The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 414 – Restoration of Order

A large issue that is present in today’s world is Divines that don’t stick to their damn demesnes. The White Pantheon beat Arascus together. There is not a single one of us who could have done it alone: Fortia led the armies. Iniri fed them. Kavaa healed them. Helenna secured the home front. Zerus and Sceo effectively forced Anassa out of the skies. Elassa mobilized all magickry to such an extent that never before had so many mages worked together and most likely never again will it happen. How many minor deities of the Empire did Atis hunt down? How many beasts did he fell? How many cities did Alkom burn off the map? How many arms did Theosius’ forges produce? How crucial was Leona in everything?

It is one thing to childishly reject criticism but it is another entirely to lie down and take a damn beating like a dog. Maisara criticises what exactly? She calls me ‘just’ a champion? Who brought together three worlds? It is something even Arascus could not do! Did anyone think it possible that Tartarus and Paraideisius would fight on the same side!? Who could possibly face Irinika on the open battlefield save for me? Leona may have predicted the movements of the Daughter-Goddesses, but four out of five times, who was sent to counter them!?

If Maisara enjoys pointing fingers so much, then let us point them. What did Maisara accomplish? What, she brought the Paladins? She commanded entire battles? She was there so that Fortia could have an assistant to bounce ideas off? Who exactly is Maisara to talk about others?

It is not even that she calls me a champion. It is that she pretends to know better than me. That because she is older than I, that should mean I lower my head and bow below her glorious magnanimity. What magnanimity? Maisara’s ridiculous Foundational Theory is a curse upon Divinity. I am certain she only propagates it because it is easier to justify one’s terrible character than it is to change it.

Even though we fought against each other, I have infinitely more respect for Arascus rather than Maisara. The man has gone ahead to prove Maisara wrong. He has managed to step over nature and bring Olephia out of her solitude, bring Neneria into world politics, make Kassandora swear to a Pantheon, gotten Irinika to submit to an authority, he has even managed to civilize Fer as much as the woman could be civilized. That alone should discredit Maisara’s Foundational Theory.

But let us play along with her. Let us agree. A Divine is controlled entirely by their foundations and not whatsoever by their experience. I came in a time when humanity was independent and brawling with each other, so I will naturally idolize independence. What of Maisara? She came when? No one knows the woman’s age, but I can hazard a guess just off historical records.

She wasn’t there at the start, for first there was Death and no one else. She wasn’t there for the Handium Concordat, for that paper specifically mentioned Fortia and Arascus. A Divine as powerful as Maisara would have not been written out. Yet we know that Paladin Orders were created to safeguard the various tyrannical realms which threatened by the Arascan Concordat. A Divine Order cannot exist without a Divine’s sanction and the Paladins have always been under Maisara. Through that, we can assume she incarnated during the original tyrannies which laid the foundational for the later Magocracies.

I choose to believe in the best of us, but let us embrace cynicism and go off Maisara’s Foundational Theory. What does that timeline tell us of Maisara?

- Excerpt from Goddess Allasaria’s, Of Light’s, private Diary.

Maisara walked without feeling an ounce of shame as she made her way past Elassa’s mages and Kassandora’s soldiers. She found no pleasure in exposing herself but she was no child. There was nothing to be ashamed of, especially since she was a Divine. Frankly, it would be shameful if she did try to cover up. Kassandora obviously wasn’t happy with her quick pace, the casual sway of her head from side to side like a hungry wolf and the predator’s gaze that simply challenged men to look. The few men that saw their glorious Goddess of War quickly got the message and turned away. And eventually, Kassandora got to the back of the plane Maisara’s body had arrived on. It was a transport plane filled with crew that saw saluted to Kassandora, saw Maisara in all her nude glory, then blushed and averted their eyes. “Start the plane! Warm the engines up! Go find something to do!” Kassandora called out as she waved Maisara over.

The Goddess of Order followed along without saying a single word. Kassandora, in all her black clothes and with that cascading red hair, and with that one inch over Maisara that always made the shorter Divine annoyed, kicked a crate. It collapsed under the force of the blow. “I could have just brought you your armour.” Kassandora said.

“I don’t care.” Maisara replied. Divinity only suffered embarrassment from weakness. Besides, there was nothing embarrassing about a perfect human body.

“I’m not going to argue about you being a nudist or not.” Kassandora reiterated herself, whereas before her tone was a cool blizzard, this time it was straight ice. “But would you prance about nude in front of your Paladins?”

“No.” Maisara replied honestly as she stared down at the various clothes in the crate Kassandora had just destroyed.

“Why not?” Kassandora answered as if she already knew what the answer would be.

“Because there’s a hierarchy to keep there.” Maisara answered as she leaned down to grab her undergarments. It was the exact same ones she had died in.

“Well there’s a hierarchy here too. I’d rather you not humiliate all Divinity simply because you don’t care.” Kassandora kicked the box again. “They’ve been washed for you. Get dressed. We’re going to Ordeaux.”

“Now?” Maisara asked.

“It was a life for a life.” Kassandora said. “If you want to put it off then I’ll start charging you interest.”

Iliyal ticked off a box on one of the spreadsheets Goddess Kassandora had left him.

Captain John Evans of the CIS Lighthouse remembered when he got the order. The mission had been to set sail to Arika and provide a floating power station there. It was supposed to be safe. The Ashlands had only the most meagre issues with banditry at this point. Generals Sokolowski and Zalewski had managed to secure the areas and besides, they were going to support one of the ports being built. Was there any safer area in the whole region than a location which was going to be used as a supply base by the army?

“How far are we from Ordeaux?” Captain Evans asked as he stared out over the dark blue ocean through the window of the control bridge. He always appreciated the ocean at night. It was a beautiful sight. The horizon split the sea filled with bright specks of light that was the night sky from the pitch black ocean that swallowed all light below the CIS Lighthouse. The ship itself was a voyager through nothing. It’s two massive steam towers and multitudes of heavy power cables, the gentle humming transformers and the two massive balls which were the ship’s gas storage for fuelling the power plant it carried all blinked with tiny lights. They were like satellites or glowbugs that had come to settle down on his ship.

“Four hours at current speed.” The first mate replied as he checked another series of readings on his monitor.

“Can we go faster?” Captain Evans asked. Goddess Helenna said the Lighthouse was to get to Ordeaux by dawn. It was obvious that they would not make it at the pace they were heading at.

“We can.” The first mate replied. Captain Evans sighed as he looked down at the picture of his wife and children. He had joined the Imperial Civilian Fleet precisely because he was too much of a coward to fight in battle. He stroked his wife’s hair with his thumb and smiled at his son and daughter.

He had ran from war, but war had ran to him. A coward he may be, but cowardice was no excuse for doing a job poorly. He readjusted his blue cap and hardened his tone. “Full speed ahead. Get there as fast as possible.”

Iliyal drank another coffee as sleep tried to once again defeat him. It wasn’t too hard to beat, the fatigue came in waves.

Elassa looked up at the rest of the airfleet start slowly rise into the air. Kassandora and Maisara were there, going straight for Ordeaux. The Goddess of Magic herself had been left a dozen miles from the city. Far out of sight, but not so far that she would need to travel for a long time to get there.

Maybe other people would walk around and secure the area. Maybe if it was Kassandora and her soldiers, then they would go to scout out the villages all around them. Men had heard and seen the planes land and already they were appearing on the hills. It didn’t matter that this was the early hours of the morning to them. That the full moon was still out and that the dawn had not started its offensive against the darkness of night yet, they were still out here to watch what these newcomers were doing.

Maybe Kassandora or Kavaa, Fortia or Maisara, would care and investigate. But Maisara? Such things were beneath her notice. She had cracked a damn continent. If one did that, then how could they possibly worry about a small audience. Elassa shouted her orders. Her mages spread out in a ring around her. Their mutual chant suddenly cut off as they successfully were pulled into Elassa’s choir.

Magic raced from their eyes and mouth. Magic that Elassa lapped up with glee. The Goddess raised her hands, her rings and chains and earring, the fat gemstone on his necklace and the fat gemstone on her belt all began to shine. And Elassa launched into a lesson as to what the Divine representative of the finest art on Arda could really do.

The ground started to rumble as Elassa started to pull a mountain out of the ground.

Iliyal gave permission for the final set of bombing runs to set off. Goddess Kassandora didn’t want the city to be under siege once Anarchia was dead.

“Air support for a Goddess.” Erik’s voice came over the radio. Douglas only half-heard the words as she wiggled Raptor One back into position. The plane certainly wasn’t breaking down or faulty but it was harder to handle than usual. It was as if the air that was being sliced by the Raptor’s sharp nose, painted yellow to be the same colour as the bird of prey that was its namesake, was like jam rather than wind.

“Not the first time, is it?” Douglas asked as pressed the afterburner down. Far below the two Raptor planes in the night sky, animals and children woke up, the former looking up at the night sky, the latter crying in their cribs as the supersonic boom of the plane breaching the sound barrier sounded like a pair of deafening thunderstrikes through the air.

“First time I think we’re striking like this.” Erik replied as he kept the speed up. “And my bird feels off today.” Good to see that Douglas wasn’t the only one. It was obvious that Erik was taking it harder than Douglas was. If problems were to be mentioned now, then they would only further worry the other pilot. Douglas didn’t know what they was to say about the planes, so he gave the most basic advice he could. Frankly, it always helped when in battle.

“You just dive, aim, fire and then fly away.” Raptor One rocked from side to side even though the afterburner should be keeping it stable. Maybe a less experienced pilot would have panicked but Douglas had flown to Artica, during the Anti-Air fire of the Epan War, he had intercepted planes in the Kirinyaan Invasion and he had been intercepted by magicians back then. The plane rocking from side to side? Well, it was practically a joke! “See, even the bird likes it!”

Iliyal looked at the cold pillow of his room. How long had he stayed up now? Sixty hours? Seventy? Somewhere between that number. He collapsed onto his bed. He had done all Goddess Kassandora had asked of him. Now it was up to the boots on the ground to see the mission through.

Maisara looked out over the ruined city from her plane as Kassandora came close. Ordeaux burned in the distance. It was a ruin that was still being hit hard by Imperial Bombers. “Those flying men are Anarchia’s superheroes.” Kassandora explained as she pointed to the men in the air. “They may or may not have sorcery.”

“I know what they are.” Maisara said as she saw the dots in the distance. “I’ve faced them before.” They seemed stronger now, but how much stronger could they realistically be? Maybe they would be an issue for some minor Divine. Maisara watched one of the heroes grab a bomb that was heading straight into the town square. This man was dressed in bright blue, skin-tight latex that shimmered in the night sky and the flames of the Ordeaux. He dropped like a rock with it, his natural strength only barely slowing him down. But he managed it. Maybe only a building’s worth above the ground, he came to a stop, the bomb in his hands. And then he heaved and threw it into the river. The water exploded in a huge splash but no one was hurt. The bridges looked as if they had long-since collapsed.

And Maisara stared at the man as the planes turned. “I’ll be dropped off on the ship. I’ll command from there.” Kassandora shouted then tapped Maisara’s ear. “You have an earpiece. Click it if you need to talk. It’s too far for the Orchestra!” Kassandora finished her scream. Maisara replied with a thumbs up as she stared at the other superheroes were scrambling to defend Ordeaux from the bombing run. They were all dashing around like mad flies in the air, quickly buzzing to get to the next set of bombs that had just been dropped from a huge style of bomber that Maisara had not seen. It must be a new design that only came into production after she died. Kassandora tapped her again. “Your drop is here!” The Goddess of War shouted.

Maisara checked the straps on her parachute again although she wasn’t sure whether she needed it. She looked down. She would be landing in the strip of grassland and park that was between the city and the ocean. That was the plan after all. Anarchia was to lured out onto the coast so that the Trebuchet Railgun on the INS Resolution could have a clear shot.

Maisara took a deep of the cool air. It was thin from how high they were up in atmosphere. Should something be said? Maybe she say bye to Kassandora? Maybe she should give some more thought to Anarchia? But then what thought was there to give? The Goddess of Anarchy was an aberration and a parody of natural law. The difference between man and animal was that the latter lived in Anarchy and the former made societies of Order. It was those abstract ideals and rules that made elevated man from being a dog and into being a human? It was those abstract ideals that gave birth to Divines. It was those abstract ideals that fools like Anarchia saw and tried to tear down, unaware that they destroying the very things that enabled their existence.

Was there anything to say about Anarchia? No. There wasn’t. The woman was below hating. The woman was an enemy of natural law. If the local Divines and the start of the Epan War had not called Maisara away, then Anarchia would be dead already. It was time to end it. Once and for all.

Order shall be restored.

Maisara stepped off the plane.