Chapter 381: Interlude - War’s Eve
General Rael was in a good mood when she entered her war tent.
She was where she belonged, out in the field putting down Heaven’s enemies, without House Victoriam in her way as they had been since the last Heavenswar.
Years of putting up with the Son of Heaven’s attempts to play general behind his father had almost soured her on her prospects. Now that Vinam was relegated to the Executioners, she could advance House Bellumos as the head of the Host. And with Arritel dead, perhaps she would cement her position enough to wrest the foretelling breeders from House Victoriam... though from what she knew of recent history, the line had grown entirely too thin.
Without the Daughter of Heaven, sure outcomes could not be foretold, and so Heaven - to Rael’s mind - had spent the last twenty years flailing around with the useless Vinam at the helm. His ability to see the past through objects did not translate to anything needed to wage Heaven’s wars.
As she cast about her tent, she honed in on one luxury that she enjoyed about Ayther, tilting her cup under the barrel and opening the tap so that the golden-brown ale of the ginger root could pour into it.
She was about to take her first sweet sip when a clerk barged into her tent, an angel with unkempt wings and eyes exhausted from sleepless nights.
"I am off duty, Lieutenant" Rael intoned. "This had better be important for Colonel Bruniel to have sent you to me."
"Quite important, General. We have a request from Ambassador Tarantel for a general redeployment. He claims to have spotted identified a metatron, at the head of an army... a new Duke."
"Pah. The Executioners and their ’metatron’ fearmongering. What’s this one the Duke of? Annoyance?" Metatron were only feared because the most forbidden sections of Heaven’s foundations and the Akash Network claimed the need for "Metatron Access Authority". Millenia since they last posed any threat, no angel had managed to breach any of these places - informational or otherwise - and so the name was just a ghost story from the past.
The messenger gave only a weak nod to Rael’s joke. "By the Ambassador’s account... Pride."
Rael felt shock tingle down her spine. "There is a new Satanos? Has this been confirmed?"