Chapter 833 – The Other Side of Epa

Magic and Sorcery differ in that one demands a channel into reality. This is the official terminology of the War College of Arcadia even though I know that many magicians take issue with the word ‘demand’. Nevertheless, demand is what shall be used. For the magician’s relationship to magic is that of a master’s to a servants.

I will not say that this is the only method of using magic, for we wild casters who dance and imbue their emotions into the elements, and we have these hermits who live and supposedly ask the world and hope to receive. And I am certain that every rogue witch and wizard has their own secret methods for extracting just an inkling more of power from their meagre minds. Yet all I will say is that ninety-nine out of a hundred magical discoveries in the past two hundred years originated in either the War Collage of Arcadia, or another school affiliated with the Elassan methodology. And I will say that when magic is truly called upon them, then one does not to hermits, they do not even turn to the cults and guilds that supposedly practice their own arts. They turn to me.

Thus, magic demands a channel into reality. Willpower manipulates the spirit and the soul, and the body naturally holds both within it. Both as a method of safeguarding and as a prison. The catalyst serves as a bridge, between the external reality and the inner body and connects the two. That is the simplest definition without getting into the specifics of catalyst traits and other such things.

There is also the mention of casting magic without a catalyst, and it is why I use the word ‘demands’. In the same way that a master will demand that a servant water the plants, there is nothing preventing the master from water the plants themselves. It is a matter of efficiency, and nothing else.

The body serves as both a fortress and a prison. There are ways to break this fortress down and it is borderline impossible to rebuild once broken, but as magicians, we operate on the safe bridging using catalysts. The art of totally pure magic, without any constraints brought on by the physical body, is the work of sorcerers. I do not teach sorcery, no matter how great it is, because magic is a science.

For all who wish to try their hand at sorcery, I will forward to Anassa of Sorcery. Four in five who try their hand at breaking down the natural defences of the body, and expose their soul forevermore to the outside world, die. Four in five of those who survive that ritual get haunted within their lifetimes. A sorcerer that awakens at ten years of age has less than a third of a chance at reaching fifty, and this is excluding death from combat.

- Excerpt from “Magical Compendium, Volume Four.” Written before the Great War, by Goddess Elassa, of Magic.

Days of Rage, Hour Ten.

Anassa stood in the air, her black hair the only part of her body which was touched by the torrential sea winds above Ordeaux. The crimson dress wrapped tightly around her did not sway, nor swing, nor even float in the wind as the Goddess of Sorcery looked down upon a city that had been destroyed once, rebuilt, and was going to be destroyed again. It would have, but then Anassa got here.

And then the destruction had stopped.

The mountain that sat south to the city, which had been dropped on Anarchia so long ago it felt like years, had been turned into a firebase for missile anti-air. The city streets ran red with blood, a few buildings were destroyed. One dockyard had fallen, another had collapsed, it was a mere scratch on the Imperial megaport. Mermen had gotten to the edge of the coast and were staring up, not even bothering to cast their magics. Although the Imperial Military was only picking off strays that tried to run and put distance between themselves and the dozen Anassas which stood in the sky.

A dozen bodies, but only one Anassa. One of them noticed the swing of an angelic sword, another raised her hand forward to strike another Paradeisian fighter, the third snapped her fingers and conjured a sheet of crimson to protect a fourth Anassa. The fifth cast her arms into the air, a crimson moon appeared behind her. The massive sphere pulsed red and made the afternoon sun almost seem dim.

A line of red sorcery burst forwards from that moon, causing even more wind as it overwrote air and body and shockwave and angel. The wind imploded on the gap it left behind, cracking again and causing even more chaos in the formation of angels in the air. Anassa raised her hands ahead, Anassa snapped her fingers, Anassa twisted her grip, Anassa blinked as she repositioned herself to move out of her own line of fire.

And crimson descended from all sides upon the Paradeisian invaders. Ripped apart by charging lions and piercing beams, or eviscerated by hawks and snowflakes, or crushed by massive claws and hands which appeared and bound around the angels. For a moment, all was silence. Anassa snapped her fingers, half the Anassas disappeared and cracked and bloody bodies began to fall from the sky.

Looking down, Anassa saw the Imperial Army push even further onwards. Grey and dark suits of the local garrison, and the standard issue camo of proper regiments from nearby military bases. Supposedly, Kassandora and Fortia had already managed to lock portals in Doschia down. Ordeaux must have been a location of importance for the Paradeisians though. They were relentless here.

Anassa’s crimson eyes caught movement phasing out of the portal and she prepared herself for another slaughter. Her incarnations split again, until they numbered a dozen. She let them come out in teams and formations every time, merely catching the blows with her invincible shields of sorcery so that there would be no terrorizing the city down below. When there were twenty angels on this side of the portal, Anassa got to work with clearing them away.

The sky of Ordeaux flashed crimson again as angular, insane imagination was twisted onto reality. The Imperial Army down below reached their firing positions. Massive artillery pieces lowered their blows, cutting into the brick and tarmac roads. Pistons hissed as stabilizer legs extended and cracked even more terrain. And Anassa got a communication from the local general. The second today, the first had been merely to ask whether she needed any help: ‘We are in firing position, ready when you are, Goddess.’

“Fire at will.” Anassa replied. All but one of the Anassa’s disappeared and the Goddess of Sorcery watched from above, wiping the sweat off her brow, she still stood in the air, close enough that she could hop back into the battle should another wave come but far enough that anti-air could fire freely. She would have almost enjoyed it had Kassandora not rang her phone.

One of the Anassas answered it, and they all heard the voice through the other side. What a marvellous little invention, far better than using smoke signals or sorcerous gemstones to send commands. And if Kassandora was going directly instead of through the phone… Anassa chuckled to herself. The first word ruined it. “Finally.” Kassandora said. “You’re impossible to get a hold of.”

“Am I now?” Anassa asked.

“You’re off grid from the local base.”

“I just spoke to them.” Anassa said.

“Did you connect to them or did they to you?” Kassandora asked and Anassa chuckled.

“Do you think I know the answer to such technical details?”

“No.” Kassandora said. From the other side of the phone, there was laughter.

“Well sweet sister, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Anassa asked. She held the phone to her ear and stared up at the portal as explosions came from within it. Now, she could actually put some distance between herself and the opening. With all the heavy anti-air, made to shoot down Tartarian swarms securing this area, the Angels could not push back out through the kill zone.

And they would have to push through a pair of them now. “Its abou-“

Anassa interrupted Kassandora. “Wait. There’s planes incoming.” Anassa said, there was no interceptors coming to get them. Nor was the anti-air turning its guns west. Yet west lay the Alanktyda, and the Empire had no airports or reserves in that direction. They couldn’t be Imperial then. Anassa cocked her head to one side. “Friendly or no?” Maybe no one had been alerted because she was in the area and it was her mess to clean up?

“Fuck FRIENDLY Ana!” Kassandora shouted suddenly. “Did you down them already?”

“No.” Anassa said and Kassandora breathed a sigh of relief. From the other side of the phone, a voice that Anassa recognised as Kavaa’s muttered something inaudible. “What was that Kavaa?” The low tone of the doctor was the only one like that.

There was a moment to reply, then Kavaa spoke clearly into the phone. “All I did was just say you’re idiotic.” Kavaa said, a moment of clattering, and then Kassandora was back.

“I’m back.” Kassandora said. “NO, those are Etala’s troops.”

“The UNN?” Anassa asked.

“Reinforcements, supposedly.” Kassandora said. “Don’t ask, don’t bother, don’t say anything to me, Dad organised it supposedly. I’m not happy. I think that’s clear, right?”

Clear as day. Anassa wanted to coo and taunt, well, she supposed with the securing of Ordeaux, now was a good a time as any. “Oh really? What makes you say that?”

“Ten thousand untrained men ready to assist us in a battle, why do you think? And now a fucking Goddess of Democracy we have to babysit.”

“Send her to Allasaria.” Anassa said quickly. That was the easy solution and frankly, Allasaria deserved to do some babysitting. It was a hazing ritual to truly become one of the upper echelons. How could Anassa respect a Goddess who had never been forced to watch over an upstart junior?

“And slow her down?” Kassandora asked. “No, Etala is going to Arascus, he’s not moving about anyway.” Well, that solved it too. Anassa preferred her own plan though. “Skysplitter is dropping on Arcadia, Elassa detected it.” It was almost farcical how one small sentence could change the entire course of the conversation that was being said. Skysplitter was dropping? Anassa had to intervene. She had to go, and she had to go now! “Elassa can hold the barrier though, for a while longer.”

“Kass.” Anassa said. She would go. She would break orders and go. And she… Anassa knew she wouldn’t, in matters like this, Kassandora’s word was law. “I need to go.”

“And you will.” Kassandora said. “I’m going to send you a list of cities to clear out on the way.”

“Kass.”

Kassandora raised her voice and made it even harder. The same tone that she used when she talked to humans. “Anassa, understand that the Empire is under attack right now, Arcadia is not the only place that is under threat right now and I’m not having a pair of Divines stand around for hours when we are losing more and more ground by the minute. If I had a time, I would micromanage you down to the fucking minute, but I fucking don’t, so you’re getting a fucking list and that list better be fucking clear before you head to Arcadia.”

Anassa took a deep breath. The worst part about arguing with Kassandora was that Kassandora was always correct, always optimal and always the boss. It didn’t make the words come out any easier. Anassa just about managed to hold herself together as to not scream in public. “Send me the fucking list.”

Her phone buzzed a moment later. Anassa opened it immediately, the map was Kassandoran through and through, the route was almost a straight line. Her sister was serious about help. Anassa released a deep breath, even more infuriated. If she was going to be near those cities, she may as well help. “Is eight hours possible?” It was possible in two, and it would leave Anassa exhausted. With the amount of cities she had to hit on the way… “I don’t want you to secure, I want clears on them, the local commanders I’m going to inform and to rally with you. Fifteen minutes per city max.”

“I’ll be pushing.” Anassa replied dryly. There was nothing to lie about. She was a Divine, and Divinity never got tired, but that didn’t change the fact that Anassa knew where her limits sat. Above them, several of the planes began to descend. Etala and her forces, coming to do nothing but throw more willing bodies into the meatgrinder. Anassa wondered if they even had weaponry with them. “Etala’s troops will hold this area?”

“The Imperial Army will.” Kassandora said. “Don’t even talk to me about it.” On the other side, she was typing something already. “Alright. I have a war to manage.”

And with that, Kassandora dropped the call.

Anassa turned around, calibrated herself to the first city in her list and took a step. Two miles done.