Anassa had a theory. Anassa deluded herself long enough to start believing her own twisted logic. Anassa grew mad. Anassa became a Divine. The stupid mind would try to kill her, or maybe it would try to contain her, somehow. Maybe even keep secret in fear of what would happen if it turned out that Anassa was once a human. Simply said, this is fearful mentality. This is the sort of thing that will destroy Divinity. What Anassa has done is proven that the barrier between mortality and immortality can be crossed. If we kill her, what then? We are aware now that the barrier can be broken and it is only a matter of time before another human deludes themselves into Divinity. And that is working under the arrogant mindset that we can kill a being such as Anassa.

No. I have seen Anassa split into dozens of copies of herself. I have seen her do such feats that most Divines would think their eyes were lying to them. I have seen what she is capable of and it is something no Divine can match. True, she can be overwhelmed and she is not immune to damage. I have seen the woman bleed. Yet what does it matter if she bleeds? I am a Divine and I bleed too.

Anassa has answered a question that I think every Divine has asked themselves. What happens if a mortal was given the ability to design a Divine? Well, Anassa answers the question in a succinct manner. Whereas Divines do not consider themselves to be breakers of reality, humanity does consider us to break reality. Anassa, who was once human now operates at the levels of Divinity, yet she operates at the mindset of a human. It does not matter on what level of power she actually operates, what matters is that she breaks reality.

Divinity has to be gatekept. It is my responsibility to ensure this. We cannot have more Anassas about. The method is simple. Anassa already believes herself above humanity. Character-wise, she is the perfect mage. She is utterly confident, her confidence is backed by sheer skill and willpower, even when she was a human she was an extremely talented magician that could easily rival archmages thrice her age. The simple fact of the matter is that she has found some way to crack the rules of magic in a way none other has and yet she refuses to share the secret for this grand advancement. That alone is evidence enough for what sort of personality she is.

Maybe others will call me mad, but I will mythologize her. A Divine such as Fer may be more powerful physically than Anassa that she could be just as undefeatable, yet Anassa breaks reality in such fashion that any mind which gazes upon it feels the innate inferiority. Anassa has to become the Gatekeeper of Divinity, and Anassa has to become the worst of us, only so that whenever anyone tries to step over her, she erases them.

Anassa is troublesome enough already. A being more powerful than Anassa cannot be allowed to exist, and the best way to make sure that they do not exist is to make Anassa so overwhelming that none can ever think of matching her.

– Excerpt from “My Greatest Student”, written by Goddess Elassa, of Magic. Never published, the text is kept secret in Arcadia.

Anassa turned to the laughter coming from the darkness. Her eyes, as crimson as her silken dress, sharpened as she cast an arm forward. Another Anassa took a step back and reappeared by the brigade which had been slaughtered. Immediately, a half-dozen other Anassas appeared around her spread out. The Anassa which was watching the clean up pulled out her phone. A quick few touches with nimble fingers unlocked the black rectangle. Anassa stared at her phone. One of the Anassas inspecting the corpses, as the other incarnations of herself guarded her, lifted up her hand and mimed holding a phone. The device was always held by Anassa, and Anassa was one. It did not matter where Anassa held the phone, for if she held it then she held it. It was an inane statement, a chain of impossible logic that shattered reality.

The Anassa by the clean-up crew stared down at her empty hand, the Anassa by the corpses stared down at the phone in her hand. But then Anassa had always held the phone. She took opened the camera and started snapping photos.

The Anassa by the junction split into several other copies as beads of sweat started to burst out over her face. The amount of Anassas by the destroyed brigade halved as Anassa searched for which versions of were redundant.

Anassa stared at the fleeing army of demonic Legionnaires in pitch-black armour as they raced towards her and away from her at the same time. She saw their blood-red skin through the slits in their helms, she saw the tails whip about from behind. She saw them like tiny ants from above. Anassa raised her hands. Twenty different palms pointed towards the demons that were engaging with dwarves. A few of Kassandora’s soldiers had also been caught in the melee. Some had pulled out knives, other were madly holding the triggers of their rifles as they sprayed point blank into the demons that had decided to take as many enemy soldiers with them before they perished. Ten pairs of crimson eyes stared upon the brawl from all directions. Ten breathes of air misted in these terribly cold temperatures of the Underkingdom. Ten pairs of hands flexed.

Game over.

As if for a moment, the air had turned into the solidified colour of crimson for a mere instant. As if for a moment, a heatless sun of devouring rose-like crimson flashed into existence in the underground highway. As if for a moment, reality became a painting upon with an artist spilled over a bucket of red paint. There was no buildup, there was no sound, there was no temperature, no incantation, no preparation, no warning. The tunnel flashed red.

Nothing remained.

Ten Anassas disappeared immediately.

And the Anassas by the junction immediately set about creating lighting for the area. One Anassa looked down to check whether she needed to issue commands or not but the men were already moving. They were soldiers trained by Kasandora’s regimen after all, if not by the Goddess of War herself. Engineers dropped crowbar and hammer and welding torch and started rushing backwards, or running to grab their rifles. The men in the grey fatigues designed to fade into the stone of the underground turned on the flashlights on their helmets. Each corner of the junction had a massive floodlight, all four were switched on by troops manning them, and all were turned to the tunnel from which the laughter had come. Down here, blinding light was more effective for cover than blocking smoke. The lack of cover did not matter if any attacker was simply blinded by torches meant for being placed in lighthouses.

From above, Anassa spread out to cover her own angles. She raised her hands. She cast forwards a light made of a red glow and then removed it. No need, the spotlights around eradicated any trace of the overwhelming darkness in these massive stone tunnels. They were powerful enough that the light extended until the next turn of the highway. Supposedly, that angle should be safe. It had been covered by an entire some five hundred men that had vehicle support and…

Another Anassa looked down at the men which had been slaughtered as the Anassas around her started to push further into the darkness. Hoofprints left melted in stone… There was obviously a trail. Something had come here, then the hoofprints stopped. What? But there hoofprints lay in the other direction too. Whoever it was had not been particularly worried at leaving a trail.

Anassa thought of the Tartarian creatures which left a trail like this. It couldn’t be Hellsteeds for the pattern was obviously from a biped. Her mind went to other creatures of Tartarus. It started at Tartarus’ Champion and then it worked down the chain from there, to various knights she had faced in the Great War and then to anything that could be a new demon. And then she shut off the train of thought. The simple fact of the matter was that she was not Kassandora, and this about of information simply paralyzed her.

Kassandora. Anassa remembered the phone in her hand and shook her head to bring herself awake. It had locked itself. Anassa stared down the corridor down which the spotlights were shining down. Was that movement? And the Anassa by the corpses started taking pictures and sending them to Kassandora. “We have a problem.” Anassa texted. She sent a dozen images. The phone disappeared from Anassa’s hand and appeared in Anassa’s hand. She took pictures of the hoofprints in carved into stone and sent them to Kassandora.

And then she stared at the stupid little notification that said the images weren’t sending. For a moment, Anassa wanted to crush the phone. Only for a moment though, her eyes flicked to the empty signal metre. And another Anassa appeared by the one in the junction. She took a step back. She appeared by a camp she knew had a receiver installed, the phone already in her hand. It suddenly started buzzing as image after image started to send. Anassa’s eyebrows narrowed as she looked up and down the tunnel. Again. Movement definitely. Right at the end. Something had just peaked the corner.

She raised her hands. She put up a barrier of crimson energy. She was blinded by her own sorcery. She took a breath. She needed to see. The risk had to be taken. It was a mistake. Kassandora wouldn’t take it. Arascus would tell her to be patient and wait for help. Fer would just tell her not to risk. Irinika would call her stupid. Neneria would say she was a child. Malam would just roll her eyes. Baalka would tut.

Anassa made the mistake.

For a mere instant, her sorcery disappeared. Her eyes took a second to refocus on the darkness as light streamed past her barrier. There was no laughter. There was only wind. Wind? Down here? In this windless underground? Where the air was still and freezing? Anassa closed the barrier without seeing anything.

Too late. Something flew by her. She felt her cheek be whipped by hairs. She felt something tear through her side. The barrier crashed as something exploded. There was a crash. There was tearing metal. Someone managed to fire off a gun. Anassa heard the wind again and Anassa disappeared. She could not stay there.

Anassa stared down at her chest. Too late. The Anassa in danger may have disappeared, but she had already been hurt. And if Anassa had been hurt, then Anassa was hurt. The impossible logic was inane and broke reality, but the logic worked because it was consistent. All the Anassa’s in the junction disappeared and an Anassa by a clerical squad appeared. She didn’t know where it was. She just knew that sheer confidence in her own abilities would bring her before these men.

Twelve men who carried Kavaa’s blessing and Kassandora’s military advancement. The trained muscle and leanness of men who were naturally at the peak of health, combined with ancient steel armour, sword, and then black modern rifle with wooden stock. They sat around before their green tents and talked between each other; the smell of cigarette smoke was thick here although that was the standard for men who were immune to disease and malady. Anassa fell to her knees before them. The Goddess managed to moan out a single syllable, blood spurted out of her mouth and she collapsed to the ground.

The Anassa with the phone closed her mouth and held onto the device for dear life. Just like the Anassa by the Clerics, this one collapsed too, her pale finger tapped out the message to Kassandora. Her mind worked like a strike of lightning as she felt the sensation of panic flood through her body, she knew that she should send this message to dad, yet she knew that consciousness was going to last for a moment or two more. Trying to find her father’s name in her phone, it was at the top, but trying to find him would… Whatever, no matter. Type out. Already. Just. Press… “Im hrut. Hv Clrc. L U.” She barely managed to click the send button before her vision turned to black. She made sure that the final Anassa she looked through the eyes of was the one by the Clerics.

Every Anassa bar the one surrounded by twelve men who laid hands on the Goddess and prepared to imbue her with Kavaa’s Divine energy of life disappeared.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep