The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]

The various councils of Paraideisius have made their decision. The planet of Arda shall be cut off from their rock, no communication shall be attempted with the natives unless they reach out to us first. No bestowing of technology shall be attempted. No enlightenments shall be given. With what they have, they have proven themselves untrustworthy and their own actions pose the greatest threat to their own continued survival. With what we may give them, they endanger not just themselves put us as well.

Until there comes a time when that planet sets aside its own ways of strife and reaches out to us, we shall not venture upon it again. There is nothing good to learn from their disaster of a history, there is nothing pleasant in our world’s experience with them. There is only the continuation of a history that is straddles the line of extermination without ever venturing across it.

They would not view uplifting as the gift that it is, they would view it as a threat of irrelevance. And they would proceed to make themselves relevant.

That is the decision of the Councils.

Arda is declared as a world beyond approach.

- “World Beyond Approach” Declaration of Arda, by the various high councils of Paraideisius.

Asmodeus had seen the great magma wyrms in the lakes of fire back home. He had seen Emperor Leonifer devour power and life essence through the flat palm of his hand. He had seen the choirs of Paraideisius, the dragons that had soared for the Empire back in the First Arascan War, he had witnessed Irinika, Olephia and Arascus all turn up on a battlefield, that last one had done it rather recently as well. And he felt a shiver go down his spine as if he was waking up from the most horrendous dream he could possibly ever have.

Fer had drank Maisara’s blood, it was the only thing that made sense. That explained the silver dashes in her hair, the shift in colour within her tail to something resembling a paler white. It solved the question of how she could had such a massive increase in speed. And it could be done. Of that, Asmodeus was sure. He had pushed them, of course they would not reason to fight as they had. They would go for every advantage they had, ever trick that could be materialized. Every tiny little advantage which could be pressed, would be pressed. This was how Arda always did things.

Asmodeus pulled back his arrow even further, putting as much energy into it as he possibly could. Fer did not even bother looking at the approaching army as that raced as her. And the prince of darkness, in the shadow of the greater demon by his side and with his form hidden by the cloak of darkness hanging from his shoulders, held his breath as he timed for a release. He knew how he shot. He would not let get comfortable with whatever patterns she managed to sniff out on him.

The army swallowed, or maybe Fer swallowed them army. The Tartarian Legion crashed from ahead as Fortia’s sonic boom of a spear rang out again. Asmodeus merely flicked his eyes towards of peace to make sure she still hadn’t found him. A greater demon falling over, its body split in two by the force of that massive attack, confirmed he was still hidden. Asmodeus watched Fer rip through the army he was supposed to command here.

Of Beasthood picked up a legionnaire and split him in half like a doll. Unlike before, where she would simply wade through and regenerate attacks, she was dodging them now. Effectively, without any flare or excess movement. She would lean to the side, her tail served as an extra limb that could either whip or be used as a balancing leg. She rolled, staying close to the ground as Asmodeus learned her patterns. It was all of Maisara’s brutal, simplistic elegance, the killing for the sake of killing alone and the unreal textbook perfection rolled into a person who also fought like a wolf.

Fer rolled to the side, her gaze always pressed forward as a Greater Demon temporarily blocked Asmodeus’ view. Fortia’s spear rang out again but the ICDT Tower was destroyed, after the crystal had shattered, the blue veins running down its sides had ruptured and the structure was beginning to tilt and collapse. Fortia could be overwhelmed later, after the rest of the navy was sunk. Getting her was a chance, getting the Imperial ships was a certainty. It was better to inflict damage where it could be found.

Asmodeus watched Fer scurry over and through that Greater Demon. She didn’t seem to care that it was armoured in inch-thick blacksteel plate straight from the forges of Tartarus. Her claws, now bloodied, simply cut and tore as if they were made of the same material as Maisara’s axe. Her tail caught the demon’s leg, she made some forwards, upwards pirouette, her jaw shot under the demons arm, tearing and cutting at the chest, her arm ripped enough of a chunk out of the same spot that demon was dead before he finished dropping to his knees and then falling face flat onto the ground.

Asmodeus would have aimed, had Fer not moved as quickly as she did. Her speed was downright unreal, even he was struggling to keep up, and there was no point shooting when her eyes were focused on him. A pillar of fire slammed into her, she simply dashed forwards, pressing deeper into the army. Another wall stopped her, pikes pressed in from all arounds. Bolts of arrows fired at her, bolts of molten magma too. Fer rolled to the side, a demon almost succeeded in poking her in the chest. She caught the halberd, straightened, spun it round.

Asmodeus saw the woman’s back and knew the waiting had paid off. That was exactly the short he had wanted. He released the arrow. A bolt of darkness ripped from his bow as the string fashioned out of nothing but null energy shot forwards, becoming the black trail that the arrow left behind when it flashed across the sky and towards Fer. She wasn’t Arascus, it didn’t matter what level of power she had managed to steel from Maisara, very simply, it would not be enough. Asmodeus’ eyes grew wide.

He didn’t even catch the grab or the spin, but he saw his own bolt of black energy impact and burn away against the torso of a demon Fer had grabbed by the head and lifted into position. She dropped the body and stepped around it as blackfire swallowed the demon whole. Asmodeus drew his bow again, this time actually needing to force his hand to stillness. He drew, he caught sight of Fer.

She had carved a channel through the Tartarian Legion, knocking the life out of his soldiers, tearing through their flesh and breaking their bones raced onwards. Asmodeus tilted his bow, held his breath and fired. He fired again. And again, and after that, he fired again. He saw Fer make a harsh turn, not a total dodge, a slide as she flexed and arced her body backwards. One bolt went above her chin, the other above her back. She dropped her hands backs and leapt off the ground.

Asmodeus fired at her. One bolt, another, instant slivers of darkness to catch and slow her down. Even one lucky shot should be enough. Any single catch would freeze her, she may even be able to recover from it, but in that recovery period, Asmodeus would easily be able to put another two or three bolts in her. Fer’s tail pushed her backwards cartwheel into an unnatural movement that the Prince of Darkness couldn’t have possibly predicted. She landed on her feet, and the charge towards him continued.

Another set of arrows were sent out, this time, Fer dropped down to her legs, smashing through the Tartarian soldiers which raised shields and spears, or simply turned and ran. Asmodeus couldn’t blame any of them, even when they did land a cut on the edge of Beasthood, they barely managed to break the skin. The monster struggled to even bleed. He launched another series of arrows, most of them hit his own troops in the back as Fer snaked her way across the landbridge.

She bounced from side to side, Fortia had started to cover her movements. Greater demons would be shot down by Peace’s thunderous booming spear. The ship’s naval artillery was firing again, Asmodeus knew he should turn his attention but he couldn’t look away from those cold red eyes fixed completely on him, framed by that hair of intertwined gold and silver. Through the troops, through the cavalry, through magical barriers of fire that should have started to incinerate her. Through it all, the only thing she tried to dodge still was Paramethus arrows.

And he could tell that those were being dodged through skill and thinking, rather than intuition and reaction. The white horned demon must have send a hundred arrows towards Fer. They only came close physically because Fer let them to when she dodged and perfectly snaked her entire body around the flick of darkness. And then, Asmodeus found himself holding the arrow when he heard Fortia’s spear, felt the wind shoot past him, and then realised that the Goddess of Peace had thrown her supersonic lance across the entire landbridge to kill his cover. He should turn and aim at her, but he couldn’t. Not when Fer stopped and stared at him only a short distance away, his bow aimed perfectly at the centre of her chest. It didn’t matter how fast she was now, at some point, there simply wasn’t enough distance to truly react.

Fer bared her teeth and growled at Asmodeus. Fortia’s spear flew past the pair of them again, then ploughed and ripped the torso out of a greater demon. “Come at me.” Asmodeus said. Fer smiled, her eyes a cold, dark crimson.

“You come at me.” She said. Asmodeus didn’t have to be told twice. His fingers, holding the bowstring with the smallest inch of resistance, moved and let go. Darkness flashed forwards, at this distance, he was sure to hit. And hit he did, although not how he had expected to. Fer stepped into the blow, her hand once again coming to catch the bolt. She hissed, by the time Asmodeus could draw the string black, Fer’s bulk slammed into him.

The only reason her teeth missed his neck was because he had starting dropping to the ground as soon as she moved. Her first still found his torso. He was certain a bone shattered there. Her leg wrapped about his, the tail too, both limbs twisted as she moved. Another crack. And a grab of his bow arm with hers. One of her palms was aflame, although Asmodeus’ own blackfire could not injure him. She twisted, then lost control of herself for a moment as Asmodeus tried to put more power into the flame lit on her body through his own magic. She was healing quickly, but that didn’t matter, the flame never went out.

Her tail flicked his back and sent him flying forwards as Fer rolled behind and away from him. They had switched positions, her now with the back to the Tartarian army, him on the ground, facing the Imperials still. From the corner of Asmodeus’ vision, he heard grunting, tearing of flesh, cracking of bone. A single heavy thud later, he saw Fer’s arm, that she had just torn off herself land on the ground as she took slow confident steps towards Asmodeus. The Prince of Darkness moaned, closed his eyes and forced whatever reserves of energy he still hand into his body. One leg bent. The arm on his opposite side to push him up off the ground. “Oh no you don’t.” Fer said. Her heavy foot suddenly landed on his head. He closed his eyes and new what was coming. Hopefully the crushing would be fast.

The pressure built up, the army around Asmodeus rolled, he could feel Fer shift and look around. And he could hear the utter lack of movement around himself. No one was coming to save him, not a single soldier thought they had a chance at buying him an attempt to escape, much less at actually defeating Fer in single combat. Not when Of Beasthood had just destroyed him. In the distance, the naval shelling continued, so did Fortia’s spear. Gunfire too and what sounded like the crashing of Maisara’s axe against the ground. And then suddenly, just as Asmodeus felt his skull began to give up, the pressure ceased.

Fer actually took her foot off his head, then bent down and whatever hope Asmodeus had at a sudden change of heart faded away when he felt claws wrap around his neck. Fer lifted him up, to face north, away from and towards the horizon. He had done a lot, a half dozen of the ships were sinking, several more were fleeing. The tower entitled Cloudbreaker was destroyed, the remains of its crystal shattered into rain. Ash was even returning once again cover this area of Arda.

“You see that Asmodeus?” His arms fell loose by his sides when he realised what was coming over the horizon.. Another ICDT tower from the north east. And another trailing behind it. A third and a fourth. Tartarus army stopped when they saw the massive ship-sized structures drop their engines and slowly being their stabbing arc into the ground. “I just wanted you to see it.”

They tore up the ground, each one sending tremors along the landbridge. The fourth tower actually sent a crack down the middle as the fresh ground, which had been pulled up not even half a year ago, slowly began to give way under the constant earthquakes. Asmodeus winced as he felt Fer’s claws tighten around his neck, and again when he felt the blasts of wind from the towers. The rocks and ash and dirt and blood and bodies which had been throw up by them slowly began to return to the surface.

From Empire, with Love, had been the first to land. Its massive plates opened up, shot from the tower, another company of those heavily armoured elite troopers dived out of the tower. And a fresh gemstone that was already charging up and ready to release a pull although the sheer impact of four towers arriving in quick succession after another had cleansed most of the sky of ash. New Calendar was the second, Helios Dreaming the third. Kassandora’s Kiss the last one.

Asmodeus stared at the massive sets of towers, all four of them opening up. All four of them releasing troops. He saw the black sphere’s that accompanied Irinika cross the horizon in the north. Heard the hum of chaos and the red lightning as Olephia hovered out from one out of the towers, her dress purple and uniform black as her energies made reality slowly break down around her. He saw a huge God step out of another of the structures, that was Arascus. The blue sky, marked by the rain of diamonds in the distance, slowly changed to gold as the God of Pride opened up his Divine Armoury and steel point slid out, ready to sparkle.

And finally, Asmodeus finally understood the true difference of how this world operated when compared to Tartarus. All of them, against him and his alone, a thousand times over, until none of him and his remained. It wasn’t about ensuring about winning the battle, it was about ensuring that he never had any chance to begin with.

What a terrifying planet.

Something crunched.

The world went dark.

End of the line.

- - - End of Arc 19: Ash Diamonds - - -