Chapter 638 – The Bronze Shield, The Silver Spear
In the fashion that warfare is currently waged, it is obvious that they are not aware of our weaknesses and we are only barely aware of theirs. It is a war fought in total ignorance of the other’s weaknesses save for those that are most obvious in the military setting.
We are all aware of the Imperial technological advance. Radar technology, long range artillery, rapid fire guns, their navy and these new missiles that have successfully repelled all advances we have made in the south are obvious and have been discussed to death, I can add little to the conversation by voicing my own private opinions: they are nothing original in the first place. Nevertheless, I would like to of the recent infiltration campaign led by Princess Belili.
Were Arascus’ Empire to be made into a weapon, it could only be made into a polearm. It keeps us as distance, the blade itself is terrible but the more we discover about them, the less there seems to be behind that blade save for the very long handle. Their cities, somewhat unexpectedly, are wholly unfortified. Their vehicles rely on fuel constructed in centralized refineries. The assumption that each local province would provide for and sustain its own levies is wrong. In terms of refining, there are less than a hundred throughout the entire continent. The ten largest of these provides more than a third of all Imperial fuel reserves.
Yet we can go even further. Their fertilizer plants, used to sustain the greater populations, number less than thirty. And we can go even further, which is their power grid. In this regard, it is not just the Empire, it is all Arda that seems to have advanced to the point there are utterly reliant on this “electricity”. The targeting of their power grid is one tactic that could be used.
Yet we can go even further.
In Rancais, the vast majority of their power supply is in the currently inaccessible north. Whereas I am uncertain as to the total damage we may do or whether the Empire has redundancies in place, we should strike what we can just to see how they will react. Princess Belili has tracked down the most important locations in Rancais. She has identified the Bolfech Nuclear Power Plant in the south, in a relatively exposed region, far from any major cities which could be used to marshal armies.
On the reverse page, I have attached an alternative route for Legion. I struggle to think of any reason as to why Bolfech should be allowed to operate when we are very capable of disabling it.
- Report written by Prince Semirge, presented to the Total War Council of Tartarus.
“Goddess Kassandora has arrived.” Kavaa finally stepped away from the ranks of men congregated on this field. They were outside Ordeaux, the city was in a state of reconstruction and ruin simultaneously after the Anarchia crisis. The mountain that Elassa had brought to drop on the Goddess of Anarchy still lay in the distance, to the cities south. It had a statue dedicated to Of Magic on top of it, along with Kassandora, below her, and Maisara further down. On rock face were carved portraits of Raptor One and Two, below them the INS Resolution that had fired the railgun. At the foot of the mountain were smaller statues to the four sorcerers, flags of Empire and flags of Rancais waved in the wind around it.
And from it, the city in the north was being devoured by the continuous construction of the largest port in Epa. Enough damage had been done during the crisis that most of the buildings needed to be torn down. Skyscrapers were coming in to replace them. It was Rancais though, so those skyscrapers were masterworks all. Adorned not with steel and glass but with the yellow-gold stone that had always made up the city. Their windows were tall and narrow, each brick was carved with another new design. It was a city to behold.
And it had a new train station, possibly the largest in Epa, although Kavaa wasn’t sure. The Empire had come to build it in preparation for the opening of the Ordeaux Megaport, it had been the easiest location to funnel a hundred and sixty thousand men into. The buildings that would one day hold the megaport’s workers even served as temporary accommodations for Clerics of the Silver Spear and the Bronze Shield.
“Has she now?” Kavaa pulled away from the line of men. “Reorganize yourselves, into a line and wait!”
A chorus of “Yes Goddess!” Came from the soldiers dressed in pristine uniforms. Those clothes were the only thing pristine about them. Every set of eyes was cold and lost, many of them couldn’t even stand still if not given the order to. They rarely talked amongst themselves, unless they happened to save in the same units back in the Second Expedition. All in all, Kavaa found no fault with them. This was the sort of soul for whom Clerical healing would give a purpose.
Hopefully.
Maybe.
Well, it would do something, and Kavaa’s blessing was not difficult nor tiring to hand out. The worst part about it was that this pair of Orders would effectively be tied to Maisara and Fortia. If anyone but Arascus or Kassandora had told her to do this, Kavaa would tell them to die. But it had been Arascus, and then Kassandora, and Kavaa would not argue with those two. Not with Arascus after how he treated her in the UNN, and definitely not with Kassandora.
Fortia and Maisara would have their Holy Orders of Clerics, no matter how bitter a taste they left in Kavaa’s mouth. She turned around and all bitterness immediately left her mind. Kassandora was jumping off the back of a military truck. Her crimson hair a magnificent royal cape, her back coat dashing, her eyes fierce and… Kavaa chuckled at her own racing thoughts. She was acting like the little human girls who had fallen in love for the first time.
Kassandora on the other hand did not look happy whatsoever. Her mouth was contorted into a scowling grimace and she practically stalked past the few soldiers that had come with Kavaa to help organise the men who would be getting blessed. “Kass!” Kavaa shouted. “Good to see you.” They shook hands, they hugged, as always, and they pulled away. Kassandora said nothing. “Do you want to talk?” Kavaa smiled, her eyes going to the trees in the distance. It would be better in there than with thousands of gazes upon her back.
“It’s not important.” Kassandora said, sighing.
That meant it wouldn’t be personal then. Disappointing, but nothing could change the fact they were in a state of war right now. “What’s happening?”
“I have only bad news.” Kassandora said. “Elassa wants a thirty-thousand-mile ritual circle.” The tone was utterly resigned. “Father is working on it, but it’s…” Kassandora pursed her lips. “Well, it is what it is, borderline impossible I think. I don’t see how we’re going to do it, but it’s not my demesne.”
“Is it not?”
“It’s engineering.” Kassandora said. “And bureaucracy and mass organisation and everything else like that. Arascus is going to be working on it.”
“So you’re going to do it?” Kavaa’s eyes grew wide. The moment she heard the mention of such a scale… Well, it had never been done. And it wasn’t in the fashion of cracking Arika, which had precedent in Worldbreaking. Nor was it something like the Empire, which, as marvellous as it was, stood as the rising pinnacle of governance. It was a logistical problem, true and simple. Kavaa took a deep breath. Akin to the same thing as trying to send man into space or bring cargo over the oceans. There was no…
Well, man could enter space, or he could not. Cargo could sail the seas, or it could not. A thirty-thousand-mile ritual could be done, or it could not. And judging from Kassandora’s expression, things weren’t looking for it. “I’m not going to do it.” Kassandora spoke through a sigh, her voice strained. “It’s like telling me to siege Olympiada by myself, some things cannot be done.”
Kavaa let out a humoured breath. “Well good thing we have Arascus then.”
“Good thing we have Arascus.” Kassandora grumpily sat down. “I’ve come to tell you to evacuate.”
“Oh?”
“Legion is coming, it’s breached the Ashfront, it was heading to Aledo, then made a turn towards the Rancais border.” Kavaa didn’t know why she found that funny, it wasn’t funny. Legion was unstoppable, the monster replicated by spitting out its own spawn. It was an unfeeling mass of bodies that seemingly did not care if they got hurt or if they died, linked together by the single soul which united them. In the Great War, it had been deployed to force Neneria to retreat. But Kassandora said it so easily and so lightly that it was humorous. As if someone commented on the fact that the sun was not going to rise with the same tone as describing that grass was green.
“You sound like you’re taking it seriously.” Kavaa replied.
“Well I’m not going to cry over it.” Kassandora said. “Legion is heading to Rancais, where, we’ll have to see. Either way, it is what it is.” Kassandora sighed again and looked at the men of the Bronze Shield and the Silver Spear that were currently being assembled. “I’ve read your reports on this lot.”
“The Imperial Army produces good stock.” Kavaa said. That was all she could say on the matter. The men here had been pulled from the Second Expedition, they knew what death was, they had witnessed it countless times during the retreat in Tartarus’ first counter-attack. They would not break and go mad just because they had to witness healing. And they were Imperial. It was a different matter here from the UNN, there, rationing her power made it more exquisite. Here? Well, why should she not spare it out.
The thought made Kavaa smile. Kassandora noticed it. “What are you smiling about? The situation isn’t good.”
“I’m a hypocrite.” Kavaa said. “And I don’t really care.” Ultimately, this was the Empire and if Arascus told her to give every single soul here her power, she would do it. It would take years, decades even, but it would be done. And that was that. The UNN, Ciria, Halkus, that entire lot were not Imperial, so they did not deserve her. “Aren’t I the worst?”
“You are.” Kassandora said dryly. Kavaa’s grey eyes went wide. That, she did not expect! Since when did her Kassie get this snarky to her of all people?
“What?”
“It just means you fit right in.” Kassandora said slowly. “Besides, you’re the best to me, it doesn’t matter what you call yourself.” If romance was incarnate, it would have probably curled up and died when it heard those words in that flat tone. But to Kavaa, it was the most romantic set of words ever said to her.
“Do you want a drink?”
Kassandora actually turned her down. “No. I’m planning.” She took a deep breath. “I came because I’ll be dealing with Legion and because you’re in the area and two minds are better than one.” Kavaa could practically jump for joy on the spot. Kassandora would never admit to wanting to spend time with someone, but that was practically as good as it got.
“Well then I’ll take a break.” Kavaa said. They would be done tonight anyway. Only five thousand of the a hundred and eighty thousand men remained to be blessed into Clerics.
“Go ahead.” Kassandora said. “We’re tracking Legion, if it turns north, this city is getting abandoned.” She looked past Kavaa at the ruins interspersed with rebuilding. “The train station is running, your men may need to slow it down if it comes to that, I’ll assist.”
“We’ve faced worse before.”
“Mmh.” Kassandora said and shrugged. “So we have, so we have. If it goes to Arseille, me and you are moving in to slow it down.” Kassandora turned to the soldiers and lowered her voice. “So prepare for that. Elassa has been made aware, she will come in, we’ll have to hold it back for a while.”
“Where is she now?”
“Fortifying Esberian cities.” Kassandora said dryly. She turned to Kavaa, opened her mouth, and closed it. Kavaa saw the hesitation, there was something Kassandora wanted to say. She was even beginning to faintly blush over it. Kavaa smiled. Kassandora returned it. “I asked Arascus by the way.”
Kavaa just raised an eyebrow. “Should I ask for what?”
“For…” Kassandora’s blush went even redder. “Oh it was terrible. Do you know how embarrassed I was?”
It had to be something good then. “What did you ask him for?”
Kassandora’s posture collapsed, her arms fell to her sides, she looked down at the grass, at the mountain in the distance, at Ordeaux, and then, finally, after delaying the moment for so long, she managed to force the word out of herself.”
“Holiday.” Kassandora whispered. “He agreed.”
The Goddess of War and the Goddess of Life stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other. Kavaa felt her mind shut down. She had… Of course Arascus would agree though. There had not been a chance that he would not. Why had she even been nervous?
The pair burst out into giggling fits of laughter.