Pantheon Peace, somearadoxically, has been easiest to implement in the Epan states. Our initial predis have always sidered that Guguo, with its a history of unity and the freshly formed Arikan nations, still in their infancy, would be most resilient to Pantheon Peace. That they would have to gh the same trials that Epa has to learn the cost of bloodshed.

  We thought that Epa would be a sore-spot for the Pantheohought that we would o speuries beating the Epans into submissiohere has been no great rebellions, no angry voices, apart from Helenna’s propaganda war, there has been almost ao our proje Epa. We always thought it would be the weak link in the , but the whole-hearted embrat of Pantheon Peace has left us holy stunned.

  Still though, I have my reservations. As has been proven through the trials of history: Epans make very good subjects. Until they don’t.

  - Excerpts from ‘Thoughts on the Post-War World’ in the White Pantheon’s Closed Library, written by Goddess Maisara.

  “FIRE!” Kassandora pulled her bde out of the wooden ptform and swung it in the air. War’s Orchestra fred up in an effort to tear dowire theatre. Drums beat in sync to the thunderous roar of artillery, smoke whisked up from the barrels supported by stringing violins, rifles shot to the tune of frantic trumpets, eae trying to outpete the other in how much lead it could unleash. Men silently turo the chorus, as they picked out targets among the mages around the fortress, where shields formed, they quickly ged targets under Kassandora’s guidance, going from one magi to the , firing at the groups that powered the ritual circles which fed that mining beam above CR. The blue ser peed through a tre tree and burst deep into the ground. There was o worry about that spell, Kassandora had already seen its effectiveness when the first barrier had been sed out for the sed.

  Iniri raised her hands, she rose into the air, the living wood of her dress spiralled into the ground, disappearing as if it was a workman’s shovel about to dig up dirt. Roots touched roots and Iniri felt the singur structure that made up her fortress. The trees interjoining with bridges, the tig of boots on bark, the gentle vibrations of guns against parapets and barriers., the creaking shakes as Kassandora’s heavy artillery on their raised ptforms dug into the wood from the recoil of their ons. She wouldn’t let the Goddess of War take all the glory. There utation to maintain, Mother Nature was as cruel and capricious as she was benign and benevolent.

  In one instant, Iniri’s fortress that had been grown to protect the men withiral Requisitions ged from a cowardly tortoise hiding within its shell to a frenzied leopard. It struck out in all dires as the mages around it raised barriers in surprise to the sudden onsught. Whistling artillery shells fell down upon them. Shells burst like brilliant fireworks on magical barriers. They spshed onto densed shields of id into cloaks of stohat covered a doze a time. Fires sprouted around them in mid-air and tried to ighem pre-emptively as magis waved their staves and tried to put up a frantic defence.

  And from the sides, the gunfire of men hiddeweerees cut them down. Branches moved to reveal squads of men who opened fire immediately. Iniri cpped her hands together, and the woods sprung forwards. Where magis put up barriers that blocked the hailstone of lead, heavy oaks swooped in like battering rams. One shield cracked, her flora moved forwards. It spread out, branches grabbed magis in colourful clothes as a terattack was mounted. ns of fme out aroutack, ns of stone were dragged from the earth to make bdes that split bark and wood, that severed man-ripping vine and blocked the hail of razor leaves which shook from Iniri’s fortress.

  The Goddess of Nature flicked a fihis wasn’t the brunt of her attack, this was a mere taster. Her roots hit the stohat Essa had pulled up to coat the ground. Iniri smiled to herself, her emerald eyes green as the wood on her dress grew thicker and stretched and tore the fabric. A root hit stone and cracked it. A branch filled the crad pressed in. The branch grew to the size of an arm, a torso, a human, a horse, a truck, a car. It turned crumbled and pushed the stone away as fresh oak beat against the stone.

  The ground started to rumble, and the forest roared as Fer’s troops engaged from the rear. man would get close to engage mages in melee, but they didn’t have to. Gu into mages from behind as beastmen unleashed the heavy onry they had. Minotaurs hefted heavy maes as wolfmen prowled and dived into the ground to get a shot. Bright red eyes found their prey, beastly jaws spilling over with teeth shick fur-cd fiopped with cws pressed ers, and mages fell.

  Essa stared down in horror at what was happening below. Forty thousand she had brought, forty thousand that she had trained herself for six months. Eae was worthy to be called a battlemage in theory. But this is how they fared? Her face twisted in disgust and rage. What a pathetic show of feebleness. Arcadia was an utter failure. She would not retreat to the Pantheon after this, Alsaria was gone! Gohere was no reason to abide by the Decrees of a Pahat was nothing but a rotting corpse letting out its final death-spasms.

  Magic had been tained for the good of all Arda. But sometimes, the good of all Arda required a little reminder as to owers still existed upon it.

  Kassandora smiled to herself as she watched Essa’s failure of an army start to crumble. Mages crafted defences around themselves in a desperate effort to save their own lives, shields of sand and hardened air, bubbles of water and the most talented among the magis ma out the blue shells of pure mana as shells and gunfire rained down upohe ground started to shift as the yer of stone shattered and cracked like broken bones and Iniri’s trees sprung forth. Mages lifted off into the air, or turned and ran, fmes surged around them, both trolled fires from the pyromahemselves and the terrible bze of napalm that paihe sky bck.

  Even her music could not drowtle out. Frantic trumpets tried to match sharp bursts of gunfire, deafening drums pyed to the tune of artillery, violins tried to overwhelm the crag of fmes and a choir failed to suppress the litany of orders, shouts and screams that the mages were issuing to each other. Fer’s beastmen roared from behind and Kassandora’s army remained silent, each man guided by War’s Orchestra pying in his head.

  Kassandora had thought it would happen, she had wa to happen, if she wasn’t the Goddess of War, she would have prayed for it to happen, but she pnned around Essa’s army summoning a barrier immediately. On needing to move herself to crush defences, on splittitentioween the army on the ground and the Divine in the air. She allowed herself a smile. Was it the ck of Leona? No. Kassandora would not let that Goddess take the credit for it. It was herself. She did it, a suddeion of violeaken from Anassa’s own thinking, not from zero to a hundred in a sed, but from null to a thousand in an instant. Aion so brutal it crushed morale and so utterly destroyed any hope of victory that this battle would o in nightmares.

  She had overprepared, she had thought they would be better. She thought there’d be a rea, that the morale would hold. That she would be saving the lives of her men in a desperate st stand, and salvaging what remained of tral Requisitions ohe battle was over. She had pnned on them ag like the great magis of the past did.

  For on her life, things actually went to pn.

  But whereas the mages on the ground were a new species of failure. There was still one problem. One issue that could singlehandedly destroy the beautiful tune her orchestra ying. A mage in the air, from the old breed, not even the Great War but before, the greatest of them all.

  Maybe a mortal would take a breath to calm their senses. Maybe they would need a tu the roar of battle. Maybe they would o push away the heat of fmes, the shards from explosions, the rains of iron and lead. Maybe a mage lesser would o raise a shield, maybe a mage weaker would think of fleeing, maybe a mage uain would o think.

  But Essa was not that type of mage. No, she was not even a Great War mage, she had e from an era long before it, one where magic decided all. She waved her white-wood staff. The crystal bee eye-searingly bright, like the sparking nucleus of a burning welding rod rather than the glow of the Sun, and the skies opened up with powers that once broke the world.

  Fer roared as Essa’s winds sent her hurtling downwards again. Anassa wasn’t there to save her this time, and she smashed into branches and trees, cw caught bark and shards of wood sprayed in all dires as she slid one of the massive trunks that made up the fortress of tral Requisitions. She grit her teeth, as branches ripped and tore at her skin. Once again, she was gd that Kassandora had hoisted this thid heavy vest on her. It saved her chest and back from being torn apart by the rugged bark.

  Her arms and legs and face did not have the same prote, she slid dowree, muscles tearing themselves apart as her cws slowed her down, and being cut apart by the woods. With a heavy thud, she smmed onto one of the wooden ptforms. A soldier turo see her as Fer merely groaned and rolled over from her back to her front. She brought herself to her knees and the soldier spoke. “Kavaa is ing.” He immediately turned back around and started pig out targets with his rifle, his own gunshots

  Fer colpsed onto her hands and knees and rolled onto her back, taking deep breathes as her body angrily closed wounds. It was almost pleasant, she looked through the hole she made in the branches above straight at Essa. The skies above her were going dark, the clouds set themselves abze as they melted under her fury.

  Fer couldn’t tear her eyes away from that se. But Kavaa’s face suddenly obscured the image as the Goddess jumped down a series of branches and pced her hands on Fer’s bare stomach. “I’ve got you.” She whispered, pale eyes looking down, framed by pale hair and paler skin. Fer felt tiny little beetles pinch her muscles and drag them back together, ants tickled her arms and legs as they dragged fresh skin out of her flesh. Further regrew itself.

  “I need blood.” Fer said and Kavaa nodded. Fer opened her jaws, fangs exposed, and the Goddess of Health pced her forearm into Fer’s mouth. The blood came, with it came thicker fur, with it came the burniion inside Fer’s stomach as Kavaa’s blood was set abze, with it came the endless hunger of a predator, with it came the enhanced eyesight and hearing of perfect health. The blood came, and with it came power.

  Essa swuaff downwards. The burning clouds around her gave way to a rain of fire. Winds howled and hurled themselves around her as they picked up speeds. The horizon, the juowards the north, the mountain past it, the pins to the south, it all faded away as dusts started to obscure it.

  Lightning fred upwards from those winds as Essa rose higher. Dusts swirled above her as they smashed into each other, tiny specks of dirt became pebbles, then stones, rocks, boulders. Essa’s eyes widened with manic glee as she saw the se below her stop.

  Mages let go of staves, shields popped, the few spells flung in self-defence fizzled out. Kassandora’s army stopped too. There was only so much awe and fear even the most grandiose of War’s Orchestra could overe, and Essa had long surpassed that pitiful level of power.

  Anassa and her sorceries? Kassandora and her armies? Iniri arees? Kavaa and her healing? Fer and her what? Her animals? They all paled before the glory of the fi art, the greatest craft, the highest profession humanity had ever created.

  Fortia couldn’t tear her eyes away from the feed ing to her s. It came directly from a satellite requisitioned from the UNN. In a mere few seds, a storm that was visible from space had started to swirl over Kirinyaa. Clouds that bzed e with fmes, fires burst out over Kirinyaa’s natural jungle. Even the Great War had only rarely seen this dispy of power, and then only in the greatest times of crisis, when Olephia herself o be chased away. But there was an era before that saw it every day. The blood drained from Fortia’s face as she reted those memories, her arms grew weak, her legs shook, grabbed hold of the Guardiao her to keep herself standing at the sight of it. That era should have been fotten for the good of all Arda.

  Essa hung in the air, arms outstretched as she gazed at Fer, at Anassa, at Kassandora rallying her men, trying to at least. The winds picked up, lightning shot out from all sides and a thousand men were fried on the spot. The boulders above her set alight as they started to melt into magma. Rocks became liquid as Essa set fires as hot as Arda’s molten core within them.

  Essa’s eyes set abze with blue fmes as the stars of the night sky seemed to retreat. The moon paled in horror. Arda quivered in terror as the mountains to the north started to colpse. A bst of lightning desded from the heavens and arced from side to side. It touched Iniri’s pathetic little tree, a mere child's attempt at building a castle of sand to be washed away by the o that was the Goddess of Magie instant wood and bark and leaves, the merely a pile of ash and molteal where Kassandora’s artillery had once been.

  And the lightning tinued, it touched the ground and the world of Arda began to weep. A spiderweb of fire shot out from that point. And Arda started to rumble. Ravines opened up from those fires. Beastman and soldier and magi, dirt and ash and bark and leaf all fell into that ravine, bubbling with molten magma that surged upwards upon finding a release of pressure.

  The wave birth to nature, and nature quered the world. Then nature gave birth to magid magic had quered the world. It was simply the cycle of these things.

  It was over Kassandora. What should have e long ago was here now. The world would be free of War. Whatever her ination would be, Essa would make sure it would never reach the same level that this pestering little i had reached. War may be embedded deep into humanity, but Was merely an abstract to be used and molded into whatever the situation demanded. What could War do against the ination of Arda’s most potent Force? Abstras were fun, abstras were grand ideals, abstras were precious thoughts, but abstras stopped mattering whey set in.

  Essa swuaff downwards, and the molteeors began to desd.

  Worldbreaking had e, and Worldbreaking was here.