The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 338 – Steady As She Goes

The big issue with the Dwarves is that they are the racial equivalent of an autarkic walled city. What goes on in the depths, no one seems to know. The few times that an advancement did come from their kind, it was largely an accidental discovery. An old, abandoned dwarven tunnel being found or a group of explorer’s causing diplomatic incident when they stumble upon a dwarven convoy. The dwarves are mighty and powerful, but they are largely content to stay within the confines of the underground and not venture into the overworld. The few that do decide to live among humans come in such low numbers that they quickly get swept up into the waters of humanity.

A human five generations detached from dwarfkind is not some mythical rarity or unique quarter-man, as some scholars wish to claim. A human five generations detached from dwarfkind is merely a human with a drop of dwarf in him. This is unlike elves, where an ancestor even ten generations back adds another five of lifespan.

Really, nothing about the dwarves particularly perturbs me. They are a closed city, true, but so what? Secretive races already exist on Arda, there is no need to treat the dwarves as any exception to something such as the underground elves or the birdmen of Pichqasuyu. The mermen of Alanktyda are also secretive, they cause us no issue.

Rather, there is only one question that is everyone’s minds. It is the same question that we ask of Fer, of Kassandora, of Irinika, of all the Daughter-Goddesses and of the Nations that follow Arascus: How did the God of Pride manage to subjugate these proud characters?

- Excerpt from “The Current State of Post-War Arda”, written by Goddess Fortia, of Peace.

“Iniri, I have a problem.” Kavaa said to the Goddess of Nature. Iniri put her hands in her pocket and turned around to look at Kavaa as they marched through the underground highway. There was a bend up ahead, and from that beyond that bend, there was an orange light. They had been marching for two days, they were far out of dwarven territory. A light from ahead could only mean one thing.

“What is your problem?” Iniri asked her friend. They both carried torches on them. Kavaa had fitted one onto her belt whereas Iniri used a network of roots that always grew around to feel in the dark. It wasn’t seeing, but it had more range than a torch. Here, though, with the rumbling pair of Torchbearer tanks behind them, they didn’t need any additional light. Even a silhouette of Kassandora in black, her crimson hair glistening like a torch, was visible due to the massive power of those lighthouse spotlights that had been mounted on tanks.

“I have a scarf to give to Kass.” Kavaa said and Iniri chuckled to herself. How sweet and lovely and cute! Adorable! It made Iniri forget the orange glow of flames in the distance, even if only for a moment. A single glance once again brought the worry and the weight of the situation back into Iniri’s mind.

“Kavaa, that is utterly lovely.” Iniri said it honestly. Ever since she had been rescued from the Jungle, she had tried to be more open. With Kavaa, that openness was generally just positivity. Usually, but not always. Kavaa was smart, one of the smartest and strongest Divines that Iniri knew. It was Kavaa who had taken the largest risk back when they freed Kassandora, it was Kavaa who had sacrificed the lives of her men. It was Kavaa who entered the Jungle with Fer and Kassandora to save Iniri. Iniri didn’t have a single bad word to say about her friend… Usually, she didn’t. Sometimes, the Goddess of Health was a dense as a fucking brick. “But are you sure this is the time?”

“When, if not now?” Kavaa said as the two Goddesses rushed forwards in the huge dwarven highway. This was a proper highway, not like the tunnel that Iniri had travelled down before. It was tall enough to fit a skyscraper standing and wide enough to fit another lying on its side. The walls were decorated with huge columns and geometric patterns that somehow managed to flow even though there wasn’t a single curve amongst them.

“Then you should have given it her by now.” Iniri said it flat out. She didn’t like arguing with other Divines, but with Kavaa and Helenna, she cared too much about them to not give them advice when they needed it.

“I just feel dirty doing it now.”

“She’ll like it. Better late than never.” Iniri said. “Fer gave you it, right?”

“Mmh.” Kavaa said. “She did, she told me to say it’s a present from me and not from her, I’m not going to do that though.” Iniri sighed and rolled her eyes as they crossed half the distance. This woman was impossible.

“You obviously know what to do then.” Iniri said. “So you should just do it.”

“I mean, I do.” Kavaa said. “But do I?”

“Shut the fuck up and just do it.” Iniri said. “You’ll feel better after you do it, so just do it. Kassandora will appreciate it even if you’re late. She’ll probably find it cute in fact.”

“What?” Kavaa sounded as if she was actually confused. “She won’t.” Sometimes, Iniri struggled how the damn Goddess of Health, the world’s greatest doctor and the woman who was infamous for making sure her Holy Orders maintained high morale in a way that no one else did, was about as sharp as a blunted butterknife.

“Then she won’t, do it because Fer told you to do it rather than because you want to.” Iniri said. She knew it would work.

“I suppose I should.” Kavaa sounded as if she agreed. Iniri rolled her eyes again. It didn’t even feel like manipulation or tricking Kavaa into doing the right thing. It was more like kick-starting an engine, but Iniri wasn’t annoyed. There was something in her that liked acting this way. And she only allowed herself to act this way with Kavaa, because Kavaa was the only one who wouldn’t judge her for it.

The two Goddesses shut up as they turned the jog into a sprint. Kavaa started to pull away, the woman was a good head taller than Iniri, and she was far more physically capable. The living roots on Iniri’s turned grew buds that burst into vines, the vines pushed Iniri into the air and they rushed along the ground. Iniri rushed past Kavaa and landed next to Kassandora.

The Goddess of War turned to look at Iniri as Kavaa got to them a moment later. “Look. Do you see that.” Kassandora said. Iniri didn’t know what happened, but she immediately lost her voice. She wanted to answer, but it was Kavaa who spoke up.

“Demons?” Kavaa said.

“Demons indeed.

Kassandora picked her radio up and pressed the button the side. “All units are to continue the march forwards. Yellow alert, maintain awareness but do not change orders. I repeat, we are on yellow alert. Continue as scheduled.” Iniri and Kavaa both to Kassandora as the Goddess of War put her radio down and looked curiously at them.

Kavaa raised an arm and pointed down the highway, at what was obviously an army of demons approaching. The flames of such an unnatural crimson only existed in that world and not on Arda. “You’re not digging in and preparing for engagement?” Kassandora shook her head.

“It’s been dealt with. That’s why I called you here. I wanted to show you how dealt with it is.” Iniri turned and squinted upon hearing Kassandora’s words. Dealt with? Kassandora said it with such certainty that Iniri didn’t know whether she should be doubting her eyes. Frankly, she didn’t know whether her mind was lying that it was serious, her eyes were laying and seeing things, or Kassandora was lying and just saying something that obviously wasn’t true. Someone, the latter seemed like the least likely of scenarios for some reason.

“Kass, you know I like and respect you, but how is THAT dealt with?” Kavaa asked in an accusatory tone. Iniri saw Kassandora shrug out and continue her march. The few human soldiers close to them, basked in the blinding of the pair of Torchbearer tanks behind them, pretended not to be curious in the fact a pair of powerful Goddesses were having a disagreement.

“I never said it was over, but it’s been dealt with.” Kassandora said flatly.

“How exactly?” Kavaa asked.

“In the same way a man can be fed hemlock and still spend a half day walking about before he keels over. He’s still alive, but he’s been dealt with.” Kassandora said. She raised her hands defensively. “They’ve been dealt with too Kavaa. They won’t reach us.” Kavaa sighed, shook her head. And looked towards the crimson flames some miles off. They seemed to have stopped. No doubt the demons saw the light of the Torchbearer tanks and were digging in as they prepared for a confrontation.

“Oh.” Iniri said as she saw a new light appear, midway before her and the demons.

“Oh indeed.” Kassandora said with glee. “Our hemlock is kicking in.”

---

Neneria raised her hands in the air as a pair of ghosts raised themselves from the ground. They were already kneeling and each one’s back was a platform for the Goddess of Death to gaze down upon her quarry. Neneria’s eyes started to glow green as a single spark of lightning tore from each finger, behind the Goddess.

Neneria was close to see the faces of the demons ahead of her. She could see their black armour, their red eyes, she saw their cleavers, she saw the succubi in their lavish outfits, the shirtless incubi. She saw the pair of greater demons, as tall and as wide as a barn. She saw some metallic thing that looked like a crane with a huge cannon on its side, its legs bent backwards as it walked like a chicken. She saw a whole pack of hellhounds, the rock steaming underneath their paws. She saw a flying demon that she had never seen before, its wings made entirely of terrible crimson flame. She saw what had to be a general or a captain at the front. A large demon on a huge, pitch-black horse with burning eyes and burning hooves. That general had a massive cleaver, a lance, a shield and heavy plate all of black metal, with a short cape on his back.

Neneria saw the approaching army and Neneria’s mouth turned into a terrible smile as her sheer presence stopped how many? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? Thirty? Maybe even forty. The flames stretched on for miles behind the initial ranks. They had wagons and carts and great flags that bore summoning emblems etched on them. Those would be laid down on the ground to serve as portal grounds, they had been used in the Great War. Neneria saw it all stop for her, and Neneria knew she was being witnessed.

The flames around the eyes and hooves of the general’s horse died down. The shouts and battle march cut out, as if the director had just ordered the orchestra to stop. The smiles and laughter between the succubi and incubi were wiped out. The barking of hellhounds was replaced by the whispers of terrified puppies. That flying demon with wings of flame stopped in mid-air and settled on the ground. A few cleavers of black metal fell on the onto the ground. A rider on a hellsteed turned and started to gallop away. A demon in the initial fell to his knees. Neneria was honoured: Tartarus remembered her.

The lightning shooting out from her fingers drew lines across reality. There was no summoning of the Dead Legion. There was no calling upon her warriors. There was no picking out the best match for this battle. The Neneria that had to do such minor things was a Neneria of the past. The Neneria that faced the opposing army now tore the curtain of reality away as she ripped a hole in the behind her to the next world.

The floodgates were opened.

The souls raced out in a flood. They fell over each other, rushing onwards like a tidal wave, stepping on each other’s shoulders and backs and heads as a wall of ethereal bodies raced around the Goddess of Death and onwards. Each one had their mouth open as they were in mid-way through a scream, although not a sound came from the dead. They moaned without a whisper, they sung without a note, they screamed without a word, and they crashed upon the Tartarian army ahead of her to the cacophony of voices and shouts being suddenly cut out and the sharp twang of steel being dropped onto the ground.

A few of the magicians tried to raise their defences. Neneria felt some thousand or so of her ghosts be dispelled and pass on, into the next world. It was akin to trying to dry the ocean out by removing a thousand drops of water from it.

The tidal wave of souls continued, filling the entire underground highway from floor to ceiling. It was a moving wall that rushed onwards faster than any man or horse or even bird could escape. It rushed and rushed and rushed, until Neneria felt herself strain from the sheer distance. She was sure that was far enough anything. The Legion was recalled, the flood of souls disappeared as the ghosts returned back into Neneria’s black heart.

Neneria looked onwards and saw nothing. Pitch black darkness. Not a single flame or torch, not a even the glint of an eye.

It was done.

---

Iniri stared in horror at what she just witnessed. Ten minutes. It took Neneria only ten minutes to wipe out an entire army like that. The rumbling of engines was slowly catching up to them as Kassandora set off on her march once again. The Goddess of War brought the radio close to her mouth and pressed the button on the side. “All units, stand down, yellow alert is over, I repeat, yellow alert is over.”

“That…” Kavaa didn’t even say anything. Kassandora turned, those red eyes burning with heat as the woman’s red hair glistened in the light of the Torchbearer tanks behind them. Once again, Kassandora wore that glare that made her seem like a monster. “Wow.” Iniri agreed, there was nothing else to say. She was glad that Neneria was on their side.

“Like I said.” Kassandora proclaimed loudly from ahead. “It’s been dealt with.”

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