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.
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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.