“Raptor One, you have the green light for Take Off.”

  “Give us four hours.” Arascus fihe call. “It’s good you called Kassie.” Kassandora rolled her eyes, he was the one who had e up with that niame for her.

  “Good.” Kassandora said, then thought of how to end the phone call. Dealing with her father was one of the few things she couldn’t just handle instinctively. “See you soon, we’ll talk when you get here.” She said and turhe phone off. That was a good versation, she absolutely hated asking him for help, he had helped her enough throughout her life already.

  Kassandora’s eyes went back to the great fming mountain of the Caretaker that was lying abze. Four hours. She looked at the regeion of the leg. She clicked her radio again. “All teams, trate fire on the regrowing leg, keep it down. Over.” The choir of the Binturongs stopped for a moment as they re-aimed their guns like a bunch of tall needles all turning. Thearted tain. She had a mere fourteen gu. Team three had taken the biggest losses when they fired with the barrels aimed too low to the ground.

  Kassandora watched her guns fire, watched the shells soar through the air, and watched them explode and coat the remaining leg in fming napalm. This had much more of an effect, the strands of vines burned up and turo ash quickly without the massive bulk of the body to support it. Kassandora smiled to herself a her heartbeat slow down as her cheeks cooled down. At least ohing was going to pn. The Caretaker thrashed about, it had luckily nded on its own wing, disabling one arm in its owa. It’s free ‘arm’, a massive eborate co, a moving skyscraper of Jungle fashioogether as if a giant had sewn it, smashed against the ground in fury.

  Kassandora looked away from the beast, and North, at Binturohree. The vehicles were a sorry sight, three had their ons blown straight off. That was another error she made sure to note down. What was a on that could not shoot low?

  Kassandora looked over at Sokolowski Team One. One vehicle was tracked, five were firing. Zalewski had all six of his inal gun firing. Then one suddenly lost trol of the turret, the barrel tilted sharply down, then smmed against the red dirt. Zalewski reported the problem immediately. “We’ve lost one gun, it’s fucked. Over.”

  Kassandora clicked her radio again. “Copy that, all units, slow down your rate of fire, fuck the Binturongs themselves, but we have to hold it for another four hours in position. Over.” She quickly thought of a pn. Judging from how quickly that monster regrew, if they stopped applying pressure to the leg, then she’d give it ten minutes. “Airbase, prepare all squadrons for a bombing run but keep them grounded. Launch them three hours. Over.”

  The absolute disaster of a tone from the airbase responded quickly. “Copy that, all pnes will be ready iy minutes if you need us. Over.”

  Kassandora was already waiting for them to finish so she could broadcast more orders. “Cleric Cordoreat from the area, you have four hours to get at least twelve klicks away. Don’t let civilians past you. Support bases, send out trucks, reinforce the cordon, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT let anyone pass you by. Over.”

  The various teams of Clerics responded sequentially. “Ce, Copy.” And so on, ‘CCT’ for Cleric Cordon Team’.

  Kassandora switched frequeo the public el. It was a shame that this maintained better radio silehan her actual military s. “This is Kassandora speaking. The immi area around the Caretaker will be destroyed. Do er withiy miles, no helicopters are to fly either. News Crews, to you specifically, you have been warned, n will be given.” She switched back to her own els. “Healer teams, retreat from the area. Make as much distaween you and the caretaker as possible. Over.” Kassandora looked back at her radio operators then realised they were mortals, they were only two kilometres away, only a mile and a half. Much too close for who was ing. Kassandora clicked her radio, but Kavaa beat her to it.

  “What about me?” She asked in a quiet voice.

  “How hot was Alkom’s Sun wheopped it in Olympiada?” Kassandora asked. Alkom’s Sun was parable, right? Kassandora smiled to herself. It wasn’t parable o, but then, they had stood close enough to touch it.

  “e over to me Kavaa. Neneria, tell Fer not to get close, I’m pulling Kavaa out.”

  “I heard you.” Neneria, even though she was breathing heavily, she still mao sound annoyed. “The Legion, I won’t be able to hold for four more hours.”

  “How long?” Kassandora asked.

  “Three at the most, that’s pushing it.”

  “Keep it as long as you . Fer hear me?”

  “I !” Fer shouted excitedly over the radio.

  “Your radiomeo pull out, get Neneria out once she pulls her Legion away. Iniri, Helenna, you retreat now, get past the cordon.”

  “Uood, over.” Helenna replied.

  “I still help!” Iniri’s voice buzzed through the steel headphone Kassandora was holding and the Goddess of War rolled her eyes.

  “Iniri, get past the cordon, I’m issuing a full retreat, get out NOW!” She shouted.

  “Uood.” Iniri replied.

  “Airbase, this is Kassandora, send a transport helicopter to pick up my team, I’m not going, but they are. Over.”

  “Copy that, helicopter will be at yours iy. Over.” Kassandora took a breath, that was everything sorted for now. She watched the general retreat. The Binturongs lowered their rate of fire, Kassandora wandered how long they’d be able to keep pushing the maes for. The cordon around them slowly expahe few news creere being pushed away. More trucks were bringing ammunition to the artillery, those were allowed to pass through immediately. Then other trucks were madly spewing Clerics out to assist with the expansion of the line of men around the military area.

  Fer’s two merying to haul their radios away on their backs. Kassandora appreciated the thought, although she clicked her radio. “Fer’s radio support. Leave the radios, just escape yourselves. Over.” They stopped, looked up at her on the cliff and took a breath.

  “Thank you for that. Over.” They repeated as Kassandora watched them dump the massive backpacks they were carrying, both with several antennas still blinking with lights. Kassandora turned her eyes back to the Caretaker, it was still moving, smming its massive skyscraper of an arm against the ground, and still stutangled in its wing. The other had reformed its skeletal structure, barks iwined with each other as if they were threads, and was beginning to refill with leaves.

  The broken leg was still damaged, vines were crag, but the Caretaker had ged its strategy. Beams of woods the size of tainer ships were beginning to emerge from its body and slowly expanding. They were covered in napalm, but the sheer size of them meant they weren’t burning. Four hours. They o hold four hours.

  The helicopter came ieen minutes. It was te to nd here, and only hovered in mid-air, clearing the cliffside in a violent red waves. The map flew off the table and radio equipment fell over as the helicopter sent dders down. The twelve men Kassandora had brought saluted, she saluted them back, they had done a good job after all, and climbed up to be evacuated.

  And so, three hours went by. Kavaa had mao scale cliff herself and stood o Kassandora, keeping watch, although she said little. Kassandora preferred it that way, battles weren’t things for small talk. The Sun started to set, half of it disappeared behind the horizon. And Neneria’s troops, her ghastly Legions, slowly started to fade. The air cavalry was had been charging aering the Caretaker like a swarm of angry flies.

  Their pale green glows started to fade, then they simply blinked out of existehe archers we. Neneria held onto the siege onry, the various catapults and ballista and trebuchets until she couldn’t. Kassandora watched her through her binocurs. Neneria waved her hands, her final troops disappeared and she took shaky steps towards Fer. Her legs moved as if they were made of jelly, Fer caught her quickly. Kassandora watched Neneria slowly put a hand around her sister, and the other moved to her ear. “Ka… Kassie, ’t hold…” She sounded as if she had just ran a marathon. “Tired…” Kassandora waited for her to get off the work, and then replied herself.

  “Good job Neneria. Have Fer take you out of there.” Fer leaned over and answered for Neneria.

  “I’ve got her Kassie.” She said, then jumped into the air with Neneria on her back. That raven bck cloak fluttering in the breeze. Even Fer wasn’t moving as quickly, she must have burhrough all the blood that Kassandora had given her with but heless, in a few minutes, she had crossed the distao get past the cordon.

  Kassandora clicked her radio. “All Binturong teams, any vehicles that still drive are to start evacuating immediately. Get all men out of there a losses. Anything that is damaged, leave. Do not bother fixing it. Over.”

  Once again, the team anders replied in sequential order. Sokolowski with Team One: “Pulling out now. We have fu. Two have tracked themselves. Over.”

  Then Zalewski. “Team Two pulling out. Five of them drive, but only two guns are still operational. Over.”

  And Ekkerson. “Team Three. Five guns pulling out. Two don’t work, but they still drive. Over” He sounded shocked as he said it. Kassandora was just as shocked that so many of the Binturongs had survived. She had expected maybe two or three vehicles left after putting them through so much stress. The three teams started to retreat, f ranks and lines as the bined might of tread and wheel left massive clouds of dust behind them.

  Kassandora clicked her radio again. “Airbase, unch Squadroh a bombing run, aim for the area on fire already, not the main body. Napalm still burned over the body of the Caretaker, but it was dim, the creature had put it out by swallowing the fmes iation. A few mier, three pnes screamed over the Caretaker, they dropped barrels of napalm which burst out over the creature.

  The Caretaker kept moving.

  Another bombing run came in ten mier. Airbase reported that the first three pnes were still being loaded, this was Squadron Two. Once again, they bombed the leg, it was beginning tee faster now. Those tainer-ship-sized beams of wood reached its poisoned limb and dragged it into position.

  The Caretaker kept moving.

  Another bombing. Squadron Four this time, the two 77Ts. The two pnes dropped over a huonnes of napalm over the beast in a massive carpet bombing run as it used its arm to push itself up from the ground. The wing was freed, it stabilized itself, the injured leg that had beeached moved as if it had not even been scratched.

  The Caretaker kept moving.

  “Are you sure Pn B will work?” Kavaa asked from Kassandora’s side.

  “It will work.” Kassandora did not even have a doubt. The Caretaker stood up, the crocodile on its top grew fresh trees, the lion roared, the giant snake’s head on the side of its body hissed, eyes locked on Kassandora.

  The Caretaker kept moving.

  Kassandora’s radio turned on, it was an unfamiliar voice, but she had shared the frequency when she called Arascus. “This is Captain Dougs of Raptor One speaking. Goddess Kassandora, are we free to drop? Over.” Kassandora smiled. Four hours had not even passed yet. Her father had always been fast when she asked. She looked up at the sky, two pnes were ing in from the west, much faster than anything the Clerics possessed.

  “Kassandora speaking. You are free. Over.” Kassandora clicked her radio off. Then tur on again. Now was the endgame, there was no reason to not give it her all. “All troops, go to ground and take cover. I repeat, all troops, go to ground and take cover. All squadrons, get out of the air. This is the final message. I repeat, this is the final message. All troops, retreat and take over.”

  “What’s that about?” Kavaa asked.

  “You’ll see.” Kassandora said as she took a step back. There was a nice rock to sit on. Non B had arrived. “We’ve won Kavaa. You have nothing to do but sit and enjoy the fireworks.”

  But the Caretaker kept moving.

  Olephia looked back at Arascus as the door in the rear of Raptor One opened. “It’s that thing!” Arascus shouted, he held onto a steel pole as the wind raced passed them. Olephia looked down at the red Kirinyaa. It was beautiful sight, all those reds, the o of green Jungle in the dire they had just e from. The ke of grey ash separating them.

  Olephia looked back at Arascus, gave him two thumbs up, and took a step backwards off the pne. She fell through the air like a meteor about t another mass-extin event.

  The Goddess of Chaos started to hum.

  “You hear that Kavaa?” Kassandora asked. She recalled Joyeuse from the cliff, the bde materialized in her hand and she stabbed it into the ground. It was impossible to miss what she was talking about. Chaos’ hum was overbearing, you could hear it over the red lightning that had suddenly started appearing, over those grey clouds of thuhat suddenly materialized. The red dirt started to steam, and the limbs of the Jungle’s first abominatio alight. “That’s our victory song.”

  Yet the Caretaker still moved.

  Olephia looked down on the giant monster underh her. Her eyes did everything to record the sight before her, she would paint it ter. With that giant snake’s head hissing at her, its maw rge enough to swallow a castle, that lion r. The two vulture’s wings, the crocodile jaw torn open as if it was a giant tree with a thick opy, all held together by iwining trees and vines. She smiled, it was good that even with how long she had lived, Arda still found ways to show her new sights.

  The monster moved a massive arm. A co of green and grey and brown as if to swipe her out of the air. Olephia’s smile dropped. Her hum dimmed momentarily. She said a single word:

  “No.”

  Kassandora squinted as Kavaa grabbed at her arm. That giant had just swung it’s arm, and then that arm became a fsh of light. An explosion burst from it, a ball of white light as if the Sun had appeared in a mere instant. The deafening sound came a sed ter. The wind a sed after that. It srees and blew rocks away as Kassandora stared forwards. Olephia had always awed her. She held onto Joyeuse with one arm, onto Kavaa with the other.

  When all that remained was a massive cloud rising into the air, the Caretaker roared. The arm it had swung had simply ceased to exist. It had been ied from Arda by the hellfire of Chaos, by forot made for the uanding of mortals.

  And, somehow, defying all belief, the Caretaker still moved.

  Olephia looked down at the monster below her. Arascus had told her of it. It arently strong. She grew disappointed again. Strong? One word had destroyed it. She had wao py with someone for ohe snake’s head hissed at her, those blood red eyes gazed forwards, and the monster moved its sed arm.

  Olephia said two words this time.

  “Stop. Die.”

  Kassandora held onto Kavaa as two more stars ht white light fshed ience for a moment, then disappeared. Another arm gone, burned, with all that remained of was a mushroom cloud that would dissipate soon enough. Olephia hovered in mid-air, in a violet dress that whipped about in the wind, her hair spyed out in all dires as if it was made of steel, the breeze did not eveo touch it. Red lightning roared overheard, bulbous sores of cer burst out over the Caretaker’s form. The grew aasized and

  The sound came, then the wind. Kavaa ed tighter around Kassandora’s arm as Of War with nothing but pure glee.

  And still, the Caretaker moved.

  Olephia smiled. Three words it had taken. This monster was quite the oppo. She needed something more powerful than that. She found something bigger in her arsenal. Something more relevant to the case at hand. She had miscalcuted, this wasn’t a monster she could kill. This was more like a fortress she o destroy. She needed something bigger.

  That was one, ‘bigger.’ It didn’t fit though, ‘bigger’ was a thhly underwhelming word. She searched again and found it. A word t about the end of great fortresses and t citadels.

  Her mouth twisted, and she said it: “Destru.”

  From that day, the maps would have to be redrawn. The nd was engulfed in an explosion, and then it cleared up. A new crater had formed, perfectly round as if a ball had been taken out of the ground. Kassandora pulled Kavaa between her arms and put both her arms on her bde to hold on. When the dust had settled, Kassandora opened her eyes again.

  Olephia floated in the air.

  And the Caretaker was below her. A gaping hole in its chest, it’s legs decimated. The snake was hissing, the roars and cries were ing from it as the Goddess of Chaos hovered from above.

  Ahe Caretaker still moved.

  Olephia searched her mind’s diary for a word. Sentehemselves did not hold power, they simply caused more reas to occur, it was the matter of the word itself. She needed something overwhelming.

  She searched again, what would her diary show her. Oh. There it was. Hiding in pin sight: ‘Diary’. Four sylbles, very strong. But it didn’t fit the situation.

  Olephia searched again. Her mouth twisted into a smile. She found the perfect word. Ohat was rare for her to get away with using. She said it.

  “Annihition.”

  And there was nothi of the Caretaker to move.

  End of Arc 3: The Divine Jungle