I have never heard of a theory worse, more pretentious, more dismal, more pessimistic, weaker and just simply more pathetic than Elassa’s rhetorical waste of thought that is Perpetual Decline. Divinity is eternal. Elassa may be confident and seem correct in her approach, but there exist thousands of years between the Divines that she claims as “strong”. It is not that Divinity is getting weaker, it is that the weak Divines of previous epochs have been killed off.

Everyone knows of Fer, the mighty Goddess of Beasthood. Yet how many Divines, stronger than Kassandora but weaker than Fer, has Fer killed off? When it comes to Magic, would Elassa ever allow something a Divine of an elemental school, such as a God of Pyromancy, come into existence? Or would she go and kill the fool who dares claim her demesne? Everyone knows the answer to this. It need not be even stated. One can look to Helenna and Malam as survivors of ancient ages who are not physically impressive in the slightest. Perpetual Decline would state that they need be strong for they came out of ancient ages, yet both operate at the strength of Fortress Spirits.

Gatekeeping is an essential aspect of the Divine condition. Divinity has to be Gatekept, ritualistic cleansing of ourselves is what preserves Divine status as truly Divine.

Divinity is for the best of the best. Anyone can become a Divine, I have proven this. Thus, it is up to me to stand at the Gates of Godhood and keep them shut. Just because all can reach them does not mean that all deserve to cross them.

– Excerpt from “A Notion of Elitism.” Written by Goddess Anassa, of Sorcery

Iniri stretched her arms above her head and twisted her neck from side. Ahead of them was another hold. This one, Hold Aarkaath, Iniri actually remembered from the Great War. It had been a sore spot for the White Pantheon back then as it lay in South-Eastern Lubska. Troops in Erdely could be supplied through it, and troops in Lubska. It had been largely unsiegeable too, for the hold was entirely underground. The mountain itself had no structure fashioned onto it, it was simply pockmarked by caves as if stone-eating termites had infested.

And most of those openings in the cliffs were now shining with red from the inside. That was Anassa doing her work, clearing out the cliffs. Before the mountain, there were how many men? Iniri glanced over at the tanks and vehicles, the trucks and the soldiers in tents or in container crates that had been refashioned into small cabins which could fit a dozen men each. There was even a construction quickly raising a set of warehouses from which this arm of the Second Expedition could be supplied with.

Fifty thousand? A hundred?

Iniri had no clue. Realistically, it could not be more than that but Iniri had seen this mountain a week ago when it was still empty field. Now, it was hard to spot even a single inch of grass under the mass of moving bodies. Arascus had declared the Second Expedition to move at full speed and with no cost spared. The war underground was to be finished before war came to the surface. Kassandora demanded everything the Empire could give her.

The Empire said no half-measures. There would be no garrison left on the surface for the immediate months. The only troops left up here would be those on training. The only thing that would be stopping Guguo or the UNN from moving in would be the sheer intimidation of reputation and the strength of Divines like Olephia. And it would be practically only Olephia and Arascus. Everyone who could fight was being sent down below. No half measures. Iniri didn’t know how many, but it must have been more than a million men in total. Maybe even more than two million, being sent into the underground.

Iniri had been given the misfortune of being put on the breaching team with Anassa. At first, she had been merely shy around the Goddess of Sorcery. And she knew that Anassa began to hate her over time. It was slow at first but now, Anassa would only talk with dirty looks. She didn’t even bring Iniri onto the initial excavations. The Goddess of Nature had been sidelined into simply being there to grow root and vines underground for structural support. Structural support that wasn’t even really needed since the engineering corps brought their own heavy steel and concrete to fix up any weaknesses.

Iniri saw the glowing red light of sorcery start to dim. Anassa was finishing up. Inside, the Goddess of Sorcery would be excavating with a huge ball of energy that would simply erase matter it touched. It was one of the most effective methods of exaction in existence. Anassa’s sorcery simply left rock stable and unmoved. There was nothing quite like it. Allasaria was the closest, but Allasaria could only shoot a straight line into the terrain. Iniri was left woefully outclassed when it came to shut thing. The dimming red light from within the mountain suddenly stopped. Anassa was finished. It was always like that, the Goddess of Sorcery did not a wind up or a wind down period. She was either doing nothing or she was doing everything.

An instant later, Anassa appeared by Iniri’s side. The glorious Goddess of Sorcery stood taller than Iniri, in that magnificent red dress outlined in black. She had just been digging underground with her power, and she didn’t have a single piece of dust on her. “The tunnel is half finished. I’m sending the engineers in. You move in too.” In the distance, Iniri spotted four more Anassas. They had appeared in various locations and were issuing orders to the local commanders of the military.

“I will.” Iniri said quietly. She was about to take a step when fingers touched her shoulder.

“Not yet.” Anassa said and spun Iniri around to face her. It was unbecoming for Divines to call other Divines beautiful but as Iniri looked up at Anassa, that was the only way she could describe that sharp face with the crimson eyes framed by perfect, black hair. If Iniri heard that face was designed and not grown, she would believe it in a heartbeat. “I have something to tell you.” Anassa said quickly and coldly.

“Hmm?” Iniri asked.

“That.” Anassa snapped back. “That hmm is what I will tell you about. You’re a Goddess. Don’t hmm me.”

Iniri blushed and instinctively knew what Anassa was trying to get across. Iniri’s behaviour was simply unbecoming for a Divine. The Goddess of Nature knew that, and there was nothing she could say to argue back. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize either!” Anassa raised her tone and snapped back even faster. “I don’t care for your apology! I care for your behaviour!” Iniri stood there and couldn’t think of a reply. She couldn’t even begin to formulate an answer back. Anassa lowered her tone to a whisper. “Are you just going to stand there and not say anything?”

“What can I say?” Iniri asked quietly. Anassa did not reply. Those crimson eyes simply stared down at the Goddess of Nature. “What can I say Anassa? Can I make it right?” Anassa took a deep breath and Iniri felt herself tremble. Even back in the White Pantheon, when Fortia or Maisara or Allasaria came to scold her, it had always just been a scolding. On some level, Iniri fundamentally knew that she wouldn’t be hurt. At least not permanently.

And with Anassa?

Iniri stared up into those crimson and realised Anassa could kill her here and now and the only trouble she would have would be needing to explain her behaviour to Arascus and Kassandora. “Games are over Iniri.” Anassa snapped and then repeated herself. “The games are well and truly over.” Iniri opened her mouth to try and defend herself but all she could do was one syllable.

“Bu-“ Anassa maintained her tone and didn’t let Iniri continue.

“I am not Kassandora. I am not here to be your commander and facilitate the personal growth of a subordinate. I am not Kavaa or Helenna, I am not your friend and I do not want the best for you. I am not Arascus, who is patient and gives us all time to grow. I am not Fortia or Maisara or Elassa or Allasaria or whoever else lectured you in the White Pantheon. Those were your chances and your training wheels.” Iniri stood there and blinked. Those were her training wheels? “I am Anassa. I am a Goddess. I would revoke your Divinity and hand it off to someone worthier if I could. I cannot. You are stuck with me and I am stuck with you.” Iniri swallowed her own spit as she tried to think of a counter argument.

“Anassa…” She didn’t even know what to say. The Goddess before her was correct.

“No Iniri.” Anassa continued. “It is over. Your chance is over. The seeds have been sewn. You failed.”

Iniri stood there in shock. “I can’t-“

“I don’t care what you can and what you can’t.” Anassa said. “We are going to war. You will not be shutting down in this campaign. You will not be saying what you can and what you can’t. If there is battle, you will step forward without a second of thought or a moment of hesitation. If I decide to throw you against a Legion, then you will accept being thrown and ask me how far.” Iniri stood before Anassa, unable to even think. It was not that…

She spoke stronger this time. Louder, and she took a step back from Anassa. “I am the Goddess of Nature Anassa. Don’t speak to me like that. I have my roles. I know what I do.”

Anassa’s lips twisted upwards into a satisfied smile. It sent a shiver down Iniri’s spine. If there was any Divine Iniri wanted to be recognised by, then it was not the mad Goddess in front of her. “We both know what you do now and both know what you can do because you’ve done it in the past.”

“Nature has changed.”

“No Iniri. Nature is a fundamental truth of this world. It is like Sorcery. It changes materially, but the foundations will always be what they have been.”

“Anassa that is not me.”

“But it is.” Anassa re-affirmed. “You are a coward Iniri. You run from yourself and from your own strength. I do not want you to stop running. Like I said, I am not Kassandora or Kavaa or Arascus. I am ordering you to Iniri. If you cannot wield your own strength, then it shall be wielded by me. That is simply how it is going to be.” Iniri stood there in shock for a few moment. She had heard it before of course. She knew Anassa was correct. And it disgusted her that even in her own mind, she could not find an argument against what Anassa just said. She blinked something away from her eyes.

Iniri didn’t know what to say or what she wanted to hear. She knew it wasn’t that. Nature had changed indeed. It wasn’t the monster of the past. But she couldn’t say that. It simply… “ANASSA! I AM NOT STRONG!” It hurt to say. It was downright terrible. No Divine should ever have to admit that.

“Strong?” Anassa asked slowly. “Who asked about strength?”

“THEN WHAT DO YOU WANT OF ME?” Iniri shouted the demand to the other woman. “WHAT ANASSA? WHAT DO YOU WANT OF ME? I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I WANT OF MYSELF! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!? I STAND HERE AND YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO AND WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO EVEN SAY ANASSA!?” What stopped the flow of words was the fact Iniri had to blink tears out of her own eyes. “Hmm?”

“You know what you want of yourself.” Anassa declared immediately in response. “You know exactly what you are.” Anassa stabbed her finger into Iniri’s chest. “No Iniri. I will not play this game. Don’t you dare tell me you don’t know what you want of yourself. We both know what you are. You just said it yourself, Goddess of Nature.”

Iniri took a step back under Anassa’s prods and Anassa closed the distance again. “Stop Anassa.” Iniri said. “I can’t go back to that.”

“But you will.” Anassa said. “You can’t yet you will because you and me are Divine and we do not care for cannots and won’ts and all other denials. That is how it is going to be. I will drag you back into line or you will fall in line yourself and that is how it is going to be. I do not care for excuses. Do not give me one.”

Iniri shook her head. She was talking to an entirely different class of Divine here. This was Anassa. This was a Goddess Arascus had chosen to adopt as a daughter. Anassa was one of the few beings who broke the Divine rule of One Demesne, One Divine. Sorcery had once been a mere duchy in the world of magic. Anassa had ripped it from Elassa’s grasp and crafted an empire out of the art. Anassa was a Divine. Through and through. Hated, terrible, feared, jealous and petty, but Divine. “I’ve been defeated.” Iniri let it loose. “I’ve been defeated Anassa. I can’t keep my own Demesne. I lost. How can I act like a Goddess when I gave up my title?”

“And?” Anassa snapped back. There was not a hint of sympathy nor hesitation. “And? So what Iniri? So what? You became Of Food & Bounty and gave up Of Nature? Then why call yourself it again? No Iniri. You are not a walking plantation. I don’t care whether you think you’re worthless or not and I’m not going to baby you. You are the Goddess of Nature. You’ve always been that. You will always be that until the day you die. This is not a choice you’ve made, this is a choice the universe made for you in the same way that it gives dogs four legs and humans two! We don’t choose that! That’s not how the universe works!”

“But you’re not that either! You created your own demesne!”

“I am Divine.” Anassa said. “It is my duty and my responsibility to rip the im from impossible and make it reality.”

“We’re not all you Anassa.” Iniri said. “I’m not you.” It was comparing a mountain to a molehill.

“No.” Anassa said. “You are far worse.”

“THAT’S NOT ME!” Iniri shouted. “I’M NOT THAT ANYMORE ANASSA!”

“But you are.”

“I’ve changed.”

“No Iniri. You’ve not changed. You’ve failed. Whatever it is that you wanted to be treated as, you’ve failed. Whether it’s being loved or respected or wanted, you are none of those things! You will never be those things like this! You can’t pity your way into our hearts Iniri.”

“I don’t want to pity my way into anyone’s heart.” Iniri replied weakly.

“I don’t care what you want. I care how you act and that’s how you’re acting. The games have ended. It’s time to take the training wheels off. I don’t want the Goddess of Food and Bounty. I don’t even want loving, wholesome Mother Nature. Iniri, we are going to war. This will turn into the Second Great War. Everyone knows that.”

Iniri took a step back as Anassa continued. “I want the Mother Nature that’s the reason mothers tell their children to stay out of the forest and I want the Mother Nature that forced humanity to invent fire for protection. I want the Mother Nature that devours cities in green and that swallows not armies but entire populations! That’s the Mother Nature I want. The one you are and the one you’ve always been. I want Mother Nature, Cruel and Capricious.”

Iniri stood there as Anassa finished up. “And that’s the Mother Nature that Divines and Humanity want. Everything else is a lie, a farce and an insult to yourself. Nature loving? What is loving about creeping vines? What is loving about poison and about getting lost in the forest? Where is the love in marshlands? In floods and in avalanches? Where is the love in tick-infested grass? Or in trees that die to become hornet nests? In mushrooms where a touch can kill? In thistle and in bramble? In swamps rife with disease? All of those things are Nature with a capital N. All of those things are you. Stop running from yourself.”

“I’m the Goddess of Flowers and-“ Again, Anassa cut Iniri off.

“A rose and a sunflower are made beautiful because they’re the colour in a sea of green grass. An oak is mighty because we compare it to the birch!” Anassa flung her arm behind Iniri. “Look at that mountain! Is it tall?” Iniri turned to look at the stone. The troops here were slowly beginning to snake their way towards the caves in the mountain. There were six different Anassas in the air, all identical, all guiding the army. “No! It is not particularly tall nor is it particularly wide! It’s just a mountain because we compare it to mountains.”

Iniri had nothing to say. She couldn’t argue back. “Beauty is beautiful because of the contrast against the shallow and the ugly! Iniri, you cannot dull your spines and neuter your poisons without sapping the colour from your flowers and the strength from your trees. Neither me nor Arascus nor any Divine and definitely not Humanity wants this harmless Nature that is nothing more than a lawn! The only person who wants that is you! I have nothing else to say on the matter. Grow up and stop thinking you can atone for your crimes when you have nothing to atone for and no crimes to your name!

The Goddess of Nature remained silent. She couldn’t think of a single thing she could say in return. There was no counter argument. There was no defence to mount. There was utterly nothing to respond with. Iniri could say nothing because deep within herself, there was a tiny seedling. And that tiny seedling had heard Anassa’s words. It started to grow and twist and turn. “You were the first predator Iniri. You were the first war humanity had to win to survive.”

And worst of all, that tiny part in Iniri found itself in agreement with Anassa.

Iniri burst out in tears and crouched down to curl up into a ball. The Goddess of Sorcery stood over her. “I will see you on the inside. Don’t take too long.” Anassa disappeared with no incantation or energy or any sign of her. That was a true Goddess. Iniri cried.

And as the tears fell, Iniri tried to find a way to cut down that tiny little tree within herself which sprouted from the part that agreed with Anassa.

The Goddess of Nature could not do it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep