The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]

Ultimately, the sheer amount of organisation limits rituals to a few hundred members at most. It is much better to use the art of Relay-Magic, named after the Relay Race. Spells are cast, powered, then passed off between groups of individuals. This is why it is important for magicians to be experts of science just as much as magic.

One could try to force a hurricane into existence, or groups of mages could adjust the air pressure over a region to make the conditions for a tropical storm. A flood is merely being overwhelmed by water. An archmage could try and flood a valley, but why when a thousand novices can independently bring out a lake from the ground and achieve the same effect? Likewise, magical smelting is rarely done through sheer force of will by a single individual but rather the channelling of separate, yet equally hot, flames, by teams.

Whereas those who long for the days of individual competition are obviously going to bemoan this change, warfare is not an individual art. It does not care for the skills of individuals, it cares for expressions of the whole. That is the fundamental flaw with this ancient, pretentious style of thinking. That is nothing to say of the fact that in a Relay, perfection becomes a ceiling to reach rather than a bar to balance on. Or the fact that mages which would spend years in some no-name academy, congratulations themselves on how their minds expand, could be sent immediately to the field to have an effect on this world that isn’t just their own gloating self-satisfaction. If we wish to militarize magic, then the Ritual should be abandoned in exchange for the Relay.

- Excerpt from “Magical Militarization”, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War.

Arascus and Kassandora both stood to the entrance of Salvation Skunkworks, a full twenty of travel had been done, then an hours’ march through Arcadia even at the fast pace the two of them could set. That final stretch had been largely silent, the ride here had been filled with plan upon plan detailing how to counter the various nobles of Tartarus. Kassandora had rang Malam several times to ask about Lilith’s presence and if they found anything, along with Fortia and Maisara multiple times to bother them with questions about what the royalty was like when they weren’t engaged in combat.

For Arascus, it had been the opposite. He was mulling things over in his mind, on what to do about the Of Empire question, and detailing plans on how to maintain morale in the rest of Epa now that Tartarus had reached the Esberian shore. The landbridge would have to be raided, there was no doubt of that. And there was no doubt that it would be defended heavily as well. The bridge to Rilia would have to be long, that one would be easy to strike at, but the Esberian issue?

One could stand at the beach of one continent and see the other. A pair of princes could defend the entirety of it. Asmodeus would probably be stationed somewhere over there. His daughters weren’t him either, the demon would outright incapacitate all but Fer. And no matter how much Arascus tried to focus his own mind with thought of strategy and politics and policy and everything that needed to be done, he still strayed back to the wrench that was Of Empire.

Even though his own whims had been to catch up with Kass and check up on her, they had shared maybe half an hour of conversation about pleasantries interspersed between their own work. “By the way.” Kassandora said just a moment before he knocked on the door. Above them was a huge picture of a skunk that someone had painted in a stupid, anthropomorphized artstyle. Skunks did not, or should not, smile or wear clothes like that.

“Yes?”

“I wanted to ask you before because we’ll probably forget.” Kassandora said and sighed. Arascus put his arm down and away from the door. A pillar of fire rose in the distance from behind a hill, then another, and another, until there were seven in total. “I…” Kassandora said, she went red.

Arascus asked the one thing that could make her blush. “Kavaa?”

Kassandora nodded and spoke so quickly it didn’t sound like her. “She was supposed to ask you but you weren’t in your room last night so she missed you and didn’t think it’d be appropriate at the station today when everyone was there so…” Arascus smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.

“I was with Iri, what did she want to say?”

“Well it was her idea.” Kassandora said and looked away. “Honestly I don’t even want to do it, but she made me promise to her that I would ask you and I’ve been putting it off and…” Arascus just shook his head and contained the urge to laugh. The mighty Goddess of War, with crimson hair the colour of spilled blood, the figure that every soldier looked up to, was now worried because of her friend. How sweet. She trailed off into silence.

“What did Kavaa want to ask me?”

“She…” Kassandora said. “I mean, I told to do without telling you but she wanted to go through the proper channels and…” Arascus raised an eyebrow. Surely it wasn’t a marriage proposal? Surely! “She wanted to take me on a trip somewhere…” Kassandora said quietly.

Arascus blinked, he couldn’t contain the smile. It was so cute that he immediately wanted to tell everyone else. “Go whenever you want.” Arascus said. “Kavaa just needs to bless her men, and then you can go.”

“There’s a war going on.”

“A day or two won’t change anything.”

“What about a week?”

“We have Iliyal.” Arascus said.

“But someone needs to plan.”

“I’m here.”

“But it’s war.”

“I’ll tell Fer to convince you.”

Kassandora sighed. “I’m sure Irinika has told everyone already.”

Time to bring out the secret weapon. “If you don’t go, I’ll be unhappy with you.” Kassandora just blinked and went red.

“Will you?”

“Very.” Arascus said. “You should go, it’ll be good for both of you.”

“But…” Kassandora trailed off. “I… What would I even do?”

“Just enjoy yourself.” Arascus said, if she needed help, then he would write her out a whole damn schedule but that wouldn’t be good for her. Kassandora needed to learn how to start enjoying things on her own terms. And what a sweetheart Kavaa was! Arascus could honestly say that he loved that girl! To think she had the courage to ask Kassandora of all people to ask him? To think she went to knock on his door and he was away! He would ring her as soon as there was time. Definitely. This had to be planned. Kassandora would enjoy herself whether she wanted to or not. “No more questions, you’re going Kass.” Arascus and didn’t bother knocking, he just opened the door to Salvation Skunkworks.

Arascus had seen images from inside. Helenna and Malam both had gotten contacts from the scientists that Elassa had brought in, since the woman herself was utterly inept at reporting progress, but one really had to step inside Salvation Skunkworks to truly appreciate the chaos of what a magical warehouse could look like. The air was thick with volcanic ash, the smell was of pure every chemical that could be named on this world. There was a horde of scientists, interspersed with a horde of mages. Ones in coats of white now coloured grey from the sheer mess here, the others in long robes that ended just above the ankle. Corkboards and fold-out tables were overflowing with papers, whiteboards were overflowing with chemical and magical formulas. Elassa herself stood inspecting atomic formulas on a board, scowling. As always, she wore her blue dress, it was dirty in patches, her hands were also covered in ash. She saw Arascus and Kassandora enter, her scowl visibly twisted into frustration and she slowly approached them. They met each other half way through the massive hall, Elassa struck first. “You have come.”

“We’ve come to inspect your progress.” Arascus said dryly. Elassa stared at him for a moment, then to Kassandora, then back to him. She pursed her lips and crossed her hands, then looked back to the pile of ash, a mountain of gemstones behind it.

“As you can see, I’m still working on it.” She sounded downright miserable, that always meant that progress was slow.

“We expect that.” Arascus said. “But if you’ve hit a dead-end, then you’ve hit a dead-end. There is a war going on.”

“I am trying.” Elassa said. “We’re not playing games here, there’s no breaks and there’s no…” She trailed off. “There’s no progress in any realistic capacity being done.” Arascus just stood there for a moment, now, it was important to make sure that Elassa didn’t burn out or give up.

“What is the main problem?”

“Sheer volume.” Elassa said, she turned and extended an arm out to the pile of ash. “To demolish this is easy, even the students have been asked to theorize and practice with ash manipulation.”

“So it can’t be extended then?” Arascus asked.

“There isn’t a single mage in this world, not even me, that can directly manipulate such a large amount of mass and over such a large terrain.” Elassa waved her hand, the silver and platinum rings, all topped off with blue gems, sparkled for a moment. The ash split in two. “Compare it to the ocean, that’s the best. We’re not doing this.” A single finger was moved and the ash made two walls. “That is easy, even at distance, you’re just forcing the world out.” The same finger bounced and the ash returned to its pile. “You’re not asking me to do that though, you’re asking for this.” The finger bounced, the blue sapphire flashed with a flame inside the crystal and the ash rose into the air. “Effectively to raise the entire ocean at the same time. That can’t be done.”

Kassandora stood there for a moment. “Have you tried transmuting it?” She asked.

Elassa took a few moments to respond. “Come for a walk.” She said. “Come, I have something to show you.” Arascus looked at Kassandora, she just shrugged. Both of the Divines followed Elassa out of Salvation Skunkworks. Arcadia was one of the few lands which did not have the permanent crowds that followed Divines. It was refreshing on one hand, the magicians here still stiffened their backs and showed off their best behaviour, but there was no cameras or pictures. And the utter indifference would have been worrying if he didn’t prepare for it. If this was how they acted under the White Pantheon, Arascus could easily tell why Grand Arcadia had been such a disaster, the other heads of Olympiada would have no doubted hated it. “It’s not far, do not worry.”

Kassandora shook her head and followed along. Arascus fell in besides his daughter. “So you have tried transmuting it?”

“I have.” Elassa picked out a book from one of the shelves besides the door, then stepped outside. The pair of Divines followed. Those pillars of flame were gone, now, a monsoon was falling behind that hill. “Ignore them, they are useless.”

“There’s a landbridge to Esberia already.” Arascus said. “Rilia will soon be connected. We can raid the Rilian bridge, the Esberia one will be more difficult.”

“I see.” Elassa said as she led them around the massive building to its side, then to back.

“That means you’re running out of time.” Arascus said.

“Transmutation works.” Elassa said. “This is the proof.” She stopped before a pit in the grass. The terrain here was surreal, this area was a pristine garden, half-way through the hilltop, the land looked scorched. Next to the hill was a swamp with still water. A group of magicians started cresting the hill, led by a teacher, they marched in rank formation to a chant.

“If it works then…” Arascus peered inside the hole. Elassa brought out the book to Kassandora as Arascus stared at a flood of brilliant, shining white diamonds that made a kaleidoscope of light when they glittered. “Well, it works.” Still though, diamonds?

“Anything that sets off a chain reaction is too dangerous to try.” Elassa said. “We would be incinerating such a large section of the atmosphere that we would throw the world into chaos. Some of your scientists even theorize that there’s a chance of oxygen levels dropping to a dangerous average, others are worried it will burn the atmosphere away. A worldwide disaster ten times that of Continent Cracking is the baseline. It would be like condensing ten years of Worldbreaking into a single spell.” She finished dryly. “That is why you have heard no reports from me, because we have hit a brick wall, the ash cannot be removed with destructive force, we are searching for more transmutations. Diamonds are the safest and easiest things to use. It’s on the first page Kassandora. I have a plan, but it’s not feasible by any definition of the word.”

Kassandora opened the first page to give it a quick read. The book wasn’t particularly thick. “You wrote all this?”

“It’s unfinished.” Elassa said. “But it doesn’t have to be, it’s not complicated magic, could it be theoretically possible? Yes. Could I organise it? No. Never.”

“Have you thought of splitting it up?”

“That is the back up plan on page five. To go and chip away at the Ashfront in small sections. The issue is whether we’ll be able to outpace however they’re bringing it into our world for that amount of time.” Arascus stared down at the diamonds.

“How many is that?”

“It’s going to be some twenty tons by now.” Elassa answered. “Why? Do you want some?”

“No.” He felt Kassandora tap his arm and finally peeled away from the sheer sight of such perfect gemstones simply lying in a pit. “Is it possible?” He took the book from Of War.

“This isn’t my demesne.”

Arascus looked at the diagrams on the front, above them, the title: ‘Clearing Ashen Skies’. Simple transmutation circles as had been done in the past. They were truly tested magics, even novice meisters could be trained to cast them. He turned the page, saw the map, and blinked. Elassa must have known what was on that page. “I think you can see now it’s not my sort of problem.”

“Can it be made any smaller?”

“It has to be a perfect circle.” Elassa said. “I can’t re-write the fundamental laws of magic.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

“No.”

Arascus stared at the map. It truly wasn’t Elassa’s problem at this point. Not whatsoever. It was a problem of organization and engineering and fine-tuning. A problem of scale, a scale so magnificent that even he didn’t know whether it was possible. He looked at the subtitle under the map. That one line effectively summed up the problem they were working with:

The Thirty-Thousand Mile Ritual.