted to get this over with. People did not appreciate the open sky until they grew to miss it. A blue sphere appeared around Kassandora, it lifted her into the air as Elassa herself set off, quietly chanting a spell. The speed picked up. The walls started to move, then they became a blur as Elassa shot through the air, taking the turns without even breaking a sweat. Maybe mortal magicians would struggle with such manoeuvres, but she had been alive far too long to even need consciously think about the flight. Three turns, and then they stopped, it took all of ten minutes. Elassa looked down and saw Kassandora standing in that blue bubble in the exact same posture as when she had been picked up. Annoying. Terrible annoying. Elassa did not want the woman to be sick or something. But still, the fact Kassandora just stood there, arms by her sides, without even reacting was just downright disrespectful! Elassa cut the feed of mana to the bubble and it blinked out of existence. Kassandora dropped twice her height again onto the ground. The woman didn¡¯t even look shocked by the fall, she reacted immediately as her red hair cascaded behind her. She landed on her feet and¡­ And that was it. As if she had just made a slight hop. Annoying again. Elassa set herself down by Kassandora as they both looked at the wall illuminated by the hovering blue orb. It was a fortress wall. That was the only to describe it, but without crenelations or a top. Instead, it reached all the way from the floor of the tunnel to its ceiling, the only openings on it were slits for archers in pristinely organized columns and a huge bronze gate. That gate was open too, revealing the dwarven hold proper, Elassa had seen a few of the abandoned Epan holds, and this was about half as grand. It didn¡¯t have the magnificent gears and aqueducts, it lacked the magma vats, and it lacked an artificial sun, which most Epan holds had. Although all the machinery was powered by Arda¡¯s core, its sealing had brought night-time to the underground. It would make sense for them to not bother building all the specialist equipment if they couldn¡¯t work it anyway. And at the gates, there was a full horde of dwarves. Maybe eight-hundred of them. Elassa silently grit her teethe when she considered that Kassandora would probably count through them instantly. They stood there unmoving, each one in thick armour that was plate overlayed on plate, with a huge square tower shield as large as the dwarf and a spear. Maybe the dwarves considered it a pike, but to a human, it would be a steel spear. ¡°Let me handle this.¡± Kassandora said as she walked forwards towards the dwarves. They did not move as the Goddess of War approached them. Elassa came in close behind Kassandora, what was more annoying now was the fact that even though Of War had not even a hundredth of the power Elassa had, it was Elassa whose eyes were skittering around the darkness, trying to calculate every and nook and cranny from which a bolt could come out. Kassandora stopped a short distance away from the dwarves and shouted. ¡°Men of stone! I ask for entry in your realms.¡± Elassa looked up at Kassandora again, the fact that she noticeably taller was annoying too. And Elassa stopped as her cheeks went red at her own sheer stupidity. She realised what a silly little girl she was being when a question formed in her mind: was there anything about Kassandora that didn¡¯t annoy her? The answer to that question was annoying too: no. The dwarves did not reply to Kassandora, that was satisfying. The Goddess of War shouted again. ¡°I am Kassandora, Goddess of War, I led your ancestors during the Great War!¡± Once again, the dwarves said nothing. ¡°Should I move them?¡± Elassa asked, she knew this wasn¡¯t her place to take action frankly. And she knew that Kassandora would ask for permission if they were in Arcadia too. ¡°No.¡± Kassandora said. She took a breath, Joyeuse materialized in front of her and slammed into the ground. ¡°My blade is proof! None other than me have it!¡± ¡°They won¡¯t move-¡° Elassa began but she was cut off. Cut off by a voice she had long thought she would never have the displeasure of listening to again. Smooth and cold, if a particularly strong wine could speak, it would speak like that. ¡°KASSIE?!¡± ¡°Oh fuck.¡± Elassa¡¯s eyes dove to Kassandora. Did she just swear? Excuse me? ¡°KASSIE!¡± The voice shouted again as a woman walked out through behind the gates. A tall woman, too tall to be a mortal, too tall to be a minor Divine. Taller than Elassa, that had always annoyed Of Magic. A black dress, a silver belt, daggers fixed to it, with hair as blinding white as a ferocious blizzard and eyes that were bottomless pits of black oil. ¡°Malam?!¡± Kassandora shouted back. ¡°Well well well!¡± Malam walked past the dwarves, they parted for her without turning to look, ranks folded to make space for the grand Goddess of Hatred. ¡°And Elassa! What a surprise!¡± Malam sounded overjoyed in that fact. Why, Elassa had no damn clue, they had fought against each other in the Great War. ¡°She¡¯s working with us.¡± Kassandora said as Malam swiftly closed the gap. ¡°Anassa¡¯s favourite should be on our side, shouldn¡¯t she?¡± The fact that the woman made it sound like an innuendo made Elassa¡¯s stomach turn. Malam stopped in front of Kassandora as Of War stared daggers at the woman. Did they not like each other? ¡°Oh do not worry Kassie, we know you¡¯re actually Anassa¡¯s favourite.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Great.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°I assume you¡¯ve seen Iniri and Kavaa.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ve had pleasant chats with them too.¡± Malam licked her lips. ¡°The nurse is like a mini-Kassie. I¡¯ve had fun with her.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think she is.¡± Kassandora quickly answered back. ¡°Well she¡¯s easier to crack than you are.¡± Malam replied. ¡°So? Can I have a hug?¡± Elassa gawked at the two. Kassandora sighed, Joyeuse disappeared from the ground and she put her arms around Malam. The two were almost the exact same height. Malam just about beat out Kassandora by maybe an inch, if that. ¡°You were missed.¡± Kassandora said sounded as if she did not know what the word ¡®joy¡¯ meant. ¡°You were too.¡± Malam replied as if her life was nothing but pure joy the whole time. ¡°So? How is Fer? Kavaa said dad was free too. How is he?¡± Kassandora sighed as if everything was an effort to explain. ¡°Everything is fine Malam.¡± ¡°And Olephia?¡± Malam asked. ¡°She is free too.¡± More annoyed this time, Kassandora had to force the words out. ¡°And Anassa?¡± ¡°I assume she¡¯s fine, we just had a battle but I can¡¯t imagine her dying.¡± Kassandora sounded as if she was pushing herself to explain. ¡°Leona?¡± ¡°Dead.¡± Of War answered. ¡°Irinika?¡± ¡°How would I know?¡± ¡°Iliyal Tremali?¡± Kassandora looked at the woman and finally snapped. ¡°Are you going to ask list off literally everyone I know?¡± ¡°What about Sara Daganhoff?¡± Malam asked. ¡°And I¡¯ve missed Iliyal too!¡± Somehow, Elassa struggled to believe Malam. ¡°Have you ever even met him outside of a war council meeting?¡± Kassandora snapped. Was the woman actually getting mad? Elassa tilted her head as she looked the red-haired Goddess. And since when did Kassandora get mad? The woman was an eternal stoic. ¡°No.¡± Malam said. ¡°But does that mean I can¡¯t miss him? And this Miss Daganhoff?¡± ¡°What? Did Kavaa tell you about her too? They¡¯ve met each other maybe five times.¡± Kassandora said and Malam made a terribly haughty ohohoho of a laugh. ¡°I can read a person from meeting them once and Kavaa seems like a good judge of character.¡± Malam said. ¡°But most importantly, how have you been?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been good.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You?¡± ¡°Much better now.¡± She turned and extended her arm towards the dwarven hold. ¡°Me and Irinika have been down here.¡± ¡°Is Iri here?¡± Kassandora asked and Malam shook her head. ¡°Epan Southern-East-West route.¡± Elassa pretended not to be interested. These Goddesses were maybe the only surface dwellers who actually knew the layout of the Underempire. But what Southern-East-West meant, she had no clue. ¡°Against Tartarus.¡± Elassa blinked, what did she just hear? Tartarus? On Arda? Since when? They all went back home at the culmination of the Great War. ¡°What?¡± Elassa interjected into the conversation. ¡°Ah!¡± Malam exclaimed as if this was the first time seeing Elassa. ¡°It¡¯s Anassa¡¯s Mini-Me.¡± Elassa had to take a few moments to comprehend what she just heard. Anassa¡¯s Mini-Me? If there was a name she had never been called before, it was that. ¡°So? How have you been? Are the War Colleges still the envy of the world?¡± Elassa felt her cheeks start to blush. Was Malam doing it on purpose? Of Magic¡¯s lips cracked open as she tried to find an answer to that. What answer was there even? No Malam, the War Colleges have long since been shut down? ¡°Malam.¡± Kassandora issued the name like calling a dog to heel. ¡°You¡¯ve talked with Kavaa, you know about the situation. I assume you didn¡¯t believe her.¡± ¡°Some parts were too farcical to not believe.¡± Malam said. ¡°Iniri getting captured by the Jungle was one.¡± ¡°She did. Me and Fer rescued her.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Whatever Kavaa told you is most likely true. Do you know about the situation up above now?¡± Malam sighed, her arms lost their strength. ¡°Work as always Kassie, you never change.¡± ¡°I have nothing to change.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°So? Do you know or not?¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Then you know I want Kavaa and Iniri back.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Well of course.¡± Malam replied. ¡°Of course of course.¡± She quickly added. ¡°I just thought you¡¯d help me out here too.¡± Kassandora stared flatly at the woman. ¡°If you weren¡¯t so annoying, I would be happier to help.¡± Malam sounded shocked, her tone aghast, but Elassa couldn¡¯t narrow it down to whether that reaction was mocking or real. ¡°Me? Annoying? Never!¡± ¡°This is exactly what I mean Malam.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I don¡¯t need the mockery. I will help you out, of course I fucking will. Arascus brought me in because he realised that seven of you were too much to wrangle.¡± Malam nodded at Kassandora¡¯s comment, as if there was nothing to argue with there. In the Pantheon, a comment like that would have ruined the current meeting and the next one. ¡°Mmh, you do make a good nanny.¡± Kassandora stared daggers at the woman. ¡°If I had children, I would let them stay with Auntie Kass, as grumpy as she is.¡± Malam laughed at her joke, then continued as Kassandora kept on watching her, extremely unamused. Elassa could not imagine ever talking to Kassandora like that, didn¡¯t the woman have a reputation for killing people? For mass executions? And this is how Malam was talking to her? ¡°And it¡¯d be educational too!¡± Malam said. Kassandora took the bait. Elassa did not know how or why, was Kass enjoying this? Was it fun for them? Elassa could not imagine anything worse than being talked to in that way. ¡°How?¡± ¡°Are you curious?¡± Malam asked. ¡°The Malam brand of fucking idiocy is unique, so I am.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Well, phrased like that, I don¡¯t want to say!¡± Malam said. ¡°Then don¡¯t.¡± Kassandora quickly answered. This time, Malam took the bait. ¡°My kids would see what sort of character rampant alcoholism creates and they would never want to drink.¡± Malam burst out in laughter at that. Was she actually making herself laugh? Elassa had no way to interject, they had brushed her over and were now fully ingratiated in that¡­ it wasn¡¯t argument. Or was it? In whatever sort of discussion they were having. ¡°If I drink then what do you do?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I savour.¡± Malam stretched the word out. Of War was not impressed whatsoever. ¡°Just shut up Malam.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Apologies but I¡¯m excited to meet a sister that isn¡¯t Iri after a thousand years.¡± ¡°Iri does not let you get away with this.¡± Kassandora said it like a fact. ¡°She did.¡± Malam said. ¡°When?¡± ¡°Nine hundred years ago.¡± Malam said and both of them burst out in laughter for a few moments. Kassandora controlled herself once, she sighed and shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you Malam.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to see you too Kassie.¡± Malam said. ¡°It really is.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯d want to-¡° Malam interrupted her. Oh no. Even Elassa knew that was something no one ever did. ¡°You still have no sense in aesthetics though.¡± Malam tugged on Kassandora¡¯s uniforms. It had been shredded from the time when the woman materialized her armour over it, then charred by the heat of Starfall. Frankly, these clothes were for the bin and nowhere else. ¡°Do I care?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Well¡­¡± Malam said, Kassandora jumped on the moment before the woman could say anything. ¡°Is it impossible for you to be serious for one moment? We have work to do.¡± ¡°Fer¡¯s not serious either.¡± Malam replied innocently, as if she had done nothing wrong. Elassa took a step back, she was still shocked by that revelation of Tartarus but now as she was watching these two bicker, she didn¡¯t know how to intervene into the conversation. ¡°It¡¯s not tit-for-tat! Fer is here to kill things! You¡¯re smarter than her!¡± Kassandora shouted. Elassa had absolutely no idea what to do. Why did she suddenly get tasked with dealing with a family argument? It was just¡­ just awkward that she had to stand here and listen. ¡°I think Fer is very smart.¡± Malam said. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant!¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I know Fer is smart, but you¡¯re not Fer, are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just a little Goddess with very weak powers.¡± Malam was sickly sweet. ¡°SHUT UP!¡± Kassandora roared. ¡°I DON¡¯T CARE!¡± The Goddess of War suddenly blinked, she sighed as if defeated and calmed herself down. ¡°Malam, shut up. Just be quiet, don¡¯t say anything. Well done, you got me mad. Are you happy now?¡± ¡°Oh I am Kassie. I waited a millennia to finally have someone who can fight back. But you¡¯re still so easy to get angry.¡± Of Hatred cooed. ¡°You¡¯re the only person who can do this.¡± ¡°Make you squeal you mean?¡± Malam finished and Joyeuse appeared just behind her. It slammed and stabbed into the ground, as if it was a metal pillar that had been dropped from above. Elassa saw Kassandora start tapping her thumbs against her fingers, running up and down her fingertips. Malam looked at the sword, then turned back to Kassandora, grinning. She made that ridiculous laugh of hers again: Ohohoho. ¡°Malam. Shut the fuck up.¡± Elassa had never heard Kassandora sound so serious. The woman usually had that flat tome, as if there was nothing in the world that impressed her, but right now, she sounded as if she was prepared to burn down an entire nation alone. ¡°This is what we will do.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re very smart.¡± Malam said. Kassandora stepped close to Malam, she had to just tilt her eyes up to meet Malam¡¯s. ¡°Malam, I am very smart yes. I¡¯m a genius in fact. This is why I lead the war and why you play around in the home front. We are going to go get Iniri and Kavaa. Either Iniri or Elassa here will then dig out. We will have a connection to Kirinyaa after that. Then, I can freely travel and see what the situation in your dwarven tunnels is, okay? And after that, we¡¯ll fetch Iri, understood?¡± Elassa thought that Malam would make another smarmy comment. Or that she would say something terrible again¡­ or¡­ or that she would do anything but agree. But Malam thought about it for a moment and her tone shifted. ¡°How is the situation above?¡± ¡°I assume not good, but I¡¯ve not seen it for a week now. It was bad when we left.¡± Kassandora said and Malam nodded. How? Elassa just stood there in shock, her jaw open, her hands pulling on her blue dress in frustration. She had honestly thought they hated each other! They acted like they did! What? ¡°I¡¯ll go with you then.¡± Malam said. ¡°You don¡¯t need to stay here?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°After managing the home front here for a thousand years, I¡¯ve given it enough steam that it can keep rolling by itself.¡± Malam said. ¡°Iri is the useful one here, it¡¯s because of her that we¡¯ve managed to hold for so long.¡± Irinika, Goddess of Darkness, Arascus¡¯ Allasaria. Elassa couldn¡¯t even count how many White Pantheon plans Irinika had foiled simply by being in the general vicinity. ¡°It¡¯ll be good to have you.¡± Kassandora replied. ¡°HOW!?¡± Elassa had to say something. These two¡­ how did they suddenly go from that sibling bickering to this? If the White Pantheon functioned this well, then would they have ever had any problem? ¡°How what?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°How are you like¡­¡± Elassa tried to find a word. ¡°So quick to change moods?¡± Malam had an answer immediately. ¡°Just as you¡¯re Anassa¡¯s Mini-me, Kassie is my Mini-me. We naturally get along.¡± Elassa could not believe what she just heard, this was naturally getting along? Kassandora¡¯s smile dropped immediately, the annoyed Goddess of War returned. ¡°If I¡¯m the mini-me, why are you shorter than me?¡± And now Malam¡¯s cheeks went red in embarrassment. She made a slow to Kassandora, being sure to look on her sister. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Malam asked. ¡°I think your eyes are lying to you.¡± ¡°My memory isn¡¯t.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Amongst us, you¡¯re a fucking dwarf Malam.¡± Elassa tried to recall how tall Arascus¡¯ other Daughter-Goddesses actually were¡­ She blinked. Actually, Baalka was the only one who was short amongst them. Baalka but then? It would be Kass, wouldn¡¯t it? And Kass was naturally quite tall. And since when did Kassandora swear so much? The woman was such a prude when it came to cursing usually. ¡°If I¡¯m so short, why do I have to look down on you?¡± Malam leaned forwards, her eyes just slightly her than Kassandora¡¯s as their heads met. ¡°Do you heels have platforms too? Last time I saw you, you reached up to my knees.¡± Kassandora said flatly. Malam crossed her arms, huffed angrily, but she had no answer to Kassandora¡¯s statement. ¡°Exactly. Now take us to Iniri and Kavaa.¡± ¡°Right this way fair princess.¡± Malam said as turned around, her voice full of bile. Elassa once again struggled to tell whether the woman was actually angry, or whether she was playing at being angry. She certainly did not look angry. Neither did Kassandora. Both Goddesses looked at if they had started thoroughly enjoying each other¡¯s annoying comments. ¡°I wish I was a princess.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure you would.¡± Malam¡¯s tone picked up. She had thought of something. ¡°With pretty princes and nice horsies. How many kids would you have?¡± ¡°If I was a princess Malam, then you would be too.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And I would make sure I would conquer you, execute every member of your family, raze your capital and then salt the earth. What then?¡± ¡°Oh it¡¯s very simple.¡± Malam turned to look at Kassandora. Elassa stared at them in awe, both were giggling along with each other. ¡°Then I¡¯d seduce your son, make him take my name, become Queen and say thank you for the Empire.¡± Of War and Of Hatred looked at each other. Kassandora¡¯s lips quirked upwards. Malam¡¯s smile exposed her teeth. Both of them burst out in laughter. Elassa giggled to herself as she listened, and then caught herself as she realised what she was doing. The Goddess of Magic could only stare in awe at the sisterhood between Hatred and War. In that short walk, little more than a few minutes, Elassa must have laughed at those two more than she laughed for a decade in the Pantheon. Chapter 271 – The Best There Is Ciria stared at the book on her table. A string had been pulled here, a favour called in, a call to prestige had been made. And so, she had found of the few copies in existence. It wasn¡¯t to learn, it was simply to understand what sort of opponent she was ging up against. Ciria took a deep breath and ran her finger down the cover of the book. Old, and made of real leather. She opened the first page and began to read the preface: ¡®This preface will be short in the style of the entire book. It is not an apology for the lack of clarity in the book, it isn¡¯t something as silly as a warning either. Instead, it is a dismissal for you, the reader. Some people will understand this intuitively, some people will need years of explanations. I am the Goddess of War, I work with what I have, I am not here to teach in the same fashion other Divines do. I have never been a teacher, I am a forge that takes men and remakes into something greater. This book is not some great work of self-discovery, it is not meant to raise questions, it is written to be taken as literally as a dictionary.¡¯ ¡®I do not write in metaphor. I only use allegory for ease of explanation. I mean every word written on this page, as it is written. This book is a manual to war.¡¯ Ciria closed the book. Already she felt sick and it was a thick tome too. She stared at the title, Kassandora¡¯s magnum opus: The Philosophy of War. Kassandora and Malam once against burst out in laughter as they exchanged yet another set of comments full of nothing but utter spite and bile. This time, Malam was talking about Kassandora¡¯s followers and Kassandora was boasting about how people wanted to follow her, whereas all that Malam could do was flash a leg and hope the men were particularly thirsty. And Elassa trailed behind them. Half in disbelief with the way that Of War and Of Hatred were treating each other, half in disbelief about the fact she was actually walking through a dwarf hold and half in disbelief about the fact that she didn¡¯t feel as if she was walking into a trap. The dwarves themselves were practically invisible as they parted for Malam. The heavy plate armour, layer upon layer of sheet metal that must have been at least a finger-width thick, obscured them. Spears that reached up to Malam¡¯s height, and tower shields that were almost perfect squares, to cover the stunty little half-man entirely. And they said nothing. Elassa could not even hear them breathe. It was one thing to not barge in between Kassandora and Malam when they were having their little¡­ argument? Bonding session? That sounded more like it, when they were having their little bonding session. But when Elassa started through the visor of a dwarven helmet and saw absolutely nothing, she felt a chin run down her spine. ¡°Are they alive?¡± Elassa asked the two in front of her. And now Kassandora stopped, she dropped down into a squat and inspected one of the dwarves. ¡°I just thought they were disciplined.¡± She poked the armour. The dwarf did not react. ¡°Not a very good soldier, is it?¡± ¡°They¡¯re dead men walking.¡± Malam said. ¡°I explained to Kavaa already.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m not sorry for not being Kavaa princess.¡± Kassandora said as Malam chuckled and stopped. She turned on her spot, her white hair moving in a wave as she sighed. Elassa had always been jealous of hair as pristine as that, and then she realised she was doing to Malam exactly what she had done to Kassandora. ¡°They¡¯re animated skeletons.¡± Malam said as she bent down and grabbed one of the helms. Her other hand went back around the neck, something clicked, and Malam picked the helmet up. Elassa noticed the Goddess was not fully extending her arm to demonstrate. It must have been heavy then. ¡°My idea Kassie, you know that?¡± ¡°Not Iri¡¯s?¡± Kassandora asked as she looked at the dwarf with the helmet removed. It was a suit of armour with a skeleton inside, although the skeleton was pulsing with carefully inscribed runes. Elassa recognized some of them, Arcadia was the Archive of Arda after all. There wasn¡¯t a type of magic that wasn¡¯t mentioned there. Dwarven Runology had a small building dedicated to it, although almost all the knowledge within it was either composed during the Great War, or immediately in the years after it. The runes pulsed, from green to blue to yellow to orange to red to green again. They emitted a pale glow in the underground of these tunnels, although the torches fixed to the hold gate, and the light pouring in through the arrow slits did good to push the darkness away. ¡°Not Iri¡¯s.¡± Malam confirmed, her voice tinged with pride. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you could think of something so useful for fighting.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a compliment.¡± Malam replied. ¡°It was.¡± Kassandora replied earnestly, still inspecting the dwarf. ¡°Can he take the armour off? How is it made?¡± Elassa shook her head. Of course the woman could get excited, but she didn¡¯t she would have ever seen her become so childish. Malam sighed heavily, as if the simple idea of needing to think about how to explain was a huge pain for her. ¡°We needed manpower.¡± She said simply. ¡°Automatons need the Worldcore to be recharged. Something had to be done.¡± ¡°And?¡± Kassandora grabbed the dwarf¡¯s skull and tilted it back. She looked inside the suit of armour. ¡°Oh so it¡¯s fine when you ask questions?¡± Malam said. ¡°Yet when I asked about names you got fed up?¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°So you don¡¯t know how it works.¡± Malam quirked a smile. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t.¡± The Goddess of War finally stood up from inspecting that dwarf and Malam but the skeleton¡¯s back onto his armour. ¡°You don¡¯t.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to prove it to you.¡± Malam answered. ¡°Because you can¡¯t.¡± Kassandora taunted. And to think that just minutes ago, they were having this same conversation but reversed. ¡°Do you expect me to shout at you Kassie?¡± Malam said as she turned back around. ¡°Me? At my lovely sister?¡± Malam walked off, her snow-white hair trailing off behind her all the way past her waist. ¡°Never.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°She doesn¡¯t know.¡± Kassandora said to Elassa as they started walking inside the Hold. An active hold, a proper habituated hold. Elassa¡¯s eyes tried to devour all the scenery at the same time, bridges upon bridges, as if they were overlapping sticks that had been tumbled onto each other. There were grand forges with real dwarves working there. But they too had the animated skeletons helping. For every smith working over a forge, the furnace not flame but magma, there were two dozen skeletons all slowly shuffling as they ferried iron back and forth. The smiths all looked up, some even dropped their hammers, one fell to his knees. Some of them ran off. ¡°Officially, Divines aren¡¯t under their jurisdiction.¡± Malam said. ¡°Officially.¡± Kassandora said. Elassa caught it too, the word ¡®officially¡¯ only existed to state the opposite. ¡°Unofficially, I¡¯m the grand court.¡± Malam said and Kassandora chuckled. ¡°Quite a position you¡¯ve worked out for yourself.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a thousand years, it¡¯d be disappointing if I couldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°And Iri?¡± Kassandora asked. Elassa was still in disbelief that they could so casually be talking about the Irinika. The Irinika which the White Pantheon had spent centuries chasing after, who one day seemingly vanished, never to be seen again. It had almost driven Allasaria mad. ¡°Iri¡¯s job is being Iri.¡± Malam replied. ¡°Classic.¡± Elassa had to intervene. ¡°What does that mean?¡± It wasn¡¯t¡­ She was here too! She was the Goddess of Magic! Both of these were mere ants in terms of power when compared to Elassa, and they were acting as if Elassa had disappeared! ¡°Lead Champion.¡± Kassandora said flatly as Irinika turned down a corner. This area had a corridor that lacked on wall. Instead, it had a railing, which revealed a pit that was filled with huge stockpiles of raw iron ore. Animated skeletons were bring it here, tugging minecarts across the ground and then emptying them, as more were ferrying materials away, most likely to the forges. ¡°This a mining hold?¡± ¡°For iron mainly.¡± Malam said. ¡°It¡¯s a small one though, there¡¯s only eight hundred and thirty-one living dwarves here, then about ten thousand dead. It¡¯s this way.¡± Malam turned down the door to a small corridor. ¡°Where are we going?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°To fetch Kavaa and Iniri sweetheart.¡± Malam cooed and Elassa felt a shudder go down her spine. No one talked to her like that. Absolutely no one, not even Anassa. It was¡­ disturbing. ¡°We¡¯ll need to go back as soon as possible.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯d prefer if not dwarves come out with us either, if they get spotted on the surface, it wouldn¡¯t be good.¡± ¡°Apparently the surface doesn¡¯t know that Tartarus is on Arda.¡± Malam said. ¡°Is that true?¡± ¡°No one does. It was Kavaa, Fer & Iliyal who found them.¡± Malam chuckled for a moment. ¡°What a team.¡± ¡°Iliyal says Kavaa is quite good actually.¡± There was something annoying in that too. Elassa didn¡¯t know why she was jealous that one of Kassandora¡¯s generals was complimenting someone else, but she was. She knew she shouldn¡¯t be, but it was one thing to realise an emotion, it was another entirely to control it like that. ¡°Well she is a mini-you.¡± Malam said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t even fucking mean anything.¡± Kassandora replied heavily. ¡°It means she¡¯s like you but not as extreme.¡± Malam said. ¡°Very honest too, that was surprising.¡± And again Elassa looked at Malam without being able to pin the woman down. From scathing comments to shameless rage-bait to compliments like this? They turned down a corridor and started walking up a staircase. ¡°Kavaa is honest?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°I know!¡± Malam said. ¡°I was shocked too!¡± ¡°No.¡± Elassa said. ¡°I mean, Kavaa has always been honest.¡± ¡°That makes one of us.¡± Malam replied quickly. ¡°I¡¯m honest!¡± Elassa didn¡¯t know why she said that. Was she starting to like this woman? Her and Kassandora were funny together. Maybe she was just jealous of their bond? But then who wouldn¡¯t? Bonds like that did not exist in the Pantheon. ¡°Ah.¡± Malam said. ¡°I was born yesterday too, did you know that?¡± Her voice was full of sarcasm but Elassa didn¡¯t take offense. She almost appreciated the mockery, it was as if Malam was treating her just as she treated Kassandora. ¡°I¡¯ve pestered Ana enough about you Ela.¡± She turned back and smiled. ¡°You two have similar names, don¡¯t you?¡± Elassa blinked, she almost missed in the stairs of smooth stone, cut directly into the earth. She had to grab her blue dress to calm down and looked at Anassa, Of Hatred was smiling as she inspected the reaction. ¡°How cute.¡± She said. And Elassa blushed. Why she blushed, she did not know, but she didn¡¯t think anyone had ever called cute. Not once in her entire miserable existence. ¡°I just thought it was coincidence.¡± Kassandora said from the side. ¡°But now that you say it¡­¡± She trailed off. ¡°How do you know?¡± Elassa asked and Malam burst out in laughter. ¡°You gave it away!¡± She said and then turned to Kassandora. ¡°Of course you¡¯d never think on it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just names, not particularly important, is it now?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You¡¯ve never thought about it?¡± ¡°Am I the type to Malam?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Do I care? Does it matter whether it¡¯s Anassa or Pam?¡± Malam chuckled as she shook her head. ¡°This is why you can¡¯t lead the home front.¡± ¡°I destroy home-fronts.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how mine is fairing when the enemy doesn¡¯t have one.¡± ¡°WAIT!¡± Elassa said. ¡°How!? With the names?¡± ¡°You confirmed it for me.¡± Malam said as if she was a teacher explaining a particularly simple problem for the dozenth time. ¡°By asking me how I know? I know nothing Elassa, I just guessed because I know Ana.¡± Malam explained and Elassa felt her cheeks go red in fury. It was one of the few things that simply boiled her blood in rage, she could accept Anassa overpowering her, she could not accept the utter audacity of Of Sorcery to try and claim Of Magic¡¯s name. ¡°Even now.¡± Malam continued. ¡°I know that this explanation, how utterly simple it is, and how silly you are for confirming it, will get you mad. Me explaining this reasoning will annoy you too.¡± Malam was right in all regards. It set an inferno alight in Elassa¡¯s stomach. ¡°Grand Goddess of Magic, Archivist of Arda, how many books have you read? Probably more than all of us put together.¡± ¡°Just because you¡¯re illiterate doesn¡¯t mean I am.¡± Kassandora interrupted. ¡°I¡¯ve read more books than people you¡¯ve killed.¡± Malam replied, Kassandora opened her mouth, closed it, and gave up. It was the first time Elassa ever saw Kassandora be caught for a lack of words. ¡°But as I was saying Elassa, you are easy to read.¡± ¡°Am I?¡± ¡°An open book.¡± Malam said and Kassandora sighed, shaking her head. The Goddess of Magic turned to the woman. ¡°Am I Kass?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not particularly hard.¡± Malam chuckled as they turned another corner. ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad though Ela.¡± She cooed from ahead, now they were starting to head down. ¡°We¡¯re the best there is.¡± ¡°There¡¯s Fer.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But Fer can¡¯t read how we do.¡± Malam said. ¡°Fer can say the words she reads on the page, we can interpret.¡± Suddenly, the Goddess of Hatred stopped in front a door, a huge, heavy steel one forced into the stone. ¡°Where are we?¡± She asked. Elassa did not know why, but she wanted to beat Kassandora now. She looked at the heavy steel door in the wall and said the first thing that came to mind, before she even considered all the possibilities, she answered. ¡°Kavaa¡¯s cell.¡± ¡°What a smart girl you are.¡± Malam cooed. ¡°I¡¯ve moved Iniri over here too.¡± Elassa had to turn around to hide her blush as Malam opened the door to Kavaa¡¯s cell. It swung open to the sound of two people catching their breath inside. And when Elassa saw Kavaa and Iniri, both huddled on the bed, sharing a piece of cloth together, when she saw the expressions, the two pairs of shocked eyes run away in fear from Malam, then focus on Kassandora. She saw Kavaa¡¯s eyes light up with pure joy that they were meeting someone other than Malam. Maybe Helenna, Elassa could understand. That Goddess had always been emotional and expressive, Iniri too. Iniri had been broken by years in the Pantheon, but Kavaa? Dulled from her years as a healer, able to stand to almost anything and everything? Kavaa, who had led her Clerics onto Olympiada? Kavaa was terrified? Elassa¡¯s eyes passed over to Malam. Her black eyes were shining, and that mouth was turned up into a smile. Even though they had just been chatting with each other, the illusion shattered. There was no physical change, but now that Elassa looked, the white hair was more reminiscent of a sickly pale rather than pure snow, those eyes were no longer beautiful dark gemstones, they were endless abysses. That smile was all knowing in its sadistic glee. Elassa never got scared, but the fact that this monster was worming her way into Elassa¡¯s heart was terrifying. Chapter 272 – It Could Be Done Divinity, at the end of the day, is incomparable to any race of mortals. We cannot reproduce. Divine incarnation is reliant on mortal belief. Unlike every other race, which can be reduced to a few members and then brought back from the edge of extinction, once we are gone, we are gone. The ideas the old breed of Divines possess are extinct already. Gone are the days when our simple presence was so terrible and awe-inspiring that kings gave away their kingdoms for us to manage. Worldbreaking was not a failure of magicians, it was a failure of Divinity. In the same manner that a body has an immune system to counter disease, mankind produced archmages to counter Divinity. Written by Arascus, God of Pride: ¡®Untitled¡¯. White hair of pure lies. White hair of genuine surprise. Black eyes of hidden meanings. Multicoloured eyes that settled on a passionate red. Silk so dark it stood out against the night. Linen coloured in black and white and red. Dress for royalty of ages ancient. Suit for dealings of business emotionless. Helenna stared at Malam. Malam stared at Helenna. ¡°We are back.¡± Kassandora said. Helenna almost didn¡¯t hear her. She simply stared at the Goddess of Hatred. If there was one of Arascus¡¯ daughter Goddess that she had never wanted to meet. It would have been Malam. Frankly, Helenna had hope that Of Hatred had died somewhere, that she had disappeared into a hole and been buried for all eternity. She knew it wasn¡¯t true of course. Hatred was not an invention, it would be the same as if Helenna herself died somewhere: Eventually, another Of Love would incarnate somewhere. The fact that no Of Hatred had ever appeared dispelled all theories that Malam had died. Yet Helenna had hoped still, after all, wasn¡¯t it human to hope? Kassandora stood in a ruined suited, made dirty by red Kirinyaan soil then charred and burned, with gaps here and there that exposed slices of skin. The Goddess of War did not seem to mind for them though. Elassa was next to her. Blue dress and pristinely clean, her dark hair neat and flat as she stood there, making an odd, awkward face as if she didn¡¯t want to be here. Helenna noticed that she was lacking Anassa¡¯s containment ring, but then if she was Kassandora, she couldn¡¯t be too much of a threat. Maybe she had switched too. Helenna¡¯s eyes went back to Malam. Of Hatred¡¯s smile had grown. Kavaa and Iniri entered the tent. It was a grand thing, set up near the ruins of Nanbasa. With multiple cloth walls set up for different rooms, this central room was only desks strewn with papers that, shelves about to collapse under the weight of documents and crates overflowing with ledgers full of information. Helenna only glanced at Iniri and Kavaa, both had come in new clothes, ones that looked to be hand-sewn and fashioned of ram¡¯s wool. Neither looked particularly happy. Iniri had obviously been crying, Kavaa looked as if she wanted to punch something. And Helenna¡¯s eyes went back to Malam. Of Hatred¡¯s smile revealed perfect white teeth. ¡°Is dad not here?¡± Kassandora asked. Arascus grumbled from behind a wall of cloth. He had been in his section, organizing rebuilding forces for Nanbasa. Fer had been sent off with Kirinyaa¡¯s great beasts to the South, Neneria and Olephia were clearing the northern cities. The God of Pride appeared from underneath a cloth wall, grumbling, his eyes settled on Kassandora, then they grew wide when they found Malam. ¡°Malam!¡± He shouted. ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± And of all the reactions that Helenna thought she would see, then Malam crumbling, her legs growing weak and her rushing to hug Arascus was definitely not on the list. The woman was full of surprises. Helenna made a note of it though. Very sweet. ¡°Dad!¡± Malam half-shouted. She buried her face into his chest as they embraced. Kavaa grumbled as her and Iniri went to meet Helenna. ¡°That woman is a monster.¡± Kavaa said dryly. Kassandora, rather predictably for her, started inspecting the tables and reading the documents on them. ¡°What happened to Nanbasa?¡± She asked. ¡°It got destroyed.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Evacuations were managed well though, we only some maybe two thousand civilians in the chaos.¡± Helenna and Arascus and Sokolowski had worked like three well-greased gears. There had been no arguments, Helenna found issues, Arascus found solutions, Sokolowski implemented them. The last time the Pantheon had worked so smoothly was when the necessity of the Great War had pushed them to it. ¡°Why the sour faces then?¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I saw what looked like a dead titan from the air.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam said into Arascus¡¯ chest. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± Almost as if in disbelief. Kassandora spoke louder. ¡°And there¡¯s no forces coming from the ocean anymore, I assume pulled something off.¡± Arascus squeezed Malam, lifted her off her feet and gave her a hug. ¡°It¡¯s good you¡¯re back.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to be back.¡± Malam agreed. Kavaa looked at the woman in disbelief. Iniri shuddered as Elassa opened her mouth at the display of affection. Maybe they wouldn¡¯t have noticed it, but Helenna was the sort to catch these things. Why were they so surprised at Malam displaying affection? ¡°Right.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Malam, I¡¯m sorry you have no welcome party but you probably saw the city outside.¡± ¡°Kassie filled me in on the way.¡± Malam said happily and Arascus¡¯ expression soured. Helenna¡¯s did too. Kassandora had waltzed back in here, with Elassa by her side, as if she was unaware of what just happened. ¡°Well it¡¯s good that you¡¯re back. You¡¯ll be needed.¡± ¡°We¡¯re right back at it?¡± Malam¡¯s voice was so terribly lewd it almost made Helenna blush. She wasn¡¯t even prudish like Kavaa, but Divines should not speak in tones like that. ¡°We are.¡± Arascus said as he went to Kassandora. Helenna had seen the God in battle in a few times during the Great War, she didn¡¯t think she would ever be able to forget the rivers of bloods and fields of blades that Arascus left in his wake. And right now, he looked exactly like that. ¡°Do you know what you did?¡± Arascus did not shout, he didn¡¯t even raise his voice, but the temperature in the huge tent seemed to drop and the lanterns giving light grew dull. Helenna felt a chill go down her spine, she saw Kavaa straight her back. Iniri freeze up and Elassa almost shrunk. And Kassandora returned a flat look. ¡°No.¡± Kassandora speaking submissively. There was a first time for everything. ¡°What did I do?¡± Arascus took a deep breath as he extended his hand. ¡°Helenna, pass our latest problem.¡± Helenna knew exactly what Arascus was talking about. After all, it was the focus of the entire world, it most likely would be for the next ten years. And Kassandora did not know. Helenna had to force her legs to move under that terrible overpowering aura from the God of Pride. She brought a few pictures, images printed off from the internet. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. One of flooded cities. One of a tidal wave. One of people crying. But the most important one was at the top. A satellite photo of Arda, the continent was cracked open. A new sea had flown into the gap, splitting the area where the Jungle was straight up to the Sassara desert. Kassandora looked at the photos. She took a deep breath. ¡°Oh.¡± She said, her tone apologetic. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You do.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Then¡­¡± Kassandora blinked and looked around the room. The proud Goddess of War, with her crimson red hair, looked like a deflated candle. As if she had been an inferno that had burned out. She blinked again. Helenna saw her eyes sparkle. Was the woman tearing up? Impossible. It was Kassandora. Of War looked up at Arascus for a moment and sighed heavily. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She croaked the word out and Arascus hugged her. ¡°Go outside, take a walk or whatever you want. We¡¯ll discuss this later.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora said. She turned and almost ran out of the room. ¡°Well well well.¡± Malam said. ¡°What a sweetheart she is.¡± ¡°Not with an audience Malam.¡± Arascus said and Of Hatred¡¯s smile dropped. ¡°Sorry.¡± She said. ¡°Just don¡¯t do it again.¡± Arascus turned and passed her pictures. ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s good that you happened to come back now.¡± Arascus passed her the images. Malam looked at them for a few seconds, then at Elassa. ¡°You did this?¡± Elassa and Iniri went to look at the images as Kavaa turned around. She turned back to Arascus. Then to the exit through which Kassandora had disappeared. Then back to Arascus. ¡°Is she?¡± Of Health asked. ¡°Should I?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t suggest it.¡± Arascus said, his tone soft and tired once again. ¡°But if you want to, then go ahead.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t suggest it?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I can¡¯t promise you won¡¯t regret.¡± Arascus said. ¡°She won¡¯t kill you though, if you¡¯re worried, then go.¡± And Kavaa turned on the spot and disappeared out of the tent. Helenna felt some satisfaction at that. Kassandora had broken down, the Kassandora had broken down, and Of Love was still standing here. Who would have ever thought that would happen? ¡°I did this?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°No.¡± Arascus replied sarcastically. ¡°Arika happened to crack by itself, as all continents do.¡± He calmed down after a moment and came close to the party. ¡°Did you kill the Jungle at least?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Elassa replied. ¡°It¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Normally, I would thank you for the help.¡± He tapped the image of the continent from space in Malam¡¯s pale fingers. ¡°But not for this.¡± Half of Elassa¡¯s mouth twisted upwards as her eyebrows jumped up in surprise. She shook her head. ¡°I mean¡­¡± It was the most nervous, cracking laughter Helenna had ever heard. ¡°I¡­¡± Elassa laughed. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­¡± She shook her head in disbelief. ¡°That¡¯s crazy. I did this?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so happy with yourself.¡± Arascus said. He turned to the table and went to fetch one of the news articles. Helenna already knew which one it would be. The God of Pride returned with a copy of EIE: Elassa kicked out of the Pantheon! The headline said everything that needed to be said. Elassa looked at it in confusion, she took the paper from Arascus¡¯ hand. ¡°Well well well.¡± Malam said. ¡°What a twist!¡± Her tone said it was a twist on the same level of the Sun setting at dusk or rising in the morning: not at all. ¡°I¡¯m kicked out?¡± Elassa asked. ¡°I¡¯m kicked out!?¡± Arascus sighed as he looked down at the Goddess. ¡°I think you¡¯re smart to know that bringing them my head will get you back in.¡± He said. ¡°And for now, we don¡¯t want you either. You¡¯re welcome to stay, but you¡¯ve made yourself radioactive.¡± Malam turned chuckled to herself as she went to look at the tables. ¡°You cracked a continent?¡± Iniri asked in disbelief. ¡°Why?¡± Elassa laughed as if she had gone mad. Helenna took a step away from her and closer to Arascus, positioning herself so that the man was just slightly in-between them. ¡°I¡­¡± And the Goddess of Magic calmed down. Her tone dropped. She became serious again. ¡°You won¡¯t like this Arascus.¡± She said. ¡°Lay it out.¡± ¡°I am going to blame your daughter.¡± Elassa said. ¡°It was her idea.¡± ¡°Aye.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I have no doubt Kass thought up of it.¡± He stared the woman down. ¡°But when an arsonist burns a house down, do we blame the man who sold him the matches?¡± Elassa had no reply, she almost shrunk again under the God¡¯s aura. ¡°Elassa, do you know the scale of what you have done?¡± The Goddess of Magic looked down at the picture in her hands. ¡°I¡­¡± She shook her head again. ¡°A continent can be cracked. It can be done.¡± She said. ¡°Not the display of magic.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The death toll worldwide currently stands at two-hundred million. By the end of the week, it will most likely reach half a billion. The UNN is devastated.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the UNN?¡± Malam asked from the table. ¡°It was one of the most powerful countries in the world.¡± Helenna answered. ¡°The global economy is gone.¡± Arascus continued. ¡°Why?¡± Malam asked again. And again, Helenna explained. ¡°Trade routes are more important now, not like back then where we made on the spot.¡± ¡°Ohhh¡­¡± Malam said as she threw a few papers on the ground. Helenna turned away from Elassa and watched the woman work. This was Malam. This was the Malam. Fortia had Kassandora, who had led the military aspect of the Great War against her, but Helenna could never get into that competition with Kassandora. Kassandora was the Goddess of War, it was simply a different field, Helenna would never even try to be a battlefield commander on the level that Kassandora was. Helenna had led the home-front back then. She dealt with spies, and she dealt with morale. Just as Malam did. And just as Fortia had Kassandora, Helenna had Malam. And Helenna watched the woman work, she had caused so many problems back then. ¡°Elassa.¡± Arascus continued. ¡°You have the greatest reputation of us all now. Three days ago, you have rehabilitated Olephia¡¯s, Anassa¡¯s and Neneria¡¯s image. Fer¡¯s warherds have become a triviality compared to what you just did.¡± Elassa swayed from side to side. Iniri went to catch her. Helenna smiled at the Goddess of Nature, personally, she would have let Elassa fall. But Iniri had always been sweet, even to those she didn¡¯t like. ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°What is this?¡± Malam asked. ¡°Nuh-Clear?¡± She asked. Helenna was shellshocked. On one side of the cloth room was Arascus explaining to Elassa the damage she had just done. On the other, Malam had not wasted a single breath and started absorbing everything immediately! No wonder she had outmatched Helenna back then! ¡°It¡¯s nuclear.¡± Helenna said the word, she quickly thought of the easiest explanation that a woman who had just come out of the medieval era would understand. ¡°It¡¯s the same reaction that Olephia makes when she speaks, but manufactured by mortals.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± Malam sounded impressed. ¡°And they use it to make power?¡± Helenna looked down at what Malam was reading. It was the report of the eight UNN nuclear reactors that had started to overload. Two had already blown up. ¡°Elassa.¡± Arascus said, softer this time. ¡°Because of what happened, I cannot openly align with you.¡± Elassa looked up at him in horror. ¡°But you¡¯re welcome to stay here.¡± Of Magic tried to form a word and mere babble came out. ¡°Iniri, can you help her? Grow her a room to stay in for now.¡± ¡°Will I die?¡± Elassa said quickly. Helenna saw Arascus raise an eyebrow at her. ¡°Will you die?¡± ¡°Will I be executed?¡± Elassa said quickly. ¡°I¡¯m Worldbreaking breed!¡± She shouted. ¡°I¡¯m unique. If you kill me, there won¡¯t be another of Magic like me. Never again! Unless you get into a state of Worldbreaking again! Honestly!¡± Helenna smiled in satisfaction at the panic. How many times had Elassa been so high and mighty on the mountain? How many times had she called Helenna a dog? And now look at her! Arascus sighed. ¡°Elassa, for once, it is not my choice if you live or die.¡± He said. ¡°Then whose?!¡± Elassa said. ¡°You¡¯re Arascus! You¡¯re hated too! If you give me back to the mountain, they¡¯ll execute me! They¡¯ll have to!¡± There we go. Helenna could not contain her smile. Elassa started to cry as her legs gave out. Iniri, shorter than her by a fair amount, gently lowered her down to the ground. ¡°Please¡­¡± Elassa said. ¡°I¡­ please¡­¡± ¡°We will give you a room as the situation develops. You won¡¯t get a containment ring, but if you do decide to use magic to stall us in anyway.¡± Arascus cut off as he opened a disk above his head. A golden portal, a blade shot out of it and impaled the ground next to Elassa¡¯s face. ¡°The world will applaud me for this Elassa. Morally, it should be done, to serve as punishment and to make sure it cannot happen again, because you proved it can be done. You have nothing going for you, if I¡¯m going to be honest.¡± Elassa burst out in tears as Iniri patted her back. ¡°And whereas Anassa is fond of you Elassa; Kavaa, Iniri and Helenna are not.¡± Helenna felt her cheeks blush at the fact her name was mentioned there too. Iniri stopped and gawked at Arascus. Helenna knew exactly what of Nature was thinking, because she was thinking it too: Her opinion was being taken into account? Elassa burst out in tears as Arascus turned to the Goddess by her side. ¡°Iniri, you take her. Grow a room for her, no windows or anything, I¡¯d rather she not be seen.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Iniri said, she picked Elassa up with her own magical branches. Of Magic didn¡¯t even seem to the notice she was being carried like that. ¡°And Arascus?¡± Arascus stopped mid-turn. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± He waved the Goddess away as Iniri left, Elassa close behind her. ¡°We have business.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I¡¯d prefer not to execute Elassa, but if it must be done, then it will be done.¡± Helenna got to the table quickly, she didn¡¯t even want to save Elassa, she simply wanted to prove that she could do it. Because if she could not and Malam could, that would be a humiliation on a scale Helenna would not even be able to consider. Half an hour later. Arascus, Helenna and Malam were sitting around a table. Chapter 273 – No Slowing Down When Malam joined the ranks of Arascus¡¯ Daughter-Goddess, Allasaria¡¯s White Pantheon scrambled to recruit me. I was caught up in the excitement and the grandiosities of creating a new world, that was true. I think all of us, I still remember Fortia¡¯s and Maisara¡¯s optimistic excitement when we returned back to Olympiada from victory at Rhomaion. Yet there was another reason too. The White Pantheon would have not won without me. I will simply say it as it is. The Forces cannot so much as convince men to wake up on time, much less rally them in a war. Kavaa is not forceful enough, and accepts those who come to her but does not push them. Those who follow Of Health are the most loyal because there is no such thing as Clerical recruitment grounds. Allasaria, Maisara and Fortia on the other hand are too forceful. Of Peace and Of Order would reduce all humanity to nothing more than cogs and gears if they could. So they needed me, because me & Malam hold a monopoly on public opinion. Maybe it is the fact both of us are powerless and thus needed to learn these skills. I do not really know why I can do this though, I simply know that a nation with Malam, of Hatred, will fight to the last man, even when the war is against three worlds and there is no chance of victory. And that a nation with Helenna, of Love, will fight to the last to the man, even when the greatest Divines: Kassandora, Irinika, Olephia & Neneria are on the opposing side. - Excerpt from the autobiography: ¡°Roses, Blades & Blood¡±, written by Goddess Helenna, of Love. Kavaa ran out of the tent, her eyes scurrying about the landscape. Frankly, Malam could go to Hell and Elassa could cry herself there. Maybe eras ago, when Kavaa still had some sort of warmth in her heart, she would have felt bad for them. Not today. And especially not when she saw Kassandora break down like that. The woman had not cried, her voice hadn¡¯t cracked, she didn¡¯t scream, but Kavaa could see the collapse of character immediately. It was beyond obvious and impossible to hide; Kavaa knew, because Kavaa broke down in the same fashion. Kavaa looked around the campsite. To the north was the temporary town that had been established when the industry of Nanbasa had been evacuated. To the east was the ruins of Nanbasa. Ruins charred by napalm, ruins shattered by explosives, ruins slathered in blood. The great ring of broken buildings that once made up the circular city surrounded the corpse of that huge monster that had been killed and then half devoured. Kavaa had only overheard what had happened, but she got the picture generally. Uriamel called a full retreat the moment that beast died, and now their forces have been chased away even further. Apparently, reports were coming from the UNN that their military was assisting in the reconstruction efforts. So Kavaa ignored the tents and soldiers. It was largely Kassandora¡¯s troops, although a good number of Clerics in silver and steel armour and green undershirts were scattered about in odd places. The Clerics all stood up and saluted when they saw Kavaa, she had to wave them down every time. It wasn¡¯t that the men weren¡¯t important, but¡­ Kavaa¡¯s eyes caught a glint of Kassandora as she jumped up onto one of those huge red rocks that were like a pimple on the ground. Kirinyaa had mountains in the north, but once they were cut off, it was these stones. And Kavaa ran. Past the men, past the camp. Past the rows and rows of parked tanks and artillery. Past the airfield that was constantly bustling with activity. Civilians were being sent off to live with their families in the rural countryside. And Kavaa kept on running, out of the camp, onto the red soil of Kirinyaa, under that great blue endless sky. Until Kavaa reached the foot of the giant rock Kassandora had chosen to hide on. Far away from the camp, and tall. Kavaa wished she could jump as high as Kassandora, but if she could not, then she would clamber. Up onto one rock, onto another, a jump here. A hop there. It took the same amount of time as the run here did but eventually, Kavaa¡¯s hand grabbed onto flat ground and the Goddess of Health pulled herself up. Kavaa got up and brushed the red soil off her dirt as her eyes scouted the rock. It had a few trees, all with sparse branches and sparser leaves, and rocky ground. And one Goddess. Kassandora sat on the ground, in the shade of a tree, her knees pulled up and Joyeuse slammed into the ground. The rocks here had very obviously been smashed just moments before. Kassandora pulled her head out of her knees, red eyes framed by red hair staring angrily at Kavaa. ¡°Why are you here?¡± Kavaa thanked whatever Divine looked after Divines that Kassandora was angry. If the woman had already composed herself and was returning, if all she had needed was a simple walk to get through what she had just done, then Kavaa would have honestly just put herself down. Kassandora¡¯s hyper-competence was not infinite, thank the Heavens for that. ¡°I came to see you.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Kassandora said. Kavaa raised an eyebrow. Nothing? Kassandora merely stared at her. Nothing. So Kavaa went to sit down next to the Goddess of War. Kassandora did not get closer, but she did not pull away from the touch either. They both looked out over the camp, the dark ring of rubble that reminded Kavaa of an insect¡¯s nest. And its workers, the ants that were the heavy construction vehicles which worked to clean up the rubble. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Kavaa asked. She had never considered much good at emotions. Helenna most likely would have taken a different approach, but Helenna did not appreciate Kassandora in the same way Kavaa did. ¡°Fine.¡± Kassandora said and Kavaa frowned. Her voice sounded perfectly normal now. ¡°You don¡¯t have to hide.¡± Kavaa said and Kassandora sighed. ¡°I have nothing to hide.¡± Kassandora said and now Kavaa sighed. Some people were in fact impossible. ¡°So why did you run?¡± Kavaa pressed on further. Anyone else but Iniri and Helenna, she would have given up on by now. She was a doctor, there were too many patients on this world to beg each one to accept medicine. When one didn¡¯t want to, Kavaa simply moved on. ¡°I always run.¡± Kassandora replied flatly. Another plane set off from the airstrip in the camp, flying west, over Kavaa and Kassandora. Kavaa merely kept silent for a moment to let Kassandora continue. Kassandora did not continue, so Kavaa had to ask again. ¡°I understand you¡¯re feeling bad.¡± Kavaa said, she honestly doubted her own words. Kassandora had just sentenced how many to death? Of course she would be feeling bad, even for her. ¡°But you can talk it out with me. You shouldn¡¯t let it brew.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not letting anything brew.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m thinking of what to do.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Kavaa blinked, unable to form a word. Already? No. So what? So the woman had ran off so she could have silence to plan? Kavaa turned to look at Kassandora, she was sat there in that ruined uniform, legs pulled up to her knees, arms resting on them and her eyes were focused on the camp and ocean in the distance. ¡°Already?¡± ¡°If not me, then who?¡± Kassandora replied absent-mindedly. ¡°I understand you came because you worried about me, but you don¡¯t have to be.¡± ¡°Kassie¡­¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I am worried, but you don¡¯t¡­¡± How would she explain it? She couldn¡¯t, could she? ¡°I don¡¯t know what you feel, but¡­¡± And what was she going to say now? Don¡¯t feel bad for architecting the largest slaughter in all history? Frankly, if there was one thing that people should definitely feel bad about, it was that! Kassandora laughed a mirthless laugh, she came in close to Kavaa and leaned her on the Goddess of Health. ¡°You¡¯ve got the wrong idea.¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Kavaa blinked, although she didn¡¯t pull away. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°What happened, happened.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I knew it would happen. Anyone with a brain should be able to predict the fact that a continent moving like that would cause the damage.¡± Kavaa felt a chill go down her spine as of War spoke. She said it so flatly she could have been speaking about the pleasant breeze that was in the air. A pair of helicopters took off from the air, another team of bulldozers left to trundle towards the city ruins. ¡°Well¡­¡± Kavaa was at a loss for words. She knew that the woman was callous, but then if she was so callous that she could speak about the issue in such a matter of fact way, why was she feeling bad? ¡°So you don¡¯t care then?¡± ¡°How many people die a day Kavaa?¡± Kassandora asked. What a farcical question. ¡°Certainly not two-hundred million.¡± ¡°Can you even imagine two-hundred million individual people?¡± Kassandora asked. Kavaa did not reply, of course she couldn¡¯t. Who could? ¡°The difference between what happened three days ago and with Allasaria¡¯s purges is only scale. Does Alla feel bad about them?¡± ¡°She does.¡± Kavaa replied quickly. ¡°I doubt that.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And if she doesn¡¯t, then why should I?¡± ¡°Allasaria honestly does Kass.¡± ¡°Then what about Fortia and Maisara? Do they?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Or do they only take things as they come.¡± Kavaa sighed. ¡°You do feel bad though¡± ¡°Not about the damage.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Then why did you run away?¡± And finally, Kassandora did not have an answer. She sighed, she put her head down on Kavaa¡¯s shoulder and she sat there, only breathing. Kavaa rested her head on Kassandora¡¯s, grey-silver and crimson-red hair matted against each other. She let the silence brew for a while, silence could be a medicine in some situations. But eventually, she had to check up on the patient. ¡°So? Why?¡± ¡°Because this is how we lost the Great War too.¡± Kassandora said as Kavaa sat there in silence. She dragged Kassandora¡¯s hand to rest on her own knee. ¡°The Great War didn¡¯t have such displays of Magic.¡± ¡°When did you call in Tartarus and Paraideisius? When did talks begin?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I know because we had spies, but do you remember?¡± ¡°When your forces started deploying plague dogs.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°That¡¯s when we knew we would lose unless we called for reinforcements.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I pushed you into it.¡± They both stared at that dead titan in the middle of Nanbasa¡¯s ruins. ¡°Because everyone trusted me so much that no one thought I could make a mistake. I went too hard, too fast. If Paraideisius and Tartarus were called in later, we would have had a chance to defeat them, not when they came in when the Pantheon had as much land as it did though. The Legions lost through sheer attrition. The moment the gates opened, our loss was assured.¡± Kavaa sat there as she listened. She had no idea on what to say, but she knew that it was better if Kassandora said what needed to be said. Even if for no reason of productivity, then simply so that the woman would know someone else had heard her. ¡°And this is the same. I won the war for Kirinyaa during the Invasion. I helped Iliyal stall Maisara and Fortia even though he has no advantages but numbers and home-territory. I started the Reclamation War. The Caretaker died on my watch. Iniri got rescued because of my plan. I organized the defences of Nanbasa.¡± Kavaa usually got annoyed when she heard such listing of achievements. Yet now, it was simply fact. Kassandora had done all of that. Kavaa would forever be in Kassandora¡¯s debt for rescuing Iniri. And Kassandora sighed before continuing. ¡°And this is what happens every-time. War starts a fire, it burns brilliantly, it burns everything, it burns fast, and it burns out.¡± Kavaa looked down at Kassandora she felt something damp on her shoulder. A thin trail of tears were streaming down Kassandora¡¯s face. It wasn¡¯t an ugly cry, the woman did not even seem to notice herself, but her eyes were leaking. Kavaa put her arms around Kassandora. ¡°Normally Arascus stops me. The same happened back then, I got on a roll, he happened to be busy, I got a stupid idea. Baalka agreed. Nations were wiped out with her plagues. Paraideisius had to be called in.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kavaa made the sound only to show she was listening. There was nothing to say. ¡°The same happened now.¡± Kassandora said, her tone harder. ¡°I got an idea. Father was busy. No one had the gall to tell me I was stupid. A continent ended up being cracked. Why did we even go to kill the Jungle? The Reclamation War was going well. Olephia could have been sent to deal with the titans again.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°I had the plan before.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It was just Anassa got into a battle with it. I thought she needed help.¡± Kassandora sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t care about the morality, I would gladly give the world up for a sister.¡± Kavaa squeezed Kassandora harder, Of Health wished she could join that exclusive club that Of War called family. ¡°I¡¯ll warn you next time.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°You won¡¯t though.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Because no one ever does¡­¡± She trailed off and they sat there as the Sun slowly crawled across the horizon. How long did it take? An hour? Two? It couldn¡¯t have been much longer than that. Kavaa had nothing to say. Was Kassandora correct? She very well may be, frankly, but then was it her own fault? ¡°We got separated, you didn¡¯t mention it before.¡± Kavaa¡¯s word did nothing to alleviate the heavy weight over her heart. A plane appeared over the horizon, from the north, flying to the airstrip. ¡°I know.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯m not blaming anyone here, but this is why I surround myself with people.¡± Kavaa squeezed Kassandora¡¯s palm. Kassandora smiled and squeezed back. ¡°Fer & Arascus are good for me.¡± She said idly. ¡°They have more¡­ they temper me. Dad especially does. Fer only lightly, she just calls me out when I¡¯m being stupid.¡± ¡°And the others?¡± ¡°I cannot work with any of the others.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Because we¡¯re all as bad as each other. Malam especially.¡± ¡°You two get along brilliantly though.¡± Kavaa said. The entire ride back had been Of War and Of Hatred in a faux-argument. It really was just cursing at each other, but it had made it obvious just how strong of a bond those two had. ¡°That¡¯s exactly why.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Malam gives me confidence I should not have.¡± Kassandora sighed and wrapped her arm around Kavaa¡¯s. ¡°Sorry for this self-pity.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Kavaa said quickly. ¡°You¡¯re on the list too, of people who are good for me.¡± Kassandora said and Kavaa felt her heart skip a beat. Her cheeks went red. Her lips twisted upwards in a joyous smile. ¡°Right.¡± Kassandora said, her tone no longer slow and droll. It was still deep, the woman naturally had a smooth voice, but the energy returned to it. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s happened?¡± This was Kassandora the strategist, not Kassandora the depressed-girl. ¡°What happened?¡± Kavaa asked. Kassandora stood up and stretched. ¡°It¡¯s time to get to work.¡± ¡°You¡¯re fine just like that?¡± Kavaa asked in surprise. Kassandora cracked a smile and shook her head. ¡°I am never fine Kavaa. I am simply always moving forwards.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not good for you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m always six-feet away from taking a rest.¡± Kassandora pointed down to the ground. ¡°But now, we have a war to win. Do you what happened? I ask.¡± ¡°The UNN was destroyed.¡± ¡°Millions have died.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°This is a chance that comes along once an era. If we let it pass, it will be another millennia before we get something similar.¡± Kavaa thought for a moment, she did not see what Kassandora could be hinting at. A ground invasion of the UNN maybe? But why would that be so rare. ¡°I don¡¯t see it.¡± Kavaa said as Kassandora smoothed down her ruined clothes and pulled Kavaa up to her feet. Brilliantly bright red eyes stared into cold grey ones. ¡°Neneria.¡± Kassandora said and Kavaa felt her stomach turn. Her spine did not get a chill, it froze when it heard Kassandora name the Goddess of Death. Kavaa understood it immediately. The amount of souls Neneria could absorb now¡­ It would¡­ ¡°Neneria has to be done now, every day, we¡¯re probably losing a million potential soldiers. We can think of an Arika-defence plan after that.¡± Kassandora turned as if about to jump down. And then she turned back to Kavaa. Of War took a step forwards and wrapped her arms around Kavaa. It took the Goddess of Health a moment to realise what was happening, but she returned the hug. Kassandora squeezed tight, so Kavaa did too. They stood like that¡­ Kavaa did not know how long. She didn¡¯t care though. She felt something on the side of her neck. Another of Kassie¡¯s tears then. Eventually, Kassandora broke the silence, but not the embrace. ¡°Kavaa.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°I did nothing.¡± ¡°You came to me.¡± Kassandora stared out into the distance. She didn¡¯t know what these tears were for. Where they tears of joy? That someone had come to her? Where they tears of self-pity? Because she could not slow down? Where they tears for the sake of tears themselves? Out of the sheer overwhelming confusion caused by the very questioning of what was happening? Or where they tears of reminiscing sadness? Because she was repeating the mistakes of the past. Whatever they were, Kassandora pushed them away. A continent had been cracked open, it was done at her behest, she was in the same boat that Elassa was in now. She could not slow down now. Then if slowing down was impossible, she needed to speed up. As had been done in the past, so will be done now. Speed up to catch victory before defeat caught up to her. Both options concluded in annihilation, she just didn¡¯t want it to be hers. Chapter 274 – Underhanded Charity Any discussion of pardons is meaningless. Arascus has fundamentally changed the game; We will absolve ourselves through victory or we will be killed. Framed like that, what can we not do? Why should I contain myself? For what? So that I can claim moral superiority for sticking to the rules? So that our victory will somehow be ¡®clean¡¯? We are in the business of conquering the world! Can that ever be clean? So apologies. I would rather have victory than have begrudging respect from people I intend to kill. - Excerpt from a speech given by Malam, Goddess of Hatred, given at the start of what would become known as ¡®The Secret War¡¯, the skirmishing, plotting & counter-plotting between the intelligence agencies of the White Pantheon Front and the Imperial Bureaucracy. White hair, a canvas upon which to smear falsehoods. Red hair, so definite in spinning passionate tales. Black eyes, to reflect the viewer back upon himself. Blue eyes, to match the royal nobilities that once ruled. Black silk dress for courtly affairs. Linen HAUPT suit for politicking business. Helenna stared at Malam. Malam stared at Helenna. Arascus stared at them both. For a moment, he had been worried that Helenna would hate Malam. Malam naturally wouldn¡¯t, she got along swimmingly with everyone. Or at least, she generally found a way to have company with others be entertaining, for herself if not for whoever she was dealing with. They had faced off against each other in the Great War, Arascus had started training Helenna to take over Malam¡¯s spot but now that his daughter-Goddess had returned¡­ Well, too much of a good thing was never bad. If these two proved they could work together, Arascus would have an excellent duo on his hands. If they could not then they would receive different tasks. Malam would focus on aggressive plotting abroad, Helenna would be tasked with guarding the home-front. He would rather have a meeting first with Malam, but time was of the essence. Especially now, after the stunt that Kassandora had gotten herself up to. The metal was hot, Arascus had his hammer, only a fool would not strike now. He let his mind wander as he thought up of his plan. It wasn¡¯t that he could not, but there was a country to manage. A day spent on figuring out the logistics of how to handle the cracking continent was a day that Kirinyaa sat without leadership. ¡°So? Do you girls have something?¡± Both of them blushed at that. Malam saw it on Helenna, Helenna saw it on Malam. Of Hatred replied with a lewd smile, Of Love returned an ice-cold glare. ¡°Helenna?¡± Malam asked pleasantly. ¡°I like listening to myself talk, but I want to see how you would handle this.¡± She cooed the words as if Helenna was a little girl. Arascus didn¡¯t admonish her, some things simply could not be gotten out of people. If these two were to get along, then Helenna would have to get used to it. Helenna readjusted the papers before herself. They sat around one of the tables in the huge tent, this section was especially bad with the scattering of section. Helenna¡¯s blue eyes jumped up to Malam, then to Arascus, then back to Of Hatred. ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Helenna said. ¡°It¡¯s good to see how an expert would handle this first.¡± Arascus leaned back and crossed his arms as Malam smiled. Of Love added another dig. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll learn something.¡± Just from that reply, he knew they would get along. Malam¡¯s smile rose as Helenna tapped a picture on the table. Her hair turning from that confident red to being tinged with the focused black. ¡°If I¡¯m going to be honest, then the situation with the UNN is unsalvageable.¡± Arascus nodded, he thought the same. An amateur at diplomacy would try and reconcile with the UNN. How could destroying the most important cities in the country be reconciled though? ¡°Instead though.¡± Helenna looked to Arascus. ¡°I assume we¡¯re working under the idea of world conquest?¡± ¡°We are.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Then we should leave the UNN to suffer and turn out attention to Epa. With the damage done, it will take decades, entire generations even for the UNN to recover.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Unless they use mages.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We have Elassa now. I assume she will be able to keep Arcadia out of the UNN.¡± Helenna said. Arascus let her continue talking, ultimately, he was here to make the final decisions. And frankly, Arcadia was not even on a potential list of allies, magician¡¯s loyalty had always been fickle. ¡°But even if she doesn¡¯t, we have a decade before even half of what has been destroyed can be rebuilt.¡± Malam smiled to herself, it was that wicked hungry smile she always carried when she had ideas. ¡°Well? I am correct.¡± ¡°You are correct.¡± Malam said. ¡°Please, continue.¡± ¡°Then we focus all our resources on Epa.¡± Helenna continued. ¡°On abolishing the monarchies, or directly vassalizing them. The republics will be easier, we can just infiltrate our men into the established parties.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam said. ¡°That¡¯s quite good.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°It¡¯s obvious.¡± ¡°No no.¡± Malam said. ¡°About infiltrating the established parties rather than creating a new one. That¡¯s good. Amateurs would think that the creation of a new party is viable.¡± Helenna smiled and spread her arms out. ¡°In Rancais, all the main parties could be infiltrated. In Lubska, it would only require Jozef¡¯s PPL.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Malam said as she licked her lips. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± Arascus knew that tone, it meant that Malam already had everything prepared. He knew that if she launched into a speech, Helenna would not have a chance to intervene so he turned to the Goddess of Love and nodded for her to continue. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°That¡¯s everything.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I don¡¯t see the need of a propaganda campaign and I don¡¯t believe that we can achieve anything substantial through one either. At best.¡± Helenna repeated the words to add stress to them. ¡°At the very best, we may get a few dissidents who don¡¯t like the government.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get them anyway.¡± Arascus said. Malam chuckled and Helenna agreed. ¡°We will, so there is no point. It¡¯s better to simply concentrate our efforts on Epa whilst the rest of the world concentrates on rebuilding the damage from the cracking. We have the initiative now, so we should stay a move ahead.¡± Helenna finished and Arascus nodded. That was sensible, he thought of something similar. And he turned to Malam, she was leaning back, idly looking at her perfect nails. ¡°Malam?¡± Arascus asked. And Malam made a yawn. ¡°Is that it?¡± Malam asked. ¡°Am I finished you mean?¡± Helenna replied. ¡°Was it too much or too little?¡± ¡°Trust me Helenna, there is no such thing as too much with me.¡± If they were in public, Arascus would scold Malam for speaking in a tone like that. It was not fit for Divines. ¡°But your plan¡­¡± Malam tilted her head from side-to-side. ¡°Do you want an opinion?¡± ¡°I¡¯d be downright honoured to get one.¡± Helenna¡¯s tone said she would be everything but honoured. ¡°Lacking in finesse. Unoriginal. Not wrong, but easy.¡± Malam said, her eyes glinted. ¡°Although I suppose it does fit.¡± Helenna didn¡¯t take the insult, she laughed and Arascus sighed in relief. ¡°I¡¯m not some intellectual who needs thousands of moving parts. Granted, I suppose if you have the patience of a child, you may need something more stimulating.¡± ¡°Oh yes.¡± Malam said. ¡°Stimulating is precisely what I need.¡± She kicked her chair back and stood up. ¡°So? Are you done now? Do you want to see how a master handles this?¡± ¡°Oh I¡¯d love to.¡± Helenna said sarcastically. ¡°You¡¯re welcome to take any of the ideas I¡¯ve already mentioned.¡± ¡°Watch and learn Helenna.¡± Malam started to slowly walk around the table, as she spoke. ¡°Firstly though, you are correct on one aspect. Our relationship with the UNN is damaged beyond repair. Our world situation is looking the same, ultimately, the Pantheon has already beaten us to the jump and taken the first move with kicking Elassa out.¡± She sighed. ¡°However, we also have an opportunity.¡± ¡°Continue.¡± Arascus said, Malam was like Kassandora, both liked listening to the sound of their own voice. They were nice voices at least, even if they did talk to much. Helenna didn¡¯t have this issue. ¡°The UNN will want aid, the poorer countries on the Alanktydan Ocean will need aid. Thus, aid will be given.¡± Malam said. ¡°It¡¯s going to happen, the Pantheon can¡¯t abandon the UNN at this point in time, they will have to send something. And whatever it is, that something can¡¯t be a mere gesture.¡± Arascus crossed his arms as he nodded along. That was all true, if the Pantheon decided to not help the UNN, then the UNN would pull out. There was no chance that Pantheon would repeat the mistakes that led up to Epan separation. ¡°This is where I come in.¡± Malam said. ¡°You?¡± Helenna questioned. ¡°Well, there is no one better than me.¡± Malam said. ¡°Especially not at this business. What the damage and destruction has given us in an opportunity. A great one in fact.¡± Malam took a deep breath. ¡°The coastlines hit by the wave have now become a valley to cross over. I think that¡¯s the metaphor we should be using, it¡¯s not a mountain where enough willpower will get a man across, we¡¯re talking about a grand ravine.¡± Arascus sighed. Malam always explained this theatrically. Helenna said what he was thinking. ¡°You¡¯re not writing a story, you¡¯re propositioning a plan Malam. Get on with it.¡± Malam continued with plenty of hand motions, a bright smile and eyes that seemed to get lost in the vision she was creating. ¡°Willpower, in our case, is money and man-hours. But the ravine will need materials. Naturally, it won¡¯t be Epa as they¡¯re in a war against the Pantheon. According to the maps you guys have here, the UNN lost a half of industrial base. Some article there was saying nine-in-ten car factories are shutting down. So we can assume that a good of manufacturing will come from abroad.¡± Arascus saw Helenna watch Malam with wide eyes that were impressed. Her hair turned from that black back to a red as she listened. Arascus smiled to himself, Helenna¡¯s plan was no bad, but there was a reason that Malam was considered the best at this field amongst Divines. She had come out of the underground how long? A day ago? ¡°Because it won¡¯t just be money and man-hours, it will be materials too. Materials are a harsh reality, you can build a house for cheap or for expensive, but you need a wall and a door and windows no matter what happens. If it was just money, we could slow them down, but because its real materials, we can turn this ravine to an endless pit. I can personally organize the operations and everything as I did in the past.¡± Arascus realised he had been wrong. There was no need to make them compete against each other. Helenna would manage the home-front, as she had been doing. Malam would handle the operations abroad, not because they couldn¡¯t work with each other, but because it was simply the best positions to put them in. ¡°Men under me will serve as saboteurs, steel will be lost, bricks will be cracked, whatever else you have now that¡¯s new will be damaged. Supplies will be sent to the wrong locations, lists in warehouses will be kept wrong on purpose. A job that should take a decade will take a century.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± Helenna said, her voice actually full of awe. Arascus was impressed too, Malam was exactly the sort to kick a person when they were down, but that was precisely why she made the greatest spymaster in all history. ¡°Every inch of steel lost there will be an inch we don¡¯t face on the battlefield. Whereas Helenna.¡± Malam said, her tone soft as she explained. ¡°Winning in Epa is one thing, but that is Kassie¡¯s job. Making sure that instead of militarizing, the other nations instead focus on shovelling raw resources into this magnificent ravine I will turn into a hole, will go much further for us.¡± ¡°And if it¡¯s traced back to us?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°It won¡¯t be traced back to us.¡± Malam answered quickly. ¡°But even if it is, does it matter?¡± She pulled a sarcastic, mocking voice. ¡°Oh no, the UNN government hates us! Who could have predicted this outcome?¡± Arascus looked to Helenna. When the two plans were compared, it was obvious that they weren¡¯t equal. Helenna¡¯s was simple and effective. It would be easy to implement, Arascus would have no problem implementing it in fact. Malam¡¯s only issue was one of implementation, but if anyone would be able to pull off what the woman was talking about, it would be her. ¡°Helenna, don¡¯t take this badly.¡± ¡°Oh no.¡± Helenna said. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m impressed that you thought up of something like this so quickly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s like riding a bike.¡± Malam tapped her head. ¡°You never lose it.¡± ¡°I would make one suggestion though, based off Malam¡¯s idea.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°It¡¯s going to be Guguo handle most of the materials in rebuilding, at least until the UNN restarts its manufacturing, but that won¡¯t be anytime soon.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Malam said. ¡°You do?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I will focus sabotaging the relief efforts.¡± Malam said. ¡°You focus on getting Guguo to halt shipments to the UNN.¡± Helenna nodded with pure glee. ¡°I knew you¡¯d get it.¡± She said. ¡°If we get Guguo to stop, if relations deteriorate somehow¡­¡± Helenna looked to Malam. ¡°For example, if they see the rampant corruption and ineptitude that will exist in the reconstruction efforts.¡± Malam said, her smile said that corruption would be there to be found the moment it was needed. Arascus leaned back with a smile. When two Goddess got along, it was simply a pleasure to behold. ¡°Perfect!¡± Helenna said with a laugh. ¡°Then the reconstruction will take how long? Easily fifty years.¡± Arascus leaned back as the two Goddesses sorted their jobs out for them. Sometimes, things really did just go swimmingly. Chapter 275 – You Can’t Ring Death Helenna returned with a bottle of cognac for Malam and wine for herself. The Goddess of Hatred was already writing things down on paper. As silly and jovial as the woman was, when she put her head down, it reminded Helenna of Kassandora working. Total concentration on a goal and nothing else. Helenna walked around to look at the main piece of paper that Malam was planning around. It only had four words, each one in a bubble. Disrupt. Discourage. Dismantle. Demoralize. Neneria turned her gaze as ghastly Pegaz carried her forwards. She sat on her ghost horse and gave her legs a kick as they turned down yet another junction in the city of Kifili, a small town, although most of the cities in the area were small. Nanbasa was not far away and that city had cannibalized the local populations to grow itself. More of Uriamel¡¯s forces were here, although the waves of attackers had been getting lighter and lighter over the past few days. It was almost as if Uriamel was running out of steam, but Neneria could not imagine that such a huge underwater empire, could be drained of manpower after such a short conflict. Neneria waved her hand, several hundred of the Dead Legion¡¯s cavalry started circling around her. The horses silently entered a galloping charge. They passed through buildings only two or three stories tall so quietly that there was no tell, not even so much as the rustle of a disturbed curtain. And eyes traced the ghostly riders through the walls, Every now and then, her eyes would pass over an opening in the structures, an alleyway or a set of windows so positioned that they made the building see-through. And Neneria would see her army charging through, like a massive sickly flood of ethereal grey-green bodies. And Neneria¡¯s eyes touched the street which contained what remained of this attack-wave. Men with dark scales for skin and gills and limbs that were all too long. With sea-wolves that ran and tore and bit and supported by only one crab. There was a platform on its back, a tall pavilion with plenty of archers and someone who seemed to be the commander shouting down orders. The soldiers supporting Neneria, Kassandora¡¯s troops, enclosed themselves around Neneria to shield her with their bodies. Two huge Lynx tanks parked by her sides as the men took formation. But her support did not matter. Nor did the amount of forces Uriamel had deployed in Kifili. Ultimately, Uriamel had not brought magicians, nor Divines, and they were fighting against the ethereal in an urban area. Neneria readjusted her black silken dress, it was light for dealing with this weather, as she watched. Ghostly cavalry charged out of the buildings on one side of the street, as if they were a wave of water. They went straight into and through the invaders that had crawled out of the ocean. And the invaders fell. Slashed by sword or pierced by lance, their bodies undamaged but their souls torn apart. Neneria¡¯s Legionnaires through the small and the large and they circled around the crab. A few hit the leg, the crab recoiled, it lost balance. It tipped over. Ghosts swarmed into it. The crab¡¯s claws relaxed one final time as they gave up trying to swipe the invaders away. Neneria let her cavalry pass on through to the next street. It was wide, the shadows of the short buildings didn¡¯t even stretch off the pavement yet. Another set of Uriamel¡¯s forces were here. And once again, the men around Neneria readjusted their rifles. The tanks turned their turrets. The commander issued an order to hold for his men. And they waited and watched. It took all of twelve seconds for Neneria¡¯s Legion to pass from one street to the other. Once again, cavalry silently burst from the walls. Horses wounded, riders headless or with the chests blow apart. As everyone in the Legion, they all carried the wounds that felled them. Ethereal blade slammed against metal, horses gnashed their teeth in mad fury, riders screamed a war-cry: all silently. Into and through the beasts that had crawled out of the sea they went. Into and through, without taking even a moments pause, they raced across the street, cut everyone down, and disappeared into the next wall as Neneria guided them closer to the beach. The troops around her cheered, the sergeant from one of the tanks shouted a thanks, and they moved forwards as Pegaz slowly started trotting behind them. Neneria looked down at the ground as she suddenly was enveloped in shadow. Then she looked up and saw the silhouette of a huge vulture. She narrowed her eyes, it didn¡¯t look aggressive, and she had heard the soldiers talking about some giant bird that killed some giant monster in Nanbasa. And as Neneria looked up at the bird, she saw something fall from it. Neneria sighed. She could tell it wasn¡¯t some bomb that the bird was dropping. Nor some supply crate, or anything like that. No. It was a moving object, with arms and legs outstretched and a tufted tail. And it was screaming. Fer landed in the middle of the road, close to Neneria. She sent up a cloud of dust and concrete hail, as if the woman was a meteorite that had just crashed into the road. Neneria gave one quick glance to the tanks and soldiers around her. The roads here were secured, although there was gunfire and explosions of artillery sounding from the coastline. The road to the left was bodies, the road ahead was bodies, the road to the right was the Kirinyaan military. And Neneria turned to Fer. The woman was on her feet and walking out before most of the stones had returned to the ground. She beamed a smile at Neneria, uncaring that a tank had to bring itself to a stop to avoid the rubble and hole she had just created. ¡°I knew you weren¡¯t dead.¡± Fer said. ¡°Why would I be dead?¡± Neneria asked. Her sister did not respond. ¡°Kassie!¡± Fer clicked something in her ear. ¡°I found her!¡± And Fer turned to the men around them who had stopped in surprise. Obviously no one dared interrupt a Goddess, but just as obviously they were waiting for an order. ¡°Go on boys! This isn¡¯t a show, it¡¯s family business! Get a move on and get to work!¡± Kassandora¡¯s men through and through, they immediately started heading off. One of the Lynx tanks crushed several civilian cars as it swerved around the hole Fer had made. ¡°You were looking for me?¡± Neneria asked and Fer nodded as she pulled out a flare-gun from her belt. ¡°Oh ho ho Nene.¡± Fer said as she aimed the gun straight up and pulled the trigger. ¡°Kassie is not happy at all with you.¡± ¡°Is she not? Why?¡± Neneria asked. She had done everything that had been asked of her. Frankly, the cities under her watch were holding far better than the cities which had been under Anassa¡¯s or Olephia¡¯s protection. At least hers were still standing! Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°I¡¯ll let her explain.¡± Fer said as she squinted under the red smoke. ¡°But we¡¯re getting moved. Kassie is calling it Operation Draft, we already have confirmation from Dad too to go ahead.¡± ¡°We¡¯re drafting people?¡± Neneria asked in confusion. ¡°You are.¡± Fer replied. ¡°I¡¯m just here as a bodyguard.¡± ¡°I need bodyguards?¡± Neneria was almost honoured by the opportunity. It had to be important if Fer had been forced to tag along. ¡°Ana too.¡± Fer said, she stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you later. Kassie is here.¡± And as if Fer had summoned the Goddess of War, a huge helicopter with a massive set of rotors appeared from behind a building. It slowly hovered to a stop then lowered in between the buildings to the height of several floors. The rear door opened. A mass that Neneria immediately recognised appeared from out of there. She wasn¡¯t wearing her armour, nor was the iconic blade there, but it was obvious from the mass of bright crimson hair that trailed downwards as it fell. The black suit which made the hair stand out so much too. The thump as it hit the ground, nowhere near as chaotically as Fer, only cracking the tarmac rather than coming in with all the force of a cannonball. Neneria saw those furious red eyes focus on her, and she knew immediately that something she had done had made Kassandora very angry indeed. The Goddess of War stalked over to her with large steps, as if she was in a hurry. Neneria tried to smile, but she knew whatever expression she managed to put on would be smeared with nervousness, so she didn¡¯t even bother. Kassandora came to a stop before Neneria, she looked up at the Goddess of Death on her ghastly horse, and she did not look happy at all. ¡°Jump down.¡± Kassandora hissed angrily. Neneria did not jump, Pegaz merely started to slowly fall into the ground until her feet touched the tarmac, and then she merely straightened her legs. It was all done with all the grace of a noble princess, which Kassandora did not look to be too happy about. ¡°Why are you smiling?¡± Neneria wondered what she had done. Definitely something, Kassie was not the sort to get mad for no reason. ¡°I¡¯m enjoying myself?¡± Neneria said, she wanted the words to be more definite, but it was difficult without being angry. Kassandora always had a way about her that threw Neneria off. ¡°Great.¡± Kassandora hissed. ¡°Are you deaf?¡± ¡°No?¡± Neneria replied as Kassandora stepped forwards and ran her hand down Neneria¡¯s hip. Down one side, then the other. Neneria tried to contain her laughter. How the others weren¡¯t ticklish, she did not know. Of War straightened and looked up at Neneria with a flat glare. Neneria forced the stupid smile down. ¡°Have I done something wrong?¡± Kassandora grabbed Neneria¡¯s coat and ran her hands down its insides. She stared at Neneria again. ¡°Do you seriously keep it in there?¡± She asked. ¡°Keep what?¡± Neneria asked back. Kassandora¡¯s hand landed into the gap between Neneria¡¯s bosom. She slid it in down in disbelief and shook her head, Neneria giggled at the sensation. ¡°Did you actually lose your phone?¡± Kassandora¡¯s voice was half-shout, half-exasperation. ¡°No.¡± Neneria said. ¡°I have it on me.¡± ¡°Where then?!¡± Kassandora screamed as Fer made a terrible hur-hur-hur of a laugh. ¡°Someone is in trouble now.¡± Fer cooed from the side, her tail swishing from side to side. Neneria started hiking her dress until she showed off her thigh. There was a belt there, with a knife, a roll of bandages, a bottle of water and her phone. Kassandora looked at the leg, then up at Neneria, then back down at the leg. ¡°Are you serious?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Serious in what?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°This is where you keep it?¡± Fer burst out in more laughter from the side. ¡°Well I¡¯m not going to keep it in my bra, am I?!¡± Kassandora returned with a flat expression. ¡°Frankly, if that makes you answer the phone, I don¡¯t care where you shove it.¡± Kassandora said. She grabbed the phone off Neneria¡¯s leg, slapped her hand away to let the black silk fall and then pressed the power button. Neneria cracked a smile and laughed nervously. ¡°It¡¯s uncharged, isn¡¯t it?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Oh Nene.¡± Fer said as she walked around them. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be more sensible than this?¡± ¡°I charged it a few days ago.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Uh-huh.¡± Kassandora replied flatly as she pulled out a small black box from her coat pocket. Frankly, Neneria had no clue what it was, but Kassandora audibly clicked a cable into her phone, another into the small box, waited a few seconds and then turned Neneria¡¯s phone on. Neneria never used it, it still had the default wallpaper and stupid jingle that played whenever it turned on. And a sound for notifications. It repeated and overlapped on itself with each notification. So when Neneria¡¯s phone turned on, it was an auditory blur of overlapping beeping. ¡°What is this?¡± Neneria¡¯s cheeks went red as she looked at the lockscreen of her phone. Fifty-one missed calls. Several dozen texts too. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Neneria tried to explain as Fer came in close. ¡°Tut-tut sister. Little Kassie is mad now.¡± Neneria prepared for the insult Kassandora would hurl back at them. They were all tall, Kassandora was one of the tallest Divines in fact, but Neneria and Fer were even taller. Of War never liked when her height was mentioned. ¡°You know what you should do when you have nothing smart to say Fer?¡± Kassandora asked. Fer¡¯s ears jumped, she made a stupid smile, her ears sat up straight and even her tail stopped moving. ¡°Say nothing?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I¡¯d phrase it as shut the fuck up.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°But sure, let¡¯s go with say nothing.¡± Her attention was refocused on Neneria soon enough though. ¡°Why are you incapable of answering your phone?¡± Neneria raised her hands defensively, she honestly had no defence. ¡°Because I don¡¯t?¡± It was a stupid answer, Neneria hated that she even said those words. But when Kassandora questioned like that, her questions demanded answers, no matter how stupid those answers were. ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°I¡¯ll pretend I didn¡¯t hear that.¡± She grabbed Neneria¡¯s coat and thrust the phone into one of the pockets. ¡°Why do you not keep it here?¡± ¡°Because¡­¡± Neneria thought for a moment. Well, there was an actual reason for this actually, that was the fact that if she had it there, she found herself using the phone too much throughout the entire day. If she kept it on her leg, under her long dress, then it was a pain to take out so she didn¡¯t use it as much. But that was a stupid reason, and Kassie always got annoyed at stupid reasons. ¡°I don¡¯t?¡± Neneria said as she grabbed the sides of her dress. Kassandora did not even humour the answer. She swung Neneria¡¯s coat back into her, Of Death felt her phone bounce against her side. ¡°Well you do now.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And you better answer next time I ring.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± Neneria said. ¡°It¡¯s not a case of try or no.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It¡¯s a case of you will do it, because everyone else can somehow manage it. Even Olephia answers her phone and she doesn¡¯t even speak!¡± Kassandora finished off with a shout. She stopped, sighed heavily and finally gave Neneria some room as she took a step back. ¡°We¡¯re already behind schedule, because we had to collect you Nene, so Fer is taking you.¡± Neneria blinked as she felt Fer slide close to her. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Kassandora merely kept going. ¡°You are getting sent to the UNN, you will vacuum up souls there for your Legion. If you answered, maybe we could talk about it, but I¡¯m in a bad mood as of now, so Fer will inform you of the situation once you¡¯re on the plane.¡± ¡°What?¡± Neneria said in disbelief. She was getting transferred already? ¡°Anassa is going with you too, for protection, but it will be just you three. I¡¯m not going.¡± Kassandora said quickly. ¡°I think that¡¯s everything you need to know now.¡± ¡°And here?¡± Neneria felt Fer¡¯s arm hook around her. ¡°Kavaa is taking over here. Her Clerics will assist in the clean-up.¡± Kavaa will do the fighting? But that Goddess could only wave a toothpick around! ¡°And if something big comes?¡± Neneria didn¡¯t even know why she was arguing back, frankly, it didn¡¯t matter whether she was in the UNN or in Arika, but these questions were simply appearing in her mind now. ¡°Olephia is a city over.¡± Kassandora replied quickly. She gave a nod to Fer. Neneria¡¯s vision all became a blur as Fer yanked her from the ground and into the air in a jump that went from zero to a thousand immediately. Chapter 276 – A Nuclear Disaster With the breaking of Pantheon Peace and the damage caused by Elassa¡¯s cracking of Arika, it has become obvious that the old order is failing. Great Guguo will not be caught unawares, we will not sit idly by as Arascus¡¯ dissidents conquer Epa, the UNN and move on us¡­ ¡­I fully support, ladies and gentlemen, the White Pantheon¡¯s request to start industrialization for military purposes. For three reasons! Firstly, for peace in the world, Guguo needs a modern military to enforce the peace. Second, because we see Arascus¡¯ takeover in Kirinyaa. I would like to ask where the fools who once talked of allying with him in order to keep our positions have gone? Third, so that after victory is achieved, Guguo is now left as the Pantheon¡¯s right hand in the world, we will be rewarded! - The Guguoan Sectmasters vote on Sect Mass Mobilization Maisara flexed her hands and looked at her palms. Her skin had not fully grown back yet. They didn¡¯t hurt anymore, but her palms were the tender pink of freshly regenerated muscle rather than the pale shade the rest of her body was. It was damage from the morning¡¯s job: to make way for the mortal cleanup crew, she had to dislodge several of the graphite control rods which had jammed themselves half-way in the reactor¡¯s core after the wave had flooded the facility. That had to be done by hand. And now Maisara hissed as she flexed her fingers and closed her palm. Maisara looked through her report again as she felt her plane start to lower its altitude. That meant they were coming close. Maisara stood up and readjusted her shirt. Supposedly she should wear a heavy rubber suit to protect herself from the worst of the radiation, but she was a Divine. And she already had three different reactors under her belt. Fortia and Allasaria both had two each. She smiled in satisfaction at the thought as her back up team of Paladins all went to sit in seats and strapped themselves in. Her entourage was for papers, for organising routes and for dealing with anyone who tried to come close. It wasn¡¯t just the looters and reporters, it was minor local Divines who thought too much of themselves. Twice now, Maisara had to put some local deity back into his place because he thought that the assistance to some flooded homes outweighed the need to stop the entire Alanktydan Ocean from turning into a radioactive dead-zone. So Maisara grabbed onto her seatbelt as she sat in the cargo-hold of the plane. A PCM4, Paladin-Carrier Model-4, specifically produced for her Orders, huge, capable of ferrying heavy vehicles or hundreds of men from location to location. With enough range to make a lap around the equator of Arda. Although it was sparse in the back, with only benches set up and the floor being all iron and steel. Maisara read through her report again. Some parts could be ignored. The casualties, Maisara did not care about. The fact that five of the engineers working at Ilsney Nuclear Station were lost also did not matter. Either they had ventured into the mountains, in which case it wasn¡¯t for Maisara to find them, or they had stayed at the Station, in which case the radiation will have already killed them. Other parts though were important, the blueprint map for example. Absolutely necessary. The fact that three of the backup generators may be underwater, again, crucial. Maisara read through her report until the pilot broke the silence: Paladins did not chatter much. ¡°We are approaching Ilsney Nuclear Station.¡± He said. ¡°Goddess Maisara, we will drop you onto the station from above, although we can¡¯t get too much lower.¡± Maisara clicked the earpiece in her ear. There was a small amount of static through it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, just save me the walk.¡± She said. ¡°Understood.¡± The pilots replied over the intercom again, pistons hissed and gears started to turn. Metal whined as Maisara unhooked her arm from the strap she was holding onto and stood up. For a moment, the wind and air rushed past her, throwing her silver hair around and her clothes, and then it stabilized. Maisara did not even look at her men as she walked on the steel towards the edge of the cargo hold. Down below lay Ilsney Nuclear Station, near the town of Ilsney, cozily sheltered between the beginnings of the Kalachia mountains and the ocean. It was picturesque, the Kalachias were ancient and overgrown with wild nature, Ilsney itself was cozy and small, all low-rise buildings to maintain the landscape and docks that would send fishermen out everyday. A school, a small hospital, the grandest building was the old library, which had supposedly stood for over a century, and a Pantheon Church, about as old, both were built at the same town when the town was settled. Maisara saw none of it. She heard only silence, crashing ocean waves and the turbines of the plane. Ilsney was a dark mark of grey roads and broken rubble from shattered buildings. The waters had washed almost everything away, the only things that still stood were the bottom halves of signposts and steel beams that had been used to support the larger buildings. Those had merely been snapped, not ripped out of the ground like everything else. The luscious Kalachia mountains, apparently brimming with untamed wilderness, were slabs of rock. Maisara could see exactly how far the wave had reached, about three-quarters of the way up the mountains, the trees suddenly returned. Underneath that line, it was as if the local government had gone on a deforestation policy. Everything had been washed away. And whereas the mountains themselves looked terrible, the valleys and ravines may as well have been the sites of battles. Instead of being filled with flora, they were filled with rubble from the mountains, and from what the waters had washed in from Ilsney. Maisara saw more than a few cars and several boats which had been smashed into the mountain even from here. Two of the mountains had smoke-stacks, campfires from survivors then, although Maisara ignored them. Instead, her eyes went to the crisis she was here to prevent. Roughly four miles south of Ilsney was series of grey domes and boxes. The cooling towers to release steam had been washed away, that was no surprise, but Maisara was focused on the buildings. Her cold grey eyes grew dark. It was always her. It was never Fortia. It was never Allasaria. When something terrible happened, it was always her. Smoke was rising out from one of the buildings and another was on fire. Not the warm flames of wood burning, the toxic blue fire that said something which did not appear in nature normally was being cleansed away. The smoke from that was a tarry black, as if an artist had taken a dirty paintbrush and smeared it onto reality. Maisara heard her earpiece start to click rapidly, she took it out and threw it away. There was precisely zero chance it would work, she knew from the unnatural warmness this high up in the air. Maisara took a deep breath, she checked her parachute one last time, and she jumped from the plane. Of Order had always had a soft-spot for falling through the air, although Fortia did too. Sometimes, Maisara wondered if Fer did too, it was only natural that those who couldn¡¯t fly would enjoy this sort of activity. She closed her eyes and allowed herself a smile for a moment. Only a moment though, the wind whipped her hair and blew past her cheeks, and Maisara awoke from her brief pause for calmness. A tug on the cord by Maisara¡¯s shoulder opened the parachute. Maisara grunted as the massive cloth opened up behind her and cut her speed in half. She kicked her legs, grabbed the release cord and directed her glide to straight over Ilsney Nuclear Station. Once the drop was manageable, only about five stories high, Maisara held her breath in the warm air and pulled the cord. Straps gave way, ropes slid past and Maisara¡¯s parachute lost its connection to her. Maisara slammed into the concrete, feet first, as if she was diving into the ocean. Her boot touched the ceiling, and the ceiling could do nothing to stand up against the weight of a Goddess but give up and crumble. In a massive explosion of dust and concrete hailstone, Maisara crashed through the ceiling as she closed her eyes. For a moment, her magical armour materialized around her body. The silver chest piece and the battleskirt that protected her thighs whilst still allowing full range of movement. Before the dust even started to clear, Maisara dematerialized her armour as soon as she felt the drumming of stone against it start to stop. If there was one thing she didn¡¯t want to be doing back at the Mountain, it was cleaning her gear from radiation, so she tried to minimize its usage. And, frankly, it did nothing for protection. She still felt the skin all over her body start to heat up as her eyes readjusted to the darkness. The red emergency lights were somehow still functioning. That was either good news: one of the back up generators was still working, or terrible: the reactor core had not been shut down. From the choking heat and the sickly smell in the air, Maisara expected the worse option. Down the first corridor, it had obviously been flooded and it had obviously been dried out quickly. The heat was starting to get stifling, the tiles here were covered in mud that was washed in from the outside. Roots and leaves too, at one point, Maisara snagged her leg on loose of bramble that stretched the floor like razor wire. Now that she was this deep in, and now that she felt the heat. Wounds like that didn¡¯t seem to matter. Frankly, what did such a tiny cut even mean if the reactor felt as if it was going to blow? Maisara followed the route to the reactor core from memory. There was no checking of side-rooms, nor seeing what the waters had washed into the building. The curiosity could be pushed down and frankly, Maisara had too much on her plate right now to have time to explore here. Down the main corridor, over two drowned bodies in white clothes that had been dirtied by mud. Through the main set of steel doors into the control room. Through the set of steel doors. Maisara stared at the doors before her. She knew the keypad on the side would not work, yet she tried anyway. It did not work. It did not even flash. Maisara turned around, looked down and saw how pink her arms and legs were. Already she had spent too much time in here. Deities weren¡¯t mortals; radiation would not kill Divines through cancer formation, frankly, it was worse. Back then, it had been called Olephia¡¯s Curse, now, it was radiation poisoning, but what it was called didn¡¯t matter. Ending up as one of the deities who tried to best Olephia¡¯s dead-zone was not something Maisara had ever wanted to accomplish. The bodies would give out, they would lose strength, they would fall utterly drained of strength. Yet they would still live. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. If there was one death Maisara wanted to avoid, it was that torturously slow release from life. Maisara¡¯s executioner¡¯s axe appeared in her hand. She slammed it into the door. The huge silver and steel great-axe disappeared a moment later. Even after spending only a few out here, the metal had already gone warm. The gash in the door let out a howl and a wave of heat that forced even Maisara to take a step back. The Goddess took a deep breath, held the noxious air within herself, and stepped close to the gash. Maisara grunted as she pulled the metal apart, even as it scorched her skin. It was as if she was being forced to grab a molten ingot of iron. Normally, it would have been an effort to tear the steel apart. With it weakened from the heat though, it bend under Maisara¡¯s strength as if the woman was moving a rather flexible piece of wood. Maisara unbuttoned her shirt as she felt the material start to cling to her from her own sweat. Her palms and fingers stung as she dealt with the buttons. Her nails had started to bleed, as did several holes on her palms that her body was fighting to regrow.. Maisara ignored the stinging nails, but directed regeneration to the holes in her palms. Sliding through the gap she had bent into the steel, she saw where the parts of her palms had been left there. Maybe Elassa would have turned her head at it, but Maisara? She simply held her breath because the smell of melting flesh was something she was not particularly fond of. Maisara yelped and cut her leg on a sharp piece of metal. She wobbled from the heat, then again as she felt her muscles cry out under the toxic radiation in the air. And she turned, took a deep breath, and inspected the control room. Two bodies were here, these men hadn¡¯t drowned, they had fallen over in puddles of their own blood. And Maisara looked up at the controls. There was a reason it was Maisara who got these jobs, and it was a rather simple one. Fortia and Allasaria were both incapable of learning the control scheme of these reactors in the few hours they had of preparation. Maisara had always been good at this sort of thing, but now as she looked up at all the blinking lights: the red alarms, the screens that had been brought to silence by radiation, the gauges and metres, she realised that this was a situation in which no one knew what to do. Maisara coughed and swallowed more toxic air. She relaxed her hands, tried to ignore the feeling of burning on her cheeks and the fact her eyes were starting to tear up. And Maisara pushed the shut-down button. Apart from the tip of her finger leaving a thin layer of skin on the plastic, and the stinging sensation when she had to tear it away, nothing happened. Boric acid release, same thing. Emergency control rod switch. And nothing. Whether it was the fact her lungs were starting to sting or that her feet have become numb, Maisara gave up and switched tactics. She considered herself a woman capable of patience, yet she would never describe herself as patient. Today especially so. Maisara kicked down the door that led to the reactor room and felt the heat slather her as the metal twisted and fell of its hinges. She had just stepped out of an oven and onto the edge of a volcano. Breathing became difficult, her lips started to crack, her vision started to discolour. She coughed onto her hands and saw blood. Sometimes, she really did miss Kavaa. She missed the little quirks of the cold Goddess, the way that she would roll her eyes. Or the fact she would scold Maisara when Of Order needed healing. The way she would complain about the fact she felt trivialized by constantly healing the damage from spats in the Pantheon. Right now, Maisara would give another millennia of seething at Allasaria for Kavaa to suddenly appear and soothe the burning with her icy touch. The walk down the corridor was no slower than any other time, yet Maisara had to drag herself there. Each movement of her leg felt as if her muscles were tearing themselves apart, each breath of air was as if she was trying to swallow boiling, noxious, bitter jam. She didn¡¯t even want to touch the door at the end. The fact the air shimmered was enough tell to gauge its temperature. The axe being radioactive didn¡¯t matter in the grand scheme of things. It would be a pain to clean, but it could be cleaned. It materialized in Maisara¡¯s hand, she hissed as its grip stung the raw flesh on her palms and she threw it forwards. It crashed and roared and¡­ And Maisara heard her ears pop. Gone. Silence. Maisara took a step forwards as her thoughts were suddenly all she could hear. Deafness it was, these things happened. Regeneration would fix it on the plane. The lack of sound did not compare to the state of the reactor core anyway. In the previous plants Maisara had gone to, none of them were glowing like a blinding white star. Maisara felt her vision go dull as she looked around. There was ash on the floor, maybe bodies, maybe books, she couldn¡¯t tell as she stepped into the main chamber. The core was dry, its cooling was now mere steam in the air. The pump to run more water into the core wasn¡¯t working. Maybe it had shut down, maybe the tidal wave had brought debris which blocked it. Maisara did not know. She did not care either. Her eyes searched around for a tank she knew would be somewhere here. It had to be. She passed over it several times before realising it was there. A huge thing, with a valve and a pipe that led directly into the core. Maisara took a step forwards, felt her legs shake and gave up. She threw her axe again, at the valve, but she hit the tank instead. Boron acid spilled out, hissing as it cooked itself on the temperature of the metal, but there was simply too much of it for it all to boil away. It flooded half of the room, found a channel that led to the core, and started to flow. The temperature dropped only slightly as Maisara tested her hands in the acid. Apparently, it was supposed to control the reaction in the core, it only stung her hands. She shook it off and took a breath as the core was submerged. That did help. It helped a lot in fact. Even as the acid bubbled around the core, it stopped glowing. Maisara looked around. Clean-up would come later, but if she didn¡¯t get the control rods in then this process would have to be repeated. She looked around for a manual release. There was none. Maisara looked up at the control rods in the air. Her vision was blurry and dark, and she had to reach out to check that her eyes weren¡¯t tricking her. There were in fact dark-grey rails that guided the rods into the core. Maisara reached up. Thankfully, she was tall enough. She didn¡¯t know what she would if she wasn¡¯t, but she could just about reach that sheet of metal which held the rods. Maisara grit her teeth as blood poured down her hand. Her weight alone wasn¡¯t enough to dislodge the mechanism. So she grit her teeth harder, and with just one hand, Maisara swung herself up. Heat and smoke and noxious fumes. That was all Maisara could see or hear. Her eyes tried to focus on objects and shapes, but couldn¡¯t. Maisara dropped to her knees and started to run her hands over anything and everything. Steel. Cold steel. Bolts. And then she found it. Something slippery and round, as if it was coated in chromium. Her fist closed even as Maisara felt as if she was being forced to bathe in acid and she snapped the piston. The platform immediately started to move. Maisara made a small gasp, even though her throat could only rubble and spit out blood as she crawled around on the ground. There was no gap between the platform and the core below her. It had shut luckily. She felt around for any control rods that needed to be pushed in further. Her hands found one that her eyes could not see, and she used it to stand up as she pushed it in. The temperature in the room started to drop. It didn¡¯t get cool, Maisara doubted that was even possible at this point, but she no longer was standing in the middle of the sun and only on its surface. Her vision slowly fought its way to reveal something, anything. Simple shapes of grey and silver and red lines and black and yellow warning labels. Maisara pushed in every rod she could see. She was sure, she was definite, she was certain that she damaged the core. That something in there had cracked, or that the rods had been pushed in so deep that it would be impossible to take them out. And Maisara did not care. She gave the core one final look over and started moving one leg in front of the other. Back through the corridor. Back through the control room. Once again she cut herself on the door, although it didn¡¯t make much of a difference anyway. With every step, Maisara was leaving a trail of blood as she went. Until she got to the opening she had made on the way in. Maisara bent down to jump, and then realised her legs simply refused to. The Goddess of Order grit her teeth. She gave up on her eyes, on her hearing, on all her senses and all her natural regeneration moved into her legs. In two seconds, she lost every sense there was again, in two seconds, the muscles in her legs were once working, if only for an instant. Maisara released and felt cool air all around her. She drifted in the darkness, in that stinging, biting wind. By all means, it could have been called unnaturally warm. Hot even. And yet to her, it was a brilliant, beautiful devouring cold that rushed over. Maisara smiled to herself as she thought about what she had just done. Another reactor was saved. Another countless amount of lives were saved. Another successful mission to add to her repertoire. And those thoughts went away as Maisara bathed in the senseless darkness, without sight and without smell and without sound, with only cool air embracing every inch of her. Maisara grunted as her back slammed onto grass. She thirstily took a breath of fresh air. Just like the temperature, there was no way this air could be called cool, yet it tasted like the sweetest ambrosia Maisara had ever tasted. She lay there, taking deep breathes, letting her body finally take a few moments of rest as her regeneration, finally undirected, fought damage all over her body. How long did she lie there? It felt like an hour. It realistically was maybe half of that. There were more jobs to do. She couldn¡¯t rest now. Maisara finally stood up, wiping her hands on her shirt and throwing the rocks off herself. Her entire body stung as if it had just been rubbed with spicy powder, and her hands burned. She looked down at herself, there wasn¡¯t an inch of herself where the skin wasn¡¯t peeling off. Maisara grit her teeth as she watched the plane come down in the distance. They wouldn¡¯t be able to land this close to the reactor without frying the electronics. She sighed and took a shaky step forwards as she guided her natural regeneration to her legs first. Each step felt as if she was walking on metal spikes that had been heated to glowing. Yet after each step, Maisara took another. There was cleanup to do. Regeneration could be done on the plane. The UNN¡¯s nuclear reactors were almost all saved now. Those that could not be salvaged, Allasaria would go and wipe with her magical beams. There would be fallout, but one small burst of fallout was better than the constant leaking they would make. Maisara thought about the future as she took heavy steps down the road. The UNN was now firmly Pantheon aligned, Guguo should be too. It was only Epa and Arika that were issues. If they could¡­ She pushed the thoughts away. Frankly, her whole body hurt far too much to think about battle plans right now. She wanted a bath. Still thinking about a bath, Maisara walked back to the huge PCM4 plane and asked them for the next report. Another nuclear station that had been flooded: mortal crews could not fix it, the water in the general location had become so radioactive it was frying electronics within minutes. The pumps had to be turned on before salvage teams could get to it. Maisara leaned back, closed her eyes, waved her hand to signal take-off, felt flakes of her own skin fall onto her knees, and took a deep breath; she really wanted that bath. Chapter 277 – The Devil of Austerity Arascus sat down with Kassandora. Malam was busy right now and frankly, he imagined that Kassandora had a far better rapport with Elassa than Malam did. ¡°When are you planning on going to assist the dwarves?¡± ¡°I was going today, I¡¯m going to have drag a telephone line into there.¡± ¡°Before you go, we need to do something.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Convince Elassa that Baalka is to be awoken, she¡¯s a mage, she¡¯ll be able to enter the soul.¡± Kassandora sighed and looked at Arascus for a few moments. ¡°And Anassa can¡¯t do it?¡± She was asking the question because it had to be asked. But they both knew the answer. ¡°Would you trust to let Anassa into your mind?¡± King Richard VI of Allia sat in the meeting room of the Shadow Council with his wife Eleanor by his side. Her in the royal gown of Allia, him in a suit for kings, both with crowns over their heads. It was a large room in the palace, with windows leading to the empty countryside gardens outside. A few horses were trotting about, with some of the local aristocracy enjoying the sunshine. Richard looked over at his beautiful wife, her lovely golden hair falling down her back and then to the members of the Shadow Council; a much less pretty view. The Shadow Council, for its imposing name, had nothing to do with secret governance or subterfuge. The counsellors were called that because they should stay as close to the Crown as to be its shadow. Each of their names were public, all of them were elected officials by Parliament. They were the foremost method of communication the population at large had with the King, pro-monarchists would be elected when the population was satisfied, republicans would be elected when defiance was to be shown instead. Thankfully, in the recent election, driven by the unity and fanaticism of Epan Separation, the monarchists had won an overwhelming majority. So Richard sat there and sighed. Of the nations which had taken part in Epan Separation, Wissel had convinced him that Allia would be hit the least. Richard had believed it. Who hadn¡¯t believed it in fact? Lubska was always going to be an invasion route for the Pantheon. Rilia was exposed too, Doschia and Rancais were on the continent as well. Allia was an island, Allia should have been safe, Allia was untouchable. Well. Allia was in fact untouchable. The oceans ensured that no foreign army would step foot here, and the Alanktydan blockade ensured that no a single supply got in. The only exception was air-cargo from Epa, precious planes that shipped Lubskan grain here and Allian engines to be put into Doschian tanks. The entire continent had pooled its civilian airfleet into ECCAF, the Epan Coalition Combined Air Fleet. The Allian officers in Camford who were directing the nightmare that was ECCAF would be remembered in the books as some of the greatest logisticians in all history. The fact that there hadn¡¯t been a single collision yet, that the crews were getting rotated as they needed to be, that translators were there for every plane to deal with each Epan language, that somehow, the planes actually landed on time, that fuel was always there to make sure they could go back into the air, was, quite frankly, incredible and record-shattering. It had more than a thousand heavy cargo planes, each one carrying more than a hundred tons. Potentially, at any one point in time, there could be more than a hundred thousand tons of supplies in the skies above Epa. A single large cargo ship could handle two-hundred and twenty thousand. Richard smiled to himself. A single ship had double the tonnage of all ECCAF. Every city in Allia with docks was already overflowing with parts. Allia was supposed to be the beating heart in the Coalition for specialist parts. Well, Allia had done its job, the heart did beat, but the veins were all clogged. ¡°The Parliament has approved the Control Orders Bill.¡± Richard said, frankly, whether they passed it or not didn¡¯t really matter. There were ways to achieve everything he wanted to achieve today, the C.O.B. simply made things smoother. ¡°It is time to discuss rationing.¡± That was the word of the day, it had been for the past week in fact. Already shops had started limiting sales to customers, but the chaos of private enterprise had to be replaced with the stagnating control of government, it wasn¡¯t about ensuring quality of life. It was about ensuring life. ¡°In regards to that, where should we start?¡± Lord Bertrand asked, a tall skinny man, Minister of the Economy. Royalist. Bald. Glasses. ¡°The easy part first.¡± Richard said as he leaned back. ¡°Food.¡± The fact that food rationing was the easy part was so terrible Richard wanted to laugh at the sheer horror of it. He didn¡¯t, because it was true. Richard turned to Duke Maximilian. Minister of Agriculture. Royalist, although all aristocrats were. Short hair. Dark suit. Quite muscled and lean. An unorthodox man though, quite popular amongst the population because of how much time he spent with farmers in the countryside. Every month, there would be a new image of the man wrangling sheep or digging holes in fields. ¡°I told you to prepare notes.¡± ¡°Ah yes.¡± Duke Maximiliam spoke in a low voice, fitting for a man who did so much work outside. He tapped the folder on the table as every other of the ministers turned to him. ¡°Firstly, the hard rationing we cannot compromise on.¡± The man pulled out a list. ¡°Lamb, beef, pork and poultry we have no choice but to set controls on.¡± Richard felt Eleanor¡¯s hand take his, already they were starting off badly. That was all meat basically. ¡°Lamb, due to the prevalence of sheep in the north, can have looser restrictions. The others¡­¡± Maximiliam trailed off and had to take a second to regain control. ¡°Well, it has to be redistributed centrally to make sure the general population gets the required proteins and calories. If we don¡¯t, we¡¯re consigning the cities to vegetarianism for who knows how long. High-effort jobs can have extended rations too, to get people out of the offices and onto the trains.¡± Richard smiled at that, the train workers had been striking recently. ¡°It will be done.¡± Richard said. ¡°Arthur, write it down, all meats to be rationed. Maximilian, I expect you to work out the intricacies of weight and so on.¡± Arthur was Richard¡¯s secretary. At least for today, it was the sort of position that was used to train new court assistants rather be anyone of importance. ¡°I was actually thinking of rationing by price.¡± Maximilian said. ¡°Otherwise there will be runs on the butcheries for when the good cuts of meat become available.¡± ¡°Specifics are yours Maximiliam, next.¡± Richard sped him up. ¡°All dairy products. We simply don¡¯t produce enough milk. We can¡¯t import enough either through ECCAF. There is no substitute.¡± Maximiliam said as Arthur scrambled to write. ¡°All products made with imported sugar too, although that may be good for the general health of the population.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be for morale.¡± One of the other ministers spoke up. There was some laughter at that and Maximiliam nodded. ¡°In regards to that, I am working on publishing the Austerity Cookbook.¡± Maximiliam said and Elliot, Minister of Education, coughed. An intellectual man, from Camford, tall and skinny. He looked out of place in the suit of a bureaucrat and not the jumper of a professor. ¡°I would like to raise a point on this later.¡± Elliot said. ¡°But continue.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a cookbook with recipes we can work on. Carrot cake and the like. Things people will like, vegetable pie is another, tomorrow, I will be running a competition on EIE for who can make the best foods with only locally sourced goods.¡± Maximiliam finished. ¡°Have you thought about Vitamin deficiencies?¡± Duke William asked, Minister of Health. A true philanthropist, the man had been involved in a scandal some years back when his wife sued him for recklessly spending on the poor. He was emptying their treasuries so quickly that if she didn¡¯t stop him, the entire Noble House of Arcester would have gone bankrupt. ¡°I want to provide all schools with blackcurrant juice and rosehip syrup to be given out to parents. We don¡¯t have enough milk for them anyway.¡± Maximiliam said. ¡°And the Grow-Your-Own scheme is a better success than all predictions said it would be. Even people in cities are growing tomatoes on their windowsills apparently.¡± ¡°I hate to be the bearer of bad news.¡± Bertrand said. ¡°But the storerooms are running out of seeds. What ECCAF brings is given away basically the day it arrives.¡± Richard asked the question this time. ¡°What do you suggest then?¡± ¡°I suggest we start charging for the seeds, or accepting returns. A pound of vegetables for a packet of seeds or something of the like. If everything we gave away was grown, Allia would be able to feed all Epa with the amount of vegetables that should be here.¡± ¡°Write that down.¡± Richard said. ¡°Call it the Pound a Packet scheme. Don¡¯t charge for it though.¡± Arthur¡¯s pen furiously scribbled against the paper as the King of Allia turned to Maximilian. ¡°Is that everything?¡± ¡°Everything has shortages.¡± Maximilian said. ¡°But fruit and vegetables will fare better if we just let them be subject to availability rather than controls.¡± He looked through his notes one last time and shook his head. ¡°I have nothing else on such a short time scheme, we¡¯ve covered the most important things anyway.¡± Richard took a deep breath. That was the easy part done. Hilarious. People starving was the easy part. Richard turned to the next issue. It was one that wasn¡¯t large yet, but it could spiral out of control. ¡°Chief Officer Lloyd. The report on criminality.¡± Chief Officer Lloyd, in a grey moustache and close cut grey hair, a blue suit, just as the police on the streets wore. He was head of all of police in Allia. ¡°It is actually positive.¡± The man said. ¡°Trends are generally good, serious criminality is going down; murders and the like. We¡¯ve not had a single one in the whole country for a year now. Petty robberies are going up and¡­¡± He looked slightly uneasy with himself. ¡°I actually have a radical proposal.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Well?¡± Richard said as he leaned forwards. ¡°Out with it.¡± ¡°The chaos caused by the logistics shortages is likely to cause starvation in the cities. Even if people won¡¯t be dying of hunger, we can be certain that malnutrition will be rife. And¡­¡± Lloyd looked down at his interlocked fingers and took a deep breath. ¡°Well?¡± Richard asked. Lloyd finished, rallied himself and looked at everyone on the table. ¡°Ultimately, our goal is to ensure there is an Allia. I do not propose changing any of the laws, however I will say that we should give tacit permission to the criminal gangs that smuggling is now effectively legal.¡± Richard blinked as the entire table turned to the Chief Officer. The King did not shut down though, and it was Eleanor who leaned forward. Eleanor had always been blunt, but she wasn¡¯t scolding the man. She spoke softly, as if genuinely inquiring. ¡°Explain yourself Lloyd. What is this?¡± ¡°I propose a massive clamp down on any known drug traffickers immediately. We can get them off the streets within the week.¡± Lloyd said. ¡°And then¡­¡± He took another breath. ¡°Well, they¡¯re smuggling drugs into the country even though we¡¯re under blockade. We deal with them, we give them permission to smuggle food, we keep watch on them, we allow them to keep profits untaxed. If we find a gram on powder on them, I propose the hangman immediately.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I assume most will not take the risk when such an easy alternative is provided.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Richard said. ¡°You¡¯re saying we don¡¯t clamp down on black markets.¡± ¡°When the war is done, we shut them down.¡± Lloyd said. ¡°But whilst the war is going on, the black market can be viewed as a redistribution of goods.¡± He spread his arms out. ¡°If we¡¯re building a safety net for the population, then the black market is a second net for those who fall through the first one.¡± ¡°And what happens to those who fall through this one too?¡± Bertrand asked. Lloyd locked eyes with him as he answered coldly. ¡°They starve.¡± ¡°I actually agree with this idea.¡± Eleanor said. Richard nodded along. ¡°I concur too, we¡¯re fighting against the country starving here.¡± The entire room seemed to relax as Lloyd wiped sweat off his brow. ¡°It is radical, and I don¡¯t like it, but¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°It is sensible.¡± Richard said. ¡°Problems down the line with it later on though.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Lloyd said lightly. ¡°We¡¯ll have a criminal problem later, but that can be solved. People starving to death can¡¯t return back to life.¡± ¡°Arthur, don¡¯t write this down.¡± Richard said. Some things were better when they weren¡¯t included in the minutes. ¡°Lloyd, you have permission. I want this done, turn the dealers into patriots.¡± There was some laughter at that, Richard had to make the joke, because now they were finally out of the children¡¯s section of this pool of problems. Another problem down. Richard turned to the next issue. One word which chilled the atmosphere in the entire room, this was the part he had been dreading. ¡°Everyone now, I asked everyone for opinions on this.¡± He sighed. ¡°Electricity.¡± Taking electricity out of a city was akin to taking the blood out of a man. The continental countries had this issue too, but they had plentiful reserves of coal. They had Karaina to trade with. They had forests to fell. They didn¡¯t have to extract gas from the ocean. They weren¡¯t an untouchable island. The entire room fell silent for a few moments. ¡°Rolling blackouts.¡± Betrand broke the silence. ¡°It has to be done, we simply cannot power the country at this point. There is not enough fuel for the stations. Rancais is sending us what they can through the undersea cables, but I expect them to be cut eventually when Alanktyda realizes they are there.¡± ¡°I actually agree.¡± Maximilian said. ¡°We can¡¯t lie to the population either, we give them dates and hours of when blackouts will occur in each region. I wanted to mention this before, but the Pound a Packet scheme should also include kettles.¡± ¡°Kettles?¡± Richard raised an eyebrow and Maximilian nodded. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not being farcical here. We already have power surges at seven in the morning and six at night. It¡¯s because of the whole country brewing their tea.¡± Even though the topic was silly, Richard realised the issue the more the man spoke. When was the last time he missed his morning tea or coffee either? ¡°We want to rid the population of kettles, or at least get rid of enough of them that they stop making the power graph look like this.¡± He made a line in the air with his finger, with two noticeable spikes that went from the table to above his head. ¡°Write that down Arthur. Kettles into the Pound a Pack scheme.¡± Richard said. ¡°Will it make a difference though?¡± ¡°We go step by step.¡± Maximilian said. ¡°We cut the fat so that the hospitals can stay on.¡± ¡°I would go further.¡± Elliot said, the professor-esque Minister of Education. ¡°We cut heating to certain sections entirely, it¡¯s still the summer, we have months to adjust the population at large to the idea of what I¡¯m calling DHZ, Designated Heating Zones.¡± ¡°It would be brutal.¡± Lloyd said. ¡°If we start cutting power to heating.¡± ¡°Baby steps. Kettles first.¡± Elliot said. ¡°Then between the hours of two to six we cut power. Expand to one to six, then twelve to seven.¡± ¡°I was wanting to suggest alternative fuel sources.¡± Maximilian said. ¡°Wood and the like.¡± ¡°We would deforest Allia entirely within the year if we started burning wood.¡± Elliot said. ¡°But for rural areas, I would encourage it. It¡¯s cities that are the problem here. City blocks don¡¯t have fireplaces.¡± Richard nodded along, this is why no one wanted to touch this issue. There was simply no way to fix it without grinding the nation to a halt. ¡°What is with the DHZs you mentioned?¡± Richard asked. ¡°Public libraries, schools, town halls, gyms and swimming pools. Anything that can fit a large amount of people should become a DHZ where people go to stay warm. These, we heat with electricity.¡± Elliot said. ¡°I contacted Camford to run the numbers on this. On what we could use to heat the country I mean.¡± ¡°And?¡± Richard asked. Elliot shook his head. ¡°From top to bottom. Our coal is not as clean as the Epan coal, we would cause smog if we started burning in mass to warm cities. Rural areas can handle it, cities cannot or we would drowning our own people in smog. Wood is a short term resource, I have no issue with cutting the forests down, most of them are plantation woods anyway so there¡¯s no historical value in them but¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s a but?¡± Lloyd asked in disbelief. ¡°Wood has other uses.¡± Elliot said. ¡°When you Maximilian mentioned the Austerity Cook book, we already have a problem.¡± ¡°We have a problem with a book?¡± Maximilian asked. ¡°With paper.¡± Elliot said and Richard realised the scale of the issue. ¡°Paper cannot be reasonably moved through ECCAF when we¡¯re moving food through it. The country will run out of paper in a week, maybe two. I¡¯ve already instructed all schools to start taking textbook donations or moving to electronic. Camford is emptying its storerooms to send books to the schools in the area, but¡­¡± ¡°I see.¡± Maximilian said. ¡°The Austerity Cook Book is an excellent idea because again, how long will we actually be able to power the country for?¡± Elliot asked. ¡°So it should be printed immediately.¡± ¡°I have a draft.¡± Maximilian said. ¡°There¡¯s spelling mistakes in there probably, but there¡¯s a draft.¡± Bertrand shook his head and crossed his arms. ¡°It¡¯s fitting we ration the ration book.¡± Richard had never heard such a miserable chorus of pained laughs. He sighed and went back to Elliot. The professor nodded at the joke, saw the King looking at him and continued. ¡°Simply said, there is no good answer. We simply have to keep cutting until we reach a baseline where we can keep the industry and critical infrastructure on.¡± Elliot said with a sigh. ¡°I was going to ask about fuel, but I can see from your face Thomas that it isn¡¯t an option.¡± Thomas was the Minister of Transport. Stocky, bald, also with a moustache. He had lost his hair long ago, when working in the mines. The man in charge of making sure the roads don¡¯t have potholes and that the trains get everywhere on time. The man was talented, Richard had to give it to him even with the train strikes ongoing now. That had broken the twenty-three month strike-less streak. It sounded terrible, but it was actually the second longest in history. The only other time that the train-workers had not gone on strike for such a long time was before the train existed. ¡°I actually have a solution. We luckily have a good amount of stored fuel, enough for twenty months more or less with austerity measures, although if we¡¯re going to be burning it for power, it will be less.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t want to burn it.¡± Bernard Hinleck said, a man who had been a student of logistics a few months ago at Camford University, and now was the main method of communication between the Crown and ECCAF. Skinny, and the youngest here by a dozen years. ¡°ECCAF needs it to refuel planes. If the birds need to bring enough fuel to land, take-off, and fly back to Epa Continental, we would need to cut the amount of weight we can load on them by roughly a third.¡± ¡°A third?¡± Thomas asked. ¡°I actually had this idea too.¡± Bernard said. ¡°To cut the amount of fuel we¡¯re using so I ran the numbers. As it is, ECCAF is already not keeping up.¡± ¡°What would be cut?¡± Richard asked. ¡°Medicine your Highness. ECCAF brings in food, then medical supplements, then medicine, then critical electronics.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Critical electronics, I¡¯ve cut as much as possible already, we can¡¯t cut anymore.¡± ¡°What are those?¡± ¡°Materials to repair solar panels and wind farms, devices for the police, machine goods for industry and hospital machinery. We¡¯re as bare-bones as it gets. In a month from now, if a car part isn¡¯t made in this country, you won¡¯t be able to get it.¡± ¡°So no touching ECCAF¡¯s fuel.¡± Richard said. ¡°Arthur, write that down. Thomas, your proposal?¡± ¡°We ration all civilian fuel.¡± He said flatly. ¡°I have the proposal written in specifics already.¡± He pulled a paper out of his folder and slid it to the King. ¡°But summed up, fuel will be split into two categories, civilian and essential fuel. Civilian fuel will be dyed to ensure compliance, essential fuel won¡¯t be.¡± He sighed. ¡°Numbers are still adjustable, but it should about three gallons a week per vehicle in urban areas. Exemptions will be for public buses but not taxis. And also for high-efficiency cars, the number should be ten gallons for rural areas, although I would like to run numbers by you two as well.¡± Thomas slid a paper to Elliot and another to Bernard. ¡°And for farmers?¡± Maximilian asked. ¡°Agriculture and logistics obviously cannot be touched.¡± Thomas said. ¡°Either you walk to shops that have locally sourced food or you drive to shops that have locally sourced air.¡± He took a sigh. ¡°Additionally, this will require a tightening of regulation, but we need to start looking at fuel efficiency in routes.¡± Thomas turned to Bertrand, the man behind the economy. ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is possible in any way, but there needs some way to make trucking companies not go on long routes.¡± Bertrand sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± Lloyd spoke up. ¡°Your train strike Thomas, can you deal with it?¡± Richard spoke up. ¡°I was about to say. We¡¯re in an exceptional scenario, the trains need to run, and they need to run on time.¡± ¡°So do we want them broken up?¡± Lloyd asked and Thomas sighed. ¡°Give me a week to negotiate with the leaders. I¡¯ll inform them of the situation.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have a week Thomas.¡± Richard said. ¡°You have two days. The trains need to be running.¡± A train was worth a dozen trucks on the road. During times of Peace, there would be time to negotiate, but everyday that the train workers were on strike was two days lost in fuel reserves. Thomas sighed and nodded. ¡°I will see what I can do.¡± Richard leaned back and looked at everyone in the room. What a depressing sight they were, but then that sight was fitting for the situation of the country as a whole. All the main topics had been covered, this meeting had not been to discuss the war logistics, those were handled by the other leaders and by ECCAF. Allia had a war at home to fight. ¡°If anyone else would like to speak up, I would advise you do so now.¡± Richard said. ¡°Otherwise, we meet again in a week.¡± One man did speak up. Emmanuel, the man in charge of the Foreign Office: Allia¡¯s department for diplomatic affairs. He had a sharp jawline but dark eyes that were unusually sharp. ¡°I do.¡± He said. The entire table turned to him. Richard rolled his hand to indicate to the man to go forwards. ¡°It is radical.¡± He said. ¡°Well we¡¯ve had a lot of that today already.¡± Lloyd said. Emmanuel shook his head. ¡°More radical than anything like that, with consequences¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°Diplomatic consequences that may even strain our relationship with the Epan Coalition.¡± He looked at them all. ¡°But, it would solve the food issue. Or dampen it at least, and that would ease up on all our other problems too.¡± And now, Richard was intrigued. He leaned forwards. ¡°What is it?¡± Emmanuel took a sigh. ¡°We contact Arcadia and ask for floromancers to assist.¡± Now that it was said like that, it really was obvious. Floromancers were magicians that could enhance the fertility of soil, that cut increase the bounty of plants, that could speed up growth from a whole season to a week. And if they asked for help from Arcadia, they were effectively aligning themselves with Goddess Elassa. With the woman who had cracked a continent. Who had just drowned more than a quarter of a billion people. Where the death count could be measured a percentage of the total human population, and not a number. He leaned back and thought. For once, he could not think quickly. Either they dealt with the devil of massacre in Arcadia or they brought the devil of austerity to Allia. Chapter 278 – Dark Sorcery ¡°Hello Hello¡­¡± Helenna picked her head up from her own propaganda pieces which were discussing Arikan Federation. These were simply to lay the groundwork for the idea, not to actually change views. She turned around and saw Malam peeking through the door. ¡°Hello Hello¡­¡± Malam cooed as if she was trying to be seductive, but it was obvious that the Goddess had drank too much. In the past millennium, Helenna could count a dozen times when she had seen a Divine hungover. Three of those were Malam in the past few days. ¡°I¡¯m working.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fi-finished.¡± Malam said. ¡°I can see that.¡± Helenna replied quickly. ¡°He¡­lenna¡­¡± Malam stretched the words out as she came into the room. ¡°We op..erate on su¡­¡± Malam took a deep breath and trailed off. Helenna snapped her fingers next to the woman¡¯s ears. ¡°Hello, Hello?! Arda to Malam? Is anything working in there?¡± Malam shook awake. ¡°Operate on such different levels that¡­¡± Malam trailed off again. And again she had to shake herself awake. ¡°that I am¡­ better drunk so much more than you.¡± Helenna stared flatly at the woman as she tried to figure out whatever the fuck that auditory garbage she just heard actually meant. Malam, eyes closed, somehow still smiling smugly, lifted her hand, dropped a piece of paper on the table, then proceeded to drop herself and somehow immediately fall asleep on the floor. Helenna stared with pure disgust at the woman. What a filthy creature. And frankly, Helenna would not have it any other way. Malam was the best co-worker she ever had. The woman was funny, was competent, and she never asked too much for help, but neither was she so distant and cold that Helenna felt as if she was working alone. She looked at piece of paper Malam had dropped. It was actually a stack of sheets stapled together. There wasn¡¯t a title page, it was straight to the content page: Initial Sabotage. Continuous Setback. Loss of Confidence. Cascading Failure. Failure Spiral. Total Demoralization. Neneria stared at Fer as she rolled her arm. They were in the back of the cabin of Raptor One, flying over Kirinyaa. Raptor Two was providing an escort, as it always did in case of the fact that Raptor One broke down mid-flight. Kassandora would not risk the lives of Goddesses on whether machinery was faulty on not. The planes had been parked near Kilifi already waiting for them, so it had only taken two of Fer¡¯s jumps to get there from the city centre where Neneria had previously been. Fer had practically thrown Neneria on the plane, then leapt in herself, and they had set off. There wasn¡¯t as much time to even go and pack bags. ¡°What are we going to do?¡± Neneria asked her sister. Fer was reclining back, her golden mane of hair scrunched up behind her head to serve as a pillow. Bright golden eyes and a smile beamed at Neneria. ¡°I¡¯ll say it how Kassie said it.¡± Fer said and then adopted a gruff tone. ¡°Millions have died. Millions must be recruited.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Neneria said, now that it was said like that, it was obvious why they were moving so quickly and why Kassie had been so mad. Souls would have a few days, then they would get bored and pass onto the next world. ¡°With the flood?¡± Fer nodded. ¡°After Elassa cracked Arika.¡± Fer said with a nod. ¡°We¡¯re to pick up Ana too, she¡¯ll meet us in the air, we¡¯re not landing for her.¡± And Fer shrugged. ¡°Her and me are only there in case we face resistance.¡± Neneria could handle a lot. Being told she was cold, that she was hard to deal with, that she was boring were all things that frankly, she didn¡¯t even majorly disagree with. But if there was one thing that people should not ever doubt, it was whether she was capable of protecting herself or not. There was a reason that she was an old breed even amongst the old breed of Divines. ¡°I¡¯ll need protection.¡± Neneria said flatly and sarcastically. Fer chuckled that horrendous hur-hur-hur of a laugh. ¡°Kassie said it, not me.¡± ¡°Who is there even? Etala? Ciria? Halkus?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°I¡¯ll need a bodyguard of two just for that?¡± ¡°Apparently half the Pantheon is there. Maisara, Fortia and Allasaria are confirmed one hundred percent.¡± Fer¡¯s tone gave little room for disagreement. She didn¡¯t even have a follow up comment, she simply left it at that, eyeing Neneria as the Goddess of Death grumbled and crossed her arms. ¡°Alright then.¡± Neneria said and Fer smiled to herself. ¡°I knew you¡¯d be fine with it.¡± Fer said. Raptor One was a fast plane and Neneria only had to listen to Fer for thirty minutes before the pilot¡¯s voice over the speakers interrupted the Goddess of Beasthood. It wasn¡¯t that Neneria disliked her sister, she loved Fer greatly in fact. But¡­ Neneria took a deep breath and let the issue go. ¡°Goddesses, I will be opening the side door for Goddess Anassa to enter.¡± The voice was Captain Douglas, Neneria recognised him from Operation Misfortune. He finished and for a few pleasant moments, there was finally some blessed silence. And suddenly the whine of steel sounded, and Neneria slid, or rather, was pulled out by the air, towards the door. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t.¡± Fer said as her claw wrapped around Neneria¡¯s arm, and her tail curled around her stomach. Neneria grunted as the air pressure started to stabilize itself. Wind whipped her dress and hair, both pitch black, as it tried to force Neneria into the low-pressure air of the sky. Neneria closed her eyes as she grit her teeth against the pain of Fer holding onto her. ¡°You can close it now.¡± Anassa¡¯s voice sounded throughout the darkness, no doubt that the woman had simply teleported into the back once the door had opened. Neneria didn¡¯t particularly care, her hands wrapped around Fer¡¯s arm and she held onto her much stronger sister for comfort. The screaming wind died down as locking mechanism slid the door back and turned itself. Neneria opened her eyes and saw her sister. Anassa stood there, embodying that perfect air of nobility she always tried to maintained. In that striking crimson dress, and with black hair just slightly lighter than Neneria¡¯s utter absence of colour. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. And yet, Anassa was different. Neneria cracked a stupid smile as she felt Fer relax and let her go. She saw Fer, Fer saw her, and they both turned to look at their much younger sister. Fer stared at Anassa. Neneria stared at Anassa. Somehow had to say it right? Neneria cracked a nervous smile and looked to Fer. The woman was smiling wide, her fangs exposed. ¡°What?¡± Anassa hissed an accusing question that demanded an answer. ¡°What? Why are you two looking at me like that?¡± ¡°How?¡± Fer asked, whether it was terror or awe in her voice, Neneria could not tell. ¡°How what?¡± ¡°How did you turn brown?¡± Fer said, the flashlight on her phone turned on, where the red light of the cargo bay was barely holding a final defensive line against the darkness of the cabin, Fer¡¯s phone launched a glorious crusade that pushed the darkness back only to the few sparse shadows around the seats. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anassa looked down at her hands, twisting them forwards and backwards. ¡°I¡¯ve turned brown?¡± ¡°Compare to me.¡± Neneria said and held out her arm. ¡°You¡¯re always bone white!¡± Anassa said as she held out her arm. Now that their arms were pressed together though, it was undeniable. Neneria may have been deathly pale for all eternity, but Anassa had always prided herself on having the fair skin of nobility that didn¡¯t have to work outside either. And now, Anassa was as tanned as a farmer¡¯s wife who worked the fields. Fer put her arm forwards. That proved it, Of Sorcery was usually a piece of paper compared to Fer, and now the roles were reversed. ¡°No.¡± Fer said in disappointment. ¡°Why do you get to tan and I don¡¯t?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve just tanned!¡± Anassa said. ¡°Yes but how?¡± ¡°What do you mean how?¡± Anassa said in exasperation. ¡°I think she means what did you do? Did you use some magic or is this a demonstration of the fact your mental faculties are gone, where you¡¯re going crazy and your body is changing.¡± Neneria said. Both Anassa and Fer looked at Of Death as if she was stupid. ¡°I¡¯ve just tanned!¡± Anassa said loudly. ¡°The people on the helicopter didn¡¯t say anything!¡± ¡°Why should they? You¡¯re Anassa.¡± Fer crossed her arms unhappily, although she kept on shining the light with her phone. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have said anything if I was them either.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Anassa shouted. ¡°It means you kill people for no reason at all.¡± Neneria said dryly. She hated when her sisters tried to act innocent. They were all as bad as each other, it simply was a matter of how funny and charismatic each one was. Both Fer and Anassa once again gave Neneria flat looks as if she had said something stupid. ¡°If you were Kassie, I¡¯d have been baited.¡± Anassa replied. ¡°Never mind that! How did you tan?¡± Fer said. ¡°I want to tan too!¡± She practically cried those words out like a little girl. ¡°I did not even notice I tanned when I woke up.¡± ¡°So where did you wake up?¡± Fer asked excitedly. ¡°On the head of a giant snake.¡± Anassa replied so dryly Neneria had to burst out in laughter. ¡°Where though?¡± Fer asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Anassa replied. ¡°It was in the middle of the ocean. Just after I battled with the Jungle, but I don¡¯t know where, I think I fell asleep.¡± ¡°You think you fell asleep?¡± Neneria asked doubtfully. How did someone not know whether they were asleep or awake? It was one or the other. Anassa rolled her eyes as if Neneria had just asked a stupid question. ¡°I was battling in the Jungle¡¯s soul. In the same way I awaken sorcerers, I travelled into it. Elassa can do it too.¡± Anassa explained quickly. Neneria had heard of this, she supposed that the endless field her Legion rested in was a similar place. It simply wasn¡¯t impressive to her, maybe to Fer, or to somehow else, but not to her. ¡°And?¡± Fer asked. ¡°And I won, obviously.¡± Anassa answered. ¡°And I won, and I woke up.¡± ¡°You woke up on a giant snake?¡± Neneria asked and Anassa nodded. ¡°In the middle of a sea. About two or three days ago. Two and half. Two nights I spent on it.¡± Both Neneria and Fer now looked at Anassa as if she was being the stupid one. The Goddess of Sorcery blushed and quickly put her hands up to explain. ¡°WELL I was on a giant snake in the middle of the ocean! What was I supposed to do?¡± ¡°Fly somewhere?¡± Neneria asked and Fer nodded vigorously, hair shaking about as she made a hmm-hmm sound. ¡°I meant how was I supposed to know what reality I¡¯m in? Whether I¡¯m in the snake¡¯s soul or the Jungle¡¯s or wherever?¡± Anassa said. ¡°You just don¡¯t feel these things if you fall asleep in there.¡± ¡°Then how do you do it?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°It¡¯s different if you just go in and know you¡¯re in an imaginary land. If you fall asleep in there, how do you know where you awake?¡± Neneria shrugged, she didn¡¯t have a reply to that, it just didn¡¯t feel like a good answer to her either. ¡°So how did you work out you where here eventually?¡± Fer asked and Anassa slouched. ¡°I saw a helicopter. That was six hours ago maybe.¡± She replied dryly. ¡°You saw a helicopter?¡± Fer asked, with just as much emotion as Anassa. She clearly wasn¡¯t impressed by such a trivial answer. ¡°It picked me up, it was Kassie¡¯s men scouting the new sea in Arika. Elassa apparently¡­¡± Anassa went quiet, then had to restart. ¡°Well not apparently, she did crack Arika in half.¡± ¡°That she did.¡± Fer said. ¡°That¡¯s why were going to the UNN now. For Nene to collect souls.¡± Neneria sighed. She wasn¡¯t particularly excited about it, frankly, she had enjoyed being in the city on home turf. That sort of easy combat was something that relaxed her. ¡°I¡¯m just surprised Elassa did it.¡± Anassa said as she sat down and looked down at her hands. ¡°I thought she was more¡­¡± Anassa struggled for a word. ¡°Reserved with power.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Neneria said. ¡°She¡¯s Worldbreaking breed. If anyone can, she is the one to do it.¡± And once again, Anassa was looking at her as if she said something stupid. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to say it in a tone like that.¡± Neneria rolled her eyes. She was far too old to be apologizing to girls like this because they happened to kill a few people here and there. ¡°I said it how I said it.¡± Of Death said. ¡°What¡¯s more interesting is that you¡¯ve proven one fundamental law of Divinity wrong, one I¡¯ve not seen broken more or less ever.¡± ¡°What law?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°You tanned.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°How, I do not know, but here it is.¡± She sighed. ¡°As the children say, every day is indeed a school day.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve just tanned!¡± Anassa shouted. ¡°Why is that so crazy!?¡± ¡°Have you ever seen a Goddess tan?¡± Fer asked, her wicked smile showed off her teeth. ¡°You may be the most human of us all Ana.¡± Anassa turned to Fer in rage. She had to look up to meet those golden eyes head on, but crimson met gold and both burned with an intense, concentrated, rage. ¡°You have a fucking tail and ears on the top of your head.¡± Neneria leaned back as Anassa extended her arm to indicate the Goddess of Death. ¡°Neneria speaks for herself, you can tell she¡¯s inhuman just by one conversation! Of course I¡¯m the one with the most humanity in me!¡± Neneria got slightly annoyed, but frankly Anassa was right. Of Death smiled to herself, maybe such an accusation would annoy a human, and maybe she just proved Anassa correct by not responding. Fer did not either though, she just laughed. Hur-hur-hur. That laugh sent chill¡¯s down Neneria¡¯s spine, even when it wasn¡¯t directed at her. ¡°It seems I¡¯ve hit a nerve.¡± Anassa¡¯s cheeks flushed with crimson and the Goddess actually shouted like a petulant little child. ¡°SHUT UP!¡± They continued on like that for a little while. Not too long, because the speaker cracking shut both up. ¡°Goddesses.¡± Douglas said over the speakers, rather slowly as well, as if he was being careful. ¡°I would advise you to strap in and hold on. We¡­¡± The plane turned suddenly, swerving to the side. Naturally, Anassa stayed glued to the floor as if gravity did not affect her. Naturally, Fer reacted immediately and grabbed onto the beams that went from the floor to the ceiling with one arm to catch herself. And naturally, Neneria fell forwards, she would have slammed her face directly onto the side-wall of the rear cabin if not for the fact Fer caught her by the scruff of her dress¡¯ neck. And Douglas shouted over the speakers again as the jet sharply pulled up. ¡°HOLD ON! WE HAVE CONTACT!¡± Chapter 279 – Hunting Grounds Shared The first little pig built his house alone. And when he was alone, the wolves came. Devoured, the first little pig was. The second little pig enlisted his friends. And together, they raced from the forest to a patch of land that no one would bother wandering too. There, they built a whole village. And even though they were secluded and together, the wolves came with tooth and claw. Devoured, the second little pig was. The third little pig enlisted more pigs. And together, they built a whole fortress. On a mountain, with sword and arrow they protected themselves. And even though they were defended, the wolves came with organization and patience. At the end of the day, mountains are cold and stone cannot feed little pigs. Devoured, the third little pig was. The fourth little pig realised the issue. And the fourth little pig built his house next to the wolf¡¯s forest, on a brilliant patch of land right next to the river. He built his house, more pigs came, and they eventually chased the wolves away. Not once did the wolves try to eat the little pigs. For the path to the fourth little house was paved with wolf skulls. - ¡°The Four Little Pigs¡±, as told by Malam, Goddess of Hatred. ¡°EVADE DOUG!¡± Erik shouted, his voice crackling over the speakers. On pure instinct and nothing else, Douglas rolled Raptor One to the side. Erik had screamed the command, and that immediately triggered the panic response within Douglas to get moving. He heard the burst of gunfire and he felt Raptor One rattle as it just about managed to dodge the oncoming hail of fire. Erik¡¯s shouting once again came through the speaker. ¡°SPEED UP! THEY¡¯RE ON YOU!¡± Up in the skies above the Alanktydan Ocean, half-way between Arika and the UNN, two great birds were roaring through the air. Huge handmade monstrosities of amalgamated parts, with no blueprint ever made, instead being deviously simple things of four engines fixed into the hull. Two built into the wings, two fixed ono the rear. Pitch black, apart from the red flames bursting from their jets and red eyes painted under the cockpits. And with yellow peaks that housed autocannons in. Birds of prey, unstoppable and notorious, for where a Raptor flew, a Daughter-Goddess of Arascus was sure to appear. They had made a name for themselves during the White Pantheon¡¯s invasion of Kirinyaa as undisputed Kings of the Sky. Yet now, flying close behind them, five white hawks came to threaten their monopoly on sky-violence. Douglas turned his control stick and flicked the alarm for the Goddesses in the back. He pushed the idea of whatever Anassa and Neneria would say to him after this out of his mind. Fer was there, and Fer liked him. At least, he thought she did. The woman had agreed to take a photograph with him. That should be enough. Right? The photo of operation Misfortune was glued onto the glass of the cockpit. And behind that glass, Douglas saw two jets fly so close he could just about make out the pilots steering them. Machine guns blared and Douglas turned the stick. Raptor One¡¯s wings shifted, flaps on one wing folded up, then down on the other, the black jet went into a spin. The white jets of the White Pantheon, two engines and two rear fins each, were slow to react. Maybe it was the machinery in them that was slow. Or maybe it was the pilots themselves. Douglas and Erik and had both flown the Raptors for more than a year now, and both had kill counts hire than a dozen each. Shooting down unfriendly birds in the sky wasn¡¯t as easy as just keeping the enemy in the reticule. ¡°Goddesses!¡± Douglas shouted. ¡°Apologies for the ride! HOLD ON!¡± Douglas turned the electronic assistance in his helmet on and the world around him changed. He still saw his cockpit, and yet in the glass of his helmet, he saw through the eyes of the Raptor. Through the thousand or so tiny different cameras that had been fitted for the Kirinyaan Invasion. An enemy jet was diving in from above him. Douglas flicked his stick up, as if he was about to crash into the enemy jet, and he pressed the button on the afterburner down. Raptor One¡¯s engine roared as they were fed excess fuel, four burning fox-tails of flame trailed after the plane as it shot forwards before the hail of steel from above tore through it. Douglas cut the fuel jets just as quickly as he put the air break on and felt the deceleration force him into the straps of the seat. In one horribly sharp turn, as if the black rear fin of Raptor One had hook onto an invisible signpost, Raptor One made a full rotation in the air. ¡°Hold on Nene!¡± Neneria felt Fer squeeze her by the stomach with one arm and hold onto the seat with the other. And something within Neneria turned, her stomach twisted upside down, and she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and tried to keep everything inside her. Oh no. It was coming. Douglas heard Raptor One scream as it suddenly made a full backwards, the tiny little flaps on each wing that guided the plane practically screaming in frustration as the wind and air pressure threatened to snap them off. ¡°Oh yes you do.¡± Douglas whispered to the plane as the nose tilted upwards, the stabilized. He was flying upside down, above him the endless dark blue of the Alanktydan Ocean. Below him, the white clouds of a sea about to enter storm. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. And ahead, one of the White hawks of the White Pantheon. It was gently flying away, banking as to enter a sharp yet safe turn. Douglas cracked a smile as he flicked the afterburner on for only a second. Raptor One shot forwards, the two jets that were chasing it had to slow down in confusion as the thunder of Raptor One breaking the sound barrier left them stunned. ¡°Ana!¡± Fer shouted. ¡°Catch it!¡± Fer most likely smelled it before Neneria even felt it. The acidic and sour stench of vomit. She felt Neneria¡¯s stomach convulse around her arm and the strength left Neneria¡¯s hands as they slid backwards. An orb of red illuminated the rear cabin as Neneria started to breath heavily. Fer¡¯s nose suddenly lost the smell of vomit, she looked around, and saw a red orb, perfectly spherical, holding some dirty-brown liquid. It was opaque and through it, Fer could see a disgusted Anassa sigh in exasperation. Up in these skies, there was no such things as gentle turns. Just as when Raptors would strike at rabbits by chaotically dropping on them, all screeching violence and no prancing grace, so did Raptor One close in on the white jet performing that slow roll. It even tilted to the side, exposing its large, flat body to Douglas¡¯ jet. The man steering it held his breath, as he always did. He watched the heads-up-display in on his visor line up. He saw the reticule turn from a pale electronic green to the crimson of blood. And he jammed his thumb down onto the button on top of the control stick. Raptor One screamed as it released a hail of huge bullets in an instant. The entire plane shook as the barrels of its autocannon spun as if the machine was vibrating. It lasted for only a second. Douglas released the button and pushed forwards and into a spin. The plane turned right-side up once again and then arced upwards and into the air. Douglas watched the tiny hail of explosions appear in the that White Pantheon plane. Small bursts of flame that raced up and down the entire body. And then those tiny bursts of fire sparked something, the fuel tank, the engine, maybe the ammunition, whatever it was, it felt exploded into a great ball of red and orange flames and black and grey smoke. Anassa stared at Neneria as the Goddess of Death held on to Fer. Those dark eyes met Anassa¡¯s crimsons once again and Neneria spasmed. Fer held her in place, but the woman wretched, curled around her arm, and threw herself forwards as she twisted. Neneria, having eaten nothing in the morning, released noxious stomach acid as she vomited again. Anassa sighed, snapped her fingers, and caught each and every droplet before they so much as thought of landing on the floor or walls or ceiling of the cargo hold. Much less Anassa herself, she would blow the plane if that happened. Douglas smoothed out his flight path as he heard Fer shouted besides him. ¡°KEEP IT STEADY! WE¡¯RE SICK HERE!¡± It was always like that when Raptor One transported a Divine, they couldn¡¯t communicate normally through they radio, they would scream through the steel walls of the cabin instead. He tried to at least, an alert came up behind him. Douglas looked up, the screen in his visor moved further, he saw a White Pantheon jet approaching from behind and top of him. A swerve to the right, a spin, a scream from Fer again, a curse from Anassa, and Erik came up over the radio. ¡°I¡¯ve got you Doug. Keep at it, we¡¯re coming onto UNN territory.¡± And Douglas saw a black thunderbolt shoot so close past that white hawk it may as well have gone straight through it. The pale jet exploded into a brilliant ball of flame and fire, and its wreckage plunged down onto the calm ocean below. ¡°Goddesses!¡± Douglas said into the radio. ¡°Hold on! I¡¯m going to push her now.¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t before!?¡± Fer¡¯s shout came through the wall as Douglas unboxed the side buttons. The same mechanism that enabled the jets to catch up to Leona¡¯s jet in the first place. Douglas had never thought he would ever ignore a Goddess before, but right now, he did. ¡°Erik. Full speed ahead.¡± Douglas said as he pressed the first switch. The engines cut off momentarily, their rear flaps reangled themselves to make a tighter exit. Douglas pressed the second switch and they re-ignited as fuel nozzles started to build up pressure. And the third switch. A spark set the jets alight. Raptor One did not slowly scream with the controlled burn of engine flames, it set the sky behind it alight as a fireball burst out from behind the aircraft. The sonic boom shocked the few fishing boats in the oceans below, but Douglas never heard it, the plane simply outran the sound. Fire burst out over its hull as the air was ignited by the sheer friction of the metal bolt slicing through the atmosphere. It carved a gash of fire into the open the sky. Half of the Alanktydan Ocean was crossed in fifteen minutes. Douglas did not see the ground, it was the mere dark blur of water too dark to keep track of, but he saw that the horizon was no longer one smooth line and instead had the jagged ridges of mountains, so he let the long-distance supersonics rest. The jet stalled as he cut the fuel, although it still kept hurtling forwards, the engines unlocked themselves once again, the manoeuvring flaps extended once again and the controlled jets of steady flight came back. ¡°We¡¯re slowing down?¡± Erik asked over the radio. ¡°I have hostiles on radar.¡± Douglas answered back. From the north and from the south. More than a dozen planes combined. Douglas was sure in his capabilities as a pilot, and he was sure of Raptor One being the undefeated apex predator of the sky, but he was not that sure. He flicked the comms channel to the rear cabin. ¡°Goddesses, we¡¯re approaching the UNN. Landing may be difficult.¡± Fer¡¯s shout came back instantly. And it was exactly was Douglas wanted to hear. ¡°Let us jump!¡± The Goddess of Beasthood shouted from the rear. ¡°Aye Aye.¡± Douglas answered as he flicked the switches of the rear cabin. The alert that always came up for open doors appeared in his display. ¡°Are we retreating?¡± Erik asked. ¡°We are. I¡¯m just dropping them and then back to Arika.¡± Those jets from the sides started to get closer and Douglas pulled the plane up. He wasn¡¯t going to be baited into going deeper into the country. He looked left, six white arrows glinting in the sunlight. He looked right, the exact same scene. ¡°Goddesses! I would advise you to jump now!¡± The pulled the plane even further and prepared to close the doors. The supersonics would tear the plane apart if those were open. ¡°GO GO GO!¡± Douglas shouted as he pulled the plane up. The jets of Raptor One screamed as the plane tilted up. The chasing jets shot past underneath him like an arrow. And he kept on twisting the plane in a full circle, the pressure lights on for the rear doors, for the wings, for the jet engines and for the pump integrity all blaring. Douglas felt Raptor Onen stall as the jets struggled for oxygen. The great black arrowhead in the sky came to a stop for a mere instant, and then Douglas felt himself tipping backwards as the plane fell. He smiled as his eyes scanned that terrible, grey, grassless landscape. Below him, the three Goddesses had jumped out and were falling like tiny meteorites onto the ruined shores of the UNN. That was a job well done. He patted Raptor One¡¯s controls and restarted the engines once the machine fell to an altitude it could actually operate in. Chapter 280 – The Men from Zawitz Kavaa rested her hand on her silver sword as a Lynx tank squashed some of the cars which had been left behind in the evacuation of Kilifi. Her Clerics made a line in front of her, a classic battle line, the same sort that men about to form a shieldwall would do. Ahead of them, Uriamel¡¯s horde of troops or what was left of them, was trying to close the distance. They aimed their rifles, and Kavaa channelled her blessing when she saw a storm of arrows approach from above. Kavaa¡¯s blessing of Health was at least partly the reason for why the bow and arrow had never gotten to be too popular in armies. A Cleric would need his head cut off or his heart wholly destroyed before he would drop dead. An arrow could neither. Clerics braced, a few grunted. Two dropped onto the ground, they had taken an arrow to the head. And Kavaa¡¯s blessing started to work as men pulled arrows out of their bodies and their wounds started to grow. Organs reformed, bones rebuilt and muscle restitched as Kavaa silently healed them. The two who dropped, paralyzed but alive, were assisted by the men next to them. The arrows were simply pulled out of the heads, and Kavaa¡¯s blessing worked to rebuild the damage. Kavaa gripped the butt of her sword as she raised her other arm and pointed it straight up. ¡°Fire!¡± She sliced it forwards. Uriamel¡¯s horde faltered under the barrage. They did not even make it half way. Olonia crossed her arms from behind Iliyal as she looked at the new arrivals from Zawitz. She stood, white-haired and annoyed that she was being kept here, in the full-plate that Iliyal had called in from Arika to gift to her. The elf had cancelled her mission last minute and kept her here. At first, she had been annoyed, but now she understand exactly why Saksma and Paida had both been allowed to go off yet she had to stay. Iliyal had led them to the gates himself in fact, and he had made a big show of it whilst Olonia was supposed to stay at his command tent. She had never considered that there would be such beauty and such grace to subterfuge, but the elf proved her wrong. In the same way that a master pianist would gently stroke the piano¡¯s keys, nothing Iliyal did looked impossible. It was that he simply did not take a single shortcut in the entire operation of the fronts. Nothing was left to chance, and yet the elf knew what was manageable too. Just as he took no breaks, he did not try to micromanage the men nor waste a single inch of effort through overwork. The more time Olonia spent with him, the more she realised that the man operated on a level of intelligence she had simply never interacted with. And nowhere did he actually try to condescend to her either. The man was simply straight in everything he had. Frankly, she had grown to respect so much that she didn¡¯t know if she would disbelieve him if he said that the Sun wouldn¡¯t rise tomorrow. So now, as he stared and looked at the men who entered Iliyal¡¯s command tent from Zawitz, the weak, limp-wristed politicians in perfectly clean and blue suits. None of them looked like the soldiers in Iliyal¡¯s camp, instead these men were either too skinny or too fat. Not soldiers at all, how could she take orders from these people? Iliyal did not even have to issue the command, Olonia simply realised what the man wanted, why exactly he had made her stay behind instead of going forwards to take out one of the White Pantheon¡¯s new armoured units. She made her voice cold and commanding, exactly the sort that a Goddess representing an entire nation should have. ¡°Iliyal leads the armies, by my permission if not yours.¡± The men made nervous expressions, one opened his mouth to raise argument, Olonia followed Iliyal¡¯s teachings: strike first, strike hard. Incapacitate on the first blow, there was no need to work upwards in strength, if you let someone strike at you, then you were effectively rolling on dice on your life. What sort of idiot would willingly do that? ¡°If Zawitz keeps half-assing war support and does not follow through on the requests that ECCLA has made, I will force elections in this country and trust me, every single one of you will be charged by the next government for treachery against the nation.¡± And somehow, one of these fools still had enough confidence in him to try and raise argument against the Goddess of the very nation he was born in. ¡°Goddess Olonia, Iliyal Tremali is not a member of any Epan Coalition country. It¡¯s not that¡­¡± He saw Olonia¡¯s face. ¡°Can you lead the war?¡± Olonia asked. She stepped around Iliyal as the elf behind his desk. His fingers interlocked as he stared daggers at the men from daggers. The men gave no reply, so Olonia raised her voice. ¡°Can you lead the war?¡± She repeated the question. This time, there was indeed an answer. ¡°The war is going quite well!¡± The tallest man replied and Olonia laughed. ¡°It¡¯s only going well because Iliyal is leading the front.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°It was actually proposed that you lead instead Goddess!¡± The man shouted. Olonia straightened her posture and blinked. If there was one thing she had never been¡­ Jozef would give her that? She would be allowed to lead? ¡°The entire army?¡± Olonia asked. ¡°The Lubskan front of ECCLA, yes.¡± The man said. ECCLA was the Epan Coalition Combined Land Army, every organisation in the coalition needed some huge acronym. Olonia turned to Iliyal, the elf looked up at her. If he had some emotion in his eyes, maybe Olonia would have reacted differently. Maybe if he tried to argue back, if he showed some weakness, or some joy, or something¡­ Or anything, maybe Olonia would have taken the bait. But Iliyal sat there, and he looked at Olonia in the same way he always did. Like a general about to issue an order to his soldiers. He could have not doubted for even a moment that Olonia would stay by his side. And when faced with such discipline, when she looked upon the man and saw such sheer, blatant confidence, what could Olonia even do? It wasn¡¯t a case of disappointing Iliyal or anything like that, it was that the option of her going against him simply did not exist. And Olonia turned back to the men. ¡°I rally and I fight but I do not run the organisation of ECCLA. I am not going to lead this front.¡± There, that sounded true to herself. It was not that she did not want to, it was that she simply was not going to. The prim-suited men looked at the Goddess in exasperation, as if they weren¡¯t actually quite sure on what they were hearing. ¡°Excuse me?¡± The tallest man spoke up again. ¡°What?¡± And with a reaction like that, Olonia felt that little pang of anger spark up within her. The same childish reaction she had as when Saksma baited her into an argument. She recognised the immaturity of it, she tried to control it, and she saw one of the men smile hopefully at her. Poof. And something within her snapped. What it was, Olonia couldn¡¯t quite place her finger on, but a dam cracked in her chest. That petulant little smile of the man¡¯s set off a piece of dynamite in her heart, and that dynamite exploded with the force and fury of a roaring volcano. Did they think she could be bought? Did they actually come here to try and win her support by giving her command of the army? And for what? So that it could be taken away by next month? The ploy was so obvious Olonia had to squeeze her fists together to get some of the rage and anger out. Iliyal spoke up from behind her. ¡°Olonia is not for sale.¡± Olonia felt her throat catch and her heart settle down. Five words was all it had taken for Iliyal to sum everything she had wanted to say up. The man turned to the elf sitting by his desk, Iliyal leaned back and readjusted his black military cap. The rest of the men wore Epan blue, he purposefully differentiated himself with the black. ¡°Olonia is the Goddess of this country. I am a citizen of it. This whole problem exists because of the fact that you¡¯ve ingratiated yourself into our-¡° Iliyal cut the man. ¡°This isn¡¯t an argument. This war is fought against the White Pantheon and by the Epan Coalition. It¡¯s larger than any of us.¡± He stared the man down. ¡°And what if she-¡° ¡°We¡¯re here to do a job.¡± Iliyal interrupted the man once again. ¡°Nothing more, nothing less. There are no personal feelings here, I am simply the most fit to lead, Olonia is the most fit to go on high-risk missions. You have barely a dozen Divines here. We will not remove one of them from the front just so that boys in suits from Zawitz can be happy.¡± Poof. And something within Olonia once again grew. It was that ¡®we¡¯ Iliyal had just used. Such a tiny word, Olonia did not even know if the elf had done it on purpose, most likely not. Who even thought about such things? But there it was though¡­ Olonia was part of a ¡®we¡¯. Not the grand ¡®we¡¯ of noble and haughty Divinity, reigning from high on above, but the ¡®we¡¯ of a grand cause. One that encompassed all Lubska, all Epa even, where it did not matter whether it was Iliyal or Olonia or one of the countless soldiers under their command, they all belonged to that one whole. One grand whole that Olonia was part of. And what? These men thought that they would remove Olonia from it now? That they would return her to the position of Mascot-Goddess as the first seven hundred years of her life had been? That she would lie down and accept what they wanted to do? And for what reason even? Because they didn¡¯t particularly like Iliyal? ¡°If I had to choose.¡± Olonia said deliberately. ¡°Who to trust, between you and Iliyal, I would lay my life in Iliyal¡¯s hands every single time.¡± The men looked at the Goddess of their own nation in horror as she chose an elf without a single shred of loyalty to the country over them. ¡°Goddess!¡± One of the shorter men shouted this time, another forgettable fellow, he looked like the sort who would get tired walking up a flight of stairs. ¡°We would never do anything against you! It¡¯s just that how can we trust Iliyal with the future of the Epan Coalition?¡± ¡°How can you trust anyone but Iliyal with securing a future for it?¡± Olonia asked flatly. ¡°Is anyone here more competent than him in this field? Tell me? Can Zawitz send anyone as a replacement to what Iliyal does on the front here?¡± She spoke faster and faster. ¡°Well?¡± ¡°We could-¡° One man attempted to raise a defence against Olonia, but it was hard to interrupt a Goddess who was almost twice the size of a man. ¡°Could what? Could find a man in Epa that rivals one a general who served under Arascus? Could find someone more experienced in warfare than him? Or maybe you¡¯ll find a person who has spent more time fighting against Fortia and Maisara and Allasaria?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the iss-¡° Once again, Olonia interrupted. ¡°Then what is? Is that he¡¯s not Lubskan? Is that it? He can¡¯t be trusted because he¡¯s an elf who served Kassandora rather than us? Well then I make him Lubskan, as of right now, by virtue of being Goddess of Lubska, I declare him Lubskan.¡± ¡°That¡¯s no-¡° ¡°Have a passport ready for him by the end of the week.¡± Olonia said. ¡°Bu-¡° ¡°One more word and I will make sure it will be your last. I care not for your politics. I care to save this country.¡± Olonia made a very obvious gesture of rubbing the butt of her sword. And the men from Zawitz had nothing more to say. Chapter 281 – Feet-first into the UNN They all have reputations of course, but reputations are usually grander than the person. Fer is one example, she fights in a brutal and barbaric manner, but it is not unheard of for survivors to be left in her wake. Kassandora is another, undefeatable on the battlefield, but the Goddess herself is nowhere near the top ranks in terms of individual strength. Olephia is very pleasant in her character too, even if her power is the zenith of Divine abilities, it is even possible to hide from her too. But then there¡¯s Neneria. Every story about Neneria is true. Every word said does not say enough. Neneria is to be avoided at all costs. Even individually, she poses a threat to armies or lone Divines, only Elassa and Allasaria should engage her, and even then only with heavy support. Neneria does not talk, does not squabble. Neneria does not show mercy, nor gratitude. Neneria leaves in her wake only graveyards and tombs. The only survivors we have of her Legion are from moments when she recalled from a battle, not because we managed to defeat her. Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon¡¯s closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, of Order: ¡®Documenting the Daughters.¡¯ Fer felt wind flow past her tufted ears as if it was a great scarf of delicate silk trying to burn her with friction. Her golden mane of hair tumbled through the air behind her as she fell from Raptor One. She saw Neneria to her right, all the sickness had left the woman and now she was back to being cold and droll Nene. Her pale face bored, her hands extended, her looking down at the ground as tiny ghosts of fairies swarmed around her. They cushioned her black boots, letting themselves be trod upon to stop their Goddess from falling. More grabbed hold of her dress, and even more of her arms as they¡¯re wings madly whirred and they cried out in exertion. A swarm of pale-green glow-bugs. Fer had thrown Neneria out first, and then jumped out herself to race her sister down to the ground. She had no such ghastly fairies to assist her fall, so she shot past Neneria like a meteorite cascading down to the ground. And Fer turned her head right. Anassa was above her, hands extended, red blades of sorcery around her. She stood on the air, her perfect black hair and striking crimson dress untouched by the wind that was trying to throw Fer around. Behind Anassa stood another Anassa, facing the other direction, with the exact same set of red blades around her. Fer looked down and once again took in the sight of an entire coastline wiped away. There was something in it that put her heart at unease. She had seen villages and towns, cities even, razed to the ground. She had seen Kassandora¡¯s Legionnaires put every man, woman and child to the sword when they conquered a fanatical town of an Order whose crime was that it followed a White Pantheon Divine. She had seen the damage her own warherds would do when the beastmen were let off the leash and tasked to do what beastmen do best. She had witnessed walking through one of Baalka¡¯s deadzones, after the Goddess¡¯ diseases put everyone in the countryside to a sleep permanent. She had been there to protect cartographers who were tasked with redrawing maps after Olephia had been allowed to sing across an entire nation. She had lived through the Age of Worldbreaking. And even Worldbreaking did not compare to the utter annihilation that Elassa¡¯s cracking of Arika had done. There was no grass, no trees, no buildings, no roads. The only mark that there had ever been building here was a massive patch of concrete that looked like an unarranged puzzle. The foundations of some town that had once been here. Everything else had been washed away by the ocean¡¯s rage that it had to give up space to a continent being shifted. All the way to the horizon, up until the snow capped mountains in the distance. Even they were wearing pants of brown, their lower halves were dirtied by the waters, and the trees that had once lined them were ripped straight off. The mud only gave way to debris. Everything and anything that could be found in a town was here, from beds to cars to small boats. Doors and huge rocks. Rooftiles and cutlery. Shattered glass and wooden struts. Fer took a deep breath as she aimed towards a spot on the ground that didn¡¯t look like a freshly-made swamp. Her eyes quickly found one, hard ground overflowing with roots, half of which looked as if they had just been ripped straight out of the ground. Yet another Anassa was there, floating above the ground and looking annoyed. Fer held her breath, she twisted her hands and legs, she extended one, bent the other at the knee and felt her direction angle towards that piece of dry land. The trick was in loosening your muscles. The natural reaction to such a drop was to tighten up your body and freeze but that¡¯s how mortals died and how Fer broke bones. Instead, loose muscles were like jelly that would absorb, vibrate, shake and safely release the shock. The Anassa on the ground looked up at the last moment before Fer slammed down next to her, and that Anassa vanished to reappear a dozen steps off to the side. Fer¡¯s boot touched the ground. Immediately she felt her hair whip downwards as she swung her arms and up to catch the momentum. Her other leg extended as her first leg bent, almost pulling the ground up with it. And then her second boot touched the ground. One kick was only a blast of force, then second, a blast into that blast, created an explosion that threw up ground and soil from around her. And Fer took a step forwards and walked out of that cloud of dirt and dust as if she could not even see it. She made sure to have a stern expression as she did, her eyes downcast, her fangs bared. Anassa saw her, cracked a smile and burst out in laughter. And Fer did too. It usually had a better effect on weaker Goddesses and mortals rather than someone who was a sister. The laughter died down when the jets above that were chasing Raptor One and Raptor Two started to open fire. Their rapid-fire autocannons sounding like drums being furiously beat as fast as possible. Both Fer and Anassa looked up. ¡°She¡¯ll take an hour.¡± Anassa complained when her eyes passed over Neneria. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°You should speed her up.¡± Fer said and Anassa cracked a smile. ¡°I thought you¡¯d tell me off if I suggested it.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not take the piss and stand around for three hours waiting for Queen Death to waltz on down to us.¡± Fer said and Anassa looked up. ¡°What about the planes?¡± Anassa asked. High above Neneria, two black arrowheads had reappeared from out of the clouds. Fer¡¯s eyes allowed her to see their yellow beaks, the angry red eyes painted underneath the captain¡¯s cabin, the four engines. The great bursts of fire expelled from them and the way the wings set alight as they shot forwards. Fer saw that and her ears dropped flat onto the top of the head to avoid the tremendous sound of the sound barrier shattering twice. ¡°Can you reach them?¡± Fer said. Twelve white planes dove out of the clouds as they gave chase to the Raptors. It was obvious from the first second that they wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up. Like a pack of wolves chasing a pair of huge deer. The deer raced away. ¡°Won¡¯t they ignore us?¡± Anassa asked. Fer smiled to herself. Anassa was smart on one hand, yet also terribly cautious funnily enough. The woman acted as if caution was a concept foreign to her, yet that was mere pretence. Anassa was actually terribly cautious. ¡°What happens when the first prey gets away?¡± Fer watched those dozen wolves give up on chasing the pair of Raptor aircraft. ¡°Can you speak normally?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°You should drop them because they¡¯ll turn on us.¡± Fer said quickly as she watched. If they were the size of Neneria¡¯s ghastly fairies, or maybe if they were in a box or something like that, then she would instead rely on caution. But there was no way that three of the tallest Goddesses in existence were not seen dropping from the plane. Fer simply would not believe that her luck was that good. ¡°There we go.¡± The Anassa down here said as the two Anassa¡¯s up above moved. They both took a step. It almost amazed Fer how Anassa was able to move faster than even her smell like that, that sweet fragrance of perfume vanished for a moment, and then re-appeared fainter and from the new direction now. One of the planes started to angle itself to the side. A sleek machine, Fer had to give it that, whereas the Raptor were huge and boxy and bulky, with all sharp angles, these UNN jets were sleek and white. With two fins behind them and engines built directly into the chassis, as if the entire vehicle was one weapon. Fer saw a pair of cannons sticking out from it as it turned. At one point it focused on Neneria, and then it turned to Anassa. ¡°Can you handle them?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Sister, I gatekeep Godhood.¡± The Anassa down here said and snapped her fingers. The two red blades from the Anassa¡¯s in the air shot out. ¡°What is gatekeeping the sky?¡± That sorcerous energies did not move like magic, they did not even shoot like bullets. Instead, they struck like lightning, cascading across the sky above in perfectly straight lines, each one aiming for one of the jets. Twelve silent red strings across the sky. Twelve white jets exploding with thunderous booms. Twelve roars of flame and fire from above. Twelve dark streaks of bellowing smoke fell towards the surface and twelve wreckages was all that was left. ¡°You should get Neneria too.¡± Fer said. ¡°With pleasure.¡± Anassa replied. One of the two Anassa¡¯s in the air disappeared, simply vanished from reality, the other reappeared next to Neneria. Fer saw the two sisters shout at each other. Then the Anassa in air the swung her hands, a red coil wrapped itself around Neneria¡¯s stomach, and the Goddess of Death was swung downwards as if she was a little doll. Anassa stopped Neneria from slamming into the ground. Kassandora would have screamed or cursed. Malam would have made some terrible compliment about how violent Anassa was. And Neneria? Neneria let her arms and legs fall loose. She sighed, she looked up at Anassa, made a sorry look for herself, and vomited once again, just as she had done on the plane. ¡°I did not expect you to take it that badly Nene.¡± Anassa cooed an apology. ¡°I hate you.¡± Neneria said dryly. ¡°Why? Is it so bad if I go at my own pace?¡± ¡°We have a job to do!¡± Fer said before they started arguing. These two always got on each other¡¯s nerves. She picked Neneria up by the arms, gave her a hug, Anassa recalled that red band across Neneria¡¯s chest and Fer propped her sister up onto her feet. ¡°Can you stand?¡± ¡°I can.¡± Neneria said glumly. She was just slightly shorter than Fer, and she leaned back into her taller sister to catch her breath. ¡°Heavens above I do not like flying.¡± She whispered to herself. ¡°Well I can¡¯t help you with that.¡± ¡°And I don¡¯t like being thrown around.¡± Neneria said. ¡°You were utterly joking with that slow of a descent.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Because I¡¯m a slow girl and I don¡¯t like fast things.¡± Neneria replied as she took a deep breath and pushed off Fer. ¡°What?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°Nothing. Shut up.¡± Neneria¡¯s tone returned to her usual as she took a step forwards. That slow, low, rolling monotone of death that printed each word out at the exact same, steady pace. ¡°This is a good place.¡± ¡°You can feel them already?¡± Fer asked. That was excellent! If Neneria collected enough right now, then they could be back home within the week. ¡°Oh I can.¡± Neneria said, her monotone breaking to give way to an excited pitch that rarely came out. ¡°How many souls?¡± Fer asked excitedly. She had seen Neneria excited before, Of Death liked little things, she liked sweets, she like flavoured alcohols, she liked cakes and cute animals. But those had been innocent smiles of small pleasures. The Neneria that was stood before Fer and Anassa now was not the Neneria that liked little trivialities, it was the Neneria that had brought to fear to the term of pocket-army. There were other deities who could summon in mass, but there was no one but Neneria who could flood the countryside in ghosts. And Neneria spoke, her hand going to one part of the coast where there was a patch of concrete in the ground, that was all which had remained of the town. ¡°Six thousand, eight-hundred, forty-three.¡± That alone was a great find. The Dead Legion on a good day would bring ten thousand into its ranks, even the greatest battles in the Great War left, at the most, a few hundred thousand. And those had happened once a decade. And Neneria pointed south. ¡°There, past the hill, I can¡¯t count them at this distance exactly, but there¡¯s about fifty-thousand.¡± Now that was a reason to be excited about. Fer met Anassa¡¯s eyes, the two Goddesses exchanged a flat look and a nod. Already, that would amount to a good year for Neneria¡¯s Dead Legion. Honestly, Fer had not thought too much of coming here in the first place. Feeding Neneria souls was important, but she had always thought of it a ¡°come as they go¡± scenario. The Legion was large enough for most situations anyway. But Neneria was not done yet. She moaned in pleasure and licked her lips. Her dark eyes were glowing green as she extended her hand. It was leaking grey-green magic, that meant she was busy swallowing the souls in the nearby area. ¡°Over there.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Ten miles.¡± She sounded out of breath and that pale skin of hers was starting to have some colour finally. ¡°That¡­¡± ¡°String some words together Neneria.¡± Anassa said sarcastically. ¡°Come on, you can do it.¡± ¡°Two million.¡± Chapter 282 – A Presidential Decision Neneria has never stood for anything, Neneria has never chosen a side in any major conflict before. It is not that she dismissed humanity, enough payment and she would allow for a final communion with the dead. But whilst the payments were great, she rarely kept them for herself. I always saw them as Neneria¡¯s test, to prove that a loved meant enough material possessions in order to warrant her involvement. I utterly despise that Of Death was recruited. My most minor gripe with it is that I did not think of this idea first, no one, me, nor Maisara nor Fortia nor Elassa even considered recruiting Neneria before she was adopted as another of Arascus¡¯ Daughter Goddess. But more importantly than that, it is a defilement of a Goddess better than all of us. Neneria was the most neutral force in existence, a wanderer who was given a roof and hearth in whatever place she visited. Arascus destroyed a certain purity in her, she embodied a trait of ancient Divinity: the overwhelming deity above, who favoured none and treated all equally. It is that which most offends me about Neneria joining Arascus. I could look at Divines such as her and see a better world. From before the Ages of Statehood, where Gods and Goddesses were not aligned to national values but to humanity as a whole. Neneria and Olephia are two sides of the same coin in that regard. I hate Arascus for it, but when I look at Of Death and Of Chaos, I can only feel a certain regretful sadness: I should have been there to stop them from joining this great game. - Excerpt from ¡°Death¡¯s Apathetic Mistress¡±, written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light. Maisara stormed into the UNN¡¯s Command Centre One, CC1 or just CC as people generally called it. The proper houses of government and control had all been washed away in the tidal wave brought on by Elassa¡¯s Continent Cracking. Etala was here, tall for a modern Goddess, only scraping Elassa¡¯s height amongst the old stock. She reached up to Maisara¡¯s shoulders, fair-skinned, with a hard face and brown-gold hair that reminded Maisara of gold hidden within the earth. The woman wore a pristine blue uniform with a tie as she helped the President of the UNN, Rudyard Kochinski, run¡­ Well, it wasn¡¯t the rebuilding of the country yet. It was simply averting greater disaster. The man sat in a large black chair, in just a week he had aged a decade, his skin was looking gaunt and pale. His hair had started to both grey and thin and apparently he had started to subsist entirely on a diet of cigarettes and coffee. Ciria was here too, dark-green uniform as if she was roleplaying at being a soldier. Halkus was off, busy somewhere, at least he was being useful. What was Ciria even doing here? Standing and farting about? She had built this CC1 true, simply pulled it out of the ground, but she should be off building ports for docking rather than relying on White Pantheon help. In the huge dark room, the walls covered with screens and endless desks filled with computers, was an army of bureaucrats and commanders and politicians all running around. The UNN had been forced by Fortia to create a standing army and was conscripting soldiers to serve in the rebuilding and cleanup efforts. The threat of nuclear meltdowns had been averted, but still the actual reactor cores had to be cleaned up. Tasaidien in Alanktyda had already raised issue with the amount of trash and garbage which had been washed into his ocean and someone needed to go build floodwalls around the landfills that the water hadn¡¯t started to retreat from yet. Why wasn¡¯t Ciria doing that? Maisara didn¡¯t bother raising the objection, the Goddess of Civilization hated the Pantheon right now and she wouldn¡¯t do anything unless Etala asked her to. The room went silent, everyone turned to look at Maisara as she strode in. ¡°We have a problem.¡± Maisara¡¯s voice was cold and commanding, but it had always been recently. ¡°Look at this.¡± She threw a series of pictures taken by drones which had been searching for groups on survivors on the mountainous coasts, but then had been redirected to where the twelve ASF-1 had been downed. The air-superiority-fighters One. Theosius and Halkus had worked together to design. Halkus had focused on making sure they could be manufactured in mass, Theosius had been there to make sure they would actually be combat-worthy. So when twelve of them had disappeared, even if the mortals in the UNN had thought of it as mere misfortune, Maisara had redirected rescue efforts to make sure they found out why. Well, they knew why now. The drones had brought images, the same ones that Maisara had just thrown onto the round desk. Etala, Ciria and Rudyard all took the foremost photo as the rest of the UNN decision makers scrambled to get a look at the others. ¡°What are we looking at here?¡± Rudyard asked. ¡°The twelve downed ASF1s. As I said before.¡± She made sure to cast a glare at Ciria, the little Goddess had thought this was some mere accident. Accidents happened to one plane, maybe two, not twelve at the same time. ¡°We have Arascus¡¯ daughters confirmed. On those images are Anassa, in the red, Neneria, in the black and Fer, with the gold mane.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Etala said, her voice quivering. ¡°Why are they here?¡± Rudyard asked. ¡°Neneria is the Goddess of Death.¡± Maisara said coldly. ¡°She has come to reap souls.¡± And the entire room fell silent. Rudyard and Etala exchanged looks and even Ciria¡¯s expression had changed from that distrustful annoyance to now a slightly more worried and pressing face of disconcertion. A few of the men gasped, several dropped the images they were holding. Blood drained from faces and the room went so silent a pin dropping may as well have been a drumming gong. It took her a few moments to realise, but Maisara eventually caught on that they were waiting for her to explain. ¡°Neneria conscripts those who don¡¯t move into her Dead Legion, it¡¯s a conscription, it¡¯s not a choice. She pulls souls into herself, her horde will grow by millions if she is not stopped.¡± Kochinski slumped into his chair further as Ciria straightened herself. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Even when she tried, her eyes could only level with Maisara¡¯s chest. Of Order, in her damaged uniform from the work she was doing at the nuclear power plants, with her cold grey hair and even colder grey eyes, stared of Civilization, all in blonde-gold, down. Maisara dared Ciria to ask a question, and Ciria did. ¡°How do you know that?¡± Inexperience was one thing. Naivety was another. Both could be excused. Yet naivety and inexperience when put in a position of power, as Ciria had done for herself, was worse than having a traitor in the midst. At least traitors would pretend to be competent. ¡°Ask yourself what would Kassandora do in this situation? Would she let millions of souls go to waste? Or would she recruit them immediately?¡± It was obvious, even a quick chat with Kassandora would expose Of War¡¯s ruthlessness. ¡°Throughout the entire century of the Great War, we predict Neneria only conscripted about five to ten million souls.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quite a range.¡± Ciria said dryly. ¡°Apologies for never having the chance to ask her.¡± Maisara answered. ¡°Deaths in the UNN measure around sixty-million. White Pantheon estimates say she can recruit anywhere up to forty million at this point.¡± ¡°What happens then?¡± Rudyard asked dryly. The man had sense to ask about this at least. ¡°If she breaches twenty million, then we declare her an existential threat who poses a danger to all Arda. If she breaches thirty million, then our predictions say that even if all Arcadia came together, they would not be able to stop her army.¡± ¡°And there is nothing that can stop her if that happens?¡± Rudyard asked again. ¡°With the quality of magician we have today, there is nothing.¡± Maisara said. She prided herself on not once having told a lie, and it was true. An archmage of Worldbreaking or a full battalion of mages from the Great War would be needed in order to even think about how to start draining Neneria¡¯s reserves. The Arcadia of today would simply be rolled over. ¡°There is actually nothing?¡± Etala looked so pale it was as if she was about to faint.. Maisara sighed, she hated explaining, but sometimes explaining was necessary. ¡°It is akin to ocean waves. A small wave can be handled without any damage, then.¡± Maisara pressed her finger into the table and started dragging it away from her. ¡°As it gets larger and larger, it becomes harder to stop. If Neneria gets multiple tens of millions, we¡¯re dealing with a wave of souls whose equivalent would be the same tsunami that just devastated the eastern third of your country.¡± And the room went silent once again. Etala took a deep breath, she looked to President Kochinski, the man looked up at her. The entire horde of bureaucrats around the table exchanged the same wordless expression, with sighing eyes and silent cheeks full of resignation. Only Ciria tried to issue any sort of counterattack to Maisara¡¯s words. ¡°Is that the UNN¡¯s problem?¡± Maisara turned to the little Goddess. If they were in private, Ciria would not be alive by now. From what Fortia had told her about that one meeting the Goddess of Peace had with of Civilization, when the latter made one final attempt to stop the Invasion of Kirinyaa, Ciria was a na?ve optimist who should be ignored. Fortia had been wrong, Ciria was a na?ve optimist, but Ciria had become forceful in her naivety and optimism. That sort of mentality is exactly what lost wars. ¡°Do you enjoy the freedom you have?¡± Maisara asked. Ciria did not respond, so Maisara asked again, harder this time. ¡°Do you enjoy the freedom you have?¡± Ciria only looked down at her feet and leaned back from the table. Maisara turned her attention from one Goddess to the other. ¡°Etala, what about you? Do you enjoy the freedom you have?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Etala answered. ¡°And you Rudyard?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°Of course, this country was founded on freedom and the right to choose.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Maisara said. ¡°And do you think Arascus¡¯ Empire will guarantee you that freedom? Or the White Pantheon¡¯s reserved guidance.¡± ¡°Look where that guidance got us.¡± Ciria muttered. ¡°That guidance got us a millennium of Peace Ciria.¡± Maisara said. ¡°We spent a millennium under Pantheon Peace, do you understand what sort of accomplishment that is?¡± The Goddess of Order made her tone harder. ¡°But you don¡¯t, do you Ciria? Because you¡¯re from this age, you don¡¯t know what it was like before. And I¡¯m not talking about the Great War here, I¡¯m talking about before even then.¡± Maisara realised she was being watched by the whole crowd of people and took a step back to project her voice across all of them. ¡°Do any of you know what it was like back then? When Divinity aligned itself to kingdoms? When the strongest Forces and Abstracts were mere mercenaries for hire? Can any of you imagine what those wars were like?¡± All she got was ashamed pairs of eyes staring back at her, Ciria¡¯s included. ¡°The success of the Pantheon is undeniable. We have hit a setback, that is true. No one will deny that the Pantheon is not in trouble. Yet compare the track record of the Pantheon and promises of Arascus. What does he give? Dreams of Empire? Hope of subordination? The freedom of conscription into Kassandora¡¯s Legions? He once talked of conquering the stars. I wonder how high he would stack the mountain of bodies before giving up.¡± Maisara finished and looked around the room. The UNN did not need to be pushed to support the Pantheon, but reminders every now and then were helpful. If for no gain then simply to make that they were kept on their toes. Of Order looked around the room. ¡°The situation is as this: Allasaria is heading to Arcadia to convince them to support the White Pantheon.¡± That was true, although it was only a half truth. Allasaria was going to recruit as many magicians as possible to set up a new White Pantheon College of Magic. One that would not be reliant on the Elassa. That Goddess simply could not be trusted anymore, so as many magicians had to be stolen from her as possible. ¡°Fortia is organizing a mass assault onto the three Goddesses.¡± Maisara continued. That was true too, Maisara had given of Peace command over most of the Paladins in the UNN. ¡°I will go ahead and slow them down.¡± Of Order added. ¡°Whether I go alone, in the same fashion that I ventured into your nuclear stations, or with support, is entirely your decision.¡± There. That was a good enough speech, short and to the point, just as Maisara usually gave them. She looked around at the room. Ciria slinked away, Etala looked to Rudyard. The President of the UNN sighed a heavy breath. A few of the bureaucrats turned to him, gazes expectant of affirmation on the faces. A few more, then a few more again. Bit by bit, until the whole was looking at the man, waiting for an answer. The man looked up at Etala, then down at the desk, then finally at Maisara. And he spoke. ¡°Under the powers bestowed upon me by the people of this great country.¡± He let the pause hang for a while. ¡°I declare that the UNN will do everything it can to stop Neneria, Goddess of Death.¡± Chapter 283 – Peacekeeping Colleges of Magic Neneria has never stood for anything. Neneria has never chosen a side in any major conflict before. It is not that she rejected humanity, rather humanity rejected her. There were times she was called upon, of course, but it was never in the same fashion that Iniri or Helenna or Kassandora, Allasaria or Irinika would be invited to attend great celebrations that marked some important date. One called upon Death because a transaction needed to be made, it was as easy and as simple as that. Neneria was in disbelief when I approached her. She could not comprehend the fact that rather than her skill, she herself was valuable. I¡¯ve met plenty of depressed Divines, that is the fate of most of us who are unable to develop some form of sociopathy and move past the relationships we make in the first century, before we realise the price of agelessness amongst mortals. Death always had a reputation of being morose, yet I saw something else: Neneria was resigned to her role. She wished for something more, but she simply could not imagine ever accomplishing it. Frequently, a comparison is made between Olephia and Neneria. Spending even a conversation with both will reveal the mistake in that comparison. Olephia does not hate her power even though it is far more debilitating to her than Of Death¡¯s is to Neneria. Olephia would be Olephia whether she was the Goddess of Light, of Dirt or just a mortal. Neneria cannot separate herself from her demesne. Of Death is Neneria, Neneria is Of Death. I wish she realised that there was a person behind the title. - Excerpt from Arascus¡¯ Private Writings. Elassa cracked Arika and Arcadia stood still in disbelief. Arcadia retreated in fear. Arcadia shrunk in shame. Arcadia sobbed in guilt. Leadership-less and unguided, Arcadia stood in stasis. First the last college of Magic had been attacked by Fer, thousands had died in that offensive. Anassa had been freed, the Goddess of Sorcery doubled the number of dead alone. Elassa had instituted replaced the White and Blue flag of harmonic peace and raised the Red and Purple of Worldbreaking. Arcadia had followed its Goddess to Kirinyaa, its Goddess had carelessly broken the world once, then cracked a continent next. And even though Arcadia had done neither of those, Arcadia¡¯s headmistress was Elassa. The shame of one mage did not fall on other magicians, yet the shame of the Goddess of Magic fell upon all. And Arcadia had fled. Gone were glorious embassies of foreign nations, now they were merely empty buildings. The Great Hall used for enrolling novices was empty. Allasaria had visited it two years ago, even at night, the building had been bustling with life with every window fighting a rabid war to keep the night back. Now, during the midday, there were a dozen people near the steps leading up to the main gate. This past year had been dark for the Pantheon. Allasaria could not deny it, yet she also could not deny what the Pantheon was. Fortia was the hammer of Peace, who would smite the will to war out of all. Maisara was the vice of Order, who would bend and break everyone and everything to fit into her ideals. The Forces had about as much issue with death as their counterparts in nature; why should Zerus ever worry about mortals dying? Did the sky feel bad for its thunderstorms? And Allasaria, whose Divine light cast a long shadow over the fields of bodies she had under her belt. The White Pantheon was old and it was filled with veterans of wars. No. Arcadia was not the White Pantheon. They could not be compared in the slightest. When Atis had been lost, the Pantheon had a meeting and kept marching forwards. When Kassandora had been freed, when Kavaa, Iniri and Helenna had turned traitor, the Pantheon had a meeting and continued its march. When the Pantheon was reduced to half strength, the march only got faster. Arcadia had been attacked once and it wept. Arcadia lost in Kirinyaa, and it retreated from the world the at large. A mere scratch had chased the dragon away. Allasaria hovered across the skies of Arcadia as she looked at all the different winding towers snaking from the ground like ancient trees that had been grown of brick and mortar. Each branch was a balcony, each leaf a window. And the huge dorm-rooms and halls, massive hedges of stone webbed with glass. From the outside, they looked as any picture or painting of Arcadia: great puzzle pieces of civilization neatly interlocking with the fine rolling hills and emerald grass and azure lakes. Yet any eye familiar with Arcadia proper would see the mistakes immediately. Only a few a classes were being held, the majority of the parks and gardens were devoid of any human activity and the students sullenly wandered as if they were had no particularly pressing aims during the midday. And there was something new too, where a park had once stood. Allasaria had to get close to inspect whether her eyes were lying to her or not. The Goddess of Light descended from the ever-cloudless blue skies of Arcadia, her white-gold dress and hair waving gently in the wind as she got closer to the monument. It was a stone statue of several wizards and witches, young and old, all holding their wands in the same direction. A model of several dorm-rooms was behind them and a plaque: Dedicated to those who gave their lives in exchange for ours. And below the plaque, a list of names. A long list of names, as long as Allasaria was tall. It covered the entire base of the monument. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Allasaria knelt and whispered a prayer. ¡°I¡¯m bored, do you want to do Epa now?¡± Helenna had two opinions of Malam¡¯s high-pitched, nasally, yet simultaneously rolling and delicate voice: It was as if her ears being forced to listen to nails on a chalkboard, and as if auditory ambrosia was being fed directly into them. ¡°Arascus allows you to switch jobs just like this?¡± Malam shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re done on the UNN for now. It¡¯s just waiting for the initial reports. We might as well get something useful done on Iliyal¡¯s front.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Helenna said. She leaned back into her seat and looked up at the ceiling, humming to herself. She heard that hum, and she realised she was smiling. She had thought that she would be utterly incompatible with Malam. But she had been wrong and the other woman was right: Love and Hate really were two sides of the same obsessive coin. Allasaria sat in what once was Elassa¡¯s council room. She had gathered the elites of Arcadia, great wizards and witches and waited for them to slowly shuffle and sit. The flags around the room were the Red and Purple of the three lightning bolts cracking the world: Elassa¡¯s ancient war banner. Only a few of the magicians could even stomach to look at the banners. ¡°Hello and good evening ladies and gentlemen.¡± Allasaria said, she supposed they knew who she was already, but she supposed she should introduce herself for the sake of politeness. ¡°I am Allasaria, Goddess of Light, First Amongst the White Pantheon.¡± The wizards and witches and slowly introduced themselves. At least forty had shown up: Dorm-masters, Heads of Years, Heads of Subjects, Heads of Elements. The room was only half full as they sat around the table. A few left spaces between themselves. One group, primarily pyromancers in red shawls, positioned themselves close to the warbanners. The rest as far as possible from them. ¡°I have come to discuss your Goddess, Elassa, of Magic.¡± Allasaria said. She monitored the changes in expression, a few looked away in disgust, some more looked down in shame. That group near the warbanners met Allasaria¡¯s gaze in defiance. ¡°Let me begin.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°The situation, as it stand right now, is terrible. Deaths only in the UNN measure sixty million. There¡¯s still another one to four million people unaccounted for. In the other coastlines, we only have estimates but worldwide¡­¡± Allasaria let the silence hold for a moment to build effect. ¡°We¡¯re looking at anywhere from two hundred to four hundred million.¡± There were a few collective gasps. One woman started silently crying. One man looked as if he was about to faint. In addition to that guilt and shame and defiance, there was a need emotion added to the stew of magicians: fear. Allasaria didn¡¯t want them to be afraid of her, but a little of fear went a long way in discussions. ¡°Elassa, as I¡¯m sure you already know, has been formally expelled from the White Pantheon.¡± Allasaria let the pause hang to once again gauge reaction. They knew although it had not been publicized too widely yet. So someone inside had ratted. ¡°Where Elassa is, we do not know, however we expect her to be taking refuge in Arascus¡¯ care.¡± This brought on a stronger reaction. More gasps. More sobs. The defiance turned into anger. Allasaria met those gazes and realised it wasn¡¯t anger at Elassa. It was anger at Allasaria for being here. The Goddess pushed the magicians out of her mind, let them rage if they wanted to. ¡°Naturally, this leaves Arcadia in a delicate situation.¡± Allasaria sighed and looked around. ¡°I assume you can work out what it is.¡± ¡°Arcadia is going to lose Pantheon support?¡± One aged wizard in a blue cloak spoke up from the back. Allasaria nodded. ¡°Arcadia is not self-sustaining, everything you have here is paid for by Pantheon coffers. What Elassa did needs to be answered, the Pantheon cannot stand by her anymore. Yet Arcadia cannot be separated from Elassa.¡± ¡°So the Pantheon is cutting support?¡± One witch in green asked. Allasaria nodded. She let them work it out themselves, people were always more agreeing when they felt as if they made the conclusions. And now, she would take a page out of Arascus¡¯ book: There was no better chain than the self-inflicted feeling of debt that forgiveness brought along. ¡°However, whereas Elassa is guilty, you are not.¡± Apart from those who had huddled between Elassa¡¯s war-banners, the room let out a collective sigh of relief. People sat up taller, one man finished his glass of water. A few in the back even let out mirthless laughs of stress. ¡°In this regard, I do not see it right to punish any of you for Elassa has done.¡± Allasaria said, that was enough hope for them, it was time to turn the pressure up. ¡°However, as I stated, Elassa is tied to Arcadia, this institution expelling her is farcical. It¡¯s simply not an option.¡± It was an option, but it would leave the mages with the old loyalties to this ancient school and to this world of traditional magic. Allasaria took a pause to look around the room, but it was actually to contain her own excitement. Finally, after thousands of years, she would do something no other awe-inspiring deity or magnificent mortal ruler had ever accomplished: She would separate the Magicians from the Goddess of Magic. Allasaria began: Step one; mercy. ¡°In this regard, Arcadia will not be shut down, but Pantheon support will be cut. What you do in this land is your own choice.¡± Step two; pressure. ¡°I do not know how long you will be able to sustain this land, and likewise I do not know how successful you will be in restoring Arcadia¡¯s glory now that Elassa had tainted its image with her massacre of a quarter billion.¡± Step three; hope. ¡°However, I am of the White Pantheon. The Mages were always supportive of Olympiada, I see no reason to abandon you just because your Goddess has betrayed you. If anything, it is my debt to pay to you.¡± Step four; salvation. ¡°So whereas I will not shut Arcadia down, I will officially create the new Peacekeeping Colleges of Magic soon, under White Pantheon jurisdiction. It would cleanse all of you of Elassa¡¯s crime and it would allow the Divine Mountain to once again openly support the artistry of magic. And step five; bargaining. ¡°I do not plan on creating something akin to Arcadia again, instead I want smaller decentralized colleges all throughout the world that specialize in one or two subjects. I would need assistance in creating these institutions, and I would expect that assistance in management to be from you. With all the privileges that come with it.¡± Allasaria looked at the various sets of eyes and gazes in the room. She had written off the group congregating around the war-banner already, but the others? It was true that all magicians were like Elassa to some degree, she could see the delusions of grandeur openly painting themselves on their faces. Chapter 284 – KAFAF-One Anarchia read through the news again. She took a heavy breath. Epan Separation had thrown off the chains of the Pantheon and the vain mask of independence had slipped to reveal the autocracy which hid beneath. The populations were primed. As worried as she was about the militarization, it did provide a chance too. Weapons could be seized and self-reliance would be guaranteed through force, if through nothing else. At the end of the day, the simplest questions were the most important: If not her then who? If not now then when? Kassandora and Arascus stood in dark uniforms on the largest KAF airfield in Kirinyaa. She had designed the layout, there was a wall of hangars for the planes, those were simple round tubes covered in dirt and grass to hide them from above. Then, on the other side of the runway was everything and needed for the troops; a mess hall, a communications towers, two radar dishes, plenty of barracks, a command building for the officers. The two Raptors had returned here after dropping her three sisters off in the UNN, and then sixty other jets which had been produced domestically in the country were parked in long lines. The former two dwarfed the jets, they were undeniably better, able to serve as transports and fighters and bombers at the same time, yet there were no plans to build any more. The Raptors, as reliable as they were, were expensive and huge and guzzled fuel like no other. Their magazines were so large that not once had they ever been loaded to capacity and whilst they could carry bombs, they weren¡¯t dedicated bombers that could carpet an entire region in hellfire. The fighters were dependable, were cheap and easy to produce and losing one wasn¡¯t the end of the world. Frankly, if dedicated transports for Divinity wasn¡¯t required, Kassandora would have decommissioned the Raptors already. ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡± Kassandora said dryly. ¡°Colour me surprised at that.¡± Arascus replied just as dryly and Kassandora found herself smiling. She knew the man was making fun of her, but frankly, she had enough self-awareness to know that it was one of her most common phrases. ¡°It¡¯s stupid.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You should have been there then.¡± Arascus replied quickly. That, Kassandora couldn¡¯t argue with. She should have been there, but she always left the minor trite to her subordinates in some false hope that they wouldn¡¯t make an absolutely despicable decision. ¡°I¡¯m annoyed.¡± Kassandora once again said. ¡°Do you want a drink then?¡± Arascus asked and Kassandora readjusted her high cap. The Sword and Skull emblem was engraved onto it, same as on her belt. ¡°Do you have one?¡± Kassandora asked. Arascus shuffled and pulled out a small bottle of whiskey from his pocket. He passed it to the Goddess of War and she stared at it, utterly flabbergasted. ¡°Why even?¡± ¡°Because I knew we¡¯d see it each other.¡± Arascus replied as Kassandora took the bottle. ¡°So you brought whiskey because you were going to meet me?¡± She still opened it, and drank the whole thing in one large gulp. It wouldn¡¯t be too much for a mortal, for a Divine, and one of Kassandora¡¯s stature, it was barely a teaspoon of alcohol. ¡°You make me out to be some sort of alcoholic.¡± She passed the empty bottle back to Arascus and the God of Pride stared at it for a few seconds. ¡°Why are you giving me an empty bottle?¡± Kassandora sighed and looked around the airfield, she had honestly thought he would be nice enough to dispose it for her. A group of engineers were happening to pass by. Of War raised her hand and called them over. ¡°I¡¯m still annoyed, just so you know.¡± Kassandora said angrily as the men ran over. Engineers in dark blue overalls and hands dirty with oil. One of them was carry a tool case, the other a small welder with a mask strapped to his belt. ¡°Well I did what I could.¡± Arascus said as the men engineers formed a rank and pulled a salute. Kassandora returned her own and passed one man the empty glass bottle. ¡°Throw this away, you¡¯re dismissed.¡± ¡°Yes Goddess!¡± The man took it gingerly, saluted, and the team quickly skittered away. No doubt they¡¯d have a laugh about disposing the Goddess¡¯ garbage later. Let them, small things like this were annoying when humans did it, but it made for a funny story when it was a Divine. A flicker of amusement sparked across Kassandora¡¯s face and was quickly put out. ¡°And just so you know, I¡¯m still annoyed.¡± Kassandora said once they were out of earshot. ¡°Well you¡¯re not drunk yet, so you¡¯re annoyed.¡± Arascus said and Kassandora shook her head, smiling at that. She couldn¡¯t argue with that either, honestly, she was impressed that the man could put up with her when she was sober. She wouldn¡¯t be able to put up with herself. ¡°And it¡¯s just a name.¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s a stupid name.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You weren¡¯t there.¡± Arascus said and the circle closed again. They could go on like this for hours, and both of them would enjoy each other¡¯s company for it. The culprit of the Kassandora¡¯s frustration rolled into view. The new missiles for the planes, designed in Kirinyaa. They were the first of their kind, supposedly they could home in on a target. Kassandora, as always, had wanted a pragmatic name: The GFAFMM1: Guided Fire and Forget Missile Model One. But she had not attended the final meeting after the testing trials and instead Arascus had stamped off on the name. To pay respect to the chief Engineer, it was called after a girl he had a crush on: The Alice Model Missiles. On paper, they were AMMs, in reality, everyone just talked of mounting Alices to the jets. It grated on Kassandora terribly. A small car was pulling a huge rack with some eighty or so missiles across the runway to the next set of jets. A second car, filled with engineers, was trailing some distance behind it. ¡°I¡¯ve gotten reports that the UNN is massing aircraft.¡± Kassandora said dryly. ¡°Most likely they¡¯ll try to strike at Nene.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Most likely.¡± Arascus agreed. ¡°Can these jets get there?¡± ¡°With those.¡± Kassandora said as she pointed to the end of the runway. Kassandora had procured ten AA32s, Ausan Airways 32 Series planes, now converted to ST90T of the KAF. Kassandora smiled proudly, she had named these: SkyTanker-90 Tons. KAF had been training its pilots in the air-refuelling but the system was largely automatic. All that the pilots really needed to be capable of was turning the refueling¡¯s system autopilot on, or just keeping the aircraft steady. ¡°Those work?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°I¡¯ve seen them.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°They work.¡± Arascus laughed and shook his head. ¡°Unreal.¡± He said and Kassandora smiled proudly. It hadn¡¯t even been her idea, some human had voiced it. And once it was voiced, it was theorized to be possible. And once something was theorized, all that separated it from reality was simply a matter of problem solving. ¡°I¡¯ll be sending the Raptors too, just in case Nene needs pickup.¡± Kassandora said and Arascus nodded. ¡°And then I¡¯m going underground.¡± ¡°To see the dwarves?¡± Arascus asked and Kassandora nodded. ¡°To see the dwarves.¡± She confirmed. And Irinika, hopefully, depending on how pressing the situation down there was. If their conflict against Tartarus was going on for a whole millennium now, she doubted it would be easy to solve though. ¡°If you need me up here, then give a call. I¡¯ll start laying telephone wires through the ground for communication.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll leave you to it most likely.¡± Arascus said. ¡°When Neneria comes back, it will buy us some breathing room.¡± Kassandora nodded and agreed, there was no mistake there. ¡°We¡¯ll prepare for the next wave and I¡¯ll focus with Helenna and Malam on Epa.¡± ¡°That it will.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have Iniri rebuild Nanbasa.¡± Arascus said suddenly. ¡°Iniri?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Why not just copy the old blueprint?¡± If there was one Maisara had done well, it was design Kirinyaa¡¯s coastal cities. It was thanks to Of Order that the evacuations had been so smooth. And city planning simply wasn¡¯t Iniri¡¯s specialization. ¡°Iniri needs to be shown that she can co-exist with modern civilization.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And I don¡¯t see a better way of showing her rather than making her do it herself.¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°And if she doesn¡¯t figure it out?¡± ¡°It¡¯s only one city at the end of the day.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Whether Nanbasa is optimized as a city or not won¡¯t make or break us. But it could make Iniri.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora said. Micromanaging divinity was Arascus¡¯ speciality, not hers. She was only here to win wars. People were kept happy insofar as they were useful, and Iniri, apart from being a walking granary, simply did not compare to the likes of Anassa and Neneria. Now that Elassa was on the verge of joining too, it simply was not on Kassandora¡¯s list of priorities to train Iniri¡¯s confidence on the off-chance it somehow made her a competent fighter who could be fielded on the frontlines. Even if she was, her power of growth was so enormous that the woman would need to be on the level of Olephia for Kassandora to even consider moving her away from her support role. ¡°Alright.¡± Was all Kassandora said. Not her demesne, it was as simple as that. She wasn¡¯t going to start stepping onto Arascus¡¯ toes when he didn¡¯t step onto hers. ¡°And-¡° Arascus¡¯ phone started to ring. ¡°Well well well.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Who is it?¡± Arascus pulled out a huge phone from his dark coat, it still sat too small in his hand. Kassandora didn¡¯t bother to hide her curiosity, she pressed her cheek into his arm to look at who was ringing. There was a picture of a beautiful woman standing by the sea-side, her red hair flowing in the wind: Helenna. That was annoying, Kassandora liked her own hair, she didn¡¯t like when others tried to overstep their authority. ¡°Are you going to answer?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Arascus pressed the green button and then pressed loud-speaker immediately. Kassandora smiled in satisfaction at that. She would never admit it to the man, but she was interested in whatever gossip Helenna was about to spill. ¡°Hello, Helenna, you¡¯re on loudspeaker, Kassie can hear you.¡± Kassandora elbow Arascus in the side. He didn¡¯t have to say that. The God merely chuckled at her reaction. ¡°Oh that¡¯s good.¡± Helenna said from the other side. ¡°I was actually going to call her next, where are you?¡± ¡°At KAFAF-One.¡± Kassandora smiled at the name. That was an excellent name indeed: Kassandora¡¯s Air Force Airfield One. She had blessed KAFAF-One with it. ¡°I hate that name.¡± Helenna grumbled over the phone. ¡°Which one is that?¡± ¡°The one south-west of CR.¡± Arascus answered and Kassandora looked around the airfield smugly. Oh? Helenna didn¡¯t like the naming scheme? How sad! ¡°I was going to say that I just a report from Arcadia. Allasaria visited, she wants to split the school into decentralized colleges. I have a longer report but that¡¯s the short of it.¡± Arascus looked down at Kassandora and Kassandora looked up at him. She knew what she was thinking, but the God must have been thinking it too. ¡°Is she pulling mages away?¡± Arascus asked. Kassandora sighed, good thing the man did see it. ¡°Apparently several hundred already left with her.¡± Helenna said over the phone. ¡°I don¡¯t have a location yet but¡­¡± Helenna trailed off. ¡°Not too hard to work out Allasaria needs people to dispel ghosts.¡± Kassandora said dryly. ¡°Mmh.¡± Helenna¡¯s voice agreed over the phone. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought too.¡± There was shuffling of papers and a bang from the other side, as if the phone had just been dropped. Kassandora and Arascus shared another flat look, and then Helenna spoke again. Not into the phone, but to someone else in the room. ¡°Where the FUCK are the military maps?¡± Malam¡¯s voice, sounding as if it was ever on the verge of telling a joke, sounded through it. ¡°What are you looking for?¡± ¡°Fucking Kafaf One.¡± Helenna shouted and Arascus supressed a chuckle. ¡°Ahh yeah.¡± Malam agreed. ¡°I hate that naming scheme.¡± Kassandora¡¯s lips cracked into an angry smile. It seemed she was the only one who appreciated efficiency here. Helenna returned to shout into the phone. ¡°Well whatever, I¡¯ll be there when I find the map. I have the papers for you. Do you have the Ausa meeting today?¡± Kassandora narrowed her eyes at that. ¡°You¡¯re going to Ausa?¡± ¡°Abakwa is holding a celebration to mark the Jungle¡¯s death. I¡¯m taking Elassa. He wants to thank her personally. You¡¯re invited too.¡± Kassandora rolled her eyes. ¡°Tell him I¡¯m busy.¡± Arascus ruffled her hair. ¡°I already did.¡± Kassandora ignored the strands of crimson now in her vision, and narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment. ¡°Actually, if you¡¯re going, can you do something for me?¡± ¡°What?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°Well, they won¡¯t need it anymore.¡± ¡°Just say it Kassie.¡± ¡°Can we have their fleet?¡± Chapter 285 – Weak Point I know Kassandora has written about this concept, and she claims that fairness simply does not exist. In her opinion, it is an idealised concept that can only be simulated in thought experiments. Even in controlled environments such as games, Of War will claim that fairness does not exist because variables such as the rest of the contestants; what they ate, whether they just argued with a loved a one, will have some effect on the game. In this case, any concept of fairness must be inherently made shallow else we would be paralyzed through pure analysis of the subject. However, whereas what Kassie says make sense on a technical level, she is simply too material and sad of a mind to comprehend fairness. In the same way that beauty cannot be defined, yet we all know that I am beautiful; fairness cannot be quantified, yet we all know that I am unfair, for some reason. This way, fairness can forever be ridiculed and decried, yet it is an ideal that is striven for. Fairness allows for the judgement of tyrants, for mass outcries in support of those deemed to need it and it is the sweetener that makes the rancid taste of compromise palatable. By sheer definition, Kassandora, me, all Divinity should be killed to make the world fair. We are fundamentally exceptional, Of Darkness, of Light, of Chaos and of Magic serve as the most extreme examples, yet they most brilliantly demonstrate it. How can the world be fair if they exist? Yet this is farce, we call the world fair even though these monsters live, so we realise that fairness is not some material calculation of value. There is some greater value put into fairness. This is why Kassandora has such an issue with it. Whereas Of War realises it or not, she has come across the true meaning of fairness already. It is simply so unsatisfactory an answer that she naturally recoils in disgust. Maybe it was Kassandora herself who did it, maybe it long ago, before any of us where alive, some fairness really did exist. But with the state of the world as it is now, teetering on the edge of a war that will mark the start of the next Era, fairness has been sewn for one purpose only. Fairness is the rallying cry of the powerless. - Excerpt from ¡°Fairness in Divinity¡±, written by Goddess Malam, of Hatred. Published just before the start of the Great War. Helenna sighed and traced, with her pencil, a scratch into the wooden table. The pencil¡¯s graphite broke off before the wood so much as even dented. And Helenna sighed as she leaned back and looked through her papers. She should have known that Iniri¡¯s handiwork would break a pencil, especially if it was grown on the same day. The Goddess of Nature had arrived from a nearby city in the same time as Elassa was sent off to KAFAF-One in order to meet Arascus. Apparently, Iniri had been given total control over rebuilding the entire city. Why Arascus let that happen, Helenna honestly had no idea. Yet Arascus had treated her well and she was fond of her friend, so there was no reason to try and put Iniri down just because the woman wasn¡¯t an urban planner. And, since Iniri had come here, Malam had quickly enlisted the woman to grown them some sort of structure that could serve as a management office. Iniri had been surprised, but the Goddess of Nature had always carried a heart full of warm honey, so she was probably happy that someone who once fought against her now was relying on her for assistance, even if it was so minor as just growing a child hollow tree with plenty of rooms and windows. Helenna ran her fingers along the papers as she heard Malam enter. Separating the heels from Malam would be like trying to get the bones out of a person, yet the woman walked terribly quietly. Something that large, with pointed heels and a dress that should have been swishing through the air, a nose that should be audibly breathing should not be so silent. Malam stopped just behind Helenna. The Goddess of Love did not even move, she just sighed and shrugged to show off the papers before her. ¡°Why are you doing that?¡± Malam asked as she put her chin on Helenna¡¯s shoulder to look over at what the Goddess of Love was doing. Helenna blinked and looked down at her piece of paper, wasn¡¯t it obvious? ¡°I¡¯m budgeting bribes.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Mmh. I see that.¡± Malam cooed as she put more weight onto Helenna¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Is there an issue?¡± This is how Helenna had always done it, there was no reason to change systems that weren¡¯t broken. ¡°Malam¡­¡± Helenna said the other Goddess¡¯ name as of Hatred put yet more weight on Helenna¡¯s shoulder. ¡°MALAM!¡± Helenna shouted. ¡°You fat fuck, you¡¯re heavy!¡± Malam burst out in laughter at the comment as Helenna turned her shoulder. Malam actually was heavy! What was that!? And she had a pointy chin too! ¡°Well well well.¡± Malam cooed, immediately Helenna prepared herself for some counter-attack. Malam always had one and more often than not, Helenna found them hilarious. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be complaining, I¡¯m at least half your weight.¡± Helenna raised an eyebrow at that. She knew she was being baited into a trap, but she wanted to hear what Malam was going to say. She set up her own bait for Malam to hook onto. She leaned her head back, looked straight up to see the Goddess of Hatred looking down at her, white hair framed Malam¡¯s face as Helenna grinned up at her and crossed her own arms underneath her bosom to push it up. ¡°I¡¯d say you¡¯re not even a quarter.¡± It was touchy subject amongst Divinity, individual beauty, and none compared to Helenna in terms of perfect shape and size. Malam grinned back down. That viper¡¯s mouth curled into a ravenous snarl as the Goddess of Hatred responded. ¡°If we were food, I¡¯d be a delicious apple, a green one, not a red one, just slightly tangy and acidic. Healthy, the sort that you need for a snack, you know?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± Helenna replied sarcastically. ¡°Do you know what you¡¯d be?¡± ¡°A bigger apple?¡± ¡°A fat marshmallow.¡± Helenna blinked, she felt her own hair change colour to an amused golden yellow in surprise and her cheeks slightly blush. She had been called all sorts of things in the Pantheon. Allasaria and Elassa and Fortia and Maisara had not held a single word back when they would talk about what they thought of such a worthless demesne such as love. And yet, for all her thousands of years of existence, this is the first time she had ever been called that. And frankly, how Malam knew that it would be far more annoying than else, Helenna did not know. Yet Helenna was left in awe at just how petulant she felt upon being called a fat marshmallow. ¡°You¡¯d be sour milk.¡± Helenna said, she knew it wasn¡¯t as strong, but Malam had forced an instinctual kick response from her. Of Hatred¡¯s content smile revealed her pearly-white teeth, as clean as her hair. ¡°Better a cute little marshmallow to roast over the fire.¡± Malam poked Helenna¡¯s rosy cheek. ¡°Than some greasy meat patty.¡± When said in that tone, Malam really could make being a marshmallow sound downright lovely. Helenna took a deep breath, Of Hatred really was talented at what she did. Helenna had to give her that. Malam¡¯s dark eyes finally pulled away from Helenna¡¯s and she looked at the piece of paper. Two seconds was all it too. ¡°It¡¯s terrible.¡± Malam said flatly. Helenna wasn¡¯t even annoyed, this is simply how Malam gave feedback. Fortia would have said the same thing, but Fortia wouldn¡¯t have put her hands on Helenna¡¯s shoulders and gave them a little squeeze. Helenna did not even know if Malam realised how much she intruded on other¡¯s space, but frankly, Helenna did not mind when Malam did it to her. ¡°It¡¯s not the worst.¡± Malam said again. ¡°But it¡¯s not good. I¡¯d do it better.¡± That was the kicker. Helenna knew Malam would do it better, every plan relating to the UNN, Malam simply did better. Whereas Helenna managed networks and could filter information like no one else, Malam could make moves that Helenna would not even dream of. ¡°Do you have a drink?¡± Malam asked, that chin once again settled on Helenna¡¯s red hair and Malam squeezed Helenna¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t you have your own?¡± Helenna asked flatly, she started tapping her pencil again in annoyance. This though, she could not stand. Love had never liked to share. ¡°It got stolen.¡± Malam answered. ¡°By who?!¡± Helenna almost couldn¡¯t believe it. Someone was stealing alcohol from them? Iniri? What? That woman made her own drinks on the spot! Malam¡¯s reply was deathly serious. ¡°My stomach.¡± Helenna extended her hand, still holding the pencil she had broken through tapping, to one of the cabinets. ¡°I have to warn you though.¡± Helenna said. ¡°You won¡¯t like it.¡± Malam gave Helenna¡¯s shoulder one final squeeze and moved so theatrically Helenna was worried for a moment whether the woman would fall over. She didn¡¯t walk to the cabinet, she spun from one heel to the other, white hair and black blossoming like a flower before once again settling as the Goddess leaned down to open the cabinet. All red wines. Malam merely turned her head back to Helenna, a downright depressed glare painted on her face. ¡°Why?¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°I like red wine.¡± ¡°You¡¯re so generic!¡± Malam said. ¡°Wowie!¡± The flat tone said that there was nothing to wowie about. ¡°The Goddess of Love drinks red wine! Who would have guessed! It¡¯s about as crazy as Kavaa drinking gin!¡± Helenna dropped her smile, she saw the few loose strands of hair Malam¡¯s chin had thrown into her vision turn shade to a darker colour. Honestly, she had filled her cabinet up with red wine because she knew Malam didn¡¯t like it. And now she felt bad about it. ¡°Which one¡¯s your least favourite?¡± Malam asked as she looked back into the cabinet. Helenna said the one she liked the most immediately. ¡°South Chateau.¡± Malam did reach for that one. ¡°Wait! No!¡± Helenna jumped up and Malam stopped. She looked back towards Helenna in confusion. ¡°Not that one.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind if it¡¯s bad.¡± Malam said. ¡°No! I like that one!¡± Malam rolled her eyes. ¡°They¡¯re in your cabinet, I assume you like all of them.¡± ¡°That one¡¯s my favourite!¡± Helenna admitted. She didn¡¯t know why she was so difficult sometimes, why she would have such kneejerk reactions where she would lie about tiny little trite. It was never anything important either, it was always something like this. ¡°I asked for your least favourite.¡± Malam said, she put the bottle back in its place and looked back into the cabinet. Then stopped suddenly, her breath catching. ¡°Fuck woman, did you think I¡¯d steal your best wine?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Helenna shyly trailed off. She what? She thought that Malam would just be bitchy on purpose and take the opposite of what Helenna said? Helenna sighed and shook her head, Malam wasn¡¯t her after all. ¡°You can have any of them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to take your best one though!¡± Malam said. ¡°The ones on the top shelf I have for guests.¡± Helenna admitted and Malam turned back around. ¡°Do you want some help picking one out?¡± ¡°Drink is drink.¡± Malam answered. ¡°This one has a picture of a pretty pony. I¡¯m taking it.¡± She had taken a Rancais purple. A decent bottle, not the best in the cabinet, not the worst. ¡°I have a bottle opener if yo¡­¡± Helenna trailed off when she saw Malam¡¯s nails slice through the label and the woman bite the cork off. Or try to at least. ¡°You need an opener with good¡­¡± Malam snapped the top half of the cork off. ¡°Or that happens.¡± Helenna said flatly as she watched Malam spit half of the cork out onto the floor. ¡°Great.¡± ¡°Do not worry, this is how we do it in the business.¡± Malam said and pressed the cork deeper in. There was a small pop, a splash and Malam proudly held the bottle of wine with the cork swimming inside it. ¡°What business?¡± Helenna asked dryly. ¡°The alcoholic one.¡± Malam replied with a laugh, took a swig directly from the bottle and held it out for Helenna. ¡°Want some?¡± Helenna took some with a sigh and almost recoiled when her lips touched it. Malam used lipstick? And it was so sweet? Helenna didn¡¯t say anything, but she passed the bottle back to Of Hatred. Malam quickly licked the part of the bottle where Helenna¡¯s lips touched it. Of course she did. The Goddess of Love felt a shiver go down her spine when she saw that. ¡°Cherry.¡± Malam said as Helenna¡¯s cheeks went crimson. ¡°Good choice.¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s better than yours!¡± Helenna shouted. ¡°What do you even use? Pure sugar?!¡± ¡°I asked Iniri for hers.¡± ¡°INIRI USES THAT?¡± Helenna burst out and Malam shrugged. ¡°Can I have yours then?¡± Malam asked so innocently that Helenna¡­ Helenna wanted to burst out in laughter. A thousand years of scheming in the Pantheon, and she had found only Iniri and Kavaa. And even then, she liked them, but she didn¡¯t know if she would like them so much if they weren¡¯t in that situation. Malam though? Malam was downright intoxicating. She had known the woman only a couple of days at this point, and they were talking as if they came from the same egg. ¡°Just take it. Don¡¯t use whatever that is.¡± Helenna said and Malam smiled as she dragged a chair back next to Helenna. As always, Malam got far too close, practically invading Helenna¡¯s seat, but the woman didn¡¯t mind. She leaned into Malam as Malam leaned into her. ¡°So? What do you think of how to improve here?¡± Helenna asked as she looked at both the paper before her and kept Malam in the field of her vision. ¡°Why are we bribing?¡± Malam asked. The cork falling into the bottle may have actually been a positive, it acted as a plug whenever the woman tipped it up to drink. ¡°Well? Can you speak Helenna? Why are we bribing?¡± ¡°We¡¯re bribing because¡­¡± Helenna thought for a moment. Because they needed things to be done? Because they needed to buy action, if not loyalty? What sort of answer was the woman looking for? ¡°Well, we need some incentive for them to work, right?¡± Helenna asked and Malam put her left hand around the Goddess of Love. In that moment, just before Malam began to explain, as Helenna leaned further into Malam, the Goddess of Love felt a fortress wall within her heart begin to crack and crumble. The physical comfort wasn¡¯t Malam making some grand proclamation of love, nor was it any attempt to indulge lust, it was simply physical touch for the sake of physical touch. Helenna didn¡¯t know if Malam had the same thing, maybe she did after being underground for a whole millennium, but Helenna had it her whole life, since the very moment she incarnated. Who could touch the Goddess of Love? Who would even attempt something like that? Helenna had known one person, and that was Arascus. But whereas she liked working closely with Arascus, the man had an empire to run. Did he know? He must know what Malam was like, the God had adopted her into his family after all. And Helenna knew that Arascus could play her like a fiddle, she let herself be played after all. But as she sat there, basking in Malam¡¯s physical recognition of her, she smiled. She didn¡¯t even care that Malam was about to eviscerate all the hard work she had done, she simply liked the feeling of leaning on someone and of someone¡¯s arm around her. ¡°You had it right!¡± Malam said. ¡°Incentive is the name of the game here.¡± Malam took another swig and got fed up with the cork. She bit the glass top of the bottle off and dug the cork out. ¡°You¡¯re an animal.¡± Helenna dryly commented, only her eyes moving to watch whatever this utter failure of an attempt to drink wine. ¡°Damn right I¡¯m an animal.¡± Malam¡¯s tone was that teasing one again, full of connotations, yet Helenna simply didn¡¯t care this time. She wasn¡¯t going to fall for the bait as she let her head drop on Malam¡¯s shoulder. ¡°But incentive, that is what we are working on. This is where I¡¯m better than you.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Helenna replied. There was a whole lot more that Malam was better in, but Helenna didn¡¯t think that she needed to say that right now. ¡°The planning is not terrible in itself.¡± Malam said. ¡°The individual cases I mean, here, were you found the companies contracted to do rebuilding, that¡¯s good. Same with the governors and statesmen in charge of it. Faster than me in that.¡± Helenna smiled at the compliment. ¡°Bribes on one hand are good, they¡¯re fast, and they get to the point. But there¡¯s two issues.¡± Helenna already knew the answer. ¡°They leave a trail and they¡¯re expensive.¡± She spoke, still leaning on Malam¡¯s shoulder. And she felt her own hand creeping around Malam to return the hug. When was the last time she had been hugged? She honestly could not remember. ¡°There we go.¡± Malam said. ¡°I think this is just demesne differences. I just naturally see these patterns.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Maybe not though.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see them.¡± ¡°I see how you do yours, but do you know why I don¡¯t use bribes like that?¡± Malam asked. She moved and pressed into Helenna¡¯s arm around her back. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just fucking lazy and can¡¯t be bothered.¡± Malam said and Helenna smiled. Frankly, she saw Malam¡¯s plans, and she saw nothing lazy about them. In fact, they were the opposite. ¡°But we want a more general system, you have spies, which is good. Normally this part takes me the longest.¡± ¡°I¡¯m good at handling people.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Do you know what you should do to handle me though?¡± Malam suddenly asked and Helenna almost sat up. Almost. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Touch my spine. I like that feeling.¡± Malam replied and Helenna acquiesced. Instead of hugging Malam, she simply traced a finger down the woman¡¯s back. Malam gave no reaction, no shiver, nothing. She may as well have no been feeling it. But then, from the corner of her eye, Helenna saw the Goddess of Hatred smile to herself. Not Malam¡¯s usual terrible wicked smile, but the smile of a child who had just been given ice-cream. And Malam continued. ¡°So I want to use your spies, not for bribes, but for examples.¡± ¡°Examples?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°Well the trade-off is we get some of them arrested. Maybe executed. In the Great War, it was Ana who lost the most.¡± ¡°Of course it was.¡± Helenna said dryly. She had seen how Anassa treated her own sorcerers. ¡°Then me.¡± Malam said. ¡°Kassie actually kept her own attrition rates lower than ours, somehow. So that¡¯s the trade-off, but we have an excess of men and dad is barely keeping Kirinyaa afloat economically.¡± That much was true, this was the biggest hamper in Helenna¡¯s plan. They simply didn¡¯t have the millions, if not billions, that would be needed to buy out everyone in the UNN. ¡°So we send your spies in and we make examples.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see it¡­¡± Helenna said and Malam kept on explaining. Allasaria would have gotten mad, Maisara would have probably just refused to elongate. But not Malam, Malam made sure that Helenna understand. ¡°Everyone has an incentive. Your bribes create a material incentive, the issue in that is that material incentives are¡­¡± Malam restarted. ¡°Well, they¡¯re material. Do you know the best way to stop a bribe is?¡± ¡°Outbribe it.¡± Helenna said. ¡°Exactly. Material incentives need the material to keep flowing. We shut off the money supply, they get back to work. Instead, we want our incentive to be one of fairness.¡± And Helenna got lost again, but Malam kept on going. ¡°So when a worker sees one of your spies, who they assume is a worker too, openly talk about the fact he sold off a bag of concrete to someone else. Someone who is in your pocket too, what does that worker think? Does he know that these are Helenna¡¯s people? Or does he instead stay and think about why he earns in a week what this man just made in five minutes? This is the most fragile point of a man¡¯s heart. It¡¯s this demoralization that just eats away at honour and duty and everything. What¡¯s the point in duty and honour, if you¡¯re the only one with it after all?¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Helenna started to see it. ¡°And there¡¯s someone like this in every step of the hierarchy. Someone you know Helenna, being corrupt with someone else you know. The incentive then is not some material possession we need to keep supplying. The incentive is one¡¯s personal honour. How can you keep working honestly when you see everyone around you getting rich like this?¡± ¡°Even though they¡¯re all just actors.¡± Helenna said and Malam nodded. ¡°Exactly. What goes on in the dressing room doesn¡¯t matter because the audience watches the stage.¡± Malam said. ¡°And on stage, what is happening is just corruption. Corruption so flagrant and obvious that you can only ask yourself one thing.¡± Helenna asked it. ¡°Why aren¡¯t I getting rich?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Malam said. ¡°Because we¡¯re not rolling a boulder here, we¡¯re kickstarting an engine. Once it¡¯s turned on, it fuels itself. Once the corruption sets in, you can pull everyone out because the audience suddenly is the actors.¡± Helenna stared the piece of paper in awe. Every time Malam had to sit down with her to explain something like this, Helenna would simply be awe-struck. The sheer simplicity of it. Whereas Helenna was coming up with scenarios that would work, yet that required so much effort and input that they were like trying to start a flood with a hosepipe, Malam was throwing a snowball down a mountain and starting an avalanche. ¡°Do you see it now?¡± Frankly, Helenna did not know if Malam had a true voice. She was always loud, her tone shifted from a nasally nails on a chalkboard to a seductive low rumble, yet if there was a real voice in there, Helenna hoped it was this one. Malam sounded as if she genuinely cared. ¡°You¡¯re amazing Malam.¡± Helenna whispered from the side. ¡°Thanks.¡± Malam replied, almost oddly. Helenna saw the Goddess the blush. ¡°Can you touch my spine again?¡± Malam whispered it this time. And Helenna did. Chapter 286 – Welcome to the Club There is some mistaken belief that Maisara and Fortia are the same person, or that they think in the exact same way. That is a mistaken belief, they simply don¡¯t have an equivalent, Elassa¡¯s relationship to Allasaria is a comparison that is obvious on the surface, yet looking deeper, Fortia and Maisara have something more than just the employer-employee combination that is Allasaria-Elassa. Why they get along is terribly simple, and both have admitted it in roundabout ways through praising each other¡¯s values. If the White Pantheon were to be a collection of autocrats, then one of them would be proposing decentralized federation and the other self-governorship, if the White Pantheon were to be a concoction of democrats and republicans instead, then one of them would be arguing for monarchy and the other absolute rule. It is not that they are the same, they simply strengthen and reinforce each other in a cyclical manner. Allasaria has confided in me to complain about them. She talks of their closed feedback loop, of Maisara feeding Fortia and Fortia feeding Maisara, of their unwillingness to transition their Orders into a unified Pantheon Army, of the fact that both don¡¯t see Pantheon Peace as an ideal to strive for but a policy to enforce. Her complaints are all true of course, Maisara and Fortia are downright terrible to the rest of us. I can write with full confidence that I prefer going to the Closed Prison to discuss with captured Kassandora rather than with the comrades in arms that are Fortia and Maisara. And just as definitely, I can state that I am not the only one who prefers to Of War¡¯s company to Of Peace and Of Order. Yet Allasaria¡¯s complaints, just like mine, just like Elassa¡¯s and Kavaa¡¯s and Iniri¡¯s, Zerus¡¯ and Alkom¡¯s and Sceo¡¯s, are all tinged with the same sour drop of self-indulging ego. The relationship between Maisara and Fortia is one I would kill for and I am jealous. Allasaria is jealous, the rest of us are just as jealous. All of us are Divine, all of us have lived through entire Eras, all of us saw the horrors of the Great War. We all strive to complete something within us, yet I am certain that my mind and my heart don¡¯t have all the puzzle pieces. I am unsure if they ever did. Yet I know that one thing: Maisara¡¯s pieces fit into Fortia¡¯s, and Fortia¡¯s fit into Maisara¡¯s. - Excerpt taken from Helenna¡¯s private diary. Arascus picked his head up as his plane started to turn. The plane itself was huge, built specifically so that Arascus and Fer could stand up easily within it. The entire command squad of assistants Arascus had brought with him looked as if they were humans that had been downsized. Yet Arascus had always found the plane cramped and tight. Even though he could stand up straight when he was in the very centre of the plane, when he was sitting on one of the leather couches that lined the sides of the plane, he had to lean forwards to stop the top of his head from scraping along the ceiling. Elassa was opposite him. In the same blue battledress that she had cracked the continent of Arika in, she sat there, eyes unfocused, mouth slightly fallen open in half-stunned shock. At first, she had assumed that Arascus was joking when he had told her she was invited with him to Igos. When she got on the plane, she had spent the take-off looking out the window as if suddenly expecting them to turn direction and start heading north instead. Yet they did not, they kept on flying west with the Sun. Arascus looked through the window and onto the new Sea of Arika. A name had not been chosen, colloquially though Arascus had heard everything and anything: Elassa¡¯s sea, the Sea of Arika, the Jungle Sea, The Green Sea, the Grey Sea, The Cracked Sea, Arika¡¯s Blemish, The Lake, anything and everything seemed to describe the new azure seaside, it was a truly magnificent mixture of dark blues and greens. And Arascus turned back around to Elassa. She could not be like this in Igos, he had to wake her up, and she had to be told about what happened in Arcadia too. ¡°Are you alive?¡± Arascus asked, Elassa remained sitting there, unmoving. Arascus moved his hand and snapped his fingers in front of the woman¡¯s eyes. That shook Elassa awake. ¡°You¡¯re not going to kill me?¡± She asked and Arascus allowed himself a moment of fleeting victory. It would be this much easier to work Elassa if she thought the man was being merciful. ¡°How many of the old breed are left?¡± Arascus asked, he sighed softly, his hard eyes matching Elassa¡¯s blue. ¡°And more than that, how many are Worldbreaking breed?¡± Elassa sniffed in mirthless humour at that, she didn¡¯t sit up though, instead almost collapsing further to lean on her knees. ¡°I just showed what Worldbreaking breed does.¡± Elassa said. ¡°How many species did I just make extinct?¡± Arascus noticed the sad tone, Elassa had never had too much of a problem with killing. She had never been an Anassa, a Fer or a Kassandora, but likewise, she wasn¡¯t totally innocent either. Human experimentation for magic had only been stopped because of the Pantheon¡¯s decree on the separation of Divinity from mortals, and that decree had been made to stop Divines from usurping governments. Its effect on the magical world had not even been considered. Yet the Archivist of Arda was sad. Arascus did not even bother asking Elassa on how many she just saved, he knew it wouldn¡¯t have an effect. Instead, he went down a different route. ¡°You wiped the slate the clean for new ones to take their place.¡± ¡°In an unnatural manner Arascus.¡± Elassa said. And the God of Pride shook his head. ¡°No Elassa. When wolves hunt foxes out of a forest, is that unnatural too? Or when the wind carries a new species of vine across a valley? You sped up what was going to happen.¡± ¡°Continents don¡¯t crack themselves.¡± Elassa was more definite this time. ¡°Yet volcanoes explode.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Do you cry for the life lost in Worldbreaking too?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t exist before Worldbreaking.¡± Elassa said. ¡°The question stands Elassa, do you cry for the mammoth and the sabretooth?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Elassa admitted. ¡°The world changed.¡± ¡°Just as it did a week ago.¡± Arascus said. ¡°No Arascus, the world did not change, I changed the world. I did it Arascus.¡± Elassa got louder now. Arascus maintained his posture and kept his eyes fixed onto hers, but he had to bury his smile deep. There we go, Elassa did indeed have some life in her, her voice increased in pitch as Arascus¡¯ assistants in the plane backed away from the Goddess of Magic. ¡°I did it! I cracked a continent! There is no justifiable reason for it! Kassandora could have plinked away at the Jungle as she was doing and it would have been the same thing! Yet I did it! Do you understand? I cracked a continent! I did it to prove it could be done! So many are dead for what? For me to prove my ego? Just because it had never been done before, so somehow had to do it eventually? Is that it!?¡± ¡°And can it be done?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°It can.¡± Elassa said with a sigh. ¡°It can and I proved it can.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°So what do you feel bad for?¡± Arascus asked and Elassa gave an exasperated sigh. Her head dropped down and she stared at the floor. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The Goddess said, her dark hair swaying with her. ¡°I just don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Judgement?¡± Arascus already knew that Elassa didn¡¯t want that. Yet he didn¡¯t know if the woman realised it herself. ¡°From who?¡± ¡°Well it won¡¯t be from mortals, will it?¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± Elassa said, she looked up. Those blue eyes wordlessly begged Arascus for reprieve from what she was feeling. ¡°From one of us.¡± She said after a pause. ¡°From one of us.¡± Arascus sat up straighter to get even more height on her. On a normal day, he would dwarf the woman but right now, he towered over the Goddess like a mountain. ¡°From one of us Elassa?¡± He asked her. ¡°Which one? From Kassandora? Who thought up of Continent Cracking in the first place? And who has led so many wars that her death count can be measured in how many times she killed the entirety of mankind over? Or Neneria? Who enslaves souls into her Legion? Who is in Arika right now to ensnare millions to serve forever?¡± Elassa¡¯s pained expression shattered. Those blue eyes started to sparkle. Arascus knew exactly what he was doing. ¡°Or Baalka? You may have killed more as a raw number, but that is only because this age is so populous. How many times have you cut the population in half? How many nations have you depopulated? What about Fer and Anassa? Are they any better than you? We¡¯re blessed that Beasthood and Sorcery can¡¯t crack continents, else this world would have been torn in half long ago Elassa.¡± A tear streamed down Elassa¡¯s eye. ¡°Let¡¯s not pretend it¡¯s just my family either Elassa. Your Pantheon too. Iniri in the past was the most feared Goddess of us all. People would clamour for Neneria to appear in order to scare Iniri away. What about Kavaa? Goddess of Health, she is so lovely that her favourite has become Kassandora. How many minds have been broken for eternity due to Kavaa¡¯s healing? How many families are stuck with empty husks that breath yet can¡¯t think because Kavaa laid her hands on them? Do you think your quick deaths are worse than that?¡± ¡°What about Maisara? Who reduces humanity to mere ants. Who would micromanage people for sheer efficiency and nothing else? Fortia? Proud Fortia who thinks herself the Goddess of the World¡¯s desire? Does Fortia believe that taboos stand in the way of Peace? Do you think she looks at Continent Cracking in horror? Or do you think she just sees it as an opportunity to rid the Pantheon of someone who could be a competitor?¡± And Elassa sniffled in a terrible awe. ¡°Or maybe Allasaria. Can the Goddess of Light judge you? The Goddess of Light responsible for how many great purges? How many blemishes have been brought to the light to be cleansed? Or maybe me Elassa? Can I, the God of Pride, judge you? The man who started the Great War? And for what? I¡¯ve bathed Arda in a century of flames because I know I can run the world better than any of you. That¡¯s why. And I¡¯ll do it again. I¡¯ll keep doing it until someone kills me or I win.¡± Elassa pulled her legs up to her knees as Arascus delivered the final blow. ¡°No Elassa. With the amount of power you possess, your foundation as Worldbreaking breed and the way the Pantheon has treated you for the past millennium, there is none who can judge you. The fact that all that is happened is only a continent has been cracked and the world hasn¡¯t been shattered makes you downright admirable.¡± He let the silence stretch on as Elassa tried to hide her face in her knees. Those blue eyes didn¡¯t cry, but they stared up at Arascus as Elassa seemed to cower on the leather couch. The plane¡¯s windows behind her revealed only a blue sky and bluer sea. ¡°Then why do I feel bad?¡± She asked. Arascus did not even lie, he replied as though stating a simple matter of fact. ¡°Because you can¡¯t do it.¡± And Elassa got angry. Arascus stared her down, her eyes escaped to the floor after a few tense moments of silence so heavy it may as well have brought the entire plane down. ¡°I did do it though.¡± Elassa said it to the empty air, not to anyone in particular. ¡°And look at how it¡¯s destroying you.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Imagine if Kassandora had your power. Maisara or Fortia or Fer. We both know if it was any of them, then continent cracking would just be the start of the week.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Elassa trailed off. ¡°If you feel about this, then why do you not feel bad about magical experimentation on humans?¡± Arascus asked and the woman sat there. She had no answer. Those blue eyes simply blinked at Arascus. ¡°Between us, there is nothing I can judge you for and frankly, I simply have one thing to say.¡± ¡°What?¡± Some people were beggars disguised as kings. They had everything the world could give, and they had no one to share it with. Kassandora had been like this. Yet some people were mighty fortresses built on rotten land. It wasn¡¯t enough to simply tear down the structure, the entire landscape had to be bathed and cracked by fire to drain the swamps. That was Elassa, a beautiful, awe-inspiring palace, in an untouchable plague-ridden swamp. Arascus struck the glaring crack in the walls. ¡°You¡¯re not special.¡± And Elassa shattered. She burst into tears. She cried like that for at least an hour as the plane slowly soared over Arika¡¯s pristine new ocean. Arascus¡¯ assistants all disappeared into the other compartments on the plane, and none dared show their faces to interrupt the God as tears streamed down Elassa¡¯s face. She cried uncontrollably. Arascus let her cry her tears out. He had seen other Goddesses do it, he knew it would help her. And eventually, Elassa ran out of tears. She sniffled, she wiped her nose, she shook. Her cheeks were crimson, her eyes were bloodshot. She was sweating and Arascus could practically feel the warmth coming off her in waves, as if she had just ran a marathon. The God stood up, went to the plane¡¯s bar and got a small towel. He wet it with water and brought it to Elassa. ¡°Thank you.¡± She said quietly as she started to wipe her face. ¡°It is what it is.¡± Arascus said. The woman, even if she had not been destroyed entirely, had let her defences down enough. Kassandora had prepared her already, as did Anassa and Fer, by spending time with her and letting the woman enjoy herself. Even if Elassa had been a prisoner, Arascus was sure that she had a better time over the past few months since her capture than she had in a thousand years of dealing with Fortia¡¯s and Maisara¡¯s and Allasaria¡¯s scheming in the Pantheon. ¡°I have one thing to inform you of, I think you need to know it.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Elassa¡¯s whimpered. Fondness, guilt, catharsis and now one last thing to prime Elassa. ¡°You should read this.¡± Arascus leaned down and pulled out one of the suitcases he had brought onto the train. He unclicked open the little bronze hatches and out came one of Helenna¡¯s reports. ¡°It¡¯s Helenna¡¯s spies, she wrote it, but it¡¯s real.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be meaningless if it¡¯s fake and I¡¯m not going to bind you anyway.¡± Arascus replied quickly. ¡°So read it and change your mind later if you think it¡¯s fake.¡± Arascus passed the woman the report on Allasaria going to Arcadia. Arascus made sure to watch Elassa¡¯s face for any reaction or any sense of a tell on what she thinking. They skittered over the paper quickly, moving from side to side as her vision devoured the lines on the page. This woman truly was the Archivist of Arda, Arascus had always considered himself to be a fast reader, but when compared to Elassa¡­ She swallowed all the information on the piece of paper in maybe a dozen seconds. And Helenna¡¯s writing was not the easiest to read either. That woman¡¯s prose was tinged purple all the way through. She finished and looked at Arascus. Frankly, even he did not know it would have caused such a reaction. He had expected rage and annoyance, but not this cold and utterly resolute anger which promised to kill. ¡°This is true?¡± Elassa asked flatly. ¡°This is true.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Elassa asked and Arascus raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why what?¡± He knew he caught her, hook, line and sinker. ¡°Why does Allasaria think she can do this?¡± Elassa did not blink, did not scream, did not even raise her tone. Yet beneath that stern exterior, Arascus could see her eyes begin to start sparkling again, and she had to blink her tears away. ¡°Arcadia will be no more.¡± Arascus began and Elassa raised her hand to interrupt him. ¡°I know what you¡¯re going to say. And the answer is Yes, save us both the time and don¡¯t treat me like a fool.¡± Arascus innocently raised an eyebrow. And this is how the Goddess of Magic was caught, he only needed to show her the correct style of thinking, and suddenly she was coming to the conclusions without even needing to be asked. He opened his mouth and Elassa interrupted him again. ¡°You¡¯re going to say Arcadia won¡¯t be able to survive without external funding.¡± Elassa said. ¡°And then you¡¯re going to offer support in exchange for me assisting you in this war. Being kicked out, I can understand. This though, Maisara and Fortia have both done far worse and they never had to deal with such a humiliation.¡± Elassa took a deep breath. ¡°The answer, as I said, is yes. I would have stayed neutral if this didn¡¯t happen.¡± Arascus didn¡¯t bother to hide the smile, Elassa no doubt thought he was happy, he was to an extent, but he was also laughing at the farce of that statement. He wouldn¡¯t be able to recruit her? Just what reality was Elassa living in? He held out his hand. Elassa took it. They shook. ¡°Don¡¯t make me regret this.¡± The Goddess warned. Arascus said nothing, after all, who would ever regret joining him? Chapter 287 – To Bring On The Forever-Draft Douglas smoked a quarter of the cigarette in one drag as he sat on a next to Erik. The two pilots of Raptor sat and watched as Kassandora stalked the airfield. She had passed them, they had saluted, she returned the salute, and then continued. And that was perfect, because now they were watching the woman tear into some of the officers. The pilots themselves had been told off, called braindead, called utterly cretinous and told to pull a million. They had all collapse after some five dozen push-ups, much less a million. Yet the exertion had wiped their sin, whatever it, Douglas was too far away to hear, away. It must have been some logistical issue though, as now the officers and command crew of third squad were getting told off. ¡°What do you think of Draft-Keeper?¡± Erik asked, Kassandora had just finished explaining the newest plan: ¡®Operation Draft-Keeper¡¯. All of KAF was on high alert, and every plane was being transferred to the westernmost airfields in the country. Alcohol had been prohibited, sleep was mandated and not a single member of the air-force was allowed so much as even thinking of leaving the base. Douglas took another large drag of the cigarette. Frankly, how was a man not supposed to smoke in this line of work? He ran his fingers across his camera and finished the cigarette as Kassandora huffed angrily and dismissed the soldiers before her. ¡°How much for a picture?¡± He asked. ¡°What?¡± Erik answered in stunned shock. ¡°How much for a picture of Kassandora?¡± ¡°A proper one, not from here?¡± Erik asked. ¡°A proper one, I¡¯ll ask her.¡± ¡°Two hundred.¡± Erik said immediately. ¡°Three.¡± That was a good chunk of cash, especially here where there was nothing to spend it on. ¡°Done.¡± ¡°WHY!¡± Neneria once again as Fer shouted from ahead. ¡°ARE!¡± And she took another pause. ¡°YOU!¡± And another. ¡°SO!¡± Neneria looked at her sister with the flattest glare she could conjure up, it wasn¡¯t even difficult to accomplish, it was Death¡¯s usual neutral expression. ¡°SLOW?!¡± Fer finished the shout with such exasperation that Neneria was honestly stunned as to how the woman could be so loud and yet so tired at the same time. ¡°Because I am.¡± Neneria said. She was riding on ghastly Pegaz, her horse that had been pulled into the Legion several millennia ago. It had simply died, killed by the malaise of age supported by the wounds of disease, so the creature looked just as it did when it was still alive. The horses wings were folded down as if they were a giant battledress for the mount, to allow for Neneria to sit so that both of her legs swung off the same side of the animal. It silently trotted on the ground, its hooves not even dislodging the dark ground and grey mud as it wandered onwards. ¡°What a stupid answer.¡± Fer said as she took another dozen steps. The women simply moved too quickly, if she kept at Neneria¡¯s steady pace, then she could keep on walking. But no, Fer had to run, Fer had to be difficult. The Goddess of Beasthood stopped, sniffed the air, and looked up. A gust of wind blowing in from the seaside cast her great mane of golden locks to the side. Fer stood straight as she inspected the landscape, still sniffing. Neneria looked around, from above, the world had here been only an ugly mass of grey and brown and black dirt, as if the giants who had painted these landscapes simply created a baseline of colours by spilling their starting materials out onto the paper, and then abandoned it mid-project. But down here, there was actually a surprising amount of colour, every few steps, a new gleam of some coloured plastic or painted metal would catch Neneria¡¯s eye. Shards of shattered glass reflected the setting Sun like twinkling snowflakes and metal that had been washed to perfection by the sheer force of the wave lay scattered about the ground. ¡°Stupid question, stupid answer.¡± Neneria finally thought of something to reply to Fer with. Her younger, albeit taller, sister turned to Neneria and raised an unimpressed eyebrow. ¡°Really?¡± Fer asked. ¡°What really?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the best you can come up with?¡± Neneria sighed and shook her head from side to side. She was the Goddess of Death, why did she need to humiliate herself with these stupid word-games? They were for children! And she wasn¡¯t some child! ¡°I have other ways of making people stay quiet.¡± Neneria said coldly. ¡°Even on me?¡± Fer cooed like a kitten, those great vulpine eyes of hers got large as the colour almost devoured the whites. ¡°I just ignore you.¡± Neneria said and Fer chuckled to herself. ¡°We both know that doesn¡¯t happen.¡± Fer said as she sniffed and looked up at the air again. ¡°Look!¡± She pointed and Neneria turned her head, ready to call upon her spectral soldier the moment she saw any sense of danger. There was none though. Fer had not spotted anything important, she was merely pointing up at a giant white eagle, it¡¯s wings black. ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to see one of those.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve not seen them?¡± Neneria asked. When Fer had said that she spent a whole millennia in the eastern tundra, Neneria had expected¡­ Well, she had expected exaggeration. Even she herself got board of a spot after a while, and Death could be a patient Goddess indeed. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Never.¡± Fer said. ¡°Not once. Look at it though.¡± Neneria turned her eyes away from her sister and towards the bird once again. That was impressive? It was just a bird at the end of the day, but maybe Fer saw some beauty in it that Neneria could not. Suddenly, out of nowhere, with no warning, with no charge-up, without so much as even a gust of wind, Anassa stepped into Neneria¡¯s field of vision. Or appeared rather. ¡°I¡¯ve scouted out the immediate area.¡± Anassa said as a dozen more Anassa¡¯s appeared nearby, they looked to the first Anassa, then blinked out of existence. And the Goddess of Sorcery did not even give them a look of acknowledgement. ¡°There were some looters in the city ruins. Or raiders. Or treasure hunters.¡± Anassa¡¯s voice got progressively more annoyed. ¡°Or survivors. Or rescuers.¡± She listed off the options one by one. ¡°You don¡¯t know what they were.¡± Fer corrected Anassa from up ahead. ¡°I know what they are now though.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Dead.¡± Neneria closed her eyes and tried to feel the new souls. At this distance, she should be able to pick them out individually even if there were tens of thousands, instead, all she felt was just a mass communion of the lost. The ones closest to her noticed her and Pegaz, but none of them gave any reaction, they simply drifted in the wind like thin, weightless strings being whisked off in the wind, or sat on the ground in pools of dark-grey-green depression. ¡°On the topic of dead.¡± Fer said. ¡°How many can you feel Nene?¡± She cooed from ahead, jumping in the mud from side to side. Anassa disappeared from Fer¡¯s side and next to Neneria¡¯s to avoid getting hit by the drops of mud. ¡°I¡­¡± Neneria said. She looked around and refocused her eyes. Long ago, it was difficult to see past the green mists of mass souls, now though, she had simply figured out how to see through them. ¡°There¡¯s a lot.¡± Too many to count, above fifty-thousand, she could feel them all individually, but they crowded into her senses. Her ears buzzed with the low drone of ghosts, her eyes saw the mixture that obscured the ground and horizon in the distance. ¡°Too many to count?¡± Fer asked, the Goddess of Beasthood started cresting a hill. Neneria and Anassa followed on. ¡°Too many.¡± Neneria confirmed. She didn¡¯t say anything else, there was no need to. Frankly, Neneria didn¡¯t even want to talk, the overwhelming feeling of death, like a thousand tiny different landslides trying to wash her away, was coming in from all sides. Pegaz slowly trotted up the hill and Fer reached the top and whistled at what she saw. Neneria¡¯s breath caught as she crested the hill. Fer and Anassa both turned to see the blood drain from the cheeks of the Goddess of Death. Skin usually pale became a perfectly cleansed ivory. Fer¡¯s eyes widened, her ears jumped, her tail swished from side to side as Anassa turned to look at the landscape. Both turned to the landscape, but looked to Neneria, both looked at the ruined city once again. ¡°Am I supposed to see something?¡± Anassa asked. Neneria blinked as she tried to look through ghosts on the ground. Neneria had seen battlefields before. She had wandered through the middle of mass graves, through church yards that housed hundreds, if not thousands of dead. She had been through cities that Olephia had annihilated. She had heard the tears of family who could no longer acknowledge their regrets. Phantoms had begged her to be driven away, so that they wouldn¡¯t have to see those they loved anymore. Rage-fuelled ghosts, intent on harm and revenge, were a common sight. If there was one Divine on this world that should not be surprised by suffering and sadness, by the crying tears of those who had been lost, it should be Neneria. Yet all Neneria saw was a mass of dark-green. A formless drop of ethereal energies and ghosts that was the size of an entire city. It moved and breathed, as if it was a set of fortress-sized set of lungs and beating heart which had been dislodged from a body. And without any ground blocking them, Neneria felt the power. The sheer scale of it, it rushed over her like a scalding desert wind. Neneria wanted it to fling her hair back, to move her dress. She wanted Pegaz to suddenly go wild and start thrashing. She wanted¡­ She wanted acknowledgement. That it wasn¡¯t just her seeing this, she wanted someone else to witness cries of two million souls with her. Not to carry the load, not to help her, not to share the weight, but rather so that at least one other person would know exactly the sort of feeling Neneria felt when she had to clean up the damage of another Divine. Fer and Anassa, of course, did not see it. ¡°I see the foundations.¡± Fer said, pointing to a patch of ground. She turned, saw Neneria¡¯s expression, and looked back to ground. ¡°But I assume we¡¯re not shocked about that, are we?¡± Of course neither of them could see it the masses ahead of them. They weren¡¯t attuned to death in the same way Neneria was. ¡°Can you really not?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°I feel¡­¡± Fer said and lifted her arm up. The tiny golden hairs on her skin were stood up. ¡°Something.¡± She said. ¡°But what, I can¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°I feel cold.¡± Anassa said. ¡°But that''s it, as if this area doesn¡¯t want me to go further.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not.¡± Neneria took charge of the group. Travel, combat, planning, cooking even, all of those were things that others excelled in. Yet this demesne of death was hers and hers alone. Anassa turned to look at Neneria, opened her mouth and Fer yawned loudly to interrupt her sister. ¡°We¡¯re not going further.¡± Fer said. ¡°If Nene says no, then no.¡± ¡°Since when did you get so nice?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°I trust Nene.¡± Fer said, she cast her arm straight ahead of her, once again bringing attention to the hairs that were stood on ends. ¡°And I trust myself.¡± Anassa looked from Fer¡¯s arm to the ruined city which had been washed away. Neneria could not see it, she just stared at that malignant ethereal tumour of bodies which had settled in its place. ¡°I¡¯m not going to argue with two of you.¡± Anassa said and took a step back. ¡°I assume you can see them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more than I expected.¡± Neneria whispered quietly. She took a heavy sigh and Pegaz started to drift downwards, his hooves and then legs disappearing into the mud. Neneria¡¯s boots touched the soil and she straightened as the ethereal animal underneath her disappeared, recalled into her heart. ¡°But¡­¡± Neneria looked to her sisters. ¡°Nothing actually.¡± She didn¡¯t even know what she was going to say, it was just another job at the end of the day. A big one, she would feel good when it was done. ¡°Are we going closer?¡± ¡°We¡¯re staying here.¡± Neneria said. ¡°This is a good vantage point.¡± She looked further along the coast, her eyes reached the next town over, there was more there too. The entire beach was filled with souls, what had they been doing? Did they simply go outside to watch the wave because there had been no hope of survival? Neneria¡¯s dark heart opened up and green lightning cracked from her eyes and in between her fingers. That¡¯s how she knew it would hurt, small amounts were easy to contain, when it started to spill out, it would be difficult. ¡°You may want to step away.¡± Neneria gave her sisters one last warning. And two million souls from all around the countryside began their slow march to Neneria, enthralled by Death¡¯s call. A funeral procession to a conscription office. A draft for eternity. Chapter 288 – How The Tide Turns Maisara, Allasaria, Irinika, Malam, Helenna and Fortia and even Fer will all profess to know how society should be structured. Who at the end of the day is correct? Do we take Order¡¯s bastions of productivity? Where every home is a foundry and every smile is a waste? Peace¡¯s militarized vigilance, with a permanent crusade against the shadow of war? Light and Darkness¡¯ utterly monopolistic devotions, where the entire nation is united in its worship of their Goddess? What about the grand irony of Beasthood¡¯s civilized anticivilization? Hatred¡¯s pragmatism manipulates everyone to be best of what they are and Love¡¯s endless tragedy descends into impulsive barbarism. Looking at it, one can almost fall into nihilism. The moment any of these deities gain total control, they will revolutionize the world for the worse. It is because they are children. Each of them is infected with a childish pride, an unbending mold that constrains their specific ideals. What fits into the mold can stay, what does not is simply discarded, what a grand idea, if only the molds they were using weren¡¯t the size of a fingernail. There is only one difference between the other Divines and myself. They proclaim allegiance for their grandiose ideals, unable to see that they are in fact enforcing their own mentalities onto the world. I work for myself, I am here to rule because my personal pride will be inevitably better than the heartless ideals that can only communicate through spokespersons. I am here to make sure that Divinity does not crack the world apart. I am here to make sure that Divinity does not drive itself extinct through its own victory. I am here to do a great amount of things, but there is one thing I have never and will never proclaim to do. I am not here to enforce utopia. - Excerpt from Arascus¡¯ Private Writings. Arascus turned and looked out the window as he felt the plane start to turn. Elassa¡¯s azure sea had finally given way to the endless ash of Starfall. The world below them may as well have been some barren planet. The skies were tinged with spotty black clouds of dirt and the ground was tableclothed with a sheet of wasteland. Greys and blacks and browns and pale whites formlessly splattered across the ground as the Sun started to hide behind the western horizon and the dark purples of oncoming night scattered stars from the east. And towards the south, like a mountain constructed of a thousand different lights, lay the city of Igos. Ausa¡¯s capital, the ash had been cleaned off and the city proudly waved its defiant flags. An ocean so dark it was almost black, endless ash before it. That ocean carried the Ausan Navy that had been built for the Reclamation War, now the ships were lined up in parade, as they prepared for one final parade. The cities grand Firewall, built centuries ago to protect it against the oncoming Jungle, had donned green and blue cloth. The ground within it had been cleared and for maybe the first time in the country¡¯s history, the population was allowed to safely stroll along it since there was no Jungle to be called into anymore. Arascus tuned back to Elassa, the Goddess sat there, arms crossed, foot tapping, everyone now and then she would look to Helenna¡¯s report. And every now and then, her mouth would twist into an uncontrolled scowl. The God of Pride watched her for a moment longer, she was furious beyond belief, that much was obvious. Those blue eyes burned with an intensity matched only by the frustration in the woman¡¯s expression. All Divines were jealous of their demesne yet as the woman sat there, there was only one comparison Arascus could make. Sitting there, Elassa looked like a carbon copy of Neneria, the Goddess of Death was just as touchy as when someone even mentioned her demesne, much less actually tried to usurp it from her. He understood, to an extent. Arcadia was the woman¡¯s first and last College of Magic. It had been established before all the other ones, it had outlasted all of them, and now Allasaria had split more than half the mages from it. Everyday that went by, more and more were leaving. Yet if Elassa went, they both knew she would not be able to stem the flow. Her appearance there would only, in fact, make things worse. The Goddess had no backing anymore, nor had she ever been much good at securing funding for her people. Allasaria, for all her failings, knew how to manage. Arcadia had everything provided for it from White Pantheon coffers, the college could not even talk of dissent. It wasn¡¯t that the cost of leaving the White Pantheon¡¯s pull would be too great to bare, it was that if Arcadia left, then Arcadia would cease to exist. ¡°You should get changed.¡± Arascus said. Elassa narrowed her eyes and looked up at him. ¡°Excuse me?¡± She asked. ¡°You should get changed.¡± Arascus repeated. ¡°There¡¯s a uniform for you in the back.¡± ¡°You have a uniform for me already?¡± Elassa said, she didn¡¯t move and Arascus noticed the combative shift in posture. ¡°Did you think I was going to join you?¡± ¡°I predicted it.¡± Arascus said flatly. ¡°We have an image to maintain. Today, it will come out that the Goddess of Magic has switched sides.¡± He looked at Elassa again; magician, noble, pretentious, magician, Divine, stubborn, argumentative, just downright terrible, arrogant in her demesne yet sympathetic out of it, a woman who wanted to be liked yet also liked the vanity that her title gave her. A need for relevance, just like Neneria. A fear of being made obsolete just as she had done to Iniri. Nothing like Kassandora, who hid herself behind an untouchable persona that needed to be cracked open before Arascus realised what he was dealing with, Elassa was an open book. Magician. So she wasn¡¯t difficult at all. ¡°Blue doesn¡¯t suit you.¡± Elassa blinked, her mouth dropped open, she looked down at herself. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Blue doesn¡¯t suit me either.¡± Arascus said. ¡°So we don¡¯t wear blue.¡± ¡°Blue is the colour of mana, I¡¯ve always worn blue.¡± Elassa said. ¡°And silver is the colour of my blades yet I don¡¯t wear silver.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We¡¯re not the Pantheon, we¡¯re a professional organisation Elassa. Funnily enough, the dress code is one of the few things we don¡¯t compromise on.¡± Elassa burst out in laughter. ¡°Are you actually going to make a big deal out of clothes?¡± She asked. ¡°What? Are you going to say I can¡¯t ally with you just because I wear this?¡± She picked at her battledress. ¡°If Kassandora could, she would throw a shirt over herself like a slob. Fer would prance around naked. We¡¯re not farming ravens either so that Neneria can half spare feather cloaks, and Anassa pushes the line with how she dresses. If the rule is broken for you Elassa, it will be broken for everyone else.¡± Arascus maintained his gaze on the Goddess. ¡°And frankly, it¡¯s a good design.¡± Elassa rolled her eyes and stood up with a sigh. ¡°Back there?¡± She pointed to a small door, small for Arascus, huge for mortals, in the rear of this part of the cabin. ¡°Back there, on the left.¡± Arascus said as Elassa walked off. The uniform served two purposes, firstly, it was a test. Some Divines had utterly refused to wear the Imperial suits in the past, those had been kept out of all positions of power and reserved to the front line. If one¡¯s need to own their self-expression was so great that they would refuse it, then how could be trusted to sacrifice anything more important? At the end of the day, Elassa had been correct, it was simply clothes at the end of the day. And secondly, it would send a message to Allasaria and the White Pantheon: This was not an Elassa in Arcadian Blue who was teetering towards Arascus and could still be salvaged, this was an Elassa who donned the Imperial Black openly. An Elassa had switched sides without reservation, there was no point even attempt to win her back. Elassa returned just as the plane started to tilt downwards. She stood there, looking at Arascus, in her new look, her blue dress folded in her hand. Tall black boots, a black suit, a coat she hung around her shoulders, a black hat to match her cap. The symbol of Worldbreaking, three lightning bolts cracking a circle apart, was emblazoned in silver on her cap and on her belt. She stared at Arascus. ¡°Coat¡¯s too big for, don¡¯t tell me I have to put the sleeves in.¡± Arascus contained his smile. ¡°We¡¯re not that tyrannical here. You look good though.¡± She shook her head at the compliment and gently put her blue dress down on the seat. Let the woman think she scored a victory keeping the coat as a cape around her shoulders. It was only clothes at the end of day. ¡°Helenna made this, didn¡¯t she?¡± Elassa said as she stood over Arascus. ¡°She had it designed for Kass. We just adapted the style for everyone.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s it? No input from you?¡± Elassa asked and Arascus shrugged. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Can I sew?¡± He made sure his tone was general and not directed at Elassa in specifically. Not sarcastic, just self-aware. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t surprise me.¡± Elassa said and Arascus cracked a smile. ¡°I¡¯m sure I¡¯m the best at it.¡± He said, full of confidence so vain it was almost parody. ¡°But I¡¯ve never tried.¡± Elassa looked at him, her lips curled upwards after a moment and she chuckled. ¡°How funny.¡± Her flat tone failed to hide the fact she found the humour in it. ¡°Some of us manage clothes, some of us manage magic.¡± Arascus said. ¡°If you want, you can ask Helenna to switch with you.¡± Elassa chuckled at the joke again as the planes wheels gently touched the ground. Arascus looked through the window again. Arascus couldn¡¯t hear them from here, but a line of police were stood and making sure that the cheering crowd would not get into the wheels of the runway. The flag of Ausa, a the white dot separated on a bicolour of blue on the bottom and green on the top, was being waved by every second person. Arascus¡¯ red-white-black tricolour was waved by every third. Arascus supposed there would be some people loyal to him here, it was his daughters that stopped the Jungle after-all, but it always surprised when he saw obvious mistakes like this. He wouldn¡¯t allow foreign flags to be flown in what once was Kirinyaa, no matter if they were allies or enemies. The plane came to a stop and a set of humungous stairs was rolled onto the door. Elassa stood up and followed Arascus out. He thought of letting her go first, it would no doubt make her feel good. At the end of the day though, having someone march to signal his arrival, even if it was the Worldbreaker herself, simply wasn¡¯t his style. The door slid open and Arascus stepped out in the steps. Above, the sky was magnificent pinks and purples and dark blues, the stars were coming out. The city should have been asleep, but Igos was in a state of frenzy, the howling winds were dried out by the songs coming from the distance and the mad cheers of the populations. They cheered for Arascus, they cheered again for Elassa. A mortal, a new-breed Divine, Arascus would have explained how to act for. Not an old-breed who survived Worldbreaking though. He didn¡¯t have to turn around to know that the most Elassa would do is raise a hand in acknowledge or maybe tilt the corners of her lips into a smile. And at the bottom of the staircase, surrounded by police in heavy riot gear, was Premier-General Abakwa. Ruler of Ausa, tall and dark, he looked invigorated compared to the last time Arascus had seen him, as if the man had suddenly gotten ten years younger. He wore a dark-green uniform that looked to be copied from Arascus¡¯ style. The God of Pride smiled at that similarity, imitation was the highest form of flattery after all. ¡°Apologies for the lateness.¡± Arascus said. ¡°We had an issue getting some papers in order.¡± It was largely because Helenna had accidently flown to KAFAF-Two instead KAFAF-One. ¡°I¡¯ve brought the Goddess responsible for the mess around you.¡± Abakwa burst out laughing at that. Some of the politicians by his side, Arascus recognized a few from when he stayed in Igos with Olephia, took the joke just as well as the Premier General did. A little bit of ash to clean for getting rid of the Jungle after all? Could that even be considered a price to pay? Elassa finally made it all the way down as Arascus¡¯ assistants started to venture down, each one with a suitcase that was filled with papers. Officially, Arascus and Elassa had been invited to be the guests of honour for Ausa¡¯s celebration of the Jungle¡¯s demise. Unofficially, whether Abakwa wanted to or not, Arascus had issues to discuss with him. Elassa stood there in silence for a moment, she looked to Arascus, she looked to Abakwa, she looked back to Arascus. Arascus sighed, he should have expected it from her frankly. She was a magician after all. ¡°This is Elassa.¡± He introduced. ¡°Goddess of Magic, her titles are many but modesty is in short supplies these days so we shall stick with one: Worldbreaker.¡± Elassa smiled at that and the whole small crowd of Ausa¡¯s leadership looked impressed. Honestly, it was because Elassa¡¯s other titles held little meaning for most mortals. The Archivist of Arda, Caretaker of Magic and so on did not inspire in the same way Worldbreaker did. Elassa must have noticed it too, because she gave Arascus a tiny nod of thanks and a smile at the awe the Goddess suddenly inspired. A gust of wind swayed Arascus¡¯ coat. ¡°I assume we¡¯re not here to talk on the runway.¡± ¡°Ah yes.¡± Abakwa quickly caught himself. ¡°There¡¯s a lot planned for this evening, and I would like to¡­¡± He trailed off, almost nervously. ¡°Interviews with the news, a ball too, we hope that it does not disappoint. We are awed by your attendance of course.¡± ¡°Do you want to set off then?¡± Arascus asked. The man wanted something, that much was obvious. He had talked with Abakwa before, and Abakwa had been the sort to be to the point. ¡°Of course.¡± Abakwa said at a deliberately brisk pace. ¡°You look like you have something to say.¡± If Abakwa was struggling to be blunt, then Arascus would be blunt for him. The human looked up at Arascus, then made a slight tilt to the crowd behind him. Arascus understood immediately. He turned to the Goddess of Magic who had caught up on the other side of Arascus, they were walking to a series of parked buses and helicopters, all painted in the governmental greys that Ausa used. ¡°Ela.¡± Immediately, Elassa¡¯s face soured. ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± Now was not that a time argue about nicknames. ¡°Elassa.¡± Arascus acquiesced. ¡°You should actually introduce yourself.¡± ¡°You understand I¡¯m not a public speaker.¡± Elassa said flatly. ¡°I¡¯ll do the speaking then, fly into the air show off.¡± ¡°How?¡± Arascus took another step with sigh. ¡°Imagine there¡¯s a horde of children and entertain them.¡± Arascus said with a stop and turn. Elassa was shaking her head as if she didn¡¯t agree, but the smile betrayed what she was really thinking. Well? What he said hadn¡¯t been wrong! That was the best way to entertain mortals! ¡°Would you like to see the Worldbreaker¡¯s prowess?¡± He asked no one in particular, but loudly enough for the civilians in the back to hear. No doubt the politicians would have felt dirty to admit that they did, but crowds had a way of getting the truth out of people. A giant ¡°YES!¡± rolled over the runway. Arascus turned to Elassa and the woman sighed, shaking her head. But she lifted off the ground. She went higher and higher and Arascus brushed Abakwa with his knee. The two started to take steps back. They were noticed by Abakwa¡¯s assistants, but with no one moving, no one had the gall to step towards the men. Elassa got to the height of the third story and spread her arms out. ¡°Thank you for this.¡± Abakwa said. Lightning struck down from the sky and onto Elassa. ¡°It¡¯s a good skill you should learn.¡± Arascus said as he watched Elassa¡¯s lightning curl around the Goddess and into a ball. The crowd went silent in awe. ¡°How to make diversions like this.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Abakwa said. The ball of lightning exploded around Elassa like a spiderweb of electricity. ¡°There¡¯ll be a discussion today, on the future of Arika. You¡¯re invited.¡± Arascus smiled, of course he would be. ¡°I expected there to be one.¡± Arascus said. That electric cobweb hardened, the light from it grew dark as winds rushed up to Elassa. ¡°Ausa is split half-half, but they¡¯ll go where I want tell them to.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°I saw what happened in Kirinyaa.¡± That lightning exploded once again, but then it dissipated, leaving only strands of water in its place. ¡°What did happen in Kirinyaa?¡± Arascus asked. The water formed great lines over Elassa. ¡°Let¡¯s not joke ourselves.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°Your army couped the country.¡± Those great lines of liquid stretched into a single thin sheet. ¡°Maybe so.¡± Arascus said lightly, maybe he had underestimated this man. A herd of horses, all made of pale water, rushed out of that liquid sheet. ¡°What are you going to do about it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to do nothing.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°I simply see the way the tide is turning.¡± The horses set alight in flames. ¡°Oh?¡± Arascus said. The burning animals evaporated, leaving only beasts of fire. ¡°We¡¯re thankful for Elassa killing the Jungle of course, but I¡¯ll be straight with you, it has created a problem for Ausa.¡± The beasts of fire roared with thunder as lightning shot out between their eyes. ¡°What is that?¡± Arascus asked. A hurricane of flame swallowed a great blazing lion conjured up by Elassa. ¡°The discussion to be done today is dividing the terrain that Elassa opened up.¡± Arascus smiled as a blast of lightning shot upwards out of that hurricane. The Goddess of Magic was starting to enjoy herself, he could see it in how quickly the spells were beginning to flow into each other. ¡°Ausa has the least people, we have the least negotiating power.¡± ¡°You want me to vouch for you and allocate land to Ausa.¡± Arascus summed up what the man was going to say. The lightning curled as it went into the sky, and started to flow back down. Elassa was smiling in glee. ¡°I don¡¯t actually.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°I have a proposition, like I said, I see how the tide is turning.¡± That snake of lightning hit its own tail the electricity started to straighten out into a perfect circle. ¡°What¡¯s the proposition?¡± Arascus asked. The perfect circle set alight and expanded as it made a burning orange star in the sky above Igos. Abakwa took a deep breath as he gazed up at that burning star. ¡°Ausa has a lot of issues, the Jungle reduced us to thirteen cities, we¡¯re not a country, we¡¯re just a collection of city states that share a flag. We don¡¯t even have the same currencies.¡± Arascus smiled, the man wasn¡¯t trying to convince the God of Pride, he was trying to convince himself. ¡°There¡¯s no future for us here, five years from now, there won¡¯t be an Ausa, there¡¯ll be a series of irrelevant countries that follow whoever our largest neighbour will be. That¡¯s most likely you.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Arascus said. Elassa¡¯s star changed colour, from orange to a blinding white. The day returned to Igos. ¡°So you see the issue. But I want a promise.¡± ¡°Words are wind Abakwa. It won¡¯t mean anything even if I make one.¡± ¡°So be it.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°I don¡¯t care about rulership, but I don¡¯t want to go down in history as the man who sold this country out.¡± ¡°That depends on what you¡¯re trying to do.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I can¡¯t make any promises, you yourself have summed up the sorry situation.¡± ¡°This is my proposition then, and it¡¯s why you need to know before the conference.¡± ¡°Get on with it Abakwa.¡± Arascus said. Men who were so blunt usually were the worst at the intrigue, and it was precisely because of this behaviour. They couldn¡¯t hint at something, but they couldn¡¯t bring themselves to say it either. ¡°I want you to ensure Ausa gets the Lion¡¯s share of the land, I will vouch for the Imperial Province of Kirinyaa at the same time.¡± ¡°Why would anyone want to give land to a failing state?¡± Arascus asked. Abakwa did not seem offended at the bluntness. ¡°Already the other Premiers are doing dealings with our neighbours to secure their own support for independence. It won¡¯t be seen as giving land to Ausa.¡± Arascus smiled as he finally put everything together. Elassa¡¯s sun above started to blue a blazing blue as animals of flame rushed down to the ground again. The crowd made a collective gasp of awe. ¡°The Imperial Military won¡¯t conduct peace-keeping operations abroad. We¡¯re stretched enough as it is.¡± ¡°And if it¡¯s not abroad?¡± Abakwa asked hopefully. ¡°I have no clue what you mean by that.¡± Arascus replied and Abakwa sighed. ¡°Are you going to make me say it?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Elassa¡¯s sun burned out and night fell over Ausa again. ¡°I propose Ausa become an Imperial Province.¡± Chapter 289 – Scramble in Arika Those who see Kassandora describe warfare as an art, those who meet me ascribe the same term of ¡®art¡¯ to my skill at propagandizing. I am sure that it is meant differently, both of us operate so smoothly, so efficiently and so quickly that I am certain our skill is mistaken for grace. Yet whilst the logic is wrong, the statement is true. Both I and Kassandora are creating art here. In the same way an artist has to make a thousand tedious strokes before any trace of his vision is visible, in the same way that one wrong brush is a tremendous set-back, in the same way that those untalented in the art can only see the end-product and nothing that came before, we make art. And frankly, I would say that my hand is rather delicate and beautiful in its creation. Kassandora¡¯s is not, if Kassandora was to be an artist, she would paint with hammers and erase with cannons. That woman is simply incapable. - Malam¡¯s complaining to Helenna. Moods ebbed and flowed; it was simply the natural day-to-day tedium of emotion. Even Kassandora, stable as she was, would sometimes start to grumble and need a minute to calm herself down in order to get back to work. One thing that absolutely never changed was that the last thing she wanted to come across when she was building a new world was disturbance. And disturbance was exactly what came, Helenna opened the door and sauntered in. As if to rub it in, Malam¡¯s white hair peeked out from behind the doorway. The Goddess of Hatred followed Of Love, wearing that stupid smile which didn¡¯t slow Kassandora¡¯s already sullen mood down, it simply pushed it into a skydive. Kassandora looked past her feet on the table, she had been drunkenly humming to herself, her shirt was unbuttoned, her crimson hair was a mess, a dozen different telephones were scattered about her, those could go off at any moment to report that a plan had been finished, and she had a glass in her hands: whiskey, lemon, honey & warm water. Helenna stopped and looked around the room. Her eyebrow rose for a second, her hair changed to a pale yellow, probably surprise or some other stupid emotion like that, and she looked back at the Goddess of War. Kassandora knew exactly what it looked like, the office was a warzone of organisation. She wasn¡¯t leading a war in here, she was leading multiple. She wasn¡¯t a slob like Fer, who would simply not organize, but when the time called for it, the rules of cleanliness could be bent to make way for the march of efficiency. Helenna crossed her arms. Kassandora practically dared the woman to say something with her eyes: go on Helenna, criticize the mess why don¡¯t you? Helenna did not criticize the mess, Helenna criticized Kassandora. ¡°Great,¡± Helenna said flatly. ¡°Another alcoholic.¡± ¡°Shut up Helenna.¡± Malam said quickly and the Goddess of Love recoiled in surprise, but Kassandora did not care. Was it that flat ¡®Great¡¯? Maybe the ¡®Another¡¯? It certainly wasn¡¯t the accusation of being an alcoholic, Kassandora didn¡¯t particularly care what Helenna thought of her on a personal level as long as the woman didn¡¯t mind working with her. But that great wasn¡¯t disappointed, wasn¡¯t annoying, it was¡­ It was as if Helenna expected nothing more. The another was obvious, Helenna knew Malam well enough to know that the woman would drink a brewery dry in a day. But did Helenna actually compare the two? Kassandora sipped on whiskey as a treat. She did not down bottles to deal with her terrible demesne. Whatever it was, it set off a spark in Kassandora. And that spark burned through foundations to collapse a dam. Kassandora did not bother shouting, she simply explained to this little Goddess of Love exactly how annoying and out of her depth she actually was. ¡°Helenna, I am managing the creation of the Imperial Navy.¡± Kassandora sighed as she put her phone into her pocket. Arascus had just rung. Arascus had the fleet procured. Yet Ausa did not want to give sailors. He had pushed them enough to at least have volunteer crews, but most of the captains had not decided to stay now that the Reclamation War was over. ¡°Paper.¡± Kassandora said. One of the soldiers who had been conscripted to her office to join the secretary team immediately passed her a pile of loose sheets. Kassandora¡¯s pen got to work immediately. The fleet hierarchy could simply be a copy of Great War tactics for now, modernized, with the same structure of ranks as the Land Army. The only difference would be the name changes: Admirals instead of Generals and so on. And instead of brigades, it was individual ships. Instead of corps, it was groups of ships. Instead of armies, it was fleets. A real doctrine could be designed once Kassandora actually saw how the ships fared in combat. Kassandora continued as she sipped on her whiskey. She did not even bother trying to re-button her blouse. ¡°I¡¯m re-arming our fleet.¡± Kassandora looked at the diagram of the ANS Reclaimer. Ausan Navy Ship Reclaimer, although it was already set that it would be renamed to the INS Fortitude, short for Imperial Navy Ship. There was too little time to re-equip it with new guns, but that didn¡¯t mean the ship had to simply stay as a floating artillery platform. The old-style shells would be switched out for newer models of high-explosive napalm rounds. The rear of the ship, where it had a spot for a pair of transport helicopters would be reused. Surface-to-air Skysweepers would be strapped down there and some surface-to-air missile launchers, if those would fit. The smaller ships were the issue. They were pure-artillery wagons, nothing else, but if the UNN had an airforce, then sending these ships like this would be the equivalent of scrapping them on the spot. Half of the ships would be remodelled as hastily as possible. Their single-barrel cannons would not be taken out, they would be ripped off by sorcerer or expunged via welding torch, and in their place some mobile AA piece would be installed. It didn¡¯t have to be pretty, it didn¡¯t even have to be a long-term solution, it just needed to float long enough to make it to the UNN. Kassandora sipped her whiskey and tasted the sweet honey within it. The addition of slightly warm water had been a suggestion by one of the soldiers from before. If there was one thing soldiers were experts in, it was mixing drinks. ¡°I¡¯m building the Uriamel Wall.¡± A grand seawall pulled out of the ground by Iniri would have been good, but it would have confined the Goddess of Nature to remaining permanently stationed on the beaches of Kirinyaa for the next five years. Long story short, Iniri was much too useful to be wasted on building defences that may not even be used. Although Kassandora supposed that didn¡¯t matter, her speciality was exploiting the collective willpower of humanity after all. Her eyes rapidly scanned the design one last time. A bunker buried into a sand mound to hide it from the air, with dugouts for tanks and artillery. High-calibre cannons would be placed in solitary positions far from the coast, although not so far that they wouldn¡¯t be able to bombard the beach. The bunkers would have small barracks for evacuated civilians. Soldiers would fight better if they had something to protect in the immediate vicinity too. The further from cities, the less defences there were. The assumption was simple, anything that wasn¡¯t an immediate threat to a city could be bombed into oblivion. Kassandora tipped her head back and finished her glass as she continued. ¡°I¡¯m finalizing fucking Alice.¡± Kassandora watched two planes fly by overhead. She had enlisted Ambelee and Weaver¡¯s sorcerers to help with today¡¯s exercises. They were holding up burning logs of wood. Those logs had to be aflame, as the missiles were somehow designed to seek out heat by themselves. How, Kassandora didn¡¯t pretend she understood. It was the same thing as gunpowder, she simply needed to know the mechanics of it, not the raw chemical composition. She turned around as the planes went straight over her, and then launched their missiles. Both of them tilted away immediately, Kassandora had tasked them to shoot off-centre, so that the missiles wouldn¡¯t score hits by accident. The planes turned, but those missiles kept flying forwards. Kassandora watched them, and she felt fresh air enter her mouth after it dropped in shock. Those two Alice missiles, curse their names, made very deliberate and very smooth arcs, they were far too defined to be simply swayed by gusts of wind. Two explosions in the air marked the advent of something that long ago Kassandora would have assumed would only have been possible through magic. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Malam¡¯s lips burst into a smile at what Kassandora just said, but the Goddess of War did not let of Hatred have a chance to show off her talent at making utterly idiotic comments. ¡°I¡¯m making sure our planes can get to the UNN.¡± ¡°Captain Douglas and Captain Erik report that they have landed in KAFAF-Nine.¡± Naturally, Kassandora would be able to place where KAFAF-Nine was on a map with her eyes closed. It was a small base with a small run-way in the northwest. The size made it perfect for the lone pair of Raptors, it could only launch a single plane at a time. The soldiers called it Point-Northwest. Kassandora realised that the soldier given the report had stopped and was watching her for permission to continue. She rolled her hand forwards to indicate for him to go on. ¡°Falcon Squad One is at full readiness. Falcon Squad Two reports that one plane has malfunctions, technicians are being sent to repair the bird. Falcon Squad Three is reporting full readiness. Falcon Squad Four is currently being transferred to KAFAF-Eleven.¡± He took a breath. ¡°Fuel trucks are enroute to KAFAF-Eight through to Thirteen, excluding Twelve.¡± And this is why Kassandora used such a wonderful naming scheme, look at how efficient that was to understand! ¡°Alice Missiles are already there.¡± Kassandora put her glass down on the table, eyes glaring at the two who had come here. Why even bother? ¡°Those useless idiots ran out of batteries.¡± Kassandora looked down at her phone. If there was one thing she would never call her sister then it was stupid. No, not at all. In fact, she would go as far as to call them intelligent even. Fer especially. Fer pretended to be stupid, but it was because she was smart enough to know that if she pretended to be stupid, she would be underestimated at every turn. If there was one thing that Arascus¡¯ family had plenty of already, it was competence. So as she looked down at her phone, a plan was being made on what whiskey to drink. One of the soldiers had suggested adding warm water, honey and lemon to it. That was certainly creative, but it did little to stem the annoyance building in her stomach as her eyes scanned her phone screen. It was a text from Fer, of course it was. Neneria refused to operate a phone; Anassa was too stuck-up to use one. So Fer had sent the text: ¡°Sorry Kassie, I¡¯m on 4% power, I thought we could scavenge batteries here. Can you send one?¡± Kassandora reached down beside her chair and grabbed another whiskey bottle. She knew she was being rude at this point, but she had just been relaxing while at work. The only time her mind actually went quiet and stopped asking pointless, meandering questions was when the monotony of completing some objective overtook it. ¡°So guess who fixed it for them?¡± Douglas stared at Kassandora and at the tiny black box in his hands. He looked at it, then at Kassandora, then at the box. ¡°Just this?¡± Douglas asked. Kassandora sighed as she thought of whether to explain or leave the man in the dark. She settled on the latter, it wasn¡¯t important for him to know, it wasn¡¯t explosives or anything that could be dangerous for his plane, it was simply a hundred phone batteries for Fer to have. Power banks too, as well as cables of all shapes and sizes. ¡°Just that.¡± Kassandora said. It wasn¡¯t important and frankly, it was damn embarrassing that her sisters had not taken spares. Of course they wouldn¡¯t though, they had never needed to worry about logistics when they had Kassandora to rely on. She should have thought of it. Kassandora dismissed Captain Douglas. The man walked off towards his plane, already in his black jumpsuit, in confusion. Kassandora needed a bottle to chase the shame of forgetting to fully prepare her sisters away. Who did Helenna even think she was? Coming in here in a dress like that and having the gall to call her an alcoholic? Did she think she was going to seduce Kassandora¡¯s soldiers? Of War was far more beautiful than the cow that was Of Love. ¡°Just an hour ago, I got the papers.¡± Kassandora continued. Kassandora stared at the papers that had been brought to her desk. She took a heavy sigh and looked over the new map of Arika. Kirinyaa had been given a fair amount of the Jungle, which was obviously her father¡¯s work. Enough to be considered a clear winner in the negotiations, but not enough that it would antagonize the other Arikan nations. The Goddess of War stared at the map and smiled, if there was one man who would never forget to bring spare batteries, then it would be Arascus. And Kassandora¡¯s smile widened as she saw the documents underneath it. Fer forgetting batteries had actually been a blessing. It had taken her mind off the fact that she had refused to go spend time with Arascus in anticipation of the amount to be done. Well, the work had been done and she had been left to wallow in her thoughts. Not anymore though, it had truly been a good decision to stay. Arascus had sent her a document and a list of things to do: ¡®You can take a break, we have all week for this.¡¯ Kassandora rolled her eyes and smiled at that. Who did Arascus think she was? Take a break? She would take a break when she died. And now what? Did they come to share a drink? To talk? Why would they even want to talk with her? She was the most miserable little Goddess to be around. She couldn¡¯t joke around, she could only manipulate and exchange information. ¡°So now, with the threat from the East, I have to think about order-keeping in the West!¡± Kassandora scrambled over the papers in disappointment. It would have been difficult for others, but Arascus had already completed a fair share of the planning by himself. Where the army should generally be situated, the rules of engagement, the dealings with civilians and so on were all parts of rulership, so they were all parts of his demesne. Kassandora was only here to handle the hyper-specifics. What equipment the men should be armed with, how that should be used, where the locations of military police stations should go. What would happen if the other Arikan nations invaded Ausa after it declared itself an Imperial Province, although that had about as much of a chance of happening as Neneria actually answering her phone. Of War sighed and ate another spoonful of honey to calm her nerves. Kassandora started pouring herself another drink. Frankly, she was seething. She had not wanted to go, but likewise she hated that she didn¡¯t go. She knew she wouldn¡¯t enjoy it, she knew that was exactly why Arascus had not pushed her to go, she knew if she was there, she would be even angrier than she was right now. ¡°Father and Elassa are having a fucking ball right now.¡± Kassandora finished and looked through the window. A plane had arrived, large and sleek. Painted in white and black and red and with the Imperial Flag emblazoned over its sides and wings. The identification number decorated the tail and a small space under the cockpit. The Goddess of War rolled her eyes. It was bird DT-04: Divine-Transport Zero-Four. Assigned to Helenna and Malam for personal use and to transport the two lead propagandists wherever they needed to go. Maybe someone else would need to go down and check, but Kassandora knew every DT code and who it was assigned off by heart. The bomber craft, the Raptors and the leaders of each of Falcon Squad, she knew too. Something small about the fact that she didn¡¯t know every single code there was annoyed her, but even she had to admit that there was a limit to how farcical one could be. It simply wasn¡¯t worth the effort to learn the rest of the codes when there was other work to be done, especially since new planes were rolling off the lines daily. And yet, there was something that just annoyed her. Why didn¡¯t she go? She didn¡¯t like it here, she didn¡¯t like it there. She just wanted to get away from it all and get back to work. ¡°And I¡¯m stuck here.¡± Kassandora leaned back, kicked her shoes off and waited for Helenna and Malam to arrive. She wondered which one of the two had the idea. Most likely Malam, definitely Malam in fact. The Goddess of Hatred had the softest heart of them all. Kassandora wondered if Malam actually enjoyed her company or not. She herself wouldn¡¯t enjoy her own company, that much was for certain. Frankly, she couldn¡¯t stand her own company, so she could only imagine how terrible she was to other people. There was a reason that the Goddess of War, for all her talent and intelligence, had never ruled a nation like the rest of them. Not even for a little while, it wasn¡¯t that she couldn¡¯t rule, rather which nation would actually accept her? What ministers would be able to deal with War¡¯s relentless march towards total victory? None. That was the answer. Not a single one. Not until she had met Arascus. It still confused her how the man managed to put up with her. Kassandora smiled to herself. Her sisters as well. Fer was especially funny and Anassa was always a handful. Malam was Kassandora¡¯s reflection, so naturally they got along. And Kavaa. Kavaa and Kassandora were grapes that had come from the same branch. Kassandora closed her eyes, smiled and heard the door open. ¡°Great,¡± Helenna scowled. ¡°Another alcoholic.¡± But the work was done now, so there was nothing to pull her back into that tunnel-visioned focus that discarded the rest of the world. Helenna had forced her out of those tunnels though, and with nothing else to do, the only hole Kassandora knew how to sink into was buried at the bottom of a bottle. ¡°So don¡¯t tell me whether I can or can¡¯t have a fucking drink, alright?¡± Malam sat down next to Kassandora. She had never respected personal space, but Kassandora wasn¡¯t like one of her prickly sisters, she didn¡¯t pull away. ¡°Pour me one too.¡± Kassandora had to do a double take at the Goddess of Hatred. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Do people like us need a reason to drink?¡± Fer sniffed the air. Someone was coming. Chapter 290 – So Starts Soulstorm The reeds bend in winds far stronger than the storms which crack great oaks. Yet a single oak¡¯s sway is worth more than a thousand snapped reeds. ¡®The Reed and the Oak¡¯, as told by Malam, Goddess of Hatred. Fer took a step forward as a blast of Neneria¡¯s light-green lightning shot past her. She hadn¡¯t been hit once yet, but a few had come close. Honestly, Fer assumed that Neneria was releasing the discharges of energy on purpose, simply to stop herself from overloading on¡­ Well, if there was one thing Fer knew, it was that this was simply not her demesne. And it wasn¡¯t something abstract like Helenna¡¯s Love or Kassie¡¯s ideals of war. Those two, although they were undefeatable in their respective fields, could at least be competed with. Neneria could actually just kill with a touch and captured ghosts within her heart. That wasn¡¯t some abstract concept swayed by intelligence, an ethereal ghost was as materially real as Fer¡¯s claws. Another blast of lightning smashed the ground next to Fer, closer this time and launched up a hail of dirt in a grand explosion of dust. Fer turned around to look at Neneria to remind her not to do tha¡­ Oh. Neneria was hovering high in the air, the gap between her and the ground was easily twice the woman¡¯s height, and Neneria was a rather tall Goddess too. The hem of her black dress was being whipped about by an invisible wind, her eyes were glowing green, her fingers were crackling with green electricity but beyond that the Goddess was untouched by the air. Neneria¡¯s black hair fell straight down her back, the upper half of her dress clung to her, her collar of raven feathers made her pale porcelain cheeks stand out even more than usual. Green lightning curled from around Neneria¡¯s fingers. Fer watched it and hummed to herself idly. Bodyguarding was always far more interesting in her imagination than in reality. She knew exactly what it was like, yet every single time she expected it to be different. Neneria let out a shallow moan as she started to lift higher into the air. ¡°Ana.¡± Fer said, Anassa should hear her. Anassa did not hear her. Fer rolled her eyes, the ears that jutted out from her golden mane twitched, her tail swished from side to side Fer turned around to look for her sister. She saw Anassa in the air, a good distance away, watching her and Neneria. A dozen other Anassas were positioned in a circle around them, each one on the mark of an hour as the various incarnations of the Goddess of Sorcery watched the horizon in all directions. Fer shouted this time, to the closest copy of Anassa that was about. ¡°ANA!¡± A crimson circle suddenly appeared around Fer¡¯s torso. It hooked itself around the Goddess and cast her up into the air. Perhaps tossed was the better word to use though, Anassa was not gentle whatsoever. Fer expected Anassa to throw her away, but instead the Goddess of Sorcery merely rapidly flicked her through the air and further from Neneria. And then, somewhat surprisingly, Anassa gently set her down on the ground. Fer turned and saw why. The energies around Neneria had started to expand, the lightning around her had stopped crackling and instead became a solid beam of green electricity that was madly carving drunken patterns into the ground around the woman. ¡°Don¡¯t get that close.¡± Anassa said from beside Fer. This was yet another incarnation of her. Fer clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. That wouldn¡¯t have hurt her anyway. She didn¡¯t think so anyway. ¡°I smell something.¡± Fer said as she pushed the annoyance away. Frankly, she just didn¡¯t want to admit that Anassa had been more aware of her, but the general atmosphere in these lands made her hairs stand on end. It was a cloudless day, the sun was shining from on above, yet Fer could not get rid of that stench of death and the brown mud everywhere reminded her¡­ Well, that was the issue. She had seen all of Arda and she had never seen a landscape that was entirely all mud. ¡°Do you?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°Fuel, divinity, sweat, and metal,¡± Fer confirmed. ¡°Ah.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Thanks for telling me.¡± Fer looked up as each of the dozen Anassas sent out yet another copy of themselves forward. That was an amazing power, even if only for the ability to see what you looked like from behind. Fer heard the burning of flames and the whistling of something sharp cutting through the air, then she smelled the various metals and fuels in the air, and finally she saw the white jets coming in from the north. Along the coastline. Twelve arrowheads were soaring through the skies, each one leaving a thin trail of white clouds behind them. ¡°I¡¯ll take them when they get close.¡± The Anassa by Fer¡¯s side said. Four other incarnations of the woman started to independently move towards the planes, they formed a perfect square, and two more got closer to Neneria and cast a protective shield of crimson energies. A set of black arrowheads dove down, while a set of figurines wrapped in crimson rose up to meet them. Fer quickly pulled out her phone as she watched an Anassa disappear. A plane unleashed a hail of bullets at the spot where that Anassa had just stood, and then another Anassa released a beam of crimson light. It clipped the plane¡¯s tail and the whole machine cascaded towards the ground in a marvellous fireball. Fer rang Kassandora as she looked down. There, on the ground, she saw humans. Humans in silver, a tall figure amongst them. Several groups, as if they had tried to encircle Neneria. ¡°I¡¯m here Fer, what¡¯s the issue?¡± Kassandora asked over the phone. ¡°You were correct.¡± Fer said. ¡°We do have an engagement.¡± She narrowed her eyes at that crowd. ¡°Maisara and Paladins, Ana is handling the planes in the sky.¡± Another plane dove at Fer, the Goddess of Beasthood tensed to flee, then saw the off-coloured red tinge in the air. It caught all of that plane¡¯s bullets, then shot forward. That white jet crashed into the formless redness and exploded. Another wonderful display of orange flames and black smoke which tarred the blue sky. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Understood.¡± Kassandora said, there wasn¡¯t even a moment of hesitation. ¡°It¡¯s past midday at your place now, right?¡± Fer glanced at her own shadow. It was starting to grow longer. ¡°Yes.¡± She turned to the sky; the sun had definitely crossed its zenith. ¡°First wave will come at midnight.¡± Kassandora said and paused. Fer heard tapping and scratching through the speaker. ¡°Then dawn one and dawn two, you¡¯re going to have to hold until then. Or until Neneria finishes.¡± ¡°Will do Kassie.¡± Fer said quietly. ¡°Will do.¡± ¡°Alright Fer.¡± Kassandora answered after a slight pause. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you here. Love you.¡± ¡°Love you too.¡± Fer said as she switched her phone off. Still smiling to herself, the Goddess of Beasthood turned and saw a crowd clad in silver. Maisara¡¯s Paladins, no one else wore steel that bright and that clean, especially not in the UNN. She saw their Goddess there as well, terribly tall, easily matching Neneria¡¯s height. And she saw a glint of light. Once and again, and Fer didn¡¯t need a third to realise what it was. Maisara¡¯s great-axe, thrown through the air and aiming straight at Neneria. Fer¡¯s body moved on instinct, there wouldn¡¯t be enough time to tell Anassa, nor did Fer trust that Anassa would be fast enough. It wasn¡¯t that Anassa wasn¡¯t speedy herself, nor was the woman weak, nor did Fer think that Anassa would let harm befall a sister. It was that Fer kept herself on a chain so that the others could pretend to keep up, and when that chain was cut loose, then Anassa, with all her grand sorceries and simultaneous existences, simply did not compare. Fer was just better. Fer¡¯s feet twisted as she started taking a breath, time seemed to slow down as her heart started shifted from its lazy and relaxed everyday pace. It started taking heavy thumps, the rapid drums of an orchestra. It beat once as Fer worked out the flight path of the axe. There was no maths involved, no double checking whether the blade would turn, no calculations of speed or power needed. Fer watched and Fer instinctively knew exactly how that spinning dervish should be stopped. Fer¡¯s heart beat again as her feet dug into the ground. She bent at the knees, took a quick inhale and touched her hands to the ground. Her ears quivered, she listened to the silence of the wind, Anassa was opening her mouth to say something, Maisara in the distance was taking a step forwards, the team of Paladins behind her looked like statues for a moment. And Fer released the tension. The ground around her cracked, it ruptured and released a wave of dust in all directions as the Goddess of Beasthood shot away from it like the heavy calibre of a sniper rifle being expelled from the gun. That great bullet shot through the air, and Fer heard her heart beat once again as she held her breath. She extended her arm, her skin, bones and muscles all tightened and hardened themselves as she prepared for the impact. With another heartbeat, Fer¡¯s finger locked around the axe¡¯s handle. Her eyes tracked that mercilessly clean silver blade, curved and as long as one of Fer¡¯s arms. The spike at the top and rear of the axe-head allowed Maisara to use the weapon effectively without turning it in any direction. And she grunted as her own weight was caught by the weapon. Fer twisted in the air, using her own monumentous momentum as a foundation and her arm as a way to guide the axe from its spin. She didn¡¯t fight against it; Maisara had enough strength that it would rip Fer¡¯s arm right off if she tried that. Instead, she glided around it and dragged the axe into herself and herself to the axe. The flight path changed, the axe somersaulted around Fer and the two in the air shot from that straight path towards the Goddess in the air, submerged in her ghastly energies, and towards the endless mud around them. Fer felt her heart beat once again. She took a breath as she stood up from the ground, the fog of black mud around her settled down and she looked around. ¡°That was good.¡± Anassa said, yet another perfect incarnation of the Goddess of Sorcery, red dress and citrussy perfume, appeared next to Fer. ¡°I would have caught it though.¡± ¡°I have no doubt you would have.¡± Fer said. ¡°But I did.¡± Not a single word was a lie, she was sure that Anassa could catch it. The chance of Anassa letting Neneria get hurt was precisely zero, yet within that zero, there was an even more precise zero, and that was if Fer stopped it herself. ¡°Mmh.¡± Anassa said as Fer grit her teeth, flexed her fingers, and shook her hand to recover. She felt the torn muscle regenerate and the bone reconnect. That was strong. She saw the silver axe dematerialize and reappear in the distance. A Goddess was walking there, sauntering towards them. In silver armour that was nothing more than a chest-plate, a battle-skirt, shin-guards and a helmet. Ancient arms that had been designed for speed, flexibility and little else. The great beasts of the past had been far too strong for any sane mind to try defending against them head-on. Claws would have to be dodged and teeth would have to be avoided. It was only those who were too slow, like Kassandora, that needed full plate in order to survive at least one hit. Fer grabbed a vial from her belt and tipped her head back as she swallowed the sweet blood of Divinity. There was no reason to hold back against this great hunter, she felt the power of Kassandora¡¯s blood flow through her. Her limbs were made faster, her muscles more explosive, her bones harder, her nails grew into perfect claws. Her skin hardened like leather, thick fur burst out all over her body, her eyes grew sharper as they adopted the crimson hue of Kassandora¡¯s hair. A wave of dust was set off all around Fer as the Goddess let the hound she kept on a tight leash loose. Thin, light armour like that was made specifically to fight against the great beasts of the past. That hunter, her hair silver, her gaze stern and unafraid, her posture straight, her walk definite, came in with a team of forty behind her. Forty Paladins, small fry, but beasts were not to be fought alone. They came with pike and greatsword and no heavy tower shield. Maisara did know what she was doing, against Fer and Anassa, those heavy shields would only slow men down and their weight would only bring them sooner to tiredness. Fer twisted and cracked her neck as she smelled Anassa above. Suddenly, another Anassa was stood by her side. ¡°What did Kass say?¡± ¡°Midnight, dawn, then dawn again.¡± Anassa sighed as remaining planes in the air started to flee. The various copies of Anassa in the air and Fer turned to the crowd slowly approaching them. ¡°I¡¯ll take the men, you handle Maisara, how about that?¡± Her cold sister asked. Fer¡¯s hungry mouth twisted into a pure snarl of joy. It had been far too long since she found prey that was worth hunting. Her fangs grew longer as thin flakes of her teeth started to fall over until her lips hid only sculpted daggers. ¡°Oh I will.¡± Thin armour, made to dodge blows rather than withstand the terrible power of the past¡¯s strongest monsters. An executioner¡¯s axe, to bring order to wild anticivilization and keep it in line. A cold gaze and grey eyes, an emotionless shield against the stupefying wild passion that maddening horror inspired. All to keep Arda¡¯s great beasts in line. But Fer was the greatest beast of them all. The Embodiment of all Arda¡¯s Wilds took a step forwards. And Civilization¡¯s Hammer against those Wilds did not slow down. Chapter 291 – The Unmovable and The Unstoppable Fortia turned to leave for the UNN. This was a disaster beyond any imaginable, it was the sort of thing she should have foreseen, it was the sort of thing she had to admit that she simply did not have the imagination to think up of. And she felt Allasaria¡¯s hand grasp her shoulder. ¡°Where are you going?¡± The Goddess of Light asked. ¡°To help Mai.¡± Fortia¡¯s tone left little room for discussion because there was nothing to discuss. Going to the UNN, no matter how many men she brought, was a shot in the dark. Either Neneria would be killed before Of Death finished her Legion expansion, or everyone who had gone to stop her would be swallowed up by the ghosts instead. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Allasaria asked. ¡°We win or we lose. It all comes down to this.¡± Fortia replied. Everything leading up to this moment was utterly meaningless, every loss and every gain achieved by Arascus and by the White Pantheon utterly paled in comparison to the Neneria situation. ¡°It doesn¡¯t.¡± Allasaria said. ¡°Does it not?¡± Fortia asked. ¡°There is a way.¡± The Goddess of Light said. ¡°It took us decades to activate last time. This time, we should just get it done right away.¡± Fer twisted and cracked the bones in her neck as she picked up the pace towards Maisara. There was no reason to fight close to Neneria, the only thing that could come of that was her sister getting hurt in the crossfire. ¡°Ana.¡± Fer said and yet another incarnation of Anassa flashed into existence by the Goddess of Beasthood. Clad in crimson silk untouched by the wind sweeping in over the planes of mud that Elassa¡¯s tidal waves had left behind, Anassa said nothing as her other simultaneous existences spread out. ¡°I want one of you to guard Neneria.¡± ¡°Done.¡± Anassa said, Fer made one casual turn to see. Above and below were two great waves of green energy flowing into the woman, flanking her from above and below, making the entire silhouette look like a great hourglass of souls. Six different incarnations of Anassa, each one the exact same, with the same perfect black hair, the same crimson dress seemingly immune to the breeze, the same piercing red eyes that all scanned the environment around them with the same ready glare. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to check.¡± Anassa said in annoyance. ¡°You know me.¡± Fer replied as she turned back. ¡°There are more groups coming from the west and south.¡± ¡°Do you need support on them?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a few minor Divines but I can take them.¡± Anassa said. ¡°I¡¯m warning you.¡± ¡°And here I thought you were asking for help.¡± Fer said dryly and Anassa chuckled. ¡°What a comedian you are Fer.¡± Anassa cooed. ¡°If you need help, then get away first.¡± ¡°I was just about to say for you to shout if you need help.¡± Fer said and the Goddess of Sorcery chuckled before speaking. ¡°Maisara is fast and strong, I cannot promise to not devastate everything around her.¡± She explained. ¡°So if you need help, then get away. I¡¯m not going to assist unless I see an opportunity or you knock her into the air.¡± ¡°If she throws her axe, then catch it and I¡¯ll go for the kill.¡± Fer said. ¡°Not the other way around?¡± ¡°I assume you can protect Nene too.¡± ¡°I can.¡± ¡°Then you catch.¡± Fer said and Anassa nodded. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°If she knocks me away then you should catch me.¡± Fer said. ¡°You know I like throwing you around.¡± Anassa replied and disappeared. Fer rolled her eyes, her sister always needed to get the snarky last word in. Frankly, it was annoying because Fer was the same, she simply couldn¡¯t blink out of existence at will like that. So her eyes focused on Maisara ahead. She could just about make out Maisara¡¯s eyes, flicking from her to Neneria to the various different Anassas in the air and then back to Fer again. The woman didn¡¯t have a single dash of fear in them. They closed half of the distance before Fer¡¯s nose finally caught Maisara¡¯s scent. It was Maisara through and through, there was nothing there. Only a faint bitter smell that revealed little about one¡¯s emotions. Nothing like the Anassa from above, who was sickly sweet and slightly spicy. Long ago, they would have stopped to talk before battling. They would have introduced themselves. They would have voiced grievances. There wouldn¡¯t have been any reasoning or trying to avert the fight, that had never worked even back then, but there would have been an explanation. Was it justification? Fer had never understood it, but everyone else did it, so she had supposed that she should do that too. And then Kassandora had changed the game. The moment someone was close enough to strike, they should and they would. There was no point in discussion, the simple fact that things had degenerated to get to the point of stepping onto the battlefield signalled that the time for discussion was over. Fer watched the distance, she didn¡¯t measure it, she didn¡¯t bother trying to figure out the number of steps between her and Maisara. She simply took a step forwards, something in the back of her mind told her she was close enough, and all the tension in her body exploded with the rage of a roaring volcano. Just as Kassandora said, there was no point working your way up in power. You either killed your opponent, or they killed you. Fer immediately went from zero to a hundred. The ground behind her exploded as she kicked off the mud, once again she heard the speed of her explosive heartbeat. She saw the faces of Maisara¡¯s Paladins start to go pale in shock, she saw their eyes begin to widen, she saw one or two who were reactive enough to start adopting a battle-ready stance. And she heard her heart thump a second time as she closed half the distance in the blink of an eye. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. But Fer and Maisara were both forged in the same furnace. Of the Noble-breeds that existed during the Age of Heroes: Of Chivalry had been stabbed in the back, Of Heroism had been ground down by attrition. Yet their villainous counterparts had been cut down too: Of Brutality had been fed to his own dogs, Of Duelling had been overwhelmed by an army, Of Attack had broken themselves on a fortress unassailable. Yet the one thing that remained was War¡¯s hyperviolence, where the forging hammer was the opponent and the anvil was the battlefield. Maisara reacted instantly to Fer¡¯s rush forward. Her axe dropped, the blade spun to the side, the Goddess of Order twisted her entire body to the side and dug her heels into the dirt. Fer dropped down in a feint just before she impaled her chest onto that spike at the end of Maisara¡¯s silver axe. An amateur would have swung down to try to catch her, then Fer would have leapt up, over and bit for the throat. But Maisara took a step back, her axe retreated to the side, to force Fer to the right. Instead of moving as Maisara wished, Fer followed the axe head, she swung her claw forwards, if Maisara could not be hurt directly, then at least Fer could catch her axe. The Goddess of Order spun her weapon, the gleaming blade of the axe¡¯s head still retreating, but threatening Fer¡¯s fingers. Of Beasthood flowed with the initiative on her side, she swung around and felt a poke on the back of her leg. One of the Paladins had struck her calf. The sword blade got stuck on her skin and Fer, eyes still focused on all of Maisara simultaneously, swung her tail backwards. It caught the greatsword and swung it backwards and around, then split the soldier in half at the torso. Fer felt the splashes of blood, she smelled that sweet essence of life and felt her teeth grow longer. Maisara made a mocking whistle as her man dropped. The Paladins around her pulled back, weapons lowered as they tried to make some form of a spear-wall fashioned entirely out of greatswords. Fer gave the woman one quick smile, then launched forwards again. Once again following the axe, weapons like that were not spears, they needed to be swung. And not only that, they needed an arc to build up speed too, especially to penetrate the diamond-hard skin of someone like Fer. But this time, the Goddess of Beasthood put one foot forwards, she saw Maisara¡¯s arms and legs shift. The strands of muscle within them twisted, Fer heard Maisara¡¯s breath stall for a moment, and, operating entirely on instinct, pre-emptively spun to the side. The axe head almost cut her stomach open, it sliced a tiny bit of skin that immediately started to regrow and heal, but Fer¡¯s tail swung in return. It was still wrapped around the Paladin¡¯s blade, now bloodied. Maisara would have, should have, gone with the blow, re-directing her axe forwards to split Fer¡¯s stomach open but instead, she let go of the weapon with one hand. Her forearm guard slammed into the Paladin¡¯s sword and for a mere heartbeat, that tremendous greataxe, far heavier than even Kassie¡¯s Joyeuse, shifted and lulled as Of Order rebalanced herself. One heartbeat was all that Fer required. She slid forwards, Maisara spun the axe head to stay pointed against her torso but eventually, the natural limits of biology got in the way. It was simply impossible to make a full rotation on a weapon you held with one hand. Fer saw and heard Maisara¡¯s breath release, heard her catch it again, and saw the woman¡¯s thighs tilt downwards as her calves gave out to enter a retreat. Maisara purposefully fell down and backwards as Fer launched herself up and forwards. A claw slid along the flat edge of the axe. Sharp talon touched the handle and Fer¡¯s fingers wrapped around it as Maisara kicked her stomach. Frankly, a kick she could take, especially if it gave an opening this good. Fer tightened her core and ripped the axe backwards from Maisara¡¯s hand. She felt the force of Maisara¡¯s boot stomp her stomach and she swiped with her free hand at the woman. A rib broken for a chest ripped open. Maisara grunted, her hand went to the air and she swung it back down. That great axe rematerialized in her hand, she grit her teeth and swung. And now that Fer was close, she wouldn¡¯t give up that advantage. She dropped down, dirt exploded around her as the Goddess shot like a leaping snake towards Maisara¡¯s hand, teeth ready to rip, claw ready to tear, tail ready to bind and strangle. A weaker Divine wouldn¡¯t know what to do. Even Kassie, in moments like that, would be far too slow to react. But Maisara made the correct move, instead of trying to dodge Fer¡¯s blow, she pushed onwards instead. She threw her axe down and slammed down with both fists balled, knocking Fer to the ground. The Goddess of Beasthood grunted, grabbed Maisara¡¯s ankles and rolled out the way as she heard the cutting of air which meant that axe was coming down. It did come down, and then Maisara swung it again, surrounding both of them in an impenetrably thick fog of mud. Fer was fast, Fer could almost see by smell, Fer¡¯s hearing was so sharp she could make out both her own heartbeat and Maisara¡¯s and if there was one thing Fer was not going to do, it was fight in fog against Order¡¯s Executioner. Fer jumped away and out of the cloud of dirt, she saw Maisara do the same. The woman¡¯s wound across the chest was starting to stitch itself back together as Fer¡¯s rib was working to put all its shards back into place. Maisara landed, eyes aimed at Fer, and she dropped her axe into a parry stance. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time Fer!¡± She shouted. ¡°It has indeed.¡± Fer shouted back. Time was on her side after all, whether Neneria would finish sooner or later didn¡¯t matter, when she finished, it was over. ¡°How¡¯s it been?¡± Fer took a deep breath as she worked her shoulders, she had forgotten just how strong even Maisara¡¯s fists were. Although the Goddess of Order did the same action, but with her leg. ¡°Wonderful, stellar in fact.¡± Maisara said sarcastically. ¡°Honestly, I was simply curious.¡± ¡°At what?¡± Fer asked. ¡°How you managed to kill Atis.¡± Maisara replied, Fer¡¯s grin revealed her fangs. ¡°He¡¯s not you Maisara.¡± ¡°No.¡± Maisara agreed. ¡°He is not. I am not so vain to think I can duel you.¡± ¡°I humbly accept the compliment.¡± Fer said as she twisted her legs, ready to make another pounce. She would have jumped immediately, but Maisara noticed the movement and took a step back. Two Paladins fearlessly stepped forwards to block Fer¡¯s path. They had absolutely no chance of stopping her, they could only hope to serve as a physical shield to slow her down and give Maisara an opening with which to swing that greataxe. And Fer knew they would do exactly that, Paladins were suicidal in their fanaticism. If Maisara needed an opening, they would give her an opening. ¡°Running away?¡± Fer tried to taunt Maisara, although she imagined there would be more success even with Fortia, the Goddess of Order rarely lost her cool in battles. ¡°Already? Against me?¡± Maisara stopped and lowered her axe, only by a tiny sliver, it wasn¡¯t an opening whatsoever. If anything, that was bait. ¡°I have one question Fer.¡± She shouted. ¡°Ask away.¡± Fer shouted back. ¡°You¡¯re not any better than you were, how did you kill him?¡± Fer chuckled a laugh she imagined would get under Maisara¡¯s skin, a horrendous hur-hur-hur of a low rumble. ¡°Are you saying I got worse?¡± ¡°You stayed the same more or less.¡± Maisara replied. ¡°Now answer me.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t kill him.¡± Fer replied honestly and Maisara raised an eyebrow. ¡°So who did?¡± ¡°Iliyal Tremari.¡± Fer answered and Maisara looked surprised, if only for a moment. Her weapon did not drop, nor did her posture, but she did tilt her head. The Goddess¡¯ silver hair fell to her side for a moment before she recovered. ¡°As they say, you learn something new every day.¡± Maisara said quietly, although Fer¡¯s ears still caught it. ¡°Very well!¡± Maisara shouted. ¡°I thank you for telling me.¡± ¡°No problem sweetheart.¡± Fer replied sarcastically. She saw Maisara tap a Paladin on the shoulder. The man pulled out a flare gun. He aimed it above his head. He squeezed the trigger. A red flare burst from it. ¡°I have one thing more to say Fer.¡± Maisara spoke up. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not the only who can build fancy toys.¡± In the distance, over the horizon, Fer couldn¡¯t see it, but she heard it. Frankly, she was sure everyone heard it. There was no chance an explosion that loud would be missed. Fer had listened to them before, in the Great War, when cannons had been brought out onto the field, and more recently. Kassandora¡¯s Binturongs and Lemurs made the same sound, the deafening drumming of contained explosions followed by the whistling of the air being split by steel: artillery. Fer took a step back. Anassa came into view. Fer¡¯s ears twitched as they jutted out of her golden mane. A moment of silence, broken only by Anassa snapping her fingers. The sky turned crimson. Chapter 292 – A Hundred Across One There were many ways that stress worked. Kassandora liked to think that she knew all of them, but one pattern that never failed to disappoint was the lead up. Every single time, she would descend to the edges of madness during preparation. And then, once everything was ready and set up, the stress all went away. It simply vanished into thin air. Kassandora was sure it wasn¡¯t a healthy mentality to have, but she wasn¡¯t the Goddess of Health for a reason. She looked at her map of the world and her grin grew. From Raptor One to Olephia, from the Imperial Navy to Iliyal Tremari, everything had a beautiful place in her orchestra. Every was thought out, every had been planned out. Even the proud Goddess of Light had been thought of; There was only one thing that Allasaria could do, because it would be exactly what Kassandora would do in her position. All she had to do at that point was simply watch the show. Anassa saw Fer once again launch herself at Maisara. Her sister became a momentary blur of golden hair and ivory claw as Maisara once again dropped her axe to parry. Fer stopped at the last moment, turned, tore one of the Paladins next to her in half and backed away, bathing herself and the dark mud around her in blood. Anassa supposed she should get to work too, Neneria wasn¡¯t going to protect herself after all. One of the Anassas nearby turned and looked up at the sky as the rest spread out. An Anassa by Neneria enclosed herself and her sister in a red shield of crimson energies, yet another Anassa raised her hands as she took a step forwards. Forwards, towards the horizon, where yet a different incarnation of Anassa had spotted the sun¡¯s glint reflecting off silver metal. Paladins were coming close, and Anassa was in no mood to let them get within earshot of Neneria, much less shooting distance. They had a vanguard of men armed with greatswords and tower shields on their backs. And behind them were the real danger that Anassa was here to protect against. The men with swords weren¡¯t a danger, but Iliyal had given reports of White Pantheon firearms on his front, so Kassandora had said they needed a sister who was able to block bullets here. Otherwise, Fer could have been sent alone. The Anassa above that group looked down at the men. The men stopped. One man in heavy steel plate, presumably their captain, barked an order. Greatswords fell forwards as if they were spears and the men behind them spread out to a loose formation. A quarter of them remained stationary and picked up their rifles. Or started to at the very least. Anassa had seen the various different models of rifle that Kassandora¡¯s army used. She had seen the models that Iliyal was sending back from Lubska, the native Kirinyaan models, and she remembered the ancient muskets that appeared near the conclusion of the Great War. And frankly, once you saw one, you saw them all. It was just a tube that fired a piece of metal, whether it fired close or far, whether it fired lots of pieces or one at a time, whether it fired quickly or whether it needed to be loaded after one shot. It all paled under the glory of the world¡¯s finest art. The Anassa right above that group snapped her fingers and a crimson ball appeared in her hand. One man even managed to put his finger on the trigger as that ball exploded into a thousand different needles. They shot upwards, they fell straight down. Each one pierced a neck or a chest, and then scrambled the insides. When they disappeared and the corpses fell, the tiny wounds they left released only a thin stream of blood. That specific Anassa started looking around as another Anassa pushed her hands up. A shield covered the first one and then it swept upwards, catching every single artillery shell as it came down. The blue sky was momentarily peppered by explosions that Anassa didn¡¯t bother to watch. An Anassa to the south had spotted another group of soldiers. These weren¡¯t Paladins, they wore dark colours that tried to fade into the mud although each man held his rifle awkwardly high, as if trying to make sure that the mud would not clog the gun¡¯s internals. It was that glinting of the metal that had revealed them in the first place. Anassa took a step, Anassa crossed a mile in an instant, and Anassa snapped her finger. She supposed she could have killed them individually but frankly, she may have missed one. There was no reason to not be sure that a job was finished. A pillar of crimson sorcery descended from the sky. It instantly vaporized the men, and it vaporized a crater into the dirt. Two more Anassas got to work as two more Anassas from high above spotted targets. One closed the distance between her and a plane. The plane crumpled as it was hit by a red ball that heeded the flicking of Anassa¡¯s fingertip. The other saw a truck in the distance that was letting men out. An Anassa had to take to two steps to get to that truck. She stood above the Paladins. She saw one man look up in horror, she saw another drop his rifle in acceptance. And Anassa stepped her fingers. The truck, the men and the ground around them was erased from existence by the red paint of sorcery that covered everything. And Anassa did not stop, not even for a moment. When there were this many of her in existence, it didn¡¯t matter whether one or two of the Anassas sat down, they were a hundred, but they were one. When one got scratched by a bullet, they all did, when one felt the heat of an explosion, they all did. When the mud flung up by Fer and Maisara brawling dirtied one of them, they were all dirtied and when an Anassa that wasn¡¯t doing anything particularly important in the air cleaned herself with sorcery, they were all cleaned. Mid-way through the day, Anassa realised this would take far longer than they had expected. Neneria, even if it was a million souls in the area, should be showing signs of stopping by now. Yet when the Anassa closest to the Goddess of Death turned to look at her, Neneria was not settling down whatsoever. In fact, if the woman in the black dress was doing anything, it was only getting more and more frantic. The inpour of energy around Neneria, shaped like an hourglass with her at the thinnest point, grew larger and larger. Those sickly greens became bone-pale and then blinding white. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. And even the Anassa closest made sure to put some distance between herself and Neneria. She would never admit it out loud, but she did not need to discover what or if anything happened when a person still living touched those energies. The day continued like that. Fer had wiped out the group of Paladins around Maisara and now the two Goddesses were locked and circling each other. Anassa did not bother to interrupt or help. Fer would shout if help was needed and frankly, Anassa was growing tired. Where before, groups of soldiers would not even cross the horizon before a copy of Anassa annihilated them, now, there were a dozen already in sight, each one with a pair of Anassas assigned to them to block their gunfire. Anassa would make her rounds, she would stalk out past her shields, she would annihilate a group of Paladins or UNN soldiers with a dirty blast of energy, unfocused and untamed, a simple release of the magical powers within her, and then she would quickly return before any bullets caught her. In the skies, an entire team of a dozen incarnations of the Goddess in red was tasked with chasing UNN jets away. A few were dropping bombs, but none of them dared come close enough to actually hit anyone of worth. And below those skirmishers, another set of independent Anassas were working in the unison of their shared consciousness: each one unique and individual, yet each one part of the same whole. The shield above had grown thin. No longer could she discolour the entire sky, from horizon to horizon purple, although the setting sun had already done that. Instead she created a net over the sky that was a half-spell, ready to be activated at a moment¡¯s notice, but not so draining as creating a huge shield would be. Anassa turned raised her hands and prepared yet another net. She breathed heavily. She narrowed her eyes, a dozen other Anassas were all working their own shields, then another dozen were flicking from position to position as they raised their hands to intercept planes. Every now and then, an Anassa would raise her hand, a crimson line would burst from it, as if an artist had just flicked red paint across reality. Sometimes, she would catch an enemy plane. That smear of sorcerous paint would tear through the jet¡¯s body like a knife slicing through air, there wouldn¡¯t be even a hint of resistance. The thin red line of crimson would disappear and leave a thick smear of black smoke which tarnished the blue sky like spilled tar. And sometimes, she would miss. The white jet would turn just in time, it would pull up, it would flick its wings, and it would get out of range just before Anassa could react. And down on the ground, Anassa saw Fer and Maisara still exchanging blow after blow. They would suddenly close the gap between themselves, Of Beasthood or Of Order would initiate, they would enter a cautious dance, each one perfectly aware of their own power and of their opponents. A single blow could end it, but neither Fer nor Maisara were in a desperate situation to try and end it in a single blow. An Anassa in the distance raised her hands, snapped her fingers, and a dozen Paladins underneath her disappeared in a column of crimson light. And the Anassas casting their nets spread their arms out as the thin slivers of sorcery in the air expanded. The net became a sheet and Anassa held her breath. It was much harder to breath now, this many incarnations at the same time was truly tiring. Her eyes tracked the black shells of artillery appearing from other the horizon. She poured more power into the barrier as her own heartbeat thumped in her ears. A dozen other Anassas all turned to assist. And once again, a blanket of flames and metal fragments and explosions threatened to bring itself down upon Anassa and Neneria. Anassa saw one of her shields crack, felt her stomach turn as she expelled yet more power, and two Anassas disappeared. They had killed all the Paladins down on the ground below them anyway. The flames lasted for a few moments but with only air to devour, they quickly starved themselves out. Anassa dropped the shield, finally took a breath. She heard explosions again. But not from over the horizon, from the east, where the ocean was. This Anassa kept watch over the skies, a dozen other Anassas moved to chase off the White Pantheon jets again, yet another several Anassas returned to force the Paladins on the ground back, each one enclosed within a crimson egg-like shell that blocked the rifle of the men below. And one Anassa, close to Neneria, turned to see what made that sound. Two black jets, their tips painted yellow to resemble a beak, with four tremendous engines each, shot across the sky. They pulled up. Their rear cargo doors opened. Anassa saw two teams of fifteen jump from each plane. And then two teams of fifteen again. Sixty small dots, high up in the sky now painted purple by the setting sun. Sixty black uniforms, like hornets that had just burst from their nest. The two Raptor jets arced into the sky as they made a full circle. And those tiny hornets descended faster, none of them had a parachute, but Anassa already knew not a single one of them would be harmed in the fall. She could feel their energies. A dozen Anassas disappeared as she took a breath and wiped the sweat off her brow. The men in the air descended, no doubt Kassandora had already informed them of the situation, because each one moved with far too much surety. They stalled their fall, they spread out like flies. And from sixty black dots in the sky came sixty beams of sorcerous energies that cut swathes through the approaching forces and ravines into the dirty mud of the landscape. Neneria closed her eyes as she looked down upon the battle raging around her. She silently asked the damned souls that had been drafted as to why this was taking so long and she listened to the reply. It wasn¡¯t words, it was simply images, as if that specific soul had recorded its existence as a video that now Neneria could watch. A ghost turned, ensnared by Neneria¡¯s heart, and began a march. And like the lead sheep leading the flock, another ghost would turn. Too far from Neneria but too close to its compatriots, who heard the Goddess of the Damned. And they would march too. And others would see those. And the march continued. Neneria took a deep breath as she opened her heart as wide as she possibly could. From the southernmost point to the northern tip of the UNN¡¯s coastline, every soul that had lost its body during Continent Cracking got news of Neneria. They all began a slow march. Neneria tried to count but it was in vain. More and more were coming by the moment. The very least she could do was make an estimate. Six million. Chapter 293 – The Drums of Civilization Olephia leaned down and flicked the black Godstone structure. She winced and checked her nail, it was still as hard as it had been back then. And then she looked up at the tremendous Paradeisius Gate. Although when the door to the other world opened, this structure could only be described as a dam that had cracked open. It could unleash a flood from the other side. Kassandora had said that the gateway would be opened eventually, if not through here then in some other fashion, however they simply weren¡¯t ready at this point. Apparently, they were working on weapons in Kirinyaa that would be useful for the war, but until that happened, then Olephia had a job to do. Not for a moment had Olephia doubted that Kassandora was sending her here for no reason, but likewise Olephia had not actually expected herself to figure out why she was to stand on this structure. But then she turned and saw the unmistakable glow of the Goddess of Light. That pale aura that seemed to light up the surrounding area with a holy ambience. Her eyes weren¡¯t quite sharp enough to make out Allasaria herself, but Allasaria must have seen her already. That ambience had stopped advancing and was starting to circle the Paradeisius Gate. Olephia supposed she should introduce herself. ¡°Hi.¡± Mid-way between herself and Allasaria, a sun appeared for a second. The explosion brought day-time to the night and devoured one of the ancient, abandoned castles that was guarding the gate. Although maybe the rather technical ¡®deleted¡¯ was the better descriptor; wiped from existence by an atom cracking. ¡°How are you?¡± Three more atoms shattered. Three more suns appeared on the ground. Three more castles were incinerated. Radiation leaked from Olephia like sweat and the air around cracked with lightning of dirty-red blood. ¡°Go away.¡± Two explosions, one ¡®only¡¯ deleted yet another of the fortresses in the area, the other set off in mid-air. More than twice as large as all the previous explosions. The warmth passed over Olephia and then the wind, trying to push her away at first, and then trying to pull her back it. The fortifications closest to it shattered as random bricks and stones were ripped from their walls by the pressure, but to Olephia it was only a light breeze. And Allasaria fled. ¡°They¡¯ve brought reinforcements!¡± Etala¡¯s smooth voice shouted across the speakers. Ciria had always enjoyed that melodic voice and right now, it was pleasant break from the thundering artillery around her. They were great wagons on large tracks, a similar design to the artillery that Kassandora had used in the start of the Reclamation War, but the similarities ended there. The main artillery battery fired a volley, the guns retracted with recoil and each tank spit out a huge brass casing for a shell. Instead of being an open topped gun, it was an enclosed turret with a position for the machine¡¯s commander on top. And Ciria could not believe that not one of them had broken down yet. Several large water trucks had been brought to the front and they were spraying rapidly misting water on the barrels of vehicles. Ciria was reinforcing them with her powers too, she could feel the metal start to beg to be given a rest as it tried to warp under the sheer heat of constant firing. The battery fired another volley. Another set of brass casings hit the ground. Ciria looked up at the new set of sorcerers or magicians or whatever they were. From here, the word didn¡¯t matter anyway, they were all tiny black spots that flicked around and pirouetted in a mad ballet in the air, and then shot red beams down onto the ground. Ciria raised her radio, officially, the roles were divided with Fortia as chief general, although she was inbound to the UNN from Epa still. Zerus, Sceo and Alkom were coming from the south. They should have landed an hour ago. Maisara was to push forwards and scout out the area. The fact she had not retreated was confirmation to continue. Etala was the supposed commander of this army, although it was Ciria that did all the leading. Etala was only dealing with the act of pouring more men into the grinder to try and overwhelm Fer and Anassa. The artillery battery around her fired another volley. Water started to boil, Ciria silently realigned the warping barrels and another set of shell casings hit the ground. ¡°All infantry, fire from a distance, aim for the new batch of reinforcements.¡± It was obvious that these were humans, they were half the size of the various Anassas in the air. Likewise, it was obvious that Anassa was starting to tire herself out. What had been a bubble in the air now was a net, and she was starting to let artillery shells through if they wouldn¡¯t hit anything in particular. Ciria was not going to give Anassa a chance to recover her energies, too many men had died already for that to happen. She would not repay the price again. The artillery battery fired again. More shell casings hit the ground. A new water truck came in to cool the vehicles down. The wet, mist from the steam was swept up by the ocean¡¯s wind as Ciria gave another order into her radio. ¡°All large guns, recalibrate directly on Death, the Sorceress starting to get tired.¡± Ciria momentarily closed her eyes as she felt the wrath of mechanized civilization around her. The metal submerged in the ground was not her demesne, but the cogs and gears in the tracks? The moving barrels? The beating hearts of thunderous engines? The electrical radios and the cabin windows of plastic? The UNN jets in the air, each one howling as it dived down to release another burst of iron hail? The trucks behind her, both for men and for shells? Or the heavy tankers for water? Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. What was more civilized than that? In the same way that she never got lost in a city, she could position all of the vehicles in her mind implicitly. Once again, the drumming of artillery shook the world. Once again, the clinking of brass shells hitting the ground sounded in Ciria¡¯s ears. Once again, Anassa¡¯s netting madly expanded for a moment, blocked all the shells, and once again shrunk. Ciria raised her radio. ¡°All units, fire sequentially, clockwise. Don¡¯t give her even a second¡¯s rest.¡± Ciria waited for a moment as her order went through, and then she heard the constant drumming. Unlike the ear-splitting bursts of before, now, it was the constant patter of heavy artillery. Constant drumming of guns, constant clinking of spent shells, constant explosions above Anassa and Neneria. Ciria raised her hands one again as she noticed a group of trucks stuck in the mud. The ground reformed underneath them, the mud became bricks, rubber wheels found traction on a hard surface and they drove off to resupply whatever battery they were assigned to. Anassa¡¯s sorcerers would try to make excursions every now and then. They would block the hails of gunfire, but ultimately, there were only four groups of them and Etala proved herself to be rather talented as a commander. She scattered her men, forced them to go to ground, and then slowly advance. And the advantage of the sorcerers was eliminated. It did not matter how many men they could cut down with a single snap of their fingers if they could not make out the men in the first place. When each of the teams of fifteen lost two or three, Ciria watched Anassa appear next to what must have been the team leaders and give an order. And from that moment, instead of trying to aggressively push, counterattack and exploit the fact that the UNN were extending themselves, they instead resigned themselves to a defensive strategy. Two teams served as a shield, maintaining a defensive barrier around Neneria and Anassa, and two teams served as a pike, which would prod and poke whatever man exposed themselves, but no longer ventured out too far past their support. The sky slowly turned to a purple, and then black. The stars came out and flashes of crimson would flicker like a candle trying to push the night away. And Ciria realised the disadvantage of night-time fighting. Maybe Etala didn¡¯t see it, although Etala wasn¡¯t on the frontlines. The great lamps, strong enough for each one to serve as a beacon, effectively blinded their night-sight. Yet they were needed for the manual loading of ammunition from trucks to tanks. Likewise, the vehicles transporting men in and wounded out of the fighting did the same. They would utterly ruin natural night-vision and resensitise men to light. And they would reflect off shiny metal. Shiny metal such as rifle barrels, whereas the dark coats of the sorcerers faded into the night sky. The only thing that was visible was the green glow of Neneria¡¯s ghastly energies pouring into the Goddess. It gave little ambience for how large it was though and the defenders stayed far away enough from it that it couldn¡¯t be used to silhouette them. Ciria rang Etala over the radio once again. ¡°We¡¯re blind out here. Issue a retreat Eta.¡± The worst was that the sorcerers did not seem to get tired. And Anassa herself was somehow recovering. How, Ciria had no damn clue. The battering of artillery against the woman¡¯s shield should have been constant, and yet it looked as if it had no effect! And Etala responded after a minute. ¡°Both Fortia and Maisara say that it is too important to keep pushing, and that it¡¯s all or nothing.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be left with nothing if this continues!¡± Ciria shouted. Etala took another few moments to respond. ¡°I¡¯ll pull infantry into defensive lines, your artillery is to keep shelling.¡± Ciria was glad no Divine was here to see the scowl. ¡°At Neneria, nowhere else!¡± ¡°WE CAN¡¯T SEE ANYTHING OUT HERE!¡± Etala took a deep breath before answering. ¡°The Forces will be here by noon. You¡¯re to keep pressuring so that Anassa can¡¯t recover. Maisara refuses to pull out, I will not have the first battle I lead result in the loss of a Pantheon member. You¡¯re shelling. It¡¯s my men anyway.¡± Ciria cursed to herself but didn¡¯t bother arguing. If Etala wanted shelling, she would get shelling. The drumming of artillery continued, the supporting choir of rolling trucks was punctuated by lyricists who barked orders. The gunfire was the high-pitched plucking off strings that would try to chase the thunderous, long noted trumpets of sorcery. No progress was made. Not from the combined forces of the White Pantheon and the UNN, not from Anassa or her sorcerers. For a while, Ciria was sure that even Maisara and Fer took a break for their duel to talk to each other, although the Goddess of Civilization knew that she simply didn¡¯t like Maisara and assumed the worst. It was when the night started to recede, when the darkness started to become a light purple and then a pale blue and the black-suited sorcerers had nothing to hide in that her mood improved. And then Etala¡¯s voice, buzzing over the radio, crushed all hope. ¡°Ciria! Ciria!¡± She yelled. ¡°Are you there?¡± ¡°I am.¡± Ciria responded. Etala did not sound good whatsoever. Had she been attacked? Although then, her voice should be more pained. Right now, it sounded unhurt, but it was madly panicked. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Our long-range radios just intercepted communications.¡± Ciria¡¯s golden eyes immediately narrowed. That was not good whatsoever. This battle could be won with just the strength they had, especially if Zerus, Sceo and Alkom would come with the day. Yet that was if the battle continued as it did. Ciria was not too worried about Anassa and Fer, they were mere walls to be beaten through. It was the architect who built those walls that worried her: Kassandora. ¡°And?¡± Ciria asked. ¡°I¡¯m rerouting the air-force, taking them off you!¡± Etala shouted. ¡°And the support troops should go to the coast!¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°We intercepted this communication, one second, the men are playing it-¡° Etala¡¯s voice suddenly cut off and was replaced with a man¡¯s deep voice that was permeated with electronic static. It wasn¡¯t impossible to figure out what he was trying to communicate though. ¡°All birds, do not respond. I repeat, all birds do NOT respond.¡± He took a pause and then continued. ¡°Sky Marshal has just given the order. All rules of engagement are forfeit. I repeat. There are no rules of engagement. Fly high and give them hell.¡± And the moment the man finished, Ciria heard it. The ferocious and feral screaming of jet engines. Too low a pitch to be UNN or White Pantheon planes. She turned to the ocean. Her jaw fell open, her cheeks drained pale and her eyes went wide. Silhouetted against the rising sun, more than a hundred aircraft burst out from behind the horizon. Neneria silently kept her heart agape as more and more souls entered. This many in such a short span of time, she had never even dreamed of. Eleven million. Chapter 294 – These Are (Not) Your Skies Fortia stepped forwards to block Allasaria¡¯s path, arms crossed and head tilted back so that she would be looking down her nose at the taller Goddess of Light. ¡°I¡¯ve only now just realised what you want to do.¡± ¡°I want to open the Gates, Fortia.¡± Allasaria said flatly. ¡°There is no other way.¡± ¡°You would be consigning Arda to another five centuries of vassalage.¡± ¡°I would be consigning Arda to a tomorrow.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re just going to give up and call for help immediately?¡± Fortia asked but Allasaria did not play in her games. She counterattacked with her own scathing response. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you fighting Neneria right now?¡± Allasaria said coldly and Fortia felt a chill run down her spine. That was a question she didn¡¯t want the answer for. It wasn¡¯t that she was afraid of death, but Neneria? Who would voluntarily risk their eternal soul? And just as Allasaria asked the question, Allasaria gave the answer: ¡°Coward.¡± Anassa stared at the sorcerers as they came crashing down upon the enemy forces once again. They had given her the needed respite from micromanaging several dozen individual copies of herself and Anassa felt her energies start to recover slowly, although it wasn¡¯t at any great speed. The ethereal energies rushing into Neneria had grown so wide that now two Anassas were needed to maintain the protective barrier around the woman which did not help either. She wasn¡¯t rested by any definition of the word, but her sweating had died down and she wasn¡¯t panting like a damn dog anymore. Maybe it was the break from exertion or maybe it was that nostalgic satisfaction at seeing the sorcerers she had trained herself come to her aid. They had launched themselves out of the two Raptor jets and they had descended upon the White Pantheon forces like an avalanche. They painted sorcery onto reality like true artists, utterly decimating the army surrounding them. Anassa did everything she could to catch her breath on the break, even as Fer and Maisara still duelled on the ground. And then, midway through the night, when the sorcerers pulled back behind Anassa¡¯s crimson and opaque barrier to shield themselves from the sporadic potshots taken by men obscured by the dark, Lyca flew up to Anassa. The Goddess of Sorcery stared down at the¡­ well, she supposed he was a man now and not a boy anymore. He wore the classic black uniform of Imperial Sorcerers, although Lyca had dropped his coat to the ground and undone most of the buttons on his shirt. If they weren¡¯t in a battle, Anassa would have taken him to the beating fields. But they were in a battle, and the man was pulling his weight. He pulled out a small metal tube, small enough to just about fit in his palm and looking like a tub of mints, from his pocket. ¡°Goddess Kassandora told me to bring you this once night fell.¡± He said shyly. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± He trailed off, and Anassa realised how quickly he was talking. ¡°Well, it¡¯s my fault, I¡¯ll take responsibility but in the battle, I got to assisting the others early. My apologies, my fault entirely, for not bringing it sooner. I should have and I¡¯ll make sure to follow orders immediately next time.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Anassa asked as she took the small tube and looked at the packaging: MisseM. Crimson eyes went from the packaging to Lyca. The man, with his dark hair and unshaven beginnings of a beard, launched into an explanation immediately. ¡°I have no clue.¡± Lyca said it so honestly that Anassa could believe him. A set of artillery shells exploding against Anassa¡¯s shield, that another Anassa supplied with power, silenced them for a moment. Lyca continued the moment the sound passed, the pupils of his eyes wide. ¡°But Goddess Kassandora told me to tell you that if you get tired, to take one. She said it should take about twenty to thirty minutes to kick in but from our experience, it¡¯s thirty to fifty.¡± Anassa stared at the little packet of MisseMs. ¡°And Fer doesn¡¯t need any?¡± She asked. ¡°Apparently, from what I¡¯ve heard, Goddess Fer does not get tired.¡± Lyca responded immediately. Anassa looked at him, he was sweating even though the night wasn¡¯t particularly warm, but he seemed sharp. His responses made sense, and they were instant too. ¡°I assume everyone has taken one?¡± Anassa asked. ¡°All of us. Ela felt a bit sick but I felt fine. I don¡¯t know about Fleur and Ed, but my team is fine.¡± Anassa sighed and put the packet of MisseMs into the pocket of her dress. She wasn¡¯t tired enough yet to need these supplements or whatever they were. ¡°You¡¯re dismissed.¡± She waved Lyca off and watched the man dart back to his team. Apart from receiving the MisseMs, the night went by without incident. They lost a few men to bullets that burst out of the darkness, but her sorcerers truly did not seem to get tired. No matter how long the night went, they moved as if they had just arrived to relieve Anassa and Fer. The Goddess of Sorcery fondled the packet in her pocket as she watched them. Frankly, apart from the sweating, the red cheeks and the wide eyes, they were sharper, they were faster and they were obviously more imaginative. The only critique Anassa could possibly give against them was the fact that every now and then, one of the sorcerers would fire a beam of sorcery either into the vacant air or the desolate ground. It was a slow grind, but once the standstill took-over and the battle lines formalized, then neither could the untiring sorcerers push out against the masses of lone soldiers submerged into the darkness of night, nor could the soldiers push through Anassa¡¯s shield. And then, dawn came. And just as Fer had said: Dusk, Dawn & Dawn, Kassandora had not disappointed. Dawn came and with dawn, Kassandora¡¯s air force crested the horizon. Silhouetted by the sun, they were like black arrowheads fired from an ocean away. Anassa let out a relaxed breath as she felt the din of artillery slow down slightly. No doubt whoever the commander was on the other side was reorganizing the forces and trying to pull the heavy guns away from the planes. Maybe spread them out. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. How much success that commander had, Anassa did not know. It couldn¡¯t have been too much though, Kassandora¡¯s black planes started to swerve and pull away, each one heading in its own direction. The large planes, with huge wings that had several engines each fixed to them, broke their column. The bomber at the front slowed down, the bombers in the rear sped up and they made a row of planes flying side by side. And ahead of them, the jets pulled ahead. Half shot off towards the ground, while the other half sped up towards the white-painted UNN planes that were still trying to do strafing runs against Anassa and her sorcerers. Anassa had seen the planes engage each other in the Invasion of Kirinyaa, she had seen them dance in the air, she had seen them pirouette and spin in the air, she had seen somersaults and rings. And now, the planes did nothing of the manner. The screaming of jet engines was overpowered by the howling of missiles. Anassa saw the tubes mounted underneath the wings of each plane, two on each wing. The planes slowed down for a moment, those missiles released. They had a mere instant of free-fall, and then their own engines engaged. Like brushes painting colourless white streaks of smoke in the air, they dashed across the cloudless blue sky of dawn. They chased like rabid wolves. Howling and wild, with sharp bends and turns that would have ripped a human apart. Some of the White Pantheon jets ran from them, some of accelerated to speeds that would have escaped even from Anassa, and some attempted their own dance of evasion. And the first missile hit. Anassa blinked in awe at the fireball. At the flaming wreckage falling down from the sky and towards the ground. At the hundreds of other pale trails in the sky. The second missile hit. The third. Number four and number ten. Twenty fireballs in the sky. Forty. Sixty. And the UNN¡¯s air force, which had been such a headache for Anassa just moments ago, now was gone. Eviscerated and blown apart by homing missile. A squadron of planes turned to circle north, they moved like agile sparrows, turning and twisting in the air and flying hire to avoid the guns that were shooting at them from the ground. Anassa was about to give her own sorcerers an order to support when she saw the row of huge bombers. With four engines each and a massive wingspan, they were closer to flying boats with wings rather than planes. Anassa squinted as she looked up and she saw bomb-bays slowly open on the undersides of those planes. And she watched the bombs start to drop in sequence. One by one, each bomber must have released more than a hundred of them. They whistled through the air as they tumbled down. Whistled like high-pitched flutes being played with nothing but utter fury. And then those whistles were smashed apart. One explosion marked the beginning of the bombing. And the rest of the bombs followed in a line. As if a carpet of napalm jelly and orange fire was being unfurled on the muddy ground around them. Anassa watched from the surface, where she saw the flames grow past the height of a house as they roared upwards. And another Anassa saw it from the air, where she watched a rug of flame be rolled out onto the ground. The fires cracked, they pushed up hot air, and then they hid themselves behind the filthy black smoke of napalm. To the south, to the west and to the north. The huge bombers operating in packs of seven each, slowly started to angle away and return east, to the ocean. Anassa watched in awe, she even let the main barrier that shielded her, the sorcerers, Fer and Maisara from the artillery above die for a moment. Nothing was firing right now anyway. Oh. Maisara. Anassa almost forgot about the Goddess of Order fighting against her sister. She looked down at the ground and rolled her eyes. Both Fer and Maisara stood some distance away from each other, and both were watching the flames with gazes full of awe. Anassa gave herself a wicked smile. Fer would not like her kill being stolen, but frankly, if she didn¡¯t want her prey to be hunted right from under her nose, then she should not give breaks like this. Anassa snapped her fingers. Lightning flashed. It arced sideways across the sky, a great spiderweb of silver string that made the light blue sky of daytime seem almost dull in comparison. Anassa snapped her fingers and instead of attacking Maisara, a barrier once again materialised around her. Tighter, more condensed, Anassa kept her hands outstretched as she made sure to include her sorcerers in the protective bubble. It had gone up at the very last moment possible, the next instant, Anassa felt electricity impact her barrier and spread out as it diffused out onto the crimson sorcery. From the angle it had hit her shield, she knew that if she was even a few heartbeats slower, that blast of lightning would have struck her square on. A dozen KAF planes started falling to the ground. Unlike the UNN planes hit by missiles, these did not explode nor did they make any magnificent plume of tarry smoke on the way down. Instead, they simply fell like any other great chunk of metal. A few of the pilots managed to activate the ejection seats, the glass casing of their cockpit hissed, burst, and the pilots themselves shot from their doomed cocoons. And as the jets of KAF started slamming into the ground, each one exploding into a searing fireball, that Anassa saw where the lightning had come from. She had worked it out before, but the visual was a confirmation that turned solid gut instinct into stable certainty. Zerus, Sceo, and Alkom descended from the sky. The God of Lightning in a blinding, pure white shawl hemmed with blue. The old look of Great War battle dress, not the new White Pantheon shawl. Alkom wore a shawl of orange and gold, Sceo a complex dress of blues that looked like velvets weaved by the winds. Sceo guided the wind with her hands. A single finger spinning by her side started to make the dust a mile below her spin in the same fashion, as if it was the beginnings of a tornado. Alkom raised his arms, his orange shawl turned red as it was bathed in the searing heat of the sun. A ball of fire rose out of his palms and started to expand above his head. It was only the size of a dog right now, but Anassa had seen him during the Great War, the man could call forth a star in a matter of minutes. And Zerus, in his white and pale blue. His eyes crackled with lightning and electricity danced across his fingertips. He floated in the air as clouds started to condense around his back. They boomed with ear-splitting thunder, they turned dark, and they sent cascades of lightning forking down to the ground. Zerus¡¯ voice boomed so loudly it made the thunder into a mere supportive choir. ¡°These are not your skies.¡± Neneria closed her eyes and took heavy breathes. She did not bother looking outside anymore, this soul of storms around her had become difficult to manage. It wasn¡¯t merely a case of leading all the souls to her now, it was a case of making sure they managed to find sanctuary within her heart quickly enough as to not block the entry for others. Out of her own sheer curiosity, she counted how many the Legion had drafted over the past three days: Twenty-three million. Chapter 295 – Modern Stimulants Fortia knew what she was doing. Fortia knew exactly what she was doing. Fortia had lived for far too long to be able to lie to herself. And Fortia knew that as she looked at the reports coming in from the Rilian front of the Epan War, she was avoiding dealing with Neneria. She knew that she was running away right now. She was avoiding responsibility. She was doing everything she could to pretend that she didn¡¯t need to go and stand up against that monster. And frankly, Fortia knew that it would work, this was only a waiting game. She simply had to find enough meaningless issues here to occupy her time for Neneria to finish. It was nothing but cowardice exposing its entire tantalizing and naked form to her. But frankly, her self-admittance of cowardice did not hurt. It was just honesty. Fear was a natural part of life, humanity would have long gone extinct if they had never met fear. And Fortia had listened to her fear plenty of time before. It was because of fear that she did not lose her life in pointless heroics trying to stand up against the titans of the Great War. It was because of fear that she had stayed away from Olephia. It was because of her fear that the Pantheon had lasted a millennia, because if she was had just a feather¡¯s weight more bravery, she would have been brave enough to openly rebel against Allasaria eight centuries ago. It wasn¡¯t the cowardice. That, she almost found pleasant once she realised it. It was the fact that Fortia had not stopped Maisara from heading alone. It was the fact that Maisara no doubt thought she would get reinforcements. Anassa snapped her fingers and forced more power into her barrier as Zerus¡¯ lightning jumped from cloud to cloud. She felt the electricity leap into her sorceries and felt the hairs on her head stand up for a moment as she poured more power into that barrier. If she had stopped, the shield would have popped already, even if all the sorcerers worked together, they would be able to withstand one, maybe two strikes. Not this constant storm that descended from above. Another Anassa threatened to step out and Sceo¡¯s howling winds threatened to through her off balance. And Anassa saw Alkom¡¯s sun too. That sun would have to be withstood too, and without some trick, Anassa already knew that these two would overwhelm her. She took a deep breath as Sceo waved her arms around. The dust on the muddy ground started to pick up and swirl as Sceo called upon all the winds in the sky to descend and bring forth a hurricane here. Anassa took a deep breath as she pulled upon her reserves of strength that could only be dug out with the supporting shovel of adrenaline, but she already knew it wouldn¡¯t enough. If she got into a better state of mind, she knew she could do it, but just as the mortals sorcerers could never defeat her because they could not visualize themselves actually defeating Anassa. Anassa, as powerful as she was, simply could not delude her that she was powerful enough to spend an entire day holding off an army, and then fighting Zerus, Sceo and Alkom at the same time. And Anassa remembered how her own sorcerers had fought when they had arrived. The fact they were still standing, still flying and still supplementing Anassa¡¯s barriers with their own was evidence enough that whatever Kassandora had given them worked. Another copy of Anassa appeared next to the one that carried the pills, she dug her arm into the pockets of the dress as the first Anassa, arms extended forwards, kept on channelling her strength into the barrier. One Anassa pulled the small metal tube of MisseM out of the other Anassa¡¯s pockets. It clicked open and Anassa tipped a single pill into her hand. It was the colour of dirty dishwasher, and as large as a sizable mint. Carved onto the¡­ whatever it was, was a set of small letters: Anassa dose. Anassa smiled to herself, that was classic Kassie. No doubt it was already perfectly weighed out for her. Anassa threw it into her mouth and bit into the sweet. If a toxic laboratory could have a taste, it would be that. Anassa had never tasted something so¡­ so artificial. It was bitter and sour at the same time and Anassa quickly swallowed it to get rid of the taste. Maybe she could not defeat them right now. But she was absolutely certain she could hold them off for long enough for that pill to take effect. The Goddess of Sorcery poured power into her barrier, she dragged out whatever she could from herself. Yet after five minutes, Zerus¡¯ lightning started to make cracks in her crimson barrier. After ten, Alkom¡¯s sun, grown to the size of a barn, smashed into the shield. After fifteen Anassa started to dematerialize more and more of her copies to conserve her power. After twenty, the sorcerers were doing far more than pulling their own weight, they had grown confident in themselves and that improved their abilities. After twenty-five though, even the sorcerers started to grow, their movements got slower and no amount of the drugs would help beat the natural fatigue of bodies pushed to their natural limits. But after thirty, Anassa stopped for a moment as she felt her cheeks suddenly turn hot, sweat burst out over her skin, and her body suddenly grow hot. Anassa felt the MisseMs hit. That was the only way she could describe the feeling, to say it came on suddenly would he an understatement, it hit so hard it may as well have been Fer¡¯s fist punching into her stomach. It was as if an avalanche of energy had crashed into her, and somehow, she managed to swallow every last drop of it. She looked up at the skies. At Alkom¡¯s Sun, twenty minutes ago it seemed so magnificent and blinding and now, it was almost small. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. A full troop of a hundred Anassas appeared in the air besides the Goddess of Sorcery. Each one an independent entity yet each one was part of Anassa the whole. And each one was red-cheeked, pupils dilated and practically radiating heat as whatever was in the little MisseM vanished whatever idea Anassa had of tiredness in her mind. In a single moment, it was as if she had just been asleep for a full week and now jumped out of bed, ready for action. More than that even¡­ all the Anassas took a step forwards. All of them moved into the air, far above Zerus and Sceo and Alkom. Above the meagre brigade of mages they had brought with them. Above the collection of Gods that were reinforcing the reinforcements. All the Anassas collectively snapped their fingers. Her sorcerers barriers were shattered as her own took their place. Thick castle walls of crimson, subsisting entirely on the pure confidence of Anassa¡¯s mind. And right now, with her delusions amplified by a heart-attack dose of whatever was in that pill, Anassa did not feel like the Gatekeeper of Divinity. Nor the Gatekeeper of the Sky. Frankly, both were titles too low for her. Anassa burst out in a mad laughter as she stared down at those little insects. They duplicated in her vision as she heard angels chanting her name. ¡°Whose skies Zerus?¡± An Anassa shouted, or maybe no Anassa said anything at all and the Goddess of Sorcery was merely hearing things. ¡°Whose skies!?¡± Anassa shouted again as more and more of herself was brought into reality. Gatekeeping the Sky? Gatekeeping Divinity? What a farce! Any Divine with half her ego could claim to do either! It was time to take a step further. Elassa wanted to show off her strength and crack continents? Very well, magic had always been a brutish art, naturally it would be able to spill a bucket of power onto reality. But sorcery? Sorcery was a far finer art, it wouldn¡¯t do well for sorcery. Sorcery was a fine pencil that could be wielded only by masters and no one else! If there was something sorcery could not do, then Anassa did not know it! It was time to find a task worthy of sorcery, and Anassa knew exactly what it was! Existence itself was to be gatekept. Lyca stopped as he felt the surge of power from all around him. The hairs stood up on Fer¡¯s head as she pulled away from Maisara. The Goddess of Order felt it too. She jumped away, Fer made sure to stay in between Neneria and Maisara, but she appreciated the break. And she knew that if she appreciated it, Maisara must be longing for one. The woman had slowed down by even the smallest amount during their brawl. ¡°Wait!¡± Maisara shouted. ¡°Break!¡± Fer turned and raised an eyebrow at the Goddess of Order. If it was anyone else, then she would have shrugged it off. But if there was one thing Maisara liked to make sure that everyone knew, it was that not once in her life had she ever told a lie. ¡°How long?¡± ¡°Ten minutes!¡± Maisara shouted and Fer agreed on the spot. ¡°I¡¯ll hold you to that!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never lied!¡± Fer smiled at the woman¡¯s own reminder of her honesty. If anyone else said it, then Fer would have assumed it was a lie that tried too hard. But not Maisara, Maisara simply had an ego and an inferiority complex that these honourable veils tried to obscure. ¡°Very well!¡± Fer said. ¡°I believe you!¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± Maisara shouted back. Neneria gave the Goddess of Order one final look as the woman put some more distance between herself and Fer, and then dematerialized her axe. It was too for Fer to make a lightning strike that would connect before the woman summoned her weapon, but like at this distance Fer could not be taken by surprise either. Of Beasthood turned to look at Neneria. Her sister was still drafting the dead, and there was still no sign of slowing down. From the ground and from the air, the ethereal energy left behind by the massed souls pulsed as it released a pale white-green light. And Fer looked up at the sky. And she knew immediately that Anassa had taken something. More than two hundred copies of her sister existed simultaneously, each one moving as if she was her own person. They usually did that, but not in the way they were acting now. Anassa would work with Anassa; they were all part of one great whole that would work together and fight together. Now though, some Anassas were madly shrieking in laughter. Others sent of beams flying into the ground, carving very targeted, very controlled but at the same time, very random ravines into the mud. Fer narrowed her eyes at that. Was the woman hallucinating? More shot off beams in random directions through the sky. They spiralled off through the air, then transformed into various animals. One became a fog of butterflies, another a mighty crimson snake that grew winds and dived past the horizon into the flames of napalm. Another became a magnificent peacock. A swan. A great lion. It was as if Anassa had brought forth an entire menagerie conjured entirely of sorcery. And some of the Anassas found their targets. They turned to Zerus and Alkom and Sceo and Fer¡¯s ears twitched as they heard the collective, frantic snapping of fingers. The three Divines in the sky did not wait for the woman, they fled immediately. Red beams chased them as lightning to match Zerus¡¯ spread outwards from several of the Goddesses of Sorcery. But it was much thicker, as if Anassa had taken the electricity and outlined it in red. Another Anassa snapped two of her own sorcerers in half. Yet another created a storm of red energies on the ground. A third looked directly at Fer and the Goddess of Beasthood felt a chill run down her spine. And half of the Anassa¡¯s disappeared. The Anassa looking at Fer took a step forwards, appeared on the ground, and vomited. A half of that half disappeared. And then the rest did. Anassa fell to her knees, her eyes tired and she made a soundless mumble. Anassa vomited again, and Anassa fainted. Fer turned to Maisara. She cracked a nervous smile. Frankly, the last thing she wanted to do was continue her duel with the Goddess of Order, instead, she wanted to rush and go check up on whether Anassa was alive or what was happening to her. Maisara stepped forward in her gleaming silver armour, greataxe held at the ready. ¡°That was something.¡± She shouted. ¡°That was.¡± Fer agreed as she turned to face the Goddess. Zerus, Sceo & Alkom stopped their retreat. They turned back around to look at Anassa convulsing on the mud. Maisara¡¯s greataxe re-appeared in her hands. Anassa out of the fight. Neneria better be ready soon. Neneria finished her draft. She felt the energies around her settle down. Her heart once again closed. She counted the dead that had been drafted. It was the first time that the number hadn¡¯t come to her immediately and she had to consciously bring it to the front of her mind. Thirty-three million. One hundred and seventy-seven thousand. Thirteen. Chapter 296 – Storm of Souls Power defines one¡¯s status in our hierarchy. Possess no power at all and you will be ignored for it is your servitude that is the prize that those with power brawl over. Possess too little and feel the paranoia of seeing the game at play yet being unable to meaningfully participate in it. The best manipulators come from here for it is the constant vigilance of guarding against those more powerful serves as the best teacher in our game. I have no shame in admitting that this was me before I was adopted into the ranks of Daughter-Goddess. Kassandora exists in this realm as well. Possess just the right amount and you will be glamourized as nobility. Yet this glamourization is others mere satisfaction at your position. You are not powerful enough to force your decisions to the forefront of discussion, thus anything given to you is a mere result of bargain or pity. Those with less and those with more will both clamour over your allegiance because ultimately, this is an ambition-less level of strength. It is high enough to be content, yet not high to dream to match the greatest of us. Possess too much and you will be a threat. Although the bear can pick off wolves one-by-one, the wolves, when organized, will be able to out-hunt the bear. It will not be a direct engagement, it will be the wolves clearing the entire region of sustenance to eventually starve the bear out. This level of strength naturally inclines one to isolation as there is no reason to deal with the masses of powerless plebeians when one of you is worth a dozen of them. Why play along with their fancies? Why bother to entertain them? What are they needed for anyway, the decisions of the powerful already have the best enforcers: the decision makers themselves. These three categories are a much better form of categorizing Divinity than Maisara¡¯s system, naturally they are. Whilst I can give reasoning of Maisara being blinded by the luxuries that her position bestows upon her, I can talk of how the Abstract-Force split exists only to resign Allasaria to a rank lower than Maisara because of a childish tantrum, I will not. I have precisely one point to make: I am smarter than Maisara. That is enough. These are the four options, all living beings fall into one of these fields: none, too little, just right, too much. There are no exceptions. It is ironic then that I correct myself immediately, but there is another option. An option that only a select few can dream of and those that are in such positions rarely strive to further themselves. After all, why bother when their lot in life is already grand. Even rarer is for someone to successfully clamber to the top of the mountain: Possess so much power that competition is worthless, victory is assured by default: No matter how many bears the wolves manage to defeat, the dragon will still burn the forest down. Even amongst Great War Divines, there is only Olephia in this category. But this is an exception, not a rule. To pretend to be able to match Olephia is arrogant delusion and nothing else. I suppose I am imaginative enough to picture Neneria reaching the zenith too. - Excerpt from ¡°A Proper Documentation of Divinity¡±, written by Goddess Malam, of Hatred. Neneria took a deep breath as she finally opened her eyes again. She had lost track of time. How long had she been in there for? It had to be days. There were sorcerers here now, and planes madly escaping to the east. Dark eyes inspected the landscape as a dozen fairies appeared to form a crown on Neneria¡¯s head. Neneria felt her dress start to rise as other ghosts appeared around her to gently lift the black silk¡¯s hem and stop it from getting itself in the dirt. Neneria flexed her fingers, she felt¡­ powerful. Her own vision was only mediocre but fairies had eyes like eagles and they quickly reported back to their Goddess who was who and what was where. On the dark ground ahead of them, the two figures were Fer and Maisara. Those, Neneria could make out, Fer was unmistakable with her size and mane of gold, and Maisara was just as easy to spot with the great axe. Half-way in between Neneria and Fer was Anassa, lying on the ground in a dress of red. Her sister got to her knees, she hurled up whatever her stomach had within it, and collapsed again. And above, the sorcerers who were watching Anassa in fear. Beyond them, three Divines. To Neneria, they were mere blips in the sky. But the fairies saw them, and they told Neneria who she was looking at. Zerus as the tallest amongst them, Sceo was by his side, holding his hand, and Alkom was the one holding a ball of fire above his head. And Neneria immediately understood what had to be done. They had come to try and stop her? Did they now? The Goddess of Death started to call upon her Legion. It wasn¡¯t a case of summoning ghosts individually anymore. Frankly, she had too many bodies to get through that. No, something greater had to be done. Neneria swayed, she felt her knees shake for a moment as a surge of power ran from her feet, up her legs, and along her spine. She looked up and she felt awe at her own display of strength. Above her, winds were starting to swirl and crackle with pale miasmas. One ghost fell from the sky, it tore a hole into that blue ocean above her and it pulled onto material reality as if it was dragging down theatre curtains along with it. Neneria¡¯s feet lifted off the ground as she felt the pull of her own power and she looked up at the three Divines in the air again. It was time to reveal to the White Pantheon just exactly what it meant to go up against the Goddess of Humanity¡¯s most terrible demesne. Kassandora moved Kavaa¡¯s marker over to the UNN as she stared at her map of the world. Olephia guarding the Paraideisus Gate. Arascus rebuilding Kirinyaa into an arms factory for the world. Iniri finishing the rebuilding of Nanbasa. Iliyal in Epa. Ilwin and Sara in Karaina. Now the four in the UNN would return. It was over. Check and mate Allasaria. Fer stopped as the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood up straight. If it was one of Olephia¡¯s massive atomic explosions, if it was Baalka¡¯s ravaging diseases, if it was Irinika calling upon the eternal night or if it was Arascus unleashing a hail of blades, Fer would have turned and gone for the kill on Maisara. She had seen all of those things before. She had never seen this before. One ghost fell from above. It pulled the whole sky with it, as reality was merely a theatre curtain that could be taken down at will. The ghost screamed as it fell, leaving a gash through the air that bled with the light-green ethereal energies of ghosts. Neneria rose higher into the air, her arms spread wide, her black nails tearing claw wounds through the winds. And those claw wounds started to expand as they got wider. A finger poked out of them. Then a hand. Two hands. An arm. They pushed. A man¡¯s head appeared. Then a woman¡¯s. Another man. A child. Everyone and anyone that had been lost in the damage of Continent Cracking. They moaned, they started falling out of those tears. It was a slow exit at first, as they had to be squeezed through the tight opening into this world. And then another would push. And another. Another. From the slow, sporadic rain of phantoms to a steady stream and then a roaring river of souls that started to build up mounds of barely moving ethereal bodies around Neneria¡¯s feet. And from above, Fer felt her eyes widen. Unholy winds swirled in a hurricane as cursed lightning cracked overhead. The initial ghost had made a cut between this world and Neneria¡¯s, and then another one fell out. And another. This wasn¡¯t the controlled deployment of the Dead Legion, where soldiers would step into reality as they rallied for their Goddess. Instead, Neneria cracked the dam of her demesne and let it all spill out. The bodies, each one completely soundless and silent even as they fell, fell like raindrops in a storm of souls. Fer turned and looked to Maisara, the woman stared at that wound, her mouth open. Fer merely stepped away. It was rare for the wolf to let the boar run, but when they stood before the grand lion, there was no reason for the wolf to try and steal the lion¡¯s glory. Neneria turned away from Maisara. Now that the Goddess of Death had woken up, the Goddess of Order was nothing but a mere triviality. Even before, there was nothing Maisara could do to try and parry an ethereal ghost. And now? If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Puny little Goddess of Order. Neneria had never liked the girl, always so argumentative and confident in her stubbornness even though she was nothing more than a malleable abstract. Didn¡¯t she know she was like clay? To be shaped and twisted by the needs and whims of civilization? But if Neneria never liked Maisara, then she had always hated the three Forces up above. Of Lightning, Of the Sky and Of the Sun. Three egregious little upstarts that thought they had suddenly become the grandest demesnes nature could produce. Worse than Maisara easily, far, far worse than Maisara. These were spectators that should return to whatever mountain they crawled down from. What jokes! What puny little warriors! Neneria remembered in the past, when Divines like that would bless the weaponry of heroes with the various elements under their control. Maisara was a tool to be used by humanity. Zerus, Sceo and Alkom were mere trivialities in the grand scheme of things. And Neneria? Neneria was the Goddess of Death. Ageless, from before the time of the calendar, she had long thought that she had seen everything the world had to offer. The Legion had grown to a size where she was undefeatable by a single Divine long ago too, and the world had become stagnant in Pantheon Peace. This age had come to fear and avoid Neneria, they could never run of course, Death came for everyone in the end and Neneria was a patient Goddess indeed. But when she felt like this? She saw Zerus, Sceo and Alkom stare down at her in horror. Grand temples? Blessed weapons? Enchantments for armours? Great cults of fanatics? Even Divine Orders? Gifts and offerings and blessings? And what was it even for? So that they could pantomime at importance whilst they still breathed? For just that? It was time to remind these wretched little upstarts why entire civilizations had been dedicated to Death and Death alone. Zerus stared down from the heavens as Neneria rose further into the air. She wasn¡¯t flying, instead the bodies of the damned kept on piling up below her. They rose into the air and they carried their Goddess up. Higher and higher Neneria rose, black hair and black dress whipping about in the wind, but black eyes full of nothing but pure spite and malice were locked on Zerus. ¡°Are we retreating?¡± Sceo asked. ¡°Give it a shot at least!¡± Alkom shouted from the other side. Zerus felt the awesome heat, controlled and directed away from them as it was, warm his side and shimmer the air. ¡°Give it a shot Sceo.¡± Zerus said to the love of his life. ¡°To see what we¡¯re dealing with at least.¡± Now that they had failed, the least they could do was return and start to plan. Zerus mentally kicked himself that he had not come faster. Why did he even bother waiting so long for Fortia? The woman had simply turned tail and ran! And that was that! Zerus spread his arms out to the side, palms facing forwards, and then he brought them forwards in a huge, ear-splitting clap as lightning cascaded like tears of shame from his eyes. Sceo swung her arms forwards and the typhoon behind them, the one had been slowly overwhelming Anassa¡¯s barriers with a constant of mud and stone and dirt, roared upwards. It was throwing the debris quickly enough to cut men apart, Sceo had managed to down a few of the sorcerers just through that whirlwind. It launched upwards and arced like a great rainbow of muds and rocks and debris left behind by flooded cities. And then it howled in a high-pitched screech as it crashed down upon the woman. And Alkom swung his arms downwards. The ball of fire in his hands, the size of a castle, slowly descended to the ground like a blazing moon about to set. Fire jumped from the summoned star as it slowly moved downwards. Alkom kept pouring more power into it even as it descended, he had to be, because that great flame only grew larger and larger as it descended upon Neneria. Through it all, Zerus saw Neneria. And his heart sank. He would have preferred Anassa¡¯s howling laughter. Fer¡¯s roaring or Kassandora¡¯s smug pride when she revelled in her victory. He would even take Irinika looking at him as if he were dirt rather than that cold gaze utter hatred Neneria wore. There was no smile, no satisfaction, no warmth, her cheeks were pale, her eyes were unblinking and she rose higher to meet the three attacks. And behind her, melded out of the bodies of the dead, stitched together like some abomination, a scythe burst from the mountain of souls. Neneria kept her gaze fixed on the utter posers above her. She was too old for games like this, and she was too old to lie to herself. She presumed that every Divine which had existed in an age before the Great War needed that honesty, the Great War had killed off those who overestimated their abilities and it had revealed real capabilities to those who underestimated them. But Neneria was far older than these Forces. She had survived the Great War, she had fled from the White Pantheon, she had evaded capture for a millennium. She had done it and she had succeeded. She succeeded because she was better. It wasn¡¯t a case of needing admiration. Neneria cared little for that, all came to admire Death eventually. There wasn¡¯t a soldier who did not pray for her mercy on the battlefield. But it was the lack of recognition that made her grit her teeth. She still remembered back at the Arikan International Congress meeting, where Saksma had questioned her power. What had the world come to when the new breed of National Divines somehow thought themselves comparable to Death? What had the world come to when mere Forces like Lightning and the Sun and the Sky thought they could soar over Neneria? Olephia had been unstoppable in the Great War, but it was Neneria that was most feared. A millennium of stagnation made these Divines forget what fear was. It was up to Neneria to remind them. Neneria made no sound, nor the horde of souls pouring from the skies make a sound. When Death¡¯s scythe, as tall as a skyscraper yet malformed out of ghosts stitched together, burst from the mountain of souls beneath her feet, it too did so in silence. The wind screamed in its wailing pitches. The sun roared with heat. The lightning laughed with crackling electricity. And Neneria¡¯s scythe swung forwards in silence. Neneria felt the lightning touch her. It raced through her body. It incinerated her heart. It fried her nerves. Neneria devoured a single soul from her mountain. And Neneria was alive again. A huge chunk of metal, some part of a girder, smashed into Neneria and tore the woman in two. Neneria devoured a single soul from her mountain. And Neneria was alive again. The sun crackled and set her alight. She burnt to a crisp. Neneria devoured a single soul from her mountain. And Neneria was alive again. She had more than thirty-four million lives. Let them try. At this rate, they could be at this for a decade, each time Neneria died, her body would be swallowed up by the souls and a vessel for her immortal soul would clamber out of Thirty-four million lives she had, and they had one. The scythe kept on moving towards the deities. Alkom¡¯s sun was the first to vanish. Then Sceo¡¯s wind stopped howling. Finally, Zerus¡¯ lightning stopped its incessant flashing. Neneria was almost disappointed. They had actually run. ¡°Drop anchors.¡± Admiral Abert Nintz said then repeated himself as he looked through the window of the command bridge in awe, ¡°give the message to all ships, drop anchors immediately. Don¡¯t even get close¡±. He had sailed full speed ahead, pushing the ships to speeds that the Ausans had thought impossible. The engines were overheating, the pipes were rumbling, the gears in the lower decks were screaming from exertion. Goddess Kassandora had wanted speed and ordered for him to come and assist Goddesses Fer, Neneria and Anassa, and he had beaten even the target she had set. And yet now, even though it seemed as if the ships were threatening to explode under their fatigue, they had still been too slow. On the land in the distance, a giant glowing green snake had risen out of the ground. A snake that was almost opaque, and its edges were fluid, as if it was a moving mass of smaller entities. It had roared upwards into a storm of what Admiral Nintz could only presume was magic. A scythe had burst from it, the tool had swung even higher. And then that ball of flame, the lightning and the tornado had all disappeared. The scythe did not dematerialize, it fell apart into tens of thousands of different bodies that were swallowed up by that rising snake. And then, the snake roared and it came crashing back down to the ground. Neneria turned and looked down. Those three despicable posers had fled. And she saw Maisara standing there, a little ant clad in silver. The woman had backed away some distance, but she would not get away. She could not fly and this was the White Pantheon. They did not have the sisterhood that Neneria had with Arascus¡¯ other daughters. Neneria directed the mountain below her feet towards the Goddess of Order. There was no Leona to predict this. There was no Allasaria to come at the last moment. There was no Elassa with an army of mages to mount a defence. There wasn¡¯t even a Fortia throw her spear and try to slow Neneria down. Maisara dug her heels into the ground. Her axe disappeared. She spread her legs wide and held her arms apart. She took a deep breath and tasted the cool wind blowing in from the seaside one last time. Frankly, she understood why Fortia had not come. The risk was too great. If she arrived right now, then she was simply throwing her life away. Maisara understood perfectly, there was no blame to be laid at Fortia¡¯s feet. Yet no matter how well she understood, she was still disappointed. At least she would die on her feet. Neneria licked her lips as she hooked Maisara¡¯s holy soul and reeled it back into her own heart. - - - End of Arc 9: Death Draft - - - Chapter 297 – A Double Dose A direct strike on Arcadia. A direct strike on Olympiada. The Pantheon¡¯s Invasion of Kirinyaa defeated. The Pantheon itself shattered. Epa ablaze after separation. Leona dead. Atis made part of the Legion. The weapon Divines freed. The Epan Nationals on the brink of joining. A continent cracked. Neneria gorging on tens of millions. A continental Divine defeated. Arascus stood up and stopped reminiscing about the achievements that had happened. He had seen things like this play out before. They would score another two or three victories. They would push the Pantheon to the breaking point. And worlds would collide. At least this time it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise. Fer sniffed the air as Raptor One shot back off towards the east. The moon was rising from that direction as the sky set. Stars were coming out too, made brighter by the total lack of lights on the grand expanse save for a few torches that the sorcerers were waving around. A few of their groups were laughing. One started a camp fire. A few others were dancing. The only other sources of light were the two dozen ships in the distance. From here, Fer could see that they had great cannons similar to what the Binturongs had been equipped with. The only difference to the land vehicles was that these barrels were mounted two or three to a turret. Those ships, tall towers in the centre of each one, floated like tiny fortresses in the middle of the water. But Fer pulled her eyes away from the ocean as she looked up. The smell revealed who had just jumped out of Raptor One before Fer¡¯s keen eyes spotted the woman. Cool yet bitter, cold and harsh, like mint leaves that had been smacked about in black pepper. A very distinctive smell for Kavaa, although most powerful Divines had smells that were very distinctive. By Fer¡¯s side, Neneria smelled an unpeeled orange. At least, the ambience of her character tried to penetrate itself from her usual smell: a reeking, unwashed wardrobe that had not been opened in a decade. And Anassa. Anassa was in such a sorry state right now that Fer couldn¡¯t even get a whiff of the woman¡¯s usual distinctive traces of terribly spicy honey. Instead, she simply smelled like sweat, vomit, mud and stomach acid. Fer looked down at her sister again. Anassa had tried to stand, but she had fallen onto her knees and was throwing up her insides out again. Another splash meant that she threw up more acid from her stomach. Neneria stared down at their sickly sister too and sighed. ¡°Shut.¡± Anassa managed to get one word out as she greedily drank the air. ¡°Up!¡± And she collapsed onto her side again, sweating and breathing heavily. ¡°We didn¡¯t say anything.¡± Fer said as she looked up. ¡°The doctor¡¯s here though.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Anassa said weakly. ¡°Who¡­ called?¡± ¡°Not me.¡± Fer replied, she looked to Neneria and the Goddess of Death shrugged as she shook her head, then pointed to the group of sorcerers. ¡°Them probably.¡± ¡°See Ana.¡± Fer said. ¡°Even you have people who care about you!¡± ¡°Ha ha.¡± Anassa sarcastically replied, she closed her eyes and panic sparked for a moment within Fer. A listen revealed that her heart was still beating very hard and very steady, and a quick sniff revealed that she was still alive, still sweating and simply not enjoying herself. ¡°I can take it.¡± She said. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± And she threw up again. Neneria looked much too happy with the situation. ¡°It¡¯s what?¡± The Goddess of Death said as she knelt down. ¡°What is it Ana?¡± Anassa opened those crimson eyes of hers. They stared at Neneria, then jumped to Fer. Fer whistled, yawned, and took a step back. Of Sorcery realised the tacit permission and sprang upwards in a groan of explosive yet delirious movements. Neneria had never been fast, and the most reaction Neneria could do was simply gawk in surprise as Anassa launched her entire body at her sister. Of Death managed to straighten and just about get away, but Anassa managed to grab the black hem of Neneria¡¯s dress. ¡°Don¡¯t Ana.¡± Immediately, Neneria resorted to begging. ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± Anassa did not have a shred of mercy in her bones though, and so Anassa wiped her sickly mouth onto Neneria¡¯s dress. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± She said. ¡°It is passi¡­¡± And once again Anassa collapsed as Neneria looked down at her dress with sulking eyes. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to get it dirty.¡± Of Death said. ¡°Sorry but¡­¡± Fer decided to step in. The social aptitude of either Neneria or Anassa made every interaction with them an exercise in misery. ¡°Now you have no excuse not to wash.¡± Fer made her tone light and joking. Frankly, she didn¡¯t even mind taking care of these girls. It was nice when they smiled. Neneria looked at Fer utterly defeated. ¡°I¡­¡± She said as Fer interrupted her immediately. ¡°I know a place.¡± Fer said. ¡°In Kirinyaa¡­¡± Fer trailed off. She knew of no such place, but how hard would it be to find one on the internet? ¡°Trust me, you¡¯ll like it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like getting my hair wet.¡± Neneria said as Fer put her arm around her sister. Neneria would never admit it, but she liked physical contact. It was so obvious that Fer did not understand how the rest of them missed it, immediately, the woman sighed and leaned into Fer. ¡°She got my hair wet too!¡± Anassa shouted from the ground. And again, she vomited. ¡°You¡¯re a big girl who doesn¡¯t sulk.¡± Fer said. Anassa needed to be smacked down every now and then, it was just that sort of person who demanded everything in the hope that she would be told no. ¡°Neneria is lovely though.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Neneria said from Fer¡¯s shoulder. Fer was taller, but not by much, Neneria had always been tall. It made sense for such a grand demesne as hers. ¡°Ughhhh¡­.¡± Anassa said as Fer left Neneria where she was and came close to give Anassa some pampering. Whether Anassa needed it or not, Fer didn¡¯t know, she just felt it was unfair that she had just been nice to Neneria and not to Anassa. ¡°There there.¡± Fer said as she placed her hand on Anassa¡¯s back. ¡°There there. I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Fuck off.¡± Anassa said and Fer kept on rubbing the woman¡¯s back. Anassa had always been prickly and frankly, Fer could not imagine her sister meaning it. The sudden cease in Anassa shaking and her breathing slowing down was evidence enough that she meant it. Fer rubbed Anassa¡¯s back in the same way she would stroke a dog as she looked up and saw Kavaa open a parachute in mid-air. The Goddess of Health let the cloth slow her fall, bring her to roughly the height of the ground, and then she released her backpack and dropped the rest of the distance. Her black coat, long enough to reach past her knees, flew behind her like a cape as she hit the mud and stood up. Those silver eyes flicked from Fer to everyone around. To the sorcerers, to the ships in the distance, to Maisara¡¯s corpse on the ground. The woman¡¯s soul had been stolen, although she died without a single wound. To the hills in the distance, Kavaa scanned it all like a soldier stepping onto a battlefield. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. It was the small things like that, the paranoia when entering a new location and the utter need to inspect and force the suspicion of safety into certainty that made Fer respect the woman. She had seen it back when they trained the National Divines, Kavaa had a ruthlessness, a lack of honour and a paranoia about her that honestly made Fer respect the woman. There had been a time when she had been annoyed by Kavaa¡¯s effectiveness in Erdely, that land should have been perfect for Fer. And yet Kavaa somehow managed to transform what should have been a quick campaign into a long war of attrition. Fer stood up and waved the Goddess of Health over. Kavaa moved like a paranoid boar, steady, fast, but she was constantly looking around and inspecting the terrain around her. ¡°Kassandora said we had an issue.¡± Kavaa said as she approached, eyes flicking between Anassa, Fer and Neneria. Fer pointed to the sister that was on the ground. Anassa groaned, threw up again and smashed her fist into the ground as Kavaa raised an eyebrow. ¡°What did she take?¡± The woman immediately asked and Fer looked to Neneria. Both of them shrugged. Kavaa sighed and dropped to her knees, she didn¡¯t seem too worried about the woman¡¯s condition, but she wasn¡¯t lethargic about it either. ¡°Ana? What did you take?¡± Anassa threw up, spat out some more bile from her mouth and took a deep breath. ¡°I-I¡¯m fine Ka¡­¡± ¡°Is she getting better or is she getting worse?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°She¡¯s just been like this.¡± Fer said. ¡°More or less the same.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kavaa replied as Neneria circled around. ¡°Are you going to heal her?¡± Neneria asked quickly. Kavaa¡¯s hands ran all over Anassa, from her back, her sides, her thighs and then they found something on the woman¡¯s front. ¡°We¡¯ll see depending on what she took.¡± Kavaa replied without emotion as she tugged on the woman¡¯s dress. ¡°I know you took something.¡± Kavaa added and pulled tight. ¡°I¡¯m just seeing what it is.¡± Anassa made a moan, Kavaa looked up from her kneeling posture to Fer and Neneria. ¡°She may get mad.¡± Fer understood what Kavaa was insinuating immediately, although Neneria did too. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Cut her open like you did me if you need to.¡± Fer said, she still remembered when Kavaa saved her life after she drank Baalka¡¯s blood. Neneria looked up from the two on the ground to Fer. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Fer finished to the sound of silk being torn as Kavaa gave up on trying to access Anassa¡¯s pocket and simply ripped the whole thing off. From the red cloth out came a small tub, as if it was for a pack of sweets. MisseMs. Kavaa waved it in front of Anassa¡¯s face. ¡°Is this what you took?¡± Kavaa asked. Anassa collapsed on the floor again and Kavaa sighed, shaking her head. She popped the packet open and Fer immediately smelled the¡­ it was a laboratory. The inside of that packet smelled of what she assumed a modern laboratory to smell like, even though she had never been inside. Kavaa tipped one sweet out onto her hand and sniffed it. She stopped for a moment in confusion, and then she threw it into her mouth. And Kavaa burst out in laughter. ¡°Oh my Kassie¡¯s gone and fucked you hasn¡¯t she!?¡± ¡°Is it bad?¡± Fer asked as Kavaa started to giggle. Sweat burst out over her face, her cheeks grew red. Fer heard the woman¡¯s heart start to beat ridiculously fast, like a machine gun firing and she felt the sudden wave of heat coming off the Goddess of Health. Kavaa looked up to Fer and Neneria with dilated pupils, and then across the landscape. ¡°Well it works.¡± She said. ¡°Give me a moment.¡± Fer¡¯s ears jumped up and down as she looked curiously at Kavaa go through¡­ go through whatever the woman was going through. After a minute, she took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off her brow. ¡°That was strong.¡± ¡°It¡¯s over?¡± Fer asked. If Kavaa simply¡­ then why did Anassa? ¡°I sped up my metabolism.¡± Fer and Neneria both looked with raised eyebrows to each other. ¡°Rate of burning, do you understand that? I burned it after my body absorbed it.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Fer said. That, she did get. She looked at Anassa, her black-haired sister was once again starting to throw up another several spoonfuls worth of stomach acid. ¡°Will Ana be fine then?¡± ¡°I guess it¡¯s just too high a dose for her.¡± Kavaa said as she put her hand on the back of Anassa¡¯s neck. In the other hand, she looked at the pack of MisseMs. Fer stared curiously at them too. As did Neneria. Immediately, Anassa stopped convulsing, she moaned, and collapsed onto the ground. ¡°That just feels cold.¡± Anassa said. ¡°I didn¡¯t heal you.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I just burned it out of your system.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Anassa said. ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡± ¡°Go to sleep then.¡± Kavaa replied coldly. She saw Fer and Neneria looking at the pack of MisseMs in her hand. ¡°Do you want to try these?¡± Neneria remained silent, but frankly, Fer was far too curious. She knew she shouldn¡¯t, but something that put Anassa out of action like that could not be bad, could it? ¡°Are they safe?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°It¡¯s just methamphetamines.¡± Kavaa said, she saw Fer and Neneria both look at her with totally dry expressions of not-understanding. ¡°It¡¯s a stimulant, these have hallucinogens mixed in.¡± ¡°Will I die?¡± Fer asked, she was a bit nervous frankly. ¡°No.¡± Kavaa said. ¡°I¡¯m here and frankly, I¡¯d rather you take one now.¡± And Fer blinked at that. ¡°Why?¡± She asked. ¡°I don¡¯t want one now.¡± Neneria quickly said. ¡°Because if Kass gave these to Ana, I assume she has doses brewing for you two already. Neneria should take one, but Fer, I think you¡¯ll be able to handle two.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Was all Fer managed to say. ¡°You have a big bodyweight.¡± Kavaa said as she stood up. Anassa had indeed fallen asleep, Fer did not even notice. ¡°Did you just say I¡¯m fat?¡± Fer poked her own stomach. Fat was precisely the last thing she would use to describe it. ¡°How heavy are you actually?¡± Kavaa asked and Fer laughed. ¡°Just because we¡¯re both girly girls doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll let you get away with that.¡± Fer said and Kavaa stared up at her as if she was looking at a child. ¡°Are you serious?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡± Fer said, she crossed her arms, and her tail started to swish to draw emphasis to the point. ¡°You don¡¯t know.¡± Kavaa said, Fer smiled uncontrollably. Kavaa was damn right. Fer simply knew she was heavy, how heavy was unimportant. She was simply the heaviest. That was enough. ¡°Well are you two Anassas?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± Fer knew she weighed just over twice of what Anassa did. They had measured that once on a swing. Two copies of Anassa would be unable to hoist Fer up, but three copies and the swing would reverse. ¡°Is that a yes or a no?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°I weigh somewhere between two and three Anassas.¡± Fer admitted and Neneria whistled. ¡°You are heavy.¡± Neneria said. ¡°So two pills, Kass will give you a stronger dose. Neneria, you get one.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want one.¡± ¡°Kass will probably force one into you anyway.¡± Kavaa said as she brought out two pills from the box and gave them to Fer. The Goddess of Beasthood swallowed them, made an ugly face at the taste, and then crossed her arms. Was she supposed to feel something? Kavaa practically shoved the pill into Neneria¡¯s hand. ¡°If you take one now, I¡¯m here to get you out of it.¡± ¡°Do you promise?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°I promise.¡± Neneria looked at Fer, muttered a curse, and swallowed her own Anassa-Dose of MisseM. And they both stared at Kavaa. ¡°I feel nothing.¡± Fer said. ¡°It¡¯s not tasty though.¡± It was one of the worst things she had ever tasted in fact. ¡°Give me your hands, I¡¯ll speed it up for you.¡± Fer and Neneria both passed their hands to Kavaa. And Fer felt it. From one to a hundred, she felt the sheer humour of it. The world turned darker, her hearing distorted, she could no longer listen to the heartbeats of the Goddesses around her, but the waves in the distance were suddenly loud. Everything became a silhouette as her eyes somehow lost the ability to focus on colour. Fer looked around, she saw Kavaa, a simple black statue move around. And she felt something funny in her calves. Fer didn¡¯t know why it was in her calves, but it was. Her tail swung to side to side and Fer felt as if it was splitting the moon in half. Why? She didn¡¯t know exactly, but above, in front of them, she saw Kavaa and Iniri and Helenna suddenly fall up into the sky, become an acorn, and then that acorn grew into a lion that sprouted from the ground. And Fer watched it all in utter amazement. This is what had destroyed Anassa? "Ka-Kavaa?¡± Neneria suddenly whispered in a hushed tone. ¡°What?¡± Kavaa said. ¡°Ca-Can you get me out?¡± Neneria said, even quieter this time. Fer saw the silhouette of Kavaa move and touch the silhouette of Neneria. ¡°What are you feeling?¡± ¡°I have never been more scared in my entire life.¡± Neneria whispered. Fer though¡­ These silhouettes in front her should be scary, Fer knew that, but they weren¡¯t scary at all! Fer looked at the silhouette of Kavaa that she knew was looking at her and then movement caught her eye from the side. Something tickled her stomach, Fer turned. She saw an infinite line of Fers standing there, each one copying her movement. Fer turned and looked to the other side, and she saw an infinite line of Fers here too. Up and down. And Fer burst out in laughter. She didn¡¯t even know why it was funny. But it was. It was the funniest thing she had ever seen! How could there be an infinite amount of herself? She was only one! And yet saw just a wall of Fers everywhere! Each one laughing and snickering just as she did. Each one heard some hilarious joke, each one howled and shrieked in laughter. And she heard Kavaa speak. ¡°Well, it looks like she¡¯s having a good time.¡± Chapter 298 – A City Regrown Kavaa stared at the three Goddesses in holds of Raptor One. Anassa had awoken and was feeling groggy apparently, Neneria had not gone under long enough to be tired. All she did was just sit there the others in silence. And Fer, grinning so widely her smile went from ear-to-ear, tapping her foot and twitching her ears. Her dilated eyes jumped from anything to everything in the cargo holds, seemingly unable to focus on anything individually. And every now and then she would purr in laughter. The woman was wired, there was no other way to describe it. Iniri stood in New-Nanbasa, Iniri¡¯s Nanbasa, Green Nanbasa or just Nanbasa, depending on who was asked. The city had been regrown and now was being redecorated by human hands, but it was obvious that the project had been designed by a Divine. The Goddess of Nature looked around her city in pride, it would make sense for Nanbasa to stay as Nanbasa, but she liked that people sometimes referred to the city as Iniri¡¯s Nanbasa. Her green dress swayed in the wind, just as her long earthy hair did. Frankly, she should cut it at this point, there just hadn¡¯t been time recently. She had gone west to east, from the governmental district, then the residential, the commercial, and finally the industrial zone that had sat in the east and will sit in the east again. First, she had grown what she supposed Arascus would declare the New Imperial Palace. From outside, it was a huge twisting tidal wave of wood, as tall as a skyscraper and arched around. Pockmarked with windows and balconies and branches that served as bridges into the open air. Iniri had made them to be decorational but she tried to give them some purpose too, they were there to serve as landing and launching platforms for Divines that could fly. Frankly, she was sure that even if Anassa and Arascus wouldn¡¯t say anything, they would be pleased with them. And on the inside of the New Imperial Palace, the corridors were downright huge. Each hallway may as well have been a great-hall by itself, it was tall even for Arascus, a Divine like Elassa would be able to fly through here and still have room for pirouettes. The decorations weren¡¯t brought in yet, the palace would come last during the city¡¯s rebuilding frankly. It was far more important to get the refugees who had been chased out of the city back into the city, and they needed glass windows and metal wires for electricity, all things that Iniri could not grow. Although it was just those essentials of modernity that were lacking. Iniri had even managed to bring forth hardy ironwoods here, which had been twisted and grown pipes for plumbing. Beds had been fashioned of stacked branches, they would twist and bend and flex to create a sensation of softness competitive with goose feathers. Even pillows had been grown of huge leaves that had thick insides. That was just the personal amenities. Arascus had made sure to give Iniri a few tips and hints on what to do with the city. She had chosen to maintain the original ring design of Nanbasa. That had been iconic, and Iniri thought it fit that her trees now grew to replace and enhance the old style rather than tear it down to refashion it from the ground. And now, Iniri stood and looked at the port. Or what was supposed to be a port. Certain parts of the city, Arascus had given her hints on. A few of the branches that connected the skyscrapers would stay as walkways, but most were being worked on by heavy machinery and men with saws to equip them with an intercity tramline. The airport¡¯s control tower was a huge conifer tree that wouldn¡¯t shed leaves as to keep the runway clear. But now, Iniri turned back to the ruined port. She ignored the revolving-door crowd of people who were constantly following her. It was people who had come to see their city being regrown and engineers who were watching and sketching what she built. The remains of the Seawall she had grown were still here, concrete and wood and all. The corpses of the huge cranes and towers that had brought in containers from ships were strewn across the shore, half-submerged in the waters. Two ships that had been docked also lay capsized. Iniri stood there, and Iniri was honestly stumped. What was supposed to be regrown here exactly? She couldn¡¯t pull mechanical cranes out of the ground, and the concrete docks, although they were lacking warehouses, still jutted from the shore and poked the sea like a series of rectangular teeth. Cleaning then. Cleaning would be necessary no matter what she decided. A truck carrying rubble out of the city trundled past Iniri. The Goddess of Nature flexed her hands, aimed them forwards and called upon the tiny little seedling that lay strewn about the world. They existed everywhere, there wasn¡¯t a land that didn¡¯t have them, whether dropped from packets or carried by birds or simply drifting across the wind, Iniri¡¯s powers found the seedlings that had been deposited on the beach. Their age didn¡¯t matter, nor whether they were alive or dead, as long as they hadn¡¯t been turned to stone yet, Iniri could work with them. She found an ancient set of oak seeds from Epa laying deep in the beach¡¯s sands. Epan Oak was hardy and stronger and Iniri¡¯s energies reached out from the Goddess. They trailed like an invisible silken scarf, wrapping around and hugging the seedlings as they fed fresh life into them. One seedling cracked into a series of roots, they metastasized like a cancerous tumour. A patch of ocean turned darker. And then that patch of ocean exploded upwards as a marvellous oak burst from it. Iniri heard the crowd of people make a collective sigh of awe as Iniri¡¯s fingers danced in the air. Another half-dozen oak trees burst from the ocean, they tilted downwards, their branches became talons, those talons hooked steel and pulled. Iniri felt a bead of sweat burst out of her forehead as the two massive container ships, still filled with flooded cargo, were hoisted out of the ocean. Why had she even decided to do both at once? Well whatever. Both ships moved, and both ships crashed down onto the port. The crowd cheered once again as the trees started to slither through the water like hunting crocodiles. They started to dig out the ruined cranes that had once been the port¡¯s greatest tools. It took no longer than thirty minutes to get all the hunks of ruined steel out of the ocean. Iniri turned around and smiled to the crowd. She got an utterly glamourizing cheer as a reward. She gave them a wider smile and a bow in return. And the cheer got louder. And then Iniri turned back around and looked to the ocean. Once again, she was utterly stumped. What exactly was she supposed to do here? Iniri took a deep breath. Warehouses maybe? But the warehouses should go up after the cranes. And the cranes should go up after the dock¡¯s central structure. And the docks would have to be built around ships. And frankly, what did Iniri know about cargo ships? She giggled at the silly thought. Kassandora would no doubt know about cargo ships, if only because she smuggled weaponry out of Kirinyaa to Epa and vice-versa. Helenna and Malam definitely knew everything and anything to do with them. Fer most likely did too, the Goddess of Beasthood always surprised Iniri with how much she actually knew. But Anassa? Neneria? Even Elassa? What did they know of cargo ships? Iniri sighed, but she kept on smiling. She wasn¡¯t the glorious Goddess of War, but being equal to Of Sorcery, Of Death and Of Magic was already a high bar. And Iniri stood there as she watched. Frankly, she had no clue what to do now. One of the architects or engineers or surveyors or whatever they were eventually closed the gap. The rest of the crowd was still watching Iniri, although people were starting to split off. It was annoying at first, and then Iniri realised she was being annoyed by the fact people were leaving. And then she thought of how the other Divines dealt with it, or how they seemed to deal with it. Fer? Well Fer was the most popular of Arascus¡¯ Daughter-Goddesses. Fer could walk anywhere and generate a crowd just from the fact the woman was a walking bundle of joy. Neneria? Neneria was inept. That made sense though, she was the Goddess of Death. Anassa then? Well Anassa was Anassa. Anassa was a maniac that managed to disgust even Kavaa¡¯s steel stomach. What did Anassa care about crowds and adoration? That woman adored herself and that was enough for her. What about Kassandora? Iniri shook her head. She didn¡¯t know a single Divine, even in the White Pantheon, who would ever bemoan Kassandora¡¯s skill. The woman was feared and respected even though she was physically weaker than most of them. Kavaa then? Well Kavaa was in the same boat, Kavaa had Orders that listened to her just as Kassandora had a military that¡­ And what about Arascus? Iniri blushed at the sheer audacity of the thought. To compare herself to the man who started the Great War was a leap in itself. It wasn¡¯t that Mother Nature had never led wars in the past, but there wasn¡¯t a single Divine who could lay claim to the fact that they forced an alliance of three worlds to come together to defeat them. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Excuse me.¡± Iniri blinked, she had gotten lost in thought about Arascus and one of the builders had snuck up on her. She turned to look at the man, he had come with a whole team of six men. All dark Kirinyaans, all tall and all in clean, expensive yet casual clothes. Light, unbuttoned linen shirts and shorts for the sun. ¡°I was just thinking.¡± Iniri blurted out quickly and cooled her blush. She stood half again the height of these men, there was no reason to be blushing at the fact they had caught her unawares. The man nodded as Iniri looked down at his paper. It was a series of notes in the native Kirinyaan tongue. Admittedly, although Kass and Helenna and Malam and Arascus had learned it, Iniri had never bothered to. She had simply picked up on a few phrases here and there, but this much was far out of her realm. ¡°I was just going to ask if you¡¯re finished?¡± Iniri narrowed her eyes at the man and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll do the port too, I¡¯m just thinking on what to do with it.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± The man said. ¡°We¡¯ll keep on making reports then, we have¡­¡± He stepped from side to side under the glare of the Goddess. ¡°We¡¯re just taking notes on what to do.¡± He gave the Goddess an awkward thumbs up. ¡°Everyone really liked the skyrail.¡± Iniri beamed a smile back at him. She felt her heart skip a beat and she just about managed to keep her cheeks from flushing. The realisation that she was embarrassed then did flush her cheeks, and made a half turn away from the man. ¡°Thank you.¡± The man inclined his head, made an awkward bob, and retreated back to the crowd. Iniri turned back around and looked out over the open ocean. She was still stumped. Iniri was so stumped in fact, that she stood there for maybe half an hour. Maybe an hour. Long enough for the crowd to disperse and long enough for heavy machinery to start conglomerating around the wreckages of the hulls. Long enough for the sun to make traverse its own width again across the sky. Long enough for planes to start landing at Iniri¡¯s regrown airport. Long enough for Arascus to come and inspect what she was doing. The God of Pride hovered through the air in his usual black uniform. Long coat, long boots, no hat over his long hair. He settled down next to Iniri with a heavy thud. Iniri knew she was short, she had been short in the Pantheon. Now that Kassandora, Neneria and Anassa were around, that just made it even harder to forget about her height. But when she stood next to Arascus or Fer, on both of them, her head barely reached past their stomachs, she felt like a damn child. ¡°How are you doing?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°I¡­¡± Iniri spoke before thinking, her cheeks went red that now she had nothing to say, and then they went red at the sheer embarrassment of being a Goddess who actually got embarrassed. ¡°You¡¯ve done a good job so far.¡± Arascus said. His voice was a low rumble of a bumblebee. And she felt his hand rest on her back. Frankly, Iniri didn¡¯t want him to touch her. Not because of some discomfort, but because he dealt with types like Kassandora and Neneria and Anassa and Fer. Those Divines were simply in another league, even Helenna and Kavaa, weak as they were physically, were grossly competent in some field. Kavaa could lead, Kavaa could fight and Kavaa could heal, whereas Helenna could manipulate and propagandize like no other. And what could Iniri do? She could grow trees. She guessed she made fine wines too. How could Arascus be rubbing her back when his sphere was composed of Divines like that? ¡°I¡¯m stuck.¡± Iniri admitted earnestly. There was no reason to play coy, no doubt the man knew already. ¡°Turn around.¡± Arascus said. Iniri did. Iniri did and Iniri saw Nanbasa regrown. Like a marvellous rolling silken scarf carried in the wind, the city was continuous wave of buildings and bridges, of leaves and lights, of cars rolling along trees and through roots. Each building a giant tree, each tree connected to the next, it was a skyscraper sized wall of flora, and yet¡­ Iniri felt her lips start to crawl upwards into a smile. People crowded and clamoured the streets, each one with a smile absolutely beaming and hopeful eyes full of nothing but utterly awed gratitude. Iniri blinked a spot of wetness away from her eyes. ¡°Iniri.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Mmh?¡± Iniri voiced, it was all she could do to not burst out in tears right now. ¡°Do you know why I got you to regrow Nanbasa?¡± Iniri shook her head, she blinked her tears away, she wiped her cheeks, she stamped her foot, she pulled some faux-anger from within her stomach to the forefront. Anger at herself for being such a little girl, but it barely lasted long enough for her to get a word out. ¡°Mmh-No.¡± She managed to utter out. ¡°Because I wanted you to prove to yourself that you can still exist here.¡± Arascus said. Iniri straightened as she felt a lightning bolt crawl down her spine. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Look and weep at what you¡¯ve made.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Because it¡¯s the most beautiful and unique city in all Arika. In all Arda maybe, although admittedly I¡¯ve not travelled in this past millennium.¡± Iniri stared at the city again and shook her head. ¡°I just grew what¡­¡± And she didn¡¯t get a chance to correct herself. Arascus spoke before she could continue. ¡°What you¡¯ve done, you¡¯ve done alone.¡± Arascus said. He pointed up, towards the huge hollow trees that were residential blocks. The interconnecting web of branches in-between them was being worked on by a swarm of men installing tramlines, it reminded Iniri of ants that organized into long, winding snakes as they travelled. ¡°The skyrail of Nanbasa for example.¡± Arascus continued, his voice booming with pride. ¡°To you, it was branches, to them, it is the foundation for a new style of city, one that will only be possible by building on foundations you set out.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Iniri wanted to bawl her eyes out. She¡­ She didn¡¯t know what it was, she had never considered that¡­ She was the Goddess of Nature, a Goddess long abandoned by the march of technology. And now? She had been crucial for this advancement? How? And she looked up at Arascus, the man didn¡¯t look down at her, he merely looked with a proud smile at the city. ¡°Another thing.¡± He continued. ¡°We both know of this Kirinyaan sun, you were here in the old Nanbasa and felt how hot it was during the day. Now? Have you walked in between the shaded trees?¡± Arascus rubbed her back again. ¡°That¡¯s something that technology can¡¯t replace Iniri. We¡¯re not going to be building metal domes to give us shade, are we?¡± And this time, Iniri didn¡¯t say anything, she couldn¡¯t say anything. The foundation for the skyrail was one thing. It was a concept, made by her because she could simply grow it. But this? The man was right. He was so right that Iniri felt tears slither down her cheeks again. Why had¡­ And she got angry. Some seed in her grew, some wilted rose sprung back to life, its thorns grew sharp. Why had the White Pantheon just sequestered her off to a thousand years of farming and nothing else? Arascus turned around and Iniri turned with him. They looked out over the port. The man began to speak, but he didn¡¯t sound disappointed. He wasn¡¯t scolding Allasaria or pretentious Maisara or blunt Fortia, he was Arascus instead, a patriarch so noble that he didn¡¯t bemoan or berate. He¡­ Iniri realised how the man sounded, although she had never felt the such a pull, she had only heard mortals talk of it. Mortals and Fer and Neneria and Kassandora and Anassa and Olephia and Malam. Arascus explained to Iniri like a father. ¡°There are times when we don¡¯t do everything.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I don¡¯t micromanage the entire state. Kassandora has generals. Anassa has sorcerers even though she can exist in different places simultaneously. Fer doesn¡¯t delegate, but Fer isn¡¯t given authority either, is she?¡± Iniri shook her head as Arascus pointed to the seaside. ¡°Honestly, I expected you to fail long before you got here. At the airport or the warehouse districts you surprised me and rebuilt them. Here though?¡± ¡°What should I do?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°That, I can¡¯t tell you.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I¡¯m not a port-master, nor the God of Ports, I¡¯m just the humble God of Pride.¡± He chuckled at his own joke and Iniri felt herself smiling along with it. ¡°But you should ask, the surveyors behind you or the builders, because there is no shame in asking Iniri. You can try leaping and leaping until you eventually scale the wall, or you can just ask a friend for a ladder. Frankly, it is better that you ask and get it right on the first time, instead of needing to make a mess so you know how to keep it clean next time.¡± Iniri had no clue as to why¡­ She simply did not know why she had been so stupid. Once again, her eyes were starting to get wet. Now that the man had said those words, how could she deny the utter righteousness of them? What else was she supposed to do? Try and build a port and then keep failing over and over again? Or could she just ask instead? ¡°I also wanted to tell you something.¡± Arascus said. ¡°What?¡± They turned around once again, and Arascus pointed to that huge, curved structure that was like a wooden tidal wave. ¡°Do you know what that is?¡± He asked. ¡°I thought you¡¯d call it the Imperial Palace of Kirinyaa or something like that.¡± Iniri just about managed to keep her voice steady. ¡°No.¡± Arascus said. The woman only sighed in agreement, but the man continued. ¡°I wanted to call it Iniri¡¯s Gift to Kirinyaa instead.¡± Iniri blinked at what she just heard. She¡­ she must have misheard. That was impossible. He had given her the job. It was his palace. She was only here to work and do a good job. ¡°What?¡± Why did she even say that? Couldn¡¯t she just accept a good thing when it came to her? What if he backtracked now? What if he thought she was turning the offer down? ¡°I¡¯ve chosen the name already.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Iniri¡¯s Gift to Kirinyaa is the official name. It¡¯ll be the Palace for ease of use, but on the maps, it¡¯s you.¡± Iniri felt her throat catch. The Palace became a blur through her tears, she felt her knees shake. Quickly, she wrapped her arms around Arascus¡¯ torso and buried her face in his chest. And she felt the man stroke her brown hair even though she was ruining his coat. That¡­ Had another Divine ever thanked her? Chapter 299 – Monsters in the Deep Rulership is a settled art. The final form of government is a centralized autocracy. All governments exist on a one way road to this autocracy, the evolution of political theory exists to simply find starting points that are further and further away from this centralized autocracy. Anyone who seeks to deny this is simply a semantician who is here to discuss the meanings of words rather than the realities at play. I am not here to found a great empire that will rise, experience a golden age, and then fall. My success will not be the foundation of the next era. We are not waging war simply to lay the kindling for the next conflict. Our revolution is not a moral, a political, a social, economic or military one. We are not building a thousand-year state. We are building the greatest, most unapologetic and most impossible dream of humanity. One that most of us struggle to even imagine: we are building something permanent. - ¡°Forever-State¡± Proclamation by Arascus, God of Pride. Famously quoted by Allasaria by upon the advent and the culmination of the Great War. ¡°Mmh.¡± Eliza said as she rested in Lyca¡¯s arms. The battle for Neneria had left the two of them exhausted. Whether it was the excessive exertion, the great display of strength or even the drugs, Eliza did not know. And frankly, as she rested in Lyca¡¯s arms, she did not care. Hers and Lyca¡¯s team were returning on the INS Fortitude. Fleur¡¯s and Edmonton¡¯s were on the INS Endurance. The two cruisers that had been taken over from the Ausan Navy were the only ones that had any real transport capacity and the four sorcerer-captains had all decided that it was better to get tight fits on the larger vessels rather than try and split the teams across the small destroyers that made up the bulk of the fleet. The captains had little to say about the situation either way. They didn¡¯t like it, but when Fer and Kavaa had both told them that they were either taking the sorcerers now, or answering to Anassa when that Goddess awoke as to why they were refusing to take her troops, they had quickly realised the correct solution to their quandary. And besides, it wasn¡¯t like the sorcerers took up too much room. The captains got their own cabins of course, but with only ten to twelve surviving per team, and with all of the leadership having figured out that they were to treat their underlings much like how Anassa treated them, no one even so much as blinked an eye that men were crammed even ten to a room made to fit less than half that number. The sorcerers themselves had long grown used to it, after all, exercises like this built character and if there was any skill that sorcery needed, it was character. It was the sailors themselves who seemed to take more issue with it. The admiral of the fleet, some man named Nintz on the Fortitude, and the captains under him, were almost offended that the sorcerers took up the footprint of a mouse on their ships. But they quickly figured that whatever they would say, it would enter in one ear and it would leave through the other so they simply decided not to bother. And that suited Eliza just fine. She didn¡¯t get any annoying maids or servants assigned to her, she got her own cabin in the holds of the ships. And it was right next to Lyca¡¯s cabin. Both were the same size, in the same layout, with the exact same amenities. It would have been spacious for one, cozy for two, cramped for three. The bed was a rather dull thing, a thin mattress on lousy springs creaked with every movement of the ship and every movement of its occupants. A small wardrobe, although none of the sorcerers had brought a change of clothes, and a table, although likewise, no one had brought anything to be placed on the table save for a phone. Eliza snuggled into Lyca¡¯s chest, her messy brown hair making a cave for both of their faces to sequester them from the light coming from the circular window. ¡°We have two days here.¡± Eliza whispered. ¡°Somehow.¡± Lyca traced his fingers down her side. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll get bored.¡± Eliza gave the dirtiest smile her mouth could muster, sometimes, the man just about managed to read her mind. She traced his chest and his stubble. The man had to shave his jawline everyday, his chest every other. If he missed even three days, he would have a full beard, if he missed a week, he would be covered in the shaggy hairs of a wolf. Frankly, Eliza didn¡¯t even mind them, whatever breed of wolf was in him, it had the lovely fur of a cat. ¡°Oh?¡± Eliza asked. She liked the talk just as much as the games themselves. ¡°Do you have any grand ideas?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never been good at planning.¡± Eliza tensed as the man grabbed her sides. ¡°So improvisation is the name of the game.¡± Eliza burst out in laughter, moved her lips to his and¡­ And the ship suddenly lurched to the side. Eliza yelped out a half-scream as Lyca¡¯s arms wrapped tightly around her and they both slammed into the steel wall of the cabin, and then almost rolled off the bed as the red alarm came on. Captain Nintz voice sounded over the speakers. ¡°All hands combat stations. All hands combat stations. We are under attack, this is not a drill. I repeat, all hands combat stations, we are under attack, this is not a drill.¡± There was a second¡¯s pause as the speaker merely produced a low droning buzz and then the captain spoke again. ¡°Sorcerers, you are on this ship too, I expect assistance.¡± Lyca rolled his eyes and looked up at Eliza. ¡°Looks like we have a change of plans.¡± ¡°Looks like it.¡± They stared into each other¡¯s eyes for a few moments when the ship suddenly lurched to the other side again. That got Eliza and Lyca moving. They jumped off the bed and quickly grabbed the mess of clothes that was on the floor. Eliza slid into her skirt, fastened it on and quickly started fumbling the buttons on her white shirt. Lyca had a similar uniform, although he left his shirt undone and quickly stuff his arms into his long, black cloak of a coat. Eliza had hers fashioned, she took a step towards the door, saw her own locks of hair meander their way into her vision and quickly doubled back to find her hair tie. How Anassa managed to fly around with her hair not tied back, neither Eliza nor Fleur could figure out. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The two of them ran out of Lyca¡¯s cabin. Once again, their teams were just beginning to shuffle out of the two cabins they had been split between. Eliza gave Lyca the glare. The one that meant he had to go do something about this issue, some men would recoil at the glare, but Lyca knew her well enough to be able to intuit what she was hinting at. He snapped his fingers and the doors flew off the walls. Eliza smiled in satisfaction, the captain would not be too happy about that, but what could the captain say at the end of the day? And Lyca stopped in the doorway, his teeth pointed, his eyes furious, his coat swirling in the air as the ambience of his madness flickered across reality in red waves of sorcery. ¡°All of you useless fucking wastes of space get out NOW!¡± Eliza turned to the other door. This one, Lyca had already ripped off. She stood in the doorway and gave her team the glare. And every man in the room stood up at attention, no matter whether they were half dressed or only putting their shoes on. Lyca¡¯s shout from the other side of the corridor told them what they needed to know. ¡°You can have a fucking rest when you¡¯re fucking dead! We¡¯re under attack so get out to make sure you can work another day!¡± Eliza smiled at her team, she saw a collective shiver run down the men. At first, it had been odd when she had gotten men assigned to her who were twice her age. Now? Well, it was she and her friends that were the best at Arcadia, it was they that were chosen by Anassa, it was them that had helped save Fer. That collective shiver was the least she deserved, frankly, these men should be happy that she didn¡¯t treat them like Fleur, Edmonton or Lyca treated their teams. ¡°Come on.¡± Eliza said. ¡°We¡¯re going.¡± She was still gentler than Fleur, Edmonton or Lyca she supposed, but discipline had been installed enough times for the men to learn that they shouldn¡¯t take Eliza¡¯s mercy for meekness. Lyca quickly caught up to her as his team followed her own. They went up a series of steel stairs, the ship rocked again, a pair of men in overalls ran through the corridor with fire extinguishers, and the sorcerers went through a heavily armoured door and into the open air. And outside, it was utter chaos. The deck of the ship was a brawl. The sailors aboard the INS Fortitude had formed a tight cordon in the middle of the deck, a hedgehog of guns that pointed outwards as they were getting overwhelmed by warriors who jumped out of the oceans. As if the sea was catapulting them onto the ship, they dived up into the air and landed on the deck, all naked but covered in the glistening scales, armed with spear and trident and pike. A sailor screamed and fell as a thrown javelin pierced his chest. But those were small fry. Crushing the ship¡¯s massive turret was a huge sea serpent. It had made a full rotation around the vessel, and now the metal hull was crying out as it was being crushed and torn. The snake gleamed with red and green scales, all shimmering as the drops of seawater on them glinted in the sun light. The analysis took a heartbeat. Whatever the fuck was happening out here was insane, but Eliza had been trained by Anassa. She had seen butterflies burn up into black holes that became blunt blades which had beaten her bloody. A big snake? Men with scales and gills? Spears? Javelins? What a joke! Lyca snapped his fingers first; he blasted off into the air as Eliza quickly followed behind him. Her team of sorcerers followed as they always did. Eliza launched into the air, she made a pirouette, she flipped, she stared down into the ocean as another two snakes burst out. A small frigate in the back exploded as the INS Endurance deployed its own teams of sorcerers. That cruiser¡¯s large guns were also disabled by another serpent. But really? Was that it? No magic? No magicians? No ranged fire? No guns? Not even a bow or a crossbow? Well, these fish-people or whatever they were did live under the ocean. She supposed they wouldn¡¯t have much experience in ranged weaponry. One of the large destroyers was torn in half by a massive shark which leapt out of the water, crashed into the hull, and carved a breach with its sheer weight. Eliza wasted enough time inspecting from the air. She saw the head of the sea serpent burst out of the water again as its entire body slithered along the hull of the ship. Eliza lifted one leg up, a ball of red sorcery appeared in her hand, she twisted, she turned, she gave the ball a spin, it launched into the head of the sea-serpent carving a wound straight through the monster¡¯s body. Where the ball touched, the heavens opened up, a column of crimson came from the air. The snake had a head. In the next moment, the snake was headless. It dropped and collapsed and Eliza saw the warriors on the ship, those who had been so bravely trying to board the INS Fortitude look up at their creature, their pet, their¡­ whatever it was, in horror. It had been defeated just like that. A few of the sailors opened fire. A few of the fish-men dropped. But then Lyca¡¯s team got to work. The fish men started to explode as Eliza heard fingers snapping. She turned from the grand fireworks of blood and towards the next beast. Her eyes picked out the shadow travelling through the water and Fleur¡¯s and Edmonton¡¯s teams got rid of the attackers that had been assailing the Endurance. Two more frigates started to capsize as the ammunition storage of a destroyer blew up in a huge fireball. And that shadow burst from the water, it was the shark. Eliza was already prepared, ball of sorcery in her hand and stance adopted. She threw it at the shark before the monster was even entirely out the water. It shot forwards like lightning, it connected with the giant animal. A beam of crimson flickered down from the sky to mark a successful strike. And the shark was half devoured by the crimson energies. Eliza turned and she saw the rest of the attackers look at them in horror. The juicy prey that was the First Imperial Fleet, a fruit so sweet and indefensible had turned out to be filled with the poison that was sorcerers. They all retreated back. Eliza was annoyed so many escaped, but once they jumped off the vessels and disappeared under the surface of the ocean, there was little she could do to catch them. Eventually, she gave up, chasing them from ship to ship was exhausting, and they weren¡¯t coming back either. The giant monsters had disappeared too. Eliza inspected the damage. Roughly half of the fleet was gone. Lifeboats were being sent out, Fleur¡¯s and Edmonton¡¯s teams were already pulling men out of the water with their own sorceries. The Fortitude, although still afloat, was practically out of commission. The front of the ship had been crushed so utterly that the only thing that could happen to it upon reaching Arika was scuttling. Eliza turned to her men, she gave them the glare. ¡°Rescue any sailors in the ocean.¡± She waved them off, and her team started to spread out over the waters. Lyca and Eliza landed on the deck, both breathing heavily after that exertion of power. They both looked into each other¡¯s eyes once again. And they both sighed. ¡°So I guess we have plans now.¡± Lyca said. ¡°Unfortunately.¡± Eliza scowled. Hopefully when they returned, Anassa wouldn¡¯t give them any. Hopefully, they would be given enough rest to need to kill some time through improvisation. Chapter 300 – Recalibrate and Advance When we heard that Irinika, Anassa, Fer, Olephia, Baalka or Fer were in a meeting, we knew that they had just received orders. That was always the perfect time to attack, as the Imperial Legions would be mustering for their own offensive. Ultimately, those six were champions. They were grand thugs to be used in the military, to be deployed against our own Divines or to force deployment of powerful members of the White Pantheon away from an important location. It is when news came that Kassandora, Malam and Arascus were the only ones in a meeting that I always grew worried. Leona and Helenna managed to catch wind of those three members two dozen throughout the Great War, and each time, their discussions led to a renewed and reinvigorated offensive that had been totally unpredictable. I think everyone in the White Pantheon shares the same thought: if there was any members of Arascus¡¯ family we could remove immediately, then the order is simple: Arascus first, because he binds them all together. Kassandora second, because she is their genius. Malam third, because she is their fuel. - Excerpt from ¡°Triumph¡±, written by Goddess Fortia, of Peace. Arascus and Kassandora arrived to the war-room at the same time. The war-room, as in a simple parasol that rested on the outside of new Nanbasa. A small black thing, with a few tassels hanging from the posts holding up the cloth and giving a light sway every now and then. The sun was slowly beginning to set in the west, and the city¡¯s lengthening shadow created a dark cloud in the ocean stretching out into the east. As Iniri was regrowing the city, Kassandora¡¯s troops were digging out bunkers along the coast. Bunkers near the beach, with light cannons and machine guns. And another, sparser, line of bunkers that had been fitted with heavy coastal artillery. Trucks from other cities had started to pour into Nanbasa, carrying concrete and tools and furniture for the regrown city. It was the electronics, and the countless rolls of cables that was the grandest obstacle in switching the city back on. And with those trucks, so were the people that had escaped into the countryside returning to their new city. A bureau had been set up: the IDRF, the Imperial Disaster Response Force, to manage the return to the city. The experience it earned here would be vital for the quick takeover and implementation of order in Arascus¡¯ next target. Because that switch of targets was exactly why he decided to bring Kassandora and Malam into a meeting today. The others always raised qualms in discussions. Although they could all be given orders and would fulfil them without question, it was simply better for grand strategies to not include them: Irinika had always been far too anxious to prove herself, Fer was too loyal and would try to make her role as great as possible to minimize the danger to others, Anassa was never happy with decision making, either declaring herself above a certain task or insulted that things she deemed important were not given to her. Neneria was lazy, and would seemingly fade into the background of every conversation that handled jobs. It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t want to work, Arascus knew and every one of his daughters could and would do anything that he assigned to them, but some characters should simply be kept away from serious policies for their own benefit. Someone like Kassandora and Malam, who felt shared prides in projects underneath rather than needing to be involved in the action, who now knew the rumours about what grand orchestrators of chaos they were and tried to live up to the image, had no such qualms. Kassandora and Malam would look at a problem and immediately start trying to solve it. So Kassandora and Malam were perfect for the grandest strategies. Arascus¡¯ feet touched the ground as Kassandora stood to the side in her black Imperial uniform, complete with a short red cape whose edges were wrapped with white fur. It made the woman¡¯s straight crimson hair pop. Arascus knew she was waiting for him before she sat herself. ¡°Malam¡¯s late.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°She¡¯s over there.¡± Arascus pointed to the approaching Goddess. Malam was stood up on the back of truck, the woman herself was almost as large as the vehicle. ¡°That doesn¡¯t change the fact that she¡¯s still late.¡± Kassandora said with some satisfaction. ¡°Is it just us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just us.¡± Arascus replied as he turned into the table. They never brought papers to meetings like this, no would any minutes be taken. ¡°Alright.¡± Kassandora said, she made a quick laugh. ¡°I was annoyed that you told me not to bring Kavaa actually.¡± Arascus turned and raised an eyebrow at the woman. ¡°You and her are like Malam and Helenna.¡± The God of Pride and Kassandora shook her head. ¡°Kavaa tags along to me, I don¡¯t invite her to meetings.¡± Kassandora said flatly and Arascus responded with an even flatter look. Who was Kassandora trying to convince with that? Because she certainly wouldn¡¯t be able to convince him. ¡°I don¡¯t!¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°I don¡¯t mind it.¡± Arascus said. ¡°Both her and Helenna are fit to join the ranks if I¡¯m going to be honest. I just want to give them more time.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Kassandora replied. Arascus tried to get a read on whether the woman was stressed by that or whether she actually relaxed, or whether the emotion she was displaying was genuine at all. Although when it was just the two of them, she was usually quite honest with what she was feeling. ¡°I know you understand.¡± Arascus said, he was sure that she would. Because if there was anyone who would coldly analyse every and any action to make sure that they kept track of their potential social impact, then it would be Kassandora. ¡°But it would make the club less exclusive.¡± He shrugged. ¡°The exclusivity is appreciated by the other.¡± Kassandora smiled, leaned back, shook her head, and locked eyes with Arascus. ¡°The exclusivity works for me too.¡± ¡°I¡¯m happy it does.¡± Arascus said. Kassandora¡¯s heart may have been fortified behind countless walls, but she still did have a heart somewhere in there. ¡°It makes me feel like you¡¯re not just pleasant to me for the sake of pleasantness.¡± Kassandora said honestly. ¡°I¡¯m pleasant with everyone.¡± Arascus replied with a shrug. ¡°Not in the way you are to us.¡± Kassandora said. She sighed and looked around. ¡°That¡¯s for another time though.¡± The woman¡¯s face said all that Arascus needed to know. Malam was almost here. He turned around and saw the Goddess of Hatred, in a black uniform matching Kassandora¡¯s save for a switch in insignia, who was quickly walking up the hill. The truck that had brought her here had been turned around and parked. ¡°Apologies for the delay.¡± Malam said. ¡°Helenna was rather difficult to get rid of, it won¡¯t happen again.¡± Arascus turned back around to the table and waved Malam over. ¡°Sit, sit.¡± He said and the Goddess of Hatred pulled up a chair for herself. ¡°I have things to discuss.¡± ¡°It¡¯s always good when it¡¯s just us.¡± Malam said as Kassandora leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the table and paying full attention. ¡°It¡¯s about the issue we¡¯ve just caused.¡± Arascus said as he looked over the city in the distance. They were this far specifically to make sure that Iniri or Helenna would not be able to overhear and he was still rather paranoid about them. The former especially, he had especially chosen a hill that was just rock and without grass to make sure the nearby daisies would not spill the secrets. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t trust Iniri or Helenna0¡­ but¡­ But they weren¡¯t daughters. And he supposed there was a fair of Luck Paranoia still within him that had been forged in the battles against Leona. And if most of the daughters themselves were excluded from the grand strategy meetings, how could outsiders be let in? They couldn¡¯t, that was the answer. Arascus continued. ¡°Specifically that you have caused Kassie, with the cracking of Arika and now with Neneria.¡± ¡°It was the best move I could make at the time.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It gives us the initiative, and Elassa set the precedent with the cracking that the world is at stake.¡± Arascus saw Kassandora look at him, and he could feel those great waves of Kassandora¡¯s respect washing over him. ¡°It¡¯s good that you see it too.¡± ¡°You¡¯re correct on both.¡± Arascus said. ¡°The cracking set the precedent and Neneria shows that we¡¯re playing around.¡± He sighed and crossed his arms. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ve called the meeting.¡± ¡°We want to keep the ball in our court.¡± Malam said from the side, then explained. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to give up the initiative when the ball has given itself to us. We are keeping them reacting through both.¡± ¡°Olephia reported that Anassa appeared at the Paradeisius Gate.¡± Arascus said. ¡°That confirms our suspicions.¡± ¡°It was basically assured since the Cracking.¡± Malam said. ¡°That they would involve Paradeisius. Tartarus is already here.¡± ¡°There must be some agreement though.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°To keep them below the surface.¡± Malam nodded and replied. ¡°They were as brutal as Fer¡¯s herds back in the day. With modern cameras, it will be impossible to hide the atrocities.¡± The woman adopted a terrible, hawkish, smile. ¡°They¡¯re not us after all.¡± Arascus smiled at that too. As did Kassandora. There was no one else quite like the three who sat around this table after all. ¡°But I assume we have a grand strategy.¡± Kassandora said. She spread her arms out to either side. ¡°Personally, I would focus downwards on knocking Tartarus out quickly. The Goddess of War looked to the Goddess of Hatred and raised an eyebrow at the latter¡¯s expression. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± ¡°They could retreat pre-emptively. If Paradeisius is told, then I assume they¡¯re also soon on the list.¡± Malam said. ¡°We have eyes at the Tartarus Gate and transport ready to move Olephia, but Elassa was correct. Allasaria wants to bring the angels in first.¡± Arascus mentioned. ¡°My own theory on it is that Allasaria wants assurance from Paradeisius that they¡¯re going to keep Tartarus in line first.¡± Kassandora said and Malam shook her head. ¡°I think it¡¯s just that she prefers one to the other.¡± Arascus interrupted them both. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter either way.¡± He said. ¡°At the end of the day, we can delay her.¡± ¡°I actually have thought of a way already.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Assuming that your theory which is that this is the only connection between Paradeisius and Arda that is currently open.¡± ¡°I assume we would have heard of diplomats or that Helenna at least would know.¡± Arascus said. Malam came in to back him up. ¡°Helenna would know if Allasaria had met an angel in the past thousand years. She¡¯s not mentioned it once, and she has a good amount of dirt and stories on all them.¡± ¡°I believe you.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Kavaa also doesn¡¯t believe that Allasaria has been meeting with them. But either way, I have a route for her, and it¡¯s not one we can block.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± Arascus asked. ¡°She goes underground, she travels through one of the Tartarian portals, she then uses a Tartarus Paradeisius portal.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°That would give the game away.¡± Arascus said. ¡°This is another reason why we I think they¡¯re not going to issue a full retreat immediately.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°We could strike a victory against them immediately.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t knock them out.¡± Arascus said. ¡°So we¡¯re not doing that.¡± Kassandora could win, but she was impatient. And she would take risks. Risks that were calculated and generally safe, but risks nonetheless. Arascus knew the woman appreciated his guiding patience too. And he had a plan already. ¡°I was going to prepare to focus on fighting three worlds at the same time.¡± Arascus said and Kassandora raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s a high bar to clear.¡± ¡°Modern technology and dwarven manufacturing can do it.¡± Malam said and Arascus nodded along. ¡°The World Core and Epa.¡± He said. ¡°Those are our next two targets.¡± Chapter 301 – To Settle on a Name When I started working with Malam, I realised that the woman had a gift unlike any I had ever seen before. Kassandora is the only comparison I can make, yet with Kassandora, I can at least accept that the woman is thinking outside the box. Her moves, in hindsight, are so glaringly obvious that they could only be hidden behind the curtain of morality. Malam though¡­ Malam is able to look at the entire situation and see moves that no one else could ever spot. The web of plots she crafts is so great that even in hindsight, I can look at it, I can comprehend what happened, and I can only stare with awe at the sheer creativity of it. - Excerpt from ¡°Two Sides of the Same Coin¡±, written by Goddess Helenna, of Love. One month. Malam played with her white hair as she stood next to Kassandora at Nanbasa¡¯s airfield, close enough to be bumping elbows on every other breath. One month to conquer a continent. Malam thought about what to do. One month to subdue Epa. Malam clicked her tongue as lightning ran through her mind and she pondered the issue. One month to establish authority. How difficult would it be? One month to gain popular support. Malam¡¯s dark eyes narrowed as Kassandora sighed and put her hand on her head. Popular support would be the way, a counter-revolution would be easier to instill rather than trying to subvert revolutionary spirit. Popular support could be brought from the war¡­ And¡­ Kassandora broke Malam¡¯s rhythm. ¡°Is there anyone you want?¡± The Goddess of War asked. ¡°I assume I¡¯ll get Helenna.¡± Malam said, that was obvious. She would get Helenna, because there was nothing for Helenna to do below. The society that Malam had designed for the dwarves had led them for more than three quarters of a millennium without intervention, and the war against Tartarus would keep them still and steady. ¡°You get Helenna, Fer, Anassa and Elassa.¡± Kassandora said flatly. Malam didn¡¯t let the annoyance get to her. ¡°That will leave you with only Neneria.¡± Malam said. ¡°I take Iniri and Kavaa too, but Neneria will be enough at this point. I got a video from the fleet of her performance in the UNN.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Is it good?¡± Malam asked. ¡°It¡¯s excellent.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°On the level of Iri easily.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam said. Helenna had been assured but Fer, Anassa and Elassa? That did open up new pathways for her to take. With Elassa and Arcadia especially. From the corner of her eye, Malam saw Kassandora making a smug grin to herself that grated on her nerves. ¡°What are you smiling about?¡± ¡°Just the fact it¡¯s easy to organise with you.¡± Kassandora replied and Malam didn¡¯t know if that was an honest statement or a subtle jab at her. The words were one thing, the tone was another entirely. ¡°You can take Fer.¡± Malam said. ¡°I don¡¯t need her.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°She¡¯s good on TV, you can take her.¡± Malam thought of something that would get on Kassandora¡¯s nerves. She had no clue as to why it annoyed her when Kassandora was so smug, but it did, and Malam did not like it. ¡°Fer for Kavaa.¡± Kassandora did not take the bait. ¡°Kavaa is too useful underground. Losing her will clog our supply lines with medicine. I¡¯m not giving her up.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Malam made a faint sound of annoyance. She couldn¡¯t argue against that, although she was sure that wasn¡¯t the whole reason either. Raptor One appeared in the west, a black arrowhead that split the light blue sky in two with the straight trail it was left behind itself. ¡°I want Iliyal though.¡± ¡°I expected you to need him, I¡¯m not moving him away from the Epans either.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°Apparently, the Nationals like him.¡± ¡°Everyone generally likes Iliyal.¡± Malam said and Kassandora corrected her. ¡°This is in his own letters, if he admits it¡­¡± Kassandora chuckled. ¡°Well, I half expect them to propose to him.¡± ¡°It just means they¡¯re unable to judge character if they fall for Iliyal.¡± Malam said as Raptor One started to arc downwards. Although that did open up another pathway. ¡°Do you think they¡¯re loyal to the governments?¡± Malam asked. ¡°Iliyal says that they¡¯re not fans. He¡¯ll know the situation better than me.¡± Kassandora shrugged. ¡°If you were someone else, I¡¯d be reminding you not to overlook him just because he¡¯s a mortal, but I assume that won¡¯t happen with you.¡± Malam¡¯s lips curled upwards, that was damn smooth. ¡°Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t catch that you just reminded me.¡± Kassandora made a low chuckle as Raptor One tipped backwards and lowered its wheels. ¡°We¡¯re both micromanagers, don¡¯t pretend you wouldn¡¯t remind me either.¡± Malam rolled her eyes and shook her head as Raptor One came to a stop. ¡°Want to bet on whether you¡¯ll capture Epa before I break open the World Core?¡± Kassandora asked. Malam sniffed in humour, arms crossed as she shook her head. White hair swinging from side to side. ¡°I¡¯m not taking that.¡± ¡°Are you scared?¡± Kassandora cooed. ¡°Would you?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t.¡± Kassandora admitted. There was no need to explain, they both knew why, and that was because this relationship they had could only remain competitive socially. Trying to beat each other out in things that didn¡¯t matter was fine, it was when they would try to one-up each other in real issues that they would start running into problems. Malam knew herself, and she knew that if she made a bet with Kassandora on whether the Epan takeover could be done in two weeks, it would be done in only one. And it would be done so shoddily and that by the next month, Epa would be aflame in civil war. And Malam knew that Kass was the exact same, a bet with her would only make the woman push to ridiculous speeds when she would go through the tunnels. Kassandora suddenly turned and sniffed in humour. ¡°Your number one fan is coming to join us.¡± She said as Malam turned. Helenna and Iniri were coming to meet them. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Your mini-me is getting off the plane.¡± Malam replied sourly as from the other side, Fer, Anassa, Neneria and Kavaa were exiting Raptor One. Neneria had apparently devoured more than thirty million souls and what did she have to show for it? Malam was almost disappointed. Anassa and Fer looked now different either, and Kavaa looked was not too happy. But then again, the Goddess of Health was of War¡¯s mini-me and was of War ever happy? ¡°It looks like you¡¯re in trouble.¡± Malam said. ¡°It¡¯s because I gave Anassa methamphetamines.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°And apparently she didn¡¯t take too fondly to them.¡± Malam did not even turn to look at her sister. Kassandora could say just about anything, and Malam would not be surprised. She sniffed the air and opened her mouth instead, there was no smell or taste of meth in the air. ¡°That¡¯s terrible for Anassa.¡± Malam said, chuckling. ¡°It is what it is.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°If you need help with anything, you still have me for the next four days.¡± ¡°I have a plan already.¡± Malam said, it was already slowly cooking in her head. Elassa wouldn¡¯t even be too necessary frankly. She had never liked to depend on the strength of Divinity too much for success either. Anassa and Fer would both be there to stabilize the battle lines. Apparently, roughly a third of Lubska had fallen and half of Rillia was overtaken too. Allia was in a bad position and that¡­ ¡°Actually, if you can think of a way to break the blockade of Allia, that¡¯d be great.¡± ¡°Destroy Alanktyda.¡± Kassandora said immediately and Malam rolled her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s easier said than done, isn¡¯t it?¡± Malam asked and Kassandora shrugged. ¡°You have Elassa, she can hold the oceans back. Then Anassa or Olephia if she¡¯s free. If you want it done quickly, then Neneria can help too.¡± ¡°The blockade is good for us for now.¡± Malam said. She wanted the populations to be feeling the burn after all. A population satisfied was one that would not risk its life for some abstract concept of ideology or the utter triviality that was a change in leadership. ¡°Very well.¡± ¡°I heard my name.¡± Elassa suddenly said as she dropped from the sky. ¡°Great.¡± Kassandora said sarcastically. ¡°We were just discussing how pleasant you were to be around.¡± Malam added immediately. The Goddess of Magic settled on the ground, blue dress spreading out around her feet. ¡°Arascus sent me here.¡± Elassa said coldly. ¡°You two are as pleasant as I expected you to be.¡± ¡°We¡¯re just honest with ourselves.¡± Malam said. ¡°Calm your knickers Elassa, you¡¯re not assigned to me.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°So I¡¯m with you?¡± Elassa asked Malam. ¡°You¡¯ll find I¡¯m rather lovely once you get to know me.¡± Malam answered and Elassa sighed heavily. ¡°That does not inspire confidence.¡± Elassa said. Malam supposed that if she was going to be working with this woman, she shouldn¡¯t be annoying simply for the sake of her own amusement. She thought of something that wouldn¡¯t be aggravating, tried to at least, realised that she only could be annoying, and so decided to shut up. Helenna and Iniri got to Malam, Kassandora and Elassa. ¡°What are we doing here?¡± Helenna asked, came in close to Malam and the Goddess of Hatred did not move away. Frankly, she liked the touch and Kassie always got flustered when she had to show affection in public. ¡°We¡¯re splitting into teams.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°You¡¯re with Malam, Iniri with me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with that.¡± Helenna declared as she stood next to Malam. ¡°What are we doing?¡± Iniri asked. ¡°I don¡¯t explain myself twice.¡± Kassandora said. They didn¡¯t have to wait a long time before the team being led by Fer caught up. Anassa was in the air, Kavaa was beaming a smile at the Goddess of War that Malam was sure everyone simply pretended not to see. ¡°Bet on Kavaa going with Kass?¡± Helenna asked and Malam shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s been decided already, and yeah.¡± ¡°I knew it.¡± Helenna said. Kassandora either didn¡¯t hear them, or just ignored them. She stepped forwards and she started shouting. ¡°Fer! You¡¯re with Malam! Anassa! Malam! Kavaa, with me! Neneria! With me!¡± And she turned to Malam. ¡°We¡¯re going to be out here for four, maybe five days just organising an expedition down, like I said, you have access to Neneria for that while.¡± Fer came to a stop, her fierce golden mane of hair falling down her back and ears jumping on her head. She smiled at Malam. Malam could read emotions well enough to know that Kavaa was hiding satisfaction at being assigned to Kassandora. As did, Helenna. The Goddess of Love came in close and whispered in Malam¡¯s ears. ¡°She is just so obvious with it.¡± Fer¡¯s ears twitched, Malam locked eyes with her tallest sister. For a moment, she thought that Fer would choose to not comment on what Helenna said. But it was Fer, and if Fer excelled at anything, it was being terrible. ¡°Obvious with what?¡± Fer asked so innocently that a person who didn¡¯t know her would honestly believe she didn¡¯t know. But Malam knew her, and Malam knew that the woman was actually devilishly competent when it came to the norms of sociality. ¡°Obvious with what Helenna?¡± Fer said again, her voice so sickly sweet it made Malam¡¯s hairs stand on ends. ¡°I didn¡¯t catch that.¡± Helenna managed to turn the joke around. She tapped her nose, she gave Fer a wry smile. She pointed to Kavaa and Kassandora. ¡°Who do you think?¡± And Fer replied with just as wry a smile now that she knew she was in on the joke. ¡°Oh I think I know who.¡± She said, then came close to the two of them as Anassa appeared next to Malam. ¡°It¡¯s the two of you.¡± And Fer placed one hand on Malam¡¯s shoulder, one hand on Helenna¡¯s. And Malam sighed heavily, she didn¡¯t know why Fer had such an effect on her, maybe it was just the sheer size difference or maybe it was Fer¡¯s endless positivity, but Malam had always found herself being thrown off by the Goddess of Beasthood. ¡°Lovely.¡± Helenna said, completely unabashed as she came in close to Malam. ¡°Is there a problem with that?¡± Fer made that hur-hur-hur of a chuckle but didn¡¯t say anything. Kassandora started giving orders to her own group, talking in a loud and definite tone. ¡°We¡¯re going to break open the World-Core ladies.¡± She said. ¡°That is more or less everything you need to know for now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Neneria asked dryly. ¡°You have the lead job princess.¡± Kassandora said as she started walking off. ¡°But first, we¡¯re going to have a conversation with a¡­¡± She turned and looked back at her own group, and then at Malam¡¯s. ¡°Well, actually, I don¡¯t think anyone here likes her.¡± Malam turned around and set off, ignoring Kassandora¡¯s conversation to her own team. ¡°Come on girls.¡± She shouted loudly. ¡°And what are we doing?¡± Helenna quickly caught up. Fer only needed to take two steps for every one of Malam¡¯s three. Anassa and Elassa just hovered in the air behind them. There was no reason to try and downplay what they were about to do. ¡°We are going to simultaneously coup every government in Epa.¡± Malam said flatly. ¡°Eh?¡± Elassa said from behind. ¡°Now this does sound like a proper job.¡± Anassa declared. ¡°All of them?¡± Helenna asked. And Fer spoke up. ¡°We need a team name.¡± ¡°BTK.¡± Malam quickly suggested. ¡°What does that stand for?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Better than Kassandora.¡± And everyone gave a groan. ¡°No no no.¡± Fer tutted in-between every word. ¡°I have one.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°FAMEH.¡± Fer stressed the H at the end. ¡°And what is that?¡± Malam asked. ¡°Us in height order.¡± And they got another collective groan. ¡°Can¡¯t we just do something normal?¡± Helenna asked. ¡°Such as?¡± Malam asked. ¡°The Roses?¡± Helenna suggested. And the rest of the team answered in a collective groan. ¡°The E-Team.¡± Elassa suggested. ¡°We are not the Elassa-Team.¡± Anassa quickly said and Elassa gave the Goddess of Sorcery an incredulous look. ¡°Epa-Team you cretin.¡± Elassa said. ¡°Only you are narcissistic enough to actually think I was calling it after myself.¡± ¡°I was actually going to suggest the A-Team.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Because A is the first and best letter of the alphabet and we¡¯re the best.¡± Everyone turned to now look at Anassa as if it wasn¡¯t obvious that she actually just wanted the team name to be called after her. ¡°We¡¯re up there.¡± Fer said. ¡°But not the best, F-Team is better.¡± As they walked, and as Malam retreated back into her own thoughts to plan, she came upon a realisation. They had this issue back then too: it was easier to overthrow a country than it was to settle on a trivial name for something. Chapter 302 – Carving Up A Continent Malam looked over at her team of cretinous little Goddesses just before they entered the Raptor jets for transport. The fact that two of them were taller than her didn¡¯t make them any less little. Fer stood proudly in a black uniform, although Malam gave the woman not even a full day before she accidentally tore a hole through it. Anassa and Elassa both hovered in the air, Helenna readjusted the cap on the top of her head. Each woman was a dagger that should be plunged deep into the hearts of Epa. Malam took a sigh and started assigning orders. ¡°Fer, you are going to be dropped off close to Iliyal. The National Goddesses are your affair.¡± ¡°Aye Aye boss.¡± If it was anyone else, Malam would have assumed she was getting mocked. But Fer usually spoke in that immature tone. ¡°Elassa. You¡¯re on Arcadia. You have a week there or until I call you. Empty the college and bring it back to Epa.¡± Elassa sighed and nodded. ¡°Anassa, you¡¯re with her.¡± The two quickly flashed a content smile between each other. ¡°Helenna, you¡¯re with me.¡± And Helenna flashed a very open smile that Malam was sure everyone noticed. Fer¡¯s hur-hur-hur of a chuckle confirmed that of Beasthood at least did. Arascus dropped out of the plane and fell towards the ground. He changed the fall to a float halfway through, and started to drop out as the huge bomber above him started to make a turn south towards the Ausan airports. The land beneath him was what became known as the Arikan Ashlands, at least temporarily. Definitely temporarily, already small shoots of grass and bushes were starting to clamber their way out of the land¡¯s fertile ash. They had the odd flower here and there too, the land was still largely an ugly shade of white, black and grey of ash, but now it was interspersed with dashes of green. And far below him, was a series of large off-road cars and helicopters that had transported all the important players in Arika to this little meeting. Arascus checked his watch as he approached them, two minutes early. Almost on the dot. Perfect timing frankly. In the centre of the circle of cars, a section of ash had been scraped away to reveal Arika¡¯s rich red soil, a round table had been positioned there and from the looks of it, everyone was already in attendance. Arascus looked over all the people as he settled down. Representing Ausa were Premier-General Abakwa along with General Domkat, both men muscular and both men looking reinvigorated, their eyes dashing around the landscape. No doubt it was still difficult for them to believe that the Jungle which had threatened to push the twelve cities of Ausa into the ocean was now the ash around them. The eleven mayors of the other cities were here too. Mayors, but officially they held the title of City-Premier. Arascus knew their names, he had made to sure to study everyone here. The only ones that truly mattered though were City-Premiers Aidbullah and Stainnis. They led the final two cities in the chain of towns that was Ausa. Ozoria and Manoka. President Hendali was here too, with two assistants and a pin bearing Kassandora¡¯s symbol on his chest, a sword piercing a skull. His two assistants stood by his side, both with suitcases although Arascus didn¡¯t even know why the man had come. Of course he was trying to worm his way into Arascus¡¯ good graces through that pin, but it didn¡¯t work. His nation already had a hard eastern border set, which was the Poison Line. If the man had wanted land in this meeting, then he should have gone ahead and started plotting before the meeting started. Two representatives came from Giers, Alasia, Ibiya and Khmet each. All of them technically owned the Sassara, thus all of them had technically bordered the Jungle. But the Sassara was a huge stretch of sand and frankly, these nations were more affected by Epan affairs than what happened south of the grand desert. If push came to shove, then they could be appeased with a useless stretch of sand, but Arascus had already decided that they would not get enough of the habitable, fertile soil to fill up even a single glass. And then came the representatives from the countries that lay south of the Jungle: Karoon, Amzia, Kashasa and Muwanda. These were the power players, they had suffered under the Jungle too, and they made a single alliance bloc with a very obvious antagonist to their own interests: Kirinyaa herself. At least, that is what Arascus would do in their situation. They might not see it that way, or maybe they felt generous, but he did not rely on his opponent¡¯s stupidity or generosity to score victories. The four representatives from them: Karoon¡¯s aging President Iya and his assistants, Amzia¡¯s Prime Minister Bahainde along with Kashasa¡¯s Tsishekedi of the same title and another president, Muwanda¡¯s Evaristeh. Arascus approached and sat in his own seat, larger than all the others, although he himself stood over twice the height of a normal man. Even sat down, these people were reaching up to his chest. He was opposite Abakwa, as it should be. Sitting too close could hint at allegiance and in-between Evaristeh and Iya. Both men were in clean black suits and white undershirts and red ties. ¡°Apologies for making you wait.¡± Arascus made a show at looking at the silver watch on his wrist. ¡°But I arrived on the dot.¡± ¡°It is no issue.¡± Bahainde said from the side. Him and Tsishekedi were next to each other, and then next to Abakwa and Domkat. ¡°It is us that came early.¡± Hendali from the other side spoke up earnestly. ¡°We¡¯re not in any position to make Gods wait.¡± Arascus gave the man the tiniest bow of thanks for that simply to maintain decorum. ¡°Not at all.¡± City-Premier Stainnis said. ¡°Especially not the man responsible for the Reclamation War.¡± Arascus took back control of the conversation before it got out of hand. ¡°Some of you have met me before. You know I skip the gossip and get straight to business.¡± And now seemed like the time to calm these people¡¯s nerves. ¡°I¡¯m sure all of you know the situation I¡¯m in regarding the White Pantheon. I was actually hoping some of you had drafted up plans to make this meeting and smooth and satisfying for everyone as possible.¡± That, along with the lateness, was both done purposefully, to give the illusion that Arascus didn¡¯t have time for this meeting and that there wasn¡¯t a plan. He was sure that they would give him something, but the goal was to take as much as possible without making it seem like he was scheming for it. In reality, Arascus had given Abakwa the plans for splitting Arika. The Premier General pulled out a map of modern Arika, complete with Elassa¡¯s Sea and the crack that split the Ausan city chain. ¡°I¡¯ve prepared a plain map. I have my own too, but if anyone has any suggestions, you are welcome to speak.¡± Abakwa said as Domkat crossed his arms by the man¡¯s side and leaned back. Arascus scanned the others for any reaction, although apart from fiddling with their papers, no one was giving any obvious signs of greed. ¡°How should we go?¡± Abakwa asked. ¡°Any initial ideas?¡± The representative from Khmet spoke up. ¡°I understand the Neutral Ocean Plan is out?¡± She said lightly and Arascus looked around at the men. Of course Khmet would suggest that, because Khmet had absolutely nothing to gain here. Even the other Sassaran nations could potentially, on some miniscule off-chance, score some valuable clay. Khmet could only hope for a sliver of sand that they already owned, just unofficially. Everyone shared a look and Arascus spoke up. ¡°I think no one wants the Neutral Ocean Plan.¡± It would have created an entirely new nation surrounding the Sea left behind by the Cracking, and all the other nations would have been given a sliver of land here and there. Arascus was surprised that President Hendali of Sehal wasn¡¯t pushing for it. That was the best thing to do in that position. ¡°The Jungle took too much.¡± Abakwa spoke up and the other eleven mayors nodded. ¡°Ausa and Kirinyaa both lost vast swathes of ancestral territory to the Jungle. I don¡¯t think that land is under negotiation either.¡± ¡°In regards to that.¡± Evaristeh spoke up. ¡°Kirinyaa is in a unique position because of the tribesmen within it. Can Kirinyaa really lay claim to the land just because that is where the majority of the refugees went?¡± Arascus knew this would come, it was the tribesmen like Arusei that now inhabited the Kirinyaan Badlands in the nation¡¯s west. They weren¡¯t native to the land, they had merely taken refuge in Kirinyaa because the north was the impassable Sassara and the west was the Poison Line. ¡°Kassandora made a promise to the men you are referencing.¡± Arascus said. ¡°That they would walk in the lands of their forefathers. I have already given them the land.¡± ¡°Then is Kirinyaa going to stretch from sea to sea?¡± Evaristeh asked. ¡°You must understand that we do not want a continental hegemon in Arika.¡± Arascus maintained his pleasant demeanour, no matter how utterly farcical the statement that the man just said was. Kirinyaa would be a continental hegemon no matter if it shrunk or grew. Kirinyaa was the only nation that had access to himself, to Kassandora, to Fer, and through Fer, to the great Guardian Beasts of the Jungle. ¡°I plan to establish a hard border for the Imperial Province of Kirinyaa here.¡± Arascus pulled out a pen and drew a line along an ancient river that the Jungle had drained dry. The audience all nodded at that. ¡°And further on?¡± ¡°The Imperial Province of Central Arika.¡± Arascus replied flatly as he stared Evaristeh down. The man shifted, arms crossed, and looked to his allies in the southern bloc. Bahainde spoke up. ¡°There is no practical difference what it¡¯s called on the map. It¡¯s still Imperial land.¡± Arascus shook his head and raised his hand to stall the man from talking anymore. ¡°I suggest a straight border along the fifteenth latitude in the Sassara. That would be Kirinyaa¡¯s northern border, how the Sassara is distributed is not for me to decide beyond that.¡± The representatives from Giers and Ibiya shared a curious look. The God had just given them more than three quarters of the entire Sassara, their nations would suddenly more than triple in height on a map. ¡°Wait wait.¡± Now Hendali spoke up. ¡°That much of the Sassara is being given away?¡± ¡°I actually agree.¡± The representative from Alasia, the poorest of the northern nations spoke up. ¡°This was far more than we expected.¡± The others nodded. Arascus made sure not to show any reaction of surprise, but he was stunned. They had wanted less? He knew that he spent a millennium locked away in a box, but he had been free for quite a while now, and he¡­ What had the world come to when leaders would be pushing land away. Arascus looked back down at the map and then realised that was actually an issue. To think he would have to actually convince people to take land! ¡°Kirinyaa is in open war with the Pantheon.¡± Arascus said, and as he spoke, he realised that this may not even be a problem. It simply turned out better than he expected. ¡°If we took it, then the land is unmanageable and would be raided to oblivion.¡± ¡°The land is unmanageable for us too.¡± Alasia¡¯s man said. ¡°I actually don¡¯t think so.¡± The man from Giers quickly added and Ibiya¡¯s man nodded. ¡°I would actually suggest that the Arikan Jungle Crisis Relief Fund can be used for this.¡± Arascus said. ¡°It still remains one of the largest employers this side of the continent, I don¡¯t actually want it to close its doors.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Alasia¡¯s representative said. ¡°We can use them rebuilding and managing the lands that the governments can¡¯t take. I would suggest arming the AJCRF to stop banditry too, as we¡¯ve just opened up a continent¡¯s worth of lawless land. Kirinyaa is ready to donate arms.¡± ¡°Are we going to rename it to the Imperial AJCRF too?¡± Iya asked coldly. Arascus smiled, raised waved his hand gently and shook his head. ¡°I have no want to take over a charity. Back in my era, this changeover period is when land became the most lawless. I would rather arm the AJCRF, give them authority to arrest and hand over to the local police for judgement, and then take it from there rather than have underground labs begin construction along with local hot-heads becoming warlords.¡± The men all looked at that and the table started to nod. This, Arascus did not even lie about. He had no use for the AJCRF, Kirinyaa already had a professional military, but the AJCRF was a major employer in Kirinyaa and he didn¡¯t want some thirty to forty thousand men suddenly be out of work. That is how banditry began after all. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Arascus returned to the topic at hand. ¡°Giers, Alasia, Ibiya and Khmet are not under sanctions like Kirinyaa, nor are you in open war. You will be able to exploit the desert better than us. As you know, I have come in contact with Elassa. Arcadia would be happy to provide mages to support resource extraction in the Sassara.¡± He had just thought of the idea, since he thought that he would have to argue with these nations to push them back into the Sassara, but if they were friendly, then he may as well stay friendly with them. Elassa¡¯s magicians would be able to work under the banner of neutral nations, and Kirinyaa would be more than happy to buy the resources. Frankly, Arascus was sure that he would be able to negotiate lower prices in exchange for the magical support. ¡°I still am against the militarization of the Fund.¡± Iya said, although less forcefully this time. Arascus made his tone polite yet forceful. He wasn¡¯t speaking to convince Iya here, he was speaking to convince the northern bloc. ¡°If we disband the Fund just because the Jungle has been killed, what are we going to do with the billions in assets the Fund possesses? Send it back to Epa?¡± The table chuckled, Arascus gave them a moment to calm down before continuing. ¡°This is a zero sum game, true, but we are all on the same side. The more the Fund is cannibalized, the more Arika as a whole wins.¡± ¡°I actually see the point.¡± Now Kashasa¡¯s Tsishekedi came in. A tall man, dark skinned and with his head shaved entirely clean of all hair save for his eyebrows. ¡°But I think in that way, we should establish an authority over the Fund to make sure that the cannibalization is equal.¡± Arascus smiled and nodded. ¡°I was going to suggest establishing a council over the Fund which can be headed by Sehal.¡± ¡°Why Sehal?¡± ¡°Because Sehal seeks to benefit least from this since they have a hard border already.¡± And because Sehal was on the other side of the sea to Kirinyaa, so Arascus hoped that it made him seem like he was sharing the wealth. President Hendali nodded at that, Abakwa and Domkat did too, but they had orders to be supportive. ¡°Actually, we were going to raise issue on the Poison Line. Now that the Jungle is cleared, we would like to eliminate it.¡± Arascus looked at the man¡¯s pin and realised why the man wore it. He wanted to be friendly, because he had an issue he couldn¡¯t fix himself. ¡°The AJCRF can help with that.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And in the Sassara with managing for your nations. When it comes to the Fund, Kirinyaa needs only the most minimal support.¡± That was a clean and polite denial to Hendali¡¯s request for help too, although Arascus made sure to leave his door open and not pre-emptively close off any connections. ¡°Currently, all the Divines under my authority are busy. Again, I can ask for mage support to assist, but I would suggest the establishment of an independent Arikan Authority to deal with the Poison Line. That too, under Sehal¡¯s command.¡± And Hendali smiled at that too, he leaned back and took a heavy sigh. ¡°Honestly, I thought you would have tried to force the old Sehal lands back into our hands which would have been more of an issue for us with the Line. This, under my authority as President of the Democratic Republic of Sehal, I agree to.¡± He stopped and blinked. ¡°And we would like the Glass Desert too.¡± ¡°It was already yours.¡± Abakwa said in a joking tone and the table laughed. ¡°Just formally, on a map.¡± Hendali said as he leaned into the middle of the table and drew his own line, enclosing the entire Glass Desert. ¡°My advice would be to turn it into a national park.¡± Arascus said. ¡°It was a world-wonder, now it¡¯s safe for people to enter.¡± Hendali laughed and pointed to the God. ¡°That was our plan exactly. If I¡¯m going to be frank, we already are establishment a company for managing it. Everyone here is invited for the grand opening, whenever that is.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t promise I¡¯ll make the opening, but I¡¯ll attend.¡± Arascus kept his tone light and good-natured, the rest of the men around the table all made their own promises of attendance too. The northern nations especially, since they were all smiles from their sudden good fortune in being given so much land. This meeting was turning out far better than he had hoped. The northern bloc was happy, Sehal was happy, now it was just a matter of the most troublesome individuals. The southern bloc. Those four nations of Karoon, Amzia, Kashasa and Muwanda, they no doubt would not want a lot, but Arascus had already sat down and talked through the issue with Helenna and Malam. Ausa was the real danger, especially City-Premiers Aidbullah and Stainnis who led Ozoria and Manoka especially. Ausa had only remained under one single flag for so long because the twelve cities knew they wielded more influence on the world stage together than alone. When they had to negotiate for fuel to keep their Firewalls burning to safeguard themselves from the Jungle, when they had to negotiate for food or for water, it was simply better to do it as a whole. But now, there was no more Jungle and without that need, why should Ozoria listen to the orders of Igos? In the whole Ausan chain of twelve, none of the cities were dependant on each other for logistic chains and whilst they all had Ausan as an official language, only Igos, Cabalar and Dala actually spoke Ausan day-to-day. It was practically half-a-dozen different nations. Arascus and Abakwa knew the situation at hand. The southern bloc would support Ozoria and Manoka, then Ozoria and Manoka would take a good slice of Ausan land, declare independence and form join the collective of nations to the south. And that would be troublesome indeed. Arascus looked to Premier-General Abakwa, now was the time for him to shine. They had not rehearsed this part, Arascus did not believe in rehearsals at this level, there was ultimately nothing at the end of the day that could prepare you mentally for sitting on a table surrounded by world leaders. And Abakwa spoke loudly and clearly. ¡°In truth, everyone knows that Ausa is currently heading into a time of renewal and change. In regards to that, we will deal with it ourselves.¡± He made his voice definite at the end, to leave no room for doubt that outsiders weren¡¯t welcome. Arascus inspected the reactions on the table, the northern bloc obviously did not care about Ausan domestic politics, and they were still happy from being given the Sassara. Sehal nodded in agreement, the southern bloc likewise made faces of agreement as Arascus tried to seem disappointed. If he made it seem like he didn¡¯t want this, then the southern bloc would most likely be more in favour for it. Arascus phone buzzed inside his black coat as Abakwa continued. ¡°In this case, this meeting may be the final time that Ausa argues for itself as a nation of twelve cities. I would rather our final meeting be one in which we leave a legacy respect and honour, rather than being a set of squabbling children.¡± The eleven over City-Premiers shared looks and nodded to each other as Arascus took out his phone. If it was a message from anyone else, he would have ignored it. But it was from Damian Sokolowski. Officially, the General of the First Imperial Army should have gone through Kassandora, but things under Arascus¡¯ command always got more informal the higher they went up the ladder. Hierarchy, at the end of the day, was for the masses. ¡°I agree with that.¡± Ozoria¡¯s Aidbullah said, skinny and tall and dark, with a wrap around his head to protect himself from the sun. Ozoria sat dead centre on the equator. Arascus read Sokolowski¡¯s text: Reorganisation finished. Ekkerson is leading the coastal defence. Zalewski has army group north in position, I have army group south. Awaiting green light. Arascus put the phone back into his pocket. Zalewski¡¯s north group would push over and around Elassa¡¯s Sea that had been left behind by the crack, Sokolowski would take a larger group straight west then south, to secure Ausa¡¯s border against the southern bloc and prevent any sort of independence movement from having the confidence to succeed. Arascus and Abakwa exchanged a quick, confirmative glance, and the man continued. ¡°In that case, Ausa will argue like this, under one flag, we will claim the land we wish to take from the Jungle, and then we will deal with the internal borders between the cities ourselves. All those in favour of this approach, raise a hand.¡± All eleven mayors raised their hands. Abakwa followed as number twelve. It was done. Arascus had won. He saw the southern bloc leaders look at him. They smiled in their vain success. Abakwa cleared his throat and brought forth a map with a massive chunk of land carved out for Ausa. Running all the way north, along the Poison Line, stretching west and overlapping into where Arascus proposed the Imperial Province of Central Arika. Arascus did not want to seem too eager for this situation, else that would give the game away. ¡°In regards to that.¡± Arascus tried to make it seem like the issue he had was the IPCA. ¡°It is because of Kirinyaa¡¯s efforts that we are even having this conversation.¡± ¡°We could compromise then.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°The IPCA will take north of Elassa¡¯s Sea.¡± Arascus sighed and looked heavily at the map as if there was anything to contemplate. The deal had already been struck before, the IPCA would exist in the manner that Arascus had drawn, but it was to be established on this meeting so that the other countries would officially recognize it as a real state rather than just a puppet government of Arascus. Arascus leaned back and crossed his arms. Another round of defence would be better. ¡°Kassandora led the war. As I said at the start, I have struck a promise that the people taking refuge in Kirinyaa would be able to walk to their homelands. I intend to stick to it.¡± Arascus raised an eyebrow at the men at the table, this would be a total false flag to simply lead them off the scent. ¡°Unless we plan to officially acknowledge them as stateless and give them free travel throughout Arika as a whole.¡± Of course no one took him up on that. The tribesmen like Arusei had sworn themselves to Kassandora once Olephia killed the Caretaker, that was the moment they had finally been given a taste of victory, and they had grown loyal thanks to it. Everyone made some vain excuse that marred the real reason: no one would trust men who could venture into the Jungle in their own lands. Allowing them entry was akin to allowing the best of the best of Arascus¡¯ soldiers to enter. ¡°In that case actually.¡± Iya said. ¡°The IPCA for the natives of Central Arika should be created. We have a fair few too.¡± The northern bloc nodded too and Giers¡¯ representative added his own thoughts. ¡°We know they¡¯re active in the Sassara too.¡± ¡°Khmet has a good amount too in the south.¡± The lady from that nation added. ¡°This is why we wanted to the Neutral Ocean Plan, because¡­¡± Her cheeks went red. ¡°Everyone deserves a home, they should receive theirs.¡± Arascus smiled at her, that was a wonderfully diplomatic way of saying that Khmet did not want them. Arascus made a serious expression and a nod as he looked over at the map, he made sure to furrow his eyebrows. He clicked his tongue. ¡°I see.¡± This part, Abakwa knew how to play. ¡°But it is true though.¡± Abakwa said. ¡°We can stretch the border of the IPCA further south.¡± And he turned to the leaders of Amzia and Muwanda, Bahainde and Evaristeh respectively. The man could not really feign emotion, Arascus saw through that pleading look immediately. Or maybe he could and Arascus was simply working with all the ability a deity possessed whilst these men were still stuck at the level of humanity. Whatever the case, both Bahainde and Evaristeh seemed to catch that they would have to make some sort of conciliatory concession. ¡°That is true.¡± Bahainde spoke up first. ¡°Whilst we don¡¯t want a hegemon on the continent, I still think we should appreciate the good will and restraint shown by Kirinyaa.¡± The man looked at the map, then at the northern bloc on the other side of the table. ¡°Especially when it comes to the Sassara.¡± He added in a way that said he obviously did not want to give anything up. But Arascus did not stop him. At the end of the day, Kirinyaa was not a hegemon on the continent, it was a great power across the whole world by the sheer of the Divines aligned with it. Nations like Amzia and Muwanda did not get to dictate things for Kirinyaa. Bahainde sighed and drew a line on the map. ¡°Amzia will take up to this line and Kirinyaa can have the north.¡± Arascus nodded as Evaristeh came forwards. ¡°I was going to suggest making the centre of the rock formations here the border.¡± Arascus raised an eyebrow, it was actually just slightly more than Bahainde had given them. Arascus must have thrown them off well if they had come in obviously so against him and now were giving appeasements. ¡°I can agree to that.¡± Arascus said. ¡°That¡¯s a good compromise in fact. It will be hard to get trucks through those rocks.¡± Evaristeh nodded. ¡°I had thought of that.¡± He sighed and looked up at the God. ¡°Honestly, you are not as bad to negotiate with as I expected.¡± The rest of the table agreed with that. Abakwa especially. ¡°Then I would like the formal recognition of the Imperial Province of Central Arika by tomorrow at the latest.¡± Arascus said. ¡°And just for open-ness, an army led by General Zalewski will be moving into the area. General Sokolowski is also stationed in the west, but both are there out of my own paranoia.¡± ¡°Paranoia?¡± Iya asked. ¡°I don¡¯t believe it will happen, but I¡¯ve lived long enough to be proven wrong every now and then.¡± Arascus lied straight through his teeth, but he just needed any reason that made sense and this, well¡­ ¡°So just in case, I have positioned troops in the west in case the Jungle starts to resurface.¡± And who could argue with that? The men all shared nervous glances, and then looked at the ground around them. ¡°You think so?¡± Hendali asked. ¡°No.¡± Arascus said. ¡°I do not believe it will return, I am simply paranoid. The troops will stay there for a while and then move back.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± The lady from Khmet said. ¡°I appreciate the openness about that.¡± The rest of the table nodded. ¡°Khmet can recognize the IPCA the moment we see a flag or anything to recognize.¡± ¡°For ease of creation.¡± Arascus said. ¡°It will be established as a constitutional monarchy before the transitioning to a republic.¡± The first part was truth, the second was wrong entirely. The constitution was only there to safeguard Arusei as the man was going to be tested. If he flaked out, Arascus would bring in someone else to do the job of ruling that area. ¡°How you manage your country is your own pejorative.¡± Abakwa gave the scripted reply before anyone could raise objection. And with those words, no one raised any objection. Abakwa could say it of course, because Abakwa expected the same treatment from the others. The logic was simple, an attack on that principal would be an attack on Ausa, and that would force Ausa into Arascus¡¯ hands. It was good logic Arascus thought, but it only worked if Ausa was an independent actor. Arascus smiled and returned a polite inclination of his head. It was indeed silent long enough for the representative of Alasia to speak up. ¡°We too will recognize the IPCA.¡± And so, they fell one-by-one. And with that, it was done. Once the IPCA was a real state, it would be impossible to take back what was said. The legitimacy would be given, and the only thing that an immediate removal of the recognition would do is damage the other party¡¯s prestige. The White Pantheon would obviously not recognise it either, Epa most likely would. And once a nation existed, it was difficult to make it un-exist. Instead, Arascus turned to look at the map. He looked up at the Premier-General. ¡°Then I will sign.¡± Abakwa said as Arascus actually scanned the map again. The vast swathes of the Sassara had been given up¡­ but¡­ Apart from a tiny slither to the southern bloc... And the Glass Desert to Sehal. He was honestly impressed with how much he got. Abakwa signed the map, then passed the pen. It went around in a circle, until it reached Arascus. The God of Pride took the pen and signed: Arascus. Of Pride. And he stared at that map some more. Kirinyaa and Ausa combined had secured more than eighty percent of the fertile land. Now that¡¯s how you carved up a continent. Chapter 303 – A Goddess Gone General Zalewski leaned back on a huge Lynx tank and pulled out a cigarette, two of his subordinates realised they had implicit permission and started to smoke for themselves too. One long drag left a meandering trail of smoke that reminded Zalewski of a flag fluttering in a breeze. Although maybe it was simply because flags were on his mind. The northern army under his command had been tasked to secure the borders of Central Arika in order to facilitate the land¡¯s rule as an Imperial Province. It was called the northern army for short, officially the term was Battlegroup North, and that was because it had maybe a quarter of the usual divisions and troops required for being an army. Sokolowski had Battlegroup South, twice as large as Zalewski¡¯s and still half the size of what the man had commanded during the Invasion of Kirinyaa, and Ekkerson had more than three quarters of the entire military under his command. Orders came from Arascus, locations had been picked where the men were to establish camp and where the flags were to be planted. It was an odd design, although Kirinyaa was adopting a similar pattern. The red-white-black was the general tricolour of Empire, the black cross splitting a white into quarters was a provincial flag, and the top left quarter carried the local flag. For Kirinyaa, that was the green-red-blue which was the blood trapped between the Jungle and the ocean. For Central Arika, it was Elassa¡¯s war-purple at the bottom, followed by light blue and red. Zalewski took a drag of his cigarette and was thankful that this area wasn¡¯t dangerous at least. At least not yet. Reports were already starting to come in of smugglers jumping on the opportunity of a lawless swathe of land in the centre of Arika. Zalewski felt the steel of the Lynx behind him, the heat of the Sun above had made its chassis warm. Orders were simple, this was a warzone. Non-compliance with the temporary government of the IPCA declared one as a military target. Rules of engagement gave the green light of free fire on military targets. Simple. Fortia thought about getting another bottle. She groggily closed and opened her eyes. She decided that she could not be bothered to. She thought of getting up from her couch. She decided that was too much energy too. She thought of leaving her temple on Olympiada. She knew there was a war to manage. She knew she was the only one who could do it. But why? For what? So that Allasaria could continue to rule? And so Fortia sat on her thick couch as she looked at her feet. How many times had she sat with Maisara here? Too many. She knew the script off instinct at this point, Fortia would wiggle her toes. Maisara would laugh. Fortia would¡­ Fortia felt a tear trail down her cheek. She couldn¡¯t be bothered wiping it away and fell on the couch instead, bringing the thick blanket close around her. It still smelled of Maisara. Fortia stared into the cold, empty fireplace, she hadn¡¯t bothered to light. It wasn¡¯t cold anyway. This room had felt so large with Maisara, and now it was crushingly small. The desk was too close. The couch barely held Fortia as she lay on it. Even the gold and silver coloured carpets had somehow become duller in colour. Frankly, she didn¡¯t know why she had never ran through Maisara¡¯s death in her head. Why had she never prepared for this moment? All things died in the end. Even during the Great War though, she had never expected that¡­ It¡­ It was.. it had been simply unimaginable. How could the Goddess of Order die? She wanted to hear that laugh again. She wanted Maisara¡¯s cold glare to scold her. She wanted someone who would stand up to Allasaria with her. She wanted the complaining and the gossip. She wanted the seething over Kavaa betraying the Pantheon. She wanted it all. She¡­ Fortia couldn¡¯t stop the tears from flowing. Fortia did not want to be alone. Fortia¡¯s exercise in intellectual masochism was brought to a sudden close when the door opened. Fortia did not move, her golden eyes simply travelled over to the door way as she saw the handle swing open. She was far too old and she had survived far too many battles to be able to simply await what the door would reveal. Even in this state, her mind started to analyse and process what was happening. The handle swung easily, that meant it was a Divine, there was no knock, which meant it was a high-ranking Pantheon member. Allasaria was trying to recruit Paraideisius into the war, so it couldn¡¯t be her. Zerus then. The others would knock, Theosius would not bother checking on her. The door swung open to reveal the God of Lightning and Fortia immediately caught herself. How, she did not know, but this was a different a Fortia than the one who had just been crying. The Goddess of Peace wiped her eyes, blinked her tears away. The blanket fell as Fortia reached down to grab her white shirt. Zerus averted his eyes to give her some modesty and it sparked something in Fortia. ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯m embarrassed by you.¡± Fortia said. Zerus turned around in his white shawl lined with edges of light blue. He was as tall as Fortia, muscled and lean, with his beard shaved to reveal a chiselled jawline lined with grey stubble. His wife, Sceo appeared by the door. She wore her standard battle-dress, with dark hair flowing freely down past her shoulders. Fortia¡¯s golden eyes narrowed at her too, and then back to Zerus when the God spoke. ¡°I was giving you some modesty, do not be angry Fortia.¡± It took all of Fortia¡¯s willpower not to summon her spear and impale Zerus to the wall right now. ¡°I don¡¯t blush when a fly wanders into my shower either.¡± Fortia forced the words out as she pulled her shirt down and reached down for her skirt. The undergarments weren¡¯t important, and she would return to wallowing in naked self-pity the moment these wastes-of-space left. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°I understand time for grieving is important.¡± Zerus said, gently picking out the words. ¡°But we do have¡­¡± Fortia raised a gold-bronze eyebrow and Zerus shut up. ¡°We have what?¡± Fortia asked. She heard more shuffling. Great. The third useless member of these fucking failures for deities turned up. Sceo stepped into the room as Alkom filled the doorway. Taller than both Fortia and Zerus, but skinnier and smaller physically. Nowhere were near as wide, with a long face too. Fortia spoke up again. ¡°We have what Zerus!?¡± Sceo came in to answer as Zerus took a deep breath. ¡°We have a war in Epa to fight.¡± Sceo said. ¡°And you are our commander.¡± If there was one word Fortia never wanted to hear out of that woman¡¯s mouth, it was ¡®commander¡¯. Oh? So Fortia was the commander now? We suddenly didn¡¯t need to be asking Allasaria for permission on anything? Now Fortia called the shots. ¡°You have Allasaria.¡± Fortia said. ¡°Allasaria does not lead the Guardians.¡± Sceo said. ¡°They are your order, it is your duty to lead them. Likewise, Maisara¡¯s Paladins will list¡­¡± Sceo trailed off as Fortia stared the woman down. The word ¡®commander¡¯ was one thing, but sullying Maisara¡¯s name like that¡­ ¡°You don¡¯t say her name.¡± Fortia felt her voice crack and saw Zerus step forwards to cover her wife from the Goddess of Peace. ¡°Yet it is true too. They will die if they are not given orders. Arascus¡¯ forces are currently re-organising, now is the time to strike.¡± Fortia stared Zerus down. She knew if she opened her mouth, she would burst out in tears, so she merely stared as Zerus, ever so gently, spoke again. ¡°If not for us, then do it for her.¡± The dam within Fortia did not crack. The dam within Fortia was blown up from within by a thousand tons of dynamite. Fortia¡¯s spear dropped from mid-air by the Goddess and impaled itself into the stone floor of the room. ¡°You couldn¡¯t even get her out of there.¡± Fortia hissed as Zerus and Alkom both glanced at the spear and Sceo took a step back. ¡°Don¡¯t even mention her to me.¡± ¡°Control yourself Fortia.¡± Zerus said. ¡°What happened, happened, we are all at fault.¡± Fortia didn¡¯t know whether she was the captain guiding the ship, the wind blowing into the sails, or simply the crewmates being carried forwards on the waves of rage. ¡°All at fault? Could you not get her out Zerus? Could you not get her out? Could you not even blast her away? As fast as lightning are you? And yet you still fled from her!¡± Zerus stared Fortia down, his eyes started to glow blue. Lightning danced along his fingertips. ¡°At least we went in the first place Fortia. We failed, but we showed up.¡± ¡°Failed is an understatement.¡± Fortia hissed back. ¡°You went, you lost her. Then you fled from Neneria. Three of you could not get through one Anassa. I¡¯ve read the reports.¡± ¡°You would not be able to defeat Anassa either.¡± ¡°In Kirinyaa I put a hole through Anassa¡¯s chest!¡± Fortia said. ¡°She is not as unstoppable as you make her out to be.¡± ¡°But you did not go now.¡± Fortia opened her mouth and silently closed it as her mind scrambled and attempted to block that blow the God had just struck her with. But those words went through, no matter what shield Fortia could raise against that terrible accusation, there was only thing that she could say at the end of the day. Zerus was correct. She had indeed stayed behind. Maisara had gone under the promise of receiving reinforcements. Fortia had stayed to organize them. She had thought that Allasaria would send massed mages. Yet Arcadia had been slow in its organisation. Then when they went for Seekers¡­ Allasaria changed tunes and decided that Paraideisius should be called into the war. And Maisara, who had been awaiting reinforcements throughout the entire battle, never got them. Fortia grabbed her spear and held it pointed at Zerus. ¡°Do not pretend you risked anything by going. Neneria cannot fly, nor can Fer. The three of you are powerful enough to defeat Anassa easily. You were never in any real danger.¡± ¡°Denial Fortia. You are delusional.¡± ¡°No, I am not.¡± Fortia declared. ¡°Did you receive even a single scratch during the battle? Did you even come close to receiving a scratch? Neneria devoured tens of millions of souls and you could not be bothered to even break a sweat Zerus. That¡¯s what I saw.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°If we could not break a sweat, then what are you Fortia?¡± Zerus said coldly. ¡°What did you do? You organized a response? The battle took more than three days! You couldn¡¯t mount a response in that time?¡± ¡°Not when Allasaria is prancing around on her ideas Zerus! Not then!¡± Fortia shouted as the hand that held the spear started to shake. ¡°Never then! But you don¡¯t know that, do you? What do you even lead? You¡¯ve never even had a single Order! Don¡¯t pretend to understand even an inch of the work Maisara and I did everyday!¡± ¡°We did everything we could.¡± Zerus answered. ¡°Fortia, I do not wish to fight you, I can share the responsibility bu-¡° ¡°Don¡¯t even say another word.¡± Fortia said coldly. ¡°You think yourself smart because you pretend to sit and talk things out. All three of you do. All three of you are the same type of person, that pretentious dishonest swine that lords over commoners like me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know wha-¡° ¡°But you do Zerus!¡± Fortia shouted. ¡°Elassa got called Allasaria¡¯s dog but it is you three that are the true dogs. the Pantheon? Because you like the shawl? You like the marble seats? That¡¯s why?¡± Zerus sighed as he stared at the woman. Fortia could feel the man scanning her like a puzzle to figure out. And that only made her angrier. She was about to make yet another accusation, when Sceo spoke up. ¡°Fortia, grab a hold of yourself and-¡° And Fortia interrupted this pretentious little chit. ¡°Why are you even here Sceo? What do you even do?¡± And now that Fortia had started to roll, she could not stop. ¡°It was Leona, Allasaria, Maisara and me who made the Pantheon. We recruited Kavaa, Helenna, Theosius, Atis, Iniri after that. Do you know why you were last? Do you want to know exactly what the Pantheon thinks of fools such as of Lightning and of the Sky and of the Sun? It¡¯s that you are worthless! You stand for nothing! You have no Orders! You have no goals! There is no comparison between us! Maisara built! Maisara stood for something! Even those like Olephia, who can only destroy, at least have a purpose! What do you have Zerus? Sceo? Alkom? Your entire existence is one giant rest where you do nothing but lie down and rot!¡± And Alkom came in, he stepped around Zerus and Sceo and stared Fortia down. ¡°To understand that there are already enough fools in the Pantheon like you who wish they could micromanage the world is what we bring.¡± Alkom said. ¡°Do you actually look down on us for not partaking in your petty politics?¡± ¡°I look down on you for being cowardly swine who are afraid of espousing their own beliefs, no matter what they are.¡± Fortia said. ¡°And if you truly don¡¯t have them, then I pity you for being soulless.¡± Alkom stared with sheer befuddlement at the Goddess of Peace. And Zerus stepped in. ¡°This is the end Fortia, I will not spend the entire day listening to you belittle me. Will you come with us to lead the Epan War or will you rot in your room?¡± ¡°There is no war to lead.¡± Fortia said. ¡°I want nothing to do with it. Let Allasaria lead it since you wish to slobber over her boots so much.¡± ¡°Allasaria has gone to Pa-¡° Zerus said, but he could not finish, once again, Fortia interrupted him. ¡°Oh has she? Wonderful! Then she will win the war alone, just as she won our last war! That¡¯s exactly what happened, isn¡¯t it? Maisara and I weren¡¯t useful in the slightest!¡± And Zerus finally snapped, he raised his tone as lightning shot from his eyes and fried one of the lightbulbs on the ceiling of Fortia¡¯s room. ¡°No one has ever said you two were not useful!¡± ¡°Oh yes! Praise me more!¡± Fortia shouted. ¡°Praise Maisara too! Now that she¡¯s dead and gone, we¡¯ll get to hear all about how everyone misses her, how strong and how noble she was! You did it to Atis, you did it to Leona too! Go on! What could she do the best? Give me something else you never thanked her for when she was alive!¡± ¡°You and Allasaria are of the same breed Fortia.¡± Zerus said. ¡°The only difference between you is that she is more powerful.¡± ¡°The only difference between us is that in the first thirty years, when I made decisions in the Pantheon, I built a system that lasted a millennium. All Allasaria has been doing is coasting off the success of Pantheon Peace! The moment it started to unwrap, what has she done?¡± ¡°Who led the Invasion of Kirinyaa?¡± Zerus asked. ¡°And who kept us shackled with Pantheon Peace in a time of war!?¡± Fortia shouted back. ¡°It was a guide to follow, not a set of rules to never be broken! It is your cowardice and hesitation to break it that made sure we would lose that war!¡± ¡°That was a brilliant deflection Fortia.¡± Zerus said loudly. ¡°But it changes nothing. We lost in Kirinyaa under your command. We lost Maisara because reinforcements did not come. We just managed to breach Anassa¡¯s barrier.¡± ¡°Do you even know how Anassa¡¯s delusions work!?¡± Fortia shouted. ¡°What do you even know about her Zerus? The woman operates on sheer confidence! Do you think that a single Divine would have made a difference?¡± ¡°We won¡¯t know now, will we?¡± ¡°To defeat Anassa, you catch her off guard or you crush her ego. There is no other way. The woman¡¯s energy reserves are her confidence!¡± And now Zerus made a frustrated expression. Fortia stared him down, of course he did not know. He wasn¡¯t a leader. He did not have to worry about the weaknesses of Arascus¡¯ family. All he did was wait for a letter to arrive at his desk with the next mission plan on it. That was fucking it. What a waste of space. ¡°You could have defeated Fer too if you and Maisara faced her together.¡± ¡°The only thing I could have done through that is pushed Fer to drink Neneria¡¯s blood! What do you think will happen then? Do we even want to find out?¡± ¡°What an excuse Fortia!¡± ¡°There is no excuse, what do you know of loyalty Zerus? Tell me! What do you know of loyalty? Can you even say the fucking word? Fer would drink Olephia¡¯s blood if it meant saving a sister! She would gladly lay down her life for it!¡± ¡°How do you even know that Fortia?¡± Zerus said. ¡°I do not doubt your strategic acumen, but there comes a point where caution becomes paranoia.¡± ¡°I fight the same way Kassandora does.¡± Fortia said. ¡°I simply think of the worst thing that could happen and go from there. The worst thing that could happen is that we discover Fer can process Neneria¡¯s blood. That will only happen if we push them to it! You had to break through Anassa!¡± ¡°This is a grand story.¡± Sceo shouted now. Why was she even here? The woman did nothing, stood for nothing, was nothing. The title of ¡°Of the Sky¡± was worthless. Her claim to fame was that Zerus had found enough pity in his rancid heart to take her as his wife. ¡°Bu-¡° ¡°But there is no buts.¡± Fortia said. ¡°We know what happens when Fer drinks Irinika¡¯s blood and it is so terrible that not even Arascus wants to repeat it!¡± ¡°I did not know you could read minds Fortia.¡± Sceo said and Fortia took a step towards the woman. Wings of lightning momentarily crackled around Zerus, Fortia¡¯s gold-bronze armour appeared around her body and her hand tightened around her spear. ¡°When I faced Kassandora in Kirinyaa.¡± Fortia said, no longer shouting. ¡°It was Maisara and me against Anassa, Kavaa and Kassandora. I put a hole through Anassa¡¯s chest. Do you know what happened? Do you think that Kassandora and Kavaa ran away? Kavaa, traitor to the White Pantheon, stayed. That was when I realised we lost. When traitors switch and find the other side so worthy that they lay down their lives for it.¡± The three Divines before Fortia remained silent as the Goddess of Peace continued. ¡°I defeated Kassandora in single combat as Kavaa was healing Anassa. Do you know how much pain you go through when Kavaa heals you? Anassa withstood it to protect her sister. She got up, exhausted, half healed, as I stood over Kassandora.¡± Fortia took another step forwards. ¡°I was closer to killing Kassandora than am I to killing you now. Do you know why the woman is still alive? Why she still walks? If we want to talk about who is responsible for Maisara¡¯s death, then it is me. It is me because I didn¡¯t end it all back then! Do you know why? Should I tell you?!¡± ¡°Why?¡± Zerus asked flatly. ¡°Because Kassandora, Daughter Goddess of Arascus, our arch-nemesis, the woman responsible for the state of the Pantheon as it is now, is more respectable than you.¡± Fortia hissed the last word. ¡°Because I decided to do something for her that I would never do for you. I gave her the chance to say her last words. I gave her the chance at last words, she was impaled on my spear here.¡± The Goddess of Peace poked Zerus¡¯ stomach with her hand. ¡°And Anassa got up, still bleeding, she threw Kavaa away from me, she ripped Kassandora off my spear, she tore the fucking woman in half. Because she knew that Kavaa would heal her, and Kavaa did. I was this close to killing her. I was this close, and Anassa snatched it from me.¡± Zerus stood there, Fortia could see the man tense his muscles. She could feel the anger coming off him like heat escaping a hot oven. She saw Sceo process what Fortia just said, and she saw the Goddess of the Sky falter, her lips quiver, her eyebrows dart downwards in rage. And she saw Alkom stare flatly at Fortia, what went on in his mind, Fortia could simply not guess. Most likely the information went into one ear and escaped straight out of the other. ¡°That¡¯s what they have.¡± Fortia said. ¡°That¡¯s what they have and what we do not.¡± And Fortia took a step back. Her armour disappeared, loose strands of cloth fell from where her armour cut into her skirt and white shirt. Fortia dropped her spear. It bounced on the cold floor and clattered. That had always annoyed Maisara, and Maisara would always be there to tell her off. No one said anything about the scratches her weapon just made into the stone. Fortia doubted that Zerus and Sceo and Alkom even cared. They just had some disgusting, self-centred view of independence and letting everyone else fail to farcically learn through their own mistakes. Fortia collapsed onto the couch. She fell over the back and lay down on it, once again hiding herself under the blanket. Arascus definitely did not treat his family like this. That lot stayed together. It had been obvious in the Great War, it was obvious now. There was no such as fleeing from a sister for them. They would stand together, fight together, fall together and die together. ¡°Go away!¡± Fortia cried out at the three Divines that she knew were watching her. ¡°Go away! I¡¯m not going! Fight your own wars!¡± ¡°Fortia.¡± Sceo said gently. ¡°Go away!¡± Fortia shouted again. ¡°Just go¡­¡± She trailed off into tears. Someone grumbled. Someone sighed. There was some shuffling. The door swung open again. It fell shut. Fortia peeked an eye out, once again, the room was empty. Immediately she tore her clothes off, curled into a ball and hid underneath the blanket. She wanted¡­ She wanted someone to sit next to her. She wanted someone to hold her shoulder. She wanted someone who wouldn¡¯t just leave when Fortia told them to leave. She wanted what Kassandora had. That woman had spent a thousand years in prison, and she had not so much as cracked once. Now that Fortia¡¯s mind raced around Kassandora, she realised that not once had the woman ever had a crisis of confidence. She could be knocked down ten thousand times, and she would be back for number ten thousand and one. Fortia wanted to stay by her side. She didn¡¯t want Allasaria, she didn¡¯t want Zerus. She¡­ Fortia cried into her own arms. She wanted that display of loyalty she had seen in Arika. From Kavaa, who could have ran but instead stayed to madly heal Anassa. From Anassa, who put herself in danger, endured Kavaa¡¯s agonizing healing and held off respite for long enough as to save her sister. And from Kassandora, who had stood up to Fortia fully aware that Fortia outmatched her in speed, in power, in strength, in duelling prowess, in everything that was important for blade-to-blade combat. She wanted that strength Kassandora had, where she had stood because she was assured of Anassa¡¯s and Kavaa¡¯s loyalty and trust. How could Fortia trust Zerus? The man was lazy beyond belief. He would let someone die as long as he could semantically rationalize that some value could be extracted from that death. Sceo? She was the same. Alkom? What did Alkom even care? Allasaria? The only reason that Allasaria and Fortia and Maisara ended up on the same team was because of Arascus. Because they were all threatened by him. Because all of them had too much of their own poisonous pride and were unable to humble themselves before him. Because, somehow, someway, the Fortia in the past had thought that she could do better as part of a terrible Pantheon than a Family. Fortia cried harder. That was a cursed word. It shouldn¡¯t hurt so much. But it did. It burned and seared and threatened to send her into a panic. She would face the demons of Tartarus, she would face Olephia, she would¡­ but she wouldn¡¯t. Because no matter what she told herself, she had been too afraid to risk her own immortal soul in the grasps of Neneria. Because Maisara would stand fearless, assured of help that never came. As Fortia did nothing¡­ If there was a single person who could provide even a sliver of the loyalty and trust and love that Arascus had for his daughters to Fortia, it was Maisara. And now Maisara was gone. Fortia just wanted her Maisara back. Chapter 304 – The Lubskan Wall Divinity¡¯s greatest weakness is our decadence. In this case however I am not talking of the degenerates such as Galrond of Gluttony. These types transcend their decadence into sheer hedonism, their total lack of discipline is despicable beyond redemption, yet that is exactly why they are forever destined to remain as lesser beings. Galrond, apart from the immediate degenerates who clamour around him, will never possess a kingdom or strength or respect. Yet those like Galrond are the minority. It is the classical decadence that the majority of us fall into. The comfort of routine, the poison of habit and the utter devastation wrought on by success. A target is reached, a goal is achieved, and we stop. It is enough. We have completed what needed to be done and return to our own lives, no matter what those lives are. Some of us have a large appetite for success, some of us achieve our goals quickly, yet that is the commonality between all of us. We get to a point were enough is done, where we can bask in the victory. That is the single greatest way that Arascus and Kassandora differ from the rest of us, it is in their relentless march forwards. Their strive is incomprehensible to me. I see both achieve great things that would satisfy even the greatest of us, and they do not allow themselves to take a moment¡¯s pause. I greatly respect this relentless goosestep towards progress, yet I cannot rationalize the boundless creativity they possess. It is their discrimination towards problems I simply cannot fathom. It is one thing to be an excellent problem solver, it is another entirely to find problems worth solving. That is what most Divines lack. That is what they possess. The command tent was dimly lit by flickering lanterns that cast uneven shadows across its patched and weathered canvas walls. Olonia stood at its centre, her towering frame slightly stooped as she leaned over the war-torn map spread across the wooden table. The air inside was heavy with the mingling scents of damp earth, sweat, and tobacco, whilst the faint hum of urgent voices barely masked the distant rumble of artillery. Her white hair caught the light like frost against the grimy backdrop, and the dents in her once pristine plate armour. Outside, the rains had finally stopped and the muffled sounds of weary soldiers moving through mud pierced the cloth of the tent. Kaczaw was under threat, where Iliyal had relocated his headquarters to. The east of the country had fallen entirely, it wasn¡¯t that the White Pantheon was undefeatable, Iliyal managed to win battles here and there. It was simply that the war had stretched on more than long enough for Lubska, and Epa as a whole, to start feeling the squeeze of continental blockade. At least they weren¡¯t Allia, where the entire nation was teetering on the brink of collapse. ¡°Iliyal is moving third armoured north?¡± Olonia asked. Menith and Beryon had been assigned to managing the boots on the ground as Iliyal managed the war from the top. The two elves wore Iliyal¡¯s standard black, HAUPT from Doschia had been contracted to design uniforms for the entire leadership, although that was largely to keep the company afloat and twenty thousand souls employed. The human leadership, the captains and majors in charge of the various smaller units around Kaczaw all stood around the table too. ¡°Twenty-third engineers have finished the replacement rail-line.¡± Menith spoke, tall, as all elves, handsome, as all elves, with light eyes, as all elves had, although his were green where Beryon¡¯s were blue. The main difference between them was that Menith was simply more confident, the centuries of age he had over the younger elf did little to age the fellow. ¡°So where do you want us to move?¡± Olonia asked as Menith looked down at the map again. ¡°Here in Vielczka would be the best.¡± Menith said and looked to Beryon. The younger elf nodded along as Menith looked to Olonia, shuffled under the Goddess¡¯ gaze and explained himself. Olonia merely stared him down as she wondered why the elf felt he had to explain. Just as him, she had trained under Iliyal, she understood how hierarchy worked. ¡°The Labrys and Bess teams can handle the Zaklicz dam.¡± The weapon Divines, Labrys and Bess, the Axe and Musket. Powerful, although Divines could not wield Divines. ¡°I¡¯m assigning seventh artillery west of the dam too, and eighteenth infantry east of it. Iliyal told me to.¡± ¡°The dam has to hold for another few days whilst we¡¯re still digging the spillway.¡± Beryon said as he traced a line with his finger. ¡°It¡¯s Twenty-second engineers doing it, they¡¯re at Vielczka now, here.¡± He pointed just west of the village, between Kaczaw and the small collection of buildings. At the current rate, if we can hold them off Zaklicz for another four days, the spillway will run far enough to divert waters into fields.¡± ¡°Other units will defend the spillway, we¡¯ll-¡° Menith said and trailed off. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Olonia said. ¡°Has Saksma returned?¡± ¡°She¡¯s leading the Doschian Armoured in the north. Iliyal¡¯s mousetrap worked and we¡¯ve encircled some two thousand Paladins.¡± Menith said and Olonia nodded. ¡°Good enough for me. Give her my regards if she returns before I do.¡± Olonia said. ¡°And tell her I have eight now.¡± The two elves nodded even though their gazes said they obviously had no clue as to what Olonia was talking about. It was simply a good competition between the Goddesses on how many Divines they could fell. Saksma was at seven, Olonia at eight and the last time she had reported, Paida had claimed three. The Goddess of Lubska left the command tent, gave one look at Lubska¡¯s glorious old capital in the distance. She turned and trotted through the mud towards the camp¡¯s airfield. Two minutes later, Olonia was in a huge helicopter that could transport trucks, much less Goddesses. Thirty minutes, later, Olonia was looking down at the village of Vielczka. A collection of a hundred farm-houses, if that, spread across a dozen streets. The place had been evacuated, six Doschian tanks were positioned near the centre, twice that in trucks were delivering troops that were fortifying houses, twice that again in guns that weren¡¯t self-propelled. Doschia¡¯s industry could produce barrels and armour by the hundreds, and instead of letting the machinery go to waste, it had been decided that it was better to simply make towed cannons instead of waiting for engine parts. At the end of the day, they still worked, and they could be cannibalized for emergency repairs on the vehicles. To the west of the village, the twenty-second engineers were working. Diggers and bulldozers were madly scraping a giant trench into the ground, constructing a floodwall out of the ground they were excavating in the direction of Kaczaw. More soldiers were fortifying that floodwall, and a battery of four anti-aircraft guns were positioned beyond it. The helicopter lowered to the height of a tall tree. Olonia stepped off the edge and landed with a heavy thud. She groaned and stretched her legs as she felt the weight of the impact. Each time, she tried to push the helicopter a little higher, and today, it had gone too high. Several Lubskan soldiers quickly swarmed out of a house and proceeded to give her cover as Olonia tried to hide the fact she had definitely fractured something. The first night in Vielczka was nothing to write home about, although after the trip in Erdely had accustomed her to minimalism. The fact she had a roof over her head to cover herself from the midnight drizzle was good enough. The Sun rising in the east burned the wind away. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. And as the drops of water stopped falling, the drops of steel came down in a torrent. Men raced out of homes and crowded into the APCs which sped away from the centre of the town as Olonia tried to track where the shells were hitting. By now, she had learned how the Paladins used their artillery. It would come in a slow barrage, Olonia¡¯s eyes looked fell to the horizon as she started to back away. Indeed, a line of vehicles were speeding along to Vielczka. Olonia pulled backwards further as the artillery vaporized the eastern half of the village. And Olonia stopped, these tactics were predictable by now. She turned her head, she listened carefully. Engines, wind, artillery in the distance, but not aimed here. Gunfire in the north. Something exploded. A helicopter somewhere. Missiles. A plane flying by. But just as she expected, no artillery aimed here. Just because it was predictable did not mean it was bad. That was something else Iliyal had taught her: it was one thing to see a blow coming at you, it was another entirely to parry it. The Paladins would push Epan troops away with artillery, rush in, have a quick melee that was supported by Divinity, take the town, and force the Epans back. It was terribly predictable, and it worked four times out of five. She stopped; she listened to her own troops. The APCs had stopped, the tanks were coming back. It was up to her to buy enough time for her men to re-garrison the remaining houses. Olonia turned and pulled out her own pistol. It was effectively an anti-material rifle, but in the hand of a Divine her size, it was a pistol. She slid around an old farmhouse that looked as if it was entirely concrete. She saw the approaching trucks, the front one had a man in silver armour crewing the machine. And Olonia adopted the stance she had seen her men use, she turned to the side, she lifted one arm, she closed one eye, she lined up the sights, she pulled the trigger. The man crewing the turret dropped, a hole the size of a large orange tearing through his chest. Olonia lowered her pistol, she aimed at the cabin. She pulled the trigger. Glass shattered, a man collapsed, a steering wheel turned out of control, the truck cascaded to a side, off the road, and landed in a ditch left behind the White Pantheon artillery. Olonia fired again, two quick taps, same as before. The man in the turret before he could respond, and then the driver. The third vehicle had stopped already. The men were bursting from the back but Olonia did not care. Her own troops could take care of the mortals, the main threat had reared its head. A Divine, tall, almost as tall as Olonia herself. A woman judging from the way she moved and the build, she carried a heavy tower shield in front of her, she trotted onwards step by step. Olonia had seen those shields before, they were thicker than the armour on tanks. She put two bullets into it to test and couldn¡¯t even make out whether she made dents or not. The Goddess of Lubska sighed, flicked her pistol back into its holster, and drew her sword. Her troops would return in a few minutes, the Paladin forces must have been aware of that. They advanced quickly, the infantry pushed onwards, the Divine led the charge. Olonia let them close almost the entire distance before she drew her gun again and started picking the men in heavy armour she could see. Almost all had a blade, although the greatswords had recently started to fall out of fashion. And everyone had a rifle. Olonia dropped her visor to close off the final part of her body in steel. This armour, from the front at least, was impenetrable. Dented, true, and she feel every impact against it, but rifle fire simple not be able to get through the solid plate of steel. The visor had a tiny gap, that was sealed up with opaque plastic. It hadn¡¯t been hit yet, and Olonia didn¡¯t even know if the plastic would survive a direct hit from a bullet, but she wasn¡¯t willing to find out. Five men fell before that White Pantheon suddenly reared her armoured self around the corner. Olonia heard her own troops approach and shouting in Lubskan from behind her. Gunfire was close, although she didn¡¯t stop to watch, she hefted her sword, aimed her sword at the Divine, and kept pulling until there was no more recoil. Four more rounds, four impacts into that Pantheon Divine, although it may as well have been four pokes of Olonia¡¯s finger. The Divine turned, stopped, Olonia stepped forwards, her arm swing outwards as she bounced the blade of the Divine back and away from her. Her own sword crashed into the side of the Divine¡¯s chest plate and apart from a pained grunt, simply bounced off. The Divine recovered, she carried her own blade away, in a curve and around. Olonia had been in enough brawls now to know not to back away from Divines. She hefted a leg up and slammed her heavy boot into the Goddess. That Goddess stumbled backwards as Olonia kept up her attack. She would call upon her great Eagle, Bielik, if she could, but she didn¡¯t want the beast getting injured from gunfire again. So she had to take long slow route. Her fist impact into the Divine¡¯s stomach, that plate finally gave a reaction. It made a small inwards dent the White Pantheon Divine cried out in pain. Olonia swung her sword again as the Goddess before dropped her tower shield and tried to deflect the blow. And just as Kavaa had done on Olonia, Olonia did to the Goddess. She dropped to a knee, she brought her sword up, she found the weakness in the armour and sliced into it. And the Goddess before her screamed in pain as she fell. But Olonia had seen Divines stand up from far worse. The Goddess of Lubska smashed her heavy, armoured boot down on the Divine¡¯s chest once, twice, thrice. And she saw the armour finally give way. She twisted her blade around, she held the tip downwards, she put both hands on the hilt, and she stabbed down. Not just with her strength, but with all her weight behind it to penetrate that thick plate. And she stabbed down. She felt the tip of her blade blunt itself, she heard metal tear and scream, and she her steel cut flush flesh. Without a second thought, she moved the blade from left to right, forwards and backwards, and she stopped when the Goddess in armour stopped moving. Olonia, breathing heavily, pulled her blade out of that Divine¡¯s chest. She watched a puddle of blood immediately spill out of her and then turned to see the Paladins retreat. The Goddess of Lubska swung the blood off her blade and cracked her next. In the distance, another figure was approaching, easily twice the height of an average human, maybe taller than even Olonia herself. In white armour and a cape. Olonia didn¡¯t bother to hide her smile. Iliyal had told her everything she needed to know about capes. There was a reason that not a single major Divine donned one. --- Fer stepped behind a tree, sniffed the air, and felt troops approaching her direction. She sniffed again, Doschian cloth, it had a distinct scent to it, a note more bitter than the material Paladins and Guardians used for their undershirts. As silently and as delicately as a gentle breeze caressing a field of barley, Fer moved through the forests that overlooked Zaklicz reservoir. It was in a fine position, although naturally it would be situation on high ground, it was a reservoir after all. The Goddess stalked silently along the edge of the wood as she watched another volley of artillery fire launch from her west and impact the ground just before Vielczka village. Fer sniffed the air again as her ears twitched and she, from one side she heard the thunderous booming of artillery that had just impacted onto ground. From the other, she heard the footsteps of that reconnaissance team in the forest. They had passed her by, from the casual whispering, it was obvious they had missed her. Fer knelt down to lower her profile. She had been wrapped in thick cloth. It could be torn off in a moment¡¯s notice, but it didn¡¯t glint in the light unlike her golden mane. She felt her lips curl in a smile as her eyes sharpened. She liked playing with Kassandora, she couldn¡¯t deny it. Kassandora was an excellent leader and a fierce wolf of a warrior. But Malam? Her other sister was just as sharp, but she didn¡¯t fight. No, Malam was a snake, and sometimes, Fer simply liked to watch a snake fell a beast a hundred times its size. Fer¡¯s eyes caught the target. Iliyal had kept track of it, a Divine that Fer actually had heard of. Naro, God of Discipline. A White Pantheon Ace so to say, on the level of a weapon Divine. In marvellous white armour, Naro was one of the few Divines that fought with a cape, although it was more like a weapon in combat. The man would never give chase, never over-extend, he would always be assured of victory if he actually appeared on the battlefield. With Leona there to warn him of any potential danger, he had managed to survive the Great War without a scratch from start to finish. No scratch on his skin, but with plenty of blood at his feet. Maybe if Olonia had a century of training, she would defeat him. Maybe if she could train with Fer for longer than just a month, then there would be some foundation to work with. The woman had come quite a distance of course, but the first steps always seemed like the biggest when training. And now? Fer had watched how the woman had just dispatched that minor Divine. She had absolutely no chance. But no chance was exactly what Malam had wanted. Chapter 305 – Hatred Calls ¡°Read this.¡± Malam threw a piece of paper at Helenna¡¯s head, a less agile Goddess would have been hit by the scrunched ball of paper, but not Helenna. She was used to these antics at this point though, and didn¡¯t bother to even comment as she caught it with one hand. To be honest, Malam was in fact getting better. Normally, she didn¡¯t give warning before throwing information. ¡°What is this?¡± Helenna asked idly as she unfurled the paper. ¡°Just read it.¡± Helenna¡¯s eyes scanned the title as she blinked, her mouth falling agape in shock. ¡°You just wrote this now?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Malam said proudly. And Helenna felt a flood of despair wash over her. Had Leona been responsible for every success back then? ¡®A treatise on toppling Epan Dominos and a guide to building Fifth Columns.¡¯ Kavaa readjusted her armour and tightened the strap around her shoulder. She had swung with sword, she had handled the halberd, she had stabbed with spear and she poked with the pike. This felt nothing like any of the weapons she had ever wielded in the past. But rifles for Divinity had finally been produced, at least for expeditionary forces and another for Arascus. Malam¡¯s team did not wait for their weaponry, although Kavaa struggled to imagine Anassa, Elassa or Fer using a gun. So now Kavaa walked through the camp that had been established near the original hole Anassa had dug. It was a camp of Kassandora¡¯s design, that was for sure. The woman truly did not bother to fix things that weren¡¯t broken. This was still the design she used in the Great War, the only difference being wider roads for tanks and trucks to trundle through and the section that held ammunition had been greatly lengthened. Otherwise, it was the exact square model or tents around campfires. A pair of helicopters getting close sent a gust of wind that swung Kavaa¡¯s bright silver-grey hair across her coat. She had plate armour with her too, but there was no reason to wear that when the coat was more comfortable. And Kassandora didn¡¯t wear her armour either. The Goddess of War would prowl from location to location in that black coat which hung past her knees, with the cap that bore a skull being stabbed with a knife. Kavaa had a similar cap too. Normally, she wasn¡¯t a fan of hats, but Kass managed to pull the look off and if Kass managed to do it, Kavaa didn¡¯t see why she shouldn¡¯t be able to either. She turned down another bend and looked from side to side, then kept on prowling. Of War wasn¡¯t here. Kavaa walked through the expeditionary camp with a small piece of paper in her hands. She had seen Kass organise in the past of course, several times, but it always impressed her how quickly the Goddess of War could organise a cohesive force. Kavaa¡¯s march on Olympiada had taken more than a month to organize, and that was just bringing men close to the mountain. The UEL, Underground Expeditionary Legion as Kass had named them, had spent two days mustering. Twenty thousand soldiers from the Kirinyaan military, two and a half thousand Clerics for support. Three full support battalions of armour. Then the whole force was doubled as the logistics companies were brought in. ¡°There¡¯s a letter from Malam.¡± Kavaa handed the paper to Kassandora. It had come to the command tent, but Kass rarely visited there. Most of her time was spent inspecting the armour and sending new designs back to Central Requisitions. ¡°Such respect for tradition.¡± Kassandora replied flatly as she took it and ripped the envelope open. She chuckled for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s not signed, but there¡¯s only one person who writes like this.¡± Kavaa pretended not to be curious, Kassandora¡¯s red eyes flicked from the paper to Kavaa, and the Goddess of War passed the letter to the Goddess of Health: ¡®Heya sweetheart. A mutual acquaintance told me there¡¯s arms which are small, and arms which are big. She explained it to me but I assume you¡¯re better in this field. Whether the arms are big or small, I don¡¯t really care. I need to outfit several thousand with things that civilians could realistically possess iykwim. :^).¡¯ Kavaa raised an eyebrow and Kass intuited at a glance what she was stuck on. ¡°It stands for if you know what I mean.¡± ¡°This is Malam I assume?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Do you know anyone else who would even think of sending a letter to me like this?¡± Kassandora asked, sounding disgusted, and Kavaa chuckled as she kept reading: ¡®I also need bombas. Or explosives. Again, civilian grade. The whole thing should be kept under wraps, it¡¯s all an iykwim sort of situation. iykwim Also, apparently we can drop things through planes. Can this work? A lovely woman here is telling me it is but why should I ask the casual wine-aunt about drink when I have access to the professional alcoholic instead? That¡¯s everything, love you sweetie.¡¯ That last sentence annoyed Kavaa, and that annoyance in turn annoyed her more. She was far too old to get jealous over who talked with who on the playground. ¡°I understood what she wants.¡± Kavaa said honestly. ¡°But I have no clue what she actually plans to do.¡± Kassandora whipped out her phone, but she did take a pause to explain to Kavaa. ¡°I don¡¯t either.¡± She admittedly honestly. ¡°I assume wine-aunt means Helenna, I¡¯m the professional alcoholic apparently, she wants my opinion on airdropping weaponry into Epa and it sounds like she¡¯s going to support insurrectionists.¡± ¡°You got all that from this?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Gut feeling just from experience of knowing her.¡± Kassandora said and raised an eyebrow at Kavaa, from her tone, she was obviously beyond annoyed. ¡°Are you going to mention the fact she writes bombas instead of bombs?¡± Kavaa struggled to keep her mouth straight and not laugh into Kassandora¡¯s face. ¡°Is that just some inside joke?¡± Kassandora replied with a single nod. ¡°It is.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°It has made me laugh precisely this many times.¡± Kassandora put her thumb and finger together to make a circle and lifted it to Kavaa. The message was clear: Zero. But Kassandora continued. ¡°It will make me laugh precisely this many times.¡± And she repeated the motion. Kavaa struggled not to laugh directly into Kassandora¡¯s face, thankfully, the Goddess of War turned away. ¡°Are we sending her supplies?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Kassandora said, looking down at her phone and pressing icons. Kavaa pretended not to be interested in the woman¡¯s contact book. She saw her own name tagged as 1. Kavaa. Kassandora lowered her phone with a devilishly smug grin as she scrolled down to 1. Helenna. ¡°If you want to look, then go ahead.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Kavaa felt blood flow into her cheeks as she blushed to the same shade as Kassandora¡¯s crimson hair. She had been that obvious? ¡°I have the most boring phone imaginable.¡± Kassandora said, she clicked the homepage button to show off her wallpaper, or the lack of it rather. It was just a black screen. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Just that?¡± Kavaa asked. ¡°Do I need anything more?¡± Kassandora gave a question as an answer. She went back into her contacts and rung 1. Helenna. The Goddess of Love answered almost immediately as Kassandora looked to Kavaa, then switched Helenna to loudspeaker. ¡°Hello hello? Helenna speaking.¡± Helenna¡¯s voice sounded through the speaker. ¡°This is Kass Helenna, I assume the trainwreck is next to you.¡± Kavaa smiled, she enjoyed listening to these two bicker. It was one of the few times she actually saw Kassandora have fun. ¡°She is.¡± Helenna replied. ¡°Loudspeaker?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°On now.¡± Kavaa felt some satisfaction at the fact that Kass had turned it on for her without asking. ¡°Good, Malam, are you there?¡± Kassandora asked. Malam¡¯s voice came through after a moment. ¡°This is the nightmare rectangle?¡± Helenna sighed heavily. ¡°No you idiot. This is a phone.¡± Helenna¡¯s came through as Kassandora and Kavaa shared a look, the first was furiously annoyed, the second merely amused. ¡°It¡¯s a nightmare rectangle.¡± Malam was more definite this time. ¡°Shut up Malam and listen to me.¡± Kassandora said, she opened her mouth to speak but Malam came in faster. ¡°See! It¡¯s terrible.¡± ¡°Malam! You¡¯re not a child!¡± Kassandora said into it. ¡°Malam, just take the phone.¡± Helenna¡¯s voice came through it. ¡°And it¡¯s just a phone, there¡¯s nothing scary about it.¡± ¡°I know what a phone is Helenna. It¡¯s just this that¡¯s the nightmare rectangle.¡± ¡°What the fuck are you on about?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°I don¡¯t see Malam.¡± Helenna¡¯s voice came through the phone. ¡°Phones are fine, it¡¯s just this is a nightmare rectangle because Kass is on it.¡± And Kavaa just about managed to contain her laughter. ¡°Malam! Do you want help or not?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Can you imagine anything scarier? Constant communication with Kassandora? Gosh.¡± Malam didn¡¯t sound terrified whatsoever. ¡°Imagine Kass drunk-calling you in order to give more work. Stuff of nightmares that is.¡± Kavaa knew the fact she had to make an effort not to laugh annoyed Kassandora, but Malam was funny. She was terrifying, but she was funny. ¡°There is no one in this world who annoys me like she does.¡± Kassandora stated and Kavaa nodded along. ¡°Oh! Who are you talking to there Kass?¡± Malam suddenly changed her tone, from cautious as if afraid that the phone would bite her, to now as sweet as ice-cream. ¡°I think I know!¡± Kavaa opened her mouth and Kassandora shook her head to shut her up. ¡°If you say one more word you waste of space, I will drop the call right now.¡± Kassandora said flatly. ¡°I just got your letter, I¡¯m ringing to ask whether you¡¯re able to write normally and what you want. If you know what I mean.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡± Malam replied smugly. ¡°The letter is perfectly intelligible.¡± ¡°You have one more chance at intelligence.¡± Kassandora said flatly. Kavaa could tell she was actually angry now. There was no shouting, no emotion in her tone, she was simply just shutting down and staring at the little phone in her hand. ¡°I want planes, bombas and guns.¡± ¡°You can use Raptors One and Two, ask dad if you need any large-scale operations. Everything else, Ekkerson will be able to provide.¡± ¡°I need Epan models. I don¡¯t want it to be traced back to us.¡± Malam said and Kavaa saw the change in Kassandora. The anger in those red eyes burned away immediately, as if it was nothing more than a match submerged in water. And it was replaced by the cold, smouldering ashes of work and efficiency. ¡°Ask dad, it¡¯ll take some time to make. Iliyal can probably make sure some disappear for you.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Malam said. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea, I didn¡¯t think of Iliyal.¡± Kassandora gave the driest look Kavaa had ever seen to the Goddess of Health, and slowly shook her head. ¡°And bombas?¡± ¡°What about them?¡± ¡°I need them.¡± ¡°You understand we make our own compounds? It will be traced back.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Malam asked. ¡°Really yes.¡± Kassandora said. ¡°A good inspection will reveal where everything came from. An excellent one will be able to trace it to the refinery¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Malam said. ¡°What about manufacturing them here?¡± She asked. ¡°Could we not just-¡± ¡°What do you need them for?¡± Kassandora interrupted and Malam chuckled. ¡°Civilian sabotage, let¡¯s say.¡± ¡°As in done by civilians or targeting civilians?¡± Kavaa watched the woman mention the war crime as a matter of fact. Kassandora and Malam could have been discussing their plans for dinner. ¡°Both.¡± Malam replied. ¡°Then make fertilizer bombs. Helenna will know.¡± ¡°Write that down!¡± Malam shouted. ¡°Farma bombas!¡± Kassandora flinched every time she heard that word. ¡°Anything else?¡± The Goddess of War asked. Malam made an audible coo for a moment as if she was a bird, then shook her head. ¡°No, can¡¯t think of anything.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to be going underground soon so don¡¯t ring me anymore, ring Dad or Ekkerson if you just need some garbage solved or triviality delivered.¡± Kassandora took a deep breath. ¡°Helenna, are you still there?¡± ¡°I am.¡± The Goddess of Love replied in her cool tone. She was obviously impressed, and slightly giddy as if she was trying to contain laughter. Most likely something was happening on the other side. ¡°Get her a phone.¡± ¡°She has one.¡± Helenna replied. Kassandora replied immediately. ¡°Then shove it so far up her ass it comes out of her mouth and she starts talking in radio waves.¡± Kavaa couldn¡¯t contain that giggle. ¡°And send me her fucking number so that we don¡¯t have to do this stupid I call you to call her routine all the time. That¡¯s all, bye.¡± ¡°Oh wait!¡± Malam shouted and Kassandora held off on pressing the drop-call button. ¡°What?¡± Kassandora asked. ¡°Is your girlfriend there?¡± Kavaa and Kassandora both tensed as they locked eyes. Two pairs of cheeks became red, two Goddesses became stunned by Malam¡¯s sheer forwardness. And as Kavaa and Kassandora stared at each other, Kavaa realised that this simply was not their playing field. Battles, they could do. Wars, they could handle. Walking through villages filled with dead, easy. Natural disasters, those were merely problems to solve. But this taunt? What exactly was she supposed to say? She couldn¡¯t just accept what Malam had said. But neither could she voice something like that out loud. And the Goddess of War looked to be just as shocked as Kavaa was. ¡°Do you mean Kavaa?¡± Kassandora finally asked. Her tone was cold, but Kavaa noticed the little quiver, she wouldn¡¯t have before, but she did now. It was obviously not as steady as Kassandora would want her tone to be. ¡°Oh what a sweetheart she is!¡± Malam cried out in pure joy. ¡°Can you hear me Kavaa?¡± Kavaa slowly leaned forwards and put her mouth close to the phone in Kassandora¡¯s hand. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh how polite you are!¡± Malam cooed in pure delight. ¡°You two are made for each other!¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± Kassandora asked for Kavaa. The Goddess of Health was glad she did, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to get a word out. ¡°This is for Kavaa.¡± ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± Kavaa said delicately, she was morbidly curious at what was about to come through that nightmare rectangle. She didn¡¯t want to know, but likewise she simply needed to know. ¡°Have you two kissed yet?¡± Kavaa and Kassandora looked at each other. Then at the phone. Neither could say a word. Neither could even move a muscle. Kavaa¡¯s cheeks didn¡¯t even flush with embarrassment, she was so stunned at what she just heard that she even forgot to breathe for a moment. And if that wasn¡¯t bad enough, Malam somehow managed to continue. ¡°Because I was going to ask what you think of the taste of my c-¡° Kassandora crushed the phone in her hand to stop Malam and threw it in rage at the ground. ¡°No!¡± She screamed. ¡°No! No! No! NO!¡± She took a step back from the remains of the nightmare rectangle. ¡°DISGUSTING! EW!¡± Kavaa stood there in awe, if there was one reaction she would have never expected from Kassandora, it was that. ¡°Never! No! She¡¯s never done anything like that! I¡¯ve never! No! She¡¯s the worst! She¡¯s just disgusting! I HATE HER!¡± Kass spat on the ground in disgust. Kassandora looked down at the remains of her phone in the dirty-red Kirinyaan soil. ¡°FUCK! I HATE HER!¡± She kicked the pieces of metal, took a deep breath, then stamped her foot like an angry, petulant child. And as Kavaa watched, she¡­ She was happy that Kassandora was displaying some genuine emotion. Almost immediately, Kassandora calmed down. ¡°Iniri will be done with the tunnelling soon Kavaa, we¡¯re going in then. Alright?¡± Kassandora didn¡¯t wait for a reply, she just started to walk off. She then stopped, then turned around and looked down at the ground. After a quick moment, she spotted her sim card, picked it up, and then stomped off. And as Kavaa watched her, she couldn¡¯t help but smile. As terrible as Malam was, the Goddess of Hatred had revealed something. Before, Kavaa had questioned if it even existed, but right now, she was sure that there was something there. Hidden deep within the Goddess of War, there was a Kassandora. And it wasn¡¯t a stunted workaholic. It was a complete, beautiful soul, complete with anger and embarrassment and annoyance and everything else downright terrible that Kavaa enjoyed so much about Kassie. As she stood there, Kavaa swore to herself that she would dig that Kassandora out, by tooth or nail if she needed to. Even if she died, she would haunt the damn woman. Her soul would have to be annihilated for her to give up on healing Kassie. Chapter 306 – A Promise of Power What is a right? I ask this from the perspective of material reality and not philosophy. Most abstracts, as much as they pretend they are some grand concept that can be stretched outwards to cover all of reality, are in fact very defined when applied to material rules. Maisara¡¯s Order for example, it is some great, unattainable utopia of transformation humanity into a factory, or is it simply organisation that ignores all morality? Kassandora can describe her abstract of War as a disagreement between two people, but is she correct? Is an argument truly warfare? Or is the woman simply aggrandizing herself? In the same way that everyone knows what a horse is, everyone knows what a war is. Kassandora¡¯s statement is revolutionary, only because it is confident in its own wrongness. Even my Hatred, I can describe it as a great many things, yet likewise I can reduce it to the basest material reality: an intense disdain for one-another. This material description is what I wish to ascribe to rights of man, and in that case, I see only natural laws: Might makes Right and Survival of the Fittest. Yet if natural law was the be-all, end-all to thinking, then a figure such as Maisara or Kassandora would have never come around. This issue compounds upon itself even more when rights directly counter-act each other. The right to freedom, brought unto its extremity, would override every other right, yet we understand such things as property or self-determination also exist. It is not until one inverts the way they look. Rights are not an addition to life, rights are a subtraction from the governing state. Rights exist to safeguard mankind from tyrannical rulership, yet they also exist to safeguard tyrannical rulership from mankind. Those tyrannies can only exist because of the limitations cast upon them by rights. Monarchs that overstepped their demesnes int the rights of man had a tendency of finding themselves under the executioner¡¯s axe. However, if we take this approach to be wrong and rights need to be an addition to humanity rather than a negative limitation imposed on the rulers of mankind, then there is only one real right that exists. Only one right we can call forever permanent and truly Divine. Only one right that we can be assured of, no matter what situation we are in. The Divine Right to Die. ¡®A treatise on toppling Epan Dominos and a guide to building Fifth Columns.¡¯ Written by Malam, Goddess of Hatred Elassa looked down at Arcadia. At an Arcadia cold and desolate. At an Arcadia abandoned. At an Arcadia that had faced disgrace after disgrace. Elassa hovered in the air as the wind spiralled around her to avoid whipping about her black suit. It left the hat on top of her still too, the white emblem of three lightning bolts striking a shattering world in white on the black fabric. Elassa sighed as she looked down at Arcadia, the almost-empty fields and gardens that now lacked all signs of life, the only sounds being of wind swaying leaves and the fountains that were still running. Elassa looked down upon her Arcadia. She had failed those who still remained here, there was no other way to describe what had happened. She had failed terribly. She saw a small group of boys looking up at her from under the shadow of a tree. A pair of girls that were sitting at a bench, now they had stalled their conversation and were watching the Goddess who was supposed to represent them. Teachers were coming out too. And as Elassa lowered herself down to the ground, as she glanced across the ocean of faces that were all looking up at her, Elassa realised that flame of anger growing within her stomach. She knew it shouldn¡¯t exist, it wasn¡¯t their fault that the Goddess who represented them had gone, cracked a continent and killed several hundred million worldwide. Yet¡­ And Elassa realised what the issue was. She looked at those ashamed faces, and she knew she was the odd-one out. The mages of the past would have cheered. The mages of the past would have sung a song. The mages of the past would have seen the example that Elassa had just set, and then proceeded to rush forwards in an attempt to imitate even a slither of the power she had just wielded. And these people? They lowered their gazes as if afraid of the very strength that made them who they were. That, Elassa was the issue. The magicians still remaining in Arcadia felt terrible about what just happened, yet Elassa? Elassa did not feel bad at all. She had been kicked out of the Pantheon true, she was working for Malam now, true. She had betrayed each and every allegiance with Divines she had made over the past thousand years, true. Yet¡­ did it matter? Elassa set her black boots onto the ground as she saw waved the closest group of students, a trio of three boys, over. They were all tall and skinny, and in their own casual clothes rather than Arcadia¡¯s formal dress. Elassa did not particularly mind or care, mages wore what mages wished to wear at the end of the day. The issue was so terribly simple that Elassa did not even know what to say. Complicated problems, she could sit down and rationalize out. It had always been the simplest questions that had been the hardest to find answers to. And today, the question was terribly simple. Her magicians felt shame for what just happened, she did not. Why did they feel shame? She had proved a single soul could crack a continent, she had re-written the march of history in one move. The crack she had made would outlast any kingdom and any era. It would be studied and studied until humanity forgot what had created that crack. And then it would be studied some more. She had cracked a continent. Who else could lay claim to a feat so magnificent? Elassa set off at a brisk walk as more and more magicians were starting to from the doorways of the great dorms. A dozen here, a pair there, a couple out of a door. A witch opened her window to watch the Goddess of Magic return to her kingdom. Elassa looked at the magicians who remained. She tried to pick out faculty she had known. Faculty or top-ranking students. Faculty or top-ranking students or the few workers she knew in Arcadia. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Not a single face she recognised remained. The few who still carried the teacher¡¯s shawl were all professors or assistants. Not a single member of the administration revealed themselves, not a single head-of-year, no one. Elassa walked through the great gardens as the crowd grew and grew. She made a full circle to her own palace, a great stone porcupine of towers topped off with high peaks or golden domes. Interconnecting them was a spiderweb of walkways adorned with stone and brick and gargoyle. The path to the building was lined with statues dedicated to the Great War Archmages, the pinnacle of what humans had achieved so far. Witches in extravagant hats and brilliant dresses of stone enchanted to glimmer in the sunlight, and wizards in full battle armour, their staves replaced for enchanted swords. A few magicians left the grand palace in a line. Elassa examined them and Elassa realised that not a single soul she knew remained here either. And Elassa cracked a smile. When she got the news from Arascus, it was a struggle to believe it. Then it had been denial. Then she had lied to herself about how Allasaria was in fact not talented whatsoever. Then, she had told herself how her mages were loyal. And if they weren¡¯t loyal, then they had a thirst for knowledge. How could you successfully bribe those who valued nothing but the intangible pursuit for new information the most? And now, as Elassa turned and saw what had happened, she realised that it had been worse than she thought. Allasaria had come in, she had ransacked Arcadia of its greatest resource: the manpower itself, and she had left. Elassa pushed Malam¡¯s task out of her mind. The Goddess of Hatred had told her to hurry, but that she had a few days either way. Elassa wondered if Malam had realised what happened and had given Elassa a day to recover, or if it was just mere nicety. Whatever the case, Malam¡¯s issue was not pressing and it could be solved quickly too. The woman merely wanted a few gemstones enchanted to make a beam-array. Gem-stones that had been fashioned in such a way that it was obviously human hands, and not Elassa¡¯s own. They could be made and sent off quickly enough. Those could be made quickly, and Elassa was in no mood to make them now. Not after the puzzles in her mind had clicked together when she realised that most of her faculty were mere cowards and swine. Elassa realised what had happened. Arcadia had been on a disgusting foundation that would have made it a despicable joke in the Great War. The mages from her administration finally got to her, Elassa stopped and looked down on them. But there was a difference between these people and back when she had declared the change of flag to the red and purple. Those war banners, at the very least, fluttered gently in the fresh Arcadian breeze. She turned around at the crowd, at the faces that were all chaotic mixtures of worry and fear and excitement and relief. ¡°How many remain?¡± Elassa asked the mages next to her, no one in particular, but an older man did answer. ¡°Across the whole scho-¡° ¡°Just the number.¡± ¡°About sixty-two thousand.¡± Elassa made a grim nod. From more than five million to sixty-two thousand. That was the reason as to why the place had felt so empty. ¡°Return to the ranks.¡± Elassa replied and the man nodded. The entire team of administrators followed as Elassa thought on what to say to the mages behind her. Although¡­ There was no thinking. For once, she knew exactly what to say. This was not a rallying speech to bring together a shattered people, nor was it a call to action against some opponent in a faraway land. This¡­ It was a proclamation, it was the first lesson she would give with her entire heart. The Kirinyaan Invasion had been mere drilling, it was running through the motions. That hadn¡¯t been teaching, that had been running through the motions. There was no philosophy, no actual knowledge or skills gained in that. She had merely been programming her students with the magical arts in the same way that Theosius would program his stupid little robots with various tasks or whatever it was that he did. In a way though, Elassa had to thank Allasaria. She had humbled Arcadia so greatly, she had stolen most of the members, and she had expelled Elassa from the White Pantheon. So now, what actually bound Arcadia? The coffers of the White Pantheon? Allasaria had fixed the problem for Elassa. She had removed all the wasteful expenses, what was Elassa supposed to spend money on now? There was no faculty to pay, no wasteful projects to be done, no meandering research grants¡­ Arcadia had been destroyed. And in a way that Elassa could have never imagined. Fer¡¯s warherds had not come to defile and raze and pillage, Kassandora¡¯s legions had not ran a campaign of extermination, even Neneria¡¯s ghosts did not come to draft what remained into her forces. It wasn¡¯t through Olephia¡¯s words or through Baalka¡¯s disease. Not a single one of Arascus¡¯ daughters was responsible for what had happened here. Nor Arascus himself, the man had merely pulled back the curtain to reveal the rotten wood that was holding up the theatre. And it wasn¡¯t really Allasaria either. The woman had stolen what she could, but how could Elassa blame the Goddess of Light? She wasn¡¯t going to run from responsibility. Arcadia had allowed itself to be stolen, if Arascus had come forwards to expose the rotten structure, then Allasaria had come to give it a great kick. It was Elassa herself, for choosing scaffolding of wood instead of hardy, rigid stone to build her kingdom out of. And if those two had destroyed what Arcadia stood for, Elassa would set fire to the refuse that still remained. Anyone who still had any qualms should be expelled, because they were no longer welcome in the Arcadia that Elassa was building. She cast her hands into the air, the dirt from her sides rose by her to create a silhouette of the continent of Arika. ¡°This is Arika!¡± Elassa shouted as she looked at the faces of the mages. Elassa snapped her fingers. Arika above her cracked, just as it did in the real world. ¡°This is what I did.¡± Elassa saw a few of the magicians look at Arika in awe, and a few take a step back in horror. Maybe they had deluded themselves that Elassa was not actually the great destroyer that everyone said she was. ¡°I am Elassa, Goddess of Magic.¡± Elassa shouted. ¡°I formed in the chaos of World-Breaking, whilst I exist, this is what magic is.¡± And the Arika behind her cracked into a hundred different pieces. ¡°There is no discussion we will have on this, there is no debate. Magic is my demesne; Arcadia is my land.¡± And Elassa watched the faces, she saw the excitement spiral into lustful passion on some, the worry descend down into the worst of horrors. And Elassa continued. ¡°Allasaria has set up her own schools, you are welcome to leave and go join them. I do not care, I will not keep you here.¡± A few took a step back. Elassa raised an eyebrow in taunt. Did they think this era of open magic would exist forever? Did they actually delude themselves into thinking that this art somehow lacked elitism? Anassa only existed because of the elitism inherent in magic. ¡°I will not give a grand speech.¡± Elassa shouted. ¡°I will simply say this. Arcadia is a war college, Arcadia has always been a war college, it will always be a war college. If you have any qualms, leave. If you have any moral stipulations about this, leave. If you wish to slow down, or if you think you won¡¯t be able to keep up, leave. If you wish for money, leave. If you wish for fame, leave. If you wish for pleasures, leave.¡± Elassa saw the men who were smiling in excitement, she saw their grins become wolfish. She knew her own mirrored theirs. ¡°I can promise one thing and one thing only.¡± The Arika behind her dropped and silence once again filled the world. ¡°Power. Nothing less, nothing more.¡± Chapter 307 – Battle of Ponte Dell’Nicodemo At the end of the day, rulership can be reduced down to only one real quality it needs to possess. Regardless of thinking or moral constraints or methods or means or whatever else vain intellectuals like to aggrandize themselves with. Success. Excerpt from ¡®A Guide to Rulership¡¯, written by Malam, Goddess of Hatred. Alianna stood on the edge of a cliff as she overlooked the Ponte Dell¡¯Nicodemo, a bridge that stood over a dry ravine, it connected two mountains. Ancient and made of sandstone, with plenty of cover and now filled with smoking wreckages of vehicles. Months ago, it was one a sight to see on the main Rilian North-South highway. Now, it was a chokepoint for both Epan and White Pantheon forces. The Rilian government had declared it far too important to destroy and likewise White Pantheon artillery would avoid shelling structure. After all, if it collapsed, it would severe this route until it was rebuilt. So both sides fought for it in close closers. Aliana had spent the past two weeks here. She watched two Doschian tanks on her side on the field. They had special ammunition, just great shells of steel that punched holes in enemy vehicles without exploding. A full division of Rilian engineers were supporting the forces, and the seventeenth mountaineer brigade was the main unit that had been tasked with making sure bodies were flowing to keep the White Pantheon meat-grinder stuck. Another day, another attack. Aliana let loose an arrow from her bow and saw a man drop. An officer in gold plate, one of Fortia¡¯s Guardians. The small white shawl around his neck marked him as a captain. She saw the team around him go to the ground and then a burst of suppressive fire be unleashed in her general direction. One bullet scratched her arm, another hit her shoulder, Aliana merely grit her teeth and pushed them out through her natural regeneration. Fer had given her a lot, but one of the best things she had learned from that Goddess was the ability to withstand pain. These bullets practically tickled compared to Fer breaking her bones and then Kavaa healing her. Aliana pulled another arrow from her quiver as a Rilian APC, a stunty thing, tall with a turret on top rolled forwards and laid down a hail of lead across the Ponte Dell¡¯Nicodemo. The Guardians dived down to seek cover behind the wreckage of one of their tanks. And the APC started to reverse as a missile suddenly blasted out of the woods on the other side of the ravine. It barely missed the vehicle and exploded on the rock of the mountain behind it. Aliana looked around, as sharp as her eyes were, she couldn¡¯t pick men camouflaged in the middle of woods like that. She drew her bow and then turned when the whir of helicopter blades from the south hit her ears. A White Pantheon chopper, the troops called it a SkyReaper model. Painted in bronze, with a heavy and missiles hanging from small wings on either side. Aliana took aim and let the arrow fly. In the past, she would have held her aim for a moment and steadied her hand. Iliyal¡¯s ridiculous training of those logs on ropes had taught her to trust her instincts. She watched the arrow penetrate the glass of the cockpit, the pilot was impaled to his seat, the chopper started to spin. And it went up in a great fireball that exploded on the side of the ravine. Aliana turned again and saw a figure in the sky. A man in a shawl of white lined with blue. He was devilishly fast. She had seen Divines here before though, minor ones that didn¡¯t fly admittedly, but Divines none the less. She had even managed to fell four of them. Aliana loosed her arrow, she watched it fly as her hand worked like a blur to hook another behind her bowstring. Honestly, Aliana was impressed with her aim. At this distance and with the speed of that Divine, she had not expected to hit. But she would, she knew by the time the bolt crossed her half the distance. It was almost too easy, as if the figure wasn¡¯t even trying to dodge. A bolt of lightning shot from the cloudless blue sky and turned her arrow into dust. And immediately Aliana dodged to the side. The minor Divines, she had not bothered to learn the names of. But the brigade-killers, as the troops on the ground had come to call them, she did. Sceo and Zerus and Alkom, White Pantheon members of the highest rank. If she hadn¡¯t had dodged, she would have been fried on the spot. The lightning that hit arrow shot forwards onto the rock she had been standing on. Aliana dodged again, low to the ground, making sure to always have a point of contact on which she could suddenly pivot. Iliyal had explained it, Fer had drilled the lesson in. Once she was in the air, there was no movement or dodge she could make. The tip of her boot curled around a rock, her hand caught a tiny crevice, she lunged to the side. Another blast of lightning came to hit the spot she had just been in. Two more dodges, and Aliana was breathing heavily. She tried to see Zerus in the air, he had come close. As the God kept the pressure up on her, a blast of lightning came from the air and devoured the two Doschian tanks, both were left as smouldering wrecks, their hulls all charred as the Rilian mountaineers around them scattered. Aliana didn¡¯t even bother reaching for an arrow as she kept on dodging. The lightning kept chasing her like a rabid dog flailing around on the ground. It got closer and closer as Zerus started to predict her movements. It burned her clothes; it almost touched her bow. It came down. And then the lightning stopped. Aliana, breathing heavily, raced close to cover behind a rock and looked at Zerus. She grabbed one of the arrows that hadn¡¯t spilled from her quiver in the mad attempts at dodging. And then Aliana herself stopped. A woman¡¯s mocking voice sounded from above. ¡°Have we resigned ourselves to our own inferiority Zerus?¡± And then a mad cackling. Aliana knew she shouldn¡¯t, but she went against what Iliyal had taught her and lowered her bow. She narrowed her eyes, looked out over the sky, over the landscape. She saw nothing. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°If I¡¯m so inferior, why hide yourself?¡± Zerus asked as that shield of lightning crackled around him. ¡°Reveal yourself Sorceress!¡± The God shouted as a spiderweb of lightning expanded over the sky around him. It grew thicker, a blanket of blinding white light made the sky turn from a pleasant Rilian blue colour to a downright terrible white. Aliana had to avert her eyes from it. And then the lightning was torn apart by shards of red sorcery. They exploded into crimson butterflies. The first flap of their tiny wings, each pattern woven to be unique and intricate, set them alight. The second incinerated into them crimson snow that finally melted away as it slowly fell towards the ground. Aliana felt her jaw drop open as she looked up at¡­ Honestly, Aliana had no clue what she was even looking up at. It was as if the sky that had just been blanketed in white lightning now became infused with a sheet of red which was being woven at Zerus. The God of Lightning moved as quickly as his title, flicking from position to position, so fast that Aliana did not even know if she ever even had a chance to land a single arrow onto him. He disappeared, he appeared, he disappeared again, appearing further in the distance. A giant eye opened up in the sky. Another one, and another. As if the day had suddenly become night and all the stars had become eyes gazing down from the heavens. And that terrible tone once again rolled in like thunder from all directions at once, but no direction in particular. ¡°I see you!¡± Zerus became a dot in the distance, that small black dot shot out another cascade of electricity as if it was water being splashed across the world. And then Zerus disappeared, that black dot shot downwards, towards the horizon. And then disappeared. Once more lightning launched out of the ground, but when it disappeared, only silence swept in with the wind to replace it. And Aliana stood here, gripping her bow as she looked over at the Rilian troops shake themselves out of awe. Fortia¡¯s Guardians awoke first though, and they started to cut men down with gunfire. From behind trees and from behind rocks. The Rilian infantry crowded around the wreckage of vehicles that had been guarding the bridge, they dropped to the ground, they provided suppressive fire to stop the enemy advance. Aliana was about to recover, hook another arrow into her bow, and knock down a helicopter which had appeared, but something else caught her eye. A woman in the air, a black silhouette against the bright blue sky. Aliana narrowed her eagle eyes as she tried to make out what exactly she was looking at. A woman in a black coat, with marvellous black hair, untouched by wind. With a face so gorgeous that it almost looked designed and sculpted, rather than grown by a real person. The edges of her uniform were lined in red and she had a cap on top of her head. She stood there like the general of an army overlooking her soldiers, with her hands clasped behind her back. And Aliana watched the woman speak. She didn¡¯t look to be shouting, and her voice didn¡¯t originate from the figure. It came from above, seemingly as if the sky itself was speaking to them. ¡°I am Anassa, Daughter-Goddess of Arascus. Goddess of Sorcery.¡± The woman took a pause, the sky turned crimson, she lifted her hands. ¡°Caretaker of the greatest craft known to mankind! Gatekeeper of Divinity. You can not defeat me.¡± Aliana looked down as saw the battle on the bridge stop as soldiers looked up. Both members of the Rilian Army, the Rancais reinforcement and the Guardians of the White Pantheon, it was as if every soul on the ground had realised it was being spoken to by a higher being. And Aliana realised it herself too. She had almost dropped her bow and was looking up in nothing but pure awe at the figure above them. And that figure kept on speaking. ¡°I have taken an interest here, you may do nothing against me.¡± Aliana heard fingers snap and she saw the sky open up with spikes of red. From clouds and from open air, razor thin spines plunged to the ground. They speared through a helicopter. The metal creaked, screamed, tore and ruptured apart. The rest of them, like the thin lines of a paint brush about to wash away the ugly mistake of an artist, dove straight into the Guardians of the White Pantheon. In the blink of an eye, the battle was finished. The sky returned to its natural colours, all that remained of the enemy forces was the bodies that lay helplessly on the ground. The Rilian Army, their proud flag still waving at the end of the bridge, did not cheer or rejoice. They merely looked around, stunned. A few men started talking. One man collapsed onto the dried dirt. Aliana couldn¡¯t say anything. She turned to see if her retainers were still here, and she saw Anassa standing by her side. The Goddess of Sorcery, already tall, was made even taller by the heels and the cap. The coat lined with red edges that glinted in the sunlight as if it had only just now been perfectly cleaned. And that Goddess turned to Aliana. ¡°Looks like I came just in time.¡± Aliana blinked. She¡­ She had not even considered that Anassa had saved her. And then the Goddess of Allia looked out over the dead sprawled out across the bridge. She looked at Anassa again. This Pantheon Invasion had dragged on for a few months now, but¡­ Well, Aliana had seen her fair share of death and destruction. She had seen what happened to men who were in plane and helicopter crashes, she had walked by the shapeless remains of flesh when it had been destroyed by artillery. Even the simple things, she had seen men dead after they had been shot or stabbed. But she had never seen something like this. This was a whole other level of power. The only thing she could compare it to was when she had trained against Fer in Erdely. That woman fought as if she had eyes in the back of her head and moved as if she had reflexes that were faster than the lightning which Zerus unleashed. And Anassa was somehow even more overwhelming than that. Iliyal¡¯s words echoed in her head: ¡®If we wanted competition, we would have just sent Anassa to end it like this¡¯, and then the elf had snapped his fingers. Aliana sighed and shook her head. It was amazing and terrifying at the same time. ¡°Thank you.¡± The Goddess said. ¡°For saving me.¡± How many holes of gratitude had she dug for Arascus already, firstly through Iliyal, Kavaa and Fer training them, then through the very chance that Kassandora¡¯s victory in Kirinyaa had scored against the Pantheon, which weakened their forces and gave the hope for Epan Separation to succeed in the first place. Then through Iliyal again, the elf¡¯s command over the Epan military had brought them victory after victory. And now Anassa had just saved her life. It was a list of debts that Aliana was not sure she would ever be able to pay off at this point. And she knew herself well enough to know that the sickly feeling within herself was her own pride wanting to throw up and reject the help. ¡°Why did you come?¡± Aliana asked. ¡°There¡¯s a storm coming over Epa.¡± Anassa said. ¡°I¡¯ve come here to make you¡¯re alive to see it. Nothing more, nothing less.¡± ¡°Agrita messaged me that she¡¯s in danger.¡± And as Aliana was looking at the Anassa to her left, another Anassa, a perfect copy of the woman, down to the same clothes and even the same perfume, stepped into her vision from the right. ¡°Do you think that Divinity can¡¯t multitask?¡± Aliana looked from one Anassa to the other. The woman had just called herself the Gatekeeper of Divinity. Frankly, Aliana could see it. She had assumed it vanity at first. But that power¡­ Aliana blinked in shock at what she was feeling. Not wounded pride. Instead, it was a far more disgusting emotion. Envy. Chapter 308 – Indulging Curiosity Helenna threw another two pieces of gum into her mouth and started to chew. A shiver went down her back from the ridiculously strong taste of mint but she needed to hide the smell of wine. Frankly, she would not complain about Malam¡¯s drinking again, Helenna herself had only cut down because of how much Malam drank. Now that the Goddess of Love was working again, the scheming engine within had to be powered and the nerves had to be calmed. Wine succeeded in both. Helenna looked up at one of the clocktowers in New-Nanbasa. She still had fourteen minutes to kill, although she supposed that the early morning breakfast with the executives of Doschia¡¯s Stahlwerks could be started early. Stahlwerk, then LKN, Lubskie Kopalnie Narodowe, then Dass, Royal Allian Shipyards, TrenRilia, then another half a dozen meetings which would lead to the afternoon. After that, it was the Kirinyaan companies which exported to Epa. Some, Arascus had reorganized already, Imperial Mines and Skyfleet had been assimilated from the old mining companies and the various civilian airline companies. Others, Nanbasa Shipyards for one, were in the process of becoming Dockyards East-Arika. And others still he had not gotten his hands on. Malam had told Helenna to find undeniable mountains of treachery, all Helenna had managed to find was molehills and it wasn¡¯t for a lack of effort. Epa was surprisingly non-corrupt, although that was par for the course in regards to war-time revolutions. The biggest excesses was just small things, the son of LKN¡¯s director had been passed over from the draft, Stahlwerk charged the Doschian Konigsministerium der Verteidigung prices roughly seven to eight percent above market rates. TrenRilia had taken the opportunity to stop servicing routes that they had been forced to serve by the Crown under the guise of needing more trains for military logistics. Dass in Rancais claimed more or less every cent spent by its board of directors as a business expense. Simple, small things that, quite honestly, could be passed over. Helenna blew a bubble with the gum and chuckled to herself. Malam had honestly not placed her trust in Helenna, to think that the Goddess of Hatred thought she was better than the Goddess of Love in this game. The gum popped and Helenna sucked it back in. Was there anyone better than her at creating mountains out of molehills? She had spent a millennium in the White Pantheon doing nothing but that. Neneria hummed a little tune to herself as she watched a flock of birds in the distance. The entrance hole Kassandora had picked out was in the middle of nowhere and Iniri was slowly digging out a massive tunnel for the Underground Expeditionary Legion. Somewhere, somehow, whether it was from Iniri herself or Kavaa or one of the troops, Neneria had heard the complaint: apparently the slope had to be very shallow since Kassie wanted a trainline to be installed which would supply the UEL¡¯s logistics. How, what, where, when and why all ended in the same question in Neneria¡¯s mind: Did she really care? She turned and looked out over the camp in the distance. Square and blocky, with wide rows for cars and tanks and now a new station for trains being built by the engineer corp. But the tents themselves were arranged in campfires around circles, it wasn¡¯t a space efficient system, that was for sure, but Kassandora swore by it. Then a massive gash in the crowd that looked as if a colossal titan had leaned down to drag his finger through the dirt. Cranes were lowering steel beams for train tracks into it, diggers and bulldozers were creating channels for some reason, trucks were driving down empty, then returning loaded with dirt. In the distance, a small hill had already sprouted out of the ground. Neneria couldn¡¯t make out anyone of importance in the throngs of people that were marching about. She watched for a few minutes and felt the earth move and shake as men raced out of their tents. This time, only thirty or so fell over. The team of sergeants and quartermasters Kassandora had assigned were already driving around in their roofless jeep, ready to provide a verbal beating to anyone they spotted that had gone lazy on the tent¡¯s structure. The first time more than half the camp had been knocked over but now the quakes from Iniri¡¯s roots ripping a tunnel into the ground was common enough. Neneria didn¡¯t really care though, it wasn¡¯t her problem. Neneria turned to look at the flock of birds. Her eyes raced over the landscape as she walked on one of the huge rocks that littered the Kirinyaan Badlands. Those birds were pretty, but she did not come here to watch birds. The Goddess of Death made one full circle around herself, there was no one about. From here, the edge of the cliff obscured even Kassandora¡¯s massive war camp. There was still noise from the construction machinery, and the earth still quaked and shook every now and then, but Neneria supposed here was as good a spot as any. It was time to indulge her own curiosity. Neneria called upon Maisara¡¯s soul. It was the same as all the other souls, she merely summoned them. There was no flash, no great sound, no thunder or screams. This art was not Fer¡¯s bestial passion nor Anassa¡¯s delusional confidence. This was merely silent death. In one moment, there was the sky, the birds, the horizon and the red Kirinyaan landscape. In the next moment, nothing changed save for the addition of Maisara. The Goddess of Order stood there, ghastly green and opaque, still in her silver armour and long silver hair. She stood just shorter than Neneria. Of Death inspected the woman¡¯s height as Maisara inspected her, she¡¯d be about Kassandora¡¯s height. Maisara¡¯s axe was on her back and the woman was looking at her as if being a ghost was just another Tuesday for her. Neneria raised an eyebrow. Maisara kept her gaze fixed on Neneria but said nothing. Of Death sighed, she supposed that since this was her kingdom, she should introduce Maisara to it. It was only polite after all. ¡°You reacted far better to it than I thought you would.¡± Maisara shrugged as she began to look around. ¡°Is this it?¡± Maisara asked and Neneria cracked a smile. She supposed Maisara should get a lesson for a comment like that. Neneria wagged her finger and Maisara collapsed to her knees, the Goddess of Order grit her teeth as if trying to hold something up, slowly her legs started to shake, her arms gave out, she fell onto the floor and let out a groan of pain. ¡°That was only a fraction of what I can do.¡± Neneria said. Maisara¡¯s ghost heaved heavily on the ground. The Goddess of Order got to her knees, wiped her dry mouth and shook her head. ¡°That was more what I expected.¡± Maisara said as she stood up. ¡°What do you want?¡± Neneria stared at Maisara, Maisara stared at Neneria. What did the woman even mean, what did Neneria want? ¡°You have nothing else to say?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°Should I?¡± ¡°Should you not?¡± Neneria asked in return and Maisara tilted her head as if Neneria was being difficult. ¡°You summoned me, shouldn¡¯t you be the one with something to say?¡± ¡°I was curious as to what you were feeling.¡± Neneria answered and Maisara blinked. She looked down at her body, she flexed her fingers. She patted the armour over her stomach. ¡°Fine?¡± Maisara replied as if she didn¡¯t know herself. ¡°What am I supposed to say?¡± ¡°I just mean how you are feeling?!¡± Neneria asked with some more urgency. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m dead.¡± Maisara replied and Neneria shook her head. ¡°I meant¡­¡± Neneria didn¡¯t know what she meant. She asked this question to more or less everyone. ¡°Emotionally? Sensation wise? Anything?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Maisara asked and Neneria sighed. What a difficult Goddess. ¡°What do you mean why?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°Because I¡¯m curious? That¡¯s why?¡± She tried to be polite and keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Maisara shook her head and sighed, through her, a plane appeared in the distance. Another set of supplies to be delivered to the UEL no doubt. ¡°So?¡± There were times when Kassandora talked down to Neneria. Fer did it a lot too. Anassa rarely did it, but right now, Maisara looked at Neneria with such a gaze of pure befuddlement that Neneria almost took a step back. ¡°You¡¯re asking me that?¡± Neneria took a deep breath and shook her head. ¡°You will tell me or I will force it out of you.¡± ¡°I feel dead.¡± Maisara replied dryly. ¡°Dead and fine. Shouldn¡¯t you know what it¡¯s like?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never died.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°I¡¯m just curious as to what it¡¯s like in there.¡± ¡°I¡¯m neutral on it.¡± Maisara answered and Neneria looked at the woman in disbelief. She had been alive for¡­ Neneria didn¡¯t even know how. Older than the nation state, older than the calendar, older than civilization. She had seen humans when they still pranced about in animal skins and huddled in caves. And not once had anyone ever told her they were neutral on dying. Neneria sighed and shook her head. ¡°Are you stupid?¡± Maisara¡¯s eyes bulged in surprise. ¡°Am I stupid?¡± She repeated. ¡°Did you just ask me that? I¡¯m probably smarter than you.¡± ¡°I have no doubt you¡¯re smarter than me.¡± Neneria replied and Maisara tilted her head, mouth slightly open. ¡°How can you just be fine?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m dead?¡± Maisara posed the statement as a question. ¡°What do you even want? You won. This is it, it¡¯s over for me.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Neneria said, finally she had cracked this Goddess. ¡°So resignation is something you have.¡± ¡°Of course I¡¯m resigned.¡± Maisara said as if that wasn¡¯t a revelation in the slightest. ¡°I¡¯m dead, what can I do at this point? I¡¯m not happy with it obviously, but I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°How are you fine?¡± Neneria asked and Maisara looked around. ¡°Because it¡¯s not as bad as I expected?¡± Maisara said. ¡°We all thought it would hurt more.¡± The Goddess of Order took a step to the side as she tested the ground. It was as if the woman was afraid of falling through the surface of the world. ¡°Also what do you mean I¡¯m smarter than you?¡± Neneria shrugged. ¡°More knowledgeable maybe then. I¡¯m probably more intelligent if you¡¯re not accepting the statement just like that.¡± She honestly meant it but likewise, there was no shame in it. She was too old to really care about such trite like intelligence, Saranael of Knowledge was the smartest of them all and his own mind drove him into a logical loop of insanity. That¡¯s what such fine intelligence brought. Neneria didn¡¯t need something like that. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± Maisara actually made a wordless, stunned sound. ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Neneria said. Maisara stared at Neneria. Neneria stared at Maisara. ¡°So how are you feeling now?¡± Neneria asked. Maisara crouched down, her eyes running up and down Neneria¡¯s dark dress, as if the woman was unsure of what she was looking at. ¡°Are you normal?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°I am normal, now can you answer my question?¡± Neneria replied. ¡°I¡­¡± Maisara replied hesitantly. ¡°It¡¯s still fine. I¡¯m not going to fight for you if that¡¯s what you¡¯re thinking about.¡± ¡°I have no intention of making you fight for me.¡± Neneria replied. She nodded to herself. This was an odd Goddess indeed. But then she had never been much good with people either so maybe it was just the fact there was a communication barrier between them. ¡°What do you like to do?¡± Neneria asked bluntly and Maisara¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°What?¡± ¡°What do you like to do?¡± Neneria replied. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°I like work?¡± Maisara replied. ¡°I¡­ I like Fortia too.¡± Neneria nodded, it was common knowledge that Of Order and Of Peace liked each other. ¡°I¡­¡± Maisara shook herself and looked at Neneria again. She raised her voice into something resembling anger, but Neneria was sure that it was loud for show and not actual malice. ¡°What are these questions even? Aren¡¯t you going to ask about the Pantheon? About the War in Epa? Excuse me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°Kassie might, but I don¡¯t, and Kassie isn¡¯t here.¡± ¡°Kassandora?¡± ¡°Who else could Kassie be?¡± Neneria replied. ¡°I¡¯m just making sure since¡­¡± Maisara wagged her finger at Neneria. ¡°Well, you¡¯re not normal.¡± Neneria blinked and cracked a smile. She felt her fingers start to do their rhythmic tapping whenever she got stressed. Her thumbs would bounce off the tips of each finger in a linear fashion, up and down, down and up. ¡°I am the most reasonable person I know.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°I don¡¯t argue and I don¡¯t get emotional. I am very normal.¡± Why was she defending herself? This was a damn ghost! Maisara shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s exactly the sort of reaction someone who is not normal would give.¡± ¡°What do you know of normal?¡± Neneria asked. Maisara squinted at Neneria again and raised an eyebrow. ¡°I was the Goddess of Order Neneria.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m the Goddess of Death, yet I don¡¯t really know much about dying.¡± Neneria replied with a smug smile. She knew she got Maisara there. And yet it didn¡¯t seem like she did. Maisara only shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not¡­¡± Maisara said. ¡°Well, you¡¯re¡­¡± The Goddess of Order gave up and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t understand anything if I¡¯m going to be honest Neneria. Can we go from the beginning again?¡± Neneria nodded, this, she understood perfectly. Frankly, she wished people communicated more often in this open and straightforward manner. ¡°I killed and captured you.¡± Neneria began, her tone as neutral as the Kirinyaan landscape around them. ¡°Now, I am questioning you for what you are feeling. I did this because I expected some unique opinion from you, because you¡¯re the Goddess of Order. You do have a unique opinion, which is interesting, however I am stunned by this fact. This is happening because Iniri is digging a hole and I am bored.¡± She finished with a smile and saw Maisara staring at her as if she was gawking at a damn animal in a zoo. ¡°Please do not look at me like that.¡± ¡°This is actually Neneria I was captured by?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°I am Neneria.¡± Neneria stated. Maisara sighed and shook her head. ¡°You are nothing how I imagined you to be.¡± Neneria didn¡¯t know if that was a compliment or an insult. ¡°You are less argumentative than what I heard of you.¡± Neneria replied and Maisara shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m dead, what is there to argue about?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°Did you see Atis in there?¡± Neneria asked and Maisara¡¯s eyes bulged again. ¡°You have Atis?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Neneria said. ¡°So you didn¡¯t?¡± ¡°I just sat down.¡± ¡°So you can sit in there?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Maisara said. ¡°I didn¡¯t feel anything I don¡¯t think, but I know I sat down.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Neneria said and clicked her tongue. This was disappointing. Mortals all had different opinions on what the afterlife within Neneria¡¯s heart looked like, Atis had described it as a forest but that was so¡­ predictable and boring. Maisara likewise was predictable and boring. Of course the Goddess of Order would treat death as just a place to sit down and do nothing in. Neneria sighed as she inspected Maisara again. ¡°You are odd.¡± Neneria stated. Maisara made a stupid face of disbelief and put one hand to her forehead. ¡°You¡¯re one to talk.¡± ¡°I am one to talk.¡± Neneria said. ¡°What¡¯s your favourite drink?¡± ¡°WHAT ARE WE EVEN TALKING ABOUT NENERIA?!¡± Maisara shouted. ¡°I¡¯m passing the time. I¡¯ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.¡± ¡°WHAT DO I CARE WHAT THE FUCK YOU LIKE TO DRINK?¡± Neneria made a flat face. Insults and so on, she could take. She was the Goddess of Death, there was a pride in that. The title was a shield, what people thought about the Goddess of Death was almost irrelevant to what they thought of Neneria. The Goddess of Death came silently and killed without a word, yet the Goddess of Death did not drink. It was Neneria who drank, not Of Death. Worse yet, she knew it was stupid. Many people did not care what she liked to drink, yet this was Maisara the ghost. Neneria wanted to tell her about her favourite drink, ghosts were easier to talk to than people. ¡°I like vodka.¡± Neneria tried to salvage the conversation. ¡°Mixed with juices to be sweet. The Lubskans make this coloured vodka, it is very tasty.¡± ¡°Neneria, what are we talking about?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°We¡¯re passing the time, Iniri is digging a hole.¡± Neneria replied as she blinked. She didn¡¯t want her eyes to get wet. The fact that Maisara did not care about what she drank shouldn¡¯t hurt. It simply shouldn¡¯t. It was stupid, she had just killed Maisara. Of course the woman did not like her. Neneria took a deep breath and realised that was the issue. She had killed Maisara, so the woman wouldn¡¯t like too much. That was why Maisara didn¡¯t care. If she gave Maisara enough time, then maybe the Goddess of Order would become talkative. ¡°I like vodka too.¡± Maisara said. ¡°But clear.¡± ¡°Fer likes that.¡± Neneria said, suddenly smiling. ¡°I¡¯m glad you answered, thank you.¡± ¡°Why are you thanking me for that?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°You¡¯re a Divine, Divines don¡¯t say thank you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a ghost though, and we¡¯ll probably talk more, so I want to build up rapport with you.¡± Neneria said. Just how Kassie and Malam and Father did it. They would first be friendly. ¡°When you¡¯re building up rapport, you¡¯re not supposed to tell the other person you are.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Neneria replied. And she had screwed up again. She took a deep breath and shook her head. ¡°Apologies then.¡± Maisara sighed and shook her head. ¡°Alright Neneria. Great. Fantastic.¡± The woman turned around and screamed into the air, and then turned back around to Neneria. ¡°Why are you like this?¡± ¡°Like what?¡± Neneria replied. ¡°Nevermind.¡± Maisara replied. ¡°Never-fucking-mind. Fuck. How? Why? Neneria. You...¡± Of Order shook her head, her opaque silver hair, tinged with ghastly green swayed from side to side. ¡°Are you going to draft me?¡± ¡°You¡¯re drafted already.¡± Neneria said. ¡°I assume you meant break you?¡± ¡°Is there a difference?¡± ¡°Most souls I capture don¡¯t want to fight for me.¡± Neneria said. ¡°So I break them before using them on the field.¡± ¡°How do you break souls then?¡± Maisara asked. The tone Neneria used to answer had about as much excitement as she would use to comment on how blue the sky above them was: none at all. ¡°I cause them immense pain.¡± Neneria replied and Maisara nodded. ¡°Are you going to break me then?¡± ¡°Kassie didn¡¯t want me to and also I don¡¯t have much reason to at this point.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t?¡± Maisara sounded offended. ¡°All you can do is swing an axe around. That¡¯s not really needed.¡± ¡°If it was someone else, I would actually be offended.¡± Maisara said flatly. Neneria raised an eyebrow, the woman was obviously offended, why was she trying to hide it? ¡°Okay.¡± Neneria said. She didn¡¯t know if that statement was supposed to be offensive or not. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± Neneria trailed off. ¡°Why did Kassandora not want you to?¡± Maisara asked. Neneria merely shrugged in reply. ¡°I can¡¯t read minds.¡± And Maisara gawked at her as if she said something stupid again. Neneria merely sighed and shook her head, she simply did not get it. Why was the woman even surprised? Kassie was Kassie, to call Kassie a genius was an understatement. In terms of intelligence: There was Father, Kassie and Malam and then there wasn¡¯t a drop. There was a damn mountain of distance between those three and the next set of geniuses. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? I don¡¯t second-guess Kassie.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not curious?¡± Maisara asked and Neneria smiled smugly. She realised what was being done, and she was glad that this ghost couldn¡¯t didn¡¯t manage to trick her. ¡°You know Kassie actually predicted this.¡± Neneria said. ¡°What?¡± Maisara asked, her tone confused, her face simply unamused. ¡°She said this.¡± And Neneria pulled a slightly faster and slightly deeper tone compared to before. ¡°The best way to keep secrets is for the least people to know them, so we operate on a need-to-know basis.¡± Neneria smiled smugly at Maisara. ¡°Do you know what that means?¡± She didn¡¯t let the woman answer. ¡°It means if I don¡¯t need to know, then I don¡¯t know it.¡± ¡°I know what need-to-know means Neneria.¡± Maisara sounded exhausted. ¡°Wow you are difficult.¡± ¡°I get that a lot.¡± ¡°Colour me surprised.¡± Maisara replied sarcastically. Neneria returned a flat look to the Goddess of Order, was this ghost actually snarky to her? Excuse me? ¡°Surprise doesn¡¯t have a colour.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°It does.¡± Maisara said. ¡°What is it then?¡± ¡°Pale off-tinge grass-green for a little, white for a major surprise.¡± Maisara said and Neneria raised an eyebrow. ¡°And you know this how?¡± Neneria asked. Since when did emotions have colours? ¡°Helenna¡¯s hair.¡± Maisara answered and Neneria blinked in surprise. Oh. She hadn¡¯t thought of that. That¡­ Well, that did check out. ¡°I did say you were smarter than me.¡± Neneria replied honestly. She had said it at the start indeed. Frankly, Maisara was quite interesting. ¡°You¡¯re very well behaved.¡± And once again, Maisara looked at Neneria as if she had just said something terrible. They held the silence for a few seconds, until Maisara realised that Neneria wanted her to respond. ¡°Do you want me not to be?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°I assume you¡¯re just going to make it feel like I¡¯m crushed again.¡± Neneria shook her head. ¡°Sometimes I have souls that try to runaway so I just let them go for a while, then bring them back to me. I thought you¡¯d do that.¡± Maisara shrugged. ¡°I led armies against you, I understand there¡¯s more to your powers than just¡­¡± She lifted her opaque arms up and gave them a shake. ¡°Than this.¡± Neneria nodded grimly, her lips pursed. This Maisara was smart indeed, most people thought that the Legion was simply the inside of her own heart, but it more of a state of being. Once someone became part of the Legion, then the only way to leave was for them to be released from their binding. A soul could be on the other side of the world, and they would still be under Neneria¡¯s influence. They had tested it before the Great War started with Arascus. ¡°There is.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Although I can¡¯t explain it very well.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Maisara replied. ¡°Thank you.¡± Neneria answered and then she stopped. Was the woman not curious? Frankly, she could explain it perfectly! She knew how her powers worked! She wanted to gloat and be pestered about them, especially by a Divine she actually had some modicum of respect! It was the one thing she was good at after all! What was this Maisara? Why was she¡­ Why was she so normal right now? The woman had just died! How did she keep herself together like this? Where were the tears? The cries of regrets? The unfulfilled promises? Why was the woman acting as if she had just gone through all this before? ¡°Are you not sad about the fact you don¡¯t have a body anymore?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°Do you have some sort of brain damage Neneria?¡± Maisara replied. ¡°Actually? Do you?¡± ¡°I just asked a question.¡± ¡°Of course I am.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not showing it.¡± Maisara shook her head and once again looked at Neneria with befuddlement. ¡°What do you want me to say? I¡¯m holding it together, there is nothing to get stressed about. I¡¯ve lost, it¡¯s over. I¡¯m dead. Now all I can do is wait for you to release me or die, so I¡¯m going to wait.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Neneria replied. ¡°So do you hate me?¡± ¡°What sort of questions are these Neneria?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just asking.¡± ¡°Is it going to be like this the whole time?¡± Maisara asked. ¡°You¡¯re not playing a character right now?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a good actress.¡± Neneria said. ¡°Although everyone says I sing very well when I get drunk.¡± Of Death blushed at that, it was always an odd feeling that she sang well. She had never trained her voice, it was simply a natural talent. Maisara sighed and threw her arms up in the air and then back down. ¡°Wow.¡± Of Order said as she stood there, still armoured, axe still on her back. ¡°I couldn¡¯t have been stuck with Kassandora or Irinika or Arascus. It¡¯s with you.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t like Iri.¡± Neneria said. ¡°She¡¯s very¡­¡± What would be a good way to describe Of Darkness? ¡°Grandiose.¡± That was it. Like Anassa, but worse. Anassa had some tinge of modesty to her. ¡°Mmh.¡± Maisara said. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to say that though.¡± Neneria quickly followed up. ¡°She¡¯s my sister, not yours. I don¡¯t want you bad mouthing her.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t gossip.¡± Maisara replied flatly, as if there was nothing to worry about and Neneria was throwing a fuss over a triviality. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Neneria said, she knew there was one question she was avoiding. She wanted to ask it, but she rarely if ever did. Never to a person who was alive, that was for certain. She could not imagine a single reality were she asked it to anyone but her close family, and even then it was something that had to be forced out of her. But this was a ghost. This was Maisara true, but it was a ghost. It was one of Neneria¡¯s own. The Goddess of Death took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and practically spat the words out. They had to be said though, for Neneria¡¯s own sanity. And frankly, if the woman answered wrongly, Neneria could just send her away and never talk to her again. She¡¯d beat herself over the head with it for a while, but eventually, that embarrassment would pass. ¡°Do you hate me?¡± And Neneria opened her eyes to look at Maisara. Their eyes locked as Maisara stared her down. The Goddess of Order stood there, in her silver armour. She took a deep breath, that chest plate of hers rising and falling with her breath. And she opened her mouth. It took all of Neneria¡¯s willpower not to recall the woman right there and then. She knew if she recalled Maisara right now, she wouldn¡¯t be able to bring her forth into existence. ¡°No.¡± Maisara said. And somehow, that answer was even worse than a yes. Neneria stared at Maisara for a moment in silence. That plane started to land in Kassandora¡¯s camp. ¡°No? Why?¡± Neneria said, her voice full of excitement. She had killed the woman. She had imprisoned her soul. She had drafted her into the Dead Legion. She would make her fight against her old allies. And it was a no? Excuse me? But likewise, there was another side to the coin. Maisara didn¡¯t hate her! That meant there was a Divine ghost she could talk to! And one that actually respectable too! ¡°I¡¯ve killed people too and I don¡¯t hate myself.¡± Maisara answered. ¡°You don¡¯t?¡± Neneria asked. ¡°Why should I?¡± ¡°I thought¡­¡± Neneria trailed off. ¡°Never mind, don¡¯t worry about it. But you don¡¯t?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°How?¡± Maisara shrugged. ¡°I never did. I can¡¯t tell you how to dig yourself out of that hole.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not in that hole¡± Neneria replied and Maisara nodded as if disbelieving. ¡°Right.¡± Maisara answered, obviously not buying the lie. ¡°Why are you so curious then?¡± ¡°Well just a bit.¡± Neneria admitted. It wasn¡¯t self-loathing, but there were parts of herself she disliked. ¡°Aren¡¯t we all a little self-critical?¡± Maisara shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I¡¯m not a hypocrite. You killed me and you imprisoned me. If the roles were reversed, I would have killed and imprisoned you too. So how can I hate you?¡± ¡°Malam says we all should have a little bit hatred to give us strength.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too odd to be hateable Neneria.¡± Maisara said. ¡°I feel sorry for you if you must know the truth.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± Neneria had to force the word out of her mouth. ¡°For me?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s obvious you have something wrong with you.¡± Maisara said. ¡°Just from this conversation, I don¡¯t know what it is, but it¡¯s there. Once, I was jealous of your power, but if your power made you into this, I¡¯m glad I don¡¯t have it.¡± Neneria had no answer. She just stood there, frozen, as Maisara gazed at her. ¡°I don¡¯t want your pity.¡± ¡°Yet you can¡¯t stop it.¡± Maisara replied flatly. ¡°It is what it is, the more powerful we get, the worse people we become.¡± Neneria sighed heavily. And she had been defeated in a game of words once again. Maisara pitied her and there was no retort Neneria could make. Maisara pitied her. One conversation was all it took to take Maisara¡¯s opinion of her flip it from terrified respect to pity. To damn pity. This is why Neneria talked to ghosts and not to real people. She sent Maisara away and promised to herself not to indulge her own curiosity again. Chapter 309 – Pride’s Mad Lioness Allasaria¡¯s scouts reported the same news over and over again. Olephia was sitting on top of the huge Paradeisius Gate scribbling away in a notebook. What an excellent idea frankly, she knew this was one of Kassandora¡¯s. One Goddess in the right place effectively severed the White Pantheon off from its reinforcements. In order to open that great portal, Olephia had to be dislodged. And dislodging Olephia without enough firepower to rip apart the world was an impossibility. But it didn¡¯t have to be opened from this side, did it? Olonia hefted her blade into the air as she heard explosions in the distance. Epan Counter-artillery was targeting the White Pantheon tanks that had just shelled half of Vielczka into the ground. She watched that God in the distance approach, he was her height, maybe even taller. In heavy bronze-gold armour that Olonia could tell was bulletproof, and with that cape of pure-white down his back. A sword in one hand, a shield in the other, a helmet over his head that had a small slit for two cold eyes that almost looked bored even though the God was in the middle of a battle. Above two jets pirouetted around each other. A White Pantheon jet and a Rancais Mirage Model that disappeared into the crowds as both of the pilots tried to get a shot on the other. Olonia heard her men take position as the White Pantheon Guardians dropped to the ground. They lay low in the craters caused by artillery, a few started taking the heavy guns off their backs and setting up tripods to mount the machine guns on. Someone off to the left threw a smoke grenade and a team of Guardians managed to close in on the homes that were still standing. Olonia had seen it all before. She wanted to help, she knew she would be able to. But she knew that if she ran havoc through the enemy ranks, then that God with the cape would run havoc over her troops too. Olonia raised her shield, adopted a fighting stance, one foot in front of the other, and moved away from the corpse of the Goddess she had just killed. That God kept on advancing, his eyes full of confidence, his sword drawn and ready. He put his shield high as burst of gunfire bounced off his armour. Olonia¡¯s eyes narrowed as she felt her muscles tighten and the grip around her sword get harder. He wore a cape indeed, but he didn¡¯t move like an amateur. Not at all. There was a definite confidence in his step, one that Olonia didn¡¯t particularly like the look of. She could just about make out those dark eyes staring at her. The God stopped just outside of lunging distance for either of them. He pointed his sword at the woman. ¡°I am Naro, God of Discipline.¡± He shouted. Olonia didn¡¯t know exactly what to say, Iliyal had told her there was no reason for introductions in a fight. Likewise though, he told her she should never wear a cape in a fight either. ¡°I am Olonia, Goddess of Lubska.¡± Olonia shouted back as she took a tentative step forwards, shield and sword still raised. ¡°Well met!¡± Naro shouted. He moved forwards and Olonia suddenly realised she had underestimated the God entirely. Her battle sense had grown sharp enough to where she was able to tell just from the way the God took his first step. He stayed low to the ground, behind his shield, his feet were angled as to not lead him into any direction in particular and he kept his sword close to body, so that it could suddenly turn into a swing or a stab from any direction. Olonia realised exactly what his movements reminded her of: The sparring matches with Kavaa. She had not managed to defeat Kavaa once. Even five on one, Kavaa was still challenging to even push back, much less defeat. She supposed that made sense, they both came out of the Great War school of close combat. Olonia felt her breath catch as she realised the man was coming in for a feint. Yet she couldn¡¯t see which way he would turn to. She took a round step towards his sword side, her shield a battering ram to parry the blow, her own blade coming in low to swing at his legs and force him away. Naro turned on the spot with her. Olonia realised that her own counter attack had been a mistake when the God¡¯s shield smashed into hers, she took a step back. She saw Naro fill her vision as he moved even closer to her. It was exactly like fighting Kavaa, just sheer, unrelenting brutality that overwhelmed and kept her on the defensive. The God swung his sword in an obvious fashion from above. Olonia parried with her own blade crashing upwards, saw sparks from steel kissing steel, and then felt his shield slamming down on her steel boots. For a moment, Olonia didn¡¯t know what the man was trying. Then she felt his chest slam into hers, she tried to take a step back, her boots were trapped and Olonia lost balance. Naro said nothing as he took a step to the side to avoid Olonia¡¯s frantic swing at his knees. His boot landed in her side, Olonia groaned and she felt the God¡¯s sword stab through her shoulder. If she wasn¡¯t mid-roll, that strike would have beheaded her. She curled around, jumped away from Naro and onto her feet. Turned back around to face the God and just about managed to smash her shield against his sword. Her own counter-attack was caught by Naro¡¯s shield. She frantically locked eyes with the God. Naro did not even waste a moment, he lifted his leg into the air. Olonia felt the pressure from both his sword and shield lock her in place, and then she heard her own ribs snap as the man¡¯s heel slammed her in the very middle of her chest. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The Goddess was flung backwards, she slammed into one of the homes that still stood in Vielczka. Olonia tried raising her shield. Her arm wouldn¡¯t move. Naro turned to look around at the men as some Lubskan soldiers opened fire on him, but he closed the distance at a brisk pace. Olonia felt her breathing get faster and uncontrolled, she muscles screamed to move, her body cried out as she tried to push it. She only barely managed to raise her sword arm and felt Naro¡¯s shield smash it away. The God said nothing, his cold eyes looked down on her in the same fashion that Waramunt¡¯s eyes had looked down on her back when she had first taken to combat. He didn¡¯t say any final words, there was no joy or pleasure in his eyes. It was only a weighing judgement that grew resigned as he raised his arm above his head, sword held steady, ready to split Olonia¡¯s skull in half. The Goddess of Lubska squeaked and closed her eyes as she tried to shy away from the blow. She waited for that swing for a second. She heard a crash, a gasp from a man and the twisting of steel and crushing of bone. The swing never finished. Olonia opened her eyes to see a giant before her. A giant with a mane of gold and a tail that lazily swung from side to side as if what was happening was nothing special in particular. Two ears that twitched and a camouflaged cloak that the wind blew away to reveal the outline of a woman in dark clothes. A woman that Olonia recognised instantly. And Olonia¡¯s eyes grew wider. She saw the Fer¡¯s huge hand wrapped around Naro¡¯s fist as he held onto the handle of his blade. His hand quaked, his entire body shook and then the God stopped trying to push forwards and instead pulled back. Fer did not even sway, she stood like a steel beam that submerged in the ground. The sword¡¯s steel groaned like a diseased animal letting out a death-gasp and blood leaked out from Fer¡¯s palm. Lubska saw Fer¡¯s ears jump as the coppery smell hit them, her lips curl upwards, the hairs on her neck and arms stood on end. ¡°Well well well.¡± Fer made her horrendously spine-chilling hur-hur-hur of a chuckle. ¡°We meet again Naro.¡± And the God took a step back. Or tried to at least. His hand was still locked in Fer¡¯s grasp, she closed those fingers, bones and blade and hilt all cracked as the God grit hit teeth, groaned and tried to fight back. That bronze shield swung upwards with a full motion of the arm, it built up speed. It almost became a blur. Olonia lay in that wall as she watched Fer not even move a muscle. She knew the shield wouldn¡¯t connect, she had tried the exact same move with the Goddess of Beasthood back in Erdely. It wasn¡¯t a matter of if, it was a matter of how. This time¡¯s how was Fer¡¯s tail, it shot upwards like a snake lunging from its coil and it effortlessly knocked that sheet of metal away. Naro¡¯s shield was ripped out of his grasp and launched into the air. It went from being a physical object, to merely a small dot, to disappearing entirely in the air. Olonia groaned as she tried to recover. She smelled coppery blood again, and then felt liquid flow down her back and along her thighs. Olonia tested her own regeneration, she felt her muscles recoil as they tried to wrap around something. So she was impaled on something then. Olonia directed her own body to only stem the bleeding as she watched the monster of a Goddess lick the blood that had splashed from Naro¡¯s wrist onto her hand. Fer moved slowly, as if savouring the taste. Her hair grew thicker and more vibrant, her ears started to twitch. Her nails extended into claws, her clothes were torn open by the explosion of fur all over her body. And the woman looked down at herself to pat her own stomach, where she had created two new holes. ¡°Oh deary me.¡± Fer cooed to herself. Was the woman actually taking a break? Mid-fight? She was still holding onto Naro with one hand and inspecting her own chest with the other? Naro moved like a blur, Olonia watched the God. She couldn¡¯t defeat him as she was right now, that was certain, but the way the God moved and thought was definitely within the realm of feasibility for her body. He pulled out a long knife from his belt. Olonia almost felt pity as she let out a weak breath, she had tried that too during training. Fer¡¯s muscles, especially after drinking blood, were as tough as woven steel. She watched the God try to helplessly stab the woman. But Naro did not stab Fer, instead he swung downwards on his own hand. In one smooth cut, he separated the wrist Fer was crushing from the rest of his body and then he jumped away. Olonia felt her heart beat in surprise as she realised how utterly impressed she was. That moment had to be jotted down in her memory, it was the sort of move only an expert veteran would have made. Olonia knew she would have genuinely never even thought of cutting off her own limb. And Naro backed away in great, unbalanced jumps. They were for speed and distance rather than for an orderly retreat. A few of the Guardians shot at Fer with their guns. Either they all missed or Fer¡¯s body was simply too tough to be penetrated by small arms. Olonia could not tell from behind. The Goddess of Beasthood raised the wrist and blade in her hand to squeeze the blood out onto her mouth. Her tongue madly lapped it up. And that mane of gold became slightly longer as Fer threw the hand and sword away. She raised her hands to either side and pulled a mocking tone. ¡°How many times have you ran from me Naro? Do you really think I¡¯ll let you go now?¡± From zero to a hundred, from being as still as a statue to being as fast as lightning, Fer lunged forward. The Guardians that had put themselves between the God of Discipline and Fer were knocked down like blades of grass. The distance that Naro managed to create was closed in a matter of heartbeats. Fer¡¯s clawed fist punched a hole through his chest. Her other hand grabbed the man¡¯s head and pulled it to the side. Her jaw closed around his neck. She yanked like a wolf from one side to the other and ripped man¡¯s shoulder to pieces. Naro stopped moving as Fer let out a victorious roar and tore the man into two pieces, separated in a diagonal down his chest from the shoulder to the hip. The Lubskan forces set up positions, an engineering team came to assist Olonia from the position she was stuck in, but the Goddess did not move. She was too focused on that monster ahead of them to care about her own wounds. Fer turned, her eyes red like a blood moon, she didn¡¯t even roar, she moved as silently as a stalking lynx in the forested mountains of Lubska as she lunged for the closest of the White Pantheon Guardians. And then the next. And the next. The next. And the Lubskan soldiers did not need to fire a single bullet to beat back the assault on Vielczka. Fer did not leave a single man standing nor a single body unbroken. Chapter 310 – The Art of The Bait Arascus sat down as he brushed Baalka¡¯s hair out of her face. The little Goddess of Disease lay in her bed in the massive tree at the heart of Central Requisitions, her skin pale, her hair dark, her eyes closed as Arascus tucked her under the blanket. She was breathing slowly, her heart did beat and her blood did flow, but she remained unconscious. She was just as unconscious now as she had been when she was first found. Kavaa had tried at first, with her healing. And Kavaa could do nothing. Neneria had tried prodding the woman¡¯s soul. And Neneria could do nothing. Anassa had tried to figure out what was wrong with the woman. And Anassa could do nothing. Even Elassa had tried to manipulate the woman¡¯s soul to wake up. And Elassa could do nothing. Arascus didn¡¯t know whether it was the Jungle¡¯s draining of his daughter¡¯s strength, or if Baalka had closed herself off to everyone around her. He sighed, leaned down and laid a gentle kiss on her forehead. He stood up, turned and left, there was an Arika to conquer. He would make sure that Baalka would be proud of him when she awoke. Iliyal peered at one of the tiny microphones that he had set up throughout his meeting room. Helenna had sent them to him, apparently, she needed a final piece of dirt to tie everything together and an argument with government bureaucrats would do exactly that. The woman didn¡¯t even give him a script, a line to bait them with or what she wanted them to say. All she had communicated was that any sort of disagreement would be enough and the more natural the disagreement, the more she would be able to do with it. The elf straightened his back and readjusted his black suit, complete with cap and boots and perfectly ironed down to make sure that not even a crease remained. He could be using the elves he was training for such subterfuge, if they were recording, they could no doubt get closer than stationary microphones. Yet the reason not to was rather simple, if they knew, they could spill. Iliyal trusted them not to be traitors, and they would have no reason to switch sides as long as the positive morale kept up as well, but he didn¡¯t want any news of drunken boasts in the mess hall of a lieutenant hinting at sabotage. And, most importantly, they weren¡¯t needed for this. The more moving parts a plan had, the worse the plan was. Just because there was a hammer about didn¡¯t mean it needed to be involved in the process of baking a cake. Goddess Kassandora had taught him that. And so Iliyal readjusted his suit as the radio came through. It was Menith, who had been tasked with monitoring Kaczaw Main, the city¡¯s central train station. Beryon was on the civilian airport. Aryon on the military heliport. ¡°The Zawitz train just arrived, I saw peacocks get off it.¡± Iliyal smiled to himself as he sat down and made the final touches. Peacocks was the term they had chosen to use for Jozef¡¯s bureaucrats. Only he and Helenna actually knew the plan. Fer had been warned to listen about and intervene when she felt she needed to, whereas Olonia had not been told anything. Fer was to keep her corralled and healing. Iliyal put the Lubskan passport Olonia had secured for him, a small red book bearing the insignia of the same eagle she could summon, on the table. He knew that would get on their nerves. And so, he waited. Alinth¡¯s voice came over the radio eventually, he had been tasked with watching over the camp entrance. ¡°Peacocks are strolling in.¡± Iliyal supposed there was no reason to have them standing about on watch anymore. He picked up his own radio and pressed the transmission button on the side. ¡°All of you return to standard duties. Well done on this.¡± He got a series of ¡°Aye Aye boss¡±, as confirming replies. And Iliyal waited. He waited as his elven ears listened to the sound of an engine that obviously wasn¡¯t military pulled up to his tent. He waited as he heard men and women talk in-between themselves in Lubskan. He waited as he thought about whether they realised he had learned the language or not. He waited as the sounds got closer. He waited as the guards to his command tent inspected papers and documents. He waited with a grim face, elbows on the table and fingers interlocked, as he watched the fabric pull back and a group of seven enter. What a grand party Jozef had sent just for him. Three women, four men. All in dark blue suits and white undershirts, as if they tried to match Iliyal¡¯s clothes. But there was obviously a shortcoming, Iliyal¡¯s cap displayed Kassandora¡¯s insignia of a skull being pierced by a blade. His coat was heavy leather and it had specks of dirt near the bottom. As did the boots. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, since this was a proper war and not an officer¡¯s school. His clothes weren¡¯t so clean that the fabric glinted with light. And he always carried a pistol and a blade irrelevant of what the local administration said. These people did not. ¡°Welcome.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Apologies for the mess, we¡¯re in a war.¡± Iliyal extended an arm over the table that was overflowing with papers and documents. Anything important, Iliyal had already hidden, this was just the public information that was readily available: logistics routes and news of the food riots in Allia. He had purposefully not prepared any seats for them to sit on. Iliyal did not bother to apologize for the lack of seating, nor did he say anything more. They had come to him after all. The lead woman, short and stout with a round face framed by shorter and stouter hair, stepped forwards and pretended not to be interested in the papers on Iliyal¡¯s table. This split of attention was exactly why the trivialities had been laid out in the first place. ¡°We¡­¡± She blinked and looked up from today¡¯s news. ¡°We have to discuss what happened yesterday. My name is Barbara Anchuk, I¡¯m here on behalf of the ECCCC.¡± Iliyal whistled. ¡°Four Cs? Very impressive.¡± He simply wanted to aggravate them, and direct the tone of the conversation to something more argumentative and emotional. ¡°Epan Coalition Counter Corruption Commission.¡± Barbara quickly explained and Iliyal didn¡¯t let her speak to explain what this E-Four-C organisation did exactly. No doubt something very important in theory that caused a lot of trouble in practice. ¡°What did happen yesterday?¡± Iliyal asked. Everyone in the room knew, everyone had to know after all. Olonia had almost died and Fer had saved Olonia. That¡¯s what happened yesterday. It was simply a matter of phrasing. ¡°The fight between Olonia and Naro, in which¡­¡± The woman trailed off for a moment again. ¡°Fer intervened.¡± She finally said. And Iliyal leaned back as if he didn¡¯t like what was being said. It was one thing to crush them in argument, it was another to let them burn themselves. ¡°Fer did¡­¡± He played along with the woman and pretended to not be confident. ¡°Intervene, but she did so for good reason.¡± ¡°That is the issue.¡± Barbara said. ¡°That intervention.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see the issue.¡± Iliyal purposefully made the aggravating comment and Barbara¡¯s face, already mirthless, lost a little bit of mirth that she managed to claw out of nowhere simply for the purpose of throwing away. Another man intervened, short, just slightly taller than Barbara. ¡°Iliyal Tremali, everyone here knows you¡¯re smart enough to know what is going on. A man does not get to the position you sit in through sheer luck.¡± ¡°I appreciate the compliment.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°But war has plenty of luck. Imagine if I stepped outside and a bullet fired off miles away happened to hit me in the head. No amount of skill would prepare me for that.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s be serious here.¡± The man said. ¡°Improbable, yes, but impossible? No.¡± Iliyal talked over the man. ¡°So as I said, I don¡¯t see the issue.¡± He finished and sat there expecting a reply, he knew he had basically ignored the man¡¯s point, but sometimes, argumentation relied on side-stepping the opponent. War was much the same. Barbara took the stage. ¡°The issue is that this sets a dangerous precedent in which Epa becomes reliant on the Daughter-Goddesses of Arascus.¡± Iliyal sighed and shrugged. ¡°So you don¡¯t want help?¡± Barbs took the bait. ¡°We do not need help.¡± Iliyal raised an eyebrow at the woman but inside, he was very pleased. Helenna was going to be pleased too with that voice line no doubt. Iliyal could already imagine the image of a burning village with that audio line being played over it, and if he could imagine that, then Helenna could make it twice as effective. ¡°Do you not?¡± ¡°Epa can fight her own wars.¡± And another line! Excellent. ¡°And how will you fight against Zerus, can you tell me?¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Or Alkom? Sceo? Fortia? We have killed Maisara for you in the UNN.¡± ¡°Maisara is dead?¡± One of the other men in the back asked. Too tall and too skinny to be pleasant to look at, with a head that wasn¡¯t unreasonably shaped, but his face still made it look as if the man was a picture that had been stretched out. ¡°I¡¯d like to hear your thanks. Or what? Were you thinking that the Paladins stopped attacking because they got tired? No. It¡¯s because we cut the head off the snake.¡± Iliyal said and then he caught himself. He saw he was starting to make these people cower and cowering people started to think too much. They needed some confidence, he needed to bait them with a life-line. ¡°I can recall Fer from the front.¡± Iliyal made his tone weaker. ¡°We would much appreciate that.¡± Barbara said and Iliyal saw the battleplan in his mind as clearly as if he were looking at one on the table filled with papers before him. ¡°What would you have me do?¡± Iliyal asked. ¡°I admit, I have been rather¡­¡± He tried to be sheepish, it was a difficult emotion to feign. ¡°Forward in taking the initiative.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Barbara smiled and immediately took the chance to unleash her little bureaucratic urge to micromanage every little thing. Iliyal had never liked such people, they were all the exact same. ¡°We would like to recall Fer from the frontlines and send her back to Arika even!¡± She said, full of excitement. ¡°In regards to this.¡± Iliyal pretended to be thinking about what he just heard. ¡°I would raise the notion of what would happen if someone like Naro were to appear again?¡± ¡°We handle problems as they appear.¡± Barbara said and Iliyal spoke slowly, feigning a very careful planning of his words. ¡°I apologize.¡± One should never apologize in an argument, this Malam taught to Kassandora. It was an admission of wrongness. ¡°But¡­¡± He trailed off, paused for a few moments, inspected the seven faces that had spread out before him and realised they wouldn¡¯t step in. ¡°Some problems need to be prepared for in advance.¡± ¡°If the war is planned carefully Iliyal, with our own generals, we can slow it down and not have these mistakes in the first place.¡± Gold. Iliyal had struck gold. ¡°So you think that Olonia engaging Naro was a mistake?¡± ¡°What was it if not a mistake? She shouldn¡¯t have been there to try and stop him.¡± When Helenna and Malam both had said that drones should be sent into the air to record for propaganda purposes, Iliyal had done it without question but without excitement. When they had told him that soldiers needed body cameras, Iliyal had silently disagreed but still went along with it. He did not see the purpose of pulling back the curtain on mythologized war, the excitement was good for recruiting after all. But now he did. He just needed the voice-line. ¡°Olonia stepped up to the task at hand.¡± ¡°Olonia should not have put herself in danger.¡± Barbara said. ¡°She is the Goddess of this nation, she shouldn¡¯t be sacrificing herself in pointless duels.¡± ¡°If not her, then who?¡± Iliyal let the woman keep digging. And dig, Barbara did. ¡°We have troops, we have men. We have lives to spare Iliyal. You of all people should be aware of this. Olonia should not be allowed near the front, she is more valuable alive than dead.¡± Iliyal didn¡¯t know if the woman realised she had replaced her shovel for a damn excavator with the things she was saying. Nothing was wrong of course, but these were the sorts of discussions one had with people they trusted. Iliyal and his lieutenants, Iliyal and Sokolowski, Zalewski and Ekkerson, Iliyal and Goddess Kassandora could talk privately about having lives to spare. Publicly though, every life was irreplaceable and every death was a tragedy that could only be redeemed through total victory. ¡°If we remove the Divines from the front.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I¡¯m talking about the National-Divines here, not the Weapons, we will slow the war down.¡± ¡°By how long?¡± One of the men asked this time. Iliyal shrugged. ¡°Months? Years?¡± He said. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°Then the war will be extended. This is an Epan war you understand? Not a fight between Arascus and the White Pantheon.¡± It was a small statement, almost innocuous, but it was there. And whereas before, the lines were gold, this was pure platinum. Frankly, he may as well have struck oil in his backyard. Then the war will be extended? The elf had to force himself not to look down at the article describing food riots in Allia. ¡°Mmh.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°I¡¯ll take everyone you said into account. Thank you very much.¡± That was more than enough from these people. They had just demolished the Epan Coalition by themselves. Iliyal had simply handed them the tools to do it with. ¡°We thank-¡° Barbara was cut off by a gust of wind from outside and the cloth swung as if blown by the wind. It was not the wind though, it was a Goddess. Fer entered, Iliyal had known her long enough to know exactly what she was going to say as the cloth settled down behind her. ¡°I am Fer!¡± She proclaimed her own entrance with so much grandiosity that Iliyal couldn¡¯t help but smile. The Goddess of Beasthood was tall enough to need to bend her head to stop her ears tugging on the ceiling cloth of the tent. The woman wasn¡¯t particularly broad either, she had the build of a leopard rather than a bear, but her sheer size still meant that even with that build, she was more than twice as wide as Iliyal. The addition of that golden mane made her seem wider though, and the woman had such a presence that she instinctually claimed a quarter of the large tent for herself. The bureaucrats all moved all away from her. ¡°The Goddess of the hour.¡± Iliyal said, still sitting down extended an arm to her and Fer immediately launched into her assault. ¡°Since this is about you, what do you have to say for yourself?¡± He changed tune immediately now that Fer was here. Frankly, he had what he wanted anyway, so he¡¯d simply go along with whatever tone Fer set. ¡°In regards to what was being said.¡± Fer began and Iliyal smiled, Kassandora had said this to him in the past. He had doubted the words until the first time he had seen his wrongness be put on full display: Fer was the Goddess of Beasthood, she had all the strength of a bear, the speed of a leopard, the cunning of a wolf, but it wasn¡¯t just that. She could be as innocent as a kitten or as devious as a snake. And there was no one who knew Fer better than Fer herself. She had just told them she had heard the conversation, she didn¡¯t slip a single note of judgement into it, nor raised any argument to try and defend herself. That holding back of her own thoughts would create an anticipation far worse than any terror she could raise against them. ¡°I have absolutely nothing to defend myself with because it does not need a defence.¡± She raised a golden eyebrow at the seven bureaucrats. The tallest of them, a man who would reach up to Iliyal¡¯s shoulders and barely managed to get to Fer¡¯s hips, spoke up. ¡°We are thankful for what you did but¡­¡± He trailed off. ¡°It sets a precedent of assistance now.¡± ¡°This is the issue.¡± Fer said. ¡°I do not really care about your precedence Mister what¡¯s your name again? You didn¡¯t introduce yourself.¡± Iliyal leaned back as he saw the blood drain from the bureaucrats faces, if there was one thing Fer couldn¡¯t really do, it was hold back. Barbara opened her mouth and Fer interrupted before the woman could get a word out. ¡°Barbs, I¡¯m a Goddess, you¡¯re a human. Let¡¯s not pretend we¡¯re the same here so hold yourself before you say something you¡¯ll regret saying.¡± Brilliant bait and brilliant terror, because she had just told them she heard the entire conversation without needing to state it directly. ¡°I represent the entire Epan Coalition!¡± Barbara said with some bravado that tried to be real confidence. ¡°Right.¡± Fer said. ¡°So if I go to Wissel right now and tell him what you just said, would he agree? Or Aimone? Richard? Artois?¡± Iliyal realised Fer had actually come in to fix a mistake he had made. It was one thing to get callous bureaucrats saying egregious things. It was another entirely to smear an entire bureaucracy because of a few callous bureaucrats. ¡°It is they who created the Epan Coalition! Of course they would!¡± ¡°Brilliant.¡± Fer said sarcastically. Iliyal did not know if that was for herself or for them. ¡°All of it?¡± ¡°Every last shred!¡± Barbara said. ¡°The Epan Coalition nominated us to make sure that we will retain some form of independence after this war is over.¡± ¡°I simply do not believe that you represent the Epan Coalition like this.¡± Fer said, it was so innocent that Iliyal did not know if he wouldn¡¯t have fallen for it himself. ¡°Well then we have to agree to disagree.¡± Barbara said. ¡°But you do?¡± Fer prodded again. Iliyal sat there and watched this relentless assault. How Fer managed her tone, from annoying to gentle and back again, was a work of art. ¡°Yes. We represent the Epan Coalition.¡± Barbara answered and Iliyal had to stop the laughter in his throat. Fer really did make it seem easy. ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Fer said, and she switched immediately again. ¡°But for you to represent anything, you have to win the war first.¡± Iliyal smiled. Whereas he had tried to methodically bait responses out, Fer did what she did best: Fight snark with snark. ¡°The Epan Coalition will win the war.¡± ¡°So far it looks like all your major victories were done by us.¡± Iliyal saw the opportunity to get Barbs to say something downright terrible. ¡°Well Fer, I¡¯m not certain you can make comparisons like that because it is us.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Barbara said. ¡°No one is denying you are strong yet Epa needs to stand and fight by itself.¡± Fer looked to Iliyal, pretended to scratch her back but really shot the elf a thumbs up. They had another solid gold ingot of a line: Epa needs to stand and fight by itself. ¡°And if Naro killed Olonia?¡± ¡°If Naro killed Olonia then Naro would have killed Olonia.¡± Barbara replied. ¡°It sounds to me like you wanted him to kill her.¡± ¡°I trained Olonia, I have nothing against the little kitten.¡± Fer said and added a purr the bureaucrats gawked at her. ¡°Olonia is not a kitten!¡± One of the men shouted. Ironically enough, from the accent it was obvious he wasn¡¯t Lubskan. ¡°Right.¡± Fer said slowly. ¡°And I¡¯m not the Goddess of Beasthood.¡± ¡°She¡¯s the Goddess of Lubska!¡± Barbara said. ¡°Divines fight each other, it¡¯s only Mascots that don¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what she is!¡± Barbara shouted. ¡°This isn¡¯t your age anymore! We¡¯ve moved on since those times! Divines are representatives and mascots! There¡¯s more glory in joining people together like that than fighting how you do!¡± Gold! Iliyal leaned back and let Fer handle it all herself. Frankly, he wasn¡¯t needed for this. ¡°Mmh.¡± Fer could somehow even make her purring seem sarcastic. Iliyal sat there and marvelled at the woman¡¯s display in rhetoric. ¡°Definitely. Who are you trying to convince? Me, Olonia or yourself?¡± ¡°No one needs convincing here.¡± Barbara said. ¡°It is simply a new style of thinking.¡± ¡°Naturally a bureaucrat would like the idea of turning Divines into Mascots.¡± ¡°Are you not one?¡± Barbara asked. ¡°Am I?¡± Fer half-chuckled, half-laughed. ¡°Do you think I am?¡± ¡°It could be argued you are.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a dirty word.¡± Barbara said and Iliyal caught his breath as the gears in his mind caught up to the line of attack Fer was leading this lot down. ¡°Is it not?¡± ¡°I am a bureaucrat and Olonia is a mascot. It¡¯s a new style of rulership and a new style of Divinity.¡± Iliyal wanted to pour himself a drink to celebrate this achievement. Fer and Kavaa and him had trained Olonia, they all knew that the one thing the Goddess of Lubska despised more than anything was that label. And Fer had just gotten that label on mic. Helenna had not even said the lines had to be particularly damning, and that she would be able to work with anything they got. And they had secured maybe the most damning strings of words imaginable. ¡°Very well.¡± Fer said. ¡°I¡¯m glad you think you represent the Epan Coalition and that Olonia is a mascot. Truly humble of you.¡± ¡°We do represent the Epan Coalition and Olonia is indeed a mascot. Times have simply moved on.¡± ¡°Fantastic.¡± Fer said, and she changed tones now to the sort of prim voice Malam would use when mocking pretentious aristocrats. ¡°You can fuck off now.¡± The seven bureaucrats had to exchange between themselves for a moment. That tall man spoke. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°I did not come for a discussion with you, I came to pester Iliyal on why Kassandora does not answer my phone-calls.¡± Iliyal wanted to burst out in laughter. And she had just managed to start a false rumour that pretended the unified solidarity amongst the Daughter-Goddesses was waning! Just like that! So innocently that even he would have believed it! ¡°As I said, you can fuck off now.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± The bureaucrats looked to Iliyal. ¡°Go to Zawitz. I¡¯ll send a letter on what changes I¡¯ll make later.¡± Iliyal would nothing of the sort of course. But the seven left anyway. Iliyal and Fer waited for a few minutes, looking at each other, both with smiles creeping onto their faces. ¡°How was that?¡± Fer asked. ¡°Helenna¡¯s the true judge.¡± Iliyal said as he smiled. He generally tried to hide his emotions, it made him less of a myth and more of a man and at this point, he knew that the myth of the thousand-year General of the Eighth Legion was far greater than Iliyal the man could ever become. But with Fer? The most respectful thing she had ever said to him was that he was Kassandora¡¯s favourite elf. There was no reason to hide emotions in front of Beasthood. ¡°Well¡­¡± Iliyal leaned back, cracked a smile and laughed out loud. Since the moment they left, she had been mirroring on her face what Iliyal was feeling inside. Just pure joy at the performance they put on and what words they managed to get out of the bureaucrats exactly. ¡°We did a damn good job.¡± It was much better than that. They had secured everything that Helenna wanted secured and then some. They had gone above and beyond. ¡°I¡¯ll say it how Kassie says it.¡± Fer said. ¡°We annihilated them.¡± Iliyal finally stopped and saved the recording. Chapter 311 – Two More Bricks in the Wall Arusei looked up at the sky as the collection of dark men, women and children behind him were all setting up camp for the night. Elderly or young, scarred or toothless or at the peak of life, men with greying hair and weary bones had risen from their death-beds to at least attempt the journey. They had been offered vehicles for this wasteland of ash that was beginning to spout flora, but it simply wouldn¡¯t do to make this journey easy. It was supposed to be difficult. It was the end after all. As the campfires went up, Arusei went to retrieve the flare gun as the humming and song started. A red flare that the Goddess had used to mark the start of the Reclamation War. A red flare that burned in the same colour as the crimson eyes and crimson hair of the Goddess. A red flare to make sure they would not forget the fires of reconquest. Fires burned with life reclaimed as the devoured the devil¡¯s wood. The promise Arusei had made to his father, that his father made to his grandfather, that his grandfather made again. The promise that haunted not just Arusei, but every ancestor who, through Arusei, had outlasted the Jungle, would be fulfilled. Once again would a living soul walk over their ancient ancestral grounds. They were heading home. ¡°Is it possible¡­¡± Aliana trailed off. ¡°How do you¡­¡± She restarted again as Anassa smiled. This was exactly the sort of respectful reaction she deserved frankly. There were Divines like Fer or Kassandora, who were so normal around the Goddess of Sorcery that Anassa had to consciously remind herself of her own Divinity. There were those like Fortia and Maisara, who would try to deny outright, unaware of the self-defeating nature of a such statement. If she wasn¡¯t a Divine, why would her Divinity need to be denied? But then, sometimes¡­ quite commonly in fact, Anassa ran into Divines like Aliana and Agrita here. Both in their military uniforms. Aliana in light armour of plate, it was asymmetrical, her right arm had considerably less plate to make sure the woman could easily reach over her shoulder and grab hold of one of the arrows. Those were fashioned steel bolts rather than the puny little wooden arrows she had used in the past. It was Iliyal¡¯s change, but they apparently did a better job at penetrating the heavy armour of vehicles as well as felling men in one shot. Anassa did not really know, nor did she care. ¡°How do I do what?¡± ¡°Do you not get second thoughts?¡± Agrita asked as she looked down the cliff. The Goddess of Rilia, in golden armour fit for mascot-Divines. She had a longer spear and a shield that had been battered with gunfire. The Goddess was pretty, prettier than Elassa, shorter and with a far more pleasant face that could actually manage to have some warmth in it. The armour was thick too, although Anassa had never worn armour. Things like armour was for beings which could be hurt. Divines could not be hurt, and Anassa was a Divine. Naturally, she did not need such trite as armour. ¡°Should I?¡± Anassa tried to keep the sheer amount of pride out of her voice as she looked down. The two Divines were stood on the edge of a cliff. Anassa had brought them here to show off how Divines thought wars. Kassandora had given her permission to do a little training with the new girls, so why should Anassa hold about? Falling from the cliff was one of the major coastal highways that ran up and down Rilia. The Guardians, led by three minor Divines, had tried to quickly seize the advantage after a battle redirected Anassa and Agrita to the other coast of the country. But such things as space were for mortals to deal with. A Divine should be as overpowering as Olephia and as omnipresent as Arascus. Anassa smiled in joy as her eyes ran down the joy and she used her own sorcery to remove the edge of her crimson dress, unmoving like a statue even though the seaside wind was blowing both Agrita¡¯s and Aliana¡¯s hair out of place. Below, the highway was covered in red too. But unlike the bright red silk Anassa always wore that proudly proclaimed the Goddess of Sorcery had arrived, this was thin streams of deep, dark crimson snaking their way from the vehicles and bodies on the ground. They made their way off the tarmac of the road and plunged down another cliff to discolour the sandy beach below. ¡°I suppose not.¡± Agrita said grimly. ¡°Kassandora taught me to teach you.¡± Anassa said. ¡°Now I will not bother to teach you with the spear or the bow.¡± Anassa paused and raised an eyebrow at the two Goddesses on the cliff. She wanted either of them to question her statement or to try and call her out on whether she was simply pretending to not be able to fight. Anassa had never once lifted a weapon like that in her life, she simply didn¡¯t need to. But naturally, she assumed she¡¯d be able to outduel either of them with a conjured blade. Neither Goddess raised argument. They looked down at the White Pantheon tanks and APCs that had been moving more than a thousand men up this route. The front jeep had a smaller Divine, some no-name invention probably that had fallen out of the vehicle after Anassa had killed him. Anassa had brought the vehicles to a stop in the middle of the road too, and now they were nicely arranged as if someone had parked them here. ¡°So what I¡¯m going to teach you is something so important I am baffled as to how neither of you possess it yet.¡± Anassa said and took another pause. This time, Agrita did take a chance to speak. ¡°What is it?¡± She looked up to Anassa with those large eyes that were obviously hungry for knowledge. If she was mortal, then Anassa would lead her down the path of awakening sorcery within herself, but alas, such extension of willpower was reserved for mortals only. Anassa and Elassa were the only exceptions to the rule. ¡°Mentality.¡± Nicholas lowered his binoculars as he sat down on the back of the tank. If they were fast enough, they would secure the next town, they¡¯d be able to quickly disable the coastal artillery, and White Pantheon ships would be able to dock and bring reinforcements. And even if they couldn¡¯t, then an urban area would provide enough holes to fire from that they would be able to keep the dreaded Sorceress away. Already, each division had its own office devoted to working out the woman¡¯s weaknesses and news was coming from Olympiada as scholars were researching the ancient texts that talked of Anassa in the Great War. She couldn¡¯t be immortal, that was for certain. There were men in Kirinyaa who had seen Fortia put a hole through her chest. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Nicholas kicked his legs against the tank. Speed was key and his battlegroup had lost vehicles through attrition or through combat. Rilia was terrible terrain to fight in, that was for certain. The country was mountain after mountain and were the land smoothed out; it smoothed out in such a terrible way that the flatlands became dying fields with not even a bush for cover. The fact that mountains on which artillery could be hidden were ever-present meant that both sides avoided those plains as much as possible. The tank suddenly sped up, the turret started turning and the officers began to shout orders to look up and aim. Nicholas turned, looked around, and his eyes immediately went to the figure in the light-blue sky of dawn. A figure in red, in a ball of a dress that spread out as if it was on the ground and not floating in the air. It wasn¡¯t even touched by the wind even though even the trucks had to drive carefully as to not lose control from the aftermath of the night-time storm. The sound of a finger-snap sounded from above. An eye appeared behind the figure. Another one. The sky looked down on the convoy of White Pantheon Guardians. And Nicholas thought of raising his gun. He saw a massive behind try to, he saw the weapon fall into pieces as the Goddess above snapped her fingers again and again. Was there even a point to try and fight back? What could he even do? This was a presence more overwhelming than when Fortia inspected the troops herself. ¡°Anassa, Goddess of Sorcery, sees you!¡± Nicholas¡¯ eyes widened and he moved to lift the rifle over his knees. ¡°Now die!¡± His arms barely had the strength to move. He coughed and tasted blood coming up his throat. Nicholas swayed as his vision started to go dark and he saw the Guardian next to him. The man was falling backwards, the light had left his eyes. His neck had a tiny pin-prick that a small drop of Nicholas fell and felt the same on his own. Anassa snapped her fingers and disappeared. Another Anassa looked around as the first Anassa kept Agrita and Aliana busy. They had started questions now. About what to do in specific situations and so on. That was good and fine frankly, that Anassa could keep them busy as this Anassa got to pick-up drop that was in White Pantheon controlled territory in Rilia. Supposedly so, anyway, in reality, this was just a valley far south of the frontline that Raptor One had dropped a crate off in twenty minutes ago. This Anassa got to work searching for the crate. Captain Douglas had sent the co-ordinates and supposedly the stupid little box had a transmitter on it so it should be easy to find. But Anassa needed to use her phone for that and Anassa hated using her phone. Such things were below Divinity and frankly, she felt old whenever she used it. Ever since Fer had set that stupid ring-tone for her, she had tried to keep it out of earshot rather than trying to smash the brick wall that was working out how to change it. She could ask for help of course, but did Divines ask for help? No, they did not. All in all, Anassa knew she was lying to herself. Fer¡¯s annoying was an excuse as was the lack of help, she could always ask Arascus after all. The reality was that she would not bend for the phone and the phone was an inanimate object. It could bend for Anassa, but then it would snap in half and it would be a pain to get a new one. But she her lie made sense, and because it made sense, she could believe it. Divines did not bend for technology, Divines did not ask for help, Divines knew everything and what they didn¡¯t know, they simply wouldn¡¯t try in. And so, this Divine, even though she could use whatever the thing that Malam had installed to find the crate, decided to search for it manually. Anassa idly hummed to herself as another Anassa appeared by her side and started moving quickly along the centre of the rocky valley. Another Anassa took the west side, yet another Anassa the east side, then three more moved in the other direction. This Anassa scanned the land around them, two more Anassa¡¯s, one south and one north, kept watch for White Pantheon forces although no one was coming. And the Anassa overlooking the destroyed convoy, that talked to Agrita and Aliana made sure to drop one piece of information about herself. It was a total lie, but Anassa had no issue with lying. Besides, after Malam had explained the plan, this was the best way to avoid a headache later. ¡°I¡¯m sure Fer and Iliyal have both explained the need to go for the kill immediately.¡± Anassa said. ¡°But being that sort of person all the time will return the favour back to you. It initiates a fight or flight response in Divines, and most Divines will choose fight against you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had Divines evade me.¡± Aliana said. ¡°Most Divines that matter.¡± Anassa added. ¡°Being able to hold your strength back can instil a terror greater than any sort of violence will.¡± ¡°It¡¯s one thing to be able to snap your fingers and make hundreds of yourself.¡± Aliana said. ¡°But I don¡¯t think I¡¯m¡­ scary.¡± She had to force the word out. ¡°I know I¡¯m not.¡± Agrita said. ¡°You¡¯re both Divines.¡± Anassa declared. ¡°The idea of facing Aliana or Agrita in battle should be terrifying. That sort of fear is crippling.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit different for us.¡± Aliana said again. ¡°Kassandora is terrifying and Kassandora is not strong.¡± Anassa. ¡°The idea makes the Divine. The more battles you accrue and the greater than pool of blood around your feet, the more your legend will grow. If you don¡¯t tend to it now, it will be the legend of a competent fighter, but nothing terrible. Whereas you can play your cards right and you¡¯ll end up as a Goddess men will refuse to engage out of sheer terror and nothing else. That¡¯s how you know you have power, when you don¡¯t even need to lift a finger yet you still defeat armies.¡± ¡°You just snap them instead.¡± Aliana said, Anassa found her opportunity and found a wave of rage roll over her. This little upstart needed to be shown exactly what the power of fear meant. Anassa snapped her fingers and Aliana was thrown into the air. A blade of red sorcery stopped an inch from her eyes, then expanded to blind her vision. ¡°I could blind you right now.¡± Anassa said. ¡°And in such a way that it would need Kavaa¡¯s regeneration to fix it.¡± Anassa couldn¡¯t, but Aliana didn¡¯t need to know that. ¡°The White Pantheon assaults have stopped because I have appeared on this front Aliana. Not because we¡¯re winning or anything like that, it is because no soldier will willingly walk off a cliff if they have any sanity in them. I am that cliff Aliana.¡± And now, it was time for the true lie. ¡°My ability to maintain simultaneous existences is shorter than you¡¯d hope but longer than you¡¯d like. I¡¯m not able to protect a whole country by myself, no Divine is. Yet my image, the terror I inspire, is enough to stop all assaults.¡± Aliana nodded. Her entire body was tense, her knees were quivering as her legs kept themselves straight. ¡°I-I-I-I u-u-underst-stand.¡± The Goddess of Allia croaked out. Anassa didn¡¯t really care about the woman¡¯s fear, she had communicated what needed to be communicated, and in such a way that didn¡¯t make it obvious she was obviously setting up a false flag: Anassa¡¯s range of existence was not infinite, but it was far grander than the distance from Rilia¡¯s west coast to Rilia¡¯s east coast. If she stood in the north of the country, she would be able to reach Kaczaw in Lubska. And as she said that, one of the Anassa¡¯s in the valley found the package. A small box dropped off in a parachute. Anassa snapped her fingers and opened it. There it was, just as Malam said it would be. Anassa didn¡¯t even need to touch it to know what it was simply through the stagnant aura it exuded. A gemstone enchanted to produce a beam by a human mage. Chapter 312 – Catching Goddesses Kassandora watched the ground crack and bend as snakes underneath its surface writhed. A moment later, those snakes burst from the ground, they were massive roots and vines that Iniri had been using to tear the earth apart. Trees had sprouted to support the sides of the ravine that those roots left, and then those trees grew tall and curled to become archways. Those archways had expanded themselves to fully support the walls of the ravine Iniri had dug out, they created a tunnel of wood that Kassandora was testing out the headlights of her vehicles on. It was one thing to enter here alone with just torches when they were on foot. Things changed even more when those on foot were a small party of Divines that all had some level of competence, which was all Kassandora could ask for. But for a convoy? Long convoys had a tendency to drop the collective intelligence of all participants by two-thirds. Kassandora didn¡¯t know why it happened, but she didn¡¯t need a reason for every phenomenon she came across. It was simply just another problem, and it simply just had to be dealt with. ¡°What are we doing?¡± Kavaa asked as she swung her flashlight up and down Kassandora felt another minor earthquake from deeper in. ¡°What obvious issues do you see?¡± Kassandora and Kavaa looked around. ¡°It¡¯s dark?¡± She said and Kassandora nodded. ¡°Anything else?¡± Kassandora asked and Kavaa shook her head. ¡°Honestly I don¡¯t know.¡± The Goddess of Health replied and Kassandora nodded. She already had a whole list of issues: the darkness was just the most obvious and it could be fixed by fitting the trucks and tanks with spotlights. The terrain was another, Iniri¡¯s tunnel was smooth, but Kassandora would not believe it would stay that way, bulldozers would need to be brought along to push rubble away. If Tartarus had any monsters that could climb the walls, which they did in the past, then they would need¡­ what exactly? Kassandora turned and supposed it would be Anti-Air Guns. And she would need something for Tartarus¡¯ larger demons too. The Goddess of War sighed and turned around. It was time to submit some orders to the engineers again. Iliyal strolled through the camp just outside of Kaczaw. This place may have been made entirely out of cloth and hollow steel, but Iliyal was sure it was the most fortified location in the entire country. Kaczaw itself was far too large to safely operate in, with too many people. Evacuations had started but this was nothing akin to the efficiency of the Maisara-planned Kirinyaan cities where, in a mere week, the city had only a third of its population remaining. A mobile Surface-To-Air missile launcher was being re-loaded by crane to Iliyal¡¯s left as he walked on. The rocket itself was the size of the elf even though the carriage itself was a short stubby thing that looked like that tank without the turret. Most of the Doschian pieces were built like that, and there was obvious inspiration being taken from the Lynx blueprints. To the other side in this section of the camp, a tank was having its tread re-fitted. Some of the engineers saw Iliyal and saluted, the rest continued swearing and working. Iliyal saw the Goddess he had been searching for. He knew she¡¯d be here frankly, as lazy as she proclaimed herself to be, she also liked helping people. And there was precisely one field she could help in more than anything else. Fer was holding up the rear end of a truck as engineers were replacing tires which had been shredded by shrapnel. A pillar of muscle draped in a cloak of gold which was actually just the woman¡¯s hair. ¡°Hey.¡± The elf said, she was the only one who got a casual greeting here. ¡°We¡¯re having guests soon.¡± ¡°I want to finish this.¡± Fer said as Iliyal inspected the team of engineers swarming around the vehicles. One man was working with an electric screwdriver and taking the bolts off. The shredded tire fell off with a huge thud and two more men hefted a new one into the air with a groan. Two men saw Iliyal and saluted. Iliyal dismissed them with his own salute. ¡°Continue working.¡± Iliyal said as he turned to Fer. The woman wasn¡¯t even a break as she held half of the vehicle up. ¡°Helenna is coming, Olonia and Saksma will be here before her though.¡± Iliya said. ¡°That¡¯s why I came out to meet you. We keep up the nice attitude.¡± Fer slowly lowered the vehicle as she squatted down. ¡°You are the only person who treats being friendly as a military order.¡± Iliyal sniffed in humour as he watched the Goddess take out her huge phone. ¡°I can name a dozen other people who need to be explicitly told not to immediately resort to violence in diplomacy.¡± He watched Fer turn and take a picture of the truck. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m taking pictures.¡± Fer said as if it was obvious. ¡°I can see that.¡± Iliyal said as the woman leaned down next to the vehicle. She snapped a photo of herself, smiling wide, yellow vulpine eyes wide open and making a peace sign. ¡°Smile!¡± Fer said suddenly as Iliyal watched her, and then she took a picture of the elf. Iliyal did not even try to raise the corners of his lips up, much less actually smile. Fer clicked through her phone as she blew golden strands of hair out of her face. Clicked through the images and then burst out in laughter. Before the elf could ask, she turned the photo and showed the man the picture of himself terribly unamused. Blonde hair framed green eyes on a sharp face that looked ready to kill someone. ¡°This is an instant classic!¡± She howled in between laughs. ¡°Just come on.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Olonia, Saksma and Paida will be here soon.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t mention Paida before.¡± ¡°I assumed it was implied.¡± Iliyal said and Fer chuckled. ¡°I can¡¯t read minds you know.¡± She said. ¡°I come close, but I can¡¯t read minds.¡± ¡°Neither can I, I just wasn¡¯t thinking about those three.¡± Iliyal said with some exhaustion. ¡°You? Not thinking? Never.¡± Fer declared sarcastically. ¡°I agree, me not thinking doesn¡¯t happen.¡± Iliyal said. He knew Fer was prodding him to get angry, he simply didn¡¯t let her get on his nerves. Fer tutted as she took a step and turned to the engineers. ¡°Is that everything? Or do you need help with anything else?¡± One of the men put his tools down and turned to salute the Goddess. She lazily waved him down with a flap of her own arm. ¡°That¡¯s everything Fer!¡± Another shouted. ¡°See you later then!¡± Fer shouted and turned as Iliyal began to walk off. Fer caught up in three steps for his six. And she didn¡¯t even take particularly hasty ones. ¡°So? Helenna?¡± Fer said quietly. Iliyal¡¯s ears caught it though. ¡°She didn¡¯t really give instructions apart from saying that she assumes we¡¯re competent enough to not fuck it up and to support her.¡± Iliyal said quietly, from afar, it would look as if he was talking to himself as he didn¡¯t even turn to direct his speech towards the Goddess. But he knew that the woman¡¯s hearing with those ears that popped out the top of her head was more than sharp enough to listen to his heartbeat. What was speaking quietly when compared to that? Iliyal¡¯s ears could hear hers when she was this close, although Fer was the only Goddess Iliyal could pick out like this. It was more that her heart was a grand cannon rather than his hearing being anything exceptional. ¡°Mmh.¡± Fer said. ¡°Easy enough, right?¡± ¡°I assume so.¡± Iliyal replied as they turned down a road in the camp. It was organised in the same fashion that Kassandora organised her camps, the wide roads were proving their worth as trucks and jeeps were constantly ferrying men away to the frontlines, or bringing wounded back. The Epans had not asked for Clerics, so Iliyal was letting their hospitals fill up. Once Malam¡¯s plan succeeded, Kavaa¡¯s men could come in to heal but one needed to be part of the Empire first before they received the benefits of it. They made their way to the command tent as Fer finally cracked under the silence. ¡°I was looking for one of those native big cats that live in the mountains here. I found one actually, they have really cute faces, really sharp.¡± Iliyal nodded along as he listened to the woman talk. ¡°Out of all the lynxes, these are the biggest ones of the species, did you know that?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Iliyal had read the fact somewhere sometime and he generally didn¡¯t forget things. ¡°I thought you would.¡± Fer said. ¡°I did too, I was just seeing what you think of them.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not a problem.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°What more do you want?¡± ¡°A more emotional reaction rather than pretending you¡¯re Kassie.¡± Iliyal almost missed a step. He had to take a deep breath to calm himself down, and he had to remind himself that Fer was a Goddess. If a soldier said that to him, the man would have been cut down on the spot. ¡°We become who we admire.¡± Iliyal replied flatly. ¡°You know what?¡± Fer asked, unamused. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Out of anyone else, that would have been a charming statement. I would coo and tickle your chin and say aww how cute that you have a crush.¡± Iliyal was baffled. He¡­ It was Goddess Kassandora. It was the Divine who made him who he was. Kavaa in his mind was a Divine, but she was a woman too. Fer was Fer. But Goddess Kassandora? She was an ideal brought to life. She had made Iliyal into everything he was and everything he would be. Frankly, it wasn¡¯t offensive or teasing or annoying or stupid. It was simply a baffling statement. How could he ever consider the Goddess of War as anything but the sheer pinnacle of what could be achieved? ¡°I don¡¯t have a crush on the Goddess.¡± It wasn¡¯t even difficult to say. It was almost¡­ It just sounded stupid to Iliyal to even need to voice a statement that oozed so much¡­ wrongness. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°No.¡± Fer agreed. ¡°This is why I didn¡¯t say that.¡± She sighed. ¡°You are so boring!¡± ¡°I suppose so.¡± Iliyal said and Fer sighed. ¡°Do you want to hear about my day?¡± She asked, her tone defeated. ¡°Alright.¡± Iliyal said. Fer launched straight into it. ¡°I stayed up the whole night today, I went to the dam because they¡¯ve cut the power there so the stars were really bright.¡± Iliyal allowed Fer to talk as he gave a vague indication he was listening here and there to make sure that she wouldn¡¯t feel as if she was monologing for herself. She was of course, Iliyal did not care in the slightest bit that the woman had managed to find, catch and eat a rabbit for breakfast, nor did he particularly care about the fact she felt bored here. He wasn¡¯t particularly excited either so he didn¡¯t know what Fer was complaining about frankly. ¡°I mean, I understand it.¡± Fer said as they approached the tent. ¡°But I don¡¯t like it. Do you know what I mean? I see Mal¡¯s plan, but it¡¯s just boring here.¡± ¡°We just suffer through it.¡± Iliyal gave his advice where he could, Fer probably didn¡¯t need it though. ¡°What a Kassandora thing to say.¡± Fer replied flatly. The ears on top of her head twitched, Iliyal heard her thunderous heart make a strong beat of excitement and she straightened her back. ¡°They¡¯re here.¡± ¡°They¡¯re fast then.¡± Iliyal said. He supposed he should have expected this. These National Divines looked up to him in a way that Divines should never look up to mortals in, and Fer was here too. ¡°All of them.¡± ¡°Helenna too?¡± Iliyal asked and Fer chuckled. ¡°Are we actually late?¡± She asked. ¡°We¡¯re late?¡± This was the second time today Iliyal heard a statement that was just wrong. How could he be late? What? Fer chuckled to herself and gently patted Iliyal on the back. Her hand was as large as his entire shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m honoured Iliyal.¡± ¡°Honoured about what?¡± ¡°That you found my company so pleasurable you lost track of time.¡± Iliyal groaned at the statement. Had he actually lost track of time? He checked the watch on his arm. Immediately, the issue solved itself. ¡°They¡¯re just here early.¡± Fer made that horrendous hur-hur-hur of a chuckle as she craned her neck down and pulled back the dark green curtain of the tent. Iliyal quickly stepped inside as he saw the three National Goddesses around a table. All three were in their heavy plate armours, now damaged from the constant battles they had fought. Paida, with her long blonde hair and purple eyes, had her helm on the table, her shield slung across her back and her sword sheathed. Olonia had put her gear in the corner of the tent and Saksma had stabbed her greatsword into the beaten dirt of the ground to make it stand up by itself. Helenna was on the other side of the table, in the usual long black uniform. Her high cap bore the woman¡¯s Imperial Emblem: a rose with thorns that grew into a wreath to surround the petals. ¡°I am Fer!¡± Fer exclaimed as she stepped forwards. ¡°Apologies for being late! Iliyal was having so much fun with me we decided to take the long way around.¡± The elf didn¡¯t fall for the bait, he let Fer say whatever she wanted to say frankly. ¡°I see you started early.¡± Iliyal said, he knew Helenna would catch the meaning of the words: why start early? Helenna smiled at the elf and at Fer. ¡°Will you believe me if I say the plane got here early?¡± No. Of course Iliyal would not. But how could he argue with that without exposing himself to be paranoid? Frankly, why was he even doubting Helenna. The woman had already proven her loyalty. ¡°And since I got here, I got to see what the three Goddesses here were feeling.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± Iliyal said. Saksma stepped in to speak, her hair the colour of golden wheat, her eyes a brilliant sky-blue. It was good whenever Saksma spoke, she had all the bluntness characteristic of her nation. ¡°We know each other from the years before¡­¡± She tapped the dented steel chest plate. ¡°All this.¡± ¡°I assumed you do.¡± ¡°So?¡± Fer asked. ¡°What is this meeting about Helenna?¡± ¡°We were actually waiting for you.¡± Helenna said. ¡°But I wanted to show everyone this, one of my spies caught this from the Epan Coalition Headquarters.¡± ¡°You¡¯re spying on us?¡± Saksma asked and Helenna blushed. Iliyal got closer as the Goddess of Love pulled out an audio player. ¡°I spy on everyone.¡± Helenna said. ¡°In the same way that Fer can¡¯t be serious with anyone.¡± Iliyal wondered what the plan was, although he was already playing along, pretending to be interested. Fer did too, she made a chuckle so devious it was almost comical. ¡°I treat everyone in the same way I¡¯d treat a cat, very seriously indeed.¡± Iliyal thought for a moment, that was just a flat-out lie. The woman treated cats in a far less annoying manner than she treated people. ¡°Right.¡± Helenna said. ¡°But you¡¯ll be glad I¡¯m spying on you.¡± ¡°Will I?¡± Saksma asked doubtfully. ¡°I¡¯m not spying on you, I¡¯m spying on your government Saksma. There¡¯s a difference.¡± ¡°I am the incarnation of Doschia.¡± Saksma said. ¡°So apologies for being slightly more invested in this than you are Helenna.¡± Paida, ever diplomatic, came in to cool Saksma down. Iliyal did not even know why, Helenna and Fer and him could easily stand their ground in arguments. Especially against a child of a Goddess like Saksma. She had been around some seven-hundred years and she was the youngest in the tent. ¡°Well let¡¯s hear it out at least.¡± ¡°This is actually why I waited for Fer to come.¡± Helenna said honestly. ¡°Because I didn¡¯t know if you¡¯d need someone to calm you down.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hear it then.¡± Olonia said sternly. ¡°I want to see what the fuss is about since you pulled us off the frontlines.¡± ¡°I just want to say the audio is quiet because it was in my informants pocket. You¡¯ll hear some rustling too, but I can¡¯t fix that. The audio is raw, just how I got it.¡± Helenna said and she clicked the button. Iliyal recognised the tone and voice immediately. How could he not? He had made this audio three days ago after all. It was Barbara¡¯s voice, somehow the audio had been edited to sound distant and faint, and there was indeed rustling of cloth on cloth as if the microphone had been recording from someone¡¯s pocket. Yet the words were easy to make out, at least those that were important. ¡®No one here needs convincing¡­¡¯ Followed by rustling and faint mumbling. ¡®The war will be extended¡­¡¯ Iliyal looked up at Helenna and saw the woman feign a stern face. ¡®White Pantheon¡­¡¯ Iliyal looked at Fer and the Goddess of Beasthood looked at him. Only Iliyal here knew the woman well enough to see through the fa?ade, but just as he saw through hers, he knew she saw through his. They were both in awe at how much Helenna had done with so little. And Barbara¡¯s voice continued. ¡®¡­spare Epa¡­¡¯ Amazing, Iliyal could not believe how well Helenna had stitched the words together. If he didn¡¯t recognise Barabara¡¯s voice, he would thought this was a real conversation being recorded, with the only issue being that the microphone was too weak to catch both sides. And then the bombshell dropped. ¡®¡­sacrificing Olonia¡­ she is more valuable¡­ dead than¡­ alive.¡¯ Helenna stopped the recording. ¡°That¡¯s all of it.¡± The Goddess of Love said as the entire room turned to Olonia in silence. The Goddess of Lubska stood there, her blue eyes blinked, those cheeks went so pale that it made the woman¡¯s snow-white hair look almost dull in comparison. Her mouth opened. She swayed. ¡°This is why I sent Fer here to watch over you. I strongly suspect that Naro was supposed to kill you Olonia.¡± And the Goddess of Lubska swayed. Fer moved quickly yet delicately as Olonia¡¯s legs gave out. As quickly as a she-wolf catching her cubs, she stepped behind Olonia and stopped the woman from collapsing by hooking her arms underneath her shoulders. Olonia hung in the air, arms and legs deflated and still, as she stared at that recorder. For a solid minute, no one said anything. Iliyal was following Helenna¡¯s guidance, and if Helenna was letting one of the nationals speak first, then so be it. Saksma broke the silence eventually. ¡°Apologies Helenna. I see why you¡¯re spying on me now.¡± ¡°Not on you Saksma. On the EC.¡± Iliyal shook his head at the sheer beauty of that statement. It wasn¡¯t Doschia, it wasn¡¯t the government, it wasn¡¯t even the Epan Coalition. Instead, it was the cold acronym of EC. Malam could have not done better. ¡°This is serious.¡± Paida said. ¡°You think?¡± Saksma asked sarcastically. ¡°What do we do now?¡± Paida turned to Iliyal and the elf realised that they were going to listen to him. His eyes gave one final sweep around the room. He made it look as if he was taking the time to think, but actually he was seeing Helenna¡¯s expression. The slight eagerness in his eyes and the tiny nod gave it away that she was passing the initiative to him. So that meant they were sticking with Malam¡¯s timeframe. ¡°We know this now.¡± Iliyal said. Fer gently lowered Olonia onto her feet, although the woman still could not stand by herself. Iliyal supposed that reaction made sense for Goddess who was betrayed by the very thing she was an incarnation of. ¡°We can¡¯t start a civil war in Epa though. Showing this off would demotivate the troops.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Saksma said. ¡°Morale is bad enough already.¡± ¡°They wanted to kill me.¡± Olonia mumbled as Fer came in close and hugged the woman from behind. ¡°They wanted to kill me.¡± She mumbled again. ¡°I keep on running the war. Tactics will change though. Fer is here, Anassa is in Rilia, I will communicate this information to Agrita and Aliana but no one else. It¡¯s a secret between us for now.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°Why?¡± Saksma asked. Paida rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation at her friend. ¡°If we reveal that we know Saksma.¡± The Goddess of Rancais said in a horribly patronizing tone. ¡°Then we let them react to us. If we keep our cards close to the table, then we can play our ace at any time.¡± Iliyal nodded along to Paida. The woman was smart, no doubt she was used to being the smartest in the room usually. Unfortunately, in this room, she did not make it into the top-three. Instead, she had just played into Iliyal¡¯s hand. ¡°That, and likewise, I don¡¯t want the troops to suddenly start losing faith in the Coalition.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°They tried to kill me.¡± Olonia said again, some anger in her voice. ¡°There there.¡± Fer whispered softly from behind the Goddess as she leaned in close and brushed that golden mane against Olonia¡¯s cheek. Iliyal took back control of the situation. ¡°But if I deploy Fer openly in Epa, then I will have bureaucrats at my door every day from now on. They may even try to remove me. Kill me if I don¡¯t budge.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not going to happen.¡± Saksma said, her tone hard and cold. ¡°You have my promise Iliyal. I¡¯m not going to let one of us be sacrificed.¡± Paida said. She looked to Saksma, her tone cold. ¡°It could be one of us next actually.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to see them try.¡± Saksma said. ¡°Iliyal, they tried to kill me.¡± Olonia said. ¡°When this war ends, we can start working on getting rid of this rot. If worst comes to worst, I can call upon reinforcements from Arika.¡± Iliyal said. ¡°The EC won¡¯t like that.¡± Saksma said. Iliyal noticed that the woman referred to it like the acronym and not the word. Helenna had indeed made a good play. ¡°I don¡¯t really care what the EC likes or not.¡± Iliyal said, his eyes met Fer¡¯s from behind Olonia, and he read the woman¡¯s face. She could smell emotions, and she was saying that they were primed. ¡°Saksma, Paida, Olonia, I will be honest now.¡± He saw Paida and Saksma shift their entire attention onto him as Olonia, still looking at the table, suddenly became angry. ¡°I do not fight this war for Epa or against the Pantheon.¡± Iliyal let the silence hang as Olonia cooked in rage. ¡°Fer and I trained you. We will not let you die in something like this. I do not even fight for Doschia, Rancais or Lubska.¡± Iliyal took a deep breath. ¡°I fight for you Saksma, for you Paida, and for you Olonia.¡± He saw Paida and Saksma gawk at him in awe. Paida¡¯s cheeks exploded into a blush. They had probably never heard words like that. Iliyal made his coup-de-grace. ¡°And I expect you to fight for me.¡± ¡°You have my word Iliyal.¡± Saksma answered the call to action immediately. She didn¡¯t even need to think about it. ¡°This is the sort of betrayal I will not accept.¡± Paida nodded. ¡°It is one thing to die in battle for a cause. It is another entirely for them to try and sacrifice you like this.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Iliyal said. And finally Olonia spoke. If Paida and Saksma were the sounds of victorious battles, then Olonia¡¯s voice was the sound of a grand campaign which had achieved all its goals and left nothing standing of the opposition. It was almost as beautiful as the sounds of War¡¯s Orchestra. ¡°Iliyal, I do not fight against the Pantheon to replace them with bureaucrats from the EC. They tried to kill me Iliyal. You better take this war to the end, until they hang. All of them.¡± She had to bite each word off to keep herself speaking. ¡°Promise me that Iliyal. Until the end. The Pantheon and the Coalition. Both of them.¡± Iliyal made the promise. ¡°Until the end.¡± ¡°Then we fight for one another.¡± Olonia said. Iliyal saw Helenna¡¯s eyes and Fer¡¯s eyes. Not a word had to be said between the three ancients, they all knew the emotion. They all craved it after all, because the emotion was rare even for those who had made it past a thousand years: The sweet and addictive ambrosian taste of victory.