When it comes to radicality in Divinity, there is no greater than Anassa and her story. The woman has fundamentally revolutionized what I know of us. To think a human could generate enough willpower to delude themselves into Divinity. It is baffling how she did it even still, especially since Anassa herself has no particular story to tell. The woman excelled in magic so greatly that she woke up one day and realised she had actually been Divine all along. If Anassa was not Aggriyana, who has a recorded family history and obviously existed along with Elassa to vouch for her mortality, then I would disbelieve her story in the first place.

We can ponder endlessly upon the mechanics of her ascension. There are other Divines who would of course, but I am no here to debate whether the woman is crazy or logical or whether she did great rituals or what happened. What happened to Anassa showcases concrete facts that are undisputable.

One: the power of a Divine is not reliant upon the popularity of the idea. This has been theorized already, the Divines of fortresses are much stronger than they should be, for being the guardian spirits of such minor locations. The different Divines that make up parts of buildings are so weak there is no point even engaging with them. The only person who believed in Anassa was Anassa herself, yet the Goddess of Sorcery is easily in the top ten of strongest Divines.

Two: A demesne can be manufactured retroactively for a Divine. There was no field of Sorcery until Anassa ripped it away from magic. There is truly some grand comedy that we settled on the word ‘demesne’ to describe our aspects, because Anassa truly proves that we are Dukes and Duchesses of ideas created by humanity, even down to the fact we can annex regions in the collective headspace from one another. It is rare, but how else can we describe what Anassa did to Elassa?

Three: Evidenced by Elassa and Anassa, is that Divines can theoretically overlap. Sorcery and Magic are fundamentally the same thing, yet there is not a single soul on this world that treats them as the same thing. Even Anassa and Elassa themselves have agreed that their arts are different fields, even though there was a time when sorcery was simply just called unassisted-magic. Kassandora is the example of a Divine that has spread wide. It is not that people do not believe in victory, it is that Kassandora has become synonymous with victory.

I wish I had known Anassa before I forced Aslana into existence. I would have given a Divine spirit to every sword then. I do not mean that there would be a different Divine for each style of sword, I mean that there would be an individual spirit which would reside in every blade.

Excerpt from ‘To Give Machines Spirit.”, Stage one of Arascus’ plan to mass manufacture Divinity.

Edmonton followed Fleur into her home. He had seen this place before in the pictures Fleur had shown off in Arcadia. It was much like his estate, maybe only slightly just larger, but his had more fields and style. This was just the usual gaudy Rancais aesthetic. Everything was grand, everything was expensive, it was a live-in museum.

Edmonton turned and gave one final look to Lyca and Eliza. The girl was stood there, covered in dust, her shirt still dirty and smattered with stains of grape juice. She smiled at Edmonton and shooed him into the building. Lyca turned away and looked out towards the distance, fire burst around him. Eliza turned too and Edmonton heard the ground start to rumble as the girl began casting her magic.

“Are you coming or not?” Fleur shouted from ahead. Edmonton turned back around, making sure to pull his water with him. It raced around his body as if he was a star being orbited by a planet. Edmonton took a deep breath as he looked around entrance hall to Fleur’s home. Terribly Rancais, with tall ceilings and two chandeliers. There had been paintings on the walls, but those had been taken down. Edmonton could tell from the lighter shaded sections of wall. There were hooks for hanging swords and banners on the walls, but all of those had been replaced by banners of Anarchia. Ed’s eyes caught Fleur, she didn’t even give a single glance to the empty hooks. Focus? Avoidance? Either of the two, Edmonton decided it was a mix of both.

Doors slammed from above and doors slammed from the surrounding corridors. Edmonton saw men peak out from behind corners and doors as they inspected the pair of intruders. The fight outside had shown exactly who had the upper hand here, and Edmonton wasn’t worried whatsoever. Even against rifles, he knew that Fleur could protect herself and he could swat bullets out of the air with his hydromancy. “Nice place.” Edmonton said casually.

Why Fleur of all people made him feel this way, he had no clue. Something had drawn him to the girl since the moment he saw her though. Hopefully the feeling was mutual and returned. “Thanks.” Fleur said.

“Where first?”

“My father’s office.” Fleur said. “We let the rest run, don’t waste time clearing them out, let Lyca and Eliza do it.”

“Do you think they’ve left you a note?” Edmonton asked. Really, what was the girl even going to try doing? Did she really think she could force someone to talk at this point? The most they would do is spit on her.

“Probably.” Fleur said. “Realistically, they would have left something. We should capture one of the higher ups as well.” From the outside, there was another rumble and then an explosion. Lyca and Eliza had gotten to work as Edmonton followed Fleur through her house. Through grand corridors that were tall enough to fit a Divine. With carpets of purple, the same colour as the prized Rancais wine. There should have been more pictures here too, hooks hung on the walls which had obviously held something up.

“Do you not have an apocalypse bunker here?” Edmonton asked.

“There’s one in the basement but they wouldn’t have gone there.” Fleur said. “My family isn’t the type to.”

“You sure?” Edmonton asked.

“We’ll go from the top to the bottom.” The girl led Edmonton up another set of stairs. “But they won’t be there, I’m sure of it. They’ll have ran away.” Edmonton nodded as he followed Fleur. More doors shut throughout the house as Anarchia’s followers fled from the pair. A man reached the corner of a corridor. He couldn’t have been blessed, or maybe he was and his blessing was simply invisible. Either way, the man drew his rifle as Fleur pointed her finger at him.

Her rings flashed and the carpet was thrown upwards as Edmonton suddenly felt the air pressure in the room change. The girl had just thrown a spear of wind forward and at the man. His hand fell off his body as the rifle was thrown backwards and the barrel impaled itself in the plaster of the wall. A scream, the man fell, and then was silenced as Fleur sharply pulled her finger down. His head rolled off his body. The girl turned back to Edmonton with a questioning eyebrow. “I didn’t say anything.” Edmonton said.

“I was expecting you to comment.” Fleur said.

“Why should I?” Edmonton was beyond at this point. He came because Fleur asked him to, but it was her house at the end of the day.

“I don’t know, that you disagree with this.” She set off again.

“We were in Kirinyaa, we know what war is like.” It was simply a job to do.

“Is this a war?” Fleur asked, Edmonton watched the girl through the corner of his eye. “I don’t consider it a war.”

“What is it then?” Edmonton asked.

“House cleaning.” Edmonton rolled his eyes. The girl was classically Rancais indeed. She couldn’t just give a straight answer on something, it had to be awful and dramatic. They passed a series of huge windows, each one wide enough to a horse to jump through. Outside, Lyca and Eliza were stood on the grass as two men ran across the lawn away from them. Lyca raised his hands and both men were consumed by pillars of fire which rose out of the ground.

Eventually, Fleur and Edmonton came to the last room on the top floor. Three more corpses lay in their wake, although once it was realised that the pair weren’t inspecting rooms yet, most people let them past. Edmonton heard people run away down the steps and presumably outside. Lyca and Eliza were having a good time no doubt. “This is my father’s office.” Fleur said as she came to a stop before a wooden door.

“Lead the way.” Edmonton said and Fleur snapped her fingers. The door slid off its hinges as a blast of her magic cut through the metal. Edmonton had seen the offices in his own manor, and this was completely different. There were tables and chairs as if this place was used for meetings. And there were ten people here too. Men and women, in everyday clothes, nothing too formal but obviously better dressed than the rabble that had just been slaughtered outside. Some muscled, some not. There was another man who had a horrendously long spine. Two people raised pistols immediately.

Edmonton did not wait for permission from Fleur. He threw one hand forward as if making a splash and the water which floated by his side raced forward. One man knocked the table at the pair, two guns fired. Another man threw a chair at them. One jumped to the side and tried to get in close by sliding along the wall. Edmonton kept his breathing calm as he saw bullets stop in the air, caught by Fleur’s magic. That was the sign it was his turn to attack.

His bolt of water moved like a pinball through the room. He tried not to kill everyone, tried to, but some had to go. The men with the guns were too dangerous of course. One man had a hole the size of a football put through his chest, then Edmonton’s water bounced to the other. It crashed into his head, knocked the man into the wall. Edmonton saw the light in the man’s eyes go out as he head left a trail of blood against the wall. And then the rest of the men in here started to drop.

The ball of water was a bouncing pinball that homed in one targets and changed shapes. Some men, it threw backwards as if they had just been hit by a speeding car, others it tore as if it was a cannonball, others still it cut and slice as the ball changed shape into a disk. Edmonton saw someone leap at him from the other of his eye and then felt wind knock the man back. His chest was destroyed by a blast of wind.

And Edmonton realised that the only man standing was the one fellow in the black shirt with the phone in his hand. “They’re here. They’ve just killed everyone.” The man said into the phone and put it down on the table.

“What are you doing in my father’s office?” Fleur asked coldly. Now, Edmonton stood there, he could take in the office. It was grand, with bodies and blood strewn about and with that table in the middle. Definitely larger than the offices in Edmonton’s own estate. Was it larger than his own father’s office? Edmonton thought for a second and decided he honestly did not know. When was the last time he even went into that room? And now he followed Fleur into her father’s place of work. It was… It simply did not feel respectful to the man. She elbowed Edmonton in the side. “I told you not to kill everyone.”

“I tried not to.” Edmonton said.

“Whatever.” Fleur replied as she crossed the distance between herself and that man. “Do you know who I am?”

“Do I look like I care?” The man asked.

“You should.” Fleur said. “My family lived here, where are they now?” The man looked at Fleur for a moment, then made a stupid expression.

“You’re an aristocrat?” He asked.

“I’m your better.” Fleur replied coldly. And before the girl could continue, the man lunged forwards at her, as if completely unhesitant of the fact Fleur and Edmonton had just killed everyone in the room. Fleur knocked the man back as Edmonton’s ball of water just about managed to stop itself from slitting the man’s throat. “Where are they?”

“The place was empty when we arrived.” The man said. Fleur looked at Edmonton and in those blue eyes, Edmonton saw the command. It was a cry for help, but also it was her telling him what to do: Do the talking.

Edmonton took over from the girl. “We’re not here to kill you or anything else.” He lied as naturally as he breathed, even down to the fact he could make his tone apologetic as he stood in a room of people just killed. “But we’re looking for Fleur’s here family. It’s not my fault you attacked us.”

“Go to hell!” The man shouted. Really, this is why Edmonton should do the organisation, if he was allowed to talk there way in from the start, then they would have probably gotten more information. But oh no! Fleur had to go in and kill everyone! Fleur had to go and treat this like a proper war, just like the ones they went through in Kirinyaa! How smart was that!

Edmonton sighed and waved his hand. His ball of water came flying back to him and turned into a spear which pricked the man’s hand. He didn’t like doing torture because torture was unreliable. Men would say anything and everything to stop the pain, but in a situation like this? What did they even have? “I don’t want to do this.” Edmonton began slowly, he changed the tactic, tricking and begging wouldn’t work at this point. “We’re looking for Fleur’s family, as I said. Listen man, I take no pleasure in inflicting pain, but I will do it if it needs to be done.” Hopefully the man would understand, Edmonton didn’t want to waste more time here.

“Fuck you!” Edmonton rolled his eyes. He supposed this is why they had General Sokolowski and Goddess Kassandora back in Kirinyaa as their superiors rather than following Anassa directly. The way Fleur just entered her own home was very much Anassa’s style. Edmonton pressed down with his water and pricked the fellow’s hand. Enough to hurt, but not enough to incapacitate him with pain.

“There really is one way this is going to do.” Edmonton said. “Did you find any notes addressed for Fleur here?”

“Kill me already!” Edmonton sighed. A fanatic then. He should have watched more interrogations in Kirinyaa. How did the Legionnaires beat secrets out of people? They certainly had a method to it. Edmonton split the man’s hand. He screamed. Then spat, at Edmonton and at Fleur. The spit never reached them, wind caught it, then wind beheaded the man. Edmonton heard the phone mumble something and poked Fleur in the side whilst indicating it.

The girl put it on loudspeaker for Edmonton to hear as well, then held it between them. It was a woman, with a cold tone. She talked with both disbelief and anger in her voice. “I will come, I will find you, and I will make you pay for what you just did.” The woman said through the phone.

Fleur had a reply with a tone even colder than that which came through the phone. “If a single hair on my family’s head is harmed, then I will make it my life mission to exterminate each and every one of you.”

“Naturally an aristocrat would say that. What justice you bring to the people.” Edmonton placed the voice that came through the phone. He put his hand on Fleur’s arm.

“Do you think you’re the first plebeian to judge me?” Fleur replied coldly as she pulled away from Edmonton. He squeezed the arm tighter and didn’t let her go.

“That’s Anarchia.” Edmonton said.

“Excuse me?” She asked.

“That’s Anarchia’s voice.” Edmonton repeated himself. “I’ve heard it on the news, that’s her.”

 “One of you knows who you’re talking to at the very least.” Fleur looked in horror at the phone. “So what was it again? Chateau Renee?” Fleur dropped the call.

“Oh no.”

Oh no indeed.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep