There are many types of debt a man’s heart can be beholden to.

A warning is the debt of fear; it is easy to pay back with bravery. Courage bought by strength or by stupidity, and neither needs to be especially great either. Loyalty is the debt of love. But love is not steady, it waxes and wanes. And love can have competition, a man who loves his own life will rarely choose another, no matter how much love there is.

For debt to be a true stranglehold, it must stand alone, it needs no competition. Its price can never be stipulated yet it can never be given freely. It needs to be so crushing and eternal that men remember it till the end of days, yet it needs to be so gentle that man is not tied to it in any way but from within oneself. There is only one such act I have found to be as tender yet so heavy, one that leaves a wound eternal yet unseen. There are not enough coins to pay for it, nor is any labour sufficient: forgiveness.

– Excerpt from Arascus’ own writings. Untitled. Kept within the White Pantheon’s Closed Library.

The words “court is about to begin” echoed through Kirinyaa’s grand court as Kassandora looked up at the judges, she took stood behind the little location that was supposed to be her stand. She maintained her stoic expression as she looked over at the various people and the grand court. A triumphant building, all the walls painted with white and gold, without any windows but grand chandeliers to illuminate it instead. They hung on long chains, but they weren’t anywhere closer to the floor of marble tiles. The ceiling itself was high enough to stack Kassandora ten times on herself and still have room for an eleventh.

“On trial is Goddess Kassandora, of War.” The lead judge said. “To be charged with: endangerment of life, needless cruelty…” The judge took a deep breath as he blinked at the piece of paper. “Seventy five thousand, seven hundred and two charges of arson. Three hundred and twelve charges of willing destruction of heritage. Six hundred and fifty seven charges of corruption. Five charges of money laundering.” As the judge read it aloud, his voice grew low. Kassandora knew that feeling of pure awe very well, she too would struggle to say something like that seriously. “Seven thousand, three hundred and twenty eight charges of manslaughter…” And another. “Five thousand, four hundred and forty three charges of murder in the first degree.” He took a deep breath and finally finished. “And one charge of treason in the highest degree.”

Kassandora said nothing. They were throwing everything and anything at her in the hopes. She would have simply gone with the single treason charge, this was already a bad look for Mwai’s prosecution. Turning her into a money launderer was little more than a joke. The judge spoke again, on that row of seven, each one in a white and gold cloak. A remnant tradition carried over from the White Pantheon. “Do you claim guilt for any of the charges? Your are entitled to converse with your lawyers if you wish.”

Kassandora turned back as her eyes swept across the room. Mateusz’s team sat in front of her. Twelve men, soldiers she had picked out herself. Helenna had said there would be no point for her to be here, not when Kassandora had this quality of man with her, and then sneakily hinted if she could get a whole platoon to work for her in permanence.

Behind them were the cameras. Kirinyaa’s KTV in the very centre, the Allian Everything in Epa, Doschia’s The World Today. Journalists from the UNN, from Guguo, from all Arika. The prosecution was on the other side of the aisle, more cameras behind them. Only four souls, two men, two women, all looking as if they were out of their element. Kassandora had not a shred of sympathy for them, they should have prepared for a show the moment they saw her name on the papers.

Kassandora pushed her microphone away, it was only mortals after all. She took a step from the stand, spread her arms out, made sure to throw her crimson hair back as she did it, and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear. “I declare I am not guilty of all the falsities that besmirch my name.”

Helenna took a deep breath as she inspected herself in the mirror one last time. Black HAUPT suit today, as was her hair, that would have to be kept under control for a while. She readjusted the collar of her dark shirt and smoothed the long coat that fell to her heeled boots. A quick touch of the earpiece to make sure it was turned on. It blinked a blue light and made a small beep to confirm it was awake. Helenna let the air out of her lungs and felt the thrill of her heartbeat. It was time to begin.

She made her way to door. Arascus would run the military aspect today and Helenna had the second most important job. Managing the people as to not cause a riot. But first, she had to deliver a suitcase. One filled with all the sordid details she had found evidence of Mwai’s wrongdoing. The cases of corruption, the diary of deviancy. Worst of all, it had mention of direct collusion with the White Pantheon! After all, the details he knew, only White Pantheon members were aware of. And ones in high places at that.

No one would be able to tell it was her hand that had written them.

Mateusz leaned back, arms crossed as one of the four lawyers Mwai had enlisted stood in the stand. Kassandora stood opposite him, grim-faced. They were in questioning, it had taken two hours to get through the initial proceedings, and those were merely making Kassandora of the penalties. Then everyone took a shot Mateusz and his team. Unqualified, new, why did Kassandora even trust them? She had answered simply, who better to represent her than her own men? And then she had added that if they were so incompetent, then the case should be easy victory for them. That had left Mwai’s four lawyers in a sour mood.

The man at the stand sounded as if he didn’t know whether to press the Divine on the other side of the room hard, or whether he should. “What sort of succession is implemented in the military in order to prevent it from lying at the hands of one person forever?” Mateusz made a quick movement, a slight lean to the left, his neck turning right. It would look bad if they were caught on camera communicating with each other, but such small movements could be easily overlooked. And they were all trained in hand signs already, so learning new movements was no difficulty for any of them.

“Objection on the basis of relevance.” Theodore said from behind. “How does that relate to any of the charges at hand?” The seven judges looked at Theodore and then at themselves. They shared slow calculating gaze between each other, the centre one banged his gavel.

“Objection sustained. Goddess Kassandora, you do not have to answer this question. We will not take it into account of your case if you remain silent.” Kassandora smiled and shook her head.

“I can answer.” Kassandora said. “When the army was created, I was already drafting a bill on succession, but with the White Pantheon Invasion, I made the decision that such things could be left for after the victory.” She kept her face straight, Mateusz struggled to think up of a more perfect answer than that. Who could argue against such perfect pragmatism? And the reminder of victory would only make his deflection onto Mwai even easier.

“Very well.” The judge responded as the prosecution lawyer looked to his team. Dour, downcast faces all. What did they expect? He took a breath and asked another question.

“In regards to succession, what sort of method you going to use?” Mateusz repeated the movement. Theodore repeated his statement. The judge repeated the question to Kassandora.

And Kassandora declared she would answer again. “The method would already be public if it passed my standards. I have multiple theories running.” Mwai’s lawyer had his follow up ready for her, he started speaking as soon as Kassandora finished.

“And whatever this hypothetical method is, it will minimize the chances of corruption and the military usurpation?” Mateusz repeated the movement, but he moved his arm at the same time. This was good, he did not care what sort of image the public got of him, the whole goal was to make Kassandora look as benevolent as possible.

“Objection on the basis of relevance.” Theodore said and stood up. “How does that question relate to any of the charges at hand? And I would advise your honour to not allow the Goddess answer else this line of questioning can be extended for days, she will earnestly respond to everything.”

Once again the judges took a pause. This time a few leaned close together and spoke in hushed voices. Mateusz could not hear them, but he could tell from the burn in Kassandora’s eyes that she was happy with the result. It took a whole of whispering for the centre judge to bang his gavel again. “Objection sustained. In regards to this line of questioning, the court agrees. Goddess Kassandora, do not answer this question.”

“I understand.” Kassandora replied.

Mateusz looked at the team of prosecutors, if this was the quality of their questions, then this wouldn’t be a battle. It would be a slaughter.

Arascus hovered through the air, past grand skyscrapers and buildings of sandstone centuries old. Over bridges, until he left the crowds behind him. The tens of thousands who had left their homes to come and see the Goddess who had saved them be sent to their grandest court. Banners were flying in the air, some where being carried by the citizens below him, other were draped from balconies as if they were trying to make the buildings themselves proclaim support for Kassandora.

There was no counter-protest, there was nothing attempt to try and corral them back home. The police were of the same opinion as the civilians after all. He looked down and saw twelve Lynx tanks slowly peel away from the crowd. Trucks filled with Kassandora’s soldiers on their backs started to scream momentarily as their engines turned on with a rattle. Arascus watched them, watched police gently push more people away as they pushed people out of the vehicle’s way.

They started to turn, tanks in the lead, trucks slowly crawling behind, into road that was empty. There was no need for a crowd here after all. Kassandora was not going to be sentenced by Mwai himself, would she? Usually it was clogged with expensive cars with throngs of people on the wide sidewalks. Not today though. The luxurious stores on either side had been shut in protest to what was happening to Kassandora. The restaurants had no guests, only a few people remained on balconies and through windows, lucking curiously at what was happening below them and drinking their shame away.

The tanks slowly devoured the vein of asphalt below them. The trucks tried to bring some life and movement into that .

And at the end of that road lay Kirinyaa’s heart, its National Assembly.

“I would like to present to the court the most damning piece of evidence that has been found.” It was one of the female lawyers this time. A pretty lady, Mateusz did not need to look at Pawel to know what the man was going to say. In a black suit that was so dark it was almost colourless, she was the epitome of professionalism. A cold, bureaucratic, detached professionalism. The sort that Helenna had said they wanted to avoid entirely. An image came up on the screen, the judges looked down as their own monitors flashed with the evidence.

Mateusz recognised it immediately. It was the original unedited version of Operation Sandfire. The first plan, which had wanted troops to torch the city before Kassandora had thought of filling the sewers with the Reclamation’s Wars excess napalm shells. But all the names had been blanked out, the dates too. Important locations. “Do you know what this is?”

Kassandora looked at the screen and sighed. “I do.”

The woman smiled and pressed on. “This details the destruction of Melukal, does it not?”

Kassandora made a sorry face, her tone low. “Yes.” Mateusz looked on in awe. If he was not aware of Sandfire, he would honestly believe the Goddess was hurting right now. Her voice sounded as if she was genuinely in pain.

“And you were aware of this?”

“I was.”

“And this was in your camp?”

“It was.” Kassandora said with a heavy sigh.

“Could this plan destroy Melukal?”

“It could.” Kassandora said.

“Was…” The Lawyer said, this was a good line of attack. Mateusz had to give the woman that. It was all direct questions, there was nothing open ended about it, no ways for Kassandora to spin her way out of this with questions like that. He felt the crowd of people behind go silent as they re-read the words that weren’t censored several times over. “This plan, did you consider it?”

“I did read it, so I did consider it.” Kassandora said.

“End of questioning.” The woman said and sat back down. Mateusz looked over to Pawel, now was his time to shine. He got a thumbs up in return.

Damian Sokolowski stopped before the skyscraper that was the headquarters of KTV. Helenna would arrive soon, but everything was going to plan. Platoons had been sent off to secure the other stations, and a full battalion of tanks were moving on the port, another was going to Nanbasa’s main airport. Other squads, of tanks and trucks where moving to blockade the city’s highways. Nanbasa would be locked down today.

Mwai would have nowhere to run.

The general took a deep breath and walked into the door. His men, all in dark face masks and goggles to obscure their identity followed behind him. Rifles in their arms, a proud swagger to them. Damian was the only one with his face exposed, in a dark HAUPT suit, a coat that fell past his knees, a cap on his head. A sabre on his belt, a pistol on the other. Helenna had dressed him up to look as imposing as possible. His black boots clicked against the white tile of the floor as bright lamps shone overhead. The people inside, everyone watching the TV that played Kassandora’s court case live, all turned immediately when they heard him.

“No one move!” Damian shouted. “This building is now under command of the Kirinyaan Armed Forces!” He crossed the distance to the clerk at the front desk. A young woman, barely twenty, whose dark face had grown pale as sat up in her seat. Damian pulled a folder from out of his coat. “This is to be displayed on the broadcast, now.”

The clerk blinked at the orange folder, she made a nervous smile, a mirthless laugh, those brown eyes ran up Damian as he towered over her. “I… I… I wi-will have to ring.” She squeaked the words out as if she was a tiny mouse. “Fo-Fo-For permis…sion…” Damian swung his arm and threw his coat back. His hand settled on his pistol, the girl’s eyes travelled to it in shock and fear.

“I wasn’t asking.”

Kassandora watched Pawel take the stand. A talented man with skill in combat and, more importantly, a good head. Plenty of experience in the Twin Hearts, plenty of experience in Sokolowski’s front too. The only thing she could find to complain about was a crass sense of humour, but if tried to root humour out of her army, it would quickly be her alone. He stood there to lead the responses, without any papers, and spread his arms out in the suit. He was talking to her and the cameras both. She looked at those lawyers, they had begun this session questioning the competency of her men. If her men weren’t competent, they wouldn’t have survived for so long. “Goddess Kassandora, of War.” He said it the same way he would be talking to a platoon of soldiers. Every camera would catch him, a single word would not be missed. “Is it true that this document came into your possession?”

“It is.” Kassandora replied. She had only worried at the start, because her men had initially taken the stand. Now though, she allowed herself to be guided. There was no reason to try and intervene, Helenna had been right, they knew what they were doing.

“Did you write this document?”

“I did not.” Kassandora said. She could see the battle-lines in front of her start to crumble as Pawel led a flanking assault from the side. This would be a victory alright.

“Do you know who did?”

“I do not.” Kassandora replied. She knew the basic questions, they knew how she would answer. They had been revised well, Helenna knew exactly what to say in a court of politics like this. Pawel made a knowing smile as he continued.

“So how did you come into possession of this document?” Kassandora smiled and took a deep breath.

“To not bore you, I will a short explanation of my planning. Generals and other high ranking officers are able to submit battle plans to me. I consider all ideas, no matter how outlandish they are but some, like this one, are handled through an anonymous plan box.” That was all a lie, there was no such thing. But it would make perfect sense for there to be something like this. “Things people don’t want their names attached to.”

Pawel smiled, nodded and extended an arm out to the document. “And what value does this provide?”

Mwai’s lawyers immediately took the opportunity. “Objection, this question is not relevant to the case at hand.”

“Sustained. Move on Pawel.” The man smiled, Kassandora knew he would be the first one to be kicked out.

“So all plans have to be considered, no matter how outlandish they are?”

And it happened again. “Objection, irrelevant!”

“Sustained, next question.”

“Because it is impossible to think through everything oneself, so even anonymous ideas like this could be used to say, realise Melukal’s exposed position and order an evacuation pre-emptively?”

“Objection! Irrelevant to the charges and pure speculation!”

“Sustained. Pawel, this is your first warning verbal warning.” Pawel only smiled. He turned to the cameras. Kassandora remained there, still. This was the point, it wasn’t to win some legal battle. It was to win over the audience at home. The judges could sustain every objection that was presented, but they couldn’t make people forget the words they just heard.

Pawel did not even look at the judges to acknowledge them. “Would you say that this document helped prepare you for the siege of Melukal?”

“I did not take it into account.” Kassandora said.

“Why did you not take it into account?” Pawel asked. He really was enjoying this. Kassandora took a deep breath and stuck to plan.

“I had other plans to consider.”

“So what do you make of such a document, one of many, being used in a courtroom as evidence? Is it not farcical?”

“Objection! Leading question!”

“Sustained. Pawel, this is your second warning. You will be removed if you break regulations again.” The man smiled, he did not turn to the judge, he took a step off the podium and looked directly at the cameras.

“I simply have nothing to ask about a military plan, because it is our job as soldiers to consider every and any scenario possible. Our enemy does it, in order to win anything more serious than a game of dice, it is vital to consider such things.” He took a step forwards as the seven judges looked at him in stunned shock. Kassandora supposed they had never been so blatantly disrespected. “This is not even the worst of them, I personally submitted something far more insidious. That too was not used.”

The head judge started banging his gavel. “This is irrelevant to the case at hand! If you wish to make a statement, you have to wait for the end of questioning.” Pawel turned to the judge.

“Your honour. The courtroom is your realm, but the war is ours. If you do not respect us, we will not return the respect in turn.” The judge blinked. Kassandora kept her mouth shut, she wanted to burst out in laughter as Pawel continued. “Frankly, the only opinion I have on Goddess Kassandora needing to defend herself for winning the war is that this is a farce in its entirety.” And Pawel spat on the ground.

Kassandora blinked. That wasn’t part of the plan. She contained her urge to smile. That was it, goodbye Pawel. You served well in this battle.

One man down. Eleven left.

Aimone called Wissel. The man would no doubt be watching Doschia’s TWT broadcast, but Rilia had not sent a news-crew to Kirinyaa. There simply weren’t enough reporters available in this nation, and everyone who watched the news would prefer either EIE or TWT instead.

But Aimone was watching the KTV stream. He saw the screen change. Kassandora’s court case took up the right half of the screen, and a picture of Mwai took up the left. The cast of four reporters were looking shaken, almost as if they had just been panicking. “We have just received a letter. This is from an official source and it’s confirmed to be real.” The lead reporter, a dark woman in a blue suit, said. She blinked. The others did too. One of the men’s mouth fell open.

“This is a letter.” The woman said. “We’re bring it up on screen and…” She trailed off. “This is… from… the presi… Mwai Ruku…”

The letter came on screen as the picture of Mwai shrunk. Aimone narrowed his eyes as he focused on the text. Someone on their end quickly fixed it, the picture zoomed in. There was nothing that needed to be said. The first sentence was enough. ‘I am writing to the White Pantheon on behalf of Kirinyaa. Kassandora has grown too strong. You were right.’

Wissel answered the phone. “Are you watching KTV?”

“I am.”

“What is there to say about this evidence? We have no sources, we have no claimants. Any information that could be used to identify any of the authors of these documents has been redacted. Goddess Kassandora has denied knowledge of half of them already!” Mateusz watched Theodore hold up the piece of paper. This was still three men had been removed from court for breach of jurisdiction, but it was getting obvious who the judge would side with now. The arguments they were making weren’t clean, they weren’t professional, they weren’t by the book.

But there was no such thing as a battle that was clean, a battle that was professional or a battle that went by the book. Theodore turned and showed the empty paper to everyone in the room. “Can I write whatever I want on this and submit it too? Or is only Mwai Ruku allowed to do that?”

The judge banged his gavel. And they took another casualty.

Mwai looked out his window as he drank straight from the bottle. Twelve tanks were lined up outside the parliament building. Behind them, more than twice that number in trucks. And out spilled hundreds of soldiers. Mwai took a deep breath. He supposed this was it. He had gone against the Goddess of War, and the Goddess of War turned her sights on him. He downed the rest of the bottle in one go.

Mwai drunkenly stumbled onto his chair, took a deep breath, let the bottle fall onto the red carpet and sighed. He sighed and listened.

Listened as the front door was forced open.

Listened to the orders being given downstairs.

Listened to the cries and screams.

Listened to the commands.

He listened to the silence as the ministers gave up.

He listened, maybe some part of him hoped someone would be strong enough to say no. But that no never came, and no bullet was fired.

He listened as soldiers marched up the stairs.

He listened as they kicked down his door.

He listened as he watched them enter, every man obscured. Helmets and pitch black goggles over face masks. Each man in full armour, with a rifle in his hands.

He listened in silence as one man opened his back pack and pulled out a suitcase.

He listened to his hands open the cork of yet another bottle.

He listened and closed his eyes and listened to the sound of a match being sparked.

He listened to the sound of flames.  

Kassandora made a flat expression as the judge spoke to her. “Giving the nature of this case, if you would like to make one final statement, we will allow it.”

Kassandora took a deep breath. “I have only one thing to say. I have served Kirinyaa. I will serve Kirinyaa until either Arda claims one of us. I have nothing else to say, I will accept whatever judgement you cast upon me, as long as this country exists or I walk the world, I will respect it.”

It was on the nose, but she knew she had won.

Damian Sokolowski stepped in front of the cameras in the KTV headquarters. He took a deep breath. Helenna had come arrived, she was holding the script. Something strong and definite she said. The sort of decisive strength that men could respect.

Damian took a deep breath and looked directly at the cameras as the news casters left the view. They wouldn’t be important now. He clicked his tongue and maintained his eyes. Helenna motioned for him to start. So he did.

“My name is General Damian Sokolowski. I led Front Centre during the White Pantheon’s Invasions. I currently lead the Second Army in the Reclamation War.” He took a pause as Helenna raised her palms. She let the words hang for a few seconds, then returned two thumbs up. “Due to the farce of a trial against Goddess Kassandora, the military cannot stand by. Our duty is for Kirinyaa and for Kirinyaa alone. To anyone who stands against Goddess Kassandora, where were you mere months ago? The reason you can even make such statements is because we won. To the politicians who fear their positions, I have only this to say. It is your fear that did this. It is entirely your fault we were pushed past breaking point. And to the proud people of Kirinyaa, I wish you all a good day, we won against the White Pantheon, we win every day against the Jungle, we will not be defeated by limp-wristed bureaucrats.”

“From this moment, the National Assembly is dissolved. Goddess Kassandora is declared not guilty. The military will lead Kirinyaa in this conflict against the Jungle.”

“This court finds Goddess Kassandora, of War…” The judge took a pause and a heavy breath. Kassandora stood there and kept her face still. It was obvious. It had to be. She didn’t know why she was worrying. “Not guilty.”

And the room erupted into tears and cheers.

Arascus walked through the upper levels of the National Assembly, there was dirty black smoke slowly fogging up the ceilings, although the corridors had been built for Divines. A squad of soldiers were approaching him silently, in uniforms, with facemasks and goggles obscuring their faces. They stopped and saluted. He dismissed them with his own salute. Arascus turned looked at the soldiers as the fire behind them broke down a door and started devouring the carpets. “What happened here?” He asked.

“Mwai Ruku, the President of Kirinyaa, in an effort to hide his treachery and collusion with the White Pantheon, set fire to his own room.” The man lifted his arm and showed Arascus the suitcase. “We have salvaged what we can.” Arascus only smiled.

“And Mwai?”

“We believe he has already perished by the time we arrived.”

Kassandora stepped outside the court-room. The Sun had set. The stars had come out. The crowd cheered for her, but she barely noticed them.

Her eyes were entirely flying on the flags gently blowing in the breeze. Gone was the green-red-blue tricolour. It had been replaced by the red-white-black. A flag from an ancient age, one that had not been flown since Rhomaion fell.

A flag of Empire.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep