The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 401 – Where’s A God When You Need One?

Paramethus was killed on the final day of the Age of Heroes.

Worldbreaking began the moment the news of his death spread.

Although to phrase it like that is to misrepresent history.

The Age of Heroes had to be ended, Arascus may have sparked the thoughts of heroism, but Paramethus facilitated them.

He had to die.

- Excerpt from “History of the World”, written by Goddess Maisara, of Order.

“Do you think we can outlast tonight here?” Edmonton asked as he sat by the window. Lyca stood by it with his arms crossed as Fleur and Eliza sat on the bed. Lyca tried to keep his eyes away from the girl’s half-unbuttoned shirts, although the room was as if someone had managed to condense a jungle into a building. He himself had stripped to his shorts and still had sweat pouring off him. The open window did nothing to cool the air. It was incredible how a town so close to the seaside could have so little wind.

“Better in here than out there.” Lyca replied. He had not expected the city to be so dark. The only sources of illuminations were a few wary groups of people walking the streets at night guided by flashlights or faint traces of orange flame from candles through various windows. That and the full moon. Lyca stared up at it and took another of the pills Anassa had prescribed him. He didn’t know what they did, he had never asked. But he knew to take them. And he knew he couldn’t remember what happened when he stopped taking them. Full moons were the worst though. The box landed back in his pocket. “It’s only a night.”

“I’m going to melt.” Eliza said heavily as she collapsed backwards on the bed. Lyca looked at her, his eyes went from her face to her chest, then he turned to Edmonton. The man was smart enough not to look.

“One night.” Edmonton said as he leaned out the window. “Orders are coming through tomorrow. He said to be awake for dawn.”

“You say that as if anyone’s going to get sleep tonight.” Fleur sounded as if it strained her throat just to talk at this point.

“You managed to get sleep in Kirinyaa.” Edmonton said. Lyca extended an arm out to the miserable little room. Their bags were pushed up against a wall. The bin had been knocked over and spilled the plastic cups they had been eating from. The small bed barely fit the two girls. When Eliza fell backwards on it, she left just enough space for Fleur to pull her knees up.

“This isn’t Kirinyaa.” Lyca said heavily. Frankly, he couldn’t be bothered explaining. This heat just exhausted him.

“Kirinyaa had air.” Eliza said. “Kirinyaa had air.”  She repeated it like a mantra. “Can’t you make air Fleur?”

“Making a draft here will give us away.” Fleur answered as she brushed her dark hair with her fingers. “Just wait it out.” She sighed heavily. “Everyone, thanks for coming with me.”

“We didn’t find anyone.” Edmonton said from the window.

“They’ve ran away probably.” Fleur said. “Or I don’t know. There was no blood spilled in my house.”

“Realistically speaking, they have the means and the intelligence to escape when signs of Anarchia’s takeover were beginning.” Edmonton said from the window and Fleur smiled sadly. Lyca didn’t exactly buy that, but he understood Edmonton was trying to keep the girl stable. Realistically, if they got out of the nation, they would have rang already. Still though, they were aristocrats, they must have plenty of second homes throughout the countryside.

“I suppose they would.”

“We could go back.” Lyca said. “And properly investigate.”

“I think we should.” Eliza said. “Once all this blows over.”

“If you want to find them, then ask Helenna.” Edmonton said.

“Don’t tell me you have her number.” Fleur said, her tone dry and melancholic.

“I don’t but how hard can it be to get?” Edmonton asked. “Every Major and above had her number in Kirinyaa.”

“Just ask any of the people who donated to the Reclamation War.” Lyca said. “Don’t bother with the army, it’ll just be easier to go through civilians.”

“I can’t believe we just went at it.” Fleur said. “I can’t believe you guys followed me here.”

“You’d do the same for us.” Edmonton said and Fleur smiled as she brought her legs up to her knees. Lyca turned back and looked through the window. A plane was circling overhead. It had been doing for the past hour, a set of red blinking lights in the sky that would appear from side of the window, move to the other in a wide arc, and then disappear for a minute. Probably it was an Imperial plane. Definitely it was an Imperial plane. And definitely it was not coming for them. Iliyal had not even mentioned it and if he didn’t mention it, that meant it didn’t concern Lyca.

“I wish that fucker would just pick us up.” Lyca declared.

“Iliyal would have said already if it was here for us.” Edmonton said.

“You think I don’t know that? He’s not going to pick us up, but I wish he would.”

The door opened to Anarchia’s candle-lit room. She had taken the old mayor’s office since it was fashioned to be large enough for Divines. The building did not sit right with her, ruling from here was like restoring the old order but she needed a place to disappear from prying eyes and it was only the governmental offices that had been built large enough for Divines to comfortably fit in. She hated exceptions but sometimes exceptions had to be made. Better the old mayoral office rather than the court anyway. “Goddess Anarchia.”

Black-haired Anarchia did not bother looking up from her map of Ordeaux and of Rancais. On one hand, it was obvious that Arascus had sent sorcerers or mages or whatever the fuck they were to run sabotage behind her lines but on the other, he wasn’t moving in with the frontlines. Could he not? Anarchia certainly didn’t have enough men to force open engagement. The original plan had been to not put up any resistance, let the Empire take over Rancais, and then work from within to try and topple that rotten structure. Instead, the Empire was waiting her out.

Rancais still functioned because of inertia. Anarchia knew it did. The few charity NGOs that did come to give food did little to stem the tide. But supplies were running out. Warehouses were quickly being emptied and even the nation’s old strategic reserves of foodstuffs had been plundered. The embargo from the Empire, from Arika, from Guguo and Ihon, was a vice that beginning to crush Rancais’ neck. The electrical grid was running low, renewables needed maintenance, power plants needed gas and coal. The only reason the country had not gone entirely dark yet was the nuclear power plants.

Anarchia could not believe that she was wishing Arascus actually moved in to try and oust her. Why did he stop? He was actually intent on starving her out? With threat from the Pantheon, from the UNN, from the whole world, he was intent on starving her out? Shouldn’t time be the one thing he was lacking? What exactly was she supposed to do? Order her men to throw themselves onto the guns of the Imperial Military?

“Goddess Anarchia!” Gilles cleared his throat. Anarchia looked up and at the man. One of the most fervent believers in her, and a man she had blessed with strength and speed and flight. He wore a red suit over a white shirt. “Your speech in the square worked too well. We have twelve different people who have come forward with names and locations.”

Thud, thud, thud. Lyca turned to the door from the window. Edmonton stopped his speech mid-word and turned to the door. Eliza shut up into a sitting position and turned to the door. Fleur straightened her legs and cracked her neck, eyes focused on the door. And there it came again: Thud, thud, thud. Lyca looked to Edmonton and nodded for him to go forward. “I’ll take it.” Fleur quickly said. “I’m the only one who knows Rancais, I’ll take it.” Lyca wished he had brushed up on the language before he got here. It was his own fault he didn’t, just sheer laziness and apathy.

Fleur stood up and started buttoning up her shirt. So did Eliza. Lyca didn’t bother putting his on, he merely scratched his beard as he watched the door. And the three thuds came again. Harder this time. Fleur shouted something Lyca didn’t understand as she walked to the door, then gently cracked it open. Lyca, Edmonton and Eliza stared at the man on the other side.

One of Anarchia’s.

As they were called here by the locals, one of the superheroes. The man stood in long coat that fell to his knees and in a stupid cap. Who did he think he was? Some detective a century out of date? His partner or sidekick or whatever leaned in from the side of the corridor and looked into the room. Fleur said something Lyca didn’t understand. The man replied just as quickly. And Fleur argued back. It obviously wasn’t a good conversations. Lyca looked to Edmonton. The taller man shook his head slowly.

The conversation between Fleur and the man went on for two entire minutes. Eliza came close to stand by Lyca’s side. He got off the window, annoyed slightly that he only had an inch on the men. “We’re in trouble.”

“We’re not in trouble.” Edmonton argued back.

“Fleur.” Lyca said. “Are we in trouble?” Fleur turned around with a heavy sigh. Lyca’s heart skipped a beat when he looked at her defeated expression. He saw Fleur, sweat running down her face from the sheer humidity of the damp air, take a deep breath. She stepped to the side. Lyca knew he shouldn’t be excited. He knew it wasn’t right. That it wouldn’t do well for him to enjoy killing this much. But did he care?

Fleur said the words that would finally get them out of this room. “We’re in trouble.” And with that, she resigned her role as leader for the moment and Lyca took over. He held up his hand and snapped his fingers. His chain blinked with a red glow.

There was no ball of fire. No snake of flame. No massive inferno. The man simply combusted on the spot in terribly blue flames. His partner did too. They both collapsed on the spot, not even able to get a scream out. Lyca had incinerated life away in the span of a moment, another snap of his fingers cleared the flames off the melting bodies before they set fire to the building. All that was left was too bodies, their flesh melting. The heat hit Lyca a moment later as the air temperature became as hot as an oven. “Corridor or window?” Lyca asked, his mouth immediately going dry.

Edmonton answered, his voice just as hoarse. “Corridor. Fly… we could… seen.”

“Yes.” Eliza agreed. Lyca didn’t even bother to speak in this hit. His head started to spin, he stepped over the body, and a gun shot sounded out. Fingers snapped. Lyca’s eyes locked onto a small piece of metal in the air before him. It dropped to the ground as his eyes focused on the end of the corridor. There was a man with a bolt action there. The bayonet was an axe. The fellow wore some yellow suit with a symbol embroidered on his chest. He reloaded the bolt action with a satisfying click and Fleur snapped her fingers again. This time, the bullet bounced off a wall of solid air and bounced against the ground.

Lyca raised an eyebrow at that curious weapon. What was that even? A bayonet for an axe? A bolt action for indoor combat? And what power did Anarchia give him? Did it even matter? Lyca pointed to the man with a finger and made a shooting motion.

And just like the two previous men, the man did not even scream. The bright blue flames lasted for an instead. They devoured with all the ferocity of a raging forest fire coming across a ball of cotton. And just like that, the next hero was dead. From the other side now, a tall man dressed in all blue with a motorcycle helmet and a large knife in either hand closed seemed to swallow the entire corridor in one heartbeat. Lyca barely had time to turn around before his legs started to make him dodge on pure instinct.

The dodge wasn’t needed. The man was impaled on nothing. His body was split in two. Wind lashed through the air as Fleur came out the room. Before the other two could leave, the building started to shake. One of the walls collapsed. Dust filled the hot air. Plumbing pipes screeched as they were torn about by the building’s movement. “Don’t collapse the building!” Fleur shouted.

“I’m not!” Eliza shouted. She took a step and then the building shook even harder. “I’m not holding it!”

“What?!” Lyca shouted.

“It just slipped! I can’t…” Lyca lunged towards the door and caught Eliza as she stumbled.

“I’ve got you.”

“I’m…” Eliza said, yawning. “I can’t…” And she fell asleep. Just like that. Lyca shook the girl in his arms. He pinched her cheek, he held her nose shut for a few seconds.

“What the fuck happened to her?” Edmonton asked.

“I don’t know.” Lyca slapped Eliza across the cheek to try and get her to wake up. “I don’t know, she’s out!”

“Hold her!” Fleur shouted as the floor gave out below them. Lyca clutched Eliza tightly as they fell. He didn’t care about hiding his power at this point, the fall was stabilized with sorcery channelled straight from his mind. Red squares flashed around him and pushed away brick and pipe. They swatted falling furniture and knocked back carpet as Fleur and Edmonton landed first.

Lyca was only a moment behind them. Immediately Fleur cast her hands into the air and grit her teeth as a tornado started to throw the building back. This wasn’t some attempt at salvaging the structure or trying to lift it all by herself. Instead wind rushed upwards in an amazing draft that spiralled outwards. Walls that were about to collapse in now fell outwards as roof tile and brick which was going to split someone’s skull was instead catapulted into the air.

The wall exploded besides them. A cloud of dust enveloped the sorcerers as Lyca waved his hands and felt one of the hard barriers of air instantly appear. He saw shrapnel formed by bricks and sandstone impact against that shield of solid air and shatter into more dust. Fleur collapsed stumbled to the side. Her barrier dropped. Edmonton caught her.

The party of four sorcerers came to a stop as the dust settled down. Lyca came face-to-face with a pair of hips. In black trousers, with an untucked red shirt over them. His eyes slowly inched up a huge torso. A set of two dark eyes were staring down at him. Along with a pretty face framed by black hair. All Divines had pretty faces. And all Divines were tall. Normally, Lyca was excited to see a Divine.

Not today. His mind reacted before his body did: Anarchia.