Deep inside the immense castle walls of my goddess domain I visited with my pet hydra Flavio. While having access to unlimited food had tempered the otherwise ultra violent demeanor of the creature it was still not safe to allow around humans. That was something I hoped to one day change, though for now there was simple obedience training to complete. While the idea of a hydra sitting, staying, or other dog akin commands sounded absurd I felt it was indeed possible to do.

This opportunity to train my pet was something I had to take advantage of as it was rare for me to get any time to myself. There had been no further attacks from Pheoa but there would surely be another soon. It was possible for me to just grow big and stomp around the kingdom to find and destroy any enemy armies still in Celeduun. However that seemed unnecessary and would only further the idea that I was one of those monster goddesses.

There was still the supposed secret goddess killing weapon that Pheoa had at their disposal. My main sources of information on the world of mages had so far been unable to discover any solid information. Ferherlyn was rather limited in his scope as his influence only reached throughout his own kingdom. Barthenor on the other hand had the ability to easily make connections to mages in foreign lands, mainly due to the extremely fascinating implications of having someone from the age of goddesses around again to swap information with.

Even my lich friend slash servant had discovered very little in regards to the ultimate weapon. He had found out some interesting tidbits however. Such as the Nimelly family had been in plentiful correspondence with the mages of Pheoa. This meant that the enemy had all the information they could ever want on me. While worrying it couldn't really be helped at this point as I had become quite prominent. Whatever they were doing in secret with this knowledge, and what it had to do with their goddess killing weapon I couldn't fathom. All I knew was those mages are up to something.

While thinking about what to do next I continued the play training with Flavio. We were both in the garden area in the center of the castle, the goddess sized pond acting as a literal lake for the hydra. Even though he was massive compared to humans he was still barely the size of a cat to me. Thankfully this training seemed to be sinking in and he would respond to simple commands. Hopefully this obedience would extend to trusted humans as well.

At the moment he was sitting obediently at the edge of the pond while I kneeled in the grass between the knee high trees. I was using my hands to gently rub all six of his heads in turn like cradling the head of a snake. It wasn't entirely clear how enjoyable this petting was for him, but it clearly wasn't a bad experience either. He just looked unblinking up at me with his blood red eyes.

“So what do you think Flavi?” I asked in a soft voice. “Should I like. Go to Pheoa? Or try to?”

Flavio looked up at me with his reptilian eyes showing no emotion. It was a look more of curiosity at the sound of my voice as obviously he couldn't understand me.

I let out a sigh and continued talking to myself.

“I'd have to take worshipers with me I guess. What with the barrier thing. Probably isn't worth it since it would definitely make me appear like one of those olden day goddesses. Invading the enemy and stuff.”

The texture of my pets skin was quite slick despite being scaled. It was sort of like the skin of a fish which matched the fin riddled body. All the yellows and greens mixing together really would make him hard to spot in the murky water if it wasn't for the bright white stripes running down his necks from his heads. Since he's male it was probably some kind of mating thing.

With a smile I cupped one of the squirming heads in my right hand.

“You really are a beautiful monster Flavi.”

Flavio didn't understand what being called a monster means, and though it did seem cruel it was true. I wondered if I should use the Anima magic to speak to animals with him, but decided not to. After testing with a dog and various other animals it was clear that just because you can speak with animals doesn't mean you can understand them. The intelligence gap was just too great even for magic to cross. Yeah they can tell you they are sad, hungry, or happy. But their capacity for rational thought was limited. Some animals more than others. A hydra like Flavio would surely be quite brutal in his thinking and I was worried that exposing him to the spell would have psychological effects.

I reached over to my left with my hand and picked up the debranched tree that was laying there. It was a sort of stick hydra sized that I had been using to try and train him to fetch. Then I stood up and smiled down at the beast.

“Ok Flavi. Lets try this again!”

With a quick turn and gentle arm swing I tossed the log “stick” a short distance away. Well short for us comparatively of course. It landed with a slight crunch in the grass and half of Flavio's heads turned to look at it while the others looked up at me towering over him.

I pointed to the log with my left hand.

“Fetch!”

The three heads that had turned to look at the thrown tree returned to looking around the environment for threats. There was still no interest in fetching items and bringing them back it seemed. To be expected I suppose. But perhaps with more training there would be. The usefulness of such a beast of burden on the human scale couldn't be understated.

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders.

“Oh well. Maybe one day.”

I reached down with my left hand and rubbed the top of the nearest head affectionately. There was a slight hiss from the head which was echoed by several of the others, though it wasn't an angry sounding sound. He really was like a cat, at least to me. It was unlikely that he would let a human pet one of his heads.

Suddenly a group of urgent prayers came into my mind, at first floating just outside of thought. They however were pushed forward into my thinking mind quite quickly thanks to the work of my subconscious Sub-Chan. Truly I was alone with myself in my mind with Miya gone.

The contents of the prayers were news I had been waiting for: the arrival of another army from Pheoa. Yes it was the guards and soon following the civilians of one of the northern cities that were praying to me for protection from the large mass of soldiers approaching across the open plains. This city was called Jalopely and was west of the Slemen Mountains only a few miles from the Pheoa boarder. It would have made sense for this particular city to be one of the first attacked when the war began, but for whatever reason it hadn't been. It had certainly been on the top of Quarely's list of concerns.

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Now the attack had finally come and it seemed to be typical for this technology level. With a quick dive inside my goddess zone I observed the map in the center of my mind. This army consisted of at least thirty-thousand people complete with cavalry and siege equipment. Trebuchets, battering rams, and siege towers made up a fearsome array of machinery. However such contraptions were nothing compared to the might of a goddess which made me question why they were brought at all.

While I watched the army came to a halt in the middle of the large grassy field to the north of the city where they took up battle lines. The flag of Pheoa flew above the soldier's heads in the wind on banners while they all seemed to be waiting for something. Gray skies led to a sense of forlorn in the enemy, at least from the look of their souls. As if they thought they were marching to their deaths. It was for this reason I had not appeared to them yet as the ending had been pre-concluded.

With a deep sigh I ascended back into my body proper and stood up from the floor, my pet hydra shuffling backwards away from me. I then shrunk down to human size and lifted my left hand, a golden portal opening above me. It was then I was delivered a painful and shocking surprise.

As I had been taking my time teleporting over to Jalopely a large fireball suddenly burst from the rear of the enemy army. The flaming orb shot like a rocket across the overcast shy and blasted down into the city wall, setting off a huge explosion that instantly killed several of the posted guards. The feedback from their deaths sent a shock wave through my heart and I clutched my chest while crying out in pain. It was only thanks to my previous mediation training that I was able to keep control, though my eyes instantly opened wide and full of anger. Like glowing stars my eyes glared forward. In an instant my mind processed more than thoughts than a human ever could.

There were mages in the enemy army. Of course there would be! How could I be so stupid? I never thought they would be stupid enough to actually attack in such a way. Surely the city had its own mages that would begin defending it from magic and attacking the enemy army. That would result in mass casualties and I would not stand for it. I'll show these shitbags what it meant to attack a goddess's lands.

With my mind focused and my eyes full of fury I leapt upwards through the golden portal, appearing out the other side and above the city walls like a cannonball. Up into the sky I shot, my hair shining even in the daylight like a beacon for all to see. Hope filling the hearts of my worshipers and dread in the hearts of my enemies.

My appearance had been just in time too, for there were already several more fireballs in the air and descending on the city. These would deliver such great death if they were to land, but I wouldn't allow that to happen. With my hands outward from my sides I blasted off to greater speeds using my flame powered hand jets.

From below all the humans looked on in awe as the child sized figure sped through the sky at unimaginable speeds, my hair and shirt fluttering wildly in the turbulence. In less than a second I was at the leading fireball which I smashed through without stopping, the explosion echoing over the land as the fireball burst in air. Then I turned towards the next and blasted off with another jet, backhanding the orb with my right hand and sending it arcing over the nearby forest. It landed among the trees with a resounding boom, the blast sending dirt and bits of trees flying in all directions.

Two more fireballs sped through the sky and down towards the city. Without hesitation I flipped around and blasted down towards the closest one, then with a midair spin I roundhouse kicked it back up into the sky where it went off like a giant firework. One more remained and it was very close to impact just inside the city walls. Thankfully I was more full of vim and vigor than ever and both my feet joined my hands in producing fiery jets. My acceleration set off a sonic boom as I almost teleported in front of the remaining fireball. There I reversed thrust and did an overhead backwards flip, kicking with my left leg. The burning flames having no effect on my body or my clothing of course.

The sheer impact of my kick set off the explosion in my face which was sure to cause damage as close to the ground as I was. In the span of milliseconds my mind raced for what to do and I ended up doing the only thing I could. Opening my mouth I took a deep breath, sucking the entire explosion into my lungs. It must have been quite the sight, me falling out of the sky while slurping up a huge ball of fire.

Even though I had sucked up the entire explosion the force of the blast had still pushed me downwards which resulted in me landing with a earth shaking boom in the middle of the city street. While I was unharmed from the impact it did force the energy held inside me out. With a fiery belch the explosion forced its way out of my mouth and up into the sky as a giant pillar of flame that lasted only a couple seconds.

Several city dwellers looked out from their hiding places at the crater in the street and the little girl laying within it, though I had no time to even reassure them of their safety. I was pissed off. Using my super speed I stood up from the ground and leapt into the sky, another shock wave sent through the ground from my legs pushing off from it.

Dark clouds gathered in the overcast sky which lowered the already dim light of the sun even further. My silhouette expanded bigger and bigger as I rocketed myself out into the field between the attacking army and the city. There I grew to my full goddess size, just barely keeping my landing from setting off a building flattering earthquake. The sight of me certainly gave soldiers heart attacks, my hair and eyes glowing like the light of the now hidden sun to illuminate not only my massive form but the surrounding landscape as well.

Bolts of lighting arced down to the ground all around me with the following claps of thunder shuddering the very air. My patience had finally run out as I stomped towards the tiny humans with quaking steps. After a few steps however I stopped, my eyes scanning the assembled army for one of my targets. Then I spotted what I sought: one of the mages.

With a snap my left arm lifted up and out, my hand open as I pulled the human through the air and into my grasp. My giant hand closed in around the tiny robed man as my glowing eyes glowered down at him. All the rest of the enemy army stood frozen in fear, though a fair number of them were already fleeing.

My voice bellowed down at him, my anger causing me not to hold back quite as much. Though he eardrums wouldn't be rupturing today he would suffer permanent hearing damage for certain.

“Why are you doing this?” I demanded angrily. “Killing innocent people? Attacking into your own deaths?”

The mage, a man in his late thirties dressed all in red, smirked up at my from his place in my fist with shocking pride.

“We hate your kind and all who love you! All that worship goddesses should die!”

I was so taken aback by his fervent hatred that my own fury was tempered. My eyes widened in surprise and confusion as I looked at this human, so defiant while being clenched in my hand. Was this goddess killing weapon finally going to be revealed?

Now somewhat on guard I allowed my anger to return, my fist clenching a bit tighter around him as I glared down.

“So what? If I let you go you'll just kill again?”

The mage sneered and almost spat up at me his reply.

“Yes we will purge the world of all goddess worshipers! And while goddesses are evil we aren't above using one as a weapon!”

It was almost in time with his words that a sudden new and powerful energy began seeping into the air. My soul began filling with an overwhelming sense of dread as I looked behind the enemy army. My control on the weather slipped with the light of the sun returning as my heart sank. There a glowing hole of crimson began forming in the ground, getting bigger and bigger. I know what that is. Its a portal like mine. But this one in dark red like blood.