The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
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.

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.