Finally the darkness receded and my eyes opened. I found myself on the floor of my goddess zone in front of the large map table. The memory of what had just happened was fresh in my mind and it caused me to quickly jump to my feet with an increase in heart rate. There were so many many questions rushing through my mind. Was there still an attack going on? What had happened after I passed out? Most importantly where was my subconscious? She had been in charge for all but the last few seconds.

Sub-chan was sitting on a wooden chair right behind me and caused me to jump when I whirled around and suddenly saw her there. Her face was almost bored and her left hand was lifted up to hold her chin while she leaned back into the seat. It was clear she had been watching me for however long I had been out. It was impossible to tell what was going on behind those eyes of hers.

“How long was I out?” I asked frantically. “How long has it been?”

Sub-chan didn't change her pose much, only shifting her weight in the chair ever so slightly. She did lift her eyes up to look into mine however. There was a look of indifference in them as she replied.

“Twenty minutes. Its been six hours.”

What was she talking about? The confusion was obvious on my face, though my subconscious didn't react at all. If it had been six hours that would make it morning and likely daylight. A quick check of my surroundings confirmed this. Then I looked at Sub-chan with a puzzled expression.

“What? Whattaya mean? If I was out for twenty minutes why has it been six hours?”

Sub-chan sat up straighter in her chair and lowered her left hand from her face. Both of her arms crossed across her stomach and rested in her lap.

“I kept you suppressed.” She replied flatly. “So you didn't wake up until just now.”

My jaw dropped in pure shock and I felt anger rising up within my chest. Quickly my face twisted from bafflement into one that reflected how pissed off I was feeling. My voice was a combination of anger and disbelief.

“You what!?” I shouted.

Sub-chan frowned at me and lifted her chin slightly in a dismissive manner, as if she was talking to a child. There was a degree of indignation in her tone as she replied back.

“You were not in your right mind. You would have done something we regret.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked my hips to the left, my pose shifting into one of conceited defiance as I quickly spat out my rebuttal.

“Excuse me?” I asked rhetorically. “Who's the one who called down meteors from the sky?”

Sub-chan looked back with a slight sneer that caught me further off guard. It was abnormal for her to be so expressive.

“I kept us from having another mental breakdown.” She replied. “Its clear which is the weaker aspect of mind.”

I shook my head and smiled knowingly, my pose shifting to be more straight as I waved my hands in front of my chest.

“No no no.” I then pointed at her with my left finger. “See you were the one that blew everything up the instant she gained control.” I pointed my finger back at myself. “I was trying to do it without killing anyone.”

Sub-chan sighed and leaned back in her chair again. Her expression had changed back into its usual blasé form.

“The pain from having so many worshipers being killed at once was about to break you again completely. Then I would've been left to clean up the pieces during an outburst of rage. It would've been worse then.” She sighed and looked to the side. “You were overwhelmed. Not surprising I suppose seeing as you're so tiny compared to me. Weak.”

This caused me to pause and think for a moment. She was proably referring to the fact that the subconscious takes up the vast majority of the brain activity with the conscious mind being a small amount. That only made me feel embarrassed and even more indignant though.

“See?” I stated more than asked, my left hand waving around in front of me while my right went to my hip. “You're so big and strong! You could've found a way to stop it all without killing anyone!”

Sub-chan looked back and me and shook her head.

“The town was overrun. Any general or king would have seen those that died as acceptable losses and not shed a tear over the enemy's deaths.” She shifted forward in her seat. “I'm for the quick and efficient solutions even if they're violent. You're the ideas.”

I looked down and the floor and crossed my arms over my stomach again. Then after letting out a long sigh I shook my head as the feeling of defeat set in.

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“You're right. I'm right. It was too much for me to handle and had to pass off the quick and violent solution to you.” I then looked up at Sub-chan with remorse. “I'm sorry. I wish I had thought of another way.”

Sub-chan stood up from the chair and it faded away into nothingness.

“I forgive me.”

Then without another word she turned and walked over towards the desk she usually sat in, seemingly dismissing me to whatever I planned on doing next. She was somewhat frightening to be sure and her comments about how powerful she was compared to me only enhanced that. Still the fact remained that she had sat watching over me while I was blacked out, though that could've been simply part of the suppression process. Regardless it was clear she cared about me which made sense considering we were the same person. It was oddly cute and reassuring in its own way.

Now however it fell on me to face whatever awaited in the world above. The drastic measures I had taken to resolve the conflict would have their repercussions and I dreaded facing everyone involved. Who knows how many people I actually killed during that attack. I have to do better next time. No more casualties for the rest of this war, that is my plan.

Using my goddess vision I scanned the area around my body at the same time I jumped up into it fully. It seemed there were still people rummaging around in the rubble at the collapsed gate, the light of the sun required to conduct a complete search. There were survivors who had been wounded by not killed among the townspeople and I went about healing the ones that were praying to me remotely. Others were pulling away the rubble from the buildings that had been hit by the fireballs. The parts that had been hit directly were completely gone but that allowed the other half to collapse.

There were of course the bodies of those that had been killed by the enemy soldiers to collect, though there were no bodies for the attackers. Those had been utterly incinerated in the searing flames. Actually pretty terrifying to think about. But what else could be expected from literal godly judgment from the heavens I suppose.

Speaking of the enemy it became clear that there were still some of them hanging about. There were eight soldiers loitering about the open land surrounding the town, all within an arrow's distance from where I was laying. At first I was confused why they were even still alive but I quickly realized it was due to how I worded my spell. Only my worshipers would be spared. That meant these men worshiped me. Is that why they were still here instead of having fled long ago?

My emotions surged as the full implications of this hit me. There were worshipers of mine in the ranks of the enemy, in the opposing kingdom. How cruel I might appear to have killed their countrymen in front of them. What was I supposed to do with this knowledge? How could I protect people in both kingdoms when they were at war?

These thoughts were interrupted as my body began to stir in my awakening. This brought the attention of the nearby towns guard who came running over to me and required my attention. So I put these thoughts and concerns away for the moment so I could deal with the task at hand.

When I opened my eyes the light of the early morning blinded me for merely a fraction of a second as my eyes adjusted instantly. With my hands pressed to the ground I pushed myself up as a pair of men in light armor came to a stop a short distance in front of me. They looked quite frightened of me and bowed to their knees. One was tall and tan skinned and the other was pale with long black hair.

The tan one spoke up with a somewhat trembling voice.

“G-Goddess. Thank the heavens you've awoken.”

Ignoring them for a moment I finished pushing myself up into a sitting position, my legs being pulled in underneath me. Then I used my left hand to rub my face and clear away most of the dirt that had stuck to my face. My long hair draped down forwards over my shoulders and spilled out over my legs.

“I wasn't asleep.” I replied. “I was just resting for a short while.”

The man kept his head bowed and made no refutes to my claim.

“Yes goddess!”

After finishing cleaning up my face I dropped my left hand to help stabilize myself and looked down at the two men on the ground. They were clearly members of the town's militia.

“What's the situation?” I asked. “I can tell for myself of course I just want to hear it from you.” I then flicked my head so that my hair was tossed behind my shoulders and down my back. “And raise your head so I can hear you better.”

Without question the man obeyed and lifted his face just high enough that he was looking up at me but not far enough that he was looking at my face. It was obvious he wanted to avoid eye contact at all costs as he made his report.

“W-Well the casualties were quite low g-goddess. Only a half dozen civilians and nine guards by our counts. On the case of the enemy... We are not sure. I apologize goddess.”

I looked over at the surviving Pheoa soldiers. Upon seeing me upright they had backed away at least fifty feet and looked like they were regretting their decision to stay. It had clearly been their decision too as there was no one from the town keeping them held prisoner. For the moment I would ignore them as my gaze turned back to the town.

The entire gatehouse had been completely obliterated with the leftover connecting wall half collapsed into the area it had stood. Behind that were the half burned buildings and the dirt road filled with craters. These craters continued past the hole in the wall and all along the ruined road a fair distance into the surrounding flat land. Seeing the devastation my attack had caused it was amazing just how limited the destruction was. It only confirmed the importance of aiming and controlling my magic more closely in the future. Not to mention driving the point home how dangerous magic itself was.

With a glance down at the two men in front of me I gave a quick order.

“Make sure those soldiers from Pheoa don't go anywhere.” I said. “I'll go handle the town.”

Immediately the two men jumped to their feet and two attention. Their reply came in unison and as a shout.

“Yes goddess!”

These two men wouldn't normally be enough to hold eight others but this was one of those exceptions where they really didn't need to. It was clear these men from Pheoa had stuck around because of me so they weren't going to flee now. They probably wanted to speak to me to beg for their lives or something else. I'd let them have their chance after I took care of my civilians.

With a slight grunt I pushed myself up to my feet, trying my best to not frighten everyone anymore. This was pretty much impossible considering the size of my feet though as they thundered into the ground. Changing down into my human size at this point seemed disingenuous though as I had spent the whole time so far as a terrifying goddess and if I had any hope of countering that image I needed to stay big.