Chapter 790 – So Heaven Descends

We have deemed and returned one apocalypse, and now as another is coming to us, Paradeisius plans to start their own! For they know we shall not go quietly into the night, and we shall not roll over and let the Second Arc take us. If any of you doubt our ability to safeguard and repel that Tartarian missile hurled at us, then know that even the Angels do not have enough confidence in our annihilation to simply stand by and watch.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Sons & Daughters of the Empire, today, I reinstate the same total mobilization that we have marched under to repel the Ashen Skies. We will not go quietly into the night. And we will let ourselves be made into spectators of our own apocalypse. They are not Tartarus, and they are able to command portals at will. The fighting, this time, shall be in our own lands, of that, I am sure. And I ask of you only one thing, that you do not let yourself be blinded by panic.

For when they appear on our shores, they shall drown in our seas, when they appear over our cities, they shall hang from posts, when they appear over our fields and mountains, we shall ride out and meet them. Each gap they tunnel through into our world, we shall brick up with their bodies and use their blood as mortar. Another realm invades us because they know our survival is an inevitability, and they intend to make our extinction a certainty.

I have nothing to say of them for there is no negotiation at this table. Instead, I turn to you and I once again ask you of the ultimate sacrifice.

From forever, until today, for forever. Arda has stood. Arda stands. Arda will stand.

- Arascus delivers the news of the Paradeisian Invasion to the Empire.

Kassandora stripped off the loops of her parachute as she marched towards the ruins of Rhomaion. Iliyal Tremali was already there, standing on a hill that overlooked the entire region, Kavaa moaned as she crashed landed, the Goddess of Health did not have much look with skydiving apparently. “Iliyal.” Kassandora said, drawing up a salute. “Report the situation.” He returned the salute, Kassandora dismissed him and didn’t bother to wait for Kavaa to catch up or Iliyal to begin speaking, instead turning to where the capital of the Empire lay.

She remembered how it looked in the past, the topless towers of the city walls and the skyscraper palace that would reach into clouds at the very top. The unassailable moats still remained, they made a spider’s web of rivers in the area. A few of the stone structures still remained, the base of walls and the foundations of major structures. Kassandora could see the massive stones of the old Imperial Palace, of her own armoury, of Anassa’s School of Sorcery. But the city had been levelled during the final days of the siege. Nothing extended higher than a knee. Rilia had made it a site of tourism later, and that tradition had continued.

Maybe ruins implied that there was something there, the ground was barren, barely overgrown with grass. The city had not been buried by the White Pantheon, and the tourism in the region and the constant excavations done by the Rilian government ensured that there were no trees, no grass, no cover anywhere. Nothing but a network of rivers that served as a maze, still being guided by ancient stoneworks.

“We had readings four hours ago.” Iliyal said. “The Bureau of Magic detected the beginning of the portal.” Kassandora looked up at the sky. The shimmer that had come through in the images had hardened and was obviously the beginnings of a portal. It was a single line of light blue energies. If they were getting to this point already, then she had come thirty minutes in advance. “If I may.” Iliyal said. “The magical surveillance system proved itself.”

“It did.” Kassandora agreed. The sensors that scoured the Empire had caught the tiny atmospheric mana shifting long before the shimmer even became visible to the naked eye. They had theorized on this in the past, on how long it truly took to open a portal from another world. Everyone had predicted it had to take a few hours, but six was almost slow.

“What I worry about is the main gate in the east.” Iliyal said. “This will most likely be a diversionary tactic.”

“I have men there already.” Kassandora said. “That’s a better location for us.” Better as in less populated. The Gates sat far off in the east, in Karaina’s central south. The land there was dry, the closest city was Aztracan, and that lay two hundred miles to the west. “The nuclear arsenal is readying for if the main gate opens.” She simply did not understand this hesitation that a lot of the generals had with using the Empire’s most magnificent weaponry. They were ammunition, and ammunition was intended to be used. “What’s the report on forces in the area?”

“I have four garrisons, one armoured division and one artillery.” Iliyal said. “Artillery is still digging in, the tanks are to the north, they will be here within ten minutes.”

“Keep the vehicles at range.” Kassandora said. “Designate them as support artillery for the battle.” Joyeuse fell out of the sky and stabbed into the grass next to the Goddess of War. Kavaa finally caught up to them, like Kassandora, she had simply left her parachute on the ground.

“They’re really here.” Of Health had her hand on the sword on her hip. Kassandora had forced a rifle into her hands. They had been through the Great War and realised that

“And we’ll really repel them.” Kassandora grimaced. “Do you have any theories on why they’re dropping here?”

“Not whatsoever.” Iliyal said. “It’s not a good location but it’s not a terrible one either though however.”

“It’s not?” Kavaa asked. It wasn’t, the old moats that had long since become rivers made the entire region defensible, the ruins buried under the ground still had an underground if they wanted to hide. And most of the region had been urban and only barely overgrown with vines, not so much soil. Imperial defensive stalling tactics that relied on massed trenchworks and ditches would not work here.

“You can’t drive vehicles there down.” Iliyal pointed down to the rivers. “There’s no bridges, nothing. We’ll have to stand at hill crests to fire at them.”

It was almost too smart to be a Paradeisian battle tactic. Paradeisius came with their own shields and barriers and they flew in the air. All the greatest victories against them had always been in cities or mountains or forests, on a field, they were borderline unstoppable. Even angel was something closer to air-cavalry rather than a frontline soldier. “Oh.” Kavaa said. “I see.”

Iliyal took a deep breath. “May I speculate, Goddess?”

“Go ahead.” Kassandora replied.

“Assuming the best, they are dropping because they are working on outdated information. Assuming the worst though, they are dropping because they are trying to secure a permanent foothold.”

Kassandora shook her head, her read hair flowing from side to side. “They know about the Second Arc.”

“Indeed.” Iliyal said. “But if they plan to establish a temporary military presence for raiding purposes? It would make sense for them to pick within the Empire so that we’re more hesitant with the nuclear weaponry.” Kassandora released a deep breath. Everyone but her had this illness and this grand fear of radiation. If every hospital had a cleric, or a team of clerics, then what exactly was the issue? One would be enough but why not launch even a dozen missiles at this location? Why not just wipe it off the map entirely? But no, Arascus had said that nuclear weaponry on Imperial soil required a Legion-tier threat, so her hands were tied.

“That makes sense.” Kassandora said. It did, and this would be one of the best locations for it. It was right in the heart of Rilia, a presence here cut off the south of the country from land-access to the rest of the Empire. There was the Land of Gods in Lubska too, that was close enough to everything, yet far away from immediate military presence that it was possible to capture. But that had its own defence system in the Divines that lived there.

Where would have Kassandora dropped a forward base? She would have dropped a dozen. And then raiding parties on every capital city. And then every city above a certain size for good measure. But she wasn’t fighting against herself. “We wipe them out quickly and efficiently.” Kassandora said. “The airforce is already mustered?”

“Squadrons are in the air already. I gave the order when the shimmer turned into a line.” Iliyal said. Of course he did.

“Then we dig in and wait, and we pull out of here.”

“Understood.” Iliyal said, turned around and began to march away.

“I like how you give orders.” Kavaa said. Kassandora killed the blush immediately, how exactly was she supposed to respond to that? She supposed how she liked orders too?

“Okay.” Kassandora said. “I’d prefer if you didn’t say that during a battle.” Kavaa chuckled and turned away.

“Understood.” She said lightly, obviously finding humour in the reaction. “So? Lead the way.” Kassandora decided to remain silent and led the way. The pair of Divines followed then elf down then hill and then stopped at the slopes, a platoon of soldiers were already securing the surrounding area. The terrain had once been fertile slopes, but the dirt had been turned to sand, then to glass, then to rock during that final battle. They would not dig deep. Sandbags should have been issued.

Iliyal stopped just before he was going to disappear into the command ten, half of it affixed to posts that had been stuck haphazardly into the ground, the other half resting on the back of a fighting vehicle. Machine guns had already been set up, a pair of them, with a pair of men manning each. The rest spread out in standard fashion for when there wasn’t enough men to make a wall of bodies. They found their own locations, between or behind rocks that jutted out of the ground, or laying in the short grass that grew here. “Do you wish me outside or inside Goddess?” Iliyal asked.

“You take command.” Kassandora said. “Give me a radio, I’ll watch with my own eyes.” Drones were useful, and especially now that almost every Imperial drone had a cheap camera installed onto it, but they weren’t perfect. And the first battle was the most important, it would reveal whether how far their battle doctrine had advanced, and whether the Empire’s army was actual in any position to muster up a defence. Cameras could record that, but Kassandora had to see it for herself.

Kavaa followed Kassandora as Of War retrieved a radio, and then they moved to another location. “It would be safer if we stayed away.” Kavaa said.

“I have to see.” Kassandora said.

“It’s not Tartarus though.”

“No.” Kassandora said. These were far more dangerous, that was certain. They struck at range and they stayed in the air. But questions of how they would react to their own being gunned down still remained. The Paradeisians typically retreated after just a few casualties in the past. They valued their own lives too much to be good soldiers.

Over the course of some twenty minutes, the line in the sky slowly grew thicker. Its edges became more unstable, the air around it began to shimmer with heat. They must have been aware of modern technology though, in the past these portals would have appeared in the cloud layer. Now, it was the zenith of the hills. Too close to the ground to be made into target practice for anti-air, but too high up for explosive artillery to truly be effective. It ruptured suddenly to the sound of a huge swathe of fabric tearing. The middle went first, expanding outwards and in ten seconds, what had been a line was now a circle in the sky with a diameter long enough for a ship.

“Hold Iliyal.” Kassandora said into the radio after a moment. Normally, they would have already charged through to get a choir onto Arda and then close it. Now? What? They were waiting too? A single Angel appeared, fully armoured in shining silver that seemed to create its own light. Kassandora narrowed her eyes, that was a new style of plate. It covered the face, the arms, the legs, only the wings at the back were left exposed. They swayed gently as the angel landed and looked around. Kassandora narrowed her eyes. That was new tactics. “Hold the barrage Iliyal. What are they doing?”

“Yes Goddess.” Iliyal answered. It was a mistake, a good battle won relied on annihilating the enemy before anything came through. But a war relied on information, and they had to see what a thousand years of progress meant for Paradeisius.

Another angel came out. Kassandora was sure that she was seen directly. This one came in gold, and it stared at where she stood for a good moment before looking around, and then up. “That thing looked at us.” Kavaa said.

“I know.” Kassandora said. She picked up her radio. “Iliyal…” And she trailed off. That was more like it, a dozen, then another dozen appeared. “Iliyal! FIRE FIRE FIRE!” The sound of artillery going off in the distance and the hail of gunfire from spots in the hill where soldiers had taken up mounted positions. Kassandora felt Kavaa’s hand grab and pull her, closer to cover, although she still had to stay and watch.

The angels, they’re wings ever so gentle when they had descended, suddenly shot upwards. Those sets of feathers became a blur. The artillery impacted a moment later. That must have been from the tanks, the explosions themselves weren’t that large but Kassandora was already tracking the movement. Tartarus had stayed almost unchanged, they brought over cannons and Ashen Skies, but they’re actual doctrine was still the same: just endless waves of bodies.

This lot split up and moved though. They drew their vibrating, singing blades and started casting in… in the fashion of Ardan magicians, that was the closest comparison. The hills ruptured as if they were struck by invisible bludgeons, the maze of rivers was not spared either. Water cascaded upwards as it bounced back against the invisible song arts of Paradeisius. “That’s no different.” Kassandora muttered to Kavaa.

Kavaa gave no response. The first squadron of Imperial jets burst out from the clouds. Kassandora tracked the angel’s movements more than that of her own planes. It took her a moment to make the call. “Iliyal, pull the air-force back.” As if to prove her point, one of the jets fired a set of missiles that were effortlessly dodged by a being in silver which twirled like a ballet performer. The jet shot above it, then lost a wing out of nowhere. It crashed into the nearby trees in a fireball. A second jet exploded in mid-air. Its front had was ruptured in by an invisible shockwave, planes three, four and five pulled evasive rolls and disappeared into the clouds.

“Given.” Iliyal said. “They’re fast.”

“Are you watching them?” Kassandora asked.

“Barely, the cameras aren’t keeping up.” So she had to stay then. The angels in silver spread out, constantly moving in erratic ways. Every few seconds, one of them would spark up as it was by a bullet. Those had to be more luck rather than anything else. The artillery explosions finally hit the location underneath the portal. They tore up grass, cracked ancient stone, sent up a cloud of dust, and did not much else. One of the creatures spiralled higher and…

A drone of gunfire, high-calibre, from two different AA-pieces shredded through the creatures armour. It fell to the ground and Kassandora cracked a smile. Erratic movements and thick armour may deal with men, but computer-assisted aiming and bullets made to shred through armoured helicopters was not that. Before it even fell, the angels rearranged themselves, diving closer to the ground, to stay behind the cover of the hills. “We’ve lost a tenth already.” Iliyal said over the radio. “They’re accurate.”

“I see that.” Kassandora said. She caught one being in silver, blood was splattered on its pearl-white feathered wings. Probably its own, where it had been hit but not killed. It waved its sword haphazardly in the sort of warm up swings that experienced fighters used to show off their comfort with a chosen weapon. The ground blasted upwards around it, following those swings. And then when it spotted an Imperial soldier, it would make a sharp cut through the air.

A moment later, the invisible force of an angelic song would clear out the immediate area, soldier included. Kassandora kept her gaze fixed on the damage. The blades were new as well, Paradeisius had not been standing by and doing nothing with their time. And they were using light-infantry tactics to spread out and…

Kassandora realised she was looking at teams of three, split into two squads of twelve. The angel that had fallen had their body retrieved and then taken by through the portal. Blade and all. Three, split across twelve, in tight trios that supported each other. Had they been watching the Tartarian War? Or was three by four just universal amongst the realms? That was her model!

“GET DOWN!” Kavaa screamed and barged into Kassandora. A moment later, the ripple of a song, the faint beats off it, passed over Kassandora’s head and crescendoed in an explosion of rock and soil behind them. Kassandora got to her feet quickly as Kavaa rolled away and jumped up. Black armour shimmered along Kassandora’s body, cutting through the edges of her black coat, the inside edges of her breastplate tore through her shirt and Joyeuse fell into her hand.

“BEHIND ME!” Kassandora screamed as she saw one of the angels, this had to be platoon leader. His armour was not-quite golden, but it had more colour than the pure silver pieces of the others. Kavaa scurried behind Kassandora as the Goddess of War slammed her greatsword forward, trying to time it to intercept the invisible shockwave. She did strike it.

And immediately, she wished she had just dodged instead. Joyeuse ripped from her grip and the wave flung both Kassandora and Kavaa backwards. They slid along the grass and rubble. Kassandora felt Kavaa’s hands on her and then burst upwards with a hiss as Health’s healing set her insides ablaze and rebuilt the torn muscle. Kassandora recalled Joyeuse, then turned to see the angel had crossed the distance already.

“You were expected Kassandora.” Another blast of invisible sound hit Kassandora square in the chest, she grit her teeth once as her ribs shattered, and then moaned as Kavaa’s healing stitched her bones back together. She forced her hands to close over Joyeuse and not let go of the massive hilt.

If Kavaa wasn’t holding onto her wrist, the two would have been ripped apart by the next blast. Kassandora landed on her feet this time, roared and threw Joyeuse before the pain of Kavaa’s healing registered again, sending her blade in a spinning throw in the air at the closest angel. Another blast came from further up, intercepted the black greatsword and stabbed it into the ground. “Kass…” Kavaa moaned, still healing Kassandora.

Another blast came from the stay, this time carving the mountain up above them. “Kassandora.” One of the angels spoke. “Your crimes are countless.” He waved a hand into the air, a palm pointed at her. “You are sentenced to die.” Kassandora steeled herself once again, standing even in the conflagration of pain that was Kavaa’s healing.

Suddenly, the world fell into darkness. Kassandora felt Kavaa’s hand grip hers as the angels around them disappeared. A lighter clicked and the Goddess of War allowed herself a breath of relief. Irinika’s voice was slow and rolling. “I declare your law defunct.” The smell of tobacco always annoyed Kassandora, but right now, it was the smell of salvation. “Your songs worthless.” Kassandora couldn’t see anything bar that small light which moved, flared, and the illuminated a cloud of smoke. Irinika’s chuckle was entertained more than anything else. “Your lives forfeit.”