Chapter 832 – Category-Zero

When the matter is one of extinction, there can be no old grievances which stop us from together as a united whole. The blame of Continent Cracking can be laid at Elassa of Magic, for she ultimately pulled the trigger and cast the spell that split Arika. It can be laid at Kassandora’s feet, for the Goddess of War was the one who organised and conceived of such a measure being taken in the first place. It can be placed on the White Pantheon, who not once moved to intervene against the Jungle as it began to grow and spread. It can be placed on the Arikan governments who did not organise a formal response against the threat when it began and instead thought that the threat would pass. There are some who even put it on the Arikans themselves, for they were the ones that conceived of a Jungle that stole and did not give.

And it is a matter that will never be settled, a grievance that will never be forgiven, a slight that will hurt the history of this nation forever, and yet, it is something I cannot in good conscious hold onto and let affect my decision making. Not today and not tomorrow. I cannot bring the lives that were lost back. I cannot undo the astronomical damage caused to us by the loss of the Eastern Seaboard. Any word said is not enough, any price paid is too little, there is not enough forgiveness in this world to make up for even an iota of what we lost. That, I will hide from you and that, I am prepared for you to hate me for.

And yet, I stand here about to board a plane to head and fight in a war side-by-side with the Empire. Because this is not an Imperial War, it is an Ardan War. And whilst every institution in this proud Union of ours delays of procedure, I have to go back its roots. For we come from men who set sail precisely to escape the kings and queens of Epa, who left behind all they had in order to sail into a land unknown. Prepared for riches and rags, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Men and women who answered to no God and no ruler. Who set sail because of an inner fire driving them. Who believed in the righteousness of their own cause, for there was nothing left for them at home.

Ten thousand of you are coming with me. The planes shall return, and I ask that if you carry any of that inner fire which first led mankind to cross the Alanktyda, then to be here for when the planes return and be another name in the next ten thousand that shall head to Epa.

The talk of duty is for the likes of Arascus. The talk of war is for the Kassandoras. The talk of ideals is for Allasarias and Helennas. I will not bargain. I will not plead. I will turn. I will head to Empire. And I will fight for what I believe in.

And today, I believe in Arda.

- The “Believe in Arda” speech given, given to a crowd in the UNN, just before Goddess Etala, of Democracy, departs with the first wave of UNN reinforcements to the Empire.

Days of Rage, Hour Nine.

Elassa readjusted her earpiece and let out a deep breath as she stopped channelling for just a moment. She could feel her mind starting to blur, thoughts were beginning to get tangled and every the action of breathing was a conscious effort she had to keep on doing to keep herself on her feet. Arcadia was secure, or as secured as it could even be when above the ginormous blue dome blanketing the school and the floating islands still in construction was constantly under fire. “Testing testing, High Command, are you there?” Elassa asked, closed her eyes for a moments and then flexed her fingers.

The Goddess of Magic did not even bother to fly anymore. The exertion of lifting herself up in the air was just too high a price to pay, it was just show. Her wardress moved in the violent wind, swirling when the advent of yet more magicians disfiguring the terrain shifted the atmosphere. The barrier couldn’t be made one-way, that magic was too complicated and flimsy to withstand the attack.

Instead, blue bubble ended just before it touched the ground, defended by mages there that constantly burst out from underneath their cover to hurl suppressive fire of flames, or the buckshot blasts of icicles, or cannonballs ripped out of stone from the ground, or invisible arrows that of air up towards the attackers as Elassa held the line. Alone, and supported entirely by the magical batteries that had more than half drained under the constant assault. “HIGH COMMAND! ANYONE FUCKING THERE!?” Elassa screamed into the air and then took another deep breath.

Frankly, the anger was good. She needed emotionality right now. Pure logic, no matter how she tried to think her way out of this siege, all led to the image of the shield cracking. Even the static hissing in her earpiece was good. If this was going to be some useless fucking bureaucrat then Elassa would go directly to… The voice that came through was the first voice that Elassa wanted to hear. The deep tone of Kassandora: “I’m online. Aris is secured, we have a method to hit them back.” And she spoke quickly. “I’ve seen the Arcadia footage, you’re overwhelmed.”

“Borderline.” Elassa said. “Do you have a plan?”

“We do.” Kassandora said. She paused for a moment, the microphone cut off, static blared into Elassa’s ear and the Goddess of Magic hissed in pain. Great. Amazing! That’s exactly what she fucking wanted right now! The crystals embedded into her dress began to spark again as she began channelling. The rage alone was a good fuel to keep the shield up.

“Fucking bitch.” Elassa muttered to herself as she channelled yet more and more energy upwards. There was no point reinforcing the batteries right now. Just more tedium. She had to hold this alone as her own men picked off the strays that ventured out of the Paradeisian formations in the air. Every now and then, they would catch an angel by the wing, flames ignite wing or maybe some spike of some element managed to stab through the armour. But for every winged creature that fell, another pair appeared through the portal.

The static hissing again announced Kassandora’s return. “I’m back.”

“I hear you.” Elassa said. “What is the plan?”

“Can you hold the blast from a thermonuclear missile if we miss?” Elassa blinked, her mouth worked as she tried to work out how to answer a question which was so direct. Was she being joked around with? They were going to nuke her?

“Ahhh…” Elassa said, she actually stopped channelling for a brief instant, and then held her barrier again when she saw cracks appear in the hue of blue air around Arcadia. “Are you serious?” Above, the Paradeisian Forces were totalled more than two hundred, packed into tight groups made up of several ranks, some tasked with defence, some with launching more invisible shockwaves towards the ground. Elassa would have charged into them already, if she did not have to stay behind and support this huge shield that covered not just Arcadia itself but the half-built floating islands that were destined to serve in the Million Man Miracle.

“I am.” Kassandora replied. “And Fortia will not sign off on the order until I get confirmation from you.” To think that the Goddess of Peace was saving her now. It was one of the worst feelings that Elassa had experienced. Even after all those arguments in the White Pantheon, the Goddess of Peace was looking out for her now. Or maybe she was just looking out for the success of the Empire, but it mattered little.

“I cannot hold it now.” Elassa said. That much was definite, she was borderline overwhelmed in the situation. To redirect power into containing an atomic explosion? That was utterly out of the question. Elassa raised her hand, the blue crystals on them grew even brighter, until Elassa herself had to divert some of focus to steadying her flows inside her else the sheer energy would crack the gemstones apart.

“Now?” Kassandora asked and Elassa groaned. What a useless question. Now was now! When else? Did she say tomorrow? Did now mean five hours in the future? No! Now was now! The angels behind the barrier raised their blades, swung in unison, and the barrier cracked even as Elassa was pouring her power into it. The blue energies recovered quickly enough, but that itself was a bad sign. Twice that amount, and it would have been overwhelmed.

“NOW!” Elassa screamed. “I need air support or some other shit KASS!” The final word was a scream as she rallied her strength against another coordinated assault. The barrier flared, the entire atmosphere around Arcadia pulsed bright blue as the mages were still doing little but bullshit. Elassa had thought she trained her cohort better than this, but apparently not.

“Understood.” Kassandora said. “I’ll send support.” For a moment, there was silence. Elassa finger’s curled, and she heard the crack of stone. Crystal rather. One of her rings flashed, from bright blue to pure, blinding white, and then went out.

“How long?” Elassa asked. Begged could have been the better word, but the Goddess of Magic was not someone who would ever beg. She took a deep breath and calm herself, this should be easy to do. It was like fighting Irinika or Allasaria. Her flows had to be steadier.

“Twelve minutes.” Kassandora said. “Do you need ground support?”

“Do you have any?” Elassa asked.

“Atny has one, it can get to you in an hour.” Elassa’s eyebrows darted downwards as the barrier around Arcadia flared once again. This time, she stilled her breath, contained her stress, killed her panic, and the gemstones on her hands, in her earrings, the fat jewel that sat inlaid on a necklace which rested on her bosom merely pulsed as the barrier recovered its cracks.

“Isn’t Atny under attack too?”

“Arcadia is a cat zero.” Kassandora said. “Atny is a cat one. I’ll send the entire garrison over if it’s needed.” Elassa knew exactly what Kassandora was talking about, but when it came from Of War’s mouth, it was a completely different tone than when Elassa declared an area to be written off the map. Magic was personal and cruel, War was a different beast entirely. Kassandora may as well have been stating that an apple was red.

“I need support.” Elassa said. What exactly was she supposed to say? What sort of defenders did Atny even have?

“I’ll send you them.” Kassandora said. The next surge of attacks came onto the massive spherical shield protecting Arcadia, a moment later, fire and ice and wind and stalactites of rock were sent in return, by the various mages that were working here. Finally, they had reorganised themselves and were casting the spells that they had been prepared for.

In the distance, from the north, clouds rumbled and began to turn. A series of tornados, all of them arcing with lightning, descended from the ground and Elassa grit her teeth as she prepared to hold not only the attacks from the Angels but also to protect her school from the damage its own pupils could create. In the west, a wall of fire sprawled out from the ground, a blazing inferno that rippled upwards and made the air shimmer around it.

The feeling of both natural disasters coming in to aid Arcadia calmed Elassa for a moment, and then that calm was disrupted when she felt something else in the air. A change in the air, a slight ripple even. It was similar to the feeling she had when this portal first revealed itself. And it was far worse. Far larger, and denser although Elassa knew what it was.

She had watched the great blade fall onto Imperial cities back during the Great War as it attempted to force its way through the sorcerous shielding that would protect every single one of them. She had tried to study it back then, to understand how such a massive object could be moved through reality and to try and triangulate its location. Always, Paradeisian forces quarantined the area. Elassa swallowed heavily and tested her earpiece. “Kass? You still there?”

“I am. What’s going on?”

“Skysplitter is here.”