The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 329 – Harbingers of the Second Age Of Heroes

Kassandora blinked as she put her hands into the pocket of her coat. Her eyes strained as two modified Lynx tanks led the expedition. Onto the top of the turrets, massive spotlights had been installed which pushed away the overwhelming flood of darkness which clung to everything and anything in the underground tunnels. Behind them, came the endless line of APCs and Tanks, each one outfitted with enough lights as to make a decorated New Year’s tree blush with jealousy.

Kassandora looked up at the ceiling and looked onto the other side of the column. Kavaa was tasked with maintaining order on that side. Then Neneria was kept behind the two spotlight-vehicles. And Iniri was near the middle, to assist with breakdowns if any should happen. Kassandora let out a deep breath and watched her breath turn to mist in the harsh white light.

She had fought in these tunnels before. During the Great War and during the wars before it. War here differed greatly from war on the surface. There was no weather to keep track of, only cold unmoving air. There was no flanks to guard, only eternal stone walls. There was no real tactics to deploy here either. All that war amounted to in the Dwarven Highways was a simple tug of war.

A true test of attrition, where one had to wash away their opponent in a torrent of blood.

“Stay behind me and retreat!” Paida shouted as she maintained her straight-backed, sideways posture towards the half-dozen new attackers. Four men, two women, dressed in garish clothes that immediately put Paida in a bad mood. She had seen the soldiers of the White Pantheon, the Guardians and Paladins dressed in suits of gold-bronze or silver-steel respectively, she had seen the auxiliary troops the Pantheon was bringing into Epa, unarmoured men in dark clothes that tried to fade into the landscape. ECCLA and Kassandora’s soldiers were just the same, in muted colours that faded into the background. It was practical, to serve as camouflage for one, but it was spiritual too. One became part of something greater.

And these fools ahead of her? Paida looked grimly at them. One of the women came in dressed as if she roleplaying to be a cat, with ears on her head and a suit of latex and an axe, the other as if she was witch in violets and pinks. This one had a sword and a pistol. The men were not much better. The largest of them came almost naked, with only a hammer and a cape fastened around his neck. Two more had spears and brightly coloured uniforms of blues and yellows. The last man came dressed in all red, with a red hat and a red coat and red boots and a red sword.

Paida gripped her blade tighter as her eyes scanned them for movement. Fer and Kavaa had both shown just how quickly violence could be unleashed, and Paida was not going to start underestimating her opponents. “Can you not summon anything?” Alinth shouted from behind.

“I am the Goddess of Rancais whole and indivisible.” Paida replied without hesitation or doubt. “Others need some animal to claim power, but grand Rancais does not.” That was a semi-lie, she could flower the ancient lilies that were the national flower, but lilies did little in battle.

“What a horribly Rancais response.” The elf replied bitterly and Paida smiled smugly to herself: rarely did she receive praise as honest as that. And she listened to the elf start issuing orders on his radio. “First company commander is to start pulling out. Second company, send your support to the forwards wounded camp. Third company are to push up until the forward camp and secure the side roads for the rest of the troops to leave.” Paida tuned Alinth out as she stood in her ruined city.

Wind swept through the streets of Aris. Paida took a deep breath. Gunfire and screams came from a nearby street, followed by a crash. Paida relaxed her posture. A series of rubble and stone and a car appeared above the slate shingle roof before it disappeared once again, and an explosion shook the city. Paida swept her foot forwards. The almost-nude man with the hammer locked eyes with Paida. The Goddess of Rancais hardened her gaze as she looked at the scum before her. He dropped as if going into a sprint, his chest almost touching the black tarmac, one hand forwards, the other gripping the hammer. Paida sharpened her gaze and dulled her eyes as to not over-focus on one thing. The other men, whoever these fools were, all kept their distance and eyes focused on the Goddess.

The man with the hammer charged forwards, he went accelerated as quickly as Fer did, from a total stop to moving as fast an arrow within a moment. But he was no Fer, not even a Kavaa. Paida saw the angle, saw the way he moved, and knew the hammer would come around from the right in an attempt to smash her hip. She held her position until the last moment, to make sure she wasn’t stepping into a feint, and then, instead of stepping away in some attempt to dodge, she swung her sword downwards with both hands.

The blade smashed into the hammer’s steel shaft and it forced the great mallet to smash into the road. Shrapnel of tarmac shot upwards and sprayed against Paida’s steel armour. The Goddess of Rancais wasted no time. Still holding onto the hilt of her blade, she turned her core, lifted her leg and swung it around with a swirl of golden-blonde hair. The hammer was torn from the man’s hand as he was launched into a nearby building and crashed through the wall.

Paida pulled her sword out from the concrete of the road and looked around the five that were standing now. She let the satisfaction roll through her body and emerge in a smile, there was no point trying to contain her emotion. She did feel good after kicking a degenerate like that down. One of the women chuckled at her, the one in the pinks and violets. “Do you know who we even are?” The two men in the blues and yellows shouted.

“I have no damn clue.” Paida answered as she stepped away from the hammer. “But I’m sure you have heard of me.” She wanted to taunt them to throw them off her guard, but also because it was satisfying. When she had come to Aris, the city’s tears had split her heart with both rage and sadness. Now, she needed a target to expel those emotions at.

“I am Maximilian my Goddess.” The way that fellow in blue and yellow phrased the word was nothing short of mocking.

“And Tucker.” The man by his side said. “The Godwin brothers.”

“It’s an ancestral name, but it’s fitting.” Maximilian shouted again as Paida’s eyes shot to the almost nude man she had kicked into the wall. He came stumbling out of the rubble and rubbing his side as if she did little more than drunkenly elbow his side. Paida put herself between the man’s hammer and him, she tested the thing with her foot, it was heavy but she was sure she could lift it. “Because we win over Gods.”

“Goddesses too.” Tucker shouted. Paida sighed and rolled her eyes as she scanned the huge muscled fellow. He was half her height, almost her width, obviously human, obviously blessed, and somehow, he was standing after she had kicked him strongly enough as to break a fellow Divine’s bones. Paida raised her sword as the woman in latex came from one side, the man with the sword and pistol from the other.

Paida waited as she always did, this reactive fighting style simply suited her. Her eyes shot to the man with the gun, it was a small pistol, but she had been shot in the past, and she knew it hurt even if the bullet didn’t penetrate her armour. The muscled man from the wall jumped forwards too, once again accelerating from zero to a hundred. A mortar barrage hit the houses at the end of the street as Paida kicked into action.

She spun on the spot once again, her free hand grabbed the handle of the hammer, hefting it into the air, and the spinning it around herself before letting it loose towards the two Godwin brothers. That was simply to make sure they could stand and watch and so that Paida could gauge their speed. As predicted, each brother jumped in a separate direction to avoid the blow. Paida dropped low as she heard the pull of a trigger and angled herself so that none of the exposed traces of clothes were towards the man with the pistol.

The Goddess heard a breath catch from her side and realise the issue. Kavaa’s and Iliyal’s had instilled into her a battle-awareness she doubted she could have ever grown if she hadn’t stayed in Erdely for that month. Paida realised what these people were playing at: the man with the gun was only a distraction, the woman with the axe was the true aggressor.

Paida turned on the spot and saw the snarl on that latex-covered woman’s face drop. Her cat-ears seemed to wilt as the muscled man screamed out. “VERONIKA!!!!” Paida took a step forwards, felt bullets bounce off her armour and closed the distance between herself and this Veronika. The woman had leapt at her, Iliyal had taught Paida that there wasn’t a single moment during a battle during which she should be in the air. Being in the air meant no points of contact with the ground, and that meant there was no way to pivot or turn to dodge.

All that the woman could do was bring down her axe upon Paida to try and split her skull. Paida grabbed the woman’s wrists and brought her sword upwards. The point penetrated straight through the middle of the woman’s bosom, and her heart was destroyed. Even Kavaa wouldn’t be able to heal that. Paida grunted as she felt the huge man slam into her once again. “NOOO!!!” He screamed.

Some lovers then. How tragic. Terrible. Paida had absolutely nothing to comment on it. She grit her teeth, felt a fist slam into her back and saw the way to get out. The man had thrown her forwards towards the wall. He most likely didn’t have much experience fighting with Divines, or maybe he had just miscalculated. Paida caught a light-post with her foot, swung her sword with the body of Veronika still impaled lifelessly onto it, and caught the metal with her hand as she swung around. The huge man once again crashed into the building and Paida wasted no time quickly moving onto her next target.

The man with the pistol stopped moving and took a step back, anger painted his face as he looked at Veronika’s body. Paida yanked her sword forwards and backwards, to shake the corpse off. The man opened his mouth, the Goddess of Rancais took the chance to charge and instead of speaking, the fellow finally made a smart choice. He turned, blade facing Paida, gun in the air, and prepared to enter melee combat.

Paida turned on the spot, ultimately, a Divine was still twice the height of a man. Her sword was longer than a greatsword for a mortal, and it was a mere longsword amongst Divinity. The pistolier moved quickly, he swung the blade, he took a step back as Paida parried him. He aimed the pistol at Paida’s head and the Goddess dropped, one leg extended.

The man moved quickly, swiping his blade down as he pulled the trigger and the bullet flew through Paida’s golden hair. She twisted her leg, not even bothering to avoid the blow and used the armour on her calf to knock the weapon away. And then her shin impacted against the man’s knee. She had learned with the huge, muscled man, these people were obviously superhuman, so she couldn’t just rely on brute force. She would have to play dirty.

Her shin smashed the side of the man’s knee like a cannonball, twisting the leg out of place and knocking him over as he screamed out in pain. Paida lunged forwards and brought her blade down straight onto his heart. And another man down. She looked around at the four remaining souls. A quick glance made sure Alinth was near a junction filled with bodies as he waved for his men to retreat. A tank pulled back, its great cannon sending echoes across the tall buildings as the man on top swept his machine from side to side. Paida turned to look at these mutants or whatever they were facing her. The woman in the pink and violet was readying her blade, the muscled man was obviously preparing for an attack, and the two Godwins in blue and yellow had their spears readied. But their annoying faces had lost those smiles. “Your story ends here Paida.” Maximilian shouted.

“The Age of Heroes ended long before any of us were alive.” Paida shouted as she twisted her blade and felt pistolier slide off. “I’m sure those great souls will be happy to see that it’s now fools like you that besmirch their name.”

“The great heroes stood to end Divinity’s tyranny! We are here to do the same!” Maximilian shouted. Paida made a show of looking around this Arisian street. All the windows were shattered, one of the city blocks looked as if it was on the edge of collapse. Several of the cars had started smoking, the wreckage of the tank was on fire. There was blood splattered on every wall and the two bodies that Paida had just left weren’t the only ones littering the ground.

“I see how you fight tyranny.” Paida said mockingly as she stepped over to the middle of the road once. Her size made it difficult to fight near walls, and the openness would let her use her agility.

“And what do you fight for?” Tucker called out this time. “Humanity is still enslaved, you simply have exchanged who is at the top.”

Paida grimaced at the man. He wasn’t correct, he was merely an idealist. She had heard these talking points before, she had even helped the Rancais Republic run its own propaganda campaigns against Anarchia. “Try your hand at running a post office without hierarchy first before you tell me how to run a nation.”

She got no reply. Tucker made a hand signal, the huge muscled man grabbed a car with one hand and then launched it at the Goddess. And the attack started immediately. Paida had to take a step back as both of the men charged her with those spears. They closed the moment in a distance, and that woman in the pinks and violets adopted a ready posture, ready to strike.

Paida grunted as she rolled out of the way of the vehicle, into the way of a spear and felt her shoulder be stabbed. She backed away, looking for a way to regain her footing but the assault from the two Godwin brothers came on too hard and too quick. She rolled on the ground like a mad dog, gripping onto her sword and pushing off whatever her feet could catch as the spear danced around her. Always, the two brothers made sure to stay out of her from her blade. Neither was she in any distance to grab them and her legs were doing too much work to kick the men’s feet from underneath them.

Paida retreated as far as she could and she found an escape. Her boot kicked off the raised pavement, she slid on her back across the road and she jumped up, onto her feet before the men could close the distance. That was one part down. The huge muscled man recovered his hammer and came in swing. Paida had a chance to strike, but she would have left herself open to the spears of the two Godwins. So instead, she dodged backwards again. And again.

And then she stopped dodging. The whole fight stopped. Every piece of glass still unshattered over the city suddenly burst into a fine mist as a jet shot overhead and a roar emanated from it. Just as this lot had fallen onto Paida’s forces, a beast with a golden mane fell downwards. The man with the hammer was knocked backwards by the sheer force of the blow. The two brothers weren’t so lucky. They disappeared into a cloud of dust as Paida felt the utter relief of seeing reinforcements. She knew that Iliyal wouldn’t abandon her. She just knew it. Just as she would never abandon that elf, she knew that when she called for it, aid would come. The mist was only large chunks of asphalt, and it cleared to reveal the Goddess of Beasthood quickly.

Fer stood up, her boot tore itself apart as the woman’s fur madly sprouted all over her body. She gave her leg and twist and Paida looked down to see Maximilian lying dead on the ground, his chest crushed to a thin red paste. Tucker screamed, kicked and lunged forward. He brought his spear forwards in some attempt to stab Fer. The Goddess of Beasthood struck like a leaping cobra. She waited until the last moment, she stepped backwards to let the man fly past her, then she stepped forwards, grabbed the man’s arm and swung him like a doll, up, around herself, and onto his back.

The two figures left, that woman in the pink and the man with the hammer, almost nude, both took a step back. Paida smiled at them as only one thought went through her head: Welcome to the club. Fer made a show of herself, her fists landing on her hips. She cooed, bent down and looked at Tucker who was moaning on the ground. “Now what do you think you are doing?” She asked and sniffed the air. “A blessing of stolen strength so you can roleplay as a hero? What next? Animals walking on two legs and the world turning upside down?” She made a disgusted face and a horribly flat voice as if she was whispering to herself. Paida knew that everyone here would catch it though. “We can’t have that.”

Tucker tried to roll away from Fer as she plunged downwards, bringing her fist in a similar arc as which she had grabbed the man. In one moment, Tucker’s body had a head, in the next, it was gone. The sheer force of Fer’s blow had destroyed every fibre of bone and strand of muscle so much so that the man’s neck was nothing more than a little stump.

And from the other side of the street, there was a mad laughter. A woman’s high-pitched laughter. “I was wondering when you would arrive!”

Maybe Fer wouldn’t know who it was, but Paida did. The woman who had been a plague to civilization for the past two hundred years: Anarchia.