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

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.