The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 411 – To Fell Feeling

Dragons predate human history. The oldest records speak of the great beasts that brought havoc over Arda before even I was born. How many of us are actually old enough to remember that? I know Fortia, Neneria, Irinika and Arascus lived through that age. Who else? I am certain there are a few others but Divines are so paranoid that most refuse to share even their age because they think it will reveal some great weakness of theirs.

What I do know is that the city of Handium held the original manuscript which was signed by representatives of humanity and dragonkind before it was destroyed in the Great War. The historical loss was great, the manuscript did not even have a date. It had outlasted two entire calendars. Whereas the contents of the text are mere bureaucracy with the formalization of dragon territory is and which locations were to be handed over to the lizards so that they could have a home humanity swore not to enter, there is something greater that is revealed in the texts.

The two most prominent Divines, who practically led the humans into stability with the dragons were Arascus, God of Pride, and Fortia, Goddess of Peace. Now as I gaze upon the sorry state of the Pantheon, I can only shake my head at the fact our disaster was so predictable. Fortia has always been supportive of Divine intervention in mortal affairs. Allasaria is powerful but Allasaria has never been one for micromanaging humanity.

That is nothing to say of the other voices in the Pantheon. They are all filled with their own problems, but at least Elassa’s thirst for knowledge and Kavaa’s hatred of her own duty are issues that don’t have an opposite. They could eventually be solved. Allasaria and Fortia stand at two extremes of the pole. One cannot succeed without the other failing.

Excerpt from “The Post War World”, written by Goddess Maisara, of Order.

Arascus looked over the Anarchia Council again. The colloquial name as it came to be known for dealing with this utter scab which refused to simply keel over and die that was the Goddess of Anarchy. He sat on a huge chair at the head of a large table. He wore a professional suit, although it was creased from the constant action over the past four days. It had been a mad scramble to find something which could theoretically defeat a major Divine. That scramble was only made worse by the fact no one had any idea on what to do.

In the past, monsters and dragons and titans wondered the surface of Arda and dived through the depths of its oceans so much that a man could see several in a day. Now? With all of Epa at their disposal they had found what? A unicorn would not do it and beastmen were too human. It had to be something on the level of a dragon but Kassandora had revealed the dragon issue already. They were asleep. There was no waking them up without smashing the World Core open. And that would be a campaign how long? Too long to estimate and too long to be feasible in the current situation. Allasaria could return at any moment. Epa needed to start building up and training its forces. It couldn’t be in a war against itself.

Next to Arascus’ right was Kassandora. In her black HAUPT uniform, with the cap and the red hair that spilled out. The Goddess of War had an entire folder she had managed to hand write in the past three days. Then Kavaa, in a similar style, with a smaller folder. Iliyal sat next to Kavaa. The elf looked flatly around the table, the only mortal in a room filled with Divines. The top of his head did not even reach up to Kavaa’s bosom, although the elf didn’t seem to care. He said he had important information. Usually a mortal would not get an exception made for him, but Iliyal was an exceptional mortal.

Fer, sitting crossed legged on a chair even higher than Iliyal’s. She was a bundle of golden locks and in a thick jumper. She obviously wasn’t happy about being here and Kavaa and Iliyal seeing her in this state, but Arascus had needed to invite her. The Goddess of Beasthood was the only one who had actually fought Anarchia and she was a reminder of what could happen if things spiralled out of control. Anassa was next Fer. She had taken well to looking after her sister. In the red silk dress and with a glass of wine in her hand, she reminded Arascus of a particularly proud aunt who would dote on their favourite cousin.

Olephia was next to Anassa. She had to be here if they decided to risk using her strength. And then Neneria. In a black dress, with the raven feathers around her neck. She leaned back in her seat and kept her hands around the cup of vodka she was sipping on. These last two weren’t here for strategizing, they were here if no one presented anything good enough.

It was almost the whole team.  “Kass.” Arascus declared the start. “Go on. What do you have for us?”

“When it comes to a Divine entity, I have nothing.” Kassandora said flatly as she stared each person around the table dead in the eyes. “From the records, the titans are buried. The dragons are asleep. Baalka’s beast program was eliminated. We have no way of reactivating a golem without the World Core’s batteries and even if we did, we would have to find something as large as a siege golem anyway.”

With each word, Kassandora pulled papers out of her folders. Each one was pictures and documents of the relevant things she was mentioning. “When it comes to digging something from the past, we don’t know where to dig and we don’t know if there’s anything even to find.” Anassa whistled and sighed.

“That’s about as good as we expected then.”

“I’m not done.” Kassandora said and then nudged Kavaa. The Goddess of Health, her hair now a dark-grey but in a similar style of black uniform as the Goddess of War quickly sprung into action.

“I’ve been to Iboud in Kirinyaa.” Kavaa said. “The Trebuchet Project I deemed could be useful in eliminating Anarchia.”

“What’s the Trebuchet Project?” Anassa asked. She mimed throwing something with her arm over her head. Someone, the small movement turned into grand theatricism. She threw her black hair over her shoulder and even managed to swish her dress through the air. “Like a trebuchet?”

“It’s the Railgun.” Fer squeaked from next to her.

“That tells me what exactly?” Anassa demanded. “And how do you even know that?”

“Unlike you, I can read.” Fer said.

Olephia shut them up. She slammed her hand down on the table with a piece of paper: It’s a magnetic cannon. Basically it shoots a projectile very fast.

“Don’t all things shoot like that?” Anassa asked and Arascus sighed. This was getting ridiculous. Neneria noticed his annoyance.

“Shut up Ana.” The Goddess of Death’s voice made the temperature in the room feel icy. “It’s as Olephia said. It’s a cannon that shoots fast. That’s all you need to know and you wouldn’t understand the science even if you bothered to try.”

“You think I won’t?”

“Does it concern you one bit?” Neneria asked as she indicated to the picture the Goddess of Health had slid along the table. Kavaa seemed to shrink away from the argument between the more powerful Goddess. “It certainly doesn’t concern me.”

“So you-“ Anassa said and Arascus cut her off.

“That’s enough Ana.” He said. He quickly moved the topic on. Some people it was worth explaining things to, others would just argue back. The correct choice was to move on. Anassa was only baiting for arguments anyway. “I would have gone to fetch the Trebuchet as well if I didn’t know you were doing it. The only issue is the power supply.” He had seen during testing how firing the railgun would short-circuit the entire laboratory.

“The ICS Dawnbringer and the ICS Lighthouse have been redirected from Arika to Epa.” Just as INS was Imperial Navy Ship, ICS was Imperial Civilian Ship. “They’re offshore powerplants. Two should be enough and then they’ll continue to Arika. Helenna’s doing.”

“Is the Resolution going to be the firing platform?” Arascus asked.

“It is. The ship is out of ammunition. The Trebuchet will just be set up over the closed missile bays.” Kavaa put several photos down on the table. They were labelled with what each ship was. The two power-plant ships were massive container ships with huge steam towers in the middle. Then with high-voltage transformers on the sides and huge cables, each one as thick as a car. “Those are going to power the trebuchet. If we get Anarchia out on the coast.”

Kavaa made a closed fist and smashed it into her open palm. “It should work.” Kassandora said. “The only issue is we need to disable her sorcery or switch her attention to something else so she won’t block it.”

“Would it be possible to block?” Kavaa asked. The table turned to Anassa and the Goddess of Sorcery shrugged. She flicked her black hair back, sipped her wine and made a show of explaining.

“You know what I can do. Obviously it’s a physical projectile so it can be blocked.” Over the boasting tone, there wasn’t a single inch of a lie there. Anassa was just correct. Arascus knew she was, she could flat out remove matter with her control over delusions. Projectiles weren’t blocked, projectiles ceased to exist. “Just will Anarchia know how to?”

“Let’s assume she will.” Kassandora answered from the other side. “But that’s the first thing me and Kavaa have thought up of.”

Kavaa took over as Kass went silent. Arascus knew from the beginning that Kavaa would be good for Kassandora. His daughter was actually taking a step back and letting someone else talk. That was such unimaginable progress that a year ago he would have no believed it. “The second is the Nightbreaker Bomb. Completion time is anywhere from a week at the best case scenario to potentially years, although that’s not likely.”

“I asked about.” Arascus asked. “The Nightbreaker has a delay.”

“That’s what they said to me too.” Kavaa said and Arascus nodded.

“What is that?” Fer asked.

“So this you don’t know?” Anassa smugly chimed in and the tiny Goddess of Beasthood leaned over to give her a smack with a closed fist. Of Sorcery only laughed in answer. “Oh aren’t you just adorable?”

Arascus retook control of the conversation before these two started arguing again. Maybe too much time together was starting to grate on Fer. “It’s a bomb that works on the same mechanism as Olephia’s power.” Olephia sat up immediately and smacked the table. Her violet eyes were open with excitement. “Based upon cracking atoms.” And Olephia smiled wide to everyone.

“So what’s the delay?” Fer asked.

“The engineers don’t have a mechanism to start the chain reaction.” Arascus said. “They’re working bomb is ready in theory, it just needs something to start the chain reaction and then it can be set off.”

“Why would that be an issue?” Fer asked as Olephia started to scribble.

“They’re working on particle launchers and matter condensers.”

“Ah.” Fer said. “Even I don’t know what that means.”

“I don’t think even they do.” Arascus said.

Olephia slammed the table again with a piece of paper: Just explode uranium.Stick explosives around it. This isn’t rocket science, you just have to put enough energy into it. Arascus read the piece of paper several times and Olephia slammed another paper down: Trust me. Arascus took the pieces of paper.

“I’ll pass it on.”

Olephia slammed a piece of paper down with a smile: It will work. I’m sure it will.

“Either way, then progress on the Nightbreaker is looking rough.” Arascus admitted. “We can’t rely on it. The Trebuchet will be brought from Iboud.” He took a deep breath and extended an arm out to Iliyal. The elf was the last man with relevant information. Neneria and Olephia were only here to discuss what they would be doing in the operation. Anassa was here because she brought Fer and there was no better expert on sorcery. Fer had the combat experience. “Iliyal.”

The elf cleared his throat, seemingly unworried at the fact he was sat in a table surrounded by Divines. Although he wouldn’t be, would he? The man commanded the Eighth Legion back in the Great War, he was the superior of Divines. This wouldn’t be nervous, this would be nostalgia. It was obvious that the elf was enjoying the moment from the fact he didn’t stutter or take a breath, he simply launched straight into it. “One of the members of Crimson Team managed to record a conversation with Anarchia. I think we should all hear it.”

As the elf talked, he pulled out his phone and pressed play. Immediately there was the sound of footsteps, of a door opening. Eliza panicked. She explained to Anarchia. She started to ask questions. She got Anarchia talking. And every Divine sat in silence, none even pulled their eyes away from the player. Some ten minutes in, the conversation ended, five minutes after that, the door shut down and Iliyal paused the player. “It goes on for another and a half. The sorceress went to sleep I assume but I’ve played the whole thing, nothing gets said. Even at the end, she just switches it off. Personally, I believe what is said on this video. If you wish, I can replay it.”

“Do.” Arascus said and Iliyal did. And once again they heard Eliza talking. Once again Anarchia dropped how she didn’t know the extent of her own powers and once again she said how she latches onto emotions. When Iliyal paused it this time, Fer took the initiative. Her high-pitched voice squeaked across the room.

“I can confirm it actually. Anarchia said something similar to me. She said she needed to hook into me. I didn’t know what that meant but she mentioned my loyalty.”

“Loyalty isn’t an emotion.” Neneria finally spoke up. Everyone turned to the Goddess of Death. “I’m just saying, loyalty isn’t an emotion.”

“That’s true actually.” Kassandora said. “But it could be Anarchia herself doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” Kavaa smiled wryly and Anassa chuckled. “You heard how the woman was talking about not knowing her limits. I assume she herself doesn’t know.”

The fact Anarchia didn’t know was the least of their worries. Arascus stepped into the conversation to lead it away. “I can’t blame her. How many of us actually know what would happen if we went at full power.”

“I know.” Anassa said. Of course she did.

“What about Olephia?” Arascus asked. “What is the most syllables you’ve used?” Olephia held up both hands with three fingers each: six. “And if you said a ten syllable word?”

“Is there one even?” Anassa asked.

Kavaa answered the question. “Diiodohydroxyquinoline.” Of course Kavaa would know and of course it was something no normal person would know.

“What the fuck is that?” Anassa asked.

“Chemical.”

“A real word Kavaa.” Anassa asked again.

And again, Kavaa had an answer. “Counterinstitutionalisation.” Fer turned smugly to the Goddess of Sorcery as Anassa opened her mouth, closed it and then moved her finger as she said the word syllables. It was indeed ten.

“Well aren’t you well read?” She asked. Kavaa shrugged as Kassandora gave her friend a thumbs up.

This time, it was Olephia who got the conversation back on track. She slammed her paper down: I only have no clue what would happen. Four is enough to redraw the maps. I would not go above eight because I’m scared of igniting the atmosphere. Arascus chuckled as he read it.

“So I’m not going to blame Anarchia either. She doesn’t know, she’s never had to test her limits.” Arascus looked over at Iliyal and his phone. “I think Anarchia actually raised the best point, can we find someone without emotions?”

“Psychopaths are common enough.” Kassandora said. “We could test it out.”

Fer shook her head. “If she mentioned loyalty to me it won’t work. I’m sure it’s that she seeks out something from within the person. I honestly didn’t know before I faced her, but I don’t know who we could send.”

“It’s not just finding someone she can’t absorb from.” Kassandora intervened again. “That’s if such a person exists in the first place, they would need to be fight someone with the strength of Fer and with sorcery.”

“She would have shared it out by now.” Fer said.

“You know what I meant. It can’t be a human. It has to be a Divine.” Kassandora said.

“I think that narrows it down to who exactly?” Kavaa asked. “Fortia?” Arascus smiled. Kavaa could be part of the team alright. It was a ridiculous proposition, Fortia wasn’t even on their team. She could be swayed, he would do the swaying, but Arascus liked the woman’s out-of-the-box thinking.

“Fortia will get sapped from.” Arascus said. If there was one thing he prided himself on, it was being a judge of character. There was no chance Fortia would be able to dissociate herself enough from her emotions to avoid Anarchia. And that’s even if they were correct that it would be possible to resist Anarchia in the first place.

Arascus looked at Olephia and Neneria. Both of them had their risks. If it turned out Anarchia could sap at range, then sending Olephia would be a disaster. Maybe it was just Great War paranoia and the woman would never actually think so far ahead, but it would not be out of the realm of any major Divine he knew to pretend they had a short range in order to secure a large prize like Olephia. “We could try Baalka’s blood.” Kassandora said. The entire table turned to the Goddess of War. Kassandora held her own though, she didn’t even so much as blush or re-arrange her cap. “If we extract some blood from her.”

“Do you want to share Baalka’s power?” Anassa asked and Arascus agreed. Caution was always necessary.

“We need someone who is not powerful enough to be a threat but who can stand their own.” The God of Pride said. “Honestly, forget the immunity plan. I don’t care about that for now. The Trebuchet distraction is enough. If it works, we kill her. If it doesn’t, then we wait for the Nightbreaker bombs to finish completion. Now it’s just about finding a Divine who is actually powerful enough to serve as a distraction but one who won’t make the mistake we made with the sorcerers.”

“So a purely melee fighter then.” Fer said and stretched her arms out on the table. “There’s not many of us left.”

The table fell into silence as everyone thought. Arascus got an idea. He looked to Neneria. He knew his daughter more than well enough to recognise the difference between her shyness and her actual perturbance. Right now, as Neneria sat with her brows furrowed and tapping her fingers, it was obvious that it was the performative former option. Arascus raised an eyebrow. “Neneria?” He asked gently.

“I may have one.”

“Wait really?!” Kavaa asked. “Who?”

“I think we’re thinking of the same one.” Arascus said.

“Are we?” Neneria asked.

“Oh.” Fer said. “I know who it is.”

“Will she be strong enough?” Kassandora asked. That was no surprise, of course Kassandora worked it out. “But we’ll have to change other plans.”

“That’s fine.” Arascus said. “Plans change.”

“She’ll be strong enough if we’re talking about the same person.” Fer said.

“I don’t know.” Neneria said. “I’ve actually thought of one who I think is just cold enough to be immune to the sapping. If what Anarchia says is true of course but if not, she’ll be a distraction either way.”

“Are you sure?” Kassandora asked.

“I’m only saying that because she’s so dull emotionally that she didn’t have a reaction to dying.”

Arascus smiled. They were thinking of the same person.